“What happened in those ancient days?” Ye Fan stood in a trance. The scene he had just witnessed was deeply strange — and profoundly stirring.

For a long time afterward, his mind kept replaying that vision. He found much that was bewildering and beyond his understanding. Finally, he let out a soft sigh and reflected upon the Sacred Body’s last words, several of which shook him to his core in particular.

Rebuild the Heavenly Court!

More than one person had wished to do so. What special significance did it hold?

The Venerable Emperor needed no elaboration. The Undying Celestial Sovereign was worshipped by ten thousand races and ruled over all the myriad realms. Though he never stated it outright, one could imagine he walked the same path. Beyond these, certain mighty supreme figures had harbored this wish in life — the Green Emperor among them, who had sought to establish a Heavenly Court, yet ultimately never brought it to fruition.

And now, this Flawless Sacred Body had said the same thing — believing that Wushi would rebuild the Heavenly Court. Beyond being an expression of a father’s love and the hopes he placed in his child, it also spoke to something deeper.

“It seems that rebuilding the Heavenly Court is a matter of immense importance. When the Venerable Emperor chose to do so in those ancient times, there must have been a great and profound reason behind it!” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

He thought of the Feathered Transformation Divine Dynasty, which had sought to bring its entire sect into immortal ascension. Measured against that, how much more terrifying — how much more vast in ambition — must the ancient Heavenly Court have been?

The Age of Mythology was too distant and shrouded in mist. It was widely said that the Venerable Emperor was the founder of the ancient Heavenly Court — yet in recent times, even that had become difficult to say with certainty, the fog only thickening.

Ten thousand years had passed, and Wushi had not rebuilt the Heavenly Court. Could it be that he had chosen the former path — that he had truly ascended to immortality? After composing himself, Ye Fan returned to this question.

Wushi’s father had spoken with such confidence — not merely the doting pride of a parent recognizing his child’s potential, but something more. Surely he had glimpsed something of the future as well.

Eighty thousand years ago, a vast and sweeping tremor had erupted from Purple Mountain. Whether Wushi had achieved immortality, or had perished in fire and ash — it remained unclear to this day.

This Great Emperor’s name shook the annals of ancient history. All the world paid him reverence. His combat power looked down upon past and future alike, supreme over the myriad heavens across all ages. His ultimate fate was the subject of the greatest fascination.

Yet no one could ever witness it. No one could ever say.

Only a single verse had been left behind in the world: At the end of the immortal path, who stands at the peak? One glimpse of Wushi — and the Dao dissolves to nothing.

“If he could not become immortal, then he would rebuild the Heavenly Court…” Ye Fan murmured. What an extraordinary ambition — enough to fill one with awe.

The ripples stilled. He resonated once more with the crimson blood, and another vision surfaced. He saw a peerless beauty in white robes, her garments billowing, her face carrying an expression of grief, cradling a corpse in her arms as she crossed ten billion star rivers — and then struck forward with a single palm.

And then, everything was destroyed.

Ye Fan finally witnessed a Great Emperor’s strike. It was so utterly direct — annihilating all — that nothing could be perceived afterward. All that met the eye was the scene of creation itself, with everything collapsing.

At the end, he glimpsed the far reaches of the cosmos — a massive bronze plaque, split in two.

Nothing could be heard. Nothing could be seen. The Western Empress had shattered everything, as if seeking to destroy the entire order of heaven and earth and forge anew the hope for eternal life.

The sacred chains of heaven’s order and laws snapped asunder — and then came eternal darkness.

Ye Fan was shaken and uncertain. The final outcome was not entirely clear to him. His thoughts were boundless, his emotions complex, and he stood in silence.

No one knew how much time passed before heaven and earth were restored to stillness. The Western Empress, holding the hand of a small child, left behind the silhouette of her slender figure — laden with solitude and sorrow — and walked away into the distance.

The small child was quiet, neither crying nor making a fuss, following along in that long journey.

In an unguarded moment, he turned his head and looked back — a brief glance — giving the world a glimpse of the young Wushi’s true appearance.

He looked to be around two or three years of age. His black hair spilled over his shoulders. His eyes were bright and clear. He appeared delicately carved, like jade — tender and young, yet carrying within him a wisdom that belied his years.

“This is what Wushi the Great Emperor looked like as a child…” An unusual look crossed Ye Fan’s face. It was the first time he had ever glimpsed his true countenance — and even as a child, it left him deeply struck.

Without question, the Western Empress had sealed Wushi away after that. It was not until countless tens of thousands of years later, when the world had need of him, that he appeared again before humanity — and from that point forward, there was a legend of a supreme being.

“I want to beat him up,” the little chubby one said from within the Immortal Spring.

Ye Fan was puzzled. He hadn’t expected him to have witnessed these visions as well. “Jealous, aren’t you,” he said. “You realized he looks more striking and dashing than you, not soft and pudgy like yourself — isn’t that right?”

“I am not fat at all!” the little chubby one fumed. Every single time, Ye Fan brought this up, and he couldn’t stand it.

“Then why do you want to beat him? Feeling a little self-conscious, perhaps? Do you think he’s more powerful than you?” Ye Fan laughed.

“Nonsense. I just have a feeling — I really want to beat him.” The Divine Infant grumbled.

Was this the innate hostility between a Divine Infant and an Immortal Seed? Ye Fan shook his head with a helpless smile. They had never even met — just a vision — and it was already like this.

Not long after, Ye Fan held the copper cauldron above his head and the Imperial Sword in hand, pressing forward with great effort, wanting to see everything clearly.

The Flawless Sacred Body and the Western Empress showed no further unusual activity. Only that Imperial-level aura continued to threaten to shatter his body. It was impossible to truly approach — the fluctuations radiated in all directions.

There were divine runes engraved here, written by Wushi himself. There were also inscriptions from the Jade Pool steles that confirmed the identity of the Western Empress.

“The Jade Pool relocated within the last twenty or thirty thousand years. Something must have happened in those tens of thousands of years that led to this…”

Ye Fan could draw no closer. He stared at the primordial mist and everything else gathered there, trying to see clearly — and found nothing further abnormal.

“To revive both parents?” He stared at the words Wushi had left behind, deeply shaken. This truly defied heaven itself. The Western Empress was herself a Great Emperor, and even she had been unable — yet Wushi intended to accomplish this?

“This was probably nothing more than his wish,” Ye Fan said, shaking his head. He did not believe it was achievable — otherwise, after all these tens of thousands of years, there would not still be two corpses lying here.

Moreover, in this age, if Wushi had never achieved immortality, he himself would long since have perished in sitting meditation.

Finally, Ye Fan’s attention shifted. He caught sight of a fragment of copper — a piece of some implement — that had not entered the luminous barrier. It lay at some distance from the two corpses.

“What is that?” Ye Fan was startled, sensing a peculiar fluctuation emanating from it.

This place was very still. Near that fragment of copper, the surroundings were dark, and shapes like black shadows seemed to glide past — deeply sinister, as though that spot was connected to the underworld itself.

Ye Fan expended no small effort forcing his Heavenly Eye to pierce through and dissolve the wisps of black fog before he could fix his gaze on that fragment of a weapon.

In a trance, it seemed he heard the wailing and howling of tens of thousands of vengeful spirits — and in an instant, he felt as though he had been transported to another time and space, where blood rained from the sky and yellow whirlwinds howled through heaven and earth.

“A ghost!” the Divine Infant shouted.

“Little chubby one, behave yourself — stop startling people like that, you’ll give someone a heart attack!” Ye Fan knocked on the Immortal Spring, warning him.

Ye Fan used the Soldier Word Art to draw the fragment over — an extraordinarily arduous process, threatening to tear his entire body apart — because with an Imperial corpse just ahead, exerting such force in such close proximity was truly agonizing.

The Green Copper Cauldron glowed, protecting his body from collapsing. The Immortal Sword trembled, its dark crimson blade dripping with blood — yet for once, it was not intent on killing. Rare as it was, this time it was acting in self-defense.

What was this thing? Ye Fan brought it close but did not touch it, sensing it was bone-chillingly cold. The blackened fragment with traces of copper-green was deeply sinister and strange.

“It feels like it’s connected to a ten-thousand-year ice cellar — cold enough to cut straight to the bone!” the little chubby one shivered violently even from within the Immortal Spring, every hair on his body standing on end.

Ye Fan too felt as though it was linked to the Nine Nethers — eerily sinister, its killing energy penetrating straight to the marrow.

“This is a fragment of an Imperial weapon!” After careful examination, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

He studied it closely, and then recalled the final image from the Western Empress’s vision — the single palm strike that had shattered creation, leaving only a bronze plaque split in two. The material appeared to be the same.

“Someone, unwilling to give up, came here, opened the Imperial coffin — and ended up destroying themselves. The Imperial weapon that was already broken shattered completely?” Ye Fan was startled, though he couldn’t be certain this was the truth.

Of course, it was also possible that a fragment of the Sacred Body’s wounds had been expelled from the body. Without having witnessed it directly, there was no way to say for certain.

“Was the Flawless Sacred Body afflicted by a curse? In those final moments, even the Western Empress was at a loss and could not heal him — truly terrifying.”

As a Sacred Body himself, Ye Fan naturally cared deeply about this.

In the end, he departed, taking nothing more with him. This fragment of an Imperial weapon was deeply strange — the Dao runes within it had all been erased, its divine power gone, leaving behind nothing but bone-deep cold.

Ye Fan tried to channel energy through it, and found that beyond its exceptional hardness, it possessed no particular power. In the end, he left it where it was.

For he felt that carrying this copper fragment might bring serious trouble — it might attract certain extraordinary things. Until he reached the Flawless level, caution was the wisest course.

The lesson of those who had gone before was plain. Wushi’s father had already come to grief.

When he left the old site of the Jade Pool and returned to the surface, the blazing sun hung overhead — and all that bone-chilling eeriness and sense of malevolent strangeness vanished instantly, making even the little chubby one exhale in relief.

“Does the curse originate from the underworld — or does it also carry some connection to the fundamental order and laws of heaven and earth?” Ye Fan took one last look at the old site of the Jade Pool, then strode away with wide steps.

The sky was clear, the divine sun brilliant and radiant. Vast stretches of barren land, each spanning millions of li, rapidly fell away beneath Ye Fan’s feet. He returned to the Divine City without pause, then pressed on to the Central Region.

At the agreed meeting place, Ye Fan found Yan Yixi and Li Tian. The two of them marveled at the little chubby one and teased him, saying they ought to slice him open and see what race he belonged to.

The fair-skinned little chubby one, his body soft and smooth and exposed to their scrutiny — and now threatened like this on top of it — immediately ground his teeth and took on the air of someone ready to fight to the death.

“We have news — this time, all that effort has paid off.” Li Tian said.

“Really?” Ye Fan was delighted.

“Indeed. Someone has come from the Purple Subtlety Star Domain, and we’ve managed to track them down.” Yan Yixi smiled.

“What are you two planning to do that’s so shady?” the little chubby one said warily from within the Immortal Spring, looking like someone terrified of being sold off.

“To sell children and traffic children there.” Li Tian said with a wicked grin.

Ye Fan had long wished to go to the Purple Subtlety Star Domain — wanting to search for Xiao Nannan. Based on the message Yin Tiande had left behind, the little girl may have ended up lost there.

He had not encountered Yin Tiande on the Ancient Road, and so was determined to go to the Purple Subtlety Star Domain and investigate thoroughly.

All these years, Xiao Nannan’s disappearance had been a knot in his heart. He had used every means available, searching the entire Northern Dipper without finding her. Now that he had a new lead, he was naturally determined to pursue it to the end.

In those distant days, he had ridden the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin out from an Ancient Forbidden Zone, passing through countless ordeals before reaching that star domain. There was no replicating such a journey now — entering the Life Forbidden Zone again would most likely mean death.

“We’ve confirmed it — it’s an elderly Saint. If we approach him for guidance with sincerity, showing our good intentions, we should be able to get what we need.”

Ye Fan and the others set out. Nothing unexpected arose. They found the elderly Saint, and things went smoothly — they obtained the coordinates for the Purple Subtlety Star Domain.

“I hope Xiao Nannan is there. We’ll find her.” Ye Fan said. Once a few matters were settled, he would be ready to depart.

“Who is she?” the Divine Infant asked.

“The person appointed specifically to deal with you.” Li Tian said with a wicked laugh.