What manner of divine miracle was this — that after so many years of silence, someone was going to become a Great Emperor? And it came so suddenly, so completely without warning, so utterly abrupt. No sign whatsoever had preceded it. It had arrived too swiftly, abnormally jarring, exceeding all calculations of the supreme beings.

“There was no premonition before this. Who is this person — how could they suddenly be on the verge of becoming a Great Emperor, without ever appearing in my memories?” The great battle on the immortality road was no longer being fought with its former ferocity.

All of this exceeded the predictions of the supreme beings. They were mutual enemies and held each other in vigilance — yet faced with something like this, they each sensed a crisis descending.

In this world, there existed someone they had not been able to calculate — someone who had escaped their grasp, more terrifying a variable even than Ye Fan.

Rumble!

The immeasurable divine tribulation surged forward in a mighty flood. The wilderness at the edge of the cosmos was pulverised, the flood pouring into the great cosmos, reducing countless star systems to dust and ash. A supreme law was spreading — and in this moment, ten thousand Daos cried out in lamentation. The various chains of order and law throughout the cosmos were being suppressed. The Dao of one person was about to be established as the singular truth; they would stand exalted above all, looking down upon the nine heavens and ten earths.

“Are they about to succeed? Once they have weathered the tribulation lightning, the ages will have one more extraordinary supreme being!” The Phoenix Wing Gilt Trident sighed softly, thinking of his own years of glory in the past, then of his current decline — an indescribable sorrow and longing came over him.

“Something familiar about this — I think I’ve seen it in history, but I cannot remember who it is. They must have undergone a change. Who in the world is it?!”

Several of the supreme beings, with senses sharp and refined, had caught a faint trace of something half-familiar — yet none could identify who it was. All of their hearts lurched.

Boom!

The Great Emperor’s tribulation surged forward in a mighty flood, spreading through the entire cosmos with extreme and domineering intensity, rushing toward every corner. This was the forging of the singular Emperor’s Dao — pressing down to dominate the mortal realm.

The moment this person established their Dao, no one who came after could ever again achieve Great Emperor status during their lifetime. Only after this person had been dead for ten thousand years would the opportunity re-open — a fact that stunned the world.

The heaven-defying geniuses of this generation trembled. In this lifetime there were the ancient emperor’s sons, there were the most breathtaking outstanding figures, there were rare prodigies bearing all manner of inheritances — a great accumulation spanning ten thousand ages, all of them awakening and appearing in this single lifetime. And this person’s establishment of their Dao was tantamount to severing the path of every single one of them.

“How can this be?”

“Why now?!”

“No — I cannot accept this!”

Throughout the cosmos, there were quite a few people in the midst of crossing tribulations, including Huo Qizi, the Shencan Daoist, Yin Tiande, the Divine Venerable, and others — every one of them a world-shaking genius without equal. And now, an unexpected Great Emperor tribulation had appeared. For them, this was nothing short of a catastrophe — plunging them into despair, with no light visible, no hope to be found.

Their path had been severed!

“Grant me five hundred more years, heaven — how deeply unjust you are!”

“Even a hundred more years would do — why has it come to this? I could already see the dawn, and I was striving to push that door open. And you, heaven above, have mercilessly shut it on me!”

All across the cosmos, people were crossing tribulations. Some fell silent; others cried out in anguish, unable to bear this outcome.

The Great Emperor’s tribulation had truly been too abrupt — not a single sign had preceded it. In any other great era, this person would surely have long since made their name known under the heavens, forging a fearsome reputation, cutting through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Yet now they had burst forth without warning.

Boom!

The heavenly tribulation shook the world, overwhelming all things, swallowing up endless star systems — as though it were annihilating the mortal realm itself.

The laws of the Grand Dao were re-ordering themselves, constantly shifting. The supreme law of the most powerful being of this generation would become the singular truth, overshadowing all schools of Dao and mastering this cosmos.

Thunder rolled on and on. Chaos energy surged in a great tide. Brilliant arcs of electric light danced and flew, each one spanning several star systems in length — a sight of monumental scale, leaving all who beheld it thunderstruck.

“So this is the Great Emperor’s tribulation — it is too terrifying for words!”

Amid the divine punishment, amid the endless sea of lightning, a golden silhouette stood alone, engaging in a fierce contest, waging war against the Grand Dao — seeking to fuse its supreme seal with the cosmos itself and become the singular truth.

The endless sea of lightning crashed forward in wave after wave, each one appearing more dreadful than the last.

By comparison, the quasi-emperor tribulations of those peerless heaven-defying geniuses seemed hardly worth mentioning in this moment — though each was extraordinarily rare in all of history, how could any of them compare to the punishment of the Great Emperor’s tribulation?

With a long cry, a blaze of fire and flame scorched the heavens. A golden silhouette, as though it had broken free of the shackles of ten thousand ages, swept across half the cosmos in an arc, surging and striking ceaselessly.

“It is… a divine bird!”

Someone caught a fleeting shadow of the one ascending to Emperor, their expression turning to shock. This was not of the human race — a Great Emperor of the demon race was about to emerge.

“Regardless of who it is — none of this has anything to do with us. They are contesting the throne of Great Emperor; we are contesting the fruit of immortal ascension!”

On the immortality road, the great battle continued. The several supreme beings maintained cold indifference. In former days they might have intervened, might have acted to stop it — but now they had no time to spare. From a certain perspective, what they said was true enough: with a higher pursuit before them, the immortal domain shimmering just within reach, to charge into it would be to make history, to become the ultimate immortal ascendants since ancient times!

“Kill!”

The group pushed forward, the brutal and bitter slaughter continuing. Ye Fan joined in, becoming the prime target of several people’s special “attention” — powerful beams of assault light swept toward him from time to time.

Of course, every person was also on guard against every other, constantly watching for opportunities to strike at the rest — for they were all rivals, and at this point, solidarity was out of the question.

Alliances were unstable, and temporary.

Boom!

Outside, the Great Emperor tribulation grew even more ferocious, its effects reaching all the way to the immortality road. The people there were startled — clearly the scale of this person’s tribulation crossing was extraordinarily vast, its impact reaching even here.

“They are moving — evading the lightning techniques at extreme speed, accumulating strength wherever possible, trying to endure their way through.” The White Tiger Daoist observed.

“Are they powerful? Barely adequate, no more. Only by passing through will they become a Great Emperor. If they can’t endure it, they are nothing but a heap of worthless dust!” The Beast God’s voice was ice-cold.

On the immortality road, the great battle boiled to a frenzy. Ye Fan had long since drawn blood; several supreme beings had sublimated, standing in the most powerful domain, unmatched beneath the heavens.

This was a fierce and violent clash. Every exchange sent blood flowers flying high. Slaughtering their way to this point, though their words remained relatively calm, the murderous intent between them had already reached the heavens — every person was on guard against every other.

A divine bird cried out in a long peal. The cosmos trembled.

A Great Emperor was arising, enduring bitter suffering and forcing passage through the gates. Amid the sea of fire and lightning, a golden silhouette moved horizontally across the heavens, sweeping past the periphery of the Immortal-Ascending Star system, stirring up vast waves of tribulation light in its wake.

“A Golden Crow — it is a member of that lineage who is establishing their Dao!”

On the immortality road, every person felt a tremendous pressure bearing down. That energy was far too terrifying — supremely unyielding and supremely powerful, like scorching fire burning against the skin.

“I have some recollection now. Long ago, there was a quasi-emperor who crossed the ninefold heavenly tribulation with tremendous fanfare, and in doing so awoke several sleeping beings who sought to move against him. In the end, however, he wounded his own Dao immortal platform, so no one touched him. Afterward, he endured through thousands of years of suffering before at last entering nirvanic death.”

“Heh heh, hahaha — what a Golden Crow. What cunning and deep scheming — to have concealed himself from the supreme beings!”

“In that past age, he clearly had already studied the Nirvanic Arts. He went to enormous lengths to open his second lifetime, wagering an entire lifetime and his Dao foundation as his stake — all for the sake of ascending to Great Emperor in this life!”

The eyes of several supreme beings flashed with cold light. Were they not on the immortality road, they would have acted without question.

At this moment, Ye Fan also knew who this person was. He sensed that energy — he had encountered it before. It was the golden egg in the depths of the core of the Ancient Soldiers Star.

In those early years of his training, he had found Wang Ziwen there, and made an astonishing discovery: that place had been the training ground of the ancient Celestial Court, and the entire star was the head of the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable.

And deep within the core of the star, the flames of a supreme being’s immortal platform still burned without ceasing — even immortal liquid still flowed there — and within it all, a golden egg was drawing in every last bit of that power, guarded by a Crow Great Sage.

All of this flashed through his mind. Ye Fan’s heart jolted violently. The one ascending to Emperor was the Golden Crow clan’s old quasi-emperor!

There had always been rumours of how extraordinary that old quasi-emperor was — yet he had never shown himself, and in time word had come that he had entered nirvanic death.

But looking at things now, the old quasi-emperor of the Golden Crow clan had means that defied the heavens. He had wagered everything of his first lifetime, allowed himself to enter nirvana, and lived into a second lifetime — a terrifying display of power, requiring also a tremendous measure of bold resolve.

“A pity I missed that opportunity back then,” Ye Fan said softly.

Boom!

The Immortal Ascending Cauldron shook violently. The laws burning upon it caused the Ten Thousand Dragon Emperor, the Beast God, and the others to start in alarm. They had jointly maintained its control, and now the divine laws sealed within it were nearly depleted — the cauldron was moving of its own accord, its power even more astonishing, but it had partly slipped from their grasp.

The immortal light road blazed brilliantly. Within the green bronze cauldron, a silhouette took shape — somewhat resembling what the Divine Infant had looked like when it grew up, yet infinitely more powerful, carrying absolute majesty, shaking the cosmos.

This was the divine deity within the cauldron — and it was an exact likeness of the Emperor Venerable from ages past.

This was the first time Ye Fan had seen the Emperor Venerable’s appearance. Of course, he understood — this could not truly be the Emperor Venerable. Just as with the divine deity in his own cauldron, it was simply a mimicry of his likeness.

The green bronze cauldron shuddered and in an instant smashed through the barrier ahead, charging straight through.

Clang!

Suddenly, a tremendous shock rang out. The Immortal Ascending Cauldron had struck something unknown, producing a clear, resonant sound that shook all the supreme beings present.

Something blocked the path ahead — standing across their way, within the rain of light. Every person could not help but pause in their tracks, their combat slowing as they all looked forward together.

It was a stele — ancient in years. This was unlike the immortal passes, steles, samsara gates, and other things seen before. It had not been formed from interwoven laws; it was a true, genuine physical object.

A real stone stele, appearing on the immortality road — this was beyond all expectation, sending a throb of excitement through every heart.

“Are we finally reaching a real world, and not merely a projection zone, because we are seeing an actual physical object?” The White Tiger Daoist trembled, his full head of white hair standing on end.

This cast serious doubt: had they charged their way into the immortal domain?

The stele was extraordinarily ancient — ancient in the way that seemed to span the entirety of history — carrying an ineffable quality and resonance. Upon it were some characters, not the divine script of the Supreme Ancient era, but rather the typeface of the Primordial Ancient age, impossible to decipher.

The one fortunate thing was that there was also a passage in the Emperor’s script — the supreme immortal text that had remained unchanged since ancient times, intelligible only to those who had reached this level.

“Past this stele, perhaps… immortality truly awaits…”

And such a passage it was — bearing a trace of uncertainty and unsureness, and yet also something like the desolate lament of one who has climbed to the very peak. Someone had once fought their way to this very place, so very close to the immortal domain — and then left this stele behind. Had they made it inside? Every person was seized by a sudden anxiety.

“He is… the master of the Desolate Tower — the Desolate Heaven Emperor!”

For they had seen that mark — a tower, branded at the very bottom of the stele, like a name of sorts, leaving those who came after with boundless thought and conjecture.

A vanished age — more distant even than the mythological era — never recorded in any text, never known to any living soul as to what manner of time that had been.

Only the Nine Great Heavenly Venerables had ever spoken of it: that it was the lost Primordial Ancient Age — a cycle of reincarnation forgotten, a brilliant epoch annihilated in the river of time.