I am on this end of the star-sea, and you are on the other — so very, very far away. A radiant eternity, an endless distance — we will never meet again.

In the deep of night, I will gaze up at the stars alone, and silently wish you well.

These words, accompanied by a radiant smile and crystalline tears, bloomed on Ji Ziyue’s face — smiling as she wept, a sight that pierced the heart with a quiet ache.

Ye Fan felt a sharp pang deep within — yet he had no other choice. He wanted to go back. If he missed this chance, perhaps there would never be another.

This opportunity had come, and yet it meant leaving certain people behind. There was a helplessness in this — such was the balance of the world. When you gain something, you will lose something that you might have had.

Ye Fan turned and did not look back. One step at a time, he walked forward. He heard the sound of tears falling behind him, yet he did not stop.

“Little Ye, where are you going?” Li Heishui, Wu Zhongtian, and the others called out.

“Brother Hei, take care of yourselves. I must travel far. My homeland lies on the other side of the star-sea. Having met you all in this life is my greatest gain.”

Ye Fan stepped forward and looked at Li Heishui, Wu Zhongtian, Liu Kou, and Jiang Huairen, raising his hand in a firm wave.

“Why is this?” The Monkey asked, bewildered.

“Brother Monkey, you are the sole descendant of the Battle-Saint Ancient Emperor. Your standing is unparalleled. The ancient beings of the primordial age will surely emerge in the future to bring chaos to the world — I hope you will look after my friends. May you attain the Dao and become Emperor!” Ye Fan said earnestly.

“Have no fear. As long as I live, no one will dare harm them!” The Monkey was supremely decisive and imposing.

The Black Sovereign said: “Boy, have you lost your mind? You’re truly going to leave on that broken coffin pulled by nine dragons? What a joke — even ancient saints would not dare make such a casual journey!”

“Wretched dog — live well going forward, and be a little more dependable. Don’t let me, from some unknown corner of the star domains, discover just how wretched and unreliable you truly are.”

“What the — boy, how do you talk to people? For everyone else, blessings and encouragement and heartfelt farewells — then you get to me and all I get are insults?!” The Great Black Dog bared its teeth, one hundred and twenty times displeased.

“Because you are so remarkably unique that this is the only thing I can say to you.” Ye Fan gave a light sigh.

“Trust me to handle things.” The Great Black Dog said shamelessly, then added: “Right — are you truly from the other end of the star-sea? Traversing the star domains is extraordinarily dangerous. It would be better not to gamble with your own life.”

“Live well, and raise Xiao Nannan. Take good care of her.” Ye Fan instructed, then ruffled the little girl’s hair.

“Big Brother, I won’t let you go!” Xiao Nannan’s large eyes had long since turned red. She clutched the leg of Ye Fan’s trousers, tilting up her small face with tear-filled eyes, gazing at him pitifully.

“Be good. Big Brother will come to see you.” Ye Fan tried to ease her grip loose.

“When is ‘later’?” The little one sensed that this parting might be forever, and she burst into tears — great droplets falling one after another — as she wrapped her arms around Ye Fan’s leg and refused to let go.

“Black Sovereign, I’ll trouble you to look after her from now on. Don’t let her suffer any grievance.” Ye Fan reached out a finger, releasing a streak of clear light. Xiao Nannan settled gently upon the Black Sovereign’s back.

Then he strode away without looking back, charging into the depths of the Ancient Forbidden Land.

Xiao Nannan was heartbroken, wailing as she weakly waved her small hand after him.

“Ye Fan…” Pang Bo called out.

“Take care of yourselves!” Ye Fan shouted.

“Ye Fan…” Li Heishui, Wu Zhongtian, the Monkey, and the others felt a pang of grief and longing. A friend from the other end of the star-sea was now departing — and going far, far away.

“Little Ye!” Ji Ziyue called softly. Tears streamed down her face as she smiled — gently raising her arm in farewell.

Ye Fan came to a sudden halt. Ten years in this world — dawn after dawn, scene after scene — past memories surfaced before him in rapid succession. He truly could not bear it. He was deeply reluctant to leave, just like this.

BOOM!

From afar, at the very deepest part of the Ancient Forbidden Land, came a tremendous sound. The five-colored altar blazed with ten-thousand-zhang radiance. The interwoven runes grew ever more brilliant, and the Eight Trigram pattern they formed became gradually clearer.

The nine Dragon Corpses and the Ancient Bronze Coffin were trembling — at any moment, they would pierce the void and be gone. Ye Fan had no more time.

He took one long, deep look at the gathered faces, exhaled two words with all his might: “Farewell!” — and charged into the depths of the forbidden land, never looking back again.

“Has he gone mad? Why did he charge into the forbidden land?”

“Why is the Holy Body entering the life-restricting zone alone?!”

“What is he doing? He dares advance and risk death — is he trying to take the small bronze coffin back?”

At the border of the life-restricting zone, many were alarmed and utterly baffled. In their eyes, this was tantamount to throwing one’s life away.

Ye Fan’s speed was immense. He gulped down the Life Sacred Spring as he moved — disappearing like a beam of light into the distance ahead. From behind came the calls of people who were reluctant to see him go, but he had no time left to respond.

CLANG!

The bronze coffin pulled by nine Dragon Corpses trembled. A metallic peal resounded to the heavens — like ten thousand soldiers and horses clashing, iron weapons colliding, splitting the sky for thirty thousand li.

A great gust of wind swept through. Ten million fallen leaves swirled through the air. The entire Ancient Forbidden Land took on an aura of solemn killing intent. Ye Fan charged forward and swiftly arrived before the nine sacred mountains.

This place was submerged in misty divine light. Even the power of the desolation had weakened, and it could not strip Ye Fan’s vital life essence in great quantities. He arrived at immense speed.

Above the great abyss, the five-colored altar lay stretched across the sky, bearing the Dragon Corpses and the ancient coffin. Above it, runes had formed into an Eight Trigram, connecting toward the unknown depths of the universe.

“Something is wrong!”

Ye Fan sensed an abnormality. The runes were incomplete. The Eight Trigram they had formed was flawed — it bore a deficiency, and because of this, it could not truly open the Ancient Star-Road to the heavens.

“Indeed — the five-colored altar is damaged, and the Eight Trigram it forms is missing a part.”

Was it all to fall apart at the final moment? On the verge of departure — and it was running aground over such an issue. The disappointment was nearly unbearable.

BOOM!

Suddenly, from the darkest depths of the abyss — dark as hell itself — another vast surge of energy billowed upward. Five-colored divine light blazed skyward, and fragments of jade, stone slabs, and more flew out from below.

“These are the jade fragments from the damaged section of the altar!”

Ye Fan was astonished. He had not expected that the damaged five-colored altar could reassemble itself — forming a nearly complete ancient platform, resting in the sky.

Outside the life-restricting zone, the onlookers were stunned. Many living fossils stared with fixed, intense gazes — who had shattered this altar in ages past and sent it plunging into the abyss?

Piece by piece, fragments of jade rose up toward the ancient platform, restoring it to wholeness. It was an extraordinarily swift process — as though it were alive, reviving itself.

One ancient jade fragment after another floated upward, like petals of a crystalline flower blooming across the sky, filling the air.

Ye Fan stared fixedly at the altar. He observed that its very center was missing one critical piece — leaving the platform hollow through its middle, with light visible passing through the gap.

“How could this be? What kind of battle took place here in ages past, that it could destroy such a divine object? Could a great emperor truly have come here?”

THUD!

A final great sound. The altar completed its assembly — save for one missing central jade pillar, roughly the size of a millstone. Yet even without it, the altar could still open the void.

In the sky, the enormous Eight Trigram blazed as though cast from divine gold, shimmering with metallic luster. At the same time, space warped, light grew hazy, and from the eight trigram symbols — corresponding to Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, and Kan — came a strange tremor, like an ancient cipher flickering to life.

Ye Fan understood: this was the act of locking onto spatial coordinates — the prelude to departure. He had to ascend now.

Yet the five-colored altar floated high, suspended above the deep abyss, entirely out of reach. In this life-restricting zone, no power could be used. No matter how great a hero one might be, flight was impossible.

He surveyed the situation, then began retreating continuously — moving away from the sacred mountains — preparing to sprint at full speed and use his momentum to leap from a mountain peak and bound into the void.

But at that very moment, his heart seized. Upon the mountain peaks above, several ancient figures appeared — clad in garments from an age of untold antiquity, as though they had walked out from the most distant eras.

“The Tianxuan Holy Maiden — that incomparably flawless, supremely elegant woman is the greatest beauty of the Eastern Desolation six thousand years ago!” someone cried out from the border of the restricted zone.

“She and the Mad Old Man are disciples of the same master — I never thought she would become a slave of the desolation!”

“Look at the others — their garments are even more ancient. At minimum they are people from tens of thousands of years ago — all peerless masters of their era!”

“What? That is… a supremely powerful divine king of my Ji Family!” A living fossil of the Ji Family cried out in shock. He had recognized a white-haired elder whose likeness matched the portrait of a lost Ji Family elder-king.

Above the abyss, within the Eight Trigram, the two intertwining fish of yin and yang had opened like a gateway, revealing the ancient cosmos within — star-light glimmering inside, boundless and vast!

This was a scene of strange wonder and immense impact. This was the ancient road to the other side of the star-sea — and the star-sea on that side was already visible, stretching endlessly vast!

“There is no time. I must break through!”

Ye Fan began accelerating. He gripped the Ten-Thousand-Things Mother Qi Cauldron in his hand. If danger arose, he would not hesitate to summon that primordial saint’s power — his mind was set on boarding the bronze coffin. He would not miss this chance.

“HAAAH!”

He let out a great roar that shook mountains and made ten thousand trees shudder. A boundless chaos of tumbling leaves swept outward — a cataclysm beyond the forbidden zone.

“The Holy Body has truly gone mad!” That was what many thought.

Though Ye Fan could not use divine power, his physical body was matchless in the world. His speed rose higher and higher, until at last his physique seemed to ignite like a blazing flame.

Like a streak of light, he charged up to the mountain summit. Several figures in ancient garments stood there, watching him with expressionless faces.

“Rise!”

Ye Fan evaded them, kicked off the sheer cliff face, and leapt into the void!

This was an incomparably reckless attempt. If he could not reach the five-colored altar, he would fall into the endless abyss below.

It was well known that from antiquity until now, there had been no account of anyone entering the Ancient Abyss and emerging alive. Even ascending the sacred mountains turned people to ash — let alone going there.

Mercifully, the ancient figures on the peaks made no move to stop him. He leapt into the air without impediment.

But at that very instant, Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin stirred — slowly disappearing into the dark and mysterious passage formed by the Taiji Eight Trigram, coexisting with the endless starlight within.

Ye Fan fell short by a single zhang. He simply could not reach the altar. He could not land upon it — and he plummeted toward the Ancient Abyss.

“Good heavens, is that still a human? Unable to use divine power, relying solely on speed, leaping into the void from that height… it beggars belief!”

From a distance, people were astounded. Ye Fan had leapt too high — beyond the physical limits of a human body, like a Celestial Peng soaring skyward.

“He’s falling — he’s going to plunge into the abyss…” Everyone watched in horrified alarm.

Ji Ziyue, Pang Bo, Li Heishui, and the others felt their hearts nearly shatter. If he fell in, death was certain — even the Mad Old Man had been driven to madness by entering that place!

“Little Ye!”

DING!

Ye Fan flicked his wrist and hurled an iron chain — it caught on the five-colored altar. Then he swung with full force and leapt again — like a Roc spreading its wings, soaring up onto the ancient platform.

Nine great Dragon Corpses had already vanished into the Ancient Star-Road, and even the Ancient Bronze Coffin was mostly within — only its rear end remained outside.

Ye Fan vaulted upward and landed upon the coffin with a thud, gripping tightly to the rust-mottled ancient carvings with all his strength.

He turned his head for one final look, gazing at the faces of those he had known — and the scenes of the past flowed before him.

The Monkey, sweeping away all foes with his dark-gold staff, commanding the heavens. Li Heishui, dark-faced and boisterous. Xiao Nannan, young and endearingly clever. The Black Sovereign, unreliable and a bit of a scoundrel. Ji Ziyue, clad in purple, gazing up at the stars…

Farewell. They would meet no more.

BOOM!

Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin plunged into the Ancient Star-Road — and Ye Fan vanished with it, disappearing from this world!