Outside the Purple Subtlety Ancient Star Territory, within the celestial palace orbiting the ancient star, the black hole that had appeared upon the five-colored altar was slowly closing. Ye Fan, Li Tian, and Yan Yixi were on the verge of disappearing. They took one final look back at the world outside.
Yi Qingwu stood poised and elegant, her figure lithe and graceful. Her peerless beauty was without flaw — a melon-seed face as fair as mutton-fat jade, utterly serene. Eyes like black gemstones stared unblinking at them. A small red mole at the center of her brow glimmered brilliantly, radiating an aura of infinite ethereal grace.
She watched the group depart in silence. With her Primordial Spirit and Dao-intent, she cut away the imprint of Ye Fan she had held within her heart, resolving to forget him from this day forward and walk the path of Dao-seeking.
“One day, I will become a female Sage, and ultimately walk the path of the Great Emperor — and I will journey to the Northern Dipper Star Territory to settle all the debts of fate between us!” This was the conviction that drove her toward the Dao.
“I’ll be waiting for you.” As though he had seen through what lay in her heart, Ye Fan smiled brightly, revealing a full set of snow-white teeth.
Yi Qingwu stepped back quickly. The imprint she had cut away from her heart surged up once more — even more vivid and clear than before, permanently engraved upon the depths of her soul. Her celestial body trembled involuntarily, and her own Primordial Spirit was momentarily restrained. Indeed, the harder one tried to sever it, the more it tangled.
The void’s black hole finally vanished. From within it came the final long howl of Li Tian: “Hell yes, we’re finally leaving! From here on out, no more notorious reputation for me — I’m going to become the holiest of Holy Sons. Xiao Yi Qingwu, the number one beauty in the world — if Ye Fan stops thinking of you, I’ll occasionally think of you on his behalf. Take good care of yourself — and if you give birth to a little Ye Fan, when I come back I might consider taking him as my disciple, teaching him to become the world’s greatest rogue. The legacy of the sect of carnal desires in the Purple Subtlety Ancient Star Territory must not be broken. The great mission of reviving the sect’s orthodoxy — I’m leaving it to him.”
At last, the void passage vanished. The three of them departed that ancient star forever, leaving only ripples of spiritual resonance echoing through the celestial palace.
Yi Qingwu stood in white robes purer than snow — a peerless and breathtaking beauty who would leave the ages thunderstruck. But now she was shaking from head to toe in fury, her radiant, crystalline skin quivering. She wanted nothing more than to hurl the Lunar Palace Bow she held outward, shatter the void with it, and drag those three back out.
Boundless darkness. Eternal desolation. From the far end of this passage came a terrifying aura — one belonging to a vast, life-bearing star.
“What kind of road is this? Brother Ye, are you certain we’re heading back to the Northern Dipper Star Territory?” Yan Yixi asked.
“Yes. That is the aura of the land I know well — but it feels as though endless unknowns and dangers await at the exit. We must be on guard.” Ye Fan’s expression was grave.
“How strange — we never even stepped onto a five-colored altar, and yet we’re crossing the star territories?” Li Tian was not blindly optimistic; his thoughts were not dwelling on the “primordial maidens” of ancient races for once.
Yan Yixi had a refined and elegant air — bearing every mark of a freewheeling Holy Son of his generation. He was a voracious reader, well versed in many ancient texts, and something in their situation triggered a recollection.
“A five-colored altar is not the only path through the starry expanse. There are other means — but they appear to belong to races other than humanity.”
When he said this, Ye Fan’s expression grew even more grave, for he had long held a premonition and had guessed something already. His gaze fell upon the primordial king sealed within the divine source.
“Conceal all your aura — not even a trace must leak out. There will certainly be a supreme expert waiting at the exit. If we are careless, all of us may perish.”
“What?! That serious?!” Li Tian blanched and immediately wiped the smile from his face, his manner turning solemn.
“Then what do we do?” Yan Yixi too felt the gravity of the situation. They could cross to the Northern Dipper Ancient Star Territory — but surviving the journey was far from guaranteed. A being of unimaginable power could be waiting at the exit.
“Senior Sect-Brother, what did the ancient records you’ve read say? Can you be more specific?” Li Tian said. His mind was turning at speed — this was not a man who walked into death’s embrace willingly.
“An existence of incomprehensible power — on par with an emperor of primordial times — who spent their entire life’s essence of spirit, vital breath, and divine consciousness to engrave a kind of divine altar, capable of summoning those of their bloodline, calling them back to their place of origin…”
All three pairs of eyes turned to the primordial king sealed in divine source. Their expressions changed completely. It was not hard to imagine what would be waiting for them at the exit on the other side of the star territory.
“The dragon-headed, human-bodied race — beyond any doubt, one look tells you this is a formidable race.” Yan Yixi said.
“This is a real problem.” Li Tian nodded, expressing his wholehearted agreement. Every trace of his usual cheekiness had vanished, replaced by a creeping dread. The road ahead was little short of a death trap.
Ye Fan had finally set out on the road home. He had glimpsed hope — only to immediately smell the stench of death. Anyone would feel a heavy heart in such circumstances. Not one of the ancient races was easy to deal with — let alone the possibility of a whole pack of royal clan members waiting at the exit.
“Damn it — they used this to summon back that bronze warship carrying dozens of ancient kings and three Great Saints.” Even Ye Fan could not help but feel the urge to curse.
He knew this had gotten out of hand. A ship full of half-dead ancient kings and three primordial Great Saints — they might well have been dispatched by the old madman beyond the domain. If he were summoned back now, the ten thousand ancient clans of the Eastern Wilderness would certainly go berserk. The consequences would be unbearable!
The blame for all of this would certainly fall on him. It was because of him that it had started — otherwise the old madman would never have known that a ship full of ancient saints had descended upon the Purple Subtlety Star Territory.
The outcome would be enough to make one’s hair stand on end. Being flayed alive would be getting off lightly; being made into a living lantern would be considered merciful. If he fell into the hands of those ancient clans, there would be nothing good in store for him.
“Brother Ye, why has your face gone green? What’s so terrible about it? At most it’s just death, right?” Li Tian said.
“A whole ship full of ancient kings’ lives… I won’t even be able to die easily.” Ye Fan said.
After hearing the full story, Li Tian sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, wincing on Ye Fan’s behalf. “How about I finish you off quickly — spare you a slow and miserable end.”
“If that’s your idea, keep it to yourself and get lost!”
“Is there really no way out?” Yan Yixi said.
“There is one — but it’s no different from suicide.” Ye Fan said.
“What way?” Li Tian asked.
“Make this ancient corpse disappear.” Ye Fan said.
Li Tian said nothing and on the spot brought out the Divine Maiden Furnace, preparing to act and destroy the corpse.
“Wait.” Ye Fan stopped him.
“There’s still time to act now — I’m trying to open an escape route. If we destroy the dried corpse, those on the other side of the star territory will lose the ability to summon it.”
“But if we destroy it now, the void passage will close instantly. We will be sealed here forever — cast out into eternal darkness — and we will die all the same.” Ye Fan said.
“Still better than dying a shameful death at someone’s hand. My personal creed has never included ‘die in battle’ — that has never been my style.” Li Tian grumbled, the Divine Maiden Furnace the size of a fist gleaming crystal-clear in his palm.
“Traveling through the ancient starry path — if it is suddenly severed, that would be truly catastrophic. There may be immediate total annihilation.” Yan Yixi warned.
If the path were severed in an instant, the consequence might be eternal exile in the boundless dark — or instant pulverization in the vacuum, all things returning to primordial chaos, a great destruction occurring all at once.
A shadow fell over all three of their hearts. This was practically a dead end on every side. If they continued, it would not be long before they perished — the ancient royal clansmen waiting at the exit would surely be merciless. If they destroyed the corpse, the passage would seal and trap them in eternal darkness.
“To think that I, the Holy Son Li Tian, traveled untold billions of li from the Purple Subtlety Ancient Star Territory all the way across the star territories — only to make a dazzling entrance for one brief moment, and then be slapped to death by someone. No matter how you look at it, that’s downright stupid — rushing here of my own accord to deliver myself to death’s door. Am I really so cursed that even heaven is out to get me? What the hell!”
Li Tian’s bitterness rose to the heavens. He clutched his head in desperate thought. Then, all of a sudden, he seemed to remember something. “Senior Sect-Brother — those degenerate founders of ours apparently left behind a book. Something about expounding on the Great Dao of Space. It’s a complete mess, but it might just contain something relevant to our survival.”
They had already stripped the sect’s cave-dwelling bare — a proper case of taking the whole sect along, by any measure. The two of them went through all the collected items carefully, releasing Tong Tong along with a pile of ancient texts.
The little one wore an expression full of grievance, and before she could say more than a few words, she was shoved back in again — pouting and wrinkling her nose in indignation.
“Found it!”
All three huddled together, poring over a yellowed ancient tome in silence, studying it with complete focus and seriousness.
“This is the path of a Sage — we couldn’t possibly fully grasp it. But the most basic part describes finding spatial nodes, through which one can forcibly break open a way out and escape the ancient starry path.”
Doing so also carried risk — they might drift forever in the dark reaches of the universe, with no path forward and no way home. But it was the only viable option remaining. The alternative was certain death.
“With ancient sacred weapons in hand, piercing a spatial node should be manageable. But time is short — the nodes must be found quickly.”
In the time that followed, they calculated repeatedly, concentrating every bit of their essence, vital breath, and divine consciousness as they scanned the ancient path — and one after another, they found several nodes.
“Stay calm — don’t act yet. Wait until we are close to the Northern Dipper Star Territory before striking. If we break through too early, we’ll be cast adrift in the depths of the universe — no village ahead, no town behind — and we’ll miss the life-bearing ancient star forever.” Ye Fan warned. He had spent seven lonely years drifting through the dark heavens, and the memory of it made him deeply dread a repetition.
Finally, after enduring yet another agonizing stretch of time, Ye Fan’s spirit stirred sharply. “I can sense the aura of the Eastern Wilderness — this is unmistakably the Northern Dipper Star Territory!”
“Indeed — I can also sense a life-bearing ancient star.” Yan Yixi nodded.
Li Tian raised the Divine Maiden Furnace and gave the dried corpse a firm strike. A faint thread of divine light flew out and vanished into the ancient sacred weapon, draining the last remnants of life force from within the corpse.
“A spatial node has appeared — now is the moment!”
They were very nearly like stowaways at this point — forcibly jumping ship. Together, the three of them channeled their power into the crystal-clear furnace the size of a fist, and with a thunderous boom, they struck through a spatial node and broke out.
In the Northern Region, within the Divine Spirit Valley, a gathering of powerful ancient clan cultivators had assembled — among them even an ancient ancestor presiding over the proceedings. At that moment, all of them stirred.
“What just happened? The Ancient Emperor’s Divine Altar pulsed a moment ago.”
Yet they gave it little further thought, for their hearts were brimming with excitement. They were about to witness the legendary return of a figure from ages past, and learn many truths long shrouded in mystery.
Outside the domain, Ye Fan and the others had broken free and entered the cold, dark expanse of the universe. The aura emanating from a life-bearing ancient star ahead could be clearly sensed.
“Wonderful — it’s not too far at all. We can use our ancient sacred weapons to break through the void and cross over!”
Ye Fan’s heart was far from calm. Through hardship after hardship, through nine deaths and one survival, he had strived to return to his homeland — only for it to turn out that after twelve years of wandering in exile, he had once again arrived at this ancient star.
“The Holy Son Li Tian has descended! All living beings, tremble!” Li Tian let out a wild and joyful howl.
“We’ve finally taken our fate into our own hands — we’ve broken out of a trap that should have been inescapable.” Yan Yixi wiped the cold sweat from his brow. The stretch of time they had just been through was not long — but it had been extraordinarily dangerous.
Every step of that journey had been a step toward death, and only at the final moment had they shaken free from fate’s chains. All three of them let out a long breath.
“I’m back…” Ye Fan gazed upon the life-bearing ancient star ahead. He thought of the moments that had passed, one by one — the faces of old friends, scenes of battle, the blazing heat of passion, the heartache of parting. Pang Bo, Li Heishui, Ji Ziyue, Xiao Nannan, the Great Black Dog — their silhouettes rose before him, one after another.
“I’m back!”
“Ahhh…”
In the Purple Subtlety Ancient Star Territory, Yin Tiande let out a long, heaven-piercing howl. His black hair whipped wildly around him; he looked as though he had gone mad. His eyes were sharp as lightning, their gaze cutting through the sky for dozens of li.
On this day, purple vapors surged eastward across ten thousand li, crushing down upon the Great Barren. Countless powerful wild beasts were terrified into trembling, every one of them dropping prostrate to the ground.
The divine ancient scripture written in phoenix blood blazed in Yin Tiande’s hand, spraying torrents of rosy light that stained the sky crimson, turning his entire body a bright scarlet. He gazed silently up at the heavens. Then, at last, with an iron resolve, he spoke words that rang out like a striking bell:
“The ancient star where all the great emperors of antiquity once descended — I will go there too. I will descend upon that place, and I will slaughter every last one of you to prove my Dao!”