A golden ancient ship sailed forth, cutting against the black expanse of ocean, breaking free from the Demon Sea Eye. Five hundred golden-bodied Arhats sat cross-legged in meditation, and only the old monk had his eyes open, chanting Buddhist scriptures.

An entire ship of divine, skin-wrapped skeletal Arhats — were these once the great monks of the Great Thunder Sound Temple? Ye Fan was astonished; this was comparable to a small Mount Sumeru.

“Old monk, you’re still alive? Weren’t you supposed to enter nirvana two thousand years ago?” The Ancestral Crocodile bellowed, the veins on his forehead bulging visibly — clearly, he and this old monk had crossed paths before.

“My Buddha is merciful. Blessed be, blessed be.” The old monk spoke. His entire body was reduced to little more than skin over bone, withered as dried wood, yet he was nevertheless wreathed in sacred Buddhist light, holy and transcendent.

“Spare me your false compassion. Today I shall reduce you to ash.” The Ancestral Crocodile said coldly, his black-gold armor flickering with a chilling metallic sheen, making him appear supremely powerful and martial, his ink-black hair cascading freely.

“This old monk should have entered nirvana long ago. For two thousand years I have preserved but a single breath of life, to stand guard over the Demon Sea Eye. Had it not been for the two of you fighting, I might never have awakened…”

Ye Fan was taken aback. These truly were the golden-bodied Arhats who had served under Shakyamuni, and the old monk himself held the venerable status of an ancient Buddha — clearly a figure of immense origin!

Through the old monk’s account, Ye Fan learned in astonishment of certain events from the past. These monks had taken up residence at the Great Thunder Sound Temple, charged with suppressing the heroic spirits of the ancient Huoying Star.

Theirs was a burden heavy and far-reaching.

This ancient star had once teemed with life, a source world brimming with vitality, until a great war that spanned star domains had erupted, destroying everything.

Countless powerful beings had perished on this very ground, and the number of sacred bones buried here defied calculation — this was a burial ground for heroic spirits.

Naturally, this place had also become incomparably wicked and malevolent. All the heroic spirits had been sealed within the Northern Sea Demon Eye, making it nothing less than a living hell on earth.

“No wonder I could never enter the Sea Eye despite pushing against the black ocean — that gateway had been sealed by you monks with a forbidden restriction!” The ancient great crocodile’s blood-colored eyes grew even colder.

“Benefactor, do not invite great calamity upon yourself. Since you were able to find the Demon Sea Eye, you naturally know how it came to be formed, and what manner of existence is sealed at its deepest depths.”

“So many years have passed. Even taking ten thousand steps back — even if there were immortals once — they would have long since turned to dust. What could possibly remain inside?” The Ancestral Crocodile said with a bone-chilling tone.

“True, the things of that age could not possibly have survived to the present. Yet do not forget what this place is — the Northern Sea Demon Eye of Huoying, which in that age was the most extreme Yin ground in all existence. You have seen it yourself: ghost ships have appeared, and many things have transformed into Yin spirits. How much more so the existence sealed at the deepest extreme-Yin cave? By now, there are certainly supreme-level Yin gods and unparalleled heroic spirits. Whoever comes here will be unable to pacify them.” The old monk’s countenance was solemn and dignified.

Ye Fan’s heart trembled. So within this Demon Sea Eye were sealed the living beings who had fallen in battle long ago, along with the remnants of their civilization — and yet more ancient secrets and forgotten histories unknown to the world!

“Old monk, are you going to make your move again? Two thousand years — you truly know how to survive. Even Shakyamuni addressed you as ‘Teacher.'” The ancient great crocodile’s black-gold armor rang and clanged as killing intent radiated from him like swords slashing in all directions, carving trench after trench across the earth and into the vault of heaven.

Ye Fan was deeply shaken. He stared at the old monk in disbelief. This monk was the only living person aboard the golden ship, and if his origins were truly this extraordinary — what other identity could he possibly hold?!

“My Dharma does not equal Shakyamuni’s. I can only be called one who pointed the way. He blazed his own path and Dao. I and the few others revered as his teachers amount to nothing.” The divine monk pressed his palms together in reverence.

Ye Fan was astonished, and then recalled certain records: before his enlightenment, Shakyamuni had several teachers — some Brahmin, some ascetic monks — before ultimately founding his own religion.

This old monk was at minimum an ancient Buddha, and most likely that very ascetic monk from those days!

Before Shakyamuni founded his religion, the Buddhist teachings already existed — but on Earth they had grown scarce, fragmented and scattered, their doctrines no longer pure.

An old monk who had once guided Shakyamuni!

What a staggering origin this was — just thinking about it was enough to leave one dizzy. Ye Fan was truly awestruck, even left a little dumbfounded. What an impossibly ancient figure this was — he had to be a wise Buddha, and he must know everything about Earth’s ancient history!

This was a living fossil — a being who had truly survived through the ages. If one could sit with him for even a single day, perhaps half the mysteries weighing on one’s heart could be resolved. At the thought of this, Ye Fan’s excitement surged beyond control.

“Old monk, who do you think you are? I admit I am no match for Shakyamuni — but can I not cut you down? Even if you were half his teacher, that won’t save you!”

The Ancestral Crocodile was fierce and domineering. His black-gold armor rang with a resounding clang, unleashing tens of millions of threads of sword energy that slashed across all ten directions. He stepped forward and surged toward the ancient ship, intent on boarding it.

“Namo Ratna Trayāya, Namo Aryāvalokiteśvarāya Bodhisattvāya…” The old monk began chanting the Demon-Subduing Sutra, and one by one, golden runes leapt forth, imprinting themselves across the sky — each one weighing ten thousand tons.

Clang! Clang!

The Ancestral Crocodile struck out, and every blow sent sparks flying, colliding violently with those runes. At their level of cultivation, even a casual strike embodied the laws of heaven and earth.

Had Huoying not been a special ancient star, their battle might have shattered half its surface — for the divine chains of order had already surged upward, piercing through the boundless void.

This was a fierce battle. Both sides held nothing back, each seeking to destroy the other — a contest between Buddha and demon!

“Namo Ratna Trayāya…”

Suddenly, every golden-bodied Arhat on the ancient ship joined in the chanting — these were the lingering intentions and vibrations of their former lives. The Buddhist chant resounded throughout Huoying.

Boundless light blazed forth, standing against the ancient great crocodile. The entire golden ship erupted in a lattice of radiant patterns, interweaving beneath the vault of heaven.

The chant rang out!

Like bodhisattvas of all the heavens crying in unison, like the Buddha himself roaring in fury — it seemed to reverberate from the most ancient of ages, carrying within it a vast and unfathomable divine power.

This golden ancient ship was a supreme dharma treasure — at minimum of heirloom rank — bearing arrays personally carved by Shakyamuni himself, and now they all blazed to life, seeking to purge every demon and devil in the human realm.

The might of the Buddha spread across eighty thousand miles!

The Buddhist teachings were profound and deep beyond measure, capable of converting all stubborn enemies. Now they revealed an astonishing majesty. The chant was unceasing, resonating like great bells and drums, deafening and all-encompassing, as golden ancient runes flickered one after another, drowning out everything around them.

The Ancestral Crocodile was immensely powerful, yet facing half of Shakyamuni’s teacher, he found himself struggling to keep up. The combined will of the ancient ship and the five hundred golden-bodied Arhats from their lifetimes created a might too vast to imagine — and all of it was now being unleashed by the old monk.

Huoying was the greatest sea of suffering in the world, and the Great Thunder Sound Temple had once stood upon this very ground. This golden ancient ship carried special significance — it could help one cross that sea of suffering.

And now, as it moved against the Ancestral Crocodile, it was seeking to convert this ancient great demon. The chant was unceasing, as though the three thousand bodhisattvas and ancient Buddhas of antiquity were all reciting sutras together. Their divine power shook the ages, and boundless light became eternal, filling both heaven and earth.

Ye Fan watched from afar and did not flee. Escaping into the star domain offered no path to survival, and charging toward Earth was not a good option either — if the flames of battle were dragged there, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Having come this far, he had cast all caution aside. He would wait for dawn. Even if the old monk was defeated, he would fight to the last — to avenge his classmates who had died in vain.

This was a holy war — a great battle at the level of ancient sages — with intricate secret arts and incomprehensible laws of order permeating the entire region.

At last, as dawn approached, the chanting from the golden ship began to diminish, its radiance noticeably dimmer.

“The Buddha may rise one foot, but the demon rises ten!” The Ancestral Crocodile laughed coldly. “Do you think you can convert me? Only if Shakyamuni himself returns.”

“This poor monk is old. My vital energy has withered and depleted. I should have long since departed this world, and indeed I cannot convert you, Benefactor. Yet I have glimpsed your future — a life of evil that has reached its end.”

“Nonsense!” The Ancestral Crocodile would never believe such words.

This ancient old monk continued reciting the Buddha’s name as the light around his body dimmed and slowly faded away. He was on the verge of entering nirvana, his body transforming into the bones of the Dao, merging with the golden ancient ship to become one.

The ship’s hull began to glow as it moved toward the Demon Sea Eye, filling it. By now, the seawater had already flowed into it — the ground around them had long since been drained dry.

“How stubborn. You are about to die, yet you won’t seek a good resting place — instead you insist on sealing the Demon Sea Eye.” The Ancestral Crocodile sneered coldly.

“If not I who descends into hell, then who?” The old monk’s final words carried forth, and together with the entire ancient ship, he plunged into the burial ground of heroic spirits, sealing shut the Sea Eye.

The Ancestral Crocodile turned around. His black-gold battle armor flickered with a chill metallic sheen, making him appear as though cast from demonic gold — his divine might incomparable and absolute.

In that moment, the first ray of morning light arrived, illuminating him and making him appear even more terrifying than before. His figure was tall and upright, his presence suffocating. His black hair cascaded freely, and his blood-colored eyes fixed coldly upon Ye Fan.

“Insect. How dare you harbor killing intent toward me. No matter how unique your constitution may be — I could stomp a thousand of your kind to death with a single foot!” He was filled with contempt, taking no notice of Ye Fan whatsoever. Having disposed of that ancient Buddha, he cared even less now — there was no one in this star domain who could restrain him.

“You crocodile! Today there is only room for one of us!” Ye Fan roared.

“A tiny little worm dares to bark at a divine being of the heavens. Even craning your head back as far as it will go, you cannot see how high my toes reach. You are not worthy!” The Ancestral Crocodile said with extreme contempt.

Then he expanded into his boundless dharma body, rapidly enlarging, and raised one great foot, bringing it down toward Ye Fan — intending to crush him underfoot, truly as one would treat an ant.

He did this with perfect ease, genuinely regarding Ye Fan as nothing more than an insect, paying him no mind at all — because the gulf in their cultivation spoke for itself.

For Ye Fan, this was the ultimate humiliation. He said nothing more. As he retreated by treading the Walking Word Technique beneath his feet, he shook the cauldron above his head, and that immortal treasure ancient scroll flew out — innumerable stars flickering within it. He gave it a forceful shake, and a person came flying out from within.

It was an old man, sealed inside a piece of divine source stone. He was gaunt and skeletal, seated cross-legged with not a single ripple of living presence — yet he inspired a deep and bone-chilling unease in any who laid eyes on him.

His upper body was bare, nothing but skin over bones. His lower half was wrapped in a piece of beast hide, and he held in his hands a lustrous white bone staff — looking altogether primitive, yet emanating a sensation that made one’s hair stand on end.

A scarlet iron chain blazed with a piercing divine radiance, binding him tightly — nearly biting into the very flesh and blood beneath — and upon it were inscribed numerous lines of pattern work, profound and intricate beyond words. This was a Scarlet Divine Chain.

At the sight of this, the Ancestral Crocodile nevertheless brought his foot down all the same. He had sensed the terrifying nature of the being within the divine source, and sought to strike first — using his strength as an ancient sage to crush the old one alive.

Boom!

This stomp was incomparably domineering. Even an ancient Ancestor King caught beneath it would have been pulverized without question. The Ancestral Crocodile had struck with full ferocity.

Yet all that happened was the divine source shattered, blazing apart into brilliant divine light, while the old man remained utterly unharmed. A terrifying wave of power surged out from him — like a tidal wave crashing against the shore, like boulders tearing through the sky!

All of this was the awakening aura of this primordial sage!

Boom!

Heaven and earth thundered, as though a vast ocean had burst through its banks. The entire vault of sky collapsed, and the ancient primordial sage’s eyes snapped open in an instant.

Blindingly bright — even one as powerful as the Ancestral Crocodile cried out in alarm, tumbling back three full somersaults in retreat, desperately evading those two soul-shattering eyes!

It was as though two bolts of lightning had struck the heavens and earth — two tangible beams of light shot skyward in an instant, shattering the firmament and blazing all the way up to challenge the stars!

His pair of eyes was terrifying beyond measure — a thousand, ten thousand times more brilliant than divine lanterns — as though two suns had been compressed and set into his eye sockets, burning fiercely, impossible for anyone to meet head-on.

“Senior! Please slay this demon — he has bullied our human race far too long!” Ye Fan transmitted his voice in a great shout.

There was no need for him to say it. This primordial sage would not suffer such indignity. Someone had dared to bring their foot down upon his body — and he had already sensed it.