The Spirit Sovereign sat cross-legged on the ancient war chariot, his black hair like a star river — gleaming and dense. His gaze was cold and sharp as a blade’s edge. He slapped the weapon resting across his thighs. Hmm — a spirit saber, ruthlessly keen, streaked forth like a bolt of lightning and slashed toward Ye Fan’s head.
Ye Fan’s expression shifted. That slash appeared plain and unremarkable, yet it was of peerless sharpness — releasing the Spirit Sovereign’s undying will and killing intent, cutting across the boundless ancient sky.
One after another, immortal feathers danced through the air, pure and flawless, swirling around the saber’s radiance, carving out undying aura. They were enormous — as long as a river of stars.
“Wings of transcendence — brilliance of flying immortals!”
“The Spirit Sovereign is indeed matchless and unrivaled — even we are in awe!” the Immortal Matriarch spoke, her expression shifting. With the Spirit Sovereign’s very first move, hearts were sent trembling. Every single person felt a chill rise from within.
Ye Fan planted both feet in the void as though nailed there — utterly motionless. But his body was like a willow in the wind, twisting with the motion of the saber, tracing a beautiful arc in its path to avoid the blade’s edge. Then both hands struck out explosively; ten thousand symbols blazed forth all at once, forming a great Dao suppression.
Clang!
An explosion of blazing electric light erupted in the void. The supreme saber qi surged; as it grazed Ye Fan’s fists it produced the most brilliant radiance. The cosmos fractured in four directions, heaven and earth exploded, and the Mythological Battlefield shook violently — vast and boundless though it was, even it could not bear this kind of assault.
More than ten thousand symbols collided with those flying immortal divine feathers. They ground against each other and swiftly extinguished together, reducing the already shattered star sea to ashes.
The divine might on display sent hearts trembling. Had any quasi-Emperor been present, they would surely have been shaken with terror — a single stray wisp of such aura would be more than enough to kill them a hundred times over.
This place being the Mythological Battlefield, it was buttressed by the Dao markings left behind by ancient Supremes of every era, making it unyieldingly difficult to destroy. Had it been any other star system, everything would have been reduced to ash — dissolved into chaos with nothing remaining.
In the end, the saber qi was exhausted and the Dao symbols extinguished, leaving only a silver spirit saber and Ye Fan’s two fists. At first glance it appeared they had fought to a draw without a clear winner — but what the true situation was, no one could say.
A strange laugh rang out. The Immortal Matriarch acted. From within her sparse hair flew a jade ruyi, its radiance faintly flickering, with every streak of light being a strand of a star river, spreading across the sky in all directions to suppress the Mythological Battlefield.
This kind of world-overturning ability was staggering to behold. Destroying the star sky, cleaving open the heavens and forging the earth anew — such things were entirely trivial for her, so easy as to be effortless, overawing all nine heavens and ten earths.
This was no longer merely a jade ruyi — it was manifestly an entire real cosmos pressing down, intending to suppress Ye Fan with the supreme laws of the world and reduce him to dust.
Ye Fan stood where he was without moving. A grand phenomenon stretched open; likewise, a vast world manifested, and the two collided with that smooth, lustrous jade ruyi above.
A soundless great collision, with the breath of annihilation overflowing in all directions, utterly destroyed this place. More than a dozen enormous corpses in the distance that had remained undying through ten thousand ages — stretching for who knew how many li — were now reduced to ash. Even those whose physical bodies had been indestructible for all eternity were shattered like rotted paper, destroyed beyond recovery.
Among them were the remnant bones from half the body of a Holy Body lineage warrior. No matter how strong and undying their physical body had been, they shattered like paper and rotten cloth in this moment, completely destroyed.
One could imagine how terrifying the collision between the two had been.
In this exchange, Ye Fan did not move. His phenomenon withdrew, and the jade ruyi also retreated.
“What a Holy Body — I cannot help but be in awe. Cultivation time so short, yet already so powerful — truly possessed of the capital to defy the heavens!”
A burly man with a curly beard stepped forward, holding a divine bow in hand. With a casual pluck of the string, no arrow had been nocked — yet the single vibration it produced was nearly enough to shatter one’s soul.
This kind of skill was astonishing. An empty bow shot through the heart, with no arrow more deadly than an arrow — even Ye Fan changed color at this, sensing danger from this person.
This curly-bearded man gave off a profoundly strange feeling, as though he had endured as long as the ancient ages themselves, carrying a temporal aura heavier than anyone else here.
“Corpse Emperor!” he announced himself. At such a level of supremacy, wielding devastating power across the sky, ruling over all things alone, it was rare to show any courtesy to others under ordinary circumstances. Yet now he proactively announced his name — signaling his respect for and wariness of Ye Fan.
“It is you — the Corpse Emperor from the underworld!” Ye Fan was astonished.
He had once visited the underworld, crossing blades with the Prison-Subduing Emperor and learning many secrets. The underworld had once had a great figure who departed and entered the Primordial Ancient Mine, calling himself the Corpse Emperor.
“Indeed — that is I!” The curly-bearded man nodded.
His origins were extraordinarily peculiar. He was the second being in this heaven and earth to transform from a corpse into a living entity and ultimately achieve emperorship — incomparably powerful.
It was said that he had been dug out from the deepest reaches of the underworld by someone else. Precisely which era he belonged to was entirely impossible to determine. An ancient stone stele had stood beside him, and based on the style of its inscriptions, it was estimated that he was a set of bones from the chaotic primordial era.
From corpse to emperor — such a being was terrifyingly powerful. He was a supreme powerhouse second only to the Underworld Emperor, with his own terrible qualities.
Hmm!
The bowstring with no arrow vibrated again. He drew it eight consecutive times. Seven of those were feints, enough to nearly shatter one’s primordial spirit. The eighth transformed into a stream of corpse aura, descending from above.
This was no ordinary arrow but a boundless cascade, vast and immeasurable, stretching for who knew how many li, submerging even the shattered star rivers in its wake.
From corpse to emperor — the Corpse Emperor’s body still held death energy within it. Vaster than a sea of stars, it was lethal: a quasi-Emperor who touched even the slightest trace of it would dissolve into pus and blood, dying suddenly.
Now all this endless death energy came surging forth at once.
Ye Fan let out a long cry. From the crown of his head, dragon-shaped vital blood qi erupted, and the Cauldron of All Things’ Maternal Qi soared upward. It could devour all living things; even corpse energy served as a kind of replenishment for it, not limited to spiritual energy alone — all things of chaos could be absorbed by it.
“Holy Body, your courage is truly something. I would think that with your abilities you could have guessed that we came out into the world with absolute resolve to kill you — yet you still dared to come!”
The speaker’s tone was exceptionally sharp. The words clanged out with force, making every heart in the vicinity tremble violently. This was a supreme expert beyond compare — even the assembled Supremes felt a chill in their hearts.
“It is actually the Great Roc Emperor!” The Immortal Matriarch drew a sharp breath.
“To think that the one who emerged from that place would be the Roc Emperor!” Even the Corpse Emperor exclaimed in astonishment.
“I had no choice — my luck was rather poor. I drew this lot, and had no option but to emerge early.” The Golden-Winged Great Roc Emperor said coldly.
He stood with imposing stature, golden hair billowing around him. He walked out from the darkest depths of the cosmos, and in an instant, ten billion zhang of golden light blazed forth, illuminating the entire Mythological Ancient Battlefield.
He appeared as though cast from gold — brimming with a demonic quality. His gaze was sharp and fierce. He held in his hand a weapon shaped like a divine sword yet consisting of twenty-eight linked segments — a divine whip used to strike down the gods — martial in spirit and supreme in power.
This time, one person had emerged from each of four great Life Forbidden Zones — all come to kill Ye Fan. Every one of them was a supremely renowned and invincible figure.
Hmm!
The Great Roc King swung his golden divine whip, crushing the cosmos, sending out an eerie and terrible howl as it crashed toward Ye Fan’s face — cold and merciless, ten thousand Dao symbols erupting in bloom.
There was only one phrase to describe this person: supremely dominant to the utmost!
Clang!
The cauldron above Ye Fan’s head flew up and collided with it, releasing a terrifying breath between them. As the two clashed, the force cracked outward and spread across the Mythological Battlefield in every direction — like towering waves across a boundless ocean, a rare and magnificent spectacle of the cosmos.
Boom!
The Great Roc Emperor was exceedingly self-assured. The golden divine whip in his hand could strike down divine beings above and subdue demon kings below. Valiant and unmatched, his divine power was unstoppable. Once he began his assault, he did not stop, charging forward and killing without pause.
Ye Fan and he fought in fierce and violent contest — a divine battle from the very start!
Evidently, the Great Roc Emperor was a battle maniac through and through, and even as a Supreme, his nature had not changed. He longed to fight Ye Fan to the death, and one golden slash after another tore through the sea of the cosmos. He swung his golden divine whip without cease.
“Great Roc Emperor, do not forget — we emerged to kill him, not to satisfy your battle lust.” The Immortal Matriarch reminded him.
“I remember!” The Great Roc Emperor fell back, halting his attack.
A faint frown appeared on Ye Fan’s brow. He knew he had encountered a formidable foe. Whether it was the Spirit Sovereign or the Great Roc Emperor, both were powerful beyond anything he had anticipated. Not a single one of these four was weak — every one of them was without doubt a supreme figure of the Emperor’s path.
“Holy Body, strictly speaking you are not our match. In the past, you killed a few Supremes only because their vital energy had dried up and you slowly ground them to death. But today, you will never have that chance again,” the Corpse Emperor declared.
“Only through battle will we know for certain. Not one of you will kill me today — this shall be the moment you present your heads!” Ye Fan said coldly.
“What a pity — for a hero such as you!” The Spirit Sovereign let out a sigh.
Boom! Behind him, a terrifying forbidden ground appeared. The Southern Celestial Gate loomed enormous and imposing — it was the Spirit Ruins, as though in an instant it had crossed ten thousand star rivers from the Northern Dipper Domain and arrived here.
In truth, this was not the true Spirit Ruins — it was the supreme imprint of this Life Forbidden Zone. All its Dao markings blazed outward, and from across the star sea, they were seared down from the Northern Dipper into this place, laying down a supreme divine array.
Next, behind the Immortal Matriarch, burial mounds the size of mountains rose up, stretching on without end. Though a cemetery, once the tombs cracked open, the aura of an immortal’s household seeped out — ten thousand wisps of auspicious light radiating in every direction.
This was the Immortal Mausoleum. It too seared its Dao markings down across the star sea, manifesting anew the appearance of the Forbidden Zone in this place, turning it into the Immortal Matriarch’s primary battlefield.
Then an ancient mine appeared — pitch black and unfathomably deep, surrounded by mountain ranges that undulated like a dragon lying in wait. But then the ancient mine began to exhale and inhale the radiance of the cosmos’s stars, making that place brilliant and resplendent.
The Corpse Emperor stood at the center of the Primordial Forbidden Zone — this too was formed by seared Dao markings, composing a supreme divine array that became his primary battlefield.
Ye Fan let out a sigh. Though none of the great Forbidden Zones had truly descended in physical form, they had transferred their most fearsome Emperor-path battle formations here. Manifesting in true likeness, it was as though the great Forbidden Zones stood right here, encircling him on all sides.
Boom!
Finally, a tremendous crash rang out. Nine mountain ranges, boundless and vast, connected to a single enormous island, pressed down from above and appeared behind the Great Roc Emperor — an awe-inspiring sight.
Ye Fan’s expression shifted again and again. His eyes blazed with intensity, then dimmed, then blazed once more. Though this was not the first time he had set eyes upon this most mysterious of Forbidden Zones — the Upper Heaven, also known as the Island of the Buried Sky — a sense of shock still rose in his heart.
The Island of the Buried Sky was a massive island floating above the Eastern Desolate sky, ordinarily hidden within the void where it could not be seen.
Its central body was shaped like a great coffin, and the nine mountain ranges extending from it were like nine true dragons — mighty and magnificent, vast and powerful, striking the heart with awe.
Every time Ye Fan laid eyes on it, he was filled with doubt and uncertainty — for it resembled the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin he had once seen far too closely. One could even say it was cast from the same mold.
The Nine Dragons pulling a massive Ancient Bronze Coffin — he did not know where they had ended up now. Ye Fan had searched for them many times over the years and come up empty-handed. Now that the Island of the Buried Sky had appeared, it sent tremors through his heart and soul.