Ye Fan the Holy Body might be about to rise again!
At this moment, this was the thought in every person’s mind. All were shocked and shaken beyond words. A man who had been confirmed as half-crippled, who had already retreated into obscurity — a man with no more brilliance or road ahead of him — was now about to defy the heavens.
A million threads of firelight, strand after strand, gathered from all four directions of heaven and earth, transforming into the most resplendent divine radiance, illuminating the clear expanse of the void.
Ye Fan sat cross-legged in that place, his body transformed into a Dao furnace, receiving the baptism of the source-fire of ten thousand Daos, undergoing a change within himself that was beyond all description.
“Kill him!”
Someone bellowed, launching an even more ferocious assault. Everyone could see he was developing in a favorable direction — that he might just climb free from this valley and once again ascend to the absolute pinnacle.
This was a result that many were unwilling to see. The powerful figures of the Spiritual Court in particular — locked in opposition with the Heavenly Court, they were predestined enemies. How could they permit such a thing to happen?
The various Grand Commanders moved together. The Dao-inscriptions of the eight great armies surged like furious waves, one wave after another, submerging the six directions and eight wastelands, crashing down upon Ye Fan. He was like a strand of duckweed, rising and sinking in a vast ocean — up and down, over and over — yet he never sank. Tenacious and unyielding, his will never once wavered.
The Spiritual Court’s people naturally perceived what was happening. Ye Fan was using all of this to molt and transform. Yet they had no other choice. If they let this opportunity pass, the chances of another would be nearly none. Using forceful, violent means to destroy him now was the best option.
One side frantically drove forward their Great Dao inscriptions, intent on his absolute death here. The other side exhausted every effort to draw in ten thousand Dao source-fires to temper himself, surfing the waves in a sea where he might be shattered to pieces at any moment.
“Boom!”
The near-Emperor killing formation took effect. This time, a total of sixty-four — eight times eight — colossal beams of light swept in, and when they landed upon Ye Fan’s body they transformed into a Eight Trigrams symbol. The countless fine inscriptions threading through it were profound and unfathomable.
But all of it was used. Everything was absorbed into his body.
Before Ye Fan, the phantoms of the Stone Emperor, the Master of Reincarnation, the Void Emperor, and others had flickered past. Those were the traces of their entanglement, serving like a vast celestial net filtering the assault.
Blazing fire roared — that was the Dao principles flowering in fury, making mountains and rivers lose their color, the sun and moon their light.
Fires of ten thousand varieties of Dao came flying in, making the sun, moon, and stars tremble. In the far distance, star after star changed its trajectory, shaking chaotically within those vast and fathomless fluctuations. Then some of them burst apart, like fireworks blooming one after another.
The crowd was horrified. What unimaginable power this was — at such incalculable distances, the mere residual ripples of the shockwaves had wrought such a terrifying result. It was enough to make one’s hair stand on end.
Ye Fan transformed into a fire furnace, enveloped by ten thousand kinds of fire-light. One moment he became a cauldron, the next a furnace, then a bell and then a tower. When he appeared as a human form, he had the bearing of an emperor — an august and solemn appearance that commanded involuntary reverence.
Within his body, one divine lamp after another lit up, piercing the darkness, making the orderly divine chains and other things sealed within his flesh and blood tremble and rattle, stirring as if to awaken.
This was a transformation that shattered the physical chains, breaking through the shackles of the heavens. His arts, his Dao, were reviving — yet the process was unbearably difficult. The regions that had lit up were still far too few in the grand scheme of his entire form — merely scattered points, like stars embedded in the night sky.
“How can this be?!”
Every person in the Spiritual Court was stunned. What manner of person could withstand such a ferocious assault? Eight great divine generals, a million-strong Spiritual Court army — not all of them had joined in, but even so the force was horrifying enough. Any Great Sage put in that position would have been reduced to ash in an instant. Yet Ye Fan had endured it, never extinguished.
This result was chilling. No one was not shocked. Far too powerful — was he truly about to become a near-Emperor?!
“His body has been locked in constant battle against the remnant traces of the Supremes all this time — no wonder. To have survived even that, enduring three hundred years, is something that inspires nothing but awe!”
This was a miracle. Any who had some knowledge of the situation, who understood even a portion of the truth, changed expression. This was a challenge to the absolute extreme of what human potential could achieve at this realm — it was a legend.
Yu Mo’s expression was desolate. He had been hailed as a genius of extraordinary gifts — the Spiritual Court had publicly claimed him to be the third greatest talent of the past three hundred years. Yet compared to the decaying, fallen Holy Body, whatever halo he possessed was worth absolutely nothing. In this moment he understood what a true miracle was. He was like a firefly measured against the bright moon.
Yu Lan too had gone completely pale. He had not accepted Ye Fan’s reputation, believing that the fame Ye Fan had forged three hundred years ago was no more than undeserved notoriety — a coincidence that had produced that era of legend. Had he been there in Ye Fan’s place, he too would have illuminated the world. Yet now he trembled. Faced with those Supreme remnant traces — even from this distance, with such separation between them — his heart raced and pounded in his chest. How then could he speak of engaging them in battle within one’s own body?
No small number of people were like them. In the past, all they had known was that Ye Fan had managed with great difficulty to survive. Now they truly understood the hidden truth of the matter, and every one of them found it inconceivable. This was a legend.
To not have perished while entangled with the remnant traces of Supremes — what a defiance of the heavens that was?
People believed that once this reached the nine imperial passes on the one true road, it would certainly keep a great many people from sleeping, leaving them restless and unable to sit still.
But for the moment, it was the Spiritual Court’s people who had to face this — every face was pale as snow, looking utterly terrible.
“What are we waiting for — everyone, use your full power! Cut him down. Our Dao fire is not here to perfect him — it is here to burn him to ash and extinguish his spirit forever!”
Someone bellowed. Simultaneously, a crimson iron war hammer came flying out, trailing dazzling rosy radiance, moving like a mountain in motion, rapidly enlarging until at last it transformed into a blood-soaked mountain of iron, pressing down upon Ye Fan.
A near-Emperor weapon!
The Spiritual Court’s people were truly desperate. There was no time to waste. Ye Fan absolutely could not be allowed to reach completion today — he had to be killed here. Otherwise this would become the Spiritual Court’s nightmare — the greatest calamity they could face.
“How dare you!” The Heavenly Court’s side shouted. Yan Yixi opened her mouth and expelled a divine furnace — only the size of an infant’s fist — which she and Li Tian together offered forth.
Hum!
The near-Emperor furnace enlarged, dazzling and resplendent, vast as mountain and sea, flying toward the center of the battlefield to block that enormous blood hammer.
Yourou’s eyes shot out cold lightning. The crimson iron hammer was something she had launched — one of the Spiritual Court’s few divine weapons. She wanted to destroy Ye Fan, to give him no chance. Yet she knew that to clash head-on against the Divine Maiden Furnace would be to guarantee the crimson iron hammer’s destruction — for not long ago, during the assault on the Ziwei Star Domain, one near-Emperor weapon had already been destroyed by that furnace.
Whoosh!
The crimson iron hammer slid to one side, avoiding the Divine Maiden Furnace, declining direct confrontation, waiting for a better moment to strike.
The Divine Maiden Furnace then did not move — it hung suspended in that place, quietly standing guard, providing intimidation.
At this moment, the million-strong Spiritual Court army was all in motion. Boundless Great Dao fragments flew together, various weapons gleaming with light, transforming into vast expanses of Dao-light that submerged Ye Fan at the center.
The Great Dao of the world is boundless. Some say there are three thousand Great Daos; some say ten thousand Daos return to their source; some say the Dao follows nature and is without limit, impossible to count. Now, every kind of Dao danced and flew — some weak, some strong, yet each representing a direction, a road leading toward the other shore, toward the end of life and creation. All of them manifested here.
This million-strong army — every single person’s Great Dao fragments surging outward, combined with the interwoven laws and Dao principles within their weapons — transformed this place into an ocean of Dao.
Ye Fan remained still as a pine tree, sinking and rising no more — stable as a boulder. His body transformed into a cauldron and then a furnace, shifting back and forth between the two. Occasionally, at the center of his brow a great bell appeared and tolled gently, and from within his body a celestial tower manifested.
His flesh and blood shone with light — like a universe unto itself — and what he needed to do was break through that layer of heaven and earth, allow the true-self Dao principles sealed within to revive and emerge once more into the world.
The phantoms of the Stone Emperor, the Void Emperor, the Heaven-Forsaken Supreme, and others stood to one side, filtering the fire of ten thousand Daos. The flames roared and blazed, scorching and searing Ye Fan, tempering his body.
Ye Fan glowed from head to toe, radiating a mysterious and unfathomable aura. From within him, it seemed as though a dormant Great Emperor was about to be awakened, instilling in all who witnessed it ever-greater awe and reverence.
Within his body, divine lamps illuminated eternity. In the blink of an eye, half the regions within him lit up — as if a divine rainbow had swept through — his entire person wreathed in five-colored flowing radiance.
The blood of the Holy Body revived — a thunderous rolling sound — a supremely powerful aura spreading outward, pressing down upon everyone until they could not breathe!
“The Holy Body is truly returning — truly rising again after three hundred years!”
The crowd in Divine Punishment City craned their necks expectantly. The Spiritual Court’s people all wore dark expressions. They could not stop him — not even a near-Emperor weapon had been enough.
Yet at the moment when more than half of Ye Fan’s body had lit up, the divine lamps within ceased to increase — causing many to tense in alarm.
He let out a cold snort, expelled the endless Great Dao fragments from within his body, and then his flesh and blood all over him began to tremble, his bones crackling.
With a thunderous boom, he rose to his full height — and every single divine lamp within him in that instant blazed to a scorching intensity, ignited all at once, making his flesh and blood seem to catch fire.
“Hum-Rumble!”
A terrifying aura expanded outward. A near-Emperor pressure erupted, turning that entire place into a dreadful field of power. Those Great Dao fragments began to orbit, spiraling around him as he moved.
“His flesh has become Emperor — his physical body is transforming into a near-Emperor form!” The crowd cried out in shock.
In this lifetime, Ye Fan had endured three hundred years of bitter suffering in order to survive. No one had imagined that he would be on the verge of reaching the near-Emperor realm so swiftly — it was breathtaking.
“Roar…”
As Ye Fan blazed with scorching intensity all over, just as he was about to kindle the near-Emperor fire and break through his shackles, the several phantoms standing before him — the Stone Emperor, the Master of Reincarnation, the Heaven-Forsaken Supreme, and the others — all let out a great roar.
In this moment, the star domain shook. Some meteorites exploded outright. The remnant traces of Supremes were like this — a sight that inspired nothing but terror!
Simultaneously, all the Great Dao fragments reversed direction, flying back toward the crowd. A series of muffled groans rang out as they rushed into the bodies of the Spiritual Court’s million-strong army — causing every single person to shudder violently, bones breaking and tendons snapping.
This was a terrifying spectacle — the power of a single person, and yet every last person present had been struck!
“How is this possible — his orderly laws and everything else within him have not truly broken free — how does he possess this kind of might?!”
“The flesh becoming Emperor — this is using the flesh alone to become a near-Emperor — a Dao and a path unlike any other!”
A Great Sage within the Divine Punishment area was aghast, speaking aloud the truth of what had happened.
“Ah…”
The Spiritual Court’s forces were thrown into chaos — the endless army all sustaining severe injuries. This was truly like a legend — and it was all the work of a single person!
Every person on the Spiritual Court’s side was now gripped by terror. Who had said the Holy Body had declined? Who had said the Holy Body’s end had come in sorrow? Who had said the Holy Body would from this point on fade into darkness, with no further place in the contest among the world’s great powers? In this moment, he declared through action: he was back!
Everyone understood: Ye Fan, unwilling to languish in obscurity, was determined to defy the heavens and continue the road he had never finished walking.
And the Spiritual Court’s people were all seized by dread. He would be the greatest enemy their master could face. If they did not kill him now, they would never be able to kill him in the future — no one could suppress his rise!
“Boom!”
Lightning split the clear sky. A massive bolt of lightning crossed the heavens, shattering the silence of the mortal world, shaking the vast and boundless universe, filling all who saw it with shock.
Was this the near-Emperor tribulation? And yet — Ye Fan’s orderly divine chains had not yet appeared.
“It is truly the flesh becoming Emperor — the flesh ascending — his physical body has transformed into a near-Emperor form!” Everyone stood in a daze.
A colossal bolt of lightning descended, its terrifying radiance casting the Spiritual Court’s people’s faces into a sheet of white. Yourou’s body shuddered violently and she could not stop herself from retreating, her beautiful lips trembling. Her father had found his enemy!
“Rumble-rumble-rumble!”
Vast arcs of lightning were like celestial light, illuminating the dark and cold universe. The boundless expanse of the star-filled sky trembled — and there, a figure like a god or devil stood tall, lifting his face to the vault of heaven, a full head of black hair billowing in the lightning’s glow, standing unyielding.