The tavern stood adjacent to the gem-gambling stalls, and business was brisk. Those who came and went were either cultivators or stone gamblers, all free-handed with their spending.

By a window on the second floor sat a young man dressed in cyan robes, no older than twenty-one or twenty-two, with fair skin that lacked masculine vigor and carried a somewhat androgynous quality.

He was clearly a scion of some great household. Two young women attended him, personally pouring his wine and serving his food with meticulous care. He drained a cup and said, “The reason he could burn the Ji Family’s Supreme Elder to death was not because of his own astonishing cultivation, but because the Ji Family’s great figures were caught off guard — they were touched by that terrifying flame he had gathered, and perished as a result. Strip him of that flame, and he is nothing.”

“Brother, you speak too harshly,” someone nearby objected. “Whatever you say, that young man burned a great figure to death — he is certainly no ordinary person.”

The young man in cyan swept the speaker with a glance. “Half a year ago, he was nothing beyond the Other Shore realm. Without that flame, many people could have killed him as easily as tearing a painting.”

Someone in the tavern felt he was being arrogant and spoke up. “Brother, are you not speaking a bit too boldly? Could you kill him as easily as tearing a painting?”

The androgynous young man in cyan drained another cup. “Killing him would be as easy as flipping my hand — a single slap would be enough to end him!”

Ye Fan happened to be seated not far away, and he could not help glancing over. The man’s expression was placid — though he displayed no outward arrogance, he was thoroughly self-important.

Nearby, someone took obvious offense at his attitude and asked, “That young man is only fifteen or sixteen years old, yet he has already reached the Other Shore realm in cultivation — that alone is quite remarkable. May I ask, brother, which realm have you attained?”

“The Third Level of the Dao Palace Secret Realm,” the young man in cyan replied, accepting a white cloth from a serving girl and dabbing his mouth.

Many faces around him flickered with surprise. To possess such cultivation at this age was truly impressive, and it was little wonder he was so self-assured.

“What is this young master’s name?” someone asked.

“Situ Feng.” The young man in cyan set the white cloth lightly on the table.

“Is that the Situ Feng of the Yanyu Sect?”

“It is.”

“No wonder — so it truly is Situ Feng. Among those of roughly twenty years of age, few in Qu Province can match him.”

“Qu Province has no grand sects, nor any sacred grounds. To possess the strength of the Third Level of the Dao Palace at this age is indeed cause for pride.”

The patrons of the tavern all murmured among themselves; evidently, the name Situ Feng was well-known to them all.

Ye Fan naturally felt no goodwill toward this androgynous young man who had declared he could slap him to death with one blow — but he was not going to stoop to quarreling with him here. Instead, he asked the room, “Where will the grand gathering of Qu Province’s younger generation be held? I would like to go and broaden my horizons.”

“In the Yun Duan Mountain Range, not very far from Chaoyang City,” someone helpfully replied.

“Many thanks, brother. Do you happen to know when it begins?” Ye Fan pressed for details.

“Two days from now. By then, many of Qu Province’s young powerhouses will have made their way there.”

Ye Fan smiled and asked, “I wonder which outstanding figures from the Ji Family and the Yaoguang Holy Ground’s younger generation will be attending?”

“That’s hard to say, but there will certainly be exceptional figures present — after all, they are the ones who organized it.”

Not long after Ye Fan descended from the tavern, the big black dog came ambling over from nearby, muttering and grumbling under its breath.

Ye Fan listened closely, then burst out laughing. The big black dog had truly had rotten luck — it had run into a shameless butcher who had chased it down an entire street, intent on skinning it for meat. But the dog had shown restraint and had not turned on the mortal.

The mountain range lay a hundred and twenty li from Chaoyang City. Its peaks were steep and jagged, thrusting upward into the clouds — hence the name: the Yun Duan Mountain Range, meaning “Cloud-Severing.”

Mountain ranges in an oasis naturally teemed with life. Gone was any barren, desolate look. Everywhere the eye could reach was a sweep of rich green — trees blanketing the hills in every direction.

The tallest peak stood a full six thousand meters high. White mist rolled and billowed around it, clouds wreathing its summit, magnificent and imposing.

Ye Fan had arrived early, wanting to familiarize himself with the terrain. The big black dog was deeply reluctant, its face drawn long, but it followed along.

This mountain range stretched for several hundred li. No sect had established itself here; it was an unclaimed land.

Not that the place lacked beauty — rather, over the course of more than a thousand years, three mid-sized sects had successively founded themselves here, and all three had been destroyed. Other sects took this as an ill omen, and from that point on, no one had moved in.

In truth, the Yun Duan Mountain Range was strikingly beautiful — mountains and water in harmony, dragon springs gurgling, jade-like streams ribboning around the peaks. It was an excellent place for cultivation; otherwise, three successive sects would never have chosen it.

“So it is this place…” The big black dog’s black fur stood entirely on end.

Seeing it like this, Ye Fan was deeply startled — it was the first time he had ever seen the big black dog in such a state of tension.

“You have been here before?”

The big black dog’s eyes flickered with uncertainty and wariness, then it slowly regained its composure, and its fur smoothed back down.

“Let me have a closer look!” It broke into a sprint, circling the mountain range for dozens of li until it reached a wide, open expanse.

“What did you find?” Ye Fan asked.

“So it really is this accursed place. I did not expect to end up here again.” The big black dog’s expression shifted between dark and unsettled.

“What kind of place is this?” Seeing how it looked, Ye Fan knew this was no ordinary mountain range.

“This emperor once suffered a great loss here.” The big black dog paced back and forth, a look of gloom on its face.

“When did this happen?”

“Long ago — even if I told you, you would not know of it.” The big black dog put on an air of lofty composure.

“Even a Divine King only has a lifespan of four or five thousand years. If you had lived for more than a thousand years, you should be thanking the heavens. Now tell me — what happened here?”

“Why should I tell you about a loss this emperor suffered? That is none of your concern.” The big black dog turned and continued circling the mountain range.

After receiving the Source Heavenly Sutra, Ye Fan had been diligently practicing it. He now invoked the Art of Observing Terrain to examine the land, and the entire mountain range came into view.

“Nothing especially unusual — it is not a forbidden ground. Even if source veins run beneath it, they are pitifully few in number.” That was the conclusion he reached.

“Hmm, wait — something is not right.” Suddenly, Ye Fan frowned. Though this place was not a place of ill fortune, there was something peculiar about it. Gazing ahead with the Art of Observing Terrain, he could faintly detect a wisp of white mist rising.

It was not the mountain’s natural cloud cover, but something welling up from underground — a thread of mist perceived by his spiritual senses.

“This place is neither a forbidden ground nor immortal soil, yet there is something distinctly unusual about it.”

“After so many years, and still nothing has changed.” The big black dog muttered to itself.

Ye Fan walked over and said, “Tell me what you know in detail. However you look at it, I am a disciple of the Source Heavenly Master lineage — when it comes to the lay of mountains and rivers, I know more than you.”

“People in your line of work love nothing more than digging up the earth. Too bad the issue here has nothing to do with source veins.” The big black dog grumbled.

“Then what did you encounter back then?” Ye Fan asked.

“Back then, this emperor was trapped here for eighteen years and nearly died.” The big black dog ground its teeth.

“I cannot see any danger.” Ye Fan scanned the area once more. Other than those white threads of mist, he truly could not sense anything else.

“If you could actually see the danger, that would be a serious problem. This place was once the cultivation ground of a great figure — it is anything but ordinary.”

“You were definitely trying to steal something from them, weren’t you.”

“That person had been dead for who knows how many years by then. I was there to seek a fortuitous opportunity!” The big black dog snarled the correction.

“Whose cultivation ground was this, that it made you suffer such a loss?” Ye Fan was deeply curious.

“A ruthless one — someone who ultimately refined themselves into oblivion.” The big black dog refused to say more, and no matter how Ye Fan pressed, it would not reveal another word.

“By what you’re saying, does that mean we cannot enter this mountain?”

“That is fine — going in poses no major problem. As long as no one digs around carelessly, no lives will be lost.” The big black dog let it slip after all.

Ye Fan burst out laughing. “Look at you — all that trouble, going to what lengths to find treasure? What exactly did you get up to back then?”

The big black dog scowled and argued back, “People in your line of work love nothing more than digging up mountains and boring into the earth — I was warning you!”

Ye Fan had only come to take part in the grand gathering of Qu Province’s younger generation; he had no intention of staying long, so he had nothing to worry about.

There was an unusually wide, dry riverbed here — long desiccated for who knew how many years, its smooth river stones nearly weathered to dust.

This great dry channel wound out from the mountains and snaked into the distance, like a mighty serpentine dragon.

Ye Fan followed the riverbed into the mountains and wandered about for the better part of a day without making any sense of things. When he questioned the big black dog, the creature kept its mouth firmly shut and would not reveal a thing.

“Whatever treasure moved your heart, it must be something extraordinary — don’t you want to dig it out?” Ye Fan tried to tempt it.

“Naturally it is a priceless rarity, buried underground for tens of thousands of years. I don’t mind it waiting another few decades — when my strength is sufficient, I will come back and claim it myself.” The big black dog’s lips remained sealed.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. The Yun Duan Mountain Range, once quiet, suddenly came alive with activity. Divine rainbows streaked through the distant sky at intervals, and figures moved everywhere — nearly all of them young cultivators.

At the center of the mountain range stood a severed peak — extraordinarily wide and broad, its cross-section smooth and flat, as if cleaved apart by some supreme blade, forming one enormous platform.

Many figures crowded its surface, yet it did not feel the least bit cramped — on the contrary, it was so vast it looked almost empty.

“This severed peak is ten times broader than the others around it. Had it not been cut, it would have likely pierced the clouds and reigned as the tallest mountain in the range.” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

“They certainly know how to pick a venue.” Light flickered in the big black dog’s copper-bell eyes.

“This is that great figure’s cultivation ground, isn’t it?” Ye Fan hazarded.

The big black dog gave no response.

Half an hour later, Ye Fan’s sleeves billowing, he rode a cloud forward and arrived atop the severed peak. He had not brought the Black Emperor along — doing so would have given him away.

Young cultivators were everywhere, all deep in discussion, while figures continued to arrive from the distant sky.

Five-colored divine light split the heavens. A jade vessel came flying in — resplendent with ten thousand rays of brilliant color, descending from above, powerful divine force rippling in its wake. It landed atop the severed peak, and the crowd immediately erupted in commotion: important figures had arrived.

“The Ji Family and Yaoguang Holy Ground’s elite have come.”

“The Ji Family and Yaoguang Holy Ground have passed down their legacies without interruption for over a hundred thousand years. That such deep foundations could cultivate young disciples of such strength is truly astonishing.”

The crowd buzzed with discussion, instantly crowding around the vessel like stars orbiting the moon.

Ye Fan did not press forward and remained where he stood. It was then that he spotted Situ Feng — the androgynous young man who had declared a single slap would kill him.

Still clad in his cyan robes, the young man was every bit as self-important as before. He had not squeezed to the front either, but stood at the edge of the crowd, a trace of arrogance in his bearing.

“Brother Situ…” Ye Fan stepped forward.

Situ Feng turned, a frown creasing his brow. “Who are you?”

“Ye Fan.”

The moment those words landed, Situ Feng spun around completely, eyes locking onto him.