According to ancient tradition, this great star had itself once been a life’s forbidden zone — though that was in a past so remote as to be nearly unimaginable. Later it had changed, and many powerful races had come to dwell upon it.
The star was immense — not smaller than any life-bearing planet Ye Fan had ever laid eyes on. Ancient trees of enormous scale reached toward the sky, great rivers surged and flowed, cliffs and peaks stood in dramatic and extraordinary formations — everything was breathtakingly grand.
“A forbidden zone of the mythological age, once called the place closest to immortality,” Ye Fan murmured, a note of wonder in his voice.
So many years had passed, and his understanding of the cosmos had deepened far beyond what it once was — especially regarding a star like the Ascending Immortal Star, which had naturally been a subject he had made a priority to investigate.
Aoooo—!
Ye Fan descended, landing in a mountainous region. An elephant-dragon came charging toward him — several dozen zhang in height, resembling a mammoth in shape, but covered entirely in bluish-green scale armor, with a massive tiger clenched in its jaws, being torn apart and devoured, blood streaming.
On the other side, atop the pinnacle of a towering stone mountain, there was a nest. A silver giant bird — fully sixty zhang in length — surveyed everything below with a cold gaze, then suddenly spread its wings and struck the sky, diving downward.
Psh!
Blood burst and splattered. The silver giant bird’s razor-sharp talons reached down and tore the elephant-dragon apart on the spot, seizing it and carrying it toward the nest atop the mountain peak. It pecked the carcass into strips of flesh and blood to feed the nestlings, and waves of silver flame rose from the nest — the divine power of the young birds was awakening.
These were powerful wild beasts and fierce birds of prey — every one of them formidable in the extreme, comparable to powerful experts of one region or another. They had all long since mastered divine principles, yet they still lived and struggled within the simple, brutal food chain — the strong survived, the weak became food. It was savage and blood-soaked.
This was the Ascending Immortal Star. Ye Fan had just arrived, and from this single glimpse of one corner of it, he already knew how ruthlessly cruel survival here would be. Everyone here was a powerhouse.
He set off toward the vast central landmass, intending to explore more deeply — to understand what this place truly held, and what secrets it concealed.
Dong!
A tremendous sound rang out. In the distance, a divine ape covered entirely in crimson fur stepped out like a mountain and blocked the way forward, towering to a height of a thousand zhang — a truly colossal being. It held a stone axe in its grip, radiating overwhelming divine might.
Ye Fan was surprised. He had not expected to encounter a primordial giant here, a being from the savage age, radiating terrifying pressure.
“Human — where do you come from?” A vast surge of divine thought pulsed outward.
This was the king of the primordial giants, resembling an ancient ape, its hair grown to a length of several meters. It had noticed Ye Fan, and its voice rolled out like a peal of heavenly thunder.
“I come from beyond this domain,” Ye Fan said honestly.
This giant king was a supreme sage — its strength was quite formidable by any measure. In a tone of warning, it said: “I sense that you are both dangerous and powerful. But I must tell you — do not under any circumstances attempt to break the seal of the Ancient Central Earth. For the Ascending Immortal Star, that would be a catastrophe.”
Ye Fan was taken aback. He politely engaged in conversation with it, seeking to learn more about the situation here.
The primordial giant sat down and began to speak.
According to what had been passed down, the Ancient Central Earth had been a life’s forbidden zone of the mythological age — also the one place where immortals had truly been witnessed by ancient and modern alike, a land full of legend and secrets. But for reasons lost to time, the supreme beings of the past had sealed it, and the immortal realm could no longer emerge from it.
“Throughout the ages, many Great Emperors have come here and walked through that place. Seeing that you appear to be a powerful contender on the path to emperorship, I feared you might act rashly and break the seal there,” the crimson-haired giant said.
These were remarkable revelations. Ye Fan had heard rumors about this many years ago — at that time there had already been word that the seal of the Ascending Immortal Star was loosening, and that a supreme being of immense power had already emerged and was attacking other ancient life-bearing grounds.
“No — that is a rumor. The true Central Immortal Earth has always remained sealed. Only the great seal there has been gradually weakening. The powerful beings who truly went out to attack other grounds were the Kunlun Remnant Clans.”
The Kunlun Remnant Clans — a name of tremendous prestige!
They were not a single race but a collective name for a group of races. In a past so distant it nearly defied imagination, they had once dwelt upon the Kunlun Immortal Mountain, the uncrowned kings of the mythological age.
Their power and terrifying nature were known throughout the world. It could be said that in that era, they were without equal.
In later times, only the likes of the Emperor Venerables were capable of attacking them — and ultimately, these forces broke through the Kunlun Immortal Mountain, slew the supreme beings slumbering within their clans, and forcibly overthrew their dynasty.
Ye Fan fell silent. That had been a glorious and radiant era — cultivation civilization had been at its most advanced, with each race competing in brilliance, tens of thousands of powerful clans standing side by side, incomparable in scale.
Yet it was also an era drenched in blood — war and slaughter filled every corner, and countless powerful clans had been annihilated, vanishing into the most magnificent of eras.
“The Kunlun Remnant Clans dwell here, and several tens of powerful tribal groups are among the dominant rulers of the Ascending Immortal Star,” the primordial giant king said.
Ye Fan nodded — he had long since heard of this. This star was extremely dangerous.
“In that case, the living beings of the Ascending Immortal Star periodically set out to attack the other shore — not only on account of the Ancient Heavenly Court, but also because of the Kunlun Immortal Mountain, which is their ancestral ground — and even more so because they seek the Immortal Bell, hoping to reclaim the supreme ancestral weapon they lost,” Ye Fan murmured.
He had taken note of what the giant king had said — the Kunlun Remnant Clans were only one of the dominant powers on this star. There were others as well.
“There is another group, called Qi Refiners. They breathe in morning mist and swallow the vital breath of heaven and earth. Their numbers are not great, but they are all supremely powerful — they are newcomers here, seemingly in pursuit of something.”
Upon hearing these words, Ye Fan’s expression shifted with a jolt — he had unexpectedly received word of the pre-Qin Qi Refiners!
For him, this was truly a surprise. These would be extraordinary figures who had come from Earth — each one carrying a profound origin and background.
In years past, he had traced and searched for them, hoping to learn of their whereabouts. He had not imagined he would find them here, on the Ascending Immortal Star.
“Of course — the Kunlun Remnant Clans attacked Earth, seeking to return to the Immortal Mountain that is their ancestral ground. Once the pre-Qin Qi Refiners rose to power, they would naturally have followed that road here,” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
The giant nodded. The two sides were indeed in an adversarial position and had fought terrifying battles of blood in the past — but in recent years, things had grown relatively calm, and the fighting had ceased.
Waves of emotion churned within Ye Fan. He thought of many things. Perhaps on this star, he might encounter many figures from ancient China — some legendary in name, some partaking equally of the divine and the human, wreathed in mystery.
In the past, he had lacked the strength to come to this place. Even had he come, he would only have been throwing his life away. But now it was different — he had become one of the dominant powers in the cosmos, and unless a supreme being from a life’s forbidden zone emerged, few could stand against him.
Ye Fan bid farewell to the primordial giant and, in a single blink, traversed the great land — arriving at the Central Immortal Earth.
What was called the immortal earth was, in fact, a place of utter desolation — not a single blade of grass grew. The land was barren, utterly wasted, the earth a dark reddish hue, without a single tree or plant. Cold and bleak, it was entirely unlike what he had imagined.
The domain here was vast, its edges unknowable, as though a great formation of time and space enshrouded it and rendered it boundless.
Ye Fan walked through it, sensing a faint trembling — as though deep beneath this earth, several supremely divine beings were bound by chains, locked in battle and howling.
The sensation was strange — it felt illusory, dreamlike, indistinct.
Ye Fan furrowed his brow and concentrated his attention. The result was something different still — this time, his sea of divine consciousness captured a vast rain of brilliant light, like human figures ascending to immortality, like divine beings descending from the heavens.
It was a boundless immortal realm, with sacred birds and auspicious beasts soaring and dancing, with magnificent palaces suspended upon white clouds, a scene of perfect harmony.
And within this scene of immortal sublimation, several immortal lords whose lives were drawing toward depletion were speaking urgently, as though giving warnings to the living beings of the mortal world.
“What a strange feeling!”
Ye Fan was genuinely shaken. He was formidably powerful — a quasi-emperor of the sixth tier, and in the years to come he might well break through to an even higher level — yet here, he could not distinguish the real from the illusory.
He could not determine which one was true.
The deeper he extended his divine consciousness, the stranger things became — the more extraordinary, the more bewildering.
He probed once more, and this time he saw several Immortal Kings seated upon meditation cushions. Beneath those cushions, black mist rolled in great waves, and several demon ancestors howled, their bodies pierced through by chains of orderly immortal links.
“What is going on here?”
He trusted his own perceptions and divine abilities — yet here, they were disrupted. One illusion and one obscuring mist after another arose, making truth and falsehood impossible to separate.
Ye Fan did not act rashly. Breaking the seal was not something that could be done at this moment. He trusted the primordial giant king’s words, turned, and departed, entering another expanse of land.
Roooar—!
“Who dares to trespass upon the sacred earth of our Kunlun Remnant Clans?”
Amid a demonic roar that shook the heavens, a massive figure appeared in the high sky, looking down upon Ye Fan and bellowing. This was a mighty man conjured into being by the activation of a supreme great formation.
He was an imprint — yet he was barely distinguishable from a real person, and he had actually reached the quasi-emperor realm!
Ye Fan’s eyes flickered. The Kunlun Remnant Clans were indeed extraordinary — he had barely shown his head, and already such a quasi-emperor-level imprint had manifested. Any ordinary person who came here would inevitably meet their death.
He also clearly saw that ahead, a great stone stele bore the inscription: Qiongqi Tribe.
Ye Fan’s expression changed. In ancient Chinese mythology and legend, this fierce beast had multiple descriptions — the Classic of Mountains and Seas described it thus: “Upon Mount Gui there is a beast that resembles an ox, with porcupine-like hair, called Qiongqi. Its voice is like the barking of a dog, and it devours people.”
The quasi-emperor-level creature imprint in the sky above was Qiongqi!
Ye Fan looked closer. Within the mountain range was a powerful tribal group, all composed of such creatures — and this was one of the Kunlun Remnant Clans.
He chose not to fight. He turned and departed, entering the vast neighboring territory. In succession, he saw Taowu, Hundun, and Taotie — all four great fierce beasts were present here, all belonging to the Kunlun Remnant Clans.
“Extraordinary indeed!” Ye Fan exclaimed. These were divine beasts and fierce beasts of ancient legend, and all of them could be found here.
Finally, he came upon a terrifying mountain range — crimson as blood, its energy like a dragon’s, stretching on for tens upon hundreds of millions of li.
Zhurong Tribe.
Ye Fan’s eyes shimmered. This was undoubtedly a terrifying clan, and this was their habitat.
The Zhurong appeared in numerous ancient texts. In Qu Yuan’s Heavenly Questions: “Where does the sun not reach? Where does the Zhurong light the way?” And in both the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Huainanzi, descriptions were given of its form, origins, and birthplace.
The accounts of it were manifold — when it opened its eyes, it was daylight; when it closed them, night fell. Some records said it had opened the heavens and created all things.
Taken together, these accounts were sufficient to speak to its power and terrifying nature.
Ye Fan surmised that the Zhurong must have been the supreme being of the Kunlun Remnant Clans — struck down in the mythological age. The traces of this could be inferred even from its legends.
Ye Fan traversed this region without entering it deeply, yet he could perceive their formidable power — individual after individual whose abilities shook the world, comprising several tens of battle divisions.
At last, he crossed through and arrived at another fearsome region of the Ascending Immortal Star — one that belonged to the Qi Refiners.
No sooner had Ye Fan entered this area than he felt a start. It truly resembled the ancient Chinese ruins and architectural styles he knew — as though he had been returned to Earth.
But before long, as he walked into a region of strange terrain, the architectural style changed completely.
The Great Thunder Monastery!
Ye Fan’s gaze halted. Here, once more, he beheld this famed monastery, so renowned throughout the ages. It was immense and solemn, bathed in the light of the setting sun, suffused with an inviolable sacred radiance.
“Is Shakyamuni within?” he murmured, gazing for a long while, and yet he did not enter.
This entire region was filled with divine temples — ancient monasteries hidden within deep mountains.
He crossed through the area and entered yet another region, where he saw one Daoist shrine after another.
A wave of unease passed through him. This place must surely be home to quasi-emperor-level figures of extraordinary stature — some of ancient China’s most powerful individuals were likely hidden here.
Traversing mountain and river, not drawing upon any power, he walked through a vast expanse. At last, resting at the foot of a small nameless mountain, he caught sight of a small, worn-down temple.
An elderly Daoist stood there smiling at him — seemingly having sensed his presence long ago, watching him from the moment he appeared on the horizon.
“Dear guest, should I address you as the Holy Body Ye Fan, the Heavenly Emperor Ye Fan, or perhaps as an Emperor Venerable?”
Ye Fan was taken aback at once. Why would he say such a thing?
“Hmm — you should not be an Emperor Venerable. I was mistaken. Let me simply call you Fellow Practitioner Ye,” the old Daoist said with a nod, greeting him from the small hillside.