“Hah, I once said not to let your murderous intent run too deep, for it would invite retribution in the end. See? The words have come true now.” The old man shook his head, carrying a sense of helplessness and resignation, and walked toward the peach grove.

There, over a dozen people stood, all of them young. Some had been sealed within source stones, while others stood vacantly, their eyes fixed blankly on Ye Fan and the Stone Emperor.

“Let us go. From this day forth, the Undying Mountain ceases to exist in this world. The tide of fate cannot be stemmed. This old man is nearing his end, yet I have glimpsed a corner of the future. For you all to live out your days peacefully and simply — that, too, is a fine life.”

He gave his wide sleeve a single sweep, drawing everyone inside, then departed without looking back. Moments later, he gathered up a small mountain from the outside world — one where a flash of Immortal Tear Green Gold had briefly shone — and from that day forward, he never appeared in the mortal realm again.

This was the choice of a supreme being. In the end, it had come to this — something that had defied even Ye Fan’s expectations. At the last, he had simply let it all go, without even casting a glance at the road to immortality.

The Stone Emperor said nothing. Having reached such a realm, what was there he did not understand, what was there he could not see? That state of mind — he understood it naturally. But people were different from one another.

“The Undying Mountain and the Void lineage are mortal enemies, and with the Holy Physique, the enmity is one of mutual annihilation. You are the son-in-law of the Void Emperor’s lineage, and a Holy Physique to boot — you must die!” The Stone Emperor finally spoke, his voice glacial and contemptuous.

“Hahaha!” Ye Fan burst into laughter, pointing a finger at him. “Do you still think this is the age of the Dark Upheaval? Since I have come, I came precisely to take your head.”

“Several hundred years ago, the Void returned, the Boundless Realm reappeared, and still the world ran red with blood. Today, I have no desire to entangle myself with you at length — ten moves shall decide it. If I cannot kill you within ten, I will end myself!” The Stone Emperor declared coldly and flatly.

“What unimaginable arrogance. Even the Carefree Heavenly Venerable would not dare speak to me like this — and you, a mere old stone, think yourself worthy?!” Ye Fan knew the man was formidable — perhaps not the most powerful being since antiquity, but close enough — yet his expression still darkened.

He carried this confidence. He had earned this right. Hundreds of years had passed, and he had advanced beyond the already towering heights he once stood upon, reaching the very summit of extremity — what could be rightly called unmatched beneath the heavens.

In the past, he and his companions had crept into the Life Forbidden Zones trembling, treading with the utmost caution, not daring the slightest carelessness. Now, everything was different. He could meet such a figure in open battle.

“Hahaha! Back then, boy, you escaped with your life by sheer luck. Today you have returned — let us bring this to a complete end!” The Stone Emperor erupted in laughter, supremely arrogant. His wild hair flew in all directions, and his eyes were so cold they could freeze the cosmos. He gripped his great halberd and cleaved forward.

Ye Fan shot upward into the cosmos. He had no wish to destroy the Northern Dipper star domain — he carried far too much attachment to this place.

The Stone Emperor soared skyward as well. The great halberd’s direction never wavered; it hewed ceaselessly toward Ye Fan as an ink-dark radiance sundered eternity and illuminated the river of stars.

“A Forbidden Zone battle!”

The people of the Northern Dipper trembled. The lowliest of cultivators, unable to flee their homelands, looked up at this sight with bodies gone cold.

“Have faith that Senior Ye can match him in battle!” the people prayed.

The great powers had long since evacuated; only the rootless sects remained, with no means of entering the star domain.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Fan and the Stone Emperor crossed through uncountable star domains, penetrating into the wilderness at the edge of the cosmos, before finally coming to a halt.

Hum!

The great halberd fell, sending out a humming tremor like the drone of a great bee. Dragon markings erupted into being; an ink-black dragon soared upward, lunging to slay Ye Fan. The Halberd of Heaven-Painting seemed alive, gnashing and thrashing — this was a supreme strike of the Emperor Dao.

Clang!

Above Ye Fan’s head, a Cauldron of All Things’ Primal Chaos Qi materialized. Its mouth poured forth primal chaos energy that collapsed the universe in all ten directions, blocking the great halberd head-on. Ye Fan himself let out a long howl and charged forward in counterattack, unleashing the Heaven Emperor’s Fist from the very first exchange, driving it straight toward the Stone Emperor’s glabella.

Ten moves to decide victory or defeat, to settle life and death — there was no room for posturing. It would be a savage, ferocious exchange; every technique deployed had to be a killing blow.

Boom!

The Stone Emperor had spent his entire life dominant. He had seen the Fierce One, the Void, Wushi, and others. The ages he had lived through stretched so far beyond reckoning that he had never learned to concede to time. He met Ye Fan’s onslaught head-on, clenching his own fist and driving it forward.

This was a cataclysmic clash. That single collision alone annihilated vast stretches of the star seas and the wilderness at the edge of chaos, reducing this place to a source of pure destruction.

Amid the ringing clangour, amid the eruption of Emperor Dao laws, immortal light poured forth in hundreds of millions of threads, auspicious radiance streamed in tens of thousands of rays, and both figures shook violently — blown back and sent flying horizontally in rapid succession.

The Stone Emperor had actually ascended to his Sublimation state. During his clash with Ye Fan, he surged in an instant to the absolute pinnacle. This strike was terrifyingly powerful; blow after blow landed in rapid succession, each one intended to pound Ye Fan into pulp.

This revealed the depth of his wariness toward Ye Fan — for what other reason would he have sublimated so swiftly?

This was tantamount to stepping onto a road of no return. Win or lose against Ye Fan, he would not survive this battle. Perhaps only by entering the road to immortality and ascending immediately was there any hope.

Pff!

As Ye Fan was sent reeling backward, a bloom of blood burst from his body. The Stone Emperor stumbled as well, having taken a grievous blow; blood dripped steadily from the corner of his mouth, falling in an unbroken stream.

“I see it now. You suffered a catastrophic wound in that past age — your vital energy was depleted, your severe injuries never fully healed. That is why you could only set a limit of ten moves.” Ye Fan laughed coldly.

No wonder the man had spoken with such bravado. This, too, was a form of helplessness. The Stone Emperor bore a Great Dao wound that had never healed. He had waged a blood war against all under heaven in that age, devouring life after life. Then the Desolate Lord had come, dominating all beneath the heavens, slaying a sublimated ancient emperor — forcing him to retreat decisively back to the Undying Mountain before he could replenish enough of his vital essence.

“Imperial Seal of All Realms!” The Stone Emperor bellowed.

In an instant, the boiling divine power solidified. All the chaos energy in this cosmos came to a standstill, locking eternity in place.

This was one of his supreme forbidden secret arts — evolved from the pinnacle of his stone-petrification ability through sublimation — capable of preserving eternity and halting even the body of a Great Emperor, for the purpose of lethal execution.

Sure enough, Ye Fan found himself unable to move. His entire being felt as though it had sunk into a swamp; he had run into serious trouble.

“The Primordial Spirit is undying. My heart endures forever!” he murmured quietly, arduously vibrating his own laws. His supreme physical body was difficult to wrest free under these circumstances, but between his brows, a radiance began to bloom. His Primordial Spirit merged with the Dao and tore itself loose.

“Ahhh!” Ye Fan let out a great roar. His Primordial Spirit blazed brilliantly, igniting the star-filled sky. The small golden figure — no taller than a clenched fist — nevertheless carried absolute majesty. One hand held the cauldron; the other embodied the power of years and ages, arriving in an instant, lunging to slay the Stone Emperor.

At the same time, because his Primordial Spirit had broken free of its shackles, his physical body erupted as well, shattering the void. His blood energy crushed and covered the cosmos as he burst forward in a single leap, driving a massive assault against the Stone Emperor.

This was a great clash of secret arts. Ye Fan had fused the “Forward” character secret, the “Movement” character secret, the “Universe Seal,” and others — forging an original great technique of time and ages. With the Primordial Spirit as the vanguard and the physical body as the foundation, it was supremely unyielding and supremely powerful, capable of shattering all things.

Boom!

A violent cataclysmic collision. The area rang with reverberant clanging. Both the Cauldron of All Things’ Primal Chaos Qi and the black-gold great halberd shook fiercely; sparks flew in all directions, and blood flowers burst from both supreme figures alike.

“Kill!”

Ye Fan’s Primordial Spirit and physical body arrived at the Stone Emperor’s position nearly simultaneously. In that instant, they achieved the ultimate sublimation and fused back into a single whole, undergoing a strange evolution and transformation — as though a great bell of time tolled slowly into being — and his entire person descended upon the Stone Emperor like a supreme force of suppression.

Boom!

The Stone Emperor was sent flying, coughing out great mouthfuls of blood. He was, in the end, no longer in his prime, and in this second great clash he had suffered a devastating loss.

The greatest factor was that the wounds within his body had been roused into activity; his old injuries had flared anew. Threads of imperial blood sprayed out, splattering across the star-filled sky — a sight that was deeply shocking.

He refused to yield, and he refused to be reconciled. In the past, Ye Fan had been no different in his eyes from an ant; even with the aid of the corpse of a Great Completion Holy Physique, he had not been a worthy opponent, and had been cut down until his blood soaked the heavens. And yet in less than a thousand years, the man had come back with such overwhelming force to subjugate him. What kind of encounter was this? What room did it leave for dignity?

“I offer my imperial blood as a living sacrifice to the Immortal!” he roared.

Hum!

This stretch of cosmos ignited. Time and space both fell within the range of his forbidden secret art. Blood streamed down the Stone Emperor’s body, dyeing the cosmos crimson, then it erupted in a blazing conflagration, releasing the resonance of the Dao.

In an instant, Ye Fan was swallowed up. There was simply no way to evade it.

Pff!

Ye Fan took a devastating blow and exploded apart in the sky. This was one of the Stone Emperor’s most terrifying techniques — called “Living Sacrifice to the Immortal” — created precisely for the day when an immortal might descend upon the world, to be used against them.

He used his own blood and life as the catalyst, offering them as sacrifice to annihilate his enemy.

Ye Fan recovered, reconstituting his body. His expression was grave. This had only been the third move, and he had already taken a catastrophic blow.

Of course, though the limit was said to be ten moves, it could not be assessed so simply — each move surpassed hundreds or thousands of ordinary techniques, each one a killing stroke capable of deciding life and death on the spot.

The Stone Emperor’s vital energy was limited. He was fated to meet his enemies through this kind of means. He could not hold out for long — and he still needed to reserve a portion of his strength to force his way onto the immortality road.

The blood continued to flow. The forbidden secret art “Living Sacrifice to the Immortal” continued its work. The Stone Emperor was willing to injure himself if it meant destroying Ye Fan.

Boom!

Ye Fan unleashed his phenomenon, dissolving heaven and earth, sweeping away the laws within the void, erecting a pure land for himself that remained unaffected.

At the same time, he swung the Heaven Emperor’s Fist, its thunder-rumbling resonance causing every sun, moon, and star in the cosmos to vibrate in sympathy, bursting forth with precious radiance that surged in from every domain. He unleashed blow after blow in rapid succession, destroying the remaining chains of order and divine law.

“Stone Emperor — whatever techniques you possess, today your death is certain!” Ye Fan bellowed. Thoughts of old companions from days long past came flooding back, and he felt as though he had returned to the age of the Dark Upheaval — that despair, that grief — lingering around his heart.

He was no longer powerless. Standing at the supreme pinnacle of extremity, he could now avenge them.

Boom!

Ye Fan seized the initiative and attacked. His phenomenon locked eternity in place, arresting the Stone Emperor. His left hand formed the Universe Seal; his right hand formed the Cosmos Seal. Between his brows, the “Forward” character secret revolved; beneath his feet, the “Movement” character secret blazed like a rainbow. He transformed into a blazing mass of flame, burning fiercely as he drove his great assault forward.

Pff!

This time Ye Fan won decisively. He blasted the Stone Emperor apart. With so many powerful secret arts unleashed simultaneously — swift, precise, and ruthless — even the Stone Emperor, formidable as he was, could not bear it. Flesh and blood scattered in all directions.

“With my divine blood, I forge the undying!” the Stone Emperor roared.

He did not rush to restore his shattered body. He only shielded his Primordial Spirit, then released this demonic howl that shook the ancient heavens across ten thousand ages.

A strange power surged forward in a vast flood. From the distance, a figure resembling a divine demon approached, trailing the breath of ages and years — terrifying and supremely powerful.

“My future incarnation — display your ultimate truth, and obliterate him!” The Stone Emperor bellowed. That figure became terrifyingly overwhelming in an instant.

Ye Fan’s heart jolted violently. He did not believe in future lives — only the present one. How had his opponent managed to deploy such a technique?

“No — this is his ‘Dao-Self.’ He can actually use it this way, manifesting this kind of power!” Ye Fan was profoundly shaken, and could not help but marvel. The Stone Emperor was a heaven-defying genius — he had solved a difficult problem for Ye Fan, bringing a sudden clarity to something Ye Fan had long been puzzling over.

In recent years, Ye Fan had also been researching the “Vanishing Self” and the “Dao-Self,” yet had been unable to convert them into concrete combat power. The Stone Emperor had opened a door for him.

He was excited, but what he now faced was also extremely dangerous.

Ye Fan felt as though he were restrained, as though he had been sealed. Sure enough, this time he encountered a great tribulation — he was directly annihilated twice in succession, his blood spilling down, dyeing this stretch of cosmos a deep crimson.

But in the end, he tore himself free. Unleashing his full power, he shattered that “Dao-Self” divine demon into flying ash.

The Stone Emperor shook violently, having already reconstituted himself, though his face was deathly pale. He had been grievously wounded once more. He knew that today the odds were heavily against him — he had deployed forbidden technique after forbidden technique, and all of them had failed.

“It seems ten moves are not needed after all. A battle of life and death — the final move!” He called out, his voice carrying neither joy nor sorrow.