“This…”
His heart immediately stirred. This was the outer skin of divine ore — between the two, there existed a subtle connection.
“Perhaps the supreme sword energy formed from divine ore will not shatter the stone garment.” With this thought, Ye Fan immediately sprang into action.
When isolated yang formed, the divine ore took shape and became world-shaking sword energy. He extended the stone knife forward.
In an instant, he felt a tremendous force of impact — like a great surging river crashing against a wooden raft. The stone knife was not shattered, but was nearly knocked from his grip and swept away.
Ye Fan stared wide-eyed and sighed repeatedly: “The connections between all things in this world are truly wondrous. Supreme divine ore gives rise to sword energy that destroys everything without exception — yet it causes no harm to the stone skin that once encased it.”
Outside the lineage of ore-reading masters, no cultivator could possibly know of such a counter-relationship. A natural divine formation that left even supreme cultivators utterly helpless could be broken through in this manner.
“Then it follows that the Zhang Family ancestor who came here a thousand years ago truly did walk through…” Ye Fan sincerely hoped the man had not gone too far in — only then would he have any chance of finding him.
Life came first. That was his bottom line. If there was genuine danger, he would have no choice but to abandon the search. Seeking fortune through opportunity was acceptable — gambling with one’s life was not.
Before the natural divine formation, a thick layer of powdered bone had accumulated. Over these endless years, who could say how many cultivators had been reduced to dust here.
As for the dozens of skeletal remains behind him that had managed to retain their form — their very preservation was testament to their extraordinary power. They had certainly been unparalleled strongmen of their era; even the sword energy within the taiji diagram had not pulverized them entirely.
“I recall that many of the skeletons in the Ancient Bronze Palace had a jade-like luster — and there is one such skeleton here as well…” Ye Fan glanced back at the silver-hued skeleton.
He could not calm his heart. That person had certainly been an unmatched figure of the Eastern Desolation, yet had met their end of resentment and regret at this very spot — the thought shook him deeply.
“Sometimes, sheer power alone is not enough. What is needed even more is the correct method.”
Ye Fan waited a quarter of an hour, then tested the stone garment again during the next emergence of isolated yang, finally confirming that he could indeed pass through.
“Beneath this place lies a peerless divine ore — a pity it has formed a natural divine formation, making excavation impossible.”
Half a shichen later, Ye Fan adjusted himself to his peak condition and prepared to cross the terrifying divine formation.
“I wonder what kind of place lies on the other side of this divine formation. It should be the underground of the Purple Mountain by now.”
The moment isolated yang arose, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and charged forward. The peerless sword energy blazed brilliantly, shooting from the yang pole toward the yin pole and enveloping the entire divine formation — tens of thousands of sword radiances.
Yet when they met the stone garment, the sword energy dissolved into water-like ripples and failed to pierce through. The stone skin of divine ore truly possessed a spiritual nature — it radiated a gentle sacred light that protected Ye Fan as he passed safely through.
Swoosh!
He crossed through the rippling veil of light and arrived on the other side, slamming with a thud against the stone wall.
The ancient mine had reached its end. A purple stone wall stood before him, blocking the path.
“The Purple Mountain!”
Ye Fan knew he had finally reached the underground of the Purple Mountain. After a careful survey that revealed nothing unusual, he brought out the golden book and directly cleaved open the purple rock, pressing forward.
He discovered to his astonishment that as he advanced, the passage he had hewn behind him rapidly sealed shut. The Purple Mountain seemed to possess life — the fractured sections restored themselves with remarkable speed.
Ye Fan sensed something was wrong. He carved his way back out, emerging once more.
“Not as terrible as I imagined…”
In the end, Ye Fan left numerous divine sense imprints along the path as markers, cleaving through the Purple Mountain and continuing to advance.
Boom!
With a final thunderous crack, everything before him became hazy and indistinct. Steps of cyan jade and gates of white jade appeared — an imposing and magnificent structure materialized before him.
He had finally reached his destination. He had entered the interior of the Purple Mountain.
Ye Fan made no rash moves. He quietly sensed the surroundings and detected no fluctuations of life whatsoever. Only then did he ascend the steps.
This was a cave dwelling hewn from within the Purple Mountain. Ascending the cyan jade steps and passing through the white jade moon gate, the atmosphere was utterly tranquil — cool and ethereal, like the Palace of the Moon.
“There are nine dragon veins in total, meaning there should be nine entrances leading into the Purple Mountain.”
“Furthermore, living ancient creatures must still reside within. The divine ore recorded in the engravings of the ancient mine should be located here.”
Ye Fan’s heart pounded. The creature from tens of thousands of years ago had been terrifyingly powerful — nothing short of a Great Emperor could have suppressed it.
This palace complex was empty of people, with nothing remaining. Everything had been fashioned from ancient jade carvings, without a single word or inscription left behind.
Ye Fan retrieved the emperor jade he had obtained and hung it around his neck as a pendant — it would likely bring no harm.
Halls, towers, and pavilions — all carved from ancient jade — could truly be called a palace of jade and jewels. Ye Fan explored every corner yet found nothing unusual.
Finally, at the far end of this complex of buildings, he spotted over a dozen blood jade steps leading down into a deep and secluded cave dwelling.
“This palace of jade and jewels is merely an entryway. This is the passage leading deeper into the Purple Mountain…”
Ye Fan stepped forward. He had not gone far when he suddenly noticed a line of characters on the purple stone wall:
“Divine King Jiang Taixu stumbled into the Demon Mountain and has decided to investigate its depths!”
Ye Fan was thoroughly stunned. An Eastern Desolation Divine King had once come here — and had walked inside!
“His surname is Jiang — he is most likely a member of the ancient Jiang Family of the wilderness…”
These dozen or so characters were executed with vigorous and powerful brushwork, imbued with a quality of the Dao realm. They gave one the sensation that divine energy was flowing through them — as though a Divine King himself stood before you.
“This must be a fully achieved Eastern Desolation Divine King!” Ye Fan’s heart shook. He muttered to himself: “Otherwise, it would be impossible to force one’s way through a naturally formed divine formation using sheer overwhelming power.”
Ye Fan traced the characters with his hand — he estimated they had been carved at least four thousand years ago.
He took a few steps forward and spotted another line of inscription: “Left by wandering cultivator Li Mu, who explored the Demon Mountain.”
Ye Fan was astonished. This stone inscription appeared even older — judging by the faded appearance of the marks, it had existed for at least ten thousand years.
“This was undoubtedly a tremendously powerful wandering cultivator!”
Five steps further on was a line of slender and graceful characters — like lotus blossoms on water, fresh and vivid, seemingly alive.
“Jade Pool Saintess Yang Yi, left before entering the Demon Mountain in search of Zhang Lin.”
Ye Fan was greatly astonished. Even the Jade Pool Saintess had passed through here.
“Zhang Lin… isn’t that the name of the Zhang Family’s founding ancestor?” Ye Fan was left speechless. That founding ore-reading master had been on close terms with Jade Pool — the Saintess had been his dearest companion.
“Could this be the Jade Pool Saintess from ten thousand years ago?” Ye Fan sighed inwardly. That Saintess had traversed the entire Northern Region and ultimately vanished — he had never imagined she had entered this place.
“She had feelings of both love and loyalty for that ore-reading master… what a pity…” Ye Fan did not know what had become of Divine King Jiang Taixu or the wandering cultivator, but this Saintess had certainly not walked out — otherwise she would not have vanished without a trace. He murmured: “You erected a cenotaph for Zhang Lin — but who erected a tombstone for you?”
Pressing forward another forty or fifty steps, Ye Fan saw over thirty more lines of inscribed characters in succession. Some of the names were exceedingly ancient, having vanished from the Eastern Desolation tens of thousands of years ago.
Among them, the oldest inscription even bore a date — calculated carefully, it was well over seventy thousand years old.
Finally, Ye Fan came upon a line of shallow and faint carved characters — clearly left by someone of insufficient cultivation, incomparable to the others.
“These marks could not be too distant in time…” Ye Fan looked closely and read clearly: “Zhang Jiye, descended from ore-reading master Zhang Lin, left before entering the Emperor Mountain.”
He alone called this mountain the Emperor Mountain. All others called it the Demon Mountain.
“That’s him — without a doubt!”
Ye Fan could be certain — this was the ancestor of Old Master Zhang the Fifth. The depth of these marks suggested they were approximately a thousand years old.
“His cultivation was indeed shallow. I hope he did not go too far in — otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to turn back.”
Looking at the over thirty lines of inscriptions left by each individual, all imbued with the rhythm of the Dao, Ye Fan understood that this place was even more terrifying than he had imagined. He had an intuition: none of these powerful individuals had made it out alive — all had perished within.
“Over these endless years, a total of thirty-seven people have left inscriptions here…”
After careful comparison, Ye Fan concluded that the one named Li Mu from seventy thousand years ago had been the most powerful, followed by Divine King Jiang Taixu from four thousand years ago.
“Li Mu’s inscription still radiates the rhythm of the Dao after seventy thousand years… one truly cannot fathom the degree of his terrifying power. He was even stronger than a Divine King.”
That said, Ye Fan was not particularly astonished — for the Old Madman was precisely such a figure. He had beaten a fully achieved Divine King to death with his bare hands. The Peacock King had said so in person, and it was unlikely to be false.
The third most powerful among them was undoubtedly Jade Pool Saintess Yang Yi. Her characters seemed alive with vitality — like lotus petals swaying gently.
The weakest was naturally Zhang Jiye. The others had entered through sheer cultivation; only he had relied on the stone garment to gain entry.
“Zhang Jiye, Old Brother Zhang — please don’t have gone too far in. We both entered by taking advantage of the same loophole. Quickly let me find you.”
Ye Fan muttered to himself. So many powerful individuals had called this place the Demon Mountain and entered never to return. He did not think himself capable of surpassing them.
“The one thing that gives me comfort is that Old Brother Zhang’s cultivation was truly mediocre. As long as I can surpass him, that should be enough.”
The purple cave dwelling had complex terrain — seemingly a natural stone cave, yet also resembling an ancient mine left behind from ore-extraction work. Within the Purple Mountain, a hazy purple radiance circulated, making it not completely dark, though not bright either — suffused in a dim and indistinct atmosphere.
Ye Fan made his way carefully, stepping deep then shallow, passing several abandoned mines and moving forward. For reasons he could not explain, he felt an increasing sense of unease in his heart.
Deep within the Purple Mountain, it was as though some terrifyingly demonic power was calling to him — irresistibly, compelling him to walk in one particular direction against his will.
“How can this be!” Ye Fan bit through his lips to maintain clarity, simultaneously running the arcane arts recorded in the Dao scripture.
“What exactly is inside this Purple Mountain?” In that moment, Ye Fan’s Desolate Holy Physique manifested its extraordinary nature. The cyan lotus within his body swayed, its three leaves like the generation of all things from three, radiating a mysterious and luminous radiance that enveloped Ye Fan.
At the same time, the stone garment too shimmered with a faint flowing luster, manifesting its own spiritual nature — and that demonic calling immediately weakened.
“It’s over. The Zhang Family ancestor from a thousand years ago was certainly lured in by that call. My chances of finding the Ore Heaven Book now are harder than ascending to the heavens.”
Ye Fan’s heart rose with a sense of foreboding, and a powerful unease surged within him.
“Could that demonic power be emanating from a creature of the primordial age?”
The purple cave dwelling was filled with countless solution cavities, highly irregular in shape. Ye Fan nearly lost his way. He gritted his teeth and continued forward for a while.
He placed his hope in Zhang Jiye’s low cultivation — that the man could not have gone very far.
In that moment, the cyan lotus within Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness rose of its own accord, floating to accompany him at his side, wreathing him in a hazy mist.
“It seems I have entered a place of extreme malevolence and wickedness — my constitution has been stimulated, producing this response.”
Before long, Ye Fan found seven sets of white bones in succession, all shimmering with a jade-like luster — clearly the remains of unparalleled strongmen.
Without exception, they had all died the same way: clear finger-holes through their skull caps, killed in a single strike, their divine sense shattered.
“This is…” Ye Fan turned and walked away.
Over these endless years, a total of thirty-seven individuals had entered one after another, and seven had already died here — and this was still only the outer area. It was far too dangerous.
He had come to seek opportunity — not to throw away his life.
“Zhang Jiye’s cultivation was low. How has his skeleton not appeared? Bones with a jade-like luster could not possibly be his.”
Suddenly, that demonic calling intensified once more. Ye Fan broke into a swift backward sprint.
“No need to flee — you are temporarily safe…” An abrupt voice sounded in Ye Fan’s ear, startling him profoundly.
“You… who are you?”
The voice came from a different direction — not from the demonic power in the depths of the Purple Mountain. It was extremely feeble, as though the speaker might draw their last breath at any moment.
“Speak — who are you?” Ye Fan pressed.
“Divine King… Jiang Taixu.” The feeble voice was barely audible and entirely disjointed.
Yet those five characters, upon reaching Ye Fan’s ears, struck like a thunderclap from the heavens.
A fully achieved Divine King… still alive!