Inside the furnace world, this was a bizarre and blood-stirring scene. In midair, two entwined bare forms. On the ground below, two people identical to them looked up in witness.

Yi Qingwu let out a high-pitched cry. That usually enchanting, resonant voice was now particularly jarring. She could scarcely believe any of this — it was impossible to accept.

The “her” in the sky was entirely bare, her body flawlessly white and gleaming, shimmering with flowing light — truly a masterwork of heaven’s miraculous craft. Her form was slender and long, every inch of skin glowing.

That “her” was entwined with another man — so strikingly, so unbearably to witness. She nearly fainted away. In all her life past, she could never have even imagined this.

Yi Qingwu witnessed everything happening to herself, as though she were an outsider standing apart from it all — yet she felt every sensation just as completely. All that was happening was experienced by her with full vividness.

Her soul and body were connected. Every sensation was indistinguishable from what she herself lived through in person. She stood without a thread of clothing, and her body gave rise to layer after layer of rosy radiance.

On the other side, Ye Fan’s expression was equally strange. It was a bizarre thing — he was clearly standing on the ground, yet he could see and feel another self’s every action.

It was plainly him experiencing it, him acting — yet he had this perspective, observing his own bewilderment from outside. He too fell into a momentary trance.

In midair, the man was like a war god descended from the heavens — dark hair thick and dense, cascading across his chest and back, his body shining with precious light, powerful and strong.

The woman was there in her full jade form, shapely curves, slender and graceful, her body exuding a haze of radiance, lustrous and crystal-white, making the blood surge — the two entangled, all of it too dreamlike.

It was too surreal. He had not yet formed any particular thought, and all of this had come to pass. The soul and the true body were inseparably bound — he lived through another self’s every act as though it were his own.

Two bodies melded together, the scene endlessly alluring.

Yi Qingwu stood at a distance, leaning against the Eight Virtue Divine Wheel, nearly collapsing to the ground. Her dark hair flew wildly, everything too much to accept.

In midair, the sound of breathing drifted down intermittently. The seven-colored luminous body of the woman rose with a blush of rose-pink haze, nearly driving her to the edge of madness, her cries unceasing.

“No — all of this is false,” Yi Qingwu said weakly, her voice barely a murmur. Her body was all softness, unable to stand at all, her skin flushing rose.

“Beneath my Dao, all is empty,” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

Yi Qingwu heard his words. Her full head of dark hair shone brilliantly, her starlit eyes brimming with haze-like light. She very much wanted to rebuke him — but her sensuous red lips ultimately closed in silence.

The bewildering scene in midair, and the soul-stirring sounds that drifted down — enough to enchant the world, every part of it so profoundly strange.

At last, after some indeterminate stretch of time, the midair scene fell quiet.

Atop the Eight Virtue Divine Wheel, Yi Qingwu — her spirit pure as autumn water, her bones like jade — was drenched all over in perspiration. She wanted to draw that thread of soul back into herself — for her, it was a torment of passing between heaven and hell.

Yet now both her body and her soul were limp and powerless, barely able to move, collapsed there, her entire form suffused with rose-pink haze.

Crash!

Ye Fan’s soul made its move. With the Soul-Whipping Lash held horizontally in defense, golden divine consciousness transformed into a Dao-sword, and it branded toward that alabaster jade-like, alluringly captivating form.

“You…”

Yi Qingwu cried out, unable to struggle. The soul’s form was inconvenient to move, and she could not escape. The Soul-Whipping Lash suppressed her, and the Dao-sword pierced through, leaving behind an indelible brand.

“You…”

Yi Qingwu’s willow brows arched sharply upward, her oval face written all over with unwillingness. The pupils of those spiritually luminous eyes contracted rapidly, her delicate fists clenched tightly — yet all of it was to no avail.

Surrendering her soul, being branded — this was the demand she had originally made of Ye Fan, and now it had been visited upon herself. The humiliation and fury nearly overwhelmed her.

“Kill me then!”

“Why would I kill you?” Ye Fan’s soul returned to his body. He stood at a distance and said: “In the future, I can help you contend against Yin Tiande, Three-Deficiency Daoren, the Divine Son of the Lunar Yin, Lu Ya, and the rest, allowing you to attain the Dao in the Ziwei Ancient Star Domain.”

“You want to use me against them — to make me your slave? I will never submit!” Yi Qingwu drew her soul back. She rose slowly, as the rosy haze all across her graceful jade form gradually faded away. Her form was exquisitely slender, white and captivating.

“Cut them down, and you become the foremost person of the future — no one can contend with you. In time, you alone will attain the Dao. I will not compete with you within the Ziwei Star Domain — there is no conflict between us,” Ye Fan said with a smile.

“You devil — you want to raise me up and eliminate your great enemies, yet you speak it in such high-minded, righteous terms. What you really want is to make me your puppet!” Yi Qingwu was supremely pure, a gathering of all divine grace, and even with an expression of cold iciness she was incomparably bewitching.

“Between hell and heaven it is but a single thought — it depends on how each person understands it, and what they choose. I believe we can get along very well. There is no question of use or puppetry,” Ye Fan said.

Yi Qingwu’s crystal-white teeth bit down on her lush red lips. Dark hair veiled half her celestial face, yet could not conceal the alluringly captivating jade skin beneath. In truth she very much wanted to grind Ye Fan under her feet — yet now a sense of powerlessness arose within her.

“Devil!”

“I may have opened up for you a path reaching the heavens — letting your life be one of triumph all the way, ascending as a celestial from this moment on, with none who can be spoken of in the same breath,” Ye Fan said.

“The path of a Great Emperor is laid with countless bones. You want me to walk at the fore — how do you intend to manage your own standing?” Yi Qingwu scoffed.

“My path is not here. This world is yours,” Ye Fan answered with unhurried composure.

“You truly are a devil — you want me to be your proxy in the world,” Yi Qingwu said. She smoothed her hair, produced a snow-white long skirt, and slowly put it on before his eyes, concealing that luminous, flawless, captivating form.

“Do not phrase it so unpleasantly. Someday, sooner or later, you will become the most resplendent radiance in this world — someone all people must revere and worship, a holy divine maiden who will dazzle the ages and illuminate this land for all time,” Ye Fan said with an unhurried smile.

“In the world’s eyes, the immaculate divine maiden — lofty and above all, transcendent and unworldly, untouched by the affairs of men — yet controlled in the hands of a devil. Is this your divine maiden cultivation plan?” Yi Qingwu said, mocking herself.

“Have confidence in yourself. If you have the resolve to attain the Dao, what does a brand upon the soul amount to? Sooner or later you will sever it away,” Ye Fan said.

“Do I have any other choice? Having fallen into your hands, I can only look up at heaven from hell,” Yi Qingwu said. Her grace was peerless, and now fully dressed, she was untouched by even a breath of worldly air — ethereal and transcendent.

“Why speak of such things? We are not so divided from one another — we will collaborate well together,” Ye Fan said, a trace of a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Yi Qingwu could no longer maintain her ethereal bearing. She thought of the alluring scene just moments before — facing each other completely bare, truly not divided from one another. She very much wanted to rebuke him — but ultimately restrained herself.

She calmed the turbulence of her emotions, her voice very cool and clear. “Within the Ziwei Ancient Star Domain, there are many outstanding people of extraordinary talent and skill in great abundance. On your current footing, wanting to contend for supremacy under heaven — I fear you are still very far from it.”

“You only need to have confidence in yourself. Sooner or later, you will become the divine maiden that all people in the world bow down in reverence before,” Ye Fan said, and when he had spoken, his soul manifested as a sword and cut across himself.

He was erasing the traces of the Carnal Desire Great Dao. After experiencing all of that, traces had indeed been left behind. He feared it might truly affect his future, so he moved to remove them. Back when he broke through the curse of the Sacred Physique and was suppressed by the Great Dao, terrible wounds had been left upon him — yet he had eventually healed from those, so he was not afraid of this singular law. His body billowed with golden radiance, seething and surging like water. After half an hour, every trace had been erased.

Ye Fan opened his eyes. “Do you need me to help clear away the Dao-marks for you?”

“I need no such kindness from you — I can sever every last trace myself,” Yi Qingwu said, her ethereal bearing restored, her voice deeply resonant, her celestial body and jade bones flowing with haze and radiant splendor.

Half an hour later, she too had severed every trace. Transcendent and beyond the mundane world, she was like a celestial figure upon a misty cliff-face — as though at any moment she might ride the wind away.

Ye Fan was rather taken aback. This woman’s natural gifts were truly fearsome. It was no wonder she was considered one of the most likely candidates to attain the Dao in the future.

He felt that not killing this woman, but instead cultivating her into a celestial maiden of icy purity — in the future she would likely prove of great use. The Guanghan Spirit Physique was so strikingly extraordinary; it could suppress all under heaven.

The divine being within the furnace had long since retreated into hiding. The Six Desires Divine Tribulation had ended and no longer descended. Neither of them spoke. The atmosphere was subtle and strange — both of them involuntarily thought back on everything just past.

Outside, the great battle raged furiously. The two martial brothers Yan Yixi and Li Tian had seized several jade slips, but had also sustained heavy wounds, beset by the attacks of many.

Li Tian could not suppress a wicked grin. He knew the Divine Maiden Furnace must have worked its effect, for just a while ago it had released the power of the Carnal Desire Great Dao, driving back even those who had been assailing him.

“You’ve been attacking me — now let me send you a great gift in return: I’ll return the most beautiful woman under heaven to you.”

Hmmm!

The void shuddered. He inverted the Divine Maiden Furnace, releasing all those who had been collected inside. He transmitted his voice loudly to everyone: “Everyone, look!”

No one could count how many gazes turned in their direction — all of them powerful experts from various sects and orders. The Divine Maiden Furnace’s reputation was notorious, and everyone wanted to know Yi Qingwu’s fate. In particular, among the younger generation, many had long been on the verge of fury.

The people of the Guanghan Palace went deathly pale. They were in extreme dread. If Yi Qingwu had suffered any misfortune, the Guanghan Palace would never be able to hold its head up again.

By now it was night. A divine moon hung in the sky. In the distance, the black ocean rose and fell. The island was bathed in a dreamlike, hazy light.

From the Divine Maiden Furnace, auspicious haze steamed and billowed. Yi Qingwu floated out in white robes that outshone snow, light and ethereal. That beauty — in an instant it dimmed all heaven and earth, made sun and moon lose their luster, casting every beautiful thing in the world into the shade.

An elder of the Guanghan Palace activated the Celestial Eye and examined Yi Qingwu closely. He then breathed a long sigh of relief. “Qingwu is unharmed. She has passed through this tribulation. Her path to attaining the Dao can be expected!”

Other immortal inheritances also had unrivaled experts present. Their divine eyes were like lightning, and they too saw that she was entirely unharmed and unmarked. Every single one of them revealed an expression of astonishment.

“The celestial Yi Qingwu is astounding through past and present — she is the first person since ancient times to pass through the desire tribulation and come out!”

Many among the younger generation immediately burst into cheers. Yi Qingwu was the most beautiful woman under heaven — the divine goddess in the hearts of countless people. In this moment every one of them exhaled and laid down the great stone in their hearts.

“Celestial Qingwu is unrivaled through the ages. Even the Divine Maiden Furnace could not prevail — supremely holy and pure, even the heavens could not bear to let her be harmed.”

“The celestial Yi is pure as ice, immaculate as jade — the foremost beauty in the world. Even that wicked furnace could not defile her!”

The crowd cried out and marveled in admiration, everyone overcome with emotion. The breadth of Yi Qingwu’s appeal was plain for all to see.

“Son of a—!” Li Tian cursed. The frustration within him had nowhere to go. He had fully expected that the celestial figure would have been transformed into a desire-woman, shaming the Guanghan Palace beyond recovery — yet instead he had witnessed a miracle. As a successor to the Carnal Desire Dao, he could naturally see clearly that she was genuinely unharmed.

Ye Fan floated out leisurely, which also surprised many — though not overly so, for people thought only that he and Li Tian and the others were of the same company, so naturally they would emerge unscathed.

At this moment, people’s exclamations of admiration for Yi Qingwu filled the air from every direction. She was the holy goddess in the hearts of so many.

She moved in her snow-white robes like the Guanghan celestial reincarnated — so vivid and alive. The divine moon in the sky above seemed to exist only for her, its moonlight flowing as though solely to illuminate her form.

Yi Qingwu — her figure slender and long, dark hair shining like silk and satin, falling to her waist that fit within a single embrace. The crimson beauty mark at her brow shone with divine radiance, adding infinite spiritual elegance.

Ye Fan, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, stood at a distance, watching all of this in silence.

Li Tian’s expression shifted. He slanted his eyes at Ye Fan and said: “I somehow feel, you bastard, that you’re mocking everyone right now — as if you’re thinking: the divine goddess you all worship was once mine.”

“You’re overthinking it. But when you get the chance, release the Guanghan Que and return it to Yi Qingwu,” Ye Fan said.

“You bastard!” Li Tian cursed.

Ye Fan paid no heed to his curses. He flew downward, landing not far from the six-zhang golden Fusang divine tree. He bowed respectfully toward the green-robed elderly man and said: “Elder, I have brought you back to your homeland. Where is the stroke of fortune you promised to bestow upon me?”

Many people were shaken. They stared at the green-robed elderly man, stared at the stone coffin, stared at Ye Fan. What was the meaning of this? Homeland… This was the place where the Ancient Solar Emperor had attained the Dao!