Chapter 1690: Sad Madness

Time had passed, and its passage had taken a severe toll; all he saw was ruin. What on earth had happened?

A chill ran through Ye Fan. How many years had he truly lost? Was the person in the bronze mirror still him? That figure had long, disheveled white hair and a face deeply etched with the marks of time, though the body remained straight and upright.

He was no longer young; even the Sacred Body had aged. What a terrifying span of time this must have been, a period he had no memory of.

"I don't believe it!"

Ye Fan believed it was a dream, not reality; otherwise, it was too terrifying. If even the Sacred Body, with its ten-thousand-year lifespan, had aged in this vast, desolate world, who would he possibly recognize?

He dragged his right finger across his left wrist. Blood flowed, and pain shot through him. This was no dream; everything was real.

Ye Fan's primordial spirit left his body. The fist-sized golden figure instantly broke through the barriers of time and space, gazing out at the boundless cosmic void. All he could see was desolation and ruin.

The cold universe seemed dead. There was nothing, nothing visible; vast swathes of stars had dimmed forever, completely extinguished.

Ye Fan's heart ached. He still couldn't believe this outcome: that an unknown, terrible war over the past ten thousand years had reduced the universe to this state.

How could this be? How could it have come to this?!

It was unimaginable. As he looked at the old, deeply weathered man with a wrinkled face in the mirror, his heart pounded. If so many years had truly passed, all his relatives and friends would be gone.

Even his lovely daughter, barely a year old, would likely have long since returned to the dust. If this was all true, he felt as though he would suffocate.

Little Zi, delicate and pink, just over a year old and a bit clumsy, loved to cling to him. Yet, she had never been by his side for long, always separated from him, and now this was the outcome.

Ye Fan let out a long howl. He couldn't accept this. He glanced at his golden divine sea, which was drying up and about to vanish, then plunged into the vast sky. He traversed galaxies, heading towards the former Heavenly Court.

Ye Fan continually told himself it was an illusion, not real. Yet, the physical pain, the coldness in his primordial spirit, and all his tests confirmed that this was no dream.

Hatred threatened to overwhelm him. How could this be?

"I cannot accept this!" His mighty roar echoed throughout the entire universe, causing some shattered stars to successively explode, making the dim universe even colder.

He traversed the starry sky, each step covering an entire star that vanished beneath his feet. His command of the Dao and its laws was so potent that the eight directions could be annihilated with a single thought, yet he felt no joy.

Along the way, all he saw was ruin; not a single intact starry sky remained. Many stars were shattered, and cosmic dust floated, occasionally mixed with blood, broken bones, and weapon fragments. It was cold and desolate.

Though Ye Fan wouldn't admit it aloud, his heart was already tearing with pain. This was no illusion; a terrible war had occurred thousands, perhaps ten thousand, years ago, leaving this universe shattered—and he had missed it!

Along the way, he hadn't seen a single living being; deadly silence reigned everywhere. Finally, he approached the star system where the Heavenly Court's headquarters were located.

His heart went cold. This place was utterly ruined. The stars were shattered, and the floating divine islands had all turned to dust.

Ye Fan frantically rushed deeper in, but no one was left, nothing found. This place had long become ruins, with only remnants of blood and rubble remaining.

"No!"

Ye Fan roared in anguish. As he truly grasped the outcome, his entire body trembled; he clenched his fists, his face pale.

All hope was shattered. The Heavenly Court no longer existed. He had sought to find something, but discovered not a single trace remained.

"Trace back to the origin!"

Ye Fan roared like a madman; with a single howl, the starry sky fractured. The area was immediately enveloped in chaotic energy, and he saw many fragmented scenes: shouts of battle shaking the heavens.

Heavenly soldiers and generals charged and tried to break through while armies of Yin spirits attacked, turning the ground to rivers of blood. A huge phoenix nest hovered above, its sweeping light causing heavenly generals to fall in droves.

"I'll fight you to the death!" With a long roar, Pang Bo, his hair disheveled, soared into the sky, his powerful quasi-emperor's might tearing the starry sky apart.

But a merciless giant hand awaited him. From the direction of the Underworld, a being shrouded entirely in black mist, like a supreme ancient emperor, struck with force.

Puff!

In the sky, only a horrifyingly brilliant red remained as a rain of blood scattered. Pang Bo had vanished forever.

"Uncle, Uncle Pang Bo is gone too, woo woo... Bad guys, give me my uncle back!" Little Zi cried loudly, standing helplessly on a divine island.

She looked only a few years old, still so tiny, her face covered in tears, as if she hadn't grown at all.

"Did this happen just a few years after I left?" Ye Fan's face was already wet with tears. Pang Bo, just gone like that? His body trembled.

"Ah..."

Li Tian and Yan Yixi roared in fury, rising against the heavens. The Divine Maiden Furnace in their hands emitted a scorching light; from it, a sun flew out, and nine divine phoenixes danced, transforming into raging flames that surged towards the sky.

They fought desperately, unwilling to accept this outcome, risking everything they had and disregarding life and death.

However, it was utterly useless. The figure shrouded in black mist in the distance smashed a punch directly at the divine furnace with a dark palm.

Crack!

The Divine Maiden Furnace shattered. Even though a Great Emperor had personally refined it, it was no use; at that moment, it splintered into hundreds of fragments, flying in all directions, unable to harm that person in the slightest.

At the same time, Li Tian and Yan Yixi cried out in agony. As the black giant hand pressed down, they disintegrated inch by inch from head to toe, their flesh and bones turning into a mist of blood, erased from this world.

"Don't kill my uncles... two more people are gone," Little Zi cried loudly, kneeling on the ground.

This was a tragic scene. Ye Fan watched with a heart twisted by pain, clenching his fists, his entire body trembling. His former good brothers, had they truly died in battle like this?

How many years ago was this scene? Probably ten thousand years. He roared endlessly in grief, wishing he could tear through space and time to return to that era and join the battle!

Ye Fan bit his mouth until it was full of blood, his fingers clenched until they turned blue, and his whole body trembled. Watching the brothers with whom he had shared life and death perish across ten millennia, his heart was filled with the utmost pain and despair.

"Woo woo..." Little Zi cried loudly, kneeling there, calling out familiar names from the Heavenly Court while digging through the ruins on the island with her tiny hands.

Ye Fan's heart trembled. Next to Little Zi was a patch of ruins. There was no trace of Ji Ziyue, yet in the rubble, there were faint bloodstains and a corner of a purple garment.

Ye Fan's body shook violently. Although he had long guessed the outcome, his ears still rang, and his heart was gripped by intense pain. He stumbled, uttering words of grief.

"Ziyue..."

How could this be? The woman who used to love to smile, who had waited for him for so long under the starry sky, had just left like this.

He hadn't seen the scene of her fading away, only a corner of a purple garment and faint bloodstains. This was more cruel than witnessing it; it was a tragic and unbearable outcome.

"This Emperor will fight you to the death!"

A large black dog, its vertical eye on its forehead dripping blood, emitted a terrifying aura and charged towards the Underworld.

This time, not only did the figure shrouded in black mist reach out with a giant hand, but from within the blood-red phoenix nest hovering above the Heavenly Court, a crystalline, slender hand also expanded, reaching out to envelop the Black Emperor.

The Black Emperor had once followed the Great Emperor Wushi, and both the Underworld and the Imperial Dynasty wanted to seize it, believing that capturing it alive was the ideal choice to perhaps uncover secrets about the Great Emperor Wushi.

The Black Emperor laughed sadly, but its eyes were filled with resolve. The endless formation platforms around it all lit up, burning fiercely and pulsating along with its body.

"Kid, you owe me an Innate Sacred Body Dao Embryo, otherwise this bunch of monstrous devils would all be blasted to dust!" After roaring, it exploded into pieces between the two giant hands, its story ending there.

"A Sacred Body child? I'll take her!" A clear and captivating female voice came from the phoenix nest. A shimmering white palm reached down, grabbing towards Little Zi, who was only a few years old, intending to seize her.

"We need the Sacred Body bloodline. This child can only belong to the Underworld," the person from the Underworld responded coldly.

"I need her!" The woman in the phoenix nest refused to back down.

"To contain that woman's supreme Dao fruit, even the sleeping Emperor of the Underworld was forced to awaken. The Underworld has paid so much; how could it allow others to claim the spoils of war?" the person in the black mist responded coldly.

"Haven't you already suppressed a Sacred Body? Is that not enough?"

"Not enough!"

The two great powers argued.

On the divine island, Little Zi's face was streaked with tears. Crying loudly, she laboriously moved the rubble from the ruins, her small hands chafed and bleeding, continuously calling out, "Mom... come back."

Ye Fan's heart bled; he let out a low roar as hot tears streamed down his face. He didn't know how many years it had been since he last cried, yet now he was so grief-stricken. His family, his friends, separated from them by ten thousand years!

He wanted to intervene, but he wasn't in that time and space. He roared in grief and madness, unable to return to the past, able only to watch across a span of years, filled with hatred and powerlessness.

Boom!

Heaven and earth shattered as the Empress from the phoenix nest and the giant from the Underworld fought over Little Zi, both intent on snatching her.

These immense fluctuations shattered countless divine islands, causing some stars to deviate from their original orbits, either exploding or splitting apart.

From the ruins, two figures with mutilated bodies crawled out.

One, whose entire body blazed with ancient solar radiance, was Ye Tong. His lower body was gone, and blood streamed from him, yet he shielded Little Zi behind him and furiously charged towards the sky.

The other, though he had lost his right arm, picked up Little Zi with his single arm and coaxed her to stop crying, his face remaining serene despite the bitterness in his heart, as he rushed into the distance.

The sun exploded, and golden light rained down as Ye Tong let out a defiant roar that shook the sun, moon, rivers, and mountains before he ceased to exist.

Xiao Song's entire body was burning. He wanted to tear open space to send the tiny Little Zi inside, allowing her to escape; it was the power of time.

The handsome young man, peerlessly magnificent at this moment, smiled bitterly. He immersed himself in the flames, becoming one with heaven and earth, gradually dissipating—a tragedy.

But how could the two great powers in the sky allow Little Zi to escape?

Ye Fan roared, tears streaming, as he watched his two most beloved disciples wither away like this, never having the chance to unleash their rightful brilliant splendor. Tears blurred his vision.

And then there was Little Zi, once so mischievous and cute, now utterly helpless, reaching out her small hand—was she calling for him?