Chapter 1022: Journey to the West The Immortal Records

The journey to the starry sky, billions of miles away, heading towards the other shore, is long and full of unknowns. In the darkness, Ye Fan glowed with immeasurable light, enveloping the child, Huahua, as there was no air to breathe, and they could only rely on divine power.

It was a journey that left no one calm. Even the Divine Knight and Dragon Horse, with their profound cultivation, felt their emotions fluctuate, as this was their first time venturing into space. Zhang Qingyang and Long Yuxuan were even more unsettled.

"Master, what is the Big Dipper Starfield like? Can we really meet Saints from other races there?"

"Why does the Path to Immortality open there? Why are all the ancient Great Emperors concentrated on one ancient star? What will we encounter when we go?"

Zhang Qingyang and Long Yuxuan were nervous and uneasy. Some of these questions had been asked many times before, but they brought them up again.

Over a decade had passed, and they had cultivated to the first layer of the Immortal Terrace on Earth. One could imagine how much faster their progress would be in the Big Dipper Starfield; with their talent, they could certainly command respect in any region.

Along this stellar path, the flow of time was chaotic. Sometimes it dragged on so long it felt maddening, as if time had stopped. At other times, it passed incredibly quickly, as if millennia had rushed by.

Had they not continuously communicated with their divine senses, it would have been an utterly silent journey, devoid of all sound, save for the occasional flashes of light, as brilliant as fireworks.

"Phew, we're here!"

After an unknown duration, brilliant starlight appeared ahead, marking the end of the stellar path. It filled the darkness and void with a sense of presence and color.

With violent tremors, distorted space, and a mottled ancient path shimmering with various colors, they reached their first destination, falling out of the void.

Among them, only Ye Fan was considerably experienced. His entire body radiated vibrant energy from every pore. He enveloped the others within a cauldron as a precaution.

A soft sound came, and the ancient stellar path behind them vanished. They found themselves on a desolate planet; a single glance revealed its lifelessness, with thin air and no signs of vitality.

"Where is this place?" They looked up at the starry sky, then surveyed their surroundings.

There was no moon in the sky, but the magnificent Milky Way cast down a vast expanse of white light. This star seemed very close to all the major stars, as if they could leap across to another shore.

They couldn't identify their star position because even the same galaxy would appear vastly different when viewed from different planets.

Not knowing where they were was their most accurate description at that moment. They all felt uncertain. This was not an ancient life-sustaining star, so they couldn't survive here long and had to find a way out quickly.

"There must be a small five-colored altar on this planet, and it shouldn't be too far away. Let's look for it," Ye Fan said.

This was not their destination, merely a stop on their journey. Such a desolate place held no trace of life. Ahead lay a vast desert, its yellow sands shimmering under the starlight.

"The aura of Divine Source!" Ye Fan's expression changed as he sensed an unusual energy signature.

They flew forward like streaks of lightning, plunging deep into the sand sea. Soon, all of them showed surprise because they saw a tall structure.

"A pyramid!" Zhang Qingyang's face was filled with disbelief. Could it be a deity worshipped by ancient Egyptians? He vaguely felt something was amiss.

The structure was pure white, shimmering under the starlight. As they drew closer, they all gasped, for the sight was truly terrifying.

It was a pyramid built from sparkling white bones. Though polished smooth and imbued with ancient principles, it still bore the marks of time, clearly very old.

Skulls, arm bones, and spinal bones—all were present, forming this peculiar bone tower. It stood majestically, over a hundred meters tall, towering in the desert, unburied by the passing sands of time.

There were not only human skulls but also skeletal remains of other races. Demon Venerable Xuan Chi was right: various battles had occurred in the long river of time, with unknown creatures attacking Hangu Pass, leaving many corpses along this extraterrestrial path.

"Creatures in the bone tower!" said the Divine Knight.

Ye Fan nodded. The aura of Divine Source also emanated from the tower. The number of creatures in this desert was not small, numbering at least several hundred.

"Rustling" sounds came. Long, tank-thick lines appeared in the surrounding desert, bulging out from underground and rushing towards them like giant snakes.

The Dragon Horse raised a hoof and kicked out. The first sand line rushing forward was directly struck, emitting a metallic clang, followed by a cracking sound, and a stream of liquid burst forth.

"What kind of creatures are these?" They were all startled.

Sand waves surged across the wilderness. Dozens, even hundreds, of tank-thick protrusions emerged, rushing forward rapidly. Simultaneously, they shot out streaks of crimson light, and a hundred light blades came slashing down.

The group flew simultaneously into the high heavens. The Dragon Horse let out a long neigh, and the thin air vibrated violently, tearing apart the heavens and earth, overturning the sandy ground and revealing the race hidden within the yellow sand.

They were hundreds of giant ant-like creatures, each over three meters long, their bodies sculpted like red coral. They possessed immense strength, capable of shattering the void, and all of them flew into the sky, attacking the group.

"This is uncanny. What kind of creatures are these? How can they survive in this environment, and what do they feed on?"

"This place has Divine Source, which they used to survive. They shouldn't be natives of this planet but creatures trapped here," Ye Fan said.

The Divine Knight acted, encompassing everything below with a single hand. With one swipe, every bull-sized ant emitted a sound of metal cracking open and met an instant demise.

Not a single one of the hundreds of giant ants escaped; they all fell like dust.

"There's still a big one," the Dragon Horse said, stomping a hoof towards the bone pyramid. With a loud rumble, a burst of fierce light erupted, and a colossal creature broke free.

This ant was over ten meters long, its entire body crimson and crystalline, radiating streams of colorful light. With a slight tremor, it shattered the void; its power could uproot mountains, which was an innate racial divine ability.

"What race are you? Where do you come from, and why are you attacking us?" Ye Fan demanded.

The giant creature was filled with hatred. It moved incredibly fast, transforming into a crimson streak and instantly reaching the sky, where it coldly confronted them.

"Humans... should die!" It transmitted this mental wave, then attacked.

"These are likely just some small remnants of one of the races that attacked Hangu Pass a long time ago. There's nothing to say; just eliminate them completely," Ye Fan stated.

Again, the Divine Knight made his move. This time, he wielded a Dragon Spear, taking a single stride that covered dozens of miles. He raised the spear to thrust. The spear itself was unadorned, yet it held a natural power of the Great Dao, bringing forth the full pressure of heaven and earth.

"Clang!"

This divine ant possessed profound cultivation, and its physical body was incredibly formidable, beyond anyone's imagination. It withstood a blow from the Dragon Spear, then retaliated fiercely with a large pincer, sending crimson light everywhere.

A clangorous sound echoed in the sky as it clashed with the Divine Knight eight times. When the Dragon Spear's ninth strike descended, it still raised its pincer to forcefully block. But this time, it was utterly useless. The Dragon Spear's divine light surged, transforming into an unparalleled bolt of lightning, piercing through the divine insect with a "thud," causing its entire body to explode!

Ye Fan acted, reaching out to extract its primordial spirit. Examining its sea of consciousness, he said, "As expected. It's a descendant of an ancient saint who attacked Hangu Pass, trapped here, surviving on the Divine Source left by its ancestors."

"Pfft."

With a thought, Ye Fan turned its spirit into ashes. Then, with a shake of his hand, the desert rumbled, and a few fragments of Divine Source floated up, almost nothing remaining, as they had been depleted by the ant race.

Finally, they turned left and right, entering a hidden formation where they found the five-colored altar, embarking on their journey once more.

Over the next half-month, they crossed space seven or eight times, always landing on desolate planets. Each stop brought a fierce battle.

In the distant past, it was unknown what had happened, but many powerful races had attacked Hangu Pass. After their deaths in battle, their descendants were trapped outside the mighty Hangu fortress, along this long stellar path.

"The attack on Hangu Pass happened at least tens of thousands of years ago. Their ancestors all felt a sense of urgency and anxiety," Ye Fan said. Each time he defeated an enemy, he would explore their divine consciousness, discovering clues and learning that these races came from a very distant starfield, deep within the universe.

To his surprise, he found that these beings hadn't come for the Immortal Cauldron, nor were they the Saints who entered Earth in ancient times. They were an earlier group with different objectives, dating back to a very long time ago.

In ancient times, the sages who came for the Immortal Cauldron were primarily from the ancient stars of Huosang, Tongtian, and Gouchen. They took a different path from those who attacked Hangu Pass, were fewer in number, and arrived much later.

"Earth truly is mysterious," Ye Fan murmured, looking back at the starry sky, but he could no longer locate the solar system.

A month later, they ventured deep into the cosmos, still unsure of their location. Every stop brought another major battle. Just as Demon Venerable Xuan Chi had said, this ancient stellar path was perilous and full of demons and monsters.

Each five-colored altar was hidden within a formation and could only be found using the secret method Xuan Chi had told them. Most of their travel time was actually spent on this search.

Ye Fan, the Dragon Horse, the Divine Knight, Huahua, Zhang Qingyang, and Long Yuxuan—the six of them continued forward. Even as powerful as they were, they faced external conflicts. Several times, they narrowly escaped disaster, as enemies wielding forbidden artifacts left by saints from tens of thousands of years ago almost destroyed a significant portion of an ancient star!

"You carry the burden, I lead the horse. We greet the sunrise and bid farewell to the sunset. We overcome hardships to achieve greatness..."

Ye Fan chuckled softly upon hearing Zhang Qingyang hum. As the group traveled west out of Hangu Pass, their journey truly felt somewhat like "Journey to the West" – subduing demons, conquering monsters, and slaying various powerful alien races.

The child Huahua, enveloped by divine power, was fortunate enough to ride on the Dragon Horse with Ye Fan. The Divine Knight cleared the path with his dragon spear, and Long Yuxuan brought up the rear.

"Everything is for achieving the Dao; we traverse the cosmic starry sky."

When they landed on the nineteenth ancient star, Ye Fan obtained crucial information. After defeating a powerful group, he discovered the name of a life-sustaining ancient star deep within the universe from their sea of consciousness: Feixian.

"Why were the Saints so anxious countless ages ago, attacking Earth from an ancient star named Feixian?" Ye Fan mused to himself.

The time when these beings attacked Earth was immensely distant, and they didn't come for the Immortal Cauldron, predating those from Huosang, Tongtian, and Gouchen stars by far. The name Feixian was very mysterious, sparking many conjectures.

"There's actually such an ancient life-sustaining star deep within the universe!"

A few more days passed, and the group landed on the twenty-third planet. Ye Fan's expression changed dramatically. He looked up at the sky, his gaze fixed on seven brilliant great stars, his demeanor anything but calm.

When viewed from different star regions, the arrangement of these seven great stars might not be the same, but their associated energy signature remained constant. Ye Fan was certain that it was the Big Dipper Starfield.

"We've arrived! The next stop will be the Big Dipper Starfield!" Ye Fan exclaimed.

"Master, are you sure... that's our final destination?" Even Long Yuxuan, typically a cool-headed person, became excited.

"We can finally reach the Big Dipper Starfield! I don't think your old enemies, Master, will ever expect you to return, riding through the stars, to contend with them again!" said Zhang Qingyang.

Ye Fan mused to himself, "That's provided we don't accidentally continue our journey all the way to the ancient star 'Feixian'."