The peerless Divine King made a world-shaking gesture of breathtaking magnitude — ten million jin of source stones to aid Ye Fan in entering the Four Extremes Secret Realm. This was an astronomical sum, stunning every soul present.
For over a hundred thousand years, the Holy Body had faded into mediocrity among the masses, not a single one able to cultivate it to great completion, losing the invincible glory of countless ages past. Would the Divine King change all of this?
“Excellent!” Li Heishui stood in a corner and squeezed his fist hard. With Jiang Taixu’s support, what could possibly stand in the way?
This was truly a staggering piece of news. Many people burst into spirited discussion. Perhaps the long-absent great completion Holy Body would appear once again — since the Ancient era, it had gradually faded from people’s memory.
In this age, if a supremely exalted figure who looked down upon the world were to reappear, what kind of waves would it set in motion?
“Is there anything further you all wish to say?” The white-robed Divine King swept his gaze across all the Holy Lords. “I wish to resolve the grievances between you.”
Who would dare defy him? The Divine King had long since made his declaration: to kill Ye Fan was to kill him. No one had a death wish, and no one would be so foolish as to step forward in opposition.
“Brother Ye may truly become the first Holy Body since the Ancient era to enter the Four Extremes Secret Realm,” the Crown Prince of the Great Xia murmured from afar.
Yao Yuekong also nodded: “Little Brother Ye’s days of fleeing and running have finally come to an end. If he enters the Four Extremes, what kind of combat power will he possess — I truly look forward to finding out.”
“Breaking through into the Four Extremes Secret Realm will be incredibly difficult. Even the Divine King himself has said it — this land has changed, and it no longer suits the Ancient Holy Body’s cultivation,” some people disagreed, holding the opposing view.
“Even if he succeeds in breaking through, there are so many formidable enemies awaiting him — the Heavenly Demon Body, the Innate Dao Fetus, the Divine Body… so many king-type constitutions coexist. Which is stronger and which is weaker? Who can say with certainty?”
It was very possible that an extraordinarily flourishing great age was approaching — everyone had begun to sense it.
An Miaoyi laughed softly, her brilliance captivating and moving, a smile that made hundreds of charms bloom at once and put six palaces of beauties to shame.
The various Holy Sons and Holy Daughters also revealed expressions of changed emotion. If all these king-type constitutions emerged into the world, the pressure on them would be unrelenting — a blaze of wars without end was inevitable.
Many people’s gazes swept over the Golden-Winged Little Peng King, Yao Guang Holy Son, the Ji Family’s Divine Body, the Heavenly Demon Young Lord, the Golden Crimson Xiao of the Golden Clan, the Innate Dao Fetus, and others — no one knew what thoughts were stirring within them.
Not a few people had already heard news of other powerful constitutions, and no one knew what kind of clashes would unfold in the future.
“Since none of you have any objection, let all that belongs to the past be swept away by the wind,” the peerless Divine King said, casting his gaze over everyone.
“I will go and gather the full ten million jin of source stones,” the Jiang Family Holy Lord said. Though deeply reluctant in his heart, the Divine King had already spoken — there was nothing else he could do.
The Divine King nodded. “Deposit them into the Dragon Transformation Pool. That is the sacred pool where cocoons break open into butterflies and fish leap to become dragons.”
Ye Fan had already returned the Divine Furnace of Departing Flames. That alone was worth the sum — the Divine King was well aware of this, for within it were the Dao inscriptions carved by the Great Emperor Hengyu, along with some of his cultivation insights.
The Great Emperor Hengyu had used this weapon from his youth all the way until he became a Great Emperor. It accompanied him for more than half his life and bore witness to his glory, walking alongside him step by step to the pinnacle.
To contemplate and understand it with true sincerity would offer benefits that could last a lifetime!
The Holy Lords were inwardly alarmed. The peerless Divine King moved with swift decisiveness and had no desire to delay — this left them deeply unsettled. Could the Ancient Holy Body truly break through?
If it succeeded, there was no doubt that Ye Fan would be bound to the Jiang Family’s two unrivaled ancient war-chariots. From that point on, the days of all the Holy Lands would grow considerably more difficult.
Others exchanged glances with one another, trembling inwardly with apprehension. Perhaps the Divine King truly had little time remaining and would soon unleash a series of major actions. At this critical juncture, no one could afford to provoke his wrath.
“You are all dismissed.” The Divine King bid his guests farewell.
In the magnificent great hall, the young disciples of the Jiang Family looked at Ye Fan with strange and complicated expressions — the Divine King had been reborn and favored him deeply, filling them with profound envy.
After all unrelated parties had departed, the Jiang Family members all wished to ask about the imperial secrets of the Purple Mountain — but to their regret, the Divine King had not mentioned a single word of it from start to finish, and not one of them dared to ask directly.
“You have acted with thought and care,” the Divine King said to Ye Fan. These words carried many layers of meaning.
Ye Fan had learned the Nine Secrets in the Purple Mountain, then gone to the Jiang Family to deliver the letter, and used the True Dragon Sacred Medicine to revive him — all of it had been in repayment of a debt of gratitude.
“The great kindness of the Divine King is something I will never forget for as long as I live!” Ye Fan bowed deeply, paying his respects with true sincerity.
Neither of them brought up the Nine Secrets — for the matter was of immense gravity, and many things needed no further words. There was no need to make it explicit, and the other cultivators of the Jiang Family were unaware.
The Divine King saw that Ye Fan had the look of one wanting to say something but holding back. “Is there something troubling you?” he asked.
“I wonder if the Divine King is able to save the person with the Supreme Yin Body?” Ye Fan thought of little Tingting, and was deeply concerned that she might perish before her time.
For now, even with the Qilin Seed, it had not yet reached maturity as a sacred medicine, and was still unable to resolve the crisis.
“The Supreme Yin Body?” The Divine King was momentarily taken aback. Two beams of divine light shot from his eyes as he asked: “Who is she, and where is she now?”
“She is a descendant of yours, Divine King…” Ye Fan explained in detail.
Upon hearing this, the members of the Jiang Family all revealed expressions of change. Several of the elders spoke up one by one, adding and elaborating on little Tingting’s origins and circumstances.
“Among my descendants, there is actually someone with such a constitution…” The Divine King nodded slowly.
Then suddenly, his body trembled. A thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, falling upon his white robes that were otherwise unmarked by even a speck of dust — a sight that was jarring to behold.
“Divine King and Ancestral Patriarch!”
Everyone cried out in alarm. Every face changed color. Though the Divine King had been reborn, they had harbored hidden worries all along, sensing that something was deeply wrong with his condition.
They feared he was like the evening glow at the edge of the sky — radiant in his final moment of brilliance, only to fade into eternal darkness, sinking into silence forever.
“I am fine…” The Divine King wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Then suddenly, a cold snort escaped him. Two beams of dazzling divine radiance shot from his eyes. He reached out a great hand into the void and seized seven or eight figures from within, then with a casual wave of his hand, reduced them all to ash and smoke.
“Who are they — who dares spy upon our clan’s Divine King?!” Everyone charged out of the great hall.
“There is no one left,” the Divine King said with a wave of his hand.
“Divine King, you…” Everyone in the Jiang Family was deeply anxious. As long as the peerless Divine King lived, he would serve as a deterrent over the entire Eastern Desolation. If he were to fall, the loss would be beyond all measure.
The Divine King said no more. He walked out of the great hall and gazed toward the distant horizon: “I must depart for a few days to revisit certain places from the past.”
When the crowd heard him say this, they grew even more worried. To revisit the places of one’s past — was he seeking to fulfill his final wishes? Many of them felt a premonition of ill omen rise within them.
“Divine King, I have the Qilin Seed…” Ye Fan spoke up. He did not wish for the Divine King to perish and wanted to use the sacred medicine to sustain his life.
The Divine King shook his head and walked away step by step. His silhouette carried a trace of loneliness and desolation.
Many wanted to follow, but they discovered that with each step he took, he flickered in and out of existence, appearing and disappearing unpredictably — in an instant he had appeared at the edge of the sky, and there was simply no way to catch up.
Many people watched as the Divine King departed from the divine city together with the Fairy of Colored Clouds in his arms, his silhouette incomparably solitary and sorrowful, fading into the vast expanse of cloud and mist.
After the Divine King left, Jiang Yi — the ninth of the great outlaws — came to ask about everything concerning little Tingting.
“She is the descendant of my elder brother Jiang Zhe…” He was deeply moved. Then he seized several disciples of the Jiang Family with a single grab and directly probed their seas of consciousness, learning everything within.
He was immediately enraged: “An orphaned grandparent and grandchild — the only two bloodlines left of my elder brother — and you dare treat them this way?!”
Jiang Yi’s fury was beyond restraint. He strode to stand before a branch of the Jiang Family Holy Lord’s lineage, pointed at their faces, and berated them furiously until his spittle spattered across their faces.
“Tingting is worth a hundred times more than any of your descendants. If anything happens to her, I’ll eliminate your descendants one by one — one comes out, I eliminate one; two come out, I eliminate the pair!” He was truly incensed.
“Furthermore — Jiang Haisheng is my elder brother Jiang Zhe’s only son, and I am his uncle! Bring him back to the Jiang Family this instant! Even if he is not a cultivator, you will give him sacred medicines and nourish him. If he doesn’t live to a thousand years of age, I’ll slaughter all your sons!”
The Jiang Haisheng in Jiang Yi’s mouth was naturally the old Uncle Jiang — the one he had been searching for across many years without ever finding their whereabouts.
The faces of many Jiang Family members had gone green. For a mortal to live a thousand years — was that not defying heaven itself? How many people in the world could achieve such a thing?
“Before long, I will go see them myself. If they are not living well, I will take them away — and along the way, eliminate your unfilial descendants!”
The ninth great outlaw said only what he truly meant to do. It was no surprise — otherwise he would never have broken away from the Jiang Family in the first place. At this moment he held the ancient, primordial Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar and cursed several of the Jiang Family elders until they were thoroughly humiliated.
“With me here, you can rest easy.” Jiang Yun stepped forward and placated Jiang Yi.
Jiang Yi showed no disrespect toward him. After sweeping his gaze across everyone present, he reached into the crowd, pulled Jiang Yichen out by the collar, and dealt him four resounding slaps in quick succession. “You, behave yourself from now on,” he said. “If you ever bully Tingting again or show disrespect to Haisheng, I’ll strip the sinew from your body and pull the bones from your flesh!”
Jiang Yichen’s face was deathly white, yet he did not dare utter a single word. He knew full well the temperament of this ancestral figure. The legends surrounding the ninth great outlaw were too numerous — if he so much as talked back once, his life would certainly be forfeit, even with a mighty elder as his grandfather.
Everyone present understood that from this day forward, little Tingting would unquestionably be among the most precious little princesses of the Jiang Family. Forget the Divine King’s attitude — even this ancestral uncle alone was not someone anyone could afford to provoke.
Ye Fan departed from there. That evening, many people invited him to celebrations held in his honor.
With the Divine King’s support, no one dared to plot against him now — he was beyond all provocation. Pang Bo transmitted only a single quiet voice transmission to him and did not appear in person, for more hidden cards meant more safety.
Two days later, Tu Fei and the Great Dark Dog crossed the void and arrived at the divine city. Ye Fan went personally to meet them.
The Great Dark Dog was inherently not one to sit still. The moment it entered the city it began greeting people left and right — and whenever it spotted disciples of any Holy Land, its enthusiasm was boundless beyond measure.
“Woof! Long time no see — I’ve missed you terribly!”
“Who asked you to miss us?!” Not one disciple of any Holy Land greeted it with a pleasant face. This vile dog had left deep scars on many of them.
“Woof! I recognize you — we once shared a night of poetry and moonlight together.”
“When did we ever share anything of the sort with you?!” Several female disciples were infuriated.
“Woof! Have you forgotten? It was that snowy night, wind blowing cold, when we had a great battle on the frozen plains.”
“You vile dog — that is what you call poetry and moonlight?!”
All the way through the city, the Great Dark Dog continued enthusiastically greeting people, as though there was not a single soul it didn’t know.
“Woof! I know you too — that night is unforgettable!”
“Damn dog, you had a night with you?! What are you babbling about?!” Yet another group trembled with fury.
Very quickly the Great Dark Dog spotted new targets and called out: “Woof! You lot over there, don’t run — I remember you. You’re my human pets.”
“Kill this vile dog!” Many people swarmed toward it.
“Woof! What are you trying to do? I lost my human pets and I’m trying to find them — and you want to stop me?”
“Damn it, will you behave yourself!” Even Tu Fei couldn’t take it anymore. They hadn’t even been in the city long and they were already on the verge of becoming public enemies.
“So what? You all need to learn from the Great Emperor Wushi — the entire world was his enemy, and he fought his way all the way to the realm of sainthood and into the Great Emperor realm!”
“Just calm down!” Ye Fan felt the urge to kick it.
“Fine,” the Great Dark Dog finally settled down somewhat and stopped greeting everyone it saw. But then it fixed its gaze on Li Heishui beside Ye Fan. “You really are dark.”
“I @#¥%#… this dog deserves a beating — when did I get dark?!” Li Heishui wanted to pound it into the ground.
Over these two days, cultivators throughout the divine city were buzzing with discussion. The Ancient Holy Body was going to attempt a breakthrough into the Four Extremes Secret Realm — the news had drawn the attention of countless people.
Everyone was waiting, quietly anticipating that moment’s arrival. This matter carried enormous weight, for it was bound to the curse placed upon the Holy Body lineage since the Ancient era. If it succeeded, the consequences that would follow would shake heaven and earth.
Perhaps it even meant that this land was beginning to change once again!
In the present age, a Divine Body had already appeared among the younger generation, the Innate Dao Fetus had already been born into the world, and the Heavenly Demon Body had been spoken of in rumor… Could it be that all the ancient king-type constitutions were about to emerge?
If so, then a new age was approaching — an age brilliant with stars, an age of kings rising together. If the Holy Body, long dormant for over a hundred thousand years, could be cultivated to great completion, what kind of world would unfold?
The mere thought of it made everyone’s heart surge and swell. Beneath the boundless and radiant starfield, kings emerging together — had the great age of unrivaled supremacy finally arrived?
Without question, if it came to pass, this would be an era of geniuses rising, of extraordinary talents clashing together in the prime of their age — an era that would compose a sweeping and magnificent legend.
Who would defeat all the kings, fight their way into the Great Emperor realm? No one could say. In a great age where all kings rise together, anything is possible.
All kings rise together. Ten thousand teachings contend. Perhaps the age of great flourishing truly was drawing near — and that also meant wars blazing without end and the great turbulence of wind and clouds!