Chapter 1818: Nine Dragons Pull the Coffin

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Suddenly, Ye Fan's heart stirred as he gazed at the void of the universe ahead. Sensing something, he swept his hands, tearing open space and time, and entered a realm of primordial chaotic immortal earth.

The place was serene, featuring a Taoist temple. As soon as he entered, a fragrant scent, emanating from an immortal medicine, wafted through the air, refreshing his heart and mind. He strolled inside, an unusual expression on his face.

A ginseng fruit tree was rooted within the temple, bearing several snow-white, human-shaped fruits that were moist, translucent, and emitted a delicate fragrance.

“Heavenly Emperor,” an ancient voice called out.

Beneath the ginseng fruit tree were some Immortal Springs and Divine Springs, which sealed a group of people. Only a few young Taoist disciples were not sealed, and they appeared bewildered upon seeing him.

“Rongcheng Shi,” Ye Fan sighed. He had never expected to meet this legendary figure, whose name he had long known but only now encountered in person.

Not only him, but also a group of renowned Qi Refiners were present, including Ge Hong, an alternative enlightened being. Several important figures among the pre-Qin Qi Refiners were living in seclusion within this primordial chaotic immortal earth.

After a long conversation and sitting in quiet meditation for a night, Ye Fan rose, bid farewell, and departed. Here, he had obtained a crucial piece of information: the Dao Integration Flower had first grown in Kunlun, but later flew away, its whereabouts unknown.

Ye Fan arrived at Kunlun and used it as a starting point for his deductions to search for the flower. However, after many years of searching, he was ultimately disappointed.

While traveling aimlessly through the starry sky, he heard exclamations from a starfield one day: the Nine Dragons pulling the Coffin had reappeared. Unfortunately, no one could catch up to it or approach it.

Ye Fan's expression shifted. He crossed countless galaxies and descended from the heavens, finally seeing the nine black dragon bodies and the massive ancient bronze coffin once more.

“Heavenly Emperor!”

People exclaimed in surprise.

The ancient coffin was shrouded in mist, its surface covered with runes. Now, it had seemingly come to life, which explained why people found it difficult to approach or capture.

Ye Fan descended from the sky and landed on the coffin, his heart filled with boundless emotion. Everything had begun with this coffin; his ability to traverse the universe for so many years was all connected to it.

He had long since comprehended the hundreds of ancient characters after becoming the Heavenly Emperor. Now, sitting there, he remained motionless for a long time, carefully listening to the scriptures that once again echoed from within the coffin. Each of these hundreds of ancient characters was an Imperial Rune, representing a supreme principle. However, half of these Imperial Runes did not pertain to cultivation but rather to the construction and evolution of the Immortal Realm.

It was also through these characters, along with fragments of information contained within the immortal medicine, that Ye Fan deduced a major problem with the Immortal Realm.

Ye Fan entered the coffin, and Little Song, protected by a glow, curiously followed, his large eyes sparkling as he watched.

Inside the colossal bronze coffin, a smaller coffin lay horizontally. At this moment, the scriptures ceased, and silence reigned, as if the cosmos of all ages had been buried within.

Ye Fan approached, slowly and forcefully lifting the lid of the small coffin. Immediately, chaotic qi surged forth, and immortal light overflowed, causing him to widen his eyes in astonishment.

“So that’s it!”

He sighed softly, a sigh that contained a multitude of meanings.

Then, he closed the coffin lid, turned, and tore open the universe. He projected a strand of his primordial spirit, appearing in the Primordial Forbidden Land, and summoned the Great Empress, inviting her for a discussion.

The next moment, not only did the Great Empress arrive, but Little Nannan also merged into her glabella, becoming one with her.

“I had already opened this coffin long ago, and later ordered the Great Accomplished Sacred Body to discard it,” the Great Empress calmly stated.

Even as the Heavenly Emperor, Ye Fan was momentarily stunned. In this world, perhaps only the Ruthless Great Emperor would dare to act in such a manner; her audacity left him speechless.

He understood then. The Great Empress had not sought immortality back then; she only wished to wait for that person's return in the mortal world. Discarding this coffin was therefore perfectly normal.

“Now, I invite the Great Empress to observe it together.” The Great Empress said nothing, merely watching in silence.

Ye Fan opened the ancient coffin once more. Chaotic mist flowed out, and immortal light overflowed, creating an atmosphere of profound serenity. Little Song's eyes widened as he peered inside, and this time, he finally saw clearly: it was an entire world!

There were no corpses or people inside the coffin; it was, in fact, a mysterious world suffused with flowing immortal light. If one were to jump into it, they would sense its boundless immensity.

“Could the so-called Immortal Realm be inside the coffin?” He recalled the hundreds of ancient characters, half of which described methods for constructing and evolving the Immortal Realm.

“All the immortals died, and the Immortal Realm was damaged, severed from this world. The Desolate Heavenly Emperor intended to evolve the Immortal Realm, to fully construct that world.”

Evidently, the Great Empress knew more than Ye Fan.

Ye Fan and the Great Empress discussed the Dao, sitting cross-legged inside the coffin for several days, conversing about longevity, immortality, and the path to ascension. Now at the same level of understanding, they could verify each other's insights.

Back then, this bronze coffin had failed to enter the Immortal Realm, did not repair that world, and was thus left behind in the mortal realm.

“Boom!”

In the depths of the universe, the decisive battle between two great geniuses concluded. Ye Yishui emerged victorious, having bisected the man who had transformed from a Five-Colored Divine Phoenix; he was on the verge of falling. At this critical moment, the Flying Immortal Waterfall reappeared, and a hand, white as jade, descended, with the Undying Heavenly Sovereign rescuing his son.

His control over the Flying Immortal Waterfall had grown increasingly terrifying; he could manifest it at will.

“Boom!”

At this moment, Ye Fan and the Ruthless Great Empress simultaneously made their move, striking at the Flying Immortal Waterfall with a punch and a palm respectively.

The Undying Heavenly Sovereign brought his son into that world, then surprisingly emerged to meet them, exchanging a palm strike with each.

Instantly, heaven and earth collapsed, ghosts wailed and gods howled, and the Flying Immortal Waterfall was half-destroyed. The Undying Heavenly Sovereign had acted this way simply to gauge just how terrifying these two had become.

“Great Empress, I ask for your assistance in deducing the whereabouts of the Dao Integration Flower,” Ye Fan requested.

“It is within this coffin,” the Great Empress calmly replied.

“What?” Ye Fan’s heart trembled.

“Back then, I placed it inside this coffin. It was originally prepared for you, but unfortunately, it wasn’t you.” The Great Empress was peerlessly elegant, yet her expression at that moment caused hearts to tremble.

Ye Fan understood. The Ruthless One had obtained the Dao Integration Flower, and it was prepared for the person she awaited—a Sacred Body, who would find it difficult to become an Emperor. Later, upon seeing him, this “similar flower,” and knowing he would eventually seek out this ancient bronze coffin, she had already placed the flower inside when she commanded the Great Accomplished Sacred Body to discard the bronze coffin into the abyss.

Ye Fan felt a pang of guilt and expressed his gratitude.

The Great Empress then suddenly said, “It wasn’t you, but if I were to infuse his past and experiences into your sea of consciousness, it might not be impossible to recreate him; perhaps then, you would be him.”

However, she ultimately did not act, leaving Ye Fan in a daze.

The universe became peaceful. The Nine Dragons and the bronze coffin were brought back to the Heavenly Court by Ye Fan, and Little Nannan, adorable and pink, was now by his side, returning with him.

The universe was calm. Ye Yishui had achieved enlightenment, making it difficult to seal him again. As a last resort, Ye Fan sealed him within the incomplete Immortal Realm inside the bronze coffin, entrusting him with the care of Little Song.

Meanwhile, Ye Fan himself had changed his decision: he would become an immortal in this mortal realm!

Time flowed on. In the 520,000th year of the Heavenly Emperor's reign, Ye Fan obtained all the Nine Secrets. Although they were no longer of great use, they still held some reference value. When unified, they unleashed a power that astonished even immortals, proving no weaker than his forbidden techniques.

“It seems I still have a path to walk. Since an old friend once said that the Nine Secrets, when unified, are invincible throughout ancient and modern times, then he clearly reached this stage as well.” Ye Fan knew that person was Emperor Zun.

Although Ye Fan had already reached this stage many tens of thousands of years ago without relying on the Nine Secrets, he felt that the path could still extend further, and he wanted to push to its absolute limit.

In the 550,000th year of the Heavenly Emperor's reign, Ye Fan's eighth life was, by all accounts, supposed to end. Yet, he did not undergo transformation; time simply ceased to flow for him, showing no signs of him passing away.

That year, he met Duan De. It seemed that in almost every life, he had to either guide or bid farewell to the unscrupulous Taoist priest.

For several consecutive lives, Duan De had a mournful expression, lamenting that he had suffered terrible luck for eight lifetimes of tomb raiding, only to end up entangled with an evil spirit.

In the 600,000th year of the Heavenly Emperor's reign, although Ye Fan was very old, his vital blood remained vibrant and undiminished, staying at this stage, as if he truly meant to exist alongside the world forever.

At this point, the entire world sighed in admiration. The Heavenly Emperor was unique; such a person had never before reached this stage throughout history.

He was exceptional!

However, Ye Fan himself did not think so. In his view, the Ruthless One, Wu Shi, and the Undying Heavenly Sovereign had all reached this stage. Even Duan De, if he were to gather all nine Reincarnation Seals, might also become an immortal in the mortal realm.

In the 640,000th year of the Heavenly Emperor's reign, Ye Fan transformed again. This was a deliberate act; he intended to elevate his state to its absolute peak and then remain there perpetually.

His ninth life had begun!

Indeed, just as he had predicted, time could barely leave a mark on him. He maintained the appearance of a man around twenty years old, with thick black hair, a crystalline body, and a magnificent physique, overseeing the vast expanse of heaven and earth.

In the 700,000th year of the Heavenly Emperor's reign, Ye Fan remained unchanged, still as young as ever. Over these hundreds of thousands of years, he had forged nine Cauldrons in total, made from various immortal metals such as Immortal Tear Green Gold, Eternal Blue Gold, Phoenix Blood Crimson Gold, Dragon Pattern Black Gold, Divine Mark Purple Gold, and Dao Tribulation Gold.

In fact, Ye Fan had also found fragments of Emperor Zun's green cauldron again, but he did not reassemble them. With a peculiar expression, he once brought the fragments to the Primordial Forbidden Land and discussed them with the Ruthless Great Empress.

Ye Fan merged the nine divine metal cauldrons, refining them into a single nine-colored precious cauldron, which became an immortal artifact.

Finally, he used his peerless divine abilities to fuse the nine-colored immortal cauldron with the Mother Qi Cauldron of All Things, uniting the two into an astonishing supreme immortal artifact.

That year, the Ruthless Great Empress also made her move. First, she summoned Little Nannan, integrating her into herself, and then put on a ghost-face mask, neither crying nor laughing, a smile laced with tear stains—the very mask buried in Kunlun back then. At the same time, she reclaimed the bronze ring from Ye Fan's hand.

Beneath the Primordial Abyss, the Bronze Immortal Palace disintegrated, and an immortal sword also shattered. The essences and immortal qi from both rushed into the mask and the bronze ring, evolving them into supreme immortal artifacts. Her methods were truly world-shattering, genuinely turning decay into wonder!

In this life, she had no more obsessions, or perhaps one more: after becoming an immortal, to see if that person could awaken. She wanted to watch Ye Fan enter the Immortal Realm, and she, too, was ready to bid farewell to the mortal world.

Those who understood knew that they were about to embark on the Immortal Path. In fact, they could already be considered Immortals of the Mortal Realm!

In this life, Ye Fan lifted the seals and invited all the powerful cultivators from the Heavenly Court to emerge. He intended to usher in a new era.

Decades later, when all preparations were complete, Ye Fan stood atop the myriad Dao, safeguarding a group of supreme experts as they ascended to become Great Emperors!

He could now seal the myriad Dao and contend with the immortals manifested from immortal medicines within the heavenly tribulation. Amidst booming sounds, an immortal legend began.

The Holy Prince, Dao Yi, Zhang Bainian, Six-Eared Macaque, Ye Tong, Yang Xi, Huahua, Jiang Tingting, Shen Wa, and Ye Xianchou—all appeared together!

Those who were to achieve enlightenment were not just one or two, but a whole group, creating a miracle unprecedented throughout history, shaking the entire universe.

Little Song also returned. With the aid of the Dao Integration Flower, he regained his peak power and became a Great Emperor!

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. This universe would have been utterly destroyed had it not been protected. Ye Fan invited the Great Empress to safeguard the various domains.

The light of heavenly punishment was boundless, all of it striking down.

Ye Fan contended against the immortals manifested from the immortal divine medicines within the heavenly tribulation. He was invincible, no longer susceptible to being slain. Instead, he annihilated those figures, and through this, he comprehended many deeper secrets.

He protected the myriad Dao, allowing their pulsations to synchronize, and ultimately enabled a group of people to successfully become Great Emperors!

The simultaneous emergence of so many Great Emperors truly shocked the universe. An incredibly glorious era had arrived, with numerous Emperors rising together, and the myriad Dao reverberating loudly, shaking the past, present, and future!