Chapter 688: Barren Universe
The Ancient Forbidden Land, one of the seven great forbidden zones of life since ancient times, where the living halt their steps and those who enter sleep in death.
At this moment, the people at the edge of the forbidden zone first turned to stone, then erupted into an uproar. A person had simply vanished from this world, heading beyond the realm, entering an ancient star domain!
Records in the collections of some immortal inheritances documented that Five-Colored Altars could allow one to traverse the starry sky, covering distances beyond imagination.
No one knew how many years had passed since such a person last existed. Such altars could no longer be constructed, and no one could activate them. Yet now, a single person had leaped through the void like this.
"Little Leaf..." Amid the noise, there were also cries and sounds of reluctance—the pain of parting, hard to let go.
Ye Fan had simply vanished, riding an ancient bronze coffin away, startling the many cultivators outside the forbidden zone into near-stupor. It was a shocking outcome.
After the Nine Dragons Coffin disappeared, the Five-Colored Altar did not sink. It still hung there, its light flickering, its runes dazzling, imprinted into the void.
Above, the massive Eight Trigram Diagram did not collapse. Instead, it trembled violently, flowing with metallic luster as if cast from divine metal.
At this moment, behind the Eight Trigram Taiji Gate, within the dark ancient stellar path, the Nine Dragons Coffin had halted, suspended in the void, unseen by others.
Now, Ye Fan was drenched in sweat, his hands moving continuously. Behind the Eight Trigram Taiji Gate formed by runes, various patterns shifted with his hands.
He was using the method Black Emperor had taught him to alter spatial coordinates, trying to correct the direction and return, entering the Ancient Yinghuo Star.
Ye Fan did not know the coordinates of the Ancient Yinghuo Star, but he found a method in the imprint Black Emperor had given him: a complete reversal, turning back the original direction.
"Next stop might be the star domain of the Ziwei Ancient Star, or some other ancient life source. I just need to use the forbidden method to reverse the direction, as if returning, heading to Yinghuo."
Ye Fan had no time. He quickly altered the eight trigram symbols behind the Star Gate, making them flicker, instantly fixing the ancient coffin. Then, with another series of movements, he successfully corrected the reversal!
"Boom"
A thunderous sound rang out. The Taiji Gate within the Eight Trigram Diagram suddenly burst open, and the Nine Dragons Coffin was about to reverse.
"That is..."
Outside the forbidden zone, everyone was dumbfounded, witnessing an unimaginable scene. The nine dragon corpses and the giant coffin had reappeared out of thin air!
"What happened? Did the star domain crossing fail?"
"How did that ancient path disappear? How did the dragon corpses and coffin reappear?"
Everyone was baffled, thinking the crossing had failed, that the dragons and coffin had been knocked back into this world.
Yet, before their exclamations ceased, the bronze coffin and dragon corpses began to retreat, entering the other side of the Star Gate. The coffin led, the dragons followed, reversing into an ancient stellar path.
"Success! This emperor is truly a genius. My speculation came true, my judgment was correct!" The Big Black Dog barked.
"You dead dog really can't be trusted. Believing you is like believing a sow can climb a tree. You dared to use Little Leaf as a test for something this big! I should skin you alive!" Pang Bo wanted to strangle it.
This time, the bronze coffin moved backward, entering another ancient path, about to vanish.
Suddenly, a phoenix cry came from afar. A woman rapidly approached, reaching the edge of the Ancient Forbidden Land. From her crown, a golden light tens of thousands of feet long shot out, plunging into the forbidden zone of life like a true dragon striding through the heavens.
"Li Xiaoman!" Pang Bo was startled.
Li Xiaoman's body trembled. After the golden light shot from her crown, she swayed violently, as if greatly drained.
The blazing golden light, like a deity or a primeval ferocious beast, danced through heaven and earth, diving straight above the great abyss, charging toward the nine dragons and ancient coffin.
"What is that? What power can fly within the forbidden zone?!"
"No, she used a supreme forbidden artifact, terrifying beyond belief, unheard of and unseen, capable of briefly wielding magical power in the forbidden zone!"
People were shocked to realize this truth. The ten-thousand-foot divine light, like a golden ancient crocodile, spanned a hundred miles in an instant, bombarding the altar and the Eight Trigram Taiji Gate.
"Li Xiaoman, what are you doing?!" Pang Bo roared.
If the Five-Colored Altar were destroyed, Ye Fan, still in the midst of crossing, would surely be shattered in the void. The bronze coffin and dragon corpses might fall out mostly unharmed.
Everyone was stunned. Someone dared to do this, risking death to enter the forbidden zone, cutting off the foundation to block Ye Fan's star domain crossing.
"Boom"
Yet, the ten-thousand-foot golden divine light did not succeed. Above the Primordial Abyss, several ancient figures acted simultaneously, raising their fists to the sky, striking together.
It was a surging wave of power. Five peerless experts struck together, their five-colored light reversing the heavens, accompanied by the divine sound of the Dao descending, vast and immense, shattering the deity-like radiance.
A piercing scream followed. The divine light annihilated, vanishing completely, not even a trace escaping.
Outside the forbidden zone of life, Li Xiaoman trembled violently, then transformed into a black hole, disappearing from the spot.
"What? I just sensed a trace of divine power, carrying an immortal aura!"
"It is an ancient forbidden curse technique, an auxiliary art for a deity descending from beyond the realm!"
"Indeed, that woman's cultivation is not strong. That was not her power; there was another divine energy!"
...
"Li Xiaoman, I'll kill you for Ye Fan!" Pang Bo shouted.
All of this had nothing to do with Ye Fan, for he was completely unaware of what had just happened. He had successfully reversed the ancient stellar path and entered eternal darkness.
He had truly left this world, sitting on the bronze coffin, gazing ahead alone, hoping to see the light of Yinghuo.
The universe was boundless, the star domains endless, yet most places held no stars—only deathlike barrenness and gloom. The vast cosmos had not a single sound.
A terrifying cold stillness, a bone-freezing chill, an immense darkness—this was everything, this was the universe, nothing else.
Not just a human, but even a star was as insignificant as a speck of dust. In this boundless ancient universe, everything was trivial.
Even if the Nine Dragons Coffin could destroy stars and annihilate great domains, in this vast dark void, it was too minuscule, not even a speck of dust.
Ye Fan traveled alone, journeying far, unable to feel the passage of time, as if forever frozen in this moment.
"Am I crossing the star domain? Why does it feel like eternal stillness?"
He felt as if he had not left, still in this ancient star region, the difference being that he had entered a dark box with no way out.
"What happened? Did my crossing fail? Was the Five-Colored Altar missing a crucial central pillar stone? Could that be the problem?"
Ye Fan thought carefully. He had to understand his current state, or he might waste away in this static universe.
The bronze coffin moved forward. In the void, he saw a large meteorite, thousands of feet high, drifting away, which slightly reassured him.
"Still wrong. Crossing a star domain shouldn't be this slow. It should be like lightning. What have I encountered?"
Countless doubts arose in Ye Fan's heart. This time was definitely problematic, vastly different from when he was passively cast into the star domain years ago.
Suddenly, he felt an incredible speed, as if moving at the speed of light, then entering a tunnel.
At that moment, Ye Fan found time chaotic. Sometimes it passed slowly, sometimes quickly—an instant and an eternity, like experiencing a long century.
"How terrifying. Traveling through the starry sky brings such problems. No wonder even ancient sages found it difficult."
In the end, Ye Fan felt as if he had experienced a thousand years, nearly turning to stone. Facing the boundless darkness and silence, he almost went mad.
In this vast universe, there was nothing. Only he, sitting on the bronze coffin with the nine dragon corpses, drifted alone, with nothing else.
Ye Fan sat motionless on the coffin, using cultivation to endure this lonely time, comprehending the Dao, the universe, the void, and understanding his own heart, gradually finding peace.
No one knew how long passed. He opened his eyes. Ahead, a faint light shone through—it was... a star domain!
"Thud"
A violent tremor. The nine dragon corpses and the bronze coffin seemed to leap out of a black hole, appearing in the real world, suddenly breaking free.
It came so abruptly. Around him were stars, still dark and cold, but different from before—no longer so monotonous.
The nine dragon corpses and the bronze coffin nearly stopped, no longer moving swiftly, but drifting aimlessly and slowly through the universe.
"I've broken free from a quagmire, leaped out of a dark box. Where is this now?" Ye Fan stood on the bronze coffin, stabilizing himself with magical power, looking around.
Suddenly, his expression froze. Turning his head, he saw seven special stars—that was the Big Dipper Star Domain!
He had spent ten years in that world, meditating and cultivating daily, sensing different stellar powers. Though the positions of the seven stars had changed greatly, he still recognized them.
"Why is this? Didn't I return? Why am I adjacent to the Big Dipper Star Domain, not far across? Is it really because the Five-Colored Altar was incomplete?"
Adjacent to the Big Dipper Star Domain, Ye Fan felt that if he relied solely on flight, he might be able to fly back within his lifetime.
But if he wanted to fly back to the Ancient Yinghuo Star and Earth, that was hopeless. The distance was too great, and he couldn't determine the coordinates.
He had come beyond the realm, entering the vast universe, far from any life source. All he saw was barrenness—this was the reality.
"After a desperate struggle, I failed. In the end, I still couldn't return, instead trapping myself in this lifeless ancient universe."
In such dark heavens, he wasn't even a speck of dust. He was not an ancient sage, let alone an ancient great emperor; crossing star domains was beyond him.
"Must I really spend my entire life flying back along the original path, returning to that world?"
Ye Fan was unwilling. He pondered silently, then sat cross-legged on the ancient coffin, beginning to cultivate in the universe, alone beyond the realm, closing himself off in bitter enlightenment.
Aimlessly, the nine dragon corpses pulled the ancient coffin through the darkness for over two months. One day, Ye Fan suddenly opened his eyes. He sensed something.
Suddenly, he was greatly startled. At the end of the cold void, in the gloom, something else lay horizontally, approaching him, not far away.
"What is that?"
He activated his Source Heaven Divine Eye, gazing forward, and finally saw it clearly, his heart filled with shock.
A purple-gold war chariot, floating for who knows how many ages, dim and lusterless, covered in the marks of time, utterly dilapidated, deathly still.
"An ancient war chariot in the cold, dark universe!"
Ye Fan's heart trembled. In the barren universe without life sources, seeing such a chariot was truly alarming.
"It has floated for at least a hundred thousand years, perhaps even longer..." Ye Fan sensed an ancient, weathered quality.
The purple-gold war chariot bore many grooves and large holes from ancient weapons, evidence of some terrifying great battle.
Time was merciless. It was covered in cosmic dust, long devoid of any luster. After hundreds of thousands of years, it was ancient and crude.
Suddenly, Ye Fan was greatly shocked. He sensed a subtle fluctuation, his face changing color. "What? Life fluctuations? Could there still be a living being on that war chariot?!"