Nine Heavens Divine Emperor

Nine Heavens Divine Emperor is a long Eastern fantasy novel by web author Ye Zhifan, serialized on Qidian from June 5, 2016, and completed on March 31, 2021, totaling about 4.4 million characters and nearly two thousand chapters. The story is set on the Battle God Continent, where battle qi is the foundation of cultivation: battle generals can shatter city gates with a punch, battle kings can fly and burrow, and battle gods are supreme beings who have lived for a thousand years. The continent's cultivation system progresses through warrior, battle general, battle king, battle emperor, battle venerable, and battle god, followed by more ancient realms such as true god and god king, each divided into nine tiers. The protagonist Ye Xingchen was originally a boy on Earth who died of cancer at sixteen; his soul crossed over and was reborn as Lin Xingchen, the illegitimate son of the Lin family in the Roland Kingdom. The original body had exceptional talent and a rare "Battle God Bone," reaching one-star battle general by sixteen, but the family head's first wife, Zhang Ying, learned the secret; while the family head was away and the old family head in seclusion, she abducted him, forcibly stripped out the Battle God Bone, and transferred it to her own son Lin Tianjiao, killing the original body. Taking over the body, Ye Xingchen is reborn with memories of his past life and a heart full of hatred; he strikes a deal with his birth father Lin Batian—leaving the Lin family of his own accord—in exchange for the maid Xiaotao's indenture, his mother's ashes, and a recommendation letter to the Roland Royal Academy, and thus sets out on the path of cultivation and revenge. The novel follows him as he leaves the clan, establishes himself at the academy, gradually uncovers the secrets of his birth and bloodline, and is drawn into larger sect and plane conflicts, cutting down powerful enemies with ruthless resolve until he finally ascends to the position of Divine Emperor ruling the nine heavens. The work continues Ye Zhifan's "hot-blooded, crisp, fast-paced" fantasy formula, with a clear realm system and dense fight scenes—a massive leveling-up serial.