The warm jade grew heated, crystalline radiance blooming like rosy mist. Gentle light flowed from between Ye Fan’s fingers, bringing a stillness to the spirit—like walking beneath the hazy light of a night moon.

“The Dao stretches vast and unknowable…” Ye Fan stood with hands clasped behind his back, something stirring in his heart. The Dao has no form and no end—how can it be grasped? Who could speak of it clearly?

He stood still for a long while, then stepped forward to the mouth of the stone cave. Reaching out, he touched the cold rock face. The ancient characters worn smooth by the ages had left only faint impressions—it would not be long before they disappeared forever.

Using his finger as a brush, he traced over those three lines of characters, again and again, his mind bound to each stroke as he contemplated the state of mind Wushi the Great Emperor must have held.

Ye Fan forgot all else. He stood alone before the stone wall, his movements growing slower and slower, one character at a time, the force pressing through his fingertip—still as the clear moon reflected at the bottom of a well, fixed before the entrance of the ancient cave.

Time flowed in long, unhurried passages. It seemed to flow in reverse. He felt as though he glimpsed a figure buried beneath grey dust and ancient ash, standing alone upon a barren earth.

He wished to walk toward it, yet found there was no beginning and no end, no limit and no approach. He could not draw near. He knew that figure to be—Wushi the Great Emperor.

Ye Fan sank into a supremely ethereal and empty state. His finger moved slowly across the stone, as though lifting a mountain peak that weighed ten-thousand-ten-thousand catties.

Alas—he could never truly draw near to that solitary figure standing at the world’s end. He could not meet Wushi the Great Emperor face to face. It was only a fragment of a brand, worn away by history.

The imperial jade in Ye Fan’s left hand grew hotter and hotter. The stone cave rocked gently, stone flakes cracking and peeling away without stop.

The ancient jade overflowed with radiance, flowing into the stone cave. Stone chips flew; dust blanketed everything. He stepped forward, as though standing beneath a sky full of stars from over a hundred thousand years ago.

This imperial jade was truly extraordinary. It grew ever more hazy and luminous, gradually burning hot, illuminating the ancient cave in a single sheet of brilliant light.

It was as though a shattered scroll of history were unrolling before Ye Fan’s eyes. A phantom silhouette flickered in and out of sight, appearing and disappearing.

“Gazing to the end of the immortal road—no ancient sages before me, no followers behind. I stand alone atop the clouds.”

These were the branded words fixed within the imperial jade—the words of a Great Emperor from over a hundred thousand years ago, enough to set one’s heart surging.

Yet time had passed too long. Nothing could endure forever. The shattered scroll dispersed at last like wind-blown dust, leaving little behind.

“Vast as the open sea, minute as a speck of dust—all things have…” The voice stopped there.

Ye Fan did not move. His finger carved characters into the empty air. Just now he had felt a nameless state of mind wash over him—a kind of ethereal emptiness that still lingered.

He did not know how much time passed. His entire being radiated light, every pore of his body open and expanding, like a figure of carved jade—untainted by the faintest speck of dust, as though receiving a baptism.

A full two hours passed before Ye Fan slowly returned to clarity, emerging from that nameless resonance of the Dao.

“The Wushi Scripture—I must obtain it!”

He had heard no wondrous teaching, yet even the remnant brand had allowed him to feel a divine resonance of the great Dao. Both spirit and flesh had been bathed as in holy light, receiving a purification difficult to put into words.

A rumbling came—the cliff face was collapsing. Ye Fan had no choice but to withdraw.

Looking back, the ancient cave was gone. In the space of a single glance, it had become a relic of the past. He felt a twinge of regret in his heart. Though he had long known that the Wushi Scripture was not here, he was still somewhat disappointed.

The imperial jade was still glowing and had not dimmed. He understood that there must be something else here.

Stone cliffs rose in clusters, one low mountain after another. Immortal vines hung as bridges, stretching from one sheer cliff face to another—tranquil and plain.

Ye Fan walked forward, passing mountain after stone mountain, moving through flowers and grasses, arriving at a secluded and quiet place.

“Who are you?!” The people of the Xuanyue Cave were startled. Figures came rushing over from all directions, shouting warnings.

Ye Fan had arrived at the rear mountain and entered as though entering an uninhabited place. With his wide sleeves billowing, he swept away the young disciples who came charging at him one by one.

He held the ancient jade and pressed forward, following his instincts.

“Go report to the elders—someone has broken into the Xuanyue Cave by force.”

“A powerful enemy has invaded the rear mountain of the Xuanyue Cave!”

……

Many people shouted, rushing to report to the senior members of the sect.

Ye Fan drifted past graceful peak after graceful peak, arriving at a place of quiet calm. The rear mountain was lush with vegetation, and there was a deep valley of enormous size.

Upon reaching this place, the imperial jade grew even more luminous and searingly hot, as though it wished to tear free from his hand and fly away.

This was a derelict valley—filled to overflowing with discarded objects: medicinal dregs, shattered furnaces, rusted swords, broken Dao talismans. This was a wasteland used for dumping refuse.

No one knew how many years had passed. The vast mountain valley was nearly full, packed entirely with objects discarded by cultivators, steeped in a dead, stagnant air with murky energy rising from it.

“This place…”

Ye Fan furrowed his brow slightly, but without further hesitation he gave his robe sleeve a flick. Immediately, refuse flew in all directions—broken copper and rusted iron clanging and crashing as it tumbled away into the distance.

“Hey there, Daoist—what do you think you’re doing?!” An elder of the Xuanyue Cave finally arrived.

Ye Fan paid no heed. His wide sleeves swept back and forth, filling the sky with shattered debris as the valley was steadily cleared. The imperial jade grew hotter and hotter.

Boom!

One elder charged forward—and was swept away by Ye Fan along with a great mass of the discarded objects.

“Who are you? Why have you forced your way here?” Several elders of the Xuanyue Cave flew in, descending around the edges of the valley.

Ye Fan had already sealed off the Xuanyue Cave, so he had no reservations. He opened his mouth and said: “I am the one who killed your Supreme Patriarch.”

“What?!” Everyone around him was stunned.

They had not yet received word. All they knew was that the former patriarch had remained at the Azure Peaks and had not returned.

“Go inform your current sect master that I will come to take his life shortly.” Ye Fan continued clearing the wasteland valley as he searched.

“You… are talking nonsense. The Supreme Patriarch has cultivated for many long years and accumulated profound strength. He has few rivals in this entire region.”

Ye Fan deployed the Divine Lihuo Furnace and drew the several elders inside on the spot. In a flash of firelight, the group turned to black ash—struck from the records of existence.

“You…”

Everyone else changed color at once. The sight filled them with terror. Several elders had not even managed to resist before they were annihilated.

With methods like these, every person there felt their calves seize with trembling. Panic swept through, and they fled until not a single one remained.

Ye Fan used the Divine Lihuo Furnace to refine and incinerate the entire valley’s worth of refuse, finally clearing the place clean.

Ding!

The ancient jade rang with a trembling tone, its radiance growing even more intense. Ye Fan descended to the valley floor, dug with his hands, and swept aside a patch of black earth amid a pile of ruined and wasted materials.

“Another imperial jade fragment!”

He was overjoyed. There in the soil of the valley floor was a piece of broken jade covered in mud and grime—sealed away for who knew how many years.

Hum!

The two imperial jade pieces met, and both burst into auspicious radiance.

Ye Fan picked up the jade pendant from the ground. The mud fell away of its own accord. He placed them together—and they shone on each other, warm and crystalline.

“Still incomplete. These are only two fragments. At minimum, there are still six or seven pieces missing.” Ye Fan furrowed his brow.

Even so, he had not expected to assemble all the imperial jade at once—that would have been unrealistic.

The sect master of the Xuanyue Cave arrived along with eight Supreme Elders. Battle broke out immediately.

But alas, this was a battle without suspense. Ye Fan deployed the Divine Lihuo Furnace; fire crackled and snapped, reducing an entire mountain peak to molten ruin.

Lava surged and coursed outward, waves of searing heat burning at the sky.

Before long, quiet was restored. All nine wielders of power had been struck down.

Ye Fan walked with ease to the front mountain, his heart still as an ancient well. One step, ten dead—his finger strikes rang out in rapid succession, ending life after life.

It was a slaughter—one man against over two hundred. Each and every person who had committed crimes or done great evil without redemption was completely erased by him, struck from this world’s record.

In the end, only thirty-one people were permitted to live—those who were truly free of even a trace of wickedness, those who had strenuously opposed the raids and plunder.

Ye Fan opened the treasury of the Xuanyue Cave. What met his eyes was a radiant blaze of light—a full fourteen hundred catties of source stones, comparable to the Azure Peaks Sect’s holdings. He took it all without ceremony.

He read through the highest-level secret manual of the Xuanyue Cave carefully from beginning to end, then left it along with the various weapons for the survivors before drifting away.

These people were the “miners” of the future—though he could not tell them that yet.

Before coming to the Xuanyue Cave, Ye Fan had disguised himself as the Lihuo Sect’s Supreme Elder, deployed the divine furnace, and set fire to several immortal peaks of both the Seven Stars Pavilion and the Luoxia Sect.

As a result, both sects had indeed marched on the Lihuo Sect to demand justice, and a bloody conflict broke out—though it had not escalated into all-out war.

The Lihuo Sect had two Supreme Elders at the third realm of the Dao Palace. Ye Fan had eliminated one; another powerful master remained to hold the sect together.

The powerful figures of all three sides agreed: the Divine Lihuo Furnace had been seized by someone else, and it was not the true Lihuo Sect Supreme Elder carrying out the killings.

Yet even if they had deduced all of this, there was nothing any of them could do to change it.

Over the following days, Ye Fan broke through them one by one—”visiting” the Lihuo Sect, the Seven Stars Pavilion, and the Luoxia Sect in turn, eliminating each.

By cutting out the four poisonous tumors of this region, he had gathered a total of two source stone chambers—weighing six thousand six hundred catties.

It was an enormous haul, yet it still fell considerably short of what he needed. Each step forward required ten times the accumulation of the last—meaning that to break through to the third realm of the Dao Palace, he would need ten thousand catties of source stones—precisely three full chambers.

Ye Fan felt somewhat lightheaded. He would never have dared imagine such numbers in the past. By now, what he required could no longer be measured in catties but had to be calculated in chambers.

Ten thousand catties he could still picture—there was a way to manage it. But the number after that—a hundred thousand catties—made his head swim.

If not for carrying the Source Heaven Book, he felt he could abandon cultivation entirely. Otherwise it would be completely impossible to gather enough.

It was easy to imagine that the numbers further along would make even the sacred grounds spit blood—no one could bear that cost.

The Azure Peaks, the Seven Stars, the Xuanyue, the Luoxia, and the Lihuo—five sects now existed in name only, becoming reserve sources of miners for Ye Fan.

His gains were by no means small. Especially notable was a yellowed ledger he had found among the Lihuo Sect’s possessions, containing a single technique—the Mountain-Embracing Seal.

Profoundly mysterious, it greatly illuminated him. Similar to the Mountain and River Great Seal, it was of extraordinary power, and added yet another variation to his Sacred Art of Battle.

“If I can obtain just one more source stone chamber, I can advance to the third realm of the Dao Palace.” Ye Fan let his thoughts wander. He was ready to head for the Jade Pool.

The five sects had been destroyed, yet he had no worry that it would stir up trouble.

Sects like the Lihuo Sect, the Azure Peaks, and the Xuanyue Cave were among the most low-ranking sects of the Northern Region. Above them lay mid-sized sects, large sects, supreme major powers, and sacred grounds.

Unless it was a small power occupying a life forbidden zone or a divine medicine garden—a position where the great sects needed them as forward outposts and gave them support—there was little chance of any meaningful connection between such small sects and the major powers.

The Northern Region was immeasurably vast. Even for cultivators, crossing from one end to the other would take months of flight.

Some sects lay tens of thousands of li apart—sometimes over a million li. The distances were extreme.

In a territory so vast, the great powers were naturally known throughout. But low-ranking sects like the Lihuo Sect and the Xuanyue Cave were barely noticed by anyone—only other small sects in their own immediate area would even be aware of their existence.

They were as different as sky and earth—the two might as well have lived in entirely separate worlds.

Thus Ye Fan had no concern that the disturbances in this area would attract the notice of any sacred ground. The distances were simply too great. Towers in the sky do not watch over ant mounds on the ground.

The Eastern Desolate had seven life forbidden zones. The Ancient Forbidden Land in the Southern Region and the Primordial Ancient Mine in the Northern Region were both among them.

If one spoke of mystery, there was no question—this life forbidden zone in the Northern Region ranked at the front.

Originally a source mine, it had become an absolute death ground. Every sacred ground master who had gone there throughout the generations had never returned.

Named for the Primordial Beginning—implying that it existed before heaven and earth were formed—one could scarcely imagine how ancient it truly was.

There was a legend that the mine was never excavated by humanity at all, that it had existed long before the human race was born.

Another account held that it was dug by humans—only the word “immortal” needed to be added before “human.” This version was less accepted, as there was no way to speak clearly about whether immortals had truly existed.

Regardless of what was said, this was a forbidden ground. Even the most gifted genius of any generation entered and never returned. No one knew how many extraordinary individuals had been buried there.

The most recent case: seven hundred years ago, the sovereign of an immortal dynasty in Central Province—hailed as a supreme ruler of his age, master of boundless and glorious lands—had for some reason ventured into the Primordial Ancient Mine. He vanished without so much as raising a ripple.

Outside the Primordial Ancient Mine, vast stretches of the surrounding territory had been largely seized and divided by the major sacred grounds—the most productive source stone mining regions in existence.

This territory was barren of all life—an utterly desolate wasteland.

Outside the Primordial Ancient Mine, on the boundless red-brown earth, only a single city stood: Source City.

It lay within the source mining region and had been built by cultivators. No ordinary mortals came here. Most who passed through were disciples of the major powers and those transporting source stones.

Of course, it was still quite far from the Primordial Ancient Mine—thirty thousand li away—otherwise no one would have dared come near.

Ye Fan arrived at this city, for he had heard that the Jade Pool Saintess had not yet returned to the Jade Pool, but was still in this region—apparently overseeing the transport of a shipment of stone materials.

“The Jade Pool Saintess is still here. It might be somewhat improper to enter the Jade Pool in advance using her jade pendant—and there’s still a long time before the Stone Appreciation Grand Assembly.”

Beyond that, he had another purpose. He kept hearing about the Primordial Ancient Mine and greatly wished to observe it from afar at least once.

Source City was not large—only a small city, built entirely from red-brown boulders of enormous size. It was well-known in these parts.

Most of the grain and provisions needed by the various mining zones were purchased here. It served as a transit hub.

Not long after Ye Fan arrived, he had gathered all the information he needed. The Jade Pool Saintess had gone to the borderlands of the Primordial Ancient Mine to oversee something, and would not return for some time.

He also learned that Yao Xi and Yao Guang the Holy Son had accompanied her.

Of course, what was referred to as the “borderlands” was still at least a thousand li from the true Primordial Ancient Mine. No one dared venture truly close.

“The Primordial Ancient Mine—what kind of place is it, really?” Ye Fan rubbed his chin, thinking carefully.

The founding ancestor of the Zhang Family—that master of the Source Heaven—had harbored his greatest regret at never having entered the Primordial Ancient Mine. If a man of such remarkable gifts had been so wary of the place, Ye Fan naturally dared not rashly plunge inside.

“Watching from a great distance might still reveal something.” He believed that the source master of earlier days had surely discerned something that prevented him from going in.

He wished to cross-reference what he saw with the Source Heaven Book and begin to unravel the mystery of the Primordial Ancient Mine—to understand where exactly its strangeness lay.