Absolute stillness — no passage of time, no play of light or shadow. In a pitch-black void, there was an extraordinary silence.

It felt like a fleeting instant and like ten lifetimes all at once. Then, at last, this strange journey ended — and one could feel the turning of time once more.

The void split open. The Supreme Elder of Yao Guang Sacred Ground stepped out, the young disciples following respectfully behind him, standing to one side in deferential silence.

He swept his great sleeve. A gray, hazy mist spread out as a secret technique manifested, and several thousand people tumbled down onto solid ground, freed from the confines of his wide robe.

Had they arrived in the Northern Region? The hearts of everyone present were taut with both anxiety and anticipation.

Ye Fan felt a surge of excitement. He had finally reached the far end of Eastern Desolation. A new life was about to begin — but what kind of place was this?

He looked out. What met his eyes bore no resemblance to what he had imagined. There were no splendidly blooming flowers, no bustling crowds of people, no vibrantly flourishing vegetation.

The land was utterly desolate. Red soil, reddish-brown rock — bleak and lifeless in every direction.

An endless expanse of ground stretched out, extremely empty, without the slightest sign of life. Only a few bare stone mountains stood here and there along the horizon as sparse, scattered landmarks.

This was barren wasteland. Not a trace of vitality, not a hint of habitation — a scene of utter deadness.

“This is the Northern Region? Weren’t we told that gold lay everywhere, that precious jewels filled every mountain?”

“There isn’t even a single blade of grass, let alone people. What kind of wretched place is this?!”

“We’re supposed to mine source ore in a place like this for ten years before we can go back to the Southern Region… Heaven help us!”

In that moment, all several thousand people stood in a daze. This harsh, gobi-like land sent dark thoughts rising in every heart.

The Supreme Elder of Yao Guang Sacred Ground furrowed his brow. “The sects that sent you into Yao Guang Sacred Ground — did they not tell you what this place was like?”

“It’s nothing like what they described. We never imagined it would be like this — a place where not even wild birds would bother to land.”

“The Northern Region has always looked this way…” the Supreme Elder of Yao Guang Sacred Ground said, his expression unruffled and serene.

The Northern Region — vast and boundless, its source mines stretching in every direction, renowned throughout the world.

Compared to the immensity of its land, this region was sparsely populated. A thousand li would pass without a single soul in sight, and most areas lay completely barren.

It was both the boon and the bane of source ore. This mysterious substance condensed the essence of life — and seemed to have drained every last trace of spiritual energy from the entire Northern Region in doing so.

The phrase “where the land is blessed, the people thrive” had no place in the Northern Region.

The north had its oases, but compared to the boundless territory they occupied, those green patches amounted to next to nothing.

Source ore was plentiful here, and people did not have to worry about food and clothing. Yet it was precisely because of the source ore that bloody battles erupted constantly. The people here were fierce and unbending, forever fighting over source mines with their bare hands.

For this reason, the great Sacred Grounds that excavated source mines in the Northern Region almost invariably brought their own people from their home territories.

The value of source ore to cultivators was like the value of gold coins to ordinary people — and this had made the region a haven for bandits and raiders, not only locals but also powers from all across Eastern Desolation.

Clashes over source mines, with blood flowing like rivers, were the most commonplace occurrences imaginable.

In short, the Northern Region was a lawless, blood-soaked land.

This barren wasteland had become famous throughout the world because of source ore — and that fame had destined it to be a place of chaos and carnage.

The Supreme Elder of Yao Guang Sacred Ground walked forward on foot, leaving a trail of footprints in the red earth as the sound of wind and thunder accompanied his passage. Then his figure vanished into the distance.

The ground shuddered. Mountains, rivers, and earth seemed to shift and move. The several thousand people could not keep their footing — many fell down onto the ground, all of them revealing expressions of terror.

The landscape ahead transformed dramatically. On the previously empty and desolate expanse, stone houses built from piled rocks appeared, along with the silhouettes of people and a series of source mines.

This region was layered with profound dao markings that gathered the power of mountains and rivers, guarding Yao Guang Sacred Ground’s source zone and encompassing everything within.

Whether the several thousand ordinary people were willing or not, now that they had arrived in the Northern Region, they had no choices left. All they could do was hope the ten years would pass quickly — that they would earn enough gold coins to return to the Southern Region and enjoy the wealth they had traded a decade of their youth to obtain.

With so many people arriving at once, accommodations and meals had to be arranged — but there were dedicated people to handle all of it. The Supreme Elder of Yao Guang Sacred Ground arrived here and vanished immediately.

The Northern Region held limitless mining zones, but if one were to speak of the most productive, that title belonged to the region surrounding the Ancient Primordial Mine. Using it as a center, a range of a hundred thousand li in every direction had been divided equally among the great Sacred Grounds.

The Ancient Primordial Mine was one of the Seven Forbidden Zones of Life in Eastern Desolation. It lay deep within this region, surrounded by the source zones of the various Sacred Grounds — yet not a single major power dared to venture inside and explore it.

In ages without number before the present, too many ill-fated things had occurred within that ancient mine. One sacred master after another had entered and never returned. And so, no one had ever dared to set their sights on it again.

That place had become a legendary land of damnation…

In the Northern Region, the Ancient Primordial Mine was the most mysterious and terrifying place — yet as long as one did not provoke it, no disaster would follow.

For the Sacred Grounds, the greatest threat came from the bandits.

The north — its people fierce and unbending, outlaws everywhere, blood shed daily. It was a lawless land in every sense of the word.

Powerful raiders came from across Eastern Desolation, and even wanderers from the Central Region and the Northern Desert, all drawn here by source ore, had formed into fearsome forces of their own.

Not even the Sacred Grounds could rest easy. Their source zones too were in danger of being plundered.

This was no exaggeration. Some of the great outlaw chiefs were terrifyingly powerful — their strength comparable to a Sacred Ground’s Supreme Elders. They came and went without a trace, near impossible to catch.

In the Northern Region, thirteen great outlaw chiefs were the most notorious. Each commanded a group of powerful fighters and posed a serious threat to the Sacred Grounds’ source zones.

The Sacred Grounds had launched encirclements multiple times, but each attempt had ended in failure. The Thirteen Chiefs struck and retreated far in an instant, leaving their whereabouts impossible to track.

“Kill!”

Suddenly, a sound like a thunderclap exploded, shaking the very sky.

It was as though the Northern Region itself was proving its reputation for blood and war.

The several thousand ordinary people had only just entered Yao Guang Sacred Ground’s source zone, and the dao markings’ gathered power of heaven and earth had not yet closed back together, when a column of heavenly soldiers came charging in.

The attackers numbered no more than seventy or eighty, each one mounted on a savage beast. Scale armor gleamed, and the roar of the beasts carried dozens of li in every direction. Their killing intent surged to the sky.

These were powerful mounted warriors. A blood-drenched ferocity radiated from each of them, leaving no doubt that they had killed their way through countless enemies and gathered an unimaginable depth of murderous intent, with wisps of blood light swirling around their bodies.

The several thousand ordinary people collapsed to the ground on the spot. It was the sheer killing intent alone that had done it — a coldness that went straight to the bone, making them shudder so violently they could not remain standing.

Seventy or eighty savage beasts screamed and shrieked, iron hooves shattering the firmament, all of them charging forward. In the center rode a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, seated upon a beast of the lion-like variety. Iron armor glinted brilliantly about him — a formidable and martial bearing.

Behind him stood eighteen great banners, snapping and cracking in the wind with enough force to seem capable of shattering heaven and earth. Every banner was crimson as blood, surging with murderous energy, as though they had drunk the blood of countless living beings.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

One after another, he hurled three blood-red banners into the earth. The banner poles drove into the ground like pillars holding up the sky — a presence as imposing as a mountain range, utterly unfathomable. The banners billowed and snapped, ringing out like metal, and columns of blood-light shot up toward the heavens.

The dao markings throughout the land immediately became ineffective. The gathered power of heaven and earth ceased to operate and was cut off, no longer able to encompass this place — all of it caused by those three blood-red banners being planted in the earth.

“Kill!”

Each of these mounted warriors was immensely powerful — like gods of war descended from on high — possessed of incomparable fighting strength. They drove their beasts forward like a flood of steel, and the heavens rumbled and groaned.

“Who dares trespass in the forbidden grounds of Yao Guang?!”

The cultivators of Yao Guang Sacred Ground surged into the sky, blocking the path of the intruders. Leading them were three elders, white-haired and white-bearded, their eyes burning with sharp, electric clarity.

“I, Jiang Yi, have come here — who dares stand in my way?!” The middle-aged man at the center, seated upon his lion-like beast, had iron armor that gleamed with cold light. Fifteen blood-red banners stood at his back, erupting with a terrifying wave of energy as vast as an ocean.

Alone on his mount, he pulled out one of the great banners and charged forward. His speed reached an absolute extreme — the eye could not track him, catching only a faint afterimage.

“The Ninth Great Outlaw Chief — Jiang Yi?!” The cultivators of Yao Guang Sacred Ground were deeply shaken. The three elders changed color, bringing out their weapons to intercept him.

But this legendary outlaw chief had taken courage and prowess to an absolute extreme — there was simply no stopping him.

That blood-red banner swung with tremendous force. More than a dozen cultivators standing behind Yao Guang’s three elders all let out a single cry of anguish and burst apart on the spot.

Streaks of blood-light converged toward the banner. More than a dozen corpses plummeted from high in the sky.

“Jiang Yi — you are born of an ancient wilderness family! Why are you so savage and merciless?!” the three elders demanded.

“You are not qualified to ask!” Jiang Yi drove his beast forward, his mount’s roar shaking the mountains and rivers. The blood-red banner in his hand, like a great spear, thrust forward in a piercing straight line.

The three elders joined forces to resist. One of them brought out a treasure pestle — enormous as a mountain — blazing with divine light, pressing it downward to suppress.

Crack!

The blood-red banner was impervious to all things. Its pole, sharp as the keenest spear-tip, struck the mountain-sized pestle and shattered it on the spot.

“This—” The elder left a lingering afterimage as he fell back rapidly.

But he was utterly incapable of matching Jiang Yi’s speed. The blood-red banner lunged forward, and in an instant it pierced through the void, driving directly through that venerable old expert.

Boom!

Jiang Yi gave a shake. The elder impaled upon the banner was torn into pieces, several streaks of blood-light seeping into the fabric of the banner itself.

“You…” It had all happened too fast. The two elders beside him had no time to intervene whatsoever.

“Go and keep him company!” Jiang Yi swung the banner, its blood-red face billowing and snapping.

Boom! Boom!

Those two venerable old experts burst apart on the spot — utterly unable to resist him!

It was a breathtaking scene. Jiang Yi was completely unstoppable — a single banner overwhelming the entire sky.

His lion-like mount threw its head back and gave a long, keening cry that shook the heavens, as killing intent spread across the land in every direction.

“The Ninth Great Outlaw Chief — Jiang Yi!” Two Supreme Elders came surging forward from the distant sky. One of them was none other than the very elder who had crossed the void to bring Ye Fan and the others here.

“You are a direct descendant of an ancient wilderness family — yet you chose to fall and become an outlaw chief. Why?!” demanded one of Yao Guang Sacred Ground’s Supreme Elders.

“From the moment my elder brother Jiang Zhe left the Jiang Family, I severed all ties with that clan. Do not mention that identity to me ever again!” Jiang Yi’s tiger-like eyes blazed with a cold, sharp light.

“What happens between you and the Jiang Family is no business of ours — but why do you plunder Yao Guang Sacred Ground’s source zone?”

“Laughable!” Jiang Yi said with a cold sneer. “The source zones outside the Ancient Primordial Mine should rightfully belong to the people of the Northern Region. What right do you have to ride in and fence off the land?!”

Ye Fan’s heart was moved. The name Jiang Zhe — he was not unfamiliar with it. Jiang Zhe had been a prodigy of the Jiang Family in his generation who, for unknown reasons, had parted from the Jiang Family and died far from home. Little Tingting was his descendant.

Boom!

A blood-red banner dropped down and planted itself in the earth, then swelled and expanded to enormous size — towering like an ancient tree hundreds of zhang tall — casting a canopy of blood-light over the several thousand ordinary people below.

“I have no desire to harm innocents. You two old relics — come at me!” The Ninth Great Outlaw Chief, Jiang Yi, waved a hand at the mounted warriors behind him and said: “Go and take the source. I’ll hold these two old relics here.”

The fourteen blood-red banners at his back all surged into the sky at once, like towering pillars propping up the heavens, enclosing the two Supreme Elders of Yao Guang Sacred Ground within.

Behind him, scores of iron cavalry howled past like a surging flood, shaking the sky.

Ye Fan’s heart could not be still. The Ancient Primordial Mine, the Thirteen Great Outlaw Chiefs, the Jiang Family, Yaochi Sacred Ground — all of it seemed to be drawing nearer…