Chapter 1793: Devil Fog

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Xiao Song's expression was serious, resolute, and determined. The decline of the great era brought a sense of desolation.

Ye Fan looked at his disciple, sighed softly, and nodded, saying, "Alright!"

This was a major event with far-reaching implications. While the Heavenly Court's next generation had many astonishing geniuses, none could ultimately contend with a supreme being as Xiao Song and Ye Tong could.

The glorious era was drawing to a close, and many had aged. The Heavenly Court had to be prepared, especially since the Primordial Ancient Mine had not yet been pacified, and its whereabouts remained unknown.

Ye Tong and Yang Xi, aware of the situation, had all arrived. Seeing Xiao Song, they couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. Despite their formidable power and achievements, the path to immortality remained elusive.

"Master, please seal me away as well," said Yang Xi.

Ye Fan did not nod immediately. After a long pause, he said, "There's no need to rush. Go back and think carefully. We still possess divine medicine that can grant you another lifetime."

Ye Fan turned and walked through the Heavenly Court. Most of the faces he saw were new. Thousands of years had passed, with new generations replacing the old; the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals had completely changed.

By now, the descendants of Li Heishui, Dongfang Ye, Li Tian, and others had long become pillars of the Heavenly Court, commanding respect across the land. However, several of his old friends had visibly aged.

Pang Bo's thick hair was already streaked with white. Though his physique remained robust and his back straight, his youth was undeniably gone.

"Pang Tao, you need to work harder, or I'll punish you with ten years of solitary cultivation, and no one will be allowed to see you," Pang Bo reprimanded his great-great-grandson. He already had a house full of descendants.

Several children, sturdy and full of youthful vigor, were practicing with long faces under their ancestor's scolding, occasionally winking at each other.

Ye Fan smiled. Many in their generation had aged, but seeing the younger generation brought him a sense of contentment, reminding him of their own youth.

By now, except for Ye Fan's direct lineage, everyone else had numerous descendants, and their homes were bustling with activity.

As the older generation continuously passed away, the sorrow was significantly diluted by this new, youthful vitality.

"Xiao Wu, stop right there!"

In the distance, a small golden monkey, only a few years old, came streaking like lightning, baring its teeth and chattering, clearly having just been disciplined.

Suddenly, a large golden hand tore through space and reached out, grabbing Xiao Wu, the little Holy Ape. The Holy Emperor's Son appeared, having caught his child.

Ye Fan was speechless. Of all the descendants, the lineage of the monkeys was undoubtedly the most troublesome.

The Battling Holy Ape lineage had exceptionally low fertility. Up to this point, the monkey had finally had a child whose talent and strength were astonishingly powerful, almost unmatched among the younger generation.

The Heavenly Court also held great hopes for this little monkey, expecting him to surpass his father's generation.

As for the little Holy Ape's mother, her origin was equally astonishing: she was the Six-Eared Macaque, who had battled the Holy Emperor's Son for many years. When the monkey brought her back five hundred years ago, it truly dropped everyone's jaws.

Undoubtedly, she was also an unparalleled and astonishingly powerful expert, subtly providing a significant boost to the Heavenly Court's strength.

Initially, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Huahua named the little Holy Ape Sun Wukong, a name similar to the Victorious Buddha's Dharma name. However, this was met with strong opposition from his mother, who once chased Huahua for a hundred thousand miles, beating him until he scrambled away, clutching his head.

"Monkey Brother, you can't raise a child like that," Ye Fan said.

Xiao Wu nodded pitifully, his big eyes brimming with tears, and said, "I won't dare again, Father, please don't hit me."

When Ye Fan learned that the little monkey had caused a great disturbance in the Heavenly Palace, playing with a group of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals' descendants and nearly dismantling the Heavenly Court's main hall, he was somewhat speechless.

Ye Fan departed, having already decided that in the future, he would seal away his old friends who were nearing their end, even if they disagreed.

As he walked out of the Undying Mountain, he happened to see the Dragon Horse strolling. Although it was quite a bit older than Ye Fan, its vital energy was still vigorous because it had consumed more than one medicinal king in the past. Nevertheless, it was also starting to decline.

In the distance, the Black Emperor leisurely approached, accompanied by the Twin Silver Blood Emperors. It too had aged, losing its former wildness; even its silky black fur was beginning to turn grayish-white.

Ye Fan knew that this creature had consumed the Undying Divine Phoenix Medicine and undergone Emperor Wushi's Marrow Cleansing and Bone Washing. Its foundation was robust, so he knew its lifespan was not yet a concern.

"It's too boring just sitting around, let's go for a stroll," said the Black Emperor.

Ye Fan nodded and, accompanied by the big black dog and the Dragon Horse, walked out of the Heavenly Court into the starry sky.

"Alas, this Emperor truly feels regretful," the Black Emperor sighed. "So many years have passed, I've waited for most of my life, yet I haven't seen the emergence of the Congenital Holy Body Dao Fetus."

Ye Fan smiled wryly, saying nothing.

The starry sky was boundless. They traversed one galaxy after another, a golden path of light unfolding beneath their feet, allowing them to quickly cross to new destinations.

All races in the universe watched with awe. People knew this was the Heavenly Emperor traveling; though he had not appeared for many years, legends about him persisted, resonating across all realms.

"The Heavenly Emperor is immortal, long live through infinite kalpas!"

"Long live the Heavenly Emperor for 100,000 years!"

From various places, people cheered genuinely. Ye Fan had pacified several major restricted areas, awed the universe, and resolved the source of the dark turmoil, earning the reverence of many powerful races.

"Our generation has grown old," the Black Emperor said, serious for once, sighing deeply as it gazed at the deep starry sky.

"Those carefree and wild days are gone forever; we can never go back to how things were," the Dragon Horse also said.

"Sooner or later, I will comprehend the method of immortality," Ye Fan said. "I hope that by then, my old friends will still be by my side."

The vast cosmos and boundless sky continuously receded under the golden path of light.

"Eh?" Suddenly, Ye Fan showed a strange expression, stopped, and looked towards a distant galaxy. Only his divine sense in this world could be so terrifying, capable of shattering the heavens with a single thought. He sensed an anomaly in the deepest reaches of the starry sky and opened his Origin Heaven Immortal Eyes to observe it.

The golden path of light extended, carrying Ye Fan, the Black Emperor, and the Dragon Horse across star rivers to a desolate place.

There was a vast, boundless expanse of mist, gray and heavy like leaden clouds, so dense that it caused the cosmic void to crack and obscured the sun, moon, and stars.

"What is this thing?" the Dragon Horse gasped, for the gray mist, after enveloping vast areas of stars, directly devoured them, leaving only dust after absorbing their essence.

Ye Fan pondered, then recalled a terrifying event he had witnessed in the past.

Back then, when the Eternal Starfield campaigned against the Big Dipper, they encountered a wisp of such mist that destroyed large fleets of warships, frightening even Saints, who dared not approach it, calling it the "Devil's Mist."

Ancient records in the Eternal Starfield described it as extremely terrifying, but its exact nature was vaguely recorded, and no one could explain it clearly.

It was a legendary forbidden object, of destructive power, and it had always been difficult to determine whether it possessed independent will or was a living entity.

"This thing is related to the Undying Heavenly Emperor," the Black Emperor said with a solemn expression. Over the years, it had researched many rare ancient texts concerning Emperor Wushi and the Undying Heavenly Emperor.

"Today, let me see what this Devil's Mist truly is," Ye Fan said, leading the two forward. As the Heavenly Emperor, he was now unstoppable; not even things left behind by the Undying Heavenly Emperor could impede him.

"What dense ominous energy," the Black Emperor exclaimed. "I know now, it's exactly as recorded in that ancient book Duan De gave me, which was unearthed from a burial site. This is corpse qi mutated from the decay of an Emperor's body!"

Under normal circumstances, even if Great Emperors died, their bodies would be immortal for ten thousand kalpas or merge with the Dao if they couldn't preserve themselves. It was almost unheard of for an Imperial-level corpse to decay.

But when things reach an extreme, anomalies are bound to occur.

Ye Fan broke through the mist and entered it. His expression changed; this gray mist was incredibly strange and terrifying. Even he, powerful as he was, could barely resist it. For anyone else, staying for long would be impossible. The deeper they went towards the core, the more astonishing it became; it could certainly turn even a Ninth-Heaven Quasi-Emperor into pus and blood.

"This mist is terrifying!" the Dragon Horse exclaimed in alarm.

As they neared the core, Ye Fan emitted a radiant glow. The gray mist in this area was particularly astonishing, resembling a formidable beast, capable of devouring the essence and blood of supreme beings, and it even attempted to plunder his vital energy.

"This is not simple at all," Ye Fan said. "If this sort of thing were used against old supreme beings, it would be very effective, depleting their vital energy even further."

"So it's this thing," the Black Emperor said, speechless, as it took out a green jade turtle.

This was something Ye Fan had retrieved years ago from the altar of a shattered ancient hall in the Primordial Restricted Area and given to the Black Emperor. After all these years, the Black Emperor had long since figured out what it was.

Someone had used great magical power to seal a Quasi-Emperor's corpse inside, cultivating its corpse qi. This was a powerful magical artifact, though people of that era couldn't utilize it. Various array patterns were laid out inside the green jade turtle, and the body had rotted away, nurtured for eons, transforming into the most formidable decaying qi, now ready for significant use.

Ye Fan's heart stirred. He took the green jade turtle and inscribed runes on it with great magical power, imbuing it with the ability to turn decay into wonder. Even a blade of grass could become a Heavenly Treasure after being refined by him in this manner.

Then, using the green jade turtle's mouth as an inlet, he collected all the gray mist. Initially, it roared like rivers, then surged like an ocean, and the heavens and earth rapidly cleared as starlight shone through.

"There's someone in the distance!" said the Dragon Horse.

Ye Fan nodded, indicating he had already noticed, and that he had also seen another strange object.

Finally, with all the gray mist collected, Ye Fan handed the green jade turtle to the Black Emperor and told it the method to activate its runes. It had now become a forbidden artifact.

A stone island floated with a deep pond on its surface.

The Divine Soul Pond!

Ye Fan had once seen it after crossing the Sea of Bitterness of the Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerate, within the Divine Land of the Other Shore formed by his Dao Palace. There are three extraordinary flowers in the world: the Demonic God Flower, the Divine Ming Flower, and the Dao Harmonizing Flower. Similarly, there are three strange substances related to longevity: the Sea of Reincarnation, the Divine Soul Pond, and the Flying Immortal Waterfall.

The Divine Other Shore had shattered years ago in a battle. Years later, Ye Fan had never expected to see the Divine Soul Pond again, especially here, shrouded in the Devil's Mist.

"I know now!" the Black Emperor exclaimed, horrified. "The Divine Soul Pond is something left by the Undying Heavenly Emperor; it's terrifying! His soul has undergone a complete metamorphosis!"

Combining rare ancient texts, it pieced together the incomplete secret, concluding that the Undying Heavenly Emperor's primordial spirit had been reborn. His physical body, or rather, the essence within his former shell, had been extracted, then discarded, decaying into qi.

Above the stone island, an ancient hall floated. The life aura sensed earlier originated from there.