Chapter 1693: Immortal Bell

Ye Fan was exhausted. He had survived three layers of Quasi-Emperor Tribulation, and his body bore faint traces of blood. Even with his immense power, it was impossible to pass through such a tribulation with ease. How many people had ever witnessed a tribulation like this? Quasi-Emperor Tribulations were notoriously difficult to overcome, yet he had successively broken through three stages.

A clear, soul-stirring chime rang out, and a large bell appeared.

The heavenly tribulation was originally about to disperse. Ye Fan had already pierced through the immortal realm's phantom and annihilated figures like the Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird. Unexpectedly, such an artifact suddenly emerged, quite abruptly.

There wasn't much lightning left, and the large bell was quite indistinct. Streaks of electric light interwoven to outline its shape.

It was not the Bell of Wu Shi he had seen before. Instead, it was a mysterious bell he had never encountered. Endless runes were imprinted on its surface, each ancient symbol possessing a peculiar power.

It was awe-inspiring!

The moment Ye Fan saw it, he felt his blood surge, sensing an inexplicable resonance with it—a very strange sensation.

Then, with a gentle tremor, it almost shook Ye Fan's soul out of his body. Even as resilient as he was, he had to exert all his strength to resist it.

"How terrifying!"

It was rare for Ye Fan to utter those three words. He had encountered clashes between Emperor artifacts before, but he now felt this bell was even more mysterious.

In an instant, he thought of an artifact: the Immortal Bell, born on an immortal mountain, which the Heavenly Emperor himself had once attacked to seize, and which was in the possession of the Kunlun survivors.

It must be it!

It was truly unexpected. Was that Immortal Bell "reflected" here? Forged from laws and interwoven with lightning, it was almost indistinguishable from the real object and could also emit clear, resonant sounds.

With a hum, it transformed into a streak of light, flying over, then descended to suppress. The bell's mouth expanded, enveloping both Ye Fan and his cauldron below, covering them completely.

Ye Fan resisted. This was immense pressure. The increasingly crimson blood within him began to boil, and his bones creaked.

The Immortal Bell showered down rays of light. Ye Fan activated his cauldron to bear the brunt. Although doing so risked injuring himself, he dared to use the Mother Qi Cauldron for tempering.

The bell chimed softly, and laws descended. This was not an attack like knives or swords, but a suppression with immense force. It felt as if the entire starry sky was pressing down, threatening to crush Ye Fan into pulp.

Had he not possessed the Sacred Body and ultimate resilience, he would never have endured it. It was too powerful; Ye Fan's flesh began to crack, and streaks of blood appeared.

Perhaps one could also say that the Immortal Bell appeared precisely because his physical body was too strong. It materialized to correspond with his rightful heavenly tribulation, adding more pressure.

The only fortunate thing was that the Immortal Bell was not relentless. It merely hung there, engaging in a full battle, but did not advance further.

Who knew how much time had passed? Ye Fan unleashed all his secret arts to counter the descending immortal light, even manifesting his Sacred Body phenomenon, which stretched across the entire sky, only then managing to lift the Immortal Bell.

There, light shone brightly. A large bell, chiming softly, pierced through the tranquility of ages.

At this moment, Ye Fan finally felt something: a certain power within him began to ripple, resonating with the Immortal Bell. A specific magical chant surfaced in his mind.

He was instantly shocked, and immense waves surged in his heart. Was it actually related to this chant? Had the Immortal Bell manifested from it?

Ye Fan was deeply shaken. Years of confusion seemed to have dissipated significantly. His heart trembled as many thoughts came to him. Once this matter was resolved, he definitely had to pursue it further!

The scripture resonated on its own, then returned to calm. The Immortal Bell also vanished, and the sea of thunder in the heavens and earth gradually dispersed. The light of countless stars was about to return.

However, with a deafening roar, like a raging sea crashing forward with countless towering waves, a massive fire engulfed everything. It threatened to burn the universe to ashes; distant stars were swallowed by the flames and melted directly.

This was karmic fire, scorching Ye Fan and refining his physique. It appeared without warning, very suddenly.

In the mundane world, all beings were tainted by sin. This fire consumed bodies, sparing neither gods nor ancient Buddhas. Once it touched the body and truly burned into the soul, everything would be reduced to ash.

This particular karmic fire was somewhat different from ordinary worldly karmic fire. This was the Most Refined Flames of Ten Thousand Dao Karmic Fire, the most terrifying kind. All great evils from the myriad dao of the heavens transformed into fire, converging to forge Ye Fan's physical body.

Ye Fan did not evade it. He allowed his cauldron to endure it with him, bathing in the firelight. This was a process that every Quasi-Emperor must undergo. For most, it appeared upon achieving Quasi-Emperor status, but for a few, it came later. Ye Fan, having undergone two tribulations when he became a Quasi-Emperor, was naturally an exception.

In the past, when Siddhartha Gautama achieved the Quasi-Emperor physique, his body was tempered so intensely that his bones were burned through, leaving behind a piece of his skull, the Buddha's Relic, which later fell into Huahua's hands.

Ye Fan sat down cross-legged, actively drawing the karmic fire onto himself, intending to temper his soul with it. This was not something an ordinary person would dare to do, yet he was taking the risk.

He wanted to become the strongest, pushing himself to unimaginable standards in preparation for the coming great battle. He would not allow any regrets to occur.

Although the future was full of uncertainty, and what he saw was merely a corner of it, rife with variables and not necessarily destined to come true, he would nip it in the bud as long as there was a possibility.

Strengthening his power was an inevitable choice!

As the karmic fire refined his golden body, Ye Fan's entire being glowed. The blood within him surged, and every bone vibrated, trembling continuously.

This was a tempering, and even more, a rare transformation. It was not the karmic fire that ordinary people knew, but the Most Refined Flames of Ten Thousand Dao within the karmic fire, continuously forging his physique.

This was certainly a great ordeal, as it was clearly visible that Ye Fan's flesh was tearing apart, almost igniting. Every bone seemed to collide, even shattering.

His physical body was reforming, like a snake shedding its old skin. Tiny broken bone fragments were extruded, and flesh continuously sloughed off, leaving him covered in blood.

This sight was terrifying. How could a transformation happen like this? It should proceed step by step, with subtle changes. Such a drastic overhaul—bones breaking and reforming, flesh being cut away—was truly horrific.

But the karmic fire triggered by a Quasi-Emperor was precisely like this. There was no gradual progression in this kind of transformation; it was incredibly fierce and violent.

The great karmic fire raged outside Ye Fan's body, engulfing him. The area grew increasingly mysterious, as if an invisible, immense axe was hewing and reshaping his body.

Who knew how much time had passed? The karmic fire receded completely, and the cauldron hovered above Ye Fan's head. He opened his eyes, sharp as lightning, and stood up tall.

At his feet lay many fragments of bone—waste bones extruded after his body underwent a complete transformation and bone regeneration. It was a somewhat terrifying sight.

Ye Fan scooped them into his hand, then crushed them into fine dust. He gently scattered the dust, saying, "A part of my past is buried here. Rest here with it."

The three layers of heavenly tribulation ended, and he successfully advanced. Both his physical body and divine sense had reached an astonishing and terrifying level.

From this day forward, looking across the cosmos, he could be considered among the strongest. He had surpassed his former rivals, and many would find it difficult to contend with him again in this lifetime. Perhaps only time could allow them to catch up.

Ye Fan devoured the essence of the universe, like a whale swallowing and a bull drinking, to replenish his body, which had been depleted after the tribulation. Surprisingly, the golden sea of suffering below remained unharmed; even such a vast heavenly tribulation had not destroyed it.

As he absorbed the essence from all directions, provoking a resonance among the myriad dao of heaven and earth, Ye Fan sensed a familiar fluctuation deep within the golden sea. He flew into it, and continuous streams of radiant light rushed towards him, causing his body to tremble violently, followed by a long sigh.

He finally understood where he was: the Sacred Body Ancestral Star!

However, it had been destroyed. The seal of the tomb of the Sacred Body ancestor buried on this star had broken open. There were no bodies, no skeletons, only a golden sea of taboos that surged out and engulfed the area.

"Is this the rage of the Sacred Body lineage's progenitor?"

Ye Fan sighed with emotion. The people from that era were too powerful. The sea of suffering within the tomb was so vast that it had broken through the tomb and submerged the starry sky!

Such remnants of dao and traces could achieve this, truly epitomizing the phrase "a single drop of blood can fill a sea of stars."

"No wonder it could be like this, affecting me along with the 'Front' and 'Movement' secret arts. It's a lineage passed down, a call of the blood."

This place was no longer of much use to Ye Fan. Only some uncongealed essence entered his body, and some dao principles gave him food for thought. However, for him, a Quasi-Emperor of the Sixth Heavenly Layer, it was no longer essential.

"It could still be very useful for Yang Xi; perhaps he might find a great opportunity here."

Ye Fan thoroughly searched the golden sea of taboos, thinking there must be something else left behind. However, after searching for several days, he still found nothing. He had no time to waste, as there was another important matter he needed to attend to.

He intended to seek out the Immortal Bell to gain an undeniable advantage—a trump card—for the future great battle.

Although the hope of obtaining it was slim, he had to try, simply because the scripture within him could resonate with that bell.

Ye Fan departed, his seclusion temporarily concluded. He flew, transforming into a terrifying streak of temporal light, tearing through the dark cosmos with immense power.

Along his journey, he tested his techniques, and all aspects of his body improved comprehensively. His combat power increased by a significant margin, becoming terrifyingly immense and almost peerless in the world!

Moreover, Ye Fan was astonished to discover that he could almost instantly enter the Divine Ban realm. Subsequent repeated attempts revealed an extremely high trigger rate.

There was a period when he was overjoyed to trigger it once every six months. Later, it shortened to once a month, then to a few days upon reaching the Great Saint realm. Now, it had unexpectedly escalated to the point where he could trigger it multiple times a day.

At this moment, Ye Fan's confidence soared, and he felt immensely proud. In this world, he could now truly be considered a peerless master!

With Supremes not appearing, he, a person on the verge of grand accomplishment, could contend with all directions. Even if he couldn't suppress some peerless experts, he would no longer be as passive as he once was.

Ye Fan flew onward, his figure indistinct. His 'Movement' secret art was unparalleled, and his body influenced the flow of time, making a single dash seem like an eternity.

Along the way, Ye Fan carved symbols in the void. One by one, the runes glittered, then converged to form a golden divine sparrow, which flew towards the Heavenly Court.

This was a technique of a Quasi-Emperor at the Sixth Heavenly Layer. Even across boundless starry skies and numerous galaxies, one could transmit messages using divine arts. This was the letter he left for Yang Xi, instructing him to search the Sacred Body Ancestral Star.

As for himself, he directly headed towards an ancient path, tracing it back. That was the starting path of the Nine Dragons Coffin Pulling, the very starry sky from which he had emerged.

A moment later, Ye Fan landed on the ancient star Yinghuo. Such was his current power: he could traverse boundless starry skies in a single thought and reach his destination.