Chapter 1339: Severe

How many secrets has the vast starry sky buried throughout history? Ages are endless, and time is long; even hundreds of millions of years flowing through the cosmos are but a fleeting moment.

Mythical eras have shifted, Heavenly Venerables have turned to ash, divine courts have been annihilated, emperors have decayed, and ancient Great Emperors have also become but a handful of dust.

These epochs have successively faded into the past.

Countless heroes have all been buried by time; no one can resist it. No matter how peerless your glory, there will always be a day when your life reaches its end.

Supremes have cried out in sorrow, divine mountains have collapsed, oceans have dried up, suns and moons have fallen, and star rivers have shattered. Yet, they could grasp nothing, only facing their lonely demise one by one.

Throughout history, exceptional talents have competed, astounding the ages, but their struggles were ultimately futile!

In the long river of time, even the greatest heroes only enjoyed fleeting glory, a mere instant of brilliance, unable to break their shackles and truly exist alongside eternity.

Heavenly Venerables, Ancient Emperors, Great Emperors… each capable of swallowing mountains and rivers, dominating the universe, plucking stars and seizing moons, ruling all realms, supremely invincible—but what, ultimately, did they leave behind?

Each one enjoyed a period of immense power, causing the entire universe to tremble. Yet, even if they could shatter heaven and earth, destroy the cosmos, they could not preserve their own lives.

These individuals were renowned throughout the ages, yet in the vast river of stars, their own presence was but a brief moment.

The glory of the Venerables, the majesty of the Ancient Emperors, the elegance of the Emperors—all were buried, a mere flicker in the universe's glance.

Stars twinkled, and the universe was silent.

Ye Fan stood silently in the starry sky, pondering deeply everything that had happened, gazing into the depths of the cold starfield.

"Is it the burial of one's next incarnation? The ultimate mystery of seizing the creations of heaven and earth," he murmured softly to himself.

Wu Yi's words had given him much inspiration, stirring his mind. The Emperor Burial Star and the Path to Immortality contained the great secrets of the heavens, from the ancient past to the present.

"Farewell, Ancestral Master!" Ye Fan felt a pang of sadness. The stone coffin had already delved deep into the cosmos hours ago, and a bitter feeling still lingered within him.

The fourth generation Ancestral Master, a figure of astonishing talent, had thus met his end. His attempts to hide in the Primordial Forbidden Zone and places where extremes reverse themselves proved useless; in the end, it was a desolate conclusion.

"Following the ancient methods of the Path to Immortality, has anyone ever taken that step using them?" Ye Fan asked himself.

The Undying Heavenly Sovereign, the Ten-Transformation Ancient Emperor of the Divine Silkworm race, the Ruthless Great Emperor... These names involuntarily surfaced in Ye Fan's mind. Had they succeeded?

Di Zun, the Fighting Saint Emperor... the Wushi Great Emperor, the Azure Emperor—each a brilliant and extraordinary name that shook the ages. Along their respective paths, how far did they truly go?

And the even more ancient Heavenly Venerables, how astonishing were they? What did they do in pursuit of longevity, and what heaven-defying ancient methods did they create?

One by one, these brilliant names ultimately faded away.

Ye Fan gazed towards the far side of the starry sky. Could these ancient Supremes truly be content? Unrivaled and lonely for ages, ultimately defeated by time—was it truly impossible for anyone to fight their way out, to forge a path or a method?

He didn't know how long he had been lost in thought until he was startled awake by the clamoring of the little mischievous boy from within the cauldron.

He released Yang Xi again, letting him stand in the Golden Sacred Domain, accompanying him and gazing at the cosmic starry sky.

Ye Fan searched this area for a long time. The city of the Underworld no longer existed, and this space had become a breakpoint, no longer allowing ghost soldiers to pass through.

Over the next few days, Ye Fan thoroughly searched all the meteorites where the Tai Chi curve was located. There were no other special discoveries; some formations still existed, but they had all decayed.

He stood in the starry sky, gazing across the entire galaxy.

To use a section of the starry sky as a canvas, arranging stars to form a giant Tai Chi divine diagram, was an extremely rare and extraordinary feat from ancient times, undoubtedly a heaven-shattering masterstroke.

Unfortunately, time had flowed by; those who arranged the formation had long turned to ash, and these traces were quickly fading.

"Is it a gigantic teleportation array? This is too vast. Where could it lead? It surpasses the Five-Colored Altar. Could it be meant to pierce through eternity?"

Ye Fan stepped back, observing the entire starfield and seriously considering all possibilities.

He thought of many things. Such a grand and immense formation diagram was now entirely obsolete, with only the ancient city of the Underworld on one meteorite still in use; everything else had turned to ash.

"If the Underworld used a part of it, then who was this vast ancient diagram originally intended for?"

Prompted by the Underworld, Ye Fan immediately thought of the Ancient Heavenly Court. Perhaps only such a colossal entity could possess the grandeur to make such arrangements.

From within himself, he took out an ancient scroll, seemingly forged from starlight, shimmering with myriad points of light, like a delicate, ethereal gauze. It depicted countless stars, densely packed.

This was a mysterious ancient diagram connected to the Ancient Heavenly Court. It had successively fallen into the hands of several Ancient Emperors and Great Emperors. In primordial times, the Fighting Saint Emperor once possessed it, often gazing at the starry sky deep into the night.

Glorious ages had passed. In this life, Ye Fan retrieved it from the deepest part of the Chaos Dragon Nest—the Ruthless Emperor's burial ground. Now, he carefully examined it, comparing it with the current location.

This wondrous treasure remained undisturbed, showing no reaction whatsoever; nothing could be discerned from it here. He flipped it over to examine the back of the ancient diagram. Besides the depiction of the ninety-nine Dragon Mountains and the Immortal Cauldron Burial Ground on Earth, there were two other diagrams, their destinations unknown.

"I can't find any similarities."

Ye Fan frowned. The records on the Immortal Treasure Map were different from the layout of this starfield, and he couldn't detect any clues or anomalies.

He didn't give up hope, planning to first fly towards the Sacred Body Ancient Tomb, then to the Hegemonic Body Burial Ground, to explore these two extreme points of life, eager to uncover all secrets.

What exactly did the predecessors intend to do here? He had various conjectures in his mind.

"There's a special sensation!" Ye Fan's heart jolted. He had only been trying it out, not expecting a pattern to actually flash on the ancient diagram.

Then, a small star lit up. Was it the star where the Sacred Body Ancient Tomb was located?

Ye Fan moved rapidly, leaving his footprints on almost every inch of land. Unfortunately, nothing ultimately changed; only a small star continued to flicker.

Afterwards, he moved without pause to the Hegemonic Body Burial Ground, holding the ancient diagram and carefully observing the mountains, rivers, and myriad things, appearing and disappearing rapidly here.

Another small star flickered, connecting with the previous one, intersecting to form strands of patterns, appearing as hazy, ethereal shadows like Yin-Yang qi.

The Immortal Treasure Map reacted; it was not an inert object. It actually underwent such a change: the myriad stars on the front dimmed, and among the three specific ancient diagrams on the back, one formed a small Tai Chi symbol, flickering erratically.

Of course, it was just a small symbol, imprinted within the diagram, appearing as the manifestation of an ancient formation.

"This is..." Ye Fan was deeply moved, clutching the ancient scroll tightly.

After some searching, he sighed softly, gradually surmising the function of this place. It might be a vast ancient teleportation array, and he truly had no idea how far the path ahead would be!

To arrange stars to form a giant celestial star-gate was astounding.

The more Ye Fan studied it, the more he felt it resembled the Tai Chi Bagua star-gate that appeared when the Five-Colored Altar opened the ancient path. However, here, a great array was directly constructed using celestial bodies, which must be even more immense.

"Could this be a teleportation array leading to the Immortal Realm?" He shook his head before finishing the thought, deeming it somewhat absurd. But such an enormous array truly was astounding.

Ye Fan had also considered trying to restore all the array patterns, but it was almost impossible for him alone. Every single star in this region, including even the Sun Star, had a formation arranged on it.

"Alas, perhaps only by fully activating this divine star map can all its secrets be known."

Ye Fan sighed softly and put away the ancient diagram. Even if this stellar arrangement was connected to the Immortal Treasure ancient scroll in his hand, this divine array would need to be activated for any clues to manifest.

He made a mental note: he couldn't do it now, but in the future, by collaborating with the Black Sovereign, Duan De, and others, there might be a day when this vast ancient array could be revived.

Ye Fan returned to the Fiftieth City of the Human Race to see the Emissary. He had many questions to ask, only to find the Emissary drinking with Yang Yunteng in his donkey meat restaurant.

Donkey hotpot and aged fine wine filled the air with enticing aromas, making even the little mischievous boy eager for a few sips of old liquor.

"Boy, you truly are a jinx. People die wherever you go, and not just one or two, but whole swathes of them. You're really not well-liked," said the Emissary, Zhao Gongyi, his face covered in a steel-brush-like beard, speaking with a drunken slur.

Ye Fan felt awkward, knowing well that the Emissary was referring to the Cang Clan incident. He could only remain silent and drink his own wine.

"Anyone who sees you gets unlucky. Wherever you go, death follows. I say... are you from the Underworld?" Zhao Gongyi cast a sidelong glance at him.

Ye Fan's heart stirred, and he said, "I was just about to ask you, Senior, do you know anything about the Underworld?"

"What? Talk about being fat and you start panting. Are you doing this on purpose?" the Emissary retorted exasperatedly.

Ye Fan shook his head, then seriously inquired about everything concerning the Underworld, clearly explaining all he had witnessed on the meteorite.

"What? The Underworld... ghost soldiers passing through our starfield?" Zhao Gongyi put down his wine cup and abruptly stood up.

"Yes, Uncle is very strong. He broke into the Underworld, and those ghosts couldn't do anything to us," Yang Xi said innocently.

Zhao Gongyi's expression became incredibly grave. He said, "Although the Ancient Heavenly Court has been destroyed, and there are signs indicating the Underworld still exists, I never imagined so many ghost soldiers passing through. Is this meant to destroy a vast starfield?"

"Those ghost soldiers weren't very strong," Ye Fan stated.

"These ghost soldiers are summoned from various ancient lands of life. Currently, they can only be considered ancient corpses, so naturally, they aren't very strong. But once they enter the Underworld, it's completely different. Many of them will have their past life's combat power awakened. By then, they will be terrifying beyond measure!"

Zhao Gongyi, whose physique was robust like an iron tower, revealed a hint of worry. Who was the Underworld planning to confront? Was this a war continued from the mythical era? Even he only had a partial understanding.

This was an extremely serious matter. He quickly walked out, needing to report it and send the message to the higher-ups via the ancient starry road.

Soon after, he returned with a grave expression, saying, "My eldest disciple has personally gone to deliver the message. I predict there will be a great change in the starry sky in the near future."

This ancient road, a legacy of the Heavenly Court from the mythical era, had seen the sudden appearance of the Underworld after countless hidden epochs. For years, the Underworld had been moving troops and preparing for war along this very path. This was not a good omen, and he did not know which domain they intended to attack.

"You, the few strong individuals who have embarked on the starry path, may one day have the chance to enter certain special ancient domains for divine battles, to temper yourselves."

Upon hearing this, Ye Fan's heart surged with emotion. Was this truly a great age, and was the mythical era continuing? His gaze was firm, fearless, and he believed firmly that he would be unrivaled in this life. No matter the Underworld or the gods, all would be suppressed!

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, some news has arrived from the path ahead, concerning an old acquaintance of yours, also from the Emperor Burial Star..."

"What!?" Ye Fan abruptly stood up.

This is the only chapter for tonight; I'll continue tomorrow. Well, Chen Dong has to admit, he's been lacking exercise recently, staying up late for too long, and his physical condition has deteriorated. He can't keep it up. I need to adjust. All my brothers and sisters should also pay more attention to exercise on a daily basis; good health is the most important thing.

Please: m.ddxstxt8