The Divine Being in the Starry Sky: Nine-Layer Coffin, Immortal Ascension in Nine Lifetimes

In the boundless universe.

The starry sky stretched vast and limitless.

Deep within an unknown region of the stars.

A giant Bronze Coffin hung suspended.

Nine-colored radiance shot straight into the heavens, condensing the mystical essence of heaven and earth as chaos surged.

One celestial river of stars after another revolved around it, an awe-inspiring sight beyond words.

The coffin was archaic: like metal yet not metal, like bronze yet not bronze, like wood yet not wood. There was no telling what material had been used to cast it.

It was utterly ancient, radiating the presence of ages long past.

It was vast beyond measure, a sight of indescribable grandeur.

"Rumble-"

Just then.

An overwhelmingly vast presence burst forth, blanketing the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths and making even the universe tremble.

Boundless blood Qi surged out with a rumble.

It was unimaginable, filling the entire river of stars as though directly blanketing the whole ancient universe.

The ancient, colossal Bronze Coffin opened.

"Clang, clang..." Incredibly, it did not have just one layer, but a full nine.

If word got out, it would likely cause a tremendous sensation throughout the mortal universe.

But this region of the stars seemed to be sealed off by a supreme formation.

It invisibly isolated the place from heaven and earth, concealing every heavenly secret.

Even though the pressure here was unrivaled, blood Qi pierced the firmament, and the river of stars was cracking apart.

The outside world was not affected in the slightest.

The countless living beings in the myriad domains of the mortal world could not perceive a thing.

There, deep within the ninth layer of the coffin.

A young man with thick black hair and a majestic bearing sat cross-legged.

He wore a purple-gold Daoist robe, his skin was crystal clear, and his handsome figure was like jade as he sat utterly still.

Celestial Dao principles manifested behind him, one after another, like vast ribbons of silk, shining along unfathomable paths.

Above his head.

An ancient mirror hung suspended, chaos surging around it as it shone with nine-colored radiance.

There was also an unremarkable ancient stele, cast from Void Immortal Gold.

Both were utterly mysterious.

The next instant-

"Swish! Swish!"

Su Ze opened his eyes.

Two incomparably sharp beams from his eyes tore through the firmament in an instant, piercing the vast river of stars.

"At last... the ninth lifetime?"

He murmured to himself.

In his arresting eyes were reflected the terrifying sights of chaos first opening and the universe collapsing.

Yet not the slightest trace escaped him of that terrifying presence, enough to destroy heaven and earth and leave the universe and its wilds shaken and trembling.

"As I am now, I should count as a Mortal World Immortal, shouldn't I?"

A trace of age-old vicissitude flashed in Su Ze's eyes. Gazing at the distant sky, he said with some emotion, "Fate truly is wondrous. Who could have imagined that one day I would become the Chaotic Ancient Great Emperor of the 'Dark Epoch,' who once became a devil after a hundred defeats and threw heaven and earth into turmoil!"

He was not especially tall, but his indistinct figure was majestic, so brilliant that no one could look directly at him, as though he could illuminate the eternal blue sky.

His lustrous golden hair spilled loose, every strand dazzling. He had a majestic bearing and was impossibly handsome.

His eyes, which no one dared look straight into, were like two divine lamps without equal, illuminating past, present, and future. Deep and arresting, they revealed terrifying visions of universes flickering into being and perishing, and great realms collapsing, whenever they opened and closed.

"At five, I entered the Immortal Gate as a disciple and set foot on the path of cultivation. Rising against the tide from humble beginnings, I completely overturned my original fate of becoming a devil after a hundred defeats, and never suffered a single defeat in my life..."

"At twenty, I severed the Dao and entered the Emperor's Forbidden Realm; at thirty, I became a saint, obtained Chaos Immortal Gold from the Ancestral Dragon Vein, and forged the Chaos Mirror as the weapon with which I would prove my Dao; at fifty, I broke through the Saint Realm and rose to a higher level, forcing the assembled heroes to bow their heads; at ninety, my body became that of an emperor, and I fought until none of the world's heaven's chosen dared claim supremacy; at two hundred, I broke through the myriad Daos, invincible in heaven and on earth, and took the title Chaotic Ancient Great Emperor..."

"I even seized a Black Tortoise Immortal Medicine from Undying Mountain and suppressed the Black Tortoise Supreme, who had proven his Dao two million years earlier; I also snatched the Flat Peach Immortal Medicine from the Divine Ruins and slew two Ancient Supremes with overwhelming force..."

"At five hundred, I happened upon the Void Immortal Gold Stele left behind by the Desolate Heaven Emperor in the Chaotic Ancient Era. Within it, I fought again and again against the peerless geniuses of antiquity, and even against myself, seeking a breakthrough in desperate straits. With an Immortal Medicine, I lived a second lifetime..."

"After relying on myself to live a third lifetime, my mastery reached into Fortune itself. I pushed the Chaotic Ancient Scripture to its limit and took the title Heavenly Emperor Luan, driving the Forbidden Zone Supremes to despair. I also found a Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir left behind by the Numinous Treasure Heavenly Venerable, and with it and an Immortal Medicine, I lived a fourth lifetime..."

"Afterward, I concealed the heavenly secrets, sealed my own Dao, hid behind the scenes, and silently struggled onward and cultivated in the mortal world!"

"I lived lifetime after lifetime, eventually becoming a true Battle Immortal who looked down on past, present, and future!"

Su Ze's gaze burned. His voice was full of emotion, tinged with a hint of pride.

Although he had once been crowned an emperor, proven his Dao, and ruled the world, he had never had any intention of creating some Mythical Heavenly Court.

Familiar with the "plot," he knew very well that the future in the "Dark Epoch" was far too cruel.

The Immortal Divine Phoenix Emperor, who had lain low for a million years and transformed after bathing in the blood of emperors, and Emperor Zun, who looked down upon the ages and had been laying plans since the Mythological Era, were still manageable.

The true mastermind behind it all was simply too powerful, powerful enough to drive one to despair.

He had always believed.

Before absolute strength.

A so-called power was nothing more than a passing cloud.

What did it matter how glorious or prosperous it was?

Before a truly supreme being, it could be destroyed with a raise of the hand!

Thus, when he was at the height of his power, he had not chosen to establish a faction, rule over the world, and command the myriad races.

Instead, he had chosen to withdraw behind the scenes.

Silently cultivating and struggling onward amid the vast mortal world.

He fought again and again within the Void Immortal Gold Stele, tempering himself at any cost and frantically squeezing out his own potential.

His excessively fierce and reckless actions made each of his lifetimes extremely short. The world did not even know that his first and second lifetimes, added together, had barely lasted a little over ten thousand years...

Time and again, he nearly died, his primordial spirit coming close to extinction and his body to destruction.

Had he not continually scoured the universe and its wilds for vast quantities of immortal treasures and divine medicines, he would likely have perished, his Dao extinguished, long ago.

The dangers he had faced along the way were beyond ordinary people's imagination.

Even his third, fourth, and fifth lifetimes...

Each had lasted only ten to twenty thousand years.

But that did not mean he was weak.

Quite the opposite.

With a gift and talent unmatched across the ages.

His accumulations in every lifetime were sufficiently profound, his foundations unfathomably deep.

Otherwise, he could never have defeated the geniuses of antiquity within the Void Immortal Gold Stele, whose astonishing aptitudes were in no way inferior to those of the Ancient Emperors and Great Emperors of the past. Still less could he have defeated himself again and again in bloody battles.

Nor could he have defied the heavens to live lifetime after lifetime in this Age of Dharma's End, when immortal ascension was impossible.

By now, he had begun his ninth lifetime and become an immortal in the mortal world.

He was no longer assailed by the passage of time and could endure as long as the world itself.

All so that one day he could transcend past, present, and future, reach the true pinnacle, and truly grasp his own fate.

By now, the whole world believed that the Chaotic Ancient Great Emperor, who had once thrown heaven and earth into turmoil and suppressed the Forbidden Zone Supremes until they dared not move, had long since passed away.

But who could have imagined that not only had he not died.

He had even risen to a higher level.

He had developed the Chaotic Ancient Scripture to an unimaginable extent and renamed it the Chaotic Heaven Emperor Scripture.

As he fought, comprehended the Dao, and transformed again and again within the Void Immortal Gold Stele, he also continued to struggle onward and cultivate in the mortal world, reaching an unprecedented height in the shortest possible time.

He called himself "Heavenly Emperor Luan"!

In the vast mortal world, he had become an unparalleled Battle Immortal whose brilliance shook the past and illuminated the present!

If word got out, the entire world would likely be shaken, and all living beings would be left gaping in disbelief.

Those Ancient Supremes who had not hesitated to sever themselves with a single slash and lie low in the great forbidden zones for the sake of the Road to Immortality would be unable to sit still.

The Chaotic Ancient Great Emperor had never suffered defeat in his life.

The years in which he was an emperor could only be described as glorious and resplendent.

He had once used his bloody record of battle to deter the Supremes of those forbidden zones, leaving them afraid to act rashly.

Chaotic Ancient!

Throwing heaven and earth into turmoil, overturning past and present!

Who would dare use such a title?

Yet that very man had taken it as his title and ruled over the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

According to legend, the Chaotic Ancient Great Emperor had passed away a hundred thousand years ago.

Even his Great Dao had already dissipated.

No one had imagined that he was still alive in the mortal world.

And though a hundred thousand years had passed, time had left no trace upon him.

On the contrary, he had already, without a sound.

Walked ahead of everyone else and achieved Red Dust Immortal Ascension.

It was simply terrifying!