Yunheng radiated light, as the void around him warped and twisted. A strange force gathered in the air around him, and his terrifying aura surged like a crashing tide.

“Shhh!”

A wave of incomprehensible force tore through — exceeding all earthly limits of speed. With a sickening thud, Ye Fan exploded apart, struck so violently that his body shattered into pieces, flesh and blood flying in all directions.

That had been Yunheng’s true form — peerless in his divine swiftness, having broken through the fundamental laws of the cosmos itself, matchless beneath all heaven. His speed was so extreme that it had influenced the very stability of space and time.

In that instant, his speed had been so incomprehensibly fast that even the supreme beings of the several Forbidden Zones drew in sharp, cold breaths. He was the Celestial Sovereign who had created the Walk Secret Art — and somehow, he was still alive.

From the Forbidden Zones, beams of light shot skyward. Two beings had recognized him, and between them and this man lay a great, undying hatred — for when they had once been crossing their tribulation to become emperors, he had attacked them, seeking to seize their Dao fruits.

The Carefree Celestial Sovereign — an ancient existence who had swept undefeated through the Age of Myth — was said to be relentlessly pursuing a path to shatter the flow of time and attain immortality, seeking to prove an undying existence.

Such a figure should have long since faded from this world, yet today he had revealed his true form once more. It shook all who witnessed it. How could this be? Had the rumors not said he had long since passed into stillness?

Though the two great emperor-realm masters within the Forbidden Zones burned with fury, neither emerged into the world. They watched in silence, hoping that Ye Fan and this ancient being would destroy each other.

The Carefree Celestial Sovereign had created the Walk Secret Art, standing unmatched beneath all heaven. It was said he had stepped into the domain of time itself — capable of altering the flow of years, reversing age, and adding boundless spans of life.

“In the end, it has been proven — one can influence the passage of years, but still cannot change what one is.”

Ye Fan reformed his true body. As a Great Completion Holy Physique, with one half of himself already touching the brink of the Dao-Attainment realm, his regenerative capacity was extraordinary. Combined with his mastery of the Recover Secret Art, restoration was nearly instantaneous — a single thought, and he was whole again.

“Useless,” Yunheng said. “Once my Walk Secret Art is upon you, all techniques fail — not even the All Secret Art nor the Recover Secret Art will avail you. You forced me to reveal my true form. Now you walk a road of no return.”

He spoke with absolute confidence in his own laws — he did not even regard the divine arts of an Emperor Venerable, gazing down upon all of heaven and earth with the natural arrogance and dominance that befitted a Celestial Sovereign.

“Boom!”

Yunheng struck again. Beyond the speed of light, time unraveled, and his figure could not even be seen — he attacked with overwhelming force.

“Thud!”

Ye Fan’s body exploded apart once more. Half of him was struck to ruin, and he had no way to defend against it whatsoever. The sheer speed was staggering.

“Formidable,” Ye Fan admitted, genuinely in awe of his opponent’s divine arts and profound mastery. In this domain, his opponent was undoubtedly the supreme master of all ages, past and present — none could compare.

Ye Fan blazed with light as he activated the Walk Secret Art himself, using his opponent’s own technique against him. Simultaneously, beneath the amplifying effect of the All Secret Art, his speed erupted tenfold in an instant.

At that movement, the cosmos itself began to fracture and destabilize — for the power of time was genuinely surging through it, profoundly disrupting the fabric of space-time.

“Hummm!”

In the fierce collision that followed, Ye Fan was sent flying once more. A horrifying bloody hole appeared at his right shoulder, and the entire left half of his body was reduced to shredded flesh, a mangled ruin.

“Even with the All Secret Art, you dare contend with me in my own domain? My Dao has reached a certain level — it requires no amplification whatsoever!” Yunheng declared coldly.

This was his path to emperorship. He had every right to say so. No one in all of history had been faster than him — the supreme figure of all ages in the Walk Secret Art, his mastery thereof having long since reached the heights of heaven.

Ye Fan did not respond. With multiple secret arts running in concert, his wounds vanished entirely. His expression was grave beyond measure as he stepped forward, one step at a time, to face his opponent head-on.

Yet in the dozens of exchanges that followed, blood flowers continued to bloom across Ye Fan’s body as he sustained grievous wound after wound — he simply could not evade his opponent’s attacks.

That speed was beyond compare. There was no one in this world who could escape it.

“Enough is enough. In this domain, every great emperor and celestial sovereign of all ages must bow their head to me,” Yunheng said.

His hair was thick and dense, silver irises flowing with divine radiance, robes billowing around him — he carried an indescribable air of transcendence. In ages past, he had styled himself the Carefree Celestial Sovereign for good reason: his speed was so divine that no one could touch him, and he was rarely ever put in a sorry state.

“Hummm!”

The All-Mother Qi emerged. Ye Fan used the cauldron as a shield, a cascade of Mother Qi descending in streams to protect him. Ten thousand spirits manifested around him — the Kun Peng, the Vermillion Bird, the Celestial Dragon, and countless others — encircling him and pressing across the cosmos, guarding him at the center.

“That cauldron is quite fine,” Yunheng remarked, eyeing the weapon above Ye Fan’s head. “If it were to merge with my Jade Bottle, it would become all the more perfect — becoming an immortal artifact would be no issue.”

“We’ll see if you have the life left to take it,” Ye Fan replied.

Yunheng smiled. “The cauldron is mine,” he said, “and so is your physical body — and your soul.”

His expression had gone utterly cold at these final words. He had already reached the extreme of his Sublimation, and after this battle it would be difficult to endure the long passage of years. Only by seizing Ye Fan’s karmic fortune and reversing fate could he extend his life.

“Boom!”

The great battle raged on. The Carefree Celestial Sovereign moved like a dragon rising and a phoenix descending, transcendent and untouchable, every strike delivered with breathtaking elegance — yet at the critical moment, he flickered in and out of existence, simply too fast to follow.

Every single blow he landed was devastating. His speed reached its absolute limit, his divine power delivered with world-annihilating force — truly, the presence of one who reigned undefeated beneath all heaven. Such methods, such laws, filled even the ancient supremes of the Forbidden Zones with deep wariness.

“Clang!”

He struck the cauldron several times, leaving fingerprint-shaped impressions in the metal, nearly punching through it entirely. Had it been anything other than the All-Mother Qi Cauldron, it would have long since been reduced to dust.

Leveraging his incomparable divine speed, he had broken through the defense of the All-Mother Qi entirely, driving his attacks to within striking distance of Ye Fan himself — bringing him within a hair’s breadth of catastrophe on several occasions.

Ye Fan accelerated again, unleashing multiple secret arts simultaneously: he deployed the Soldier Secret Art to bind the Carefree Celestial Sovereign, the Fight Secret Art for assault, and the Walk Secret Art to boost his own speed — all techniques running at full power as he fought Yunheng with everything he had.

This was an intense, full-scale clash, the likes of which were rare in all of history. Yunheng was in Sublimation, the equivalent of a great emperor fighting at peak capacity. That Ye Fan had held out against him for so long without falling spoke volumes of his own might.

“Thud!”

Ye Fan spat blood once more and went flying. This time it was his opponent’s jade bottle that had struck him — followed by a palm that crushed directly into him, splitting his body into four pieces, holy blood raining down like a crimson downpour.

“Do you think that knowing more divine arts makes you stronger?” Yunheng sneered coldly. “Broad but shallow — you will never touch the highest domain. Every Dao-Attainment being achieves their apotheosis by ascending to the extreme of a single domain. It is not about how much you learn. That only scatters your focus, and in the end, you master nothing completely.”

The Carefree Celestial Sovereign spoke even as he attacked, looking down at Ye Fan from above with a trace of mockery. In this entire world, perhaps only he would dare to critique Ye Fan’s strengths and weaknesses in this manner, as one dressing down a junior.

“You yourself said — every person’s Dao is different,” Ye Fan replied, utterly unmoved. “How do you know my path cannot succeed?” His gaze hardened with even greater resolve.

“Boom!”

Ye Fan suddenly deployed his Divine Manifestation, launching a full counter-offensive against the Carefree Celestial Sovereign — attempting to draw him into the small chaotic world within himself, neutralizing the advantage of his opponent’s speed.

It worked. The Divine Manifestation expanded, enveloping Yunheng and dragging him in — and suddenly, it was as though he had been plunged into quicksand, his incomparable speed sharply curtailed.

“Kill!”

Ye Fan’s eyes blazed with divine light. He hurled the Celestial Emperor Fist forward, his killing intent absolute — his only concern had always been his opponent’s speed, which he could never match. Now an opening had appeared. Naturally, he would bring every technique to bear, pouring everything into the assault!

“Dong!”

Then a terrifying sound rang out. Yunheng vanished from where he had stood — and a streak of bizarre light came flying toward Ye Fan’s skull.

No question, this was the extreme of divine speed again — and this time it was more terrifying than anything before. Ye Fan instantly sank the cauldron down over himself as a shield, then blazed with light, erupting with his most powerful aura to resist the blow.

“Clang!”

The great cauldron shook violently, hairline fractures spreading across it in a dense web.

Ye Fan returned the assault with the Celestial Emperor Fist — striking a thread of flowing light and shattering it — yet his own fist in that instant erupted with countless wrinkles, as though it had aged considerably.

He drew a sharp, cold breath. This was the force of years — his opponent had pushed the Walk Secret Art to its absolute limit, and had indeed stepped into the domain of time itself, wielding it as a weapon against him.

Ye Fan felt a splitting headache coming on. He was beginning to accept that what his opponent had said was not without reason: when a single secret art is taken to its ultimate extreme, it truly becomes undefeatable — requiring nothing else at all.

With a thunderous roar, the Carefree Celestial Sovereign spread his arms wide — like an immortal phoenix unfolding its wings, like a divine ape leaping between peaks — and unleashed vast rolling waves of Dao energy, all of it the power of years and time, crashing forth.

This was his killing technique. Ye Fan understood that his opponent had grown tired of waiting. This was the most terrifying assault yet — and if he could not withstand it, the outcome might truly be tragic.

The Walk Secret Art at this level of terror was not something any outsider could achieve. In all of history, only the Carefree Celestial Sovereign himself had wielded it with such transcendent mastery, moving through it as though walking with immortals.

“Boom!”

Ye Fan sent the cauldron shooting forward. Ten thousand spirits took flight — dragons, phoenixes, Kun Peng, White Tigers — flooding the sky, drowning the cosmos, shattering many great stars outright.

Yet in that instant, something chilling occurred: as the ten thousand spirits met those waves of Dao energy, they all aged silently and without sound — their flesh withering, drying, and finally crumbling into bone, dying of old age where they stood.

Throughout the cosmos, the great and powerful of every race felt their scalps prickling. What kind of heaven-defying power was this — to truly command the flow of time? The Carefree Celestial Sovereign was every bit as terrifying as his legend. No wonder he was so supremely self-assured!

“Break!”

Ye Fan roared. Without interrupting the other secret arts he was running, he extended his right hand in a sudden wrenching pull, executing the Wushi Secret Art — driving all forces back to their origin point and forcibly severing his opponent’s technique.

“Boom!”

The Carefree Celestial Sovereign stumbled. The power of time, though not entirely dispersed, was abruptly halted — nearly cut off entirely.

Ye Fan bellowed and unleashed his unparalleled offensive force, driving it forward. With one hand he reached out and seized the endless stellar river, drawing countless great stars down like a rain of boulders to smash the field before him.

Boom!

The power of the years was scattered, flung in all directions — many great stars exploding outward.

“You know quite a few secret arts,” Yunheng said coldly, though deep within him a warning had begun to ring. “But you still cannot stop me.” Ye Fan’s techniques were numerous, and all of them were astounding — if this continued to develop, they would genuinely come to threaten him.

He anchored himself in the eternal and pushed the Walk Secret Art to its absolute limit, striking again — this time with the force of years even more vast and overwhelming. He wanted to end Ye Fan quickly.

Ye Fan responded with yet more secret arts — but this time the primary technique shifted: he mimicked the fearsome one’s Ten Thousand Transformation Divine Art!

Transforming all wonders into decay, it effectively disrupted the flow of years — interfering with the Carefree Celestial Sovereign’s power of time, making it far less smooth and flowing than before.

“Show me what other moves you have left!” Yunheng shouted.

The two fought on for another half-hour. Ye Fan was struck several more times — his body blasting apart, the force of the years inflicting severe damage upon him. Had his holy blood not been transcendent, washing away that bizarre force at tremendous speed, he might well have perished.

In the ferocity of that battle, Ye Fan finally ignited himself entirely — all secret arts unleashed at once, this swath of the cosmos boiling around him.

Within him, the sound of scripture was unceasing. Every profound principle was on full display, becoming an ocean of laws and secret arts. Even his Divine Manifestation projected itself into the sky above.

The Carefree Celestial Sovereign’s expression changed. He could sense something abnormal — as Ye Fan threw himself into this desperate stand, being struck again and again until blood streaked the starry sky, even having his body blown apart, his opponent was still not diminishing. Something terrible was happening — a transformation.

All around Ye Fan, laws intertwined, scripture dissolving into dense runes covering all surfaces. Combined with the Divine Manifestation arching over all heaven and earth, it was as though he had been enclosed within a cauldron-furnace, gestating within it like a divine embryo being refined.

“Furnace-Nourishment of a Hundred Scriptures — you’re trying to use me to achieve your breakthrough? Bold indeed!” Yunheng bellowed in fury.

At last he understood his opponent’s Dao. This young adversary was too audacious — having been shattered apart time and again, dancing along the knife’s edge of death, he might perish at any moment, yet he was still thinking of comprehending the Dao and breaking through even in these dire straits.

Furnace-Nourishment of a Hundred Scriptures — ten thousand laws erupting — all manner of immortal light fusing together. The place where Ye Fan stood became a field of primordial chaos. He was becoming the singular “One” about to transcend from within it.

This was the path he sought to forge. Endless chaotic immortal light swirled around him, enveloping him completely.

“After all this evolution — is he going to become a Chaos Physique?” Yunheng felt a jolt of alarm, roaring as he charged forward to attack.