Chapter 1172: The End of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Imperial Battle
The terrifying ancient ghost ships reappeared, their killing intent manifesting once more. They had drifted through the terrifying cosmos for so many years, like a group of phantoms, silent and soundless, but whenever they appeared, a great slaughter was inevitable.
Everyone had thought that after a hundred thousand years, the calamity had become a thing of the past, a fleeting cloud. Yet today, it was proven that time could not erode them; they remained just as heaven-defying.
A vast fleet, an endless black mass, the metallic luster of their icy ridges dim, yet they were the most terrifying graveyard in the world. Ripples of power were spreading!
"Hurry, perform a spatial jump!" Even the sages grew anxious. Some tore open the void and fled directly, while others constructed Star Gates, attempting to take the fleet with them.
They were far enough away, with time to buffer. Half of the people retreated, successfully escaping the disaster.
Only those in Ye Fan's region could not succeed, because one of the Void Daos was primarily aimed at them, or more precisely, it was triggered by Ye Fan.
The Never-Setting Sun Royal Clan was greatly alarmed. Their five mother ships and entire fleet were unable to perform a spatial jump, bound by a mysterious force, unable to escape.
This was a great catastrophe!
Besides the Never-Setting Sun Royal Clan, half of the other princes' mother fleets were also blocked. Their Star Gate constructions failed; before this Void Dao, their spatial laws were utterly insufficient.
"What kind of power is this? The Dao divine principles of the ancient ghost ships are invincible. Are we all to be buried here?"
Everyone's face turned as white as snow. They wanted to flee using their physical bodies but found it impossible, all frozen by the power of the void.
They could not forget the miserable state of the two sages from earlier. It was as if invisible great hands were tearing at them, pulling them into the gates of death, their facial features twisted, unable to break free.
"It's coming for me!"
Ye Fan's scalp tingled. No matter how many techniques or divine abilities he used, he could not escape. This was the residual power of an Ancient Great Emperor, surging for over a hundred thousand years.
He felt he could turn to ashes at any moment. Before this kind of power, an individual was far too insignificant, even if he was about to become a sage.
Ahead, silently, a terrible catastrophe was unfolding. Two mother ships and hundreds of escort ships shattered inch by inch, turning into cosmic dust.
That ripple was about to reach this place!
"I don't want to die! Why would an Ancient Great Emperor kill me for no reason?" At this critical moment of life and death, Ye Fan truly realized how insignificant his power was.
For all living beings, an Ancient Great Emperor was akin to a deity; no power could contend with them!
The situation was dire. The ripple came swiftly. The third mother ship and entire fleet of ships were pulverized. Sacred weapons, fragile at this moment, could not withstand even a single blow from the residual ripple.
The crisis reached its peak, yet Ye Fan's heart calmed. Perhaps he would die, but now was not the time to panic. His body could barely move; only his mind had to be clear.
"The destructive power belongs to the other two Great Emperors. The Void Dao is merely spreading, not yet destroying life..."
After calming down, Ye Fan felt as if time had stopped. In a flash of lightning, he made various judgments, using his golden divine sense to activate the profound meanings of the Grand Void Art he understood.
"The Void Dao is coming for me. What can attract it is only its own Dao..."
The golden divine sense resonated, merging with the supreme Dao. He found that his body could move again, no longer bound. His judgment was correct.
*Zheng!*
Then, Ye Fan opened his mouth and spat out an ancient mirror. Dao patterns interwove, ancient and grand. Carved upon it were the sun, moon, stars, and rivers, the primordial chaos, explaining the mysteries of the void.
This was a King Weapon, a relic left by Ji Haoyue in the Eternal Kingdom, obtained by the people of Heaven and fallen into his hands. He never expected it would become his life-saving charm.
As soon as this mirror appeared, the vague Void Dao seemed to gain consciousness, as if a person had come back to life, protecting him.
*Ka!*
The imitation Void Mirror shattered. The myriad patterns inscribed within turned into beams of light, vanishing into the cosmos, absorbed by that Dao.
Ye Fan was astonished. This ancient mirror was not powerful; even he could shatter it. But it acted like a key, awakening the Void Dao that had slumbered for over a hundred thousand years.
*Hong long!*
At the center of the ghost ships, the Divine Spirit Ninefold Coffin emitted wisps of rosy clouds, immortal light, interweaving into a web of patterns.
The dark void gradually transformed towards light. Everything before the coffin became visible. The other two mysterious ripples were suppressed, the destructive power retreating.
A primal, Great Emperor-level ripple contended, intertwining, mutually annihilating, complex and inexplicable, appearing exceptionally eerie.
"Why is this happening?"
Ye Fan had almost never been as shaken as he was today. Wasn't it said that Great Emperors rarely met and could not fight in the same era? Yet here, he saw three types of Imperial patterns.
The Void Dao fought one against two, in a silent confrontation. The starry cosmos trembled, and the myriad star rivers seemed about to fall.
*Chi!*
Three beams of light shot up from the ancient coffin, piercing into the starry sea above, transforming into eternity, merging into the Heavenly Dao, becoming the origin of the world.
They twisted, entangled, and interwove, like deities locked in a deadly battle!
"This is... the continuation of a battle from over a hundred thousand years ago, the final curtain of a duel between Ancient Great Emperors!" Ye Fan's voice trembled.
It was truly unimaginable that such a thing was happening. In the depths of the universe, amidst the infinite starry sea, he was witnessing the residual power of Emperor Void's might.
Who were the other two?
Ye Fan knew this was not a true duel between Great Emperors, because the parties involved had long since passed away, the time too distant. This was merely the continuation and conflict of their Daos.
The romantic figures of ten thousand eras, buried in the stars. Even their residual power caused four Great Sages to fall, dozens of ancient sages to perish, forming the terrifying ghost ships.
This was the secret of the ghost ships, caused by three supreme existences. Even now, their residual power had not been extinguished.
"It's them... it must be them!"
Ye Fan felt a chill run through his body. He had discerned the origins of the other two—they must have come from Immortal Mountain!
In those days, first there was the Great Accomplishment Saint Body, then Emperor Void. They exerted the divine might of two lifetimes to suppress the Dark Calamity and quell the disaster of Immortal Mountain.
The world knew that the Great Accomplishment Saint Body grew old and weak in his later years, falling at Sacred Cliff, killed by someone.
Emperor Void took over, withstanding everything, and eventually grew old. When he succeeded and withdrew, he was already in his twilight years. He returned to his clan and soon buried himself in the boundless void turbulence.
"That era was too difficult. Immortal Mountain had more than one supreme existence. Emperor Void once killed one, and later charged in alone, with a heart set on mutual destruction, to fight them!"
It could be said that this was the most difficult period for the Human Clan. A single Human Clan Great Emperor fought and maneuvered against several supreme existences. To quell the chaos was incredibly hard, and other Forbidden Zones of Life also made their moves.
It was hard to imagine the predicament Emperor Void faced back then.
Later generations gleaned fragments from lost ancient texts, reconstructing some truths of that era. During Emperor Void's time, all seven Forbidden Zones of Life had been active!
This was a secret not recorded in history, an inference made by later generations from countless rumors. It was a dark era. Among the Ancient Great Emperors, Emperor Void might have suffered the most, because he faced too many difficulties.
What kind of pressure did he bear alone? Unimaginable, because he might have faced chaos from more than one Forbidden Zone.
No one knew how he succeeded in quelling all the great chaos, and even fewer knew the price he paid.
All of this, few in the world today knew. Ye Fan had only heard some rumors. Later, he asked Ji Zi for confirmation, and only believed it when he saw him nod silently.
There were also rumors in the world that Grand Emperor of the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty might be Emperor Void's second incarnation. Ye Fan had asked Ji Zi about this as well, but he only shook his head sadly.
Only a few ancient secrets were passed down, saying that Emperor Void faced the most hardship. To quell the chaos, he paid an unimaginable price. He fought from birth until his twilight years, until he was old and weak.
Facing several Forbidden Zones alone, he ultimately pacified the great chaos. What price did he pay? Ye Fan learned a truth from Ji Zi's mouth: Emperor Void, despite having an Immortality Pill, only lived for one lifetime!
Without a doubt, that was a tragic song.
He fought the most battles among the Great Emperors, faced the most enemies, and paid the greatest price!
The prosperous era of the Human Clan that followed was greatly indebted to his foundation. While he lived, he beat his opponents until they were cold. The various enemies, when facing later Human Clan Great Emperors, no longer dared to fight to the end.
"When Emperor Void was old and weak, on the verge of passing away, he buried himself in the boundless void. The world did not know that his battle was not over. He fought two supreme existences into the starry sky..." Ye Fan murmured to himself.
At this moment, everyone could move again. The Void Dao emerged, suppressing the other two destructive forces. The crowd, as if granted amnesty, retreated at extreme speed.
The Imperial battle of over a hundred thousand years had finally drawn to a close. At this moment, the residual power also emitted its ultimate radiance, reaching a conclusion.
*Ka dang!*
The final layer of the Mythical Era Ninefold Coffin actually opened!
From an extreme distance, Ye Fan opened his Heavenly Eye, exhausting all his cultivation to observe, wanting to see through the truth.
The aura of an Ancient Great Emperor spread. Even separated by an infinite distance, all the mother ships trembled, and all living beings knelt down. At this moment, the Green Copper glowed. Only when facing the most terrifying aura in the world did it revive, stabilizing Ye Fan's body. In this starry sky, only he did not kneel.
The ancient coffin buried in the Ninth Heaven opened. A majestic corpse fell, holding a shattered weapon in its hand. It was forged from Eternal Blue Gold, stained with Imperial blood.
*Peng!*
The Eternal Blue Gold had shattered into dozens of pieces over a hundred thousand years ago. Now, this Imperial Weapon turned into streaks of flowing light, flying in all directions, disappearing into the cosmos.
This was an Extreme Dao Weapon of an enemy that Emperor Void had destroyed in the past!
At the same time, another majestic corpse fell from the ancient coffin. The aura of an Ancient Great Emperor filled the air, shaking the eight desolates and six directions.
"Void, you fought your entire life, dragging us down even in death. Though we hate you, we respect you..." This was the lingering thought of a majestic figure from over a hundred thousand years ago.
"Calculating that we would come, you feigned death in the coffin. Though old and weak, you still set a trap to take us down. Unwilling... only..." This was the lingering thought emitted by another corpse.
They had fallen over a hundred thousand years ago. Their bodies should have disintegrated back then. The residual power and lingering thoughts from the past had not dissipated, preserved until now. Now, they shattered inch by inch, turning into two eternal immortal radiances, merging into the cosmos.
*Hong!*
Entire fleets of ships were disintegrating. The ghost ships would cease to exist!
Only one ancient coffin remained, lonely, aimless, shattering the iron chains, drifting into the dark depths of the universe, embarking on a solitary journey.
"Hurry, activate the teleportation formation! Seize the divine treasure of the ghost ships!" Many princes shouted.
But Ye Fan did not move. He quietly watched the departing ancient coffin. He felt a sense of sorrow, sorrow for Emperor Void.
He fought his entire life, with a bleak twilight. In the end, alone with a single coffin, he drifted away into the cosmos, thus concluding his story.
He remembered the words Black Emperor had said, and felt a resonance.
"True Human Clan Great Emperors are invincible!"
"True Human Clan Great Emperors are all dead..."
From birth, Void fought until he grew old. Even before his passing, old and weak, he was still in the unknown cosmos, alone, facing two supreme existences.
He had an Immortality Pill, yet only lived for one lifetime.
Ye Fan murmured to himself: "True... Human Clan Great Emperors... are all dead."
That ancient coffin, lonely, drifted away, entering the darkness, until it could no longer be seen.