The Void Emperor might very well have once visited Ancient China — this secret revelation left Ye Fan and Pang Bo staring wide-eyed, exchanging speechless glances, unable to find words for a long moment.

In that instant, a single name rose simultaneously in both their hearts: the Yellow Emperor — that existence who was at once human and divine, born on the banks of the Ji River. Was there some thread of karmic connection in all of this?

Yet upon only a brief reflection, they shook their heads and dismissed the idea. The timelines simply did not align. The Yellow Emperor was an ancient figure of roughly four thousand years ago, while the Void Emperor had passed away over a hundred thousand years prior.

“Would the several venerable elders be willing to elaborate? We are all ears.” Pang Bo stepped forward and, in a fawning display, reached out and took hold of one elderly arm, supporting it solicitously.

“Gently — you’ll pull it right off,” the old man of the Ji Clan said, wincing and grimacing. He was in no condition to endure the support of Pang Bo’s arms, which were three times the girth of an ordinary person’s. “I came across this in an ancient text in the Archive Pavilion. The records are sparse — I had nearly forgotten.”

“This is not the place for such a conversation. Honored guests, please come inside.” The Ji Family’s Holy Master smiled warmly, with Ji Haoyue accompanying at his side — in a few more years, the younger man would formally take over.

The Ji Family ruled over the Southern Domain and looked down upon the Eastern Wasteland from above. Few lineages could compare in terms of transmission and heritage. They had produced one Human Race Great Emperor, and their foundational reserves were the strongest of all — beyond any comparison.

Clouds and mist wound in spiraling layers. Various halls and palaces hung suspended in the void. Sacred birds soared and wheeled about. Orchids and spirit-grasses breathed out their fragrance. It was as though they were in a paradise — a magnificent and resplendent painting come to life.

One pure-land island after another floated and drifted, suspended upon the clouds. And towering peaks of ten thousand zhang height stood like pillars of the sky, with ribbons of misty white waterfalls cascading down in dazzling, magnificent falls.

“Aoooh—!”

From the distance, a great roar rang out. A stretch of black mountains rose among the swirling mist. There, a black flood dragon was tethered — as thick and massive as an entire mountain ridge.

The group was considerably astonished. A clan that had produced a Great Emperor was indeed something else altogether. That flood dragon radiated an imposing, breathtaking presence; its bloodline was remarkably pure, and its roar resounded with the harmonics of the Dao itself, its cultivation realm impossible to gauge.

“That is the Sacred Domain,” Ji Ziyue said. “It connects to a small world, and the black dragon stands guard there. It has never been permitted to stir from its post — it must spend its entire life before the Black Dragon Pool. Such a sad fate. My older brother and I used to go keep it company when we were young.”

It was plain to see: that place was a hidden sanctuary, the most vital and critical location the Ji Family possessed. None but direct bloodline members were permitted to set foot there. The depths of their foundational reserves were truly beyond fathoming.

Along the way, Ye Fan ran into a familiar face — the Ji Family’s eighth elder, a figure of the elder generation with a distinguished and imposing position. In earlier years, he had stood on the side of the Wang Family of the Northern Plains, making things relentlessly difficult for Ye Fan.

The two locked eyes and both paused. The eighth elder’s gaze flickered and shifted, and at last he gave an inward sigh, clasped his hands in a brief salute, and took his leave. Things were different now. The Wang Family of the Northern Plains had already been crushed beneath Ye Fan’s iron cavalry. Circumstances were stronger than any individual — and even if the elder tried to stir up trouble, he would most likely be stamped out by the Ji Family themselves first.

The Central Void Celestial Palace was imposing and magnificent, like an ancient Heavenly Court standing eternal. Immortal cranes soared overhead, and colored phoenixes called out, circling above. Only the most honored of guests could be received within — and today, its doors were opened wide.

The Ji Family extended the utmost hospitality. Ye Fan’s one battle had shaken all under heaven, drawing the attention of every party. He had even slain a descendant of the Ancient Emperor — who among them could still obstruct his path?

The elders of the Ji Family had made thorough inquiries and learned of the relationship between Ji Haoyue’s pair of siblings and Ye Fan’s group. It was only natural that they would seek to draw him into their camp.

In years past, a faction of them had opposed Ji Ziyue drawing too close to Ye Fan. Now, nearly all of them had changed their minds. If it led to the Ji Family gaining a fully realized Holy Body as a close ally, they would have nothing to fear for ten thousand years.

Before Ye Fan and Pang Bo could even raise the question of the Ji River, one of the living fossils went straight to the point: “I have heard that you come from the other end of the starry sky. Is that correct?”

By now, the mystery of Ye Fan’s origins was no longer a secret. Many people had known for some time — there was nothing out of the ordinary in the elder asking.

“That is correct.” Ye Fan nodded and confirmed it.

“The stellar void is boundless, harboring far too many secrets. No wonder the Great Emperors of antiquity all set out on distant journeys — the celestial dome holds an endless wealth of hidden truths that we have not yet come to know.” One of the elders sighed.

Graceful, elegant maidservants moved with gentle, swaying steps into the celestial palace, bringing trays of fragrant tea whose scent hit the senses like a refreshing wave. It was Enlightenment Tea — an extraordinary divine object, rarely served to guests.

“I never imagined I’d have the chance to taste this divine tea again so soon,” the Black Emperor said, rising on its hind legs, reaching out two enormous clawed paws demanding its share — nearly causing several maidservants to slam their serving trays right into its face in fright.

Before long, one of the Ji Family’s elders personally retrieved an ancient scroll, and sat down with Pang Bo and Ye Fan to pore over it together — searching for records of the mysterious land the Void Emperor had once visited.

“Hmm. Come to think of it, the Ji Family are not the original inhabitants of the Northern Dipper Star Domain. In fact, it seems as though all the Great Emperors of antiquity traversed here from across the stellar void — those who truly belong to this world may not exist at all.” One of the living fossils spoke.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo were both taken aback. Only the Black Emperor craned its massive head forward and shook it, saying: “The Ruthless One and the Beginningless Great Emperor were born from this world — they proved their Dao right here.”

“Perhaps so,” the Ji Family’s living fossil smiled, not pressing the argument.

“It is also possible that our clan’s Great Emperor came from your world — who can say?” The elder poring over the ancient records alongside Pang Bo said this aloud.

“Impossible. A hundred thousand years ago, our ancestors were still at places like Zhoukoudian and Yuanmou, eating raw meat and drinking blood. How could cultivators have existed then?” Pang Bo shook his head.

Then he froze.

How could he possibly use Earth’s way of thinking to comprehend everything in this world? One could not dismiss the mysterious just because it didn’t fit established frameworks.

Considering that figures like Laozi and the pre-Qin cultivators of primordial energy had appeared in history, perhaps the most ancient of eras was completely unlike anything his inherited understanding had led him to believe. Perhaps genuine wars of the gods had truly occurred.

Earth’s mythological traditions were vast and numerous — and they bore certain connections to this world, some even mutually corroborating each other. Had such things truly existed?

“Found it — here—” Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the two elders read carefully through that scroll, which was sealed with Dao-rune patterns. Within it, references to “cultivators of primordial energy” appeared, and passages mentioning the Star Path through the void.

Yet the records were frustratingly sparse — only certain key phrases and terms. These had been inscribed by the Emperor-heir in his final years as he sat in peaceful death-meditation, drawn from things he had heard in childhood. But what exactly the Void Emperor had said was not recorded clearly — only blurred, faded memories remained.

“It must be Earth!” Ye Fan and Pang Bo both stared in a daze.

“And furthermore— The Celestial Court War!” Even the Black Emperor was struck wide-eyed, staring at the final entry, lost in a prolonged stupor.

The people of the Ji Family, however, merely smiled. Quite a few of the old antiques shook their heads, saying not to take it too seriously. Those were things the Emperor-heir had heard in childhood, already blurred and indistinct — it was only as he sat in peaceful death-meditation at the end of his life that he had murmured them aloud, and his descendants had preserved the words. Some passages had since been verified as accurate; but many were simply stories the Void Emperor-heir had heard in his early youth, not true accounts — there was evidence to support this.

“The Celestial Court War,” Ye Fan murmured to himself. He was not shaken by their words. Certain thoughts he held within him did not waver. On Earth, there must be countless secrets that no one knew — secrets that had long since been swallowed by the river of history.

“There is also a fragmentary illustration.” Turning to the very end, they found a corner of a landscape picture etched there — a great mountain carved into it, with no accompanying text.

“It looks rather like Mount Tai,” Ye Fan and Pang Bo said, staring at it, then at each other. The more they looked, the more it resembled it.

“This was depicted by the Emperor-heir in his final moments of death-meditation — drawn from the hazy, half-remembered image of a mountain in his childhood mind.”

Mount Tai — acclaimed as the foremost mountain in all under heaven. In ancient times, it was regarded as the place where the sun was born and all living things first grew. The historical records said of it: no mountain is greater, no history more ancient.

“Laozi passed through the Hangu Pass westward, riding his ox — and yet departed the Earth entirely. That alone is proof that many of the legends are true,” Pang Bo said.

“The Laozi you speak of — would that be an elderly man who rode a green ox?” The Ji Family’s Holy Master suddenly asked.

“That is correct.”

“I have seen him.” The Ji Family’s Holy Master spoke.

“Spit-take—!”

Both Ye Fan and Pang Bo sprayed the Enlightenment Tea from their mouths, expressions of total disbelief on their faces. It was a genuine shock. The beautiful maidservants hurried forward to clean up the mess.

“When I was a child, I saw the clan’s elders welcome in a figure such as this — treating him with the utmost reverence…” The Ji Family’s Holy Master began to recount the tale.

It was an event from over two thousand years ago. He had still been young at the time, able to observe the distinguished guest from a distance but not permitted to say much. Afterward, he learned that the visitor had been a person of unfathomable depth, who had come specifically to pay his respects to the lineage passed down from the Void Emperor.

“Speaking of visitors from beyond the domain — there have been several such incidents.” One of the living fossils said.

Had it been in the past, they would never have spoken of these secret matters. Now, Ye Fan stood as their equal in stature — and moreover, being himself someone who had come from beyond the domain, these stories were worth sharing, in hopes of exploring the mysteries together.

Several ancient scrolls were brought out and examined, but it was difficult to make heads or tails of them. There was no way to tell which ancient star domain those visitors had come from — they did not appear to be connected to Earth, and no clear trail of clues could be traced.

“I really want to return to the other end of the starry sky right now — Ye Fan, do you think we could dig up fragments and ruins of the Celestial Court?” Pang Bo said.

“That… is genuinely hard to say.” Ye Fan rubbed his chin in contemplation.

In the end, Ye Fan and the others asked the Ji Family for guidance on where the Feather Transformation Immortal Valley was to be found. They were told it was a very mysterious place, located deep within a great wasteland.

In years past, one of the Ji Family’s Divine Kings had entered an Immortal Palace outside the desolate ancient forbidden zone, obtained a stroke of great fortune, and was subsequently transported into the Feather Transformation Immortal Valley — and that was how knowledge of the place had come to exist.

“Ziyue, you may go with him. The family has me here — you need have no worries.” When no one else was around, Ji Haoyue spoke these words to his younger sister.

A living fossil of the Ji Clan happened to pass by at that moment, overheard their exchange, and offered no objection. On the contrary, the elder spoke up in affirmation, saying that if they truly intended to journey to the other end of the starry sky, there would certainly be a way to return.

The group departed the Ji Family and set out toward the Feather Transformation Immortal Valley. Ye Fan wished to go and see Lin Jia — he did not know how she was doing now, and there were certain memories of the past that he could not forget.

A whole group of people had come into this world together. Why was it that the others never seemed to appear? It weighed on his heart as a question he could not resolve. He genuinely did not know what they were doing, or where they had scattered to.

“Back when we came into this world, how many of us were there altogether? It should have been sixteen people,” Pang Bo murmured to himself.

“Yes. On the Desolate Star of Mars, within the Ancient Bronze Coffin, over a dozen people perished. Only sixteen of us survived and arrived in this world,” Ye Fan said.

“Among them, Liu Yunzhi, Li Changqing, and Wang Yan had tried to harm us. They had barely arrived in this world before they died — inside the tiger cave just outside the desolate ancient forbidden zone.” Pang Bo nodded.

The six blessed lands of Yan had taken them away to cultivate. Of those, three had perished within a few short years: one who had a mishap in training, one who was killed while traveling, and one torn apart by a fierce beast while gathering medicinal herbs.

Now, of those who had truly survived, there were only ten. Li Xiaoman had turned against them and become a great enemy. Zhang Wenchang was at Mount Zhuo Peak. Liu Yiyi had entered the Jasper Pond. Kai De had been taken in by an elderly monk and become a guardian Vajra of the Buddhist order. As for the others — Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, Lin Jia, and Zhang Ziling — they had never appeared. What paths fate had led them down remained unknown.

“Are you certain that, besides all of us, everyone else — those on the Desolate Star of Mars, inside the Ancient Bronze Coffin, and anyone else who came to this ancient star — have all died?” Ye Fan asked.

Pang Bo fell into thought and did not respond immediately.

“I have always had the feeling that there is a ghost standing in the shadows, watching my every move.” Ye Fan murmured to himself.