Two women had become immortal — had entered the Immortal Realm. This drove the supreme beings to the edge of madness. How could this be? Those who had never become emperors could cross over so easily?
They were naturally unwilling to accept this. They struck out furiously, wanting to force their way in — even wanting to cut down the mother and daughter through the Celestial Gate.
But it was useless. No law could pass through the Celestial Gate — all would be “baptized,” broken down and restructured.
“Ye Fan…” Ji Ziyue called out, wanting to charge back. She did not wish to become immortal — she only wanted to be with Ye Fan. She knew that for him to force his way through would mean risking his life.
Why could those with weaker cultivation pass through, while the powerful faced such terrible tribulation? No one could fathom the answer.
“Father!” Xiao Zi called out as well, charging back alongside Ji Ziyue — but they were blocked by cascading light and rain. From head to toe they began to glow, swiftly completing a full baptism, sacred and pure, leaving them unable to return.
“BOOM!”
The Celestial Gate grew unstable, showing signs of imminent collapse. This alarmed everyone. One age, only two or three become immortal — those words echoed in everyone’s minds like a curse, filling the supreme beings with restless anxiety and unease.
No matter how they pressed forward and attacked, they could not pass through. To become immortal, to cross the Celestial Gate, one had to accept the baptism.
A battle was unavoidable. Ye Fan wanted to share one last gaze with his wife and daughter, and in that moment a sudden wave of sorrow struck him. This… was it truly a farewell forever?
It was all too sudden. Nothing today had gone the way he chose. He had been forced to this point.
Becoming immortal had always been a beautiful dream. Now it had come true — yet it had separated him from his wife and daughter across two different realms, leaving not a trace of beauty or peace. He felt only an icy coldness. His heart and spirit grew unstable, and an immense grief surged up from within that he could not suppress.
“Father, we want to be with you!” Xiao Zi cried out, but she could not cross through the gate, blocked by a curtain of light and rain. Their transformation was complete.
“Ye Fan…” Ji Ziyue reached out both hands, her eyes brimming with tears. How could the parting be so sudden? They had only come to help in battle — and yet they had become immortal just like this.
If given the choice, neither of them would have wished to become immortal. This was a deep, devastating sorrow. From this point on, they would never be able to meet Ye Fan again.
“Ah…”
The great supreme beings roared in anguish. Their suffering was even more acute. They had waited through all of eternity — and this was the outcome? Those on the emperor’s path, at the supreme level, could not become immortal, while two ordinary people in their eyes had taken that final step.
The unstable Celestial Gate shook under the assault, yet still it could not be forced open. The supreme beings were desolate and helpless. They had schemed their entire lives, done whatever it took to survive until now — and still they faced only regret. They had witnessed this magnificent spectacle of an era, only to be left with a hollow emptiness in the end.
“Kill!”
Several of them fought with everything they had. Ye Fan also wished for one more lingering gaze at his wife and daughter, not wanting the four supreme beings to interfere. This battle was unavoidable — and it was somehow even more ferocious than anything before.
But in the end, there was no resolution. Watching the Celestial Gate grow more and more unstable, their urgency only deepened.
“There is still one more slot!”
The White Tiger Daoren, the Beast Emperor, and the other two charged forward together, seeking to force their way in. They became stuck at the Celestial Gate — unable to advance or retreat — as boundless Dao-light surged toward them.
Ye Fan moved with cold precision, raising the Immortality Cauldron and driving it forward. All four screamed as they were blasted back out. They raged, they grieved, they were frantic. At this final juncture, if they did not force through now, any chance would truly be gone.
Yet Ye Fan stood guard on the outside, and they had no recourse whatsoever — unless three of the four agreed to secure the gate for one among them.
“Fellow Daoists, now that you have come, if you are not willing to contest this immortal gate, might you help restrain the others? If I achieve immortality, I will bring you into the Immortal Domain in the future!”
The four could bear it no longer. Almost simultaneously, they transmitted their voices to the two late-arriving supreme beings, pleading for their aid. By now the anxiety had spread through everyone like a tide — each one of them was drenched in cold sweat, tormented beyond endurance.
The two sighed. They knew that no matter what, there was no entering this age. The Celestial Gate was already unstable — there was not enough time.
They had not yet fully ascended, and had no wish to squander their life essence here. Calmly, they turned and walked away — gone in an instant, departing without hesitation.
“Ah…”
“Holy Body — what in the world do you want?!” The Beast God bellowed.
No one had anticipated it: at the very last moment, the Holy Body had become the single greatest obstacle standing between them and the Immortal Domain.
“Even if I do nothing, only one of you can enter. How will the other three face that? Will they simply watch in silence?” Ye Fan replied with a question.
As he spoke, his gaze never left the other realm within the Celestial Gate. Within, two pairs of hands reached outward with all their strength — yet no matter how they tried, they could not reach across.
“Benefactor, go in. We will hold them off for a moment.” Shakyamuni and Laozi approached, actually willing to enter the battle.
Centuries had passed, and these two had long since transcended through unconventional means, achieving the Dao in their own manner. They were now many times more terrifying than before — fully qualified to do battle with the supreme beings.
“Father!” Xiao Zi called out with desperate hope, her face written with longing.
Ye Fan’s heart shook. He looked at his wife and daughter, wanting so much to take that single step forward — but he thought of the promises he had made, of leading the Celestial Court’s forces in battle. If he left, what would become of those people?
He didn’t need to think hard to know. If he became immortal now, the four great supreme beings would surely unleash the most horrific dark upheaval imaginable. Not a single one of the Celestial Court’s people would survive — they would be hunted down and slaughtered.
Even setting that aside, even if these four had too little life force remaining to hunt down the Celestial Court’s forces before dying, the life restricted zones still harbored supreme cultivators of the emperor-path who bore deep grudges against him. Without him present, the Celestial Court’s people would still be unable to survive.
“Ye Fan…” Ji Ziyue’s pale, luminous face was written with despair and grief. She understood. She knew Ye Fan — she could read his heart. What more was there to say? Only a single soft call that made the heart tremble.
“I will become immortal. We will meet again another day!” In the end, he spoke only these eight words. Something seemed lodged in his throat. His eyes grew blurry.
Those eight words determined the rest of his life. This would be a parting of life from death — it meant separation between heaven and earth, perhaps never to meet again. The immortal path could not open at any time; the next occasion might be a million years hence. Those eight words were heavy as a mountain, pressing down on Ye Fan until he nearly suffocated. His body trembled.
“Father, I truly cannot bear to leave you!” Xiao Zi wept.
Ji Ziyue’s tears had long since blurred her vision. She was filled with helplessness and grief. In a soft voice she said: “These years with you, I have been happy. I… will wait for you!”
“Ah…”
Ye Fan let out a roar. Every strand of his black hair stood on end — in grief, in madness, in helplessness. He wanted nothing more than to shatter the heavens with a single punch, crash through the Celestial Gate, and tear his way inside — but he could not.
“Two venerable elders — please become immortal. I entrust their care to you!”
In the end, Ye Fan bellowed these words. He pushed Shakyamuni and Laozi through the gate, then turned sharply — alone against the four great supreme beings.
“Father!” Xiao Zi’s face was streaked with tears as she struggled and called out.
“Your father has made his own choice. The brothers and sisters of the Celestial Court cannot be without him — he must honor his promise. One day… we will meet again.” Ji Ziyue offered comfort, though her own heart was being cut apart, and her tears fell without end.
They stood there in a daze, gazing outward, holding back their grief.
Shakyamuni and Laozi had not wished to become immortal in this manner, yet they had been struck through by Ye Fan with the Immortality Cauldron, wedging them in the gate to receive the baptism and undergo transformation.
The Beast God, the Ten-Thousand Dragon Emperor, the White Tiger Daoren, and the others were naturally furious. In their despair, they unleashed their most fearsome battle power yet, fighting here with everything they had.
Ye Fan was covered in blood and was shattered apart several times — yet he refused to yield, resisting all with the Immortality Cauldron.
“BOOM!”
Within the Celestial Gate, a torrent of light swept forth — a flood of coalesced light and rain — sweeping Ji Ziyue and Xiao Zi away in an instant, submerging them in a golden ocean.
Those were their final calls. They waved with all their strength — sorrowful, helpless, their tears falling like rain.
Tears rolled down Ye Fan’s face. He cried out: “I love you both!”
He was not a man who easily expressed his feelings. Those words had never once passed his lips — until this moment, when they emerged with great difficulty, directed toward that world beyond the Celestial Gate.
Ji Ziyue smiled. A joyful smile. A bittersweet smile. Nearly a thousand years spent together, yet she had never heard those words — though she had always known what was in his heart. She wanted to call something back to him, but a golden curtain of light and rain swallowed her and her daughter whole.
“BOOM!”
The Celestial Gate shattered. The lower halves of Shakyamuni and Laozi’s bodies were severed on this side, while their upper halves entered the Immortal Domain — barely, barely crossing through in the end.
One age, no more than two or three become immortal!
“I cannot accept this!”
“A deception spanning all of eternity!”
The four great supreme beings raged, and they turned their fury into an all-out assault on Ye Fan.
At that moment, the immortal path began to collapse entirely. Endless great cracks spread outward. The Celestial Gate closed. Everything would cease to exist — this age had come to its end.
“BOOM!”
With a final thunderous roar, the entire immortal path erupted. Light and rain scattered like a dream — and nothing remained.
The four great supreme beings surged upward, driven to madness in their pursuit of Ye Fan, seeking one final battle to the death. They had fallen into utter despair — this lifetime held no more hope for them.
They had devoted their entire lives to this, struggled across all of eternity — yet in the end, they were left with this hollow and defeated conclusion. There was no possibility of ever setting foot upon the immortal path again. How could they not be devastated?
“I wish to be set free. I do not wish to remain a dull and unthinking weapon. I would rather be an ordinary mortal than remain like this — I want to break out of here!” The Immortality Cauldron spoke to Ye Fan, with a deeply held conviction.
“Very well. I will grant you this.” Ye Fan said. He fixed his eyes on the four great supreme beings, hoping to use their hands to crack the cauldron — and in doing so, hoped to use the opportunity to destroy all four.
“Heavens — someone has truly become immortal!”
“Rising with the rosy clouds, ascending to immortality in broad daylight!”
In that moment, light and rain from the immortal path scattered outward, rushing across the cosmos in every direction, resplendent beyond measure. It looked as though immortals were dancing, as though the Immortal Realm had swung open its doors to connect with this world.
Witnessing all of this, Ye Fan could only sigh with desolate grief. His face was written with sorrow. It had all happened so suddenly — and just like that, he was parted from his wife and daughter. Would they ever meet again in this lifetime?
“The next opening of the immortal path will come one million years from now!”
From within the life restricted zones came a long, mournful sigh — filled with regret, desolation, and helplessness. They had miscalculated this time. Immortality truly had been possible in this age — and yet they had missed it.
“Building the Dao toward immortality over a million years… Ha ha ha…” Ye Fan laughed, and the tears flowed freely. This time — it was truly a farewell forever!
“Kill!”
The four great supreme beings were driven beyond all reason, throwing themselves upon him.