Chapter 1023: Journey to the West Immortal Record
This journey across the starry sky spanned billions of miles, heading toward the other shore, a distant road filled with the unknown. In the darkness, Ye Fan radiated boundless light, enveloping the child Huahua, because there was no air here, no breathable atmosphere, only reliance on divine power.
It was a journey that could not calm one's heart. Even those with profound cultivation like the Divine Knight and the Dragon Horse felt their emotions surge. Since this was their first time stepping into the starry sky, it was even more so for Zhang Qingyang and Long Yuxuan.
"Master, what is the Big Dipper Star Domain like? Can we really see sages of other races?"
"Why was the Immortal Path chosen to open there? How did all the ancient great emperors gather on a single ancient star? What will we encounter when we go?"
...
Zhang Qingyang and Long Yuxuan were nervous and uneasy. Some questions had been asked many times before, yet they brought them up again.
Over a decade had passed. On Earth, they had already cultivated to the first level of the Immortal Platform. It could be imagined that if they were in the Big Dipper, their progress would be many times faster. With their talent, they would absolutely be able to intimidate an entire region.
On this star path, the flow of time was chaotic. Sometimes it felt unbearably long, as if time had stopped; other times, it seemed incredibly fast, as if thousands of years had passed in an instant.
If not for their constant communication through divine consciousness, this would have been an utterly silent journey—no sound at all, only the occasional streak of light flashing by, brilliant as fireworks.
"Oh, we've arrived!"
No one knew how long had passed when, ahead, starlight blazed brilliantly. They had reached the end of this star path, making the darkness and void seem fuller, adding a bit of color.
A violent tremor shook them. Space twisted, the ancient path mottled, and various colors flickered. They had reached their first stop, tumbling out of the void.
Among them, only Ye Fan was experienced. Every pore on his body shimmered with radiance, auspicious energy surging. He used the cauldron to envelop everyone within, just in case.
"Pop"
A soft sound came from behind them as the starry ancient path disappeared. They found themselves on a desolate star. Looking around, it was lifeless, the air thin, with no signs of vitality.
"What place is this?" They gazed up at the starry sky, then surveyed their surroundings.
There was no moon in the sky, but the Milky Way shone brightly, casting down vast swaths of pure white light. This star seemed close to all the other great stars, as if one could leap up and reach another shore.
They could not determine their star position, because on different planets, even the same galaxy would look vastly different.
Not knowing where they were—this was their most honest feeling at the moment. They had no confidence. This was not a living ancient star; they could not survive here long. They had to find a way out quickly.
"There must be a small Five-Colored Altar on this planet, and it shouldn't be too far. Let's find it," Ye Fan said.
This was not their destination, but merely a stop on the journey. Such a desolate place had no trace of life. Ahead lay a vast desert, the yellow sand shimmering under the starlight.
"The aura of Divine Source!" Ye Fan showed a strange expression, sensing an unusual energy.
They flew forward swiftly, like several bolts of lightning, plunging into the depths of the sandy sea. Before long, they all revealed looks of surprise, for they saw a tall structure.
"A pyramid!" Zhang Qingyang's face showed disbelief. Could it be the deity worshipped by the ancient Egyptians? Vaguely, he felt something was wrong.
This building was pure white, gleaming under the starlight. When they approached, they all gasped, for the scene was too terrifying.
It was a pyramid built from crystalline white bones. Though polished smooth and inscribed with ancient laws, it was still filled with the marks of time, appearing to be quite old.
Skulls, arm bones, spine bones—everything was there, forming such a strange bone tower. It was towering and majestic, about a hundred meters high, standing in the desert, untouched by the drifting sands despite the passage of years.
There were not only human skulls but also the remains of other races. What the Demon Venerable Xuan Chi said was true: in the river of time long past, various great battles had occurred. Mysterious creatures had attacked Hangu Pass, leaving many bones on this outer-domain path.
"Creatures inside the bone tower!" the Divine Knight said.
Ye Fan nodded. The aura of Divine Source also came from within the tower. The number of creatures in this desert was not small—at least several hundred.
A "rustling" sound came. From the surrounding desert, dozens of lines as thick as water vats bulged up from underground, rushing toward them like giant snakes.
The Dragon Horse raised its hoof and stomped down. It landed squarely on the first rushing sand line, producing a loud clang—a metallic sound—followed by a cracking noise, and a stream of liquid burst out.
"What kind of creature is this?" They were all startled.
The sand dunes surged all around. Dozens of thick protrusions appeared, charging swiftly, while shooting out beams of red light. Hundreds of light blades slashed toward them.
Everyone flew high into the sky. The Dragon Horse let out a long neigh, shaking the thin air, tearing the sky apart, and flipping over the sandy ground, revealing the creatures beneath the yellow sand.
They were hundreds of ant-like creatures, enormous in size. Each one was over three meters long, their bodies like red coral carved into shape, immensely strong, capable of shattering the void. They all flew into the air, attacking them.
"What the hell? What kind of life is this, surviving in such an environment? What do they live on?"
"There's Divine Source here. They survive on it. They shouldn't be natives of this planet—they're creatures trapped here," Ye Fan said.
The Divine Knight acted, his hand covering the sky, enveloping everything below. With a wipe, every bull-sized ant emitted a sound of metal cracking and died on the spot.
Not a single one of the hundreds of giant ants escaped; they all fell like dust.
"There's a big one," the Dragon Horse said. It stomped its hoof toward the white bone pyramid. With a rumble, a burst of intense light erupted, and a massive creature broke free.
This ant was over ten meters long, its entire body red and crystalline, radiating streaks of multicolored light. With a slight tremor, it shattered the void. Its strength could lift mountains—this was a racial innate divine ability.
"What race are you? Where do you come from? Why attack us?" Ye Fan shouted.
This giant creature was filled with hatred. Moving at incredible speed, it turned into a red beam and instantly reached the sky, confronting them coldly.
"Humans... deserve death!" It transmitted such a mental wave, then attacked.
"These should be the remnants of one of the races that attacked Hangu Pass in the distant past—small fry. Nothing to say, just kill them all," Ye Fan said.
The Divine Knight acted again. This time, he held his dragon spear, taking a single step that covered over ten miles. He thrust the spear—the shaft was unadorned, but it carried the power of the Dao and nature, with the pressure of heaven and earth converging.
"Clang"
This divine ant had profound cultivation, and its physical body was incredibly strong, beyond everyone's imagination. It blocked the dragon spear's strike, and one of its large pincers fiercely slashed back, filling the sky with red light.
A series of clanging sounds rang out in the sky. It clashed with the Divine Knight eight times. When the dragon spear's ninth strike fell, it still raised its pincer to meet it head-on. But this time, it was useless. The dragon spear's divine light surged, turning into a peerless lightning bolt. With a "puff," it pierced the divine insect through, causing its body to explode!
Ye Fan acted, grabbing its primordial spirit in one hand. He examined its sea of consciousness and said, "As expected, it's a descendant of the ancient sages who attacked Hangu Pass, trapped here, surviving on the Divine Source left by their ancestors."
"Puff"
Ye Fan squeezed with his hand, turning its divine spirit into ashes. Then, with a shake of his hand, the desert rumbled. Some fragments of Divine Source floated up—barely any left, all consumed by this ant clan.
Finally, after twisting and turning, they entered a hidden formation and found the Five-Colored Altar, setting off on their journey once more.
Over the next half month, they made seven or eight crossings. Every planet they landed on was a desolate, lifeless star, but each time, they faced a fierce battle.
In the distant past, no one knew what had happened. Many powerful races had attacked Hangu Pass. After their deaths, their descendants were trapped outside the Hangu Pass fortress, on this long star path.
"The attack on Hangu Pass was at least tens of thousands of years ago. Their ancestors all had a sense of urgency and anxiety." Every time Ye Fan defeated an enemy, he explored their divine consciousness, finding some clues and learning that these races came from a very distant star domain, deep in the universe.
He was surprised to discover that they were not there for the Immortal Cauldron. They were not the sages who entered Earth in ancient times, but an earlier group with a different purpose, traceable back to a very long time ago.
In ancient times, the sages who came for the Immortal Cauldron mainly came from three ancient stars: Fire Mulberry, Heaven-Piercing, and Gouchen. They were different from those who attacked Hangu Pass, fewer in number, and came much later.
"Earth is truly mysterious." Ye Fan looked back at the starry sky, but could no longer find where the solar system was.
A month later, they had already entered the depths of the celestial realm, still not knowing where they were. Every place they arrived at brought a great battle. As the Demon Venerable Xuan Chi said, this starry ancient path was treacherous, filled with demons and monsters.
Every Five-Colored Altar was hidden within formations, requiring the secret method Xuan Chi had taught them to find. Most of the time on this journey was spent on this.
Ye Fan, the Dragon Horse, the Divine Knight, Huahua, Zhang Qingyang, and Long Yuxuan—six of them traveled together. Even as strong as they were, accidents happened. They nearly perished several times. Enemies wielding forbidden artifacts left by sages from tens of thousands of years ago almost destroyed half an ancient star!
"You carry the load, I lead the horse. Greeting the sunrise, seeing off the sunset. Trampling down the rough road, forging the great path..."
Ye Fan heard Zhang Qingyang humming and couldn't help but laugh. Their group had left Hangu Pass to the west, and this journey really had a bit of a "Journey to the West" flavor—subduing demons and slaying various powerful alien races.
The child Huahua, protected by divine power, had the fortune to sit on the Dragon Horse with Ye Fan. The Divine Knight held a dragon spear to clear the way, while Long Yuxuan guarded the rear.
"All for the sake of attaining the Dao, we cross the universe and the starry sky."
When they landed on the nineteenth ancient star, Ye Fan learned an important piece of information. After defeating a group of powerful enemies, he discovered from their sea of consciousness the name of a living ancient star deep in the universe—Flying Immortal.
"In the endless ages past, the sages were extremely anxious. Why did they attack Earth from a star called Flying Immortal?" Ye Fan muttered to himself.
These people attacked Hangu Pass in an incredibly distant era, and not for the Immortal Cauldron, far earlier than those from Fire Mulberry, Heaven-Piercing, and Gouchen. The name "Flying Immortal" was very mysterious, sparking endless speculation.
"There is actually such a living ancient star deep in the universe!"
A few more days passed. The group landed on the twenty-third planet. Ye Fan's expression shook. He looked up at the sky, fixing his gaze on seven brilliant great stars, his emotions hard to calm.
Viewed from different star domains, the arrangement of these seven great stars would not be the same, but their aura would not change. Ye Fan could be certain—that was the Big Dipper Star Domain.
"We've arrived. The next stop will land us in the Big Dipper Star Domain!" Ye Fan said.
"Master, are you sure... that's our final stop?" Even Long Yuxuan, with his cold temperament, became excited.
"I never thought we could really reach the Big Dipper Star Domain. I imagine your old enemies from the past never expected you to return riding the starry sky, to contend with them again," Zhang Qingyang said.
Ye Fan muttered to himself, "That's assuming we don't keep advancing all the way to that ancient star called 'Flying Immortal.'"