“Don’t run! This emperor hasn’t even gotten to show off yet! You flee like this — what does that count as?! Stop right there!”
The Black Emperor took off in wild pursuit, bellowing at the top of its lungs, shamelessly and stubbornly determined to keep the Sovereign from escaping. The sight left everyone’s eyes wide and jaws dropped.
Just moments ago, how overwhelming the Sovereign had been — like the lord of a divine realm descended in person, looking down upon all ten thousand domains, surveying every hero under heaven with utter contempt. That kind of majesty was unmatched throughout the world.
How had he turned and fled in the blink of an eye? The contrast between before and after was too enormous.
“What was that?”
Many people had sensed the violently powerful aura from deep within the cosmos. Had it been the thing that startled the Sovereign? It must have been so.
The more powerful a being, the more profoundly they had felt it. The ordinary soldiers of the Divine Army stood dazed — they had been somewhat aware of it, but not with that kind of sharp acuity. Staring into the distance, they found it impossible to accept that a supreme figure like the Sovereign could actually be in flight.
The Divine Army numbered in the tens of millions, densely packed — every soldier armored with an icy gleam, the weapons in their hands flashing with cold light. They had come for the Celestial Court, forming a vast ocean of iron and steel.
This was a host of staggering power, commanded by Great Sages, the most elite soldiers the Divine Court had to offer. Yet in this moment, all of them stood dumbfounded, watching as the Sovereign shot across the sky and departed. Many were bewildered.
They were an invincible army, come to sweep away the Celestial Court, to lay the foundations of an eternal legacy, to inaugurate the most glorious era of all — yet the supreme Sovereign had… fled for his life?
All of this had happened too suddenly for them to process.
“KILL!”
Ye Fan raised a hand, and the Celestial Court’s army surged out like tigers and wolves unleashed from a cage, charging forward like the crash of collapsing mountains and the roar of a crashing sea. They were a host of fierce and powerful warriors, transforming into a flood that swept the eight directions.
“CHARGE!”
“Leave not one of them!”
“Annihilate the Divine Court, and avenge our fallen brothers!”
The contrast was stark and vivid. One side was petrified, caught completely off guard. The other moved with towering momentum, crashing forward like great waves battering a shore — wild and unstoppable.
No one in the Divine Court’s army had imagined that what was supposed to be a certain victory would turn out this way. Their commander had fled in panic, so shaken he hadn’t even spared a thought for the men he’d left behind.
Pfft!
The moment both sides made contact, blood began spraying. Seen from afar, it was like a crimson tide surging skyward.
The Celestial Court drove forward and pushed through. In the very first exchange, the Divine Army suffered massive casualties. Crimson dyed the heavens between them, forming a red tide that shook every watching soul.
This confrontation had arrived with breathtaking suddenness. In terms of momentum alone, the Divine Army had plunged from the absolute pinnacle to the very depths of a valley in an instant — the reversal was too swift. The Celestial Court, meanwhile, overflowed with surging confidence. Each fighter seemed to move as though possessed by gods and demons, their killing intent shaking the cosmos as they charged forward with no hesitation and no fear.
“KILL!”
The Celestial Court had deployed its most supreme battle commanders. Each person’s divine power was vast as a sea, their battle spirit surging like a tide.
The Human Demon charged straight through. His target was naturally the Sovereign himself. Holding the fusion of the bone club and the stone seal, even without specifically targeting the Divine Army, a single sweep of that weapon through their ranks was already a catastrophe.
As he carved his way through one million soldiers of the Divine Court, he left a true swath of emptiness behind him — severed limbs, shattered bones, and clouds of blood mist exploding outward together, scattering in every direction.
Ye Fan and the Holy Emperor’s son were the same — they immediately struck down several of the most fearsome figures within the Divine Court’s army, then charged after the lord of the Divine Court like prehistoric beasts.
And behind them, which among Dongfang Ye, Ji Chengdao, Hua Hua, and the Silver Blood Twin Emperors could be taken lightly? Every single one of them burned with killing intent, like thunderbolts splitting the dawn, sweeping across ten thousand troops.
BOOM!
Long Ma roared and transformed into a crimson dragon. Though he could not compare to the Sovereign, his bearing was still awe-inspiring. His dragon body stretched for a thousand li, sweeping across like a blood-red mountain range — he had become a grinding machine of terror, terrifying beyond measure.
On another front, the Golden-Winged Great Peng King refused to be outshone. He spread both wings wide. His golden feathers stretched across the sky like two heavenly blades, cleaving out a bloody inferno of death, leaving behind countless corpses. Finally, he transformed into human form, unleashing his Great Peng King Fist, shattering the firmament, striking down Great Sage-level commanders, and leading the army in its surge forward.
Beyond them, the Black Bear Sage, the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, the Golden Lion, the Scorpion Sage, and the Azure Luan — all of them had long since cultivated their power to terrifying heights. Contending with Great Sages was no problem whatsoever.
These were the twelve saints gathered long ago on the Star Gazing Ancient Road. Several had fallen, but those who had survived had by now each become a supreme powerhouse whose name shook an entire star domain.
“WOOF!”
The Black Emperor howled. It carried Xiao Nannan on its back, the Demon Jar That Swallows the Heavens towering above its head — it was practically a demonic god. Even the vertical eye at the center of its forehead had opened, and it tore madly after the Sovereign.
In the process, it devastated the courage of the Divine Army’s soldiers. That was the Demon Jar That Swallows the Heavens — a name dreadful enough to shake ten thousand ages. It had not shattered even during the Dark Turmoil, and was now one of a very small handful of true Supreme artifacts in existence.
Auspicious light gushed forth as the Demon Jar That Swallows the Heavens swept across the field. The Divine Court’s elders and senior statesmen immediately fell to their knees on the spot, utterly unable to withstand that overwhelming pressure. This was a weapon forged from the very body of a true supreme empress of the ages — absolutely terrifying beyond words.
This entire battlefield seethed and roiled. Blood sprayed without cease, staining the heavens red. The Divine Court’s army collapsed into rout on the spot. Even their supreme commander had fled — what else could they do?
Facing celestial soldiers and generals who fought like prehistoric beasts unleashed, they had no will to continue fighting and could not hold out. This side had too many powerful experts, and they could not be matched.
Hum!
Yan Yixi and Li Tian together activated a Quasi-Emperor artifact — the Divine Woman Furnace. This was a divine object forged by the hands of a great emperor. In an instant, it expanded to several hundred thousand zhang in height, suppressing a vast swath of the Divine Court’s commanders beneath it. Not one of them had the power to resist.
The cry of the phoenix shook the heavens. The little creature raised by Ji Ziyue — though once small — now blazed across the sky like a golden phoenix. Her innate gifts were staggeringly extraordinary. In the past, she had cultivated even faster than Ye Fan and his companions. Having taken Demon Goddess Hua as the foundation for her cultivation, she had become the king among demon prodigies — her gifts without peer. She had been at the peak of the Great Sage realm for many years now, her cultivation pushing to the absolute extremity. With a single sweep of her phoenix wings, the four directions collapsed. She dove into the Divine Court’s army, and the fire she unleashed reduced ten thousand soldiers to ash in an instant. Nothing could stop her.
RUMBLE!
Li Heishui steered the Black Pearl — a warship forged from a Quasi-Emperor artifact — and upon it stood a crimson blood war hammer that swept across the firmament, clearing out everything ahead of it in one pass.
…
At this point in the battle, the outcome was no longer in any doubt. The Celestial Court’s army was overwhelming in its destruction, pursuing the Divine Army’s soldiers to the point where they had nowhere to flee — neither to the sky above nor to the earth below. Their formation had completely disintegrated.
Those who had come from across the cosmos to watch this battle all drew sharp, cold breaths of air. This was nothing like the result any of them had envisioned. They had believed that the Celestial Court would certainly be annihilated today, that most of its key figures would be slain. Who could have imagined that this stunning reversal of fortune was what they would witness?
“Unbelievable!”
“The Celestial Court is too powerful — they actually swept through the Divine Court’s entire army!”
People exclaimed in amazement. Every heart was boiling over, feeling as though this couldn’t possibly be real. More than a few stood wide-eyed and slack-jawed, unable to find words.
Among them, some faces had turned ghastly pale with terror. These were the ones who had once seized Celestial Court territory. When Ye Fan had returned, they had considered giving it back — yet when the Sovereign emerged from seclusion, they had trimmed their sails to the wind and forcibly held onto those resource stars. Now they regretted it so deeply their intestines had turned green.
How had it come to this? Their calves were shaking. Fear had drained the color from their faces. This outcome had their vision going dark. If the Celestial Court’s wrath turned upon them, they would face absolute annihilation.
Many others fixed their eyes on the direction of the Big Dipper, where an aura of a great emperor had erupted — and the more powerful the observer, the more profoundly they sensed it. A small number of them had actually caught a glimpse of a blurry light silhouette standing in the starry void, looking down upon this place.
“An ancient Supreme — it is absolutely an ancient Supreme!”
When that conclusion was reached, a chill ran down their spines from head to foot. A select few understood: the Sovereign had kicked an iron wall this time. There was someone in this world capable of intimidating even him.
At this moment, in the depths of the starry sky, there was a profound silence. The Sovereign crossed hundreds of millions of li, passing through more star systems than anyone could count, refusing to stop for even an instant.
Ye Fan, the Holy Emperor’s son, the Human Demon, and the Black Emperor carrying Xiao Nannan — all of them pressed the pursuit, relentless and unyielding.
“Doggy, he’s in that direction — don’t lose track of him.” On the back of the Great Black Dog, Xiao Nannan pointed the way.
Without the little girl, the group might well have lost the target long ago. It must be said — Xiao Nannan’s performance was enough to move gods and make immortals weep. She was too extraordinary. One could only marvel in amazement.
The Sovereign was incomparably powerful. Even the Human Demon — born with animal-like sensitivity, a supreme being of innate ferocity — could not keep up with him. Even Ye Fan’s instincts and intuition had failed him. Yet the little girl could always identify the correct direction at every crucial moment.
At this time, the Sovereign’s face was snow-white, and even the crimson dragon armor he wore had grown dim. He still felt a persistent chill against his back — as though the tip of a blade was pressed there — filling him with a profound and primal dread.
“A great emperor… a living great emperor. The one who quelled the turmoil three hundred years ago was truly her after all — after all these ten thousand years, she still walks in this world!”
His voice was unsteady. He could not accept this truth.
What terrified him most was that the light silhouette had not given chase — yet he felt its gaze still fixed upon him, as though across the infinite starry void, it watched his back without cease.
At last, that sensation finally faded. Yet in its place rose a feeling of humiliation and indignation — because with the supreme spiritual perception of one on the verge of attaining the Dao, he had sensed something of the true scene.
That light silhouette had been looking down upon him from beginning to end. And then it had quietly, silently looked away — not even having experienced the desire to act. It had not deemed him worthy of a single move.
This… caused his blood to surge with fury. What did it matter if the other party was an ancient Supreme? How could they treat all of this with such utter contempt — completely ignoring him?!
Nothing could make him feel more diminished. In this world, he was nearly without equal. He had believed he had ascended to the absolute summit — yet that person had looked at him with cold indifference for a brief moment, as though viewing something from above, and then dismissed him entirely.
“WOOF!”
When the Sovereign had no idea how long he had been standing there, the group pursuing him came bearing down.
Most notably, watching that Great Black Dog come bounding after him in gleeful abandon — tracking him all the way here at a run — made every last strand of his red hair stand on end. His eyes went wide with a terror that shook the world. This was too much!
He was the great Sovereign — a supreme prodigy of the ages. When had he ever been reduced to such a wretched state? Being chased and bitten by a dog? That this had come to pass — was there still any place in the cosmos where he could stand with dignity? He had been completely and utterly humiliated.
Yet when he saw Xiao Nannan riding on the Great Black Dog’s back, every shred of his fury and indignation receded like the tide, and he turned and walked away.
A great emperor’s Dao Fruit — he could not afford to provoke her, let alone devour her. If he had dared to foolishly act on that impulse, he believed that light silhouette in the direction of the Big Dipper would have come blazing across the cosmos in an instant, striking him down amid the stars.
In the end, the Sovereign fled into the wilderness at the edge of the cosmos, hiding himself within the chaos. This chapter of the conflict had come to a close.