A Heavenly Emperor Lost to a Great Emperor? Cowards! I Shall... Wage War on the Forbidden Zones! Usher in an Age of Peace!

Boom!!

This punch completely caught Ye Mingyuan off guard. It was incomparably powerful; even its aftershocks made the entire frontier of the universe tremble!

He raised his golden fist and slammed it forward with all his might!

Two of the most terrifying forces in existence collided, as though chaos were being cleaved open and primordial creation were dawning!

The universe thundered, seemingly unable to withstand such an impact!

"You've actually become this powerful!!"

Ye Mingyuan withdrew his fist. Drops of golden blood scattered into the void, and his wound healed again in an instant.

Opposite him, the Black Emperor's expression did not change in the slightest.

In a contest of physical bodies, he was actually a notch stronger than Ye Mingyuan, a Sacred Body who had attained the Dao!

"How powerful?"

"For a Sacred Body to attain the Dao is certainly difficult. But... was it any easier for my true form?"

The Black Emperor's eyes were filled with the vicissitudes of time, as though he had endured the tempering of countless ages.

He simply watched Ye Mingyuan calmly, watching this newly risen Great Emperor, this Sacred Body honored as a Heavenly Emperor!

In this era, three beings had attained the Dao.

One had attained the Dao with a Chaos Body, transformed himself into a forbidden zone, and remained unfathomably mysterious. He was honored as a Heavenly Emperor.

Another had brought his Sacred Body to great accomplishment, undergone the Dao attainment tribulation twice, and trodden upon the myriad Daos to finally become a Great Emperor. He, too, was honored as a Heavenly Emperor!

And what about him?

Indeed, although his road to Dao attainment had been rough, it had largely been smooth enough.

The Chaos Heavenly Emperor had gone before him, capturing living Supremes.

As a result, when he underwent his Dao attainment tribulation, the Supremes in those forbidden zones had not emerged to bring human calamity upon him.

After attaining the Dao, he had hosted the Immortal Lotus Banquet.

That day, he had encountered that utterly mysterious Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, whose very existence and emergence seemed intended to target him.

He had been defeated and robbed of his supreme treasure.

Then his opponent had departed without a care!

Thousands of years had passed since he attained the Dao.

No Supremes had emerged, and no upheavals had manifested.

What remained in everyone's minds was his unremarkable, ordinary, even... somewhat weak image.

But in truth...

He was a Divine Medicine of Immortality that had awakened sentience and proven his Dao to become an emperor!

In terms of foundations, he was stronger than a Sacred Body by an immeasurable margin!

Even compared to that Chaos Heavenly Emperor's Chaos Body, he could still hold his own!

His combat prowess had never been weak!

Why... should he have to be the only Great Emperor overshadowed by two Heavenly Emperors!

Today, he would prove to the world!

Who was truly invincible!

Even among Great Emperors... strength could be ranked!

"Come, fight!!!"

The Black Emperor roared.

A world-destroying black lotus that blotted out the sky and sun bloomed in the void.

Its radiance spilled down, making countless dead stars explode and turn into cosmic dust.

Its power condensed into a single point.

It bloomed to its utmost before Ye Mingyuan, like the birth of heaven and earth, its brilliance containing boundless power!

"Be suppressed!!"

At that moment, Ye Mingyuan also unleashed all the combat strength he had gained since proving his Dao!

His golden blood surged, scalding hot, winding around him like mighty rushing rivers and transforming into golden dragons to protect his body.

Yet even so.

Before that world-destroying black lotus, his body still split apart inch by inch!

Then, replenished by endless divine power, it continually healed.

After completely grinding away the world-destroying black lotus, Ye Mingyuan closed in, seeking to suppress his enemy with his terrifying body as he always had!

But he had forgotten that the Black Emperor's body... was not the slightest bit weaker than his!

Striking his body was like colliding with immortal metal tempered through countless ages, incomparably hard.

However, the Black Emperor was not faring much better.

A Sacred Body was said to rival a Great Emperor upon reaching great accomplishment, precisely because of its supremely terrifying flesh!

Now that Ye Mingyuan had entered the imperial realm, he had undergone multiple further transformations!

Even though the Black Emperor was a Divine Medicine of Immortality that had awakened sentience, with mysterious origins that seemed to transcend everything.

He still could not become much stronger than Ye Mingyuan.

Their most instinctive physical combat sent imperial blood scattering across the starry sky, and some of the great stars on the universe's frontier gradually began to regain vitality.

And this...

Made some restless fellows open their greedy eyes.

A battle erupting between two beings stronger than Peak Great Emperors naturally caused no small commotion.

It awakened some Supremes who had fallen into deep slumber within the forbidden zones.

They watched the imperial blood spill freely, as though it cost absolutely nothing.

Their eyes held not only greed, but also... envy!

Such were the invincible beings of the current age. They could suffer injuries freely without caring about the expenditure.

After all, so long as they won, they could simply intercept the starlight of a few star domains and devour it to recover.

But they were different. They were already old...

Every drop of imperial blood spent... was one less drop remaining.

"They seem to have truly angered each other. Why don't we all strike while they're weakened and divide their imperial blood and Dao fruits among ourselves? What do you say?"

"Excellent. Fellow Daoists, go on ahead. I still have a fair amount of lifespan left; there's no need for me to take the risk."

"I'm not going. The gains aren't proportional to the risks. These two juniors have already surpassed most of us at our peaks. Against combat strength like that, it would be all too easy to capsize in a gutter. Besides... that other one is watching like a tiger eyeing its prey!"

"Hmph! A pack of mouse-hearted cowards. That man already said he had transformed himself into a forbidden zone and wouldn't interfere in worldly affairs. What is there to fear?"

"Hmm, why don't you look in that direction? He isn't deliberately concealing himself right now. From the looks of it, he seems... quite engrossed in watching the excitement."

"..."

In the end, no Supreme stepped out of a forbidden zone.

It was not that they feared any particular being.

It was simply that this era was far too powerful, with one invincible being after another emerging.

In this era, obtaining flesh-and-blood medicine to prolong their vitality.

Was truly far too difficult, and the losses were even more likely to outweigh the gains.

Perhaps one or two Supremes had stirred.

But without other Supremes emerging alongside them, they were unwilling to risk their lives for nothing and pave the way for others.

Within the Immortal Court.

Lu Qingyun withdrew his gaze, a trace of mockery in his eyes.

As expected, a pack of rats hiding in forbidden zones...

Wait, I seem to count as someone in a forbidden zone myself...

But I'm a little mouse. They're a pack of filthy, cowardly rats!

The sort with a thief's desire but none of a thief's nerve. Otherwise, there probably would have been more than just this one splendid spectacle.

And this spectacle was gradually nearing its end.

This battle ended in the Black Emperor's victory!

It caught everyone by surprise!

Ye Mingyuan had trodden upon the myriad Daos with his Sacred Body to attain the Dao, endured the lightning tribulation of Dao proving twice, and sought life through death. His glory had been boundless, and he had been honored as a Heavenly Emperor!

Yet he actually... failed to defeat the Black Emperor, who had never achieved any particularly eye-catching battle results since his debut!

From this day forward, everyone saw the Black Emperor differently.

And rumors that the Black Emperor had transformed from a Divine Medicine of Immortality and eventually proven his Dao to become an emperor gradually spread.

This did help quite a few people understand the outcome of the imperial battle.

After all, examples of Divine Medicines of Immortality were far too rare.

Let alone one that had attained the Dao; the Black Emperor was probably the only such plant.

As for Ye Mingyuan.

Although he had lost this battle, the honorific used for him remained unchanged.

Because what the world acknowledged was not merely his strength, but also his achievements!

The Black Emperor remained silent about this.

After returning to the Black Court, he entered seclusion once more.

Year twenty-one thousand of the Immortal Court calendar.

The years turned, yet the world remained incomparably peaceful.

During this time, Ye Mingyuan also continually improved his cultivation by comprehending the Heavenly Heart Imprint, which the Black Emperor had released long ago.

He had long since stopped paying attention to the Feng Clan.

However, owing to Ye Mingyuan's enduring prestige, along with the Feng Clan marrying a divine maiden of its recent generation to his disciple Ku Mu.

The Feng Clan maintained its reputation as the foremost clan.

As for his disciple Ku Mu...

Perhaps his experience of nearly being intercepted and killed by that Great Accomplishment Tyrant Body had left Ku Mu unable to grasp the crucial point and break through to great accomplishment.

This angered Ye Mingyuan so much that he would summon his golden avenue at every opportunity and take a stroll near the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star.

He did nothing. It was pure intimidation.

After being intimidated time and again, the Tyrant Body Ancestral Star was so frightened by Ye Mingyuan that it fled into the depths of the universe and concealed its tracks.

Ye Mingyuan could not be bothered to keep looking for trouble either.

He kept searching for a remedy, traveling throughout the universe for that purpose.

He had even considered asking the Black Emperor to act and see whether he could resolve the problem.

However, for thousands of years, the Black Emperor had remained within the Black Realm without leaving, spending virtually every moment in seclusion.

It was as though his cultivation was still growing at an exceptionally rapid pace.

This feeling reminded Ye Mingyuan of another person...

He considered his own rate of improvement through comprehending the Heavenly Heart Imprint outrageous enough already.

Yet compared with the other two...

He always felt far inferior!

"Why do I increasingly feel... that I'm useless, despite being a Sacred Body who proved his Dao?"

Ye Mingyuan was somewhat troubled.

As he thought about it, he even began to chuckle despite himself.

And just as he was about to continue comprehending the mysteries of the Heavenly Heart Imprint and thoroughly stabilize his realm.

A black lotus bloomed in magnificent splendor.

It transformed into a vast star domain within the starry universe, incomparably dazzling.

Vast supreme imperial might spread from the center of the starry universe throughout the entire cosmos!

The Black Emperor had officially emerged from seclusion!

And judging by this display, he intended to do something momentous!

Could it be... that he was going to suppress Ye Mingyuan again?

Or perhaps... battle that Chaos Heavenly Emperor?

Just as the living beings of the world let their imaginations roam, the Black Emperor's calm voice, carrying an extraordinary firmness, resounded throughout the universe.

It sent the entire universe into an uproar once again!

"From this day forth, I shall... wage war on the forbidden zones!"

"I shall do all within my power to bring peace to ten thousand generations!"