The green bronze cauldron blazed with light, suppressing the primordial spirit. The Killing Sword swelled with power, its surface dripping red — the Immortal Slaying patterns upon it shook all under heaven.

Ye Fan’s sword pointed at the Great Saint as he pressed hard for the whereabouts of the Rongcheng Clan.

The Great Saint who had come from the outer domain was a true disciple of a supreme sovereign — a revelation that left everyone in stunned disbelief. A person of Great Saint caliber was himself the patriarch of an entire domain, yet now it was revealed that his own master was still alive in this world. Who could fail to be shaken?

When faced with the choice between life and death, no one could remain entirely composed — though some could hold steadfast to their convictions, while others would simply shatter.

“I don’t know.” The seemingly young Great Saint’s tone was firm and unyielding. He was unwilling to reveal anything more.

“Who is your master? And where is he now?” Ye Fan pressed again.

“A supreme sovereign needs no name. He dwells at the very center of the star domain, awaiting his ultimate transformation — the moment he breaks through to immortality with a single great charge.” The Great Saint replied with pride. He was still remarkably composed.

Ye Fan’s brow creased slightly. It seemed this so-called supreme sovereign was truly terrifying to a degree that matched the claims. If he were to achieve the ultimate ascension to Emperor and cross that threshold, then the name “Divine Court” might well become the actual Heavenly Court!

At this point, the Great Saint’s disciple had already been set in motion, moving to dominate an entire star domain and beginning to lay his master’s grand designs in place — clearly filled with absolute confidence in him, certain that his master would succeed.

And yet, by this point, Ye Fan had nothing left to fear. When you have enough lice, you stop minding the bites. One more supreme sovereign was neither too many nor too few — this was not the only terrifying cause and consequence he faced.

Whoosh!

A flash of sword radiance, and the Killing Sword surged, its aura extending dozens to hundreds of miles in length. It cleaved the space beneath the Great Saint’s feet apart, and even the residual shockwave caused the man’s body to sway and his divine consciousness to destabilize.

Then Ye Fan slung the Killing Sword across his back, seized the black long spear in his hands, and charged forward. He feared the Emperor weapon might directly destroy the Great Saint’s primordial spirit entirely, leaving him unable to glimpse the great secrets within — and so he refrained from using it.

What followed was a violent and earth-shattering collision. Beneath a single exchange, the five elements were overturned, heaven and earth seemed to tilt and invert, and fire, earth, wind, and water all shifted — as though the universe were being opened anew.

True head-on combat. Even the green bronze cauldron was put away by Ye Fan. His concern at this moment was not insufficient strength, but rather too much — he could not afford to leave no survivors at all. Armed with only a broken spear and drawing upon his own origin force, he entered battle.

Pft!

The Great Saint’s divine consciousness had already been destabilized, and now he was struck by this kind of attack, with both bodies nearly making contact in close-range combat. Naturally he suffered a crushing disadvantage.

Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. The black spear caught him across the arm, and it was as though a divine blade had struck true — an entire arm was severed, blood flowing copiously.

Boom!

Ye Fan engaged him in close-range combat — left hand holding the spear, right hand unleashing the Heavenly Emperor Fist — both pressing down in a relentless assault, both carrying invincible force and divine power.

Pft!

The Great Saint was hurled away. His body began to tear apart in multiple places. That broken spear, at this critical moment, had actually revived — and a strand of Quasi-Emperor might burst forth from it. This was its unwillingness and resentment made manifest.

This spear bore a deep karmic bond with this lineage, and now its dormant remnant consciousness erupted in fury, gnawing and tearing at him.

The Great Saint’s lower body exploded, and then inch by inch the destruction crept upward. He dissolved into wisps of blood mist, teetering on the edge of a wretched death.

Ye Fan’s head ached. In all his life, never had a single day felt as strange as today. He wished the weapon in his hands were a little weaker, wished his enemy wouldn’t die — yet it moved not according to his will.

The Great Saint didn’t want to die either. His primordial spirit shot skyward — yet still the Quasi-Emperor aura spread, reaching after him. Cracks began to appear across his primordial spirit, spreading and fracturing.

“No — I don’t want to die!” The Great Saint cried out in anguish, yet there was nothing left that could change the outcome.

The greater part of his primordial spirit crumbled and fell apart. Only a fragment managed to break free of the Quasi-Emperor’s aura, and Ye Fan grabbed it swiftly, holding it in the palm of his hand. He opened his Heavenly Eye and gazed into its sea of consciousness.

Ye Fan beheld a succession of chaotic images — far too much information all at once. Among them, several terrifying scenes left a deep impression: a cyan battle spear and a black long spear clashing against each other, two immense silhouettes locked in fierce and violent combat.

It was a battle between Quasi-Emperors — like a world-ending catastrophe — and it had taken place long ago, in ages past!

At the same time, within this shattered spirit he discovered certain memories. The Great Saint’s master and the ancestor of the Rongcheng Clan had fought one another, both suffering grievous wounds. Both the battle spear and the divine spear had come close to being completely destroyed.

However, the cyan battle spear had been taken away, while the black divine spear had pierced through the cosmos and vanished into the void — clearly, it had ultimately fallen to earth somewhere.

“That was a great star — teeming with powerful life energy…” Ye Fan stared fixedly at the blurry silhouettes of the two great powerhouses. Behind them, the vital, thriving energies of the Ancient Domain of Life pulsed and surged.

His thoughts turned to a certain figure — the Hegemon Body, that sworn enemy of Sacred Bodies throughout the Human Ancient Path, a being of unmatched dominance. This individual possessed nine great divine forms, and if Ye Fan had not had the Divine Forbidden, any confrontation between them would inevitably have been a grueling and bitter struggle.

The Hegemon Body had been born beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree, its origins extraordinary by any measure.

And the Ginseng Fruit Tree had once belonged to the Rongcheng Clan, and it had come from Earth — these connections, strung together one after another, gave rise to a great many possible speculations.

Could it be that the two Quasi-Emperors’ world-shaking battle had erupted in the star domain where the Hegemon Body resided? The Rongcheng Clan’s ancestor — life or death unknown. Their Undying Divine Tree, lost somewhere in that domain.

As for the supreme sovereign who had once fought the Rongcheng ancestor — perhaps he came from that place, or perhaps he merely passed through, or perhaps he obtained the Ginseng Fruit Tree, or perhaps he was an ancient Hegemon Body who had broken free from the divine source… Perhaps any number of things.

Too many possibilities, impossible to determine with certainty.

What a pity. This Great Saint had already perished. The fragments of his primordial spirit that remained were limited — not enough to fully examine and understand.

This was at minimum a battle from one or two thousand years past. The fate of the Rongcheng ancestor remained unknown. Yet the other supreme sovereign had only grown stronger since then — establishing the Divine Court, and making it a source of great unease for all.

“In this world, there is now yet another Quasi-Emperor beyond Gai Jiuyou and the one from the Golden Crow Clan — and the future is destined to become even more perilous.”

This feeling was deeply unsettling. The Ginseng Fruit Tree had been lost on the Hegemon Body’s star, a powerfully mysterious supreme sovereign had grievously wounded the Rongcheng ancestor, and Ye Fan could not help but furrow his brow deeply.

The Divine Court’s Great Saint had fallen. This battle could not possibly continue any further. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers and cavalry instantly crumbled and collapsed like a flood, scattering in all four directions — all of them fleeing.

Who could withstand an Emperor’s sword?

On this day, the Divine Court’s capital city fell into utter silence. Nearly everyone had fled. Those few who remained to hold the fort faced what was coming as though bracing for execution, deeply terrified by the prospect of Ye Fan’s arrival.

In the end, Ye Fan did go there — yet he did not enter the city. The Divine Court’s grand momentum had already collapsed. There was no need for him to act.

Ten days later, Ye Tong returned, having failed in his quest. He had been unable to retrieve the Solar Sacred Emperor’s weapon, which remained sunk deep within the eye of the Northern Sea.

With affairs in Ziwei settled, Ye Fan did not set out for home. Instead, he found a mountain cliff, entered seclusion, and pondered his own Dao and techniques — preparing for the most critical breakthrough of his life.

Two months later, Ye Tong brought Xiao Nannan away and watched over her like an elder brother. Several days after that, Ye Fan departed alone, ascending to the heavens, emerging outside the Ziwei domain. Li Tian, Yan Yixi, and the others came to see him off.

Ye Fan was about to cross his heavenly tribulation — to break through to the Great Saint realm. He had long anticipated this day. Every accumulation and every moment of waiting would finally erupt and be unleashed on this day.

This place was known as the Emperor Star. It was shrouded in much mystery and concealed many secrets. Many Great Emperors had come here, leaving behind undying impressions — an ideal place for this breakthrough.

Of course, this place was also destined to become a blood-soaked ground. Breaking through would be far from easy. It would be extraordinarily arduous and full of suffering.

The Great Saint Tribulation!

Ye Fan would face the coordinated assault of many Great Emperors. Though those figures existed at the same cultivation realm as he did, every one of them was among the most powerful beings across all eternity — capable of taking his life in an instant if he was not careful.

“Elder Brother, you must take care.” Xiao Nannan waved at him, watching as he grew distant, disappearing into the vast heavens.

This was naturally an event of tremendous importance with far-reaching consequences. It would be the greatest crisis Ye Fan had ever faced in his life. From severing his Dao to reaching Sainthood, and then to transforming into a Saint King — each step grew harder than the last.

Even someone as powerful as Ye Fan was risking his very life. The further one went, the more dangerous it became. If even the slightest mistake occurred, he might be utterly reduced to nothing — dissipating into ash and smoke.

Having accumulated to this day, he believed he was ready and could take that step — yet this also left Ye Tong, Li Tian, and the others deeply tense, watching closely with concern.

The entire Ziwei Star Domain felt an oppressive weight settle upon it, causing everyone’s heart to feel heavy. No one could help but gaze upward at the sky — yet the distance was too great, and nothing could be made out.

“Is it connected to the Sacred Body? Someone spotted him leaving his seclusion and charging toward the outer domain.”

“Is he leaving? This plague has finally decided to go!”

“What a pity. Our Ziwei Star Domain has lost its Emperor weapons, and the ancient Great Saints have long since departed for distant lands. Otherwise, would things have ended up like this?”

…

Boom!

Suddenly, a thunderous crash shook the world. Lightning flashed and thunder roared outside the domain. Even the sun was blotted out. It was terrifying as the end of the world — and every single person trembled.

“What happened?” This was the question on everyone’s mind. Terror filled their hearts. It felt as though the apocalypse had come, as though they were being suffocated under its weight.

In that moment, light blazed out in all directions, pressing down upon the mortal world. Outside the domain, infinite laws intertwined. Lightning was as vast as a sea, surging and churning without end. And through it all came roar after roar — as though the Great Emperors of ancient times had been resurrected.

“The divine demons of ancient times have returned to life. What has happened to this heaven and earth? From all corners, pillars of light are rising into the sky. The remnant formation arrays of ancient Great Emperors are all reviving. Why?”

Throughout the Ziwei Star Domain, this day saw one strange phenomenon after another — each one like a great crashing wave, shaking all who witnessed it to the depths of their souls.

Ye Fan was crossing his tribulation. The frigid and lightless cosmos was filled to bursting with vast lightning, transformed entirely. He had moved far enough from the ancient life-bearing star, and yet the lightning still blotted out the sky above Ziwei.

Out in the outer domain, various meteorites were turned to dust, and some of the smaller nearby stars simply exploded outright — in the face of this violent and rampaging storm of lightning, nothing could endure.

The Lunar Emperor, the Solar Emperor, the Eternal Cosmos, the Void, the Amitabha, the Snow Moon Clear Sky…

One Great Emperor manifested after another. One ancient supreme sovereign after another appeared, each taking on a Great Saint form — the impressions they had left at this realm in their own eras — and came charging over.

Ye Fan was nearly killed. Though his other self, the Wandering Self, and the Dao Self helped shoulder the burden — and his true body used these moments of shared suffering to narrowly avoid destruction at critical junctures — facing so many Great Emperors in succession still brought him to the very edge of complete destruction of body and spirit.

This was even more dangerous than the previous Saint King Tribulation. It was, in truth, a path of certain death!

No one on the outside could imagine how Ye Fan endured it. His physical body had long since been beaten to ruin. At the most perilous moment, every bone had been shattered, his flesh and blood had burned dry, and only a single final drop of blood remained within him.

His primordial spirit was extinguished several times, like a candle flame in a raging gale — at any instant, it might be swallowed by permanent darkness.

His life force was nearly dried up. His life had reached its very end. Before this supreme tribulation of the ages, nothing availed him. The willpower and convictions that might have kept him alive were nearly broken apart entirely.

It was too brutal. In every real sense, Ye Fan had nearly died. The Character Script technique ran with tremendous difficulty. From a single drop of blood, life was reborn — from a single drop of blood, shattered bones were summoned back — and the body was pieced together anew.

Walking the razor’s edge of death, fighting against Great Emperor after Great Emperor, then charging one Emperor’s Palace after another — killing until madness consumed him, until he was on the verge of mental collapse.

Throughout all the battles of his life, Ye Fan had never faced anything as dangerous as today. To call it a brush with death nine times over was far too light a description — this was truly finding one thread of survival amid ten thousand deaths.

The cauldron — shattered and reassembled, with Chaos runes imprinted upon it, permeated through with the divine chains of his own laws and order.

This cauldron had been shattered and reformed more times than he could count. The divine spirit within had come close to suffering utter annihilation and falling forever into darkness — no less so than Ye Fan himself.

On this day, the Ziwei Star Domain was filled with ghostly wails and divine howls. The divine demons of all ages appeared together throughout the heavens — the laws and order of the ancient past, the residual impressions and final echoes left behind by countless powerful beings.

All the world was shaken!

As events neared their end, Saints rose into the high heavens and beheld the scene of Ye Fan’s final struggle. Every one of them was stunned beyond words.

Boom!

The river of stars grew dim. The sea of lightning erupted and dispersed. Everything vanished. In the field, only a pool of blood remained…