Li City—both sides of its streets were lined with spirit-blue trees, their branches lush and sprawling, their leaves a heavenly blue—a dreamy, fantastical color. Even the trunks gleamed like blue crystal.

Ahead, on the ancient street, walked a young girl in a purple dress—no more than seventeen or eighteen years of age. Her slender brows curved gently, her eyes brimming with a spiritual light. She was strikingly beautiful, like a spirit dancing beneath the night moon.

“Ji Ziyue…” Ye Fan stood at a distance and did not approach. For he had also spotted Ji Haoyue—the renowned Divine Body of the Eastern Wastelands, one of the strongest among the younger generation.

His enmity with their family ran far too deep. In the Southern Region he had burned their Supreme Elder alive. Not long afterward, he had slain four young Ji Family disciples in Qu Prefecture—an incident that had caused significant reverberations. If Ji Haoyue spotted him, he would strike without mercy.

“Look at that dragon-stride and tiger’s step—his vital energy and spirit are in full form. The hidden injuries he sustained when he was hunted by the Peacock King’s chief disciple must have fully healed.”

Ye Fan had cultivated the Heaven-Altering Great Technique and could alter his appearance and aura—but he remained cautious. The resonance between a Divine Body and a Holy Body was powerful and instinctive; back at the Supreme Mystic Sect, the two of them had once been involuntarily drawn into a clash.

“What are they doing in Li City?” He knew the two of them had come to the Northern Region to attend the Yaochi Grand Assembly—but he couldn’t fathom why they had stopped here.

By this point, Ye Fan had already changed his appearance. He wore a cultivator’s robe and had once again taken on the guise of a young Daoist priest—of course, bearing no resemblance to any of his previous Daoist disguises.

“Now that my cultivation has advanced greatly—far beyond what it once was—I should be able to exert much better control over my body. Perhaps there won’t be any resonance with the Divine Body after all.” Ye Fan decided to test it.

He would be attending the Yaochi Grand Assembly and could not avoid meeting Ji Haoyue—or perhaps even the Jiang Family’s Divine Body. If mutual resonance triggered between them, the consequences would be very unpleasant.

Ye Fan suppressed his aura and held back his cultivation, making himself appear as an ordinary person. Then he set off down the ancient street.

Closer and closer. He also activated the Heaven-Altering Great Technique from the Source Heaven Scripture, suppressing his true fundamental origin.

At last he drew near Ji Haoyue. His body produced no particular reaction—and the other party detected nothing.

The street was busy and bustling, a constant flow of people. Ye Fan slipped quietly past them without pausing, and continued on his way.

He could sense that Ji Haoyue had grown even more terrifying—his Divine Body vast and fathomless, deep as an abyss, like a dormant deity that could unleash world-shaking combat power at any moment.

And Ji Ziyue had grown even more beautiful. When she smiled, little dimples appeared, and her small, slightly prominent teeth gleamed brightly, giving her a playfully clever look.

“Ziyue, what are you looking at?” Ji Haoyue asked, his eyes full of doting affection for his younger sister—he clearly adored her.

“That little Daoist priest I just saw seems rather unusual…” Ji Ziyue said, lost in thought.

“Just a little Daoist priest—what could be unusual about him? If anything were truly amiss, my body would have reacted,” Ji Haoyue replied, shaking his head.

Ye Fan drifted lightly onward, pausing for nothing, continuing down the ancient street.

Li City felt almost like a vast garden city. Despite the bustling streets and streams of carriages and horses, the scenery was exquisite—springs and flower gardens visible at every turn.

Suddenly, Ye Fan’s heart gave another jump. He spotted another familiar face—Wu Zhongtian.

He was tall and powerfully built, with the eyes of a leopard, a ring-shaped beard, and the imposing build of a lion—vigorous and formidable. He was the grandson of Wu Dao, the Fifth Great Bandit, and a sworn brother to Tu Fei, Li Heishui, Jiang Huairen, and Liu Kou.

“He’s here too—something must have happened in Li City.” Ye Fan’s heart stirred.

Wu Zhongtian was a supremely gifted young powerhouse. Even Tu Fei and the others, unable to match the Yao Guang Holy Son in strength, had once thought to invite him to make a move. Though Wu Zhongtian himself claimed he was no match for the Yao Guang Holy Son, one could easily imagine that his combat strength was extraordinary.

Swish!

Wu Zhongtian flashed and vanished. On the other side of the street, a striking figure appeared—Yao Xi, like a divine lotus in first bloom, swaying gracefully as she walked forward.

She was tall and alluring, lithe and enchanting like a peerless temptress, her bearing captivating—yet simultaneously her aura was sacred and pure, her skin luminous, carrying an untouchable transcendence that elevated her beauty to the absolute extreme.

“Something is definitely wrong. For them all to appear in the same city…” Ye Fan avoided her and moved on.

He then stopped passing travelers to ask whether anything significant had occurred here—but every single one of them shook their heads. No one knew of anything.

By now it was approaching midday. He found a place to eat and, while filling his stomach, listened carefully to the conversations around him—but still came away with nothing.

This place seemed perfectly tranquil—nothing unusual appeared to have happened at all.

In the end, having eaten and drunk his fill, Ye Fan began to wander through the city. He discovered that both sacred lands and ancient families had set up stone-gambling establishments within this ancient city.

“Perhaps I should try my luck at one of the gambling establishments—might even catch some news.” At present he had only five thousand jin of source stones left, and to break through to the third level of the Dao Palace, he needed at least ten thousand.

Source stones were what he needed most urgently. He had been studying the Source Heaven Scripture seriously, and once he had a sufficient grasp of it, he intended to enter the Sacred City of the Northern Region.

“Cultivation is a serious problem…” Every time he thought about the vast quantities of source stones required, his head ached.

From the remains of ancient sages he had obtained a divine technique for cultivating within a single secret realm—and in recent days he had been working to put it into practice. But the cultivation speed was far too slow.

Originally, his pursuit of source stones had grown less urgent—but seeing these results, he had no choice but to reconsider. Perhaps a dual approach was necessary. The single-secret-realm cultivation had to continue, but source stones had to be pursued as well. If he could break into the Four Extremes realm, perhaps better options would open up.

“The single-secret-realm cultivation is difficult and its effects are slow—but I need strength urgently. It seems I have no choice but to find a way to accumulate source stones and advance to the third level of the Dao Palace first.”

After considering several options, Ye Fan entered the “Wondrous Stone Pavilion” operated by the Yao Guang Sacred Land—a garden estate of enormous scale, densely planted with spirit-blue trees, ancient vines coiling around them, flowers and greenery growing in lush abundance.

The scenery was beautiful—piles of stone material had been incorporated into the garden as ornamental features, and the effect was not the least bit monotonous. Rather than a stone-cutting venue, it resembled more of a flower garden.

Ye Fan decided to keep a low profile—he would not engage in stone gambling with others here. Instead, he would simply buy the stones outright, carry them away, and cut them himself later, avoiding any unnecessary trouble.

The Yao Guang Sacred Land’s Wondrous Stone Pavilion was truly vast—with a full eighteen major courtyards arranged in a garden style, the scenery pleasant and welcoming.

Quite a few people were gambling on stones here. But spread across the various courtyards, they no longer seemed crowded—quite the contrary, the place felt peaceful. Strolling through the beautiful scenery was an entirely enjoyable experience.

Ye Fan clicked his tongue in amazement. After doing one circuit, he realized the old adage held true: those who dared enter a sacred land’s stone-gambling establishment were all people of some standing.

Before long, he had encountered several so-called elders and sect masters’ sons.

The Sacred City wielded enormous pull—imperial clans from the Central Province and great powers from the Northern Plains frequently passed through it. It stood to reason that the stone-gambling establishments below could attract cultivators from the surrounding regions.

Ye Fan remained silent but moved swiftly—in the blink of an eye he had passed through seven major courtyards, spending five hundred jin of source stones and collecting a small mountain of stone material into his jade clean bottle.

Buying up stone material this way without cutting it on the spot naturally drew attention. Some people even mistook him for easy pickings and came over hoping to challenge him to a wager.

“Fine, no problem—but I don’t wager small. If you want to bet, it has to be a minimum of one thousand jin,” Ye Fan replied.

One thousand jin of source stones was the entire fortune of even a small sect at the bottom rung—and while there were quite a few people from mid-sized sects present, none of them dared gamble one thousand jin at a single go.

A wager of that scale could easily spiral into tens of thousands of jin in total stakes—and this was not the Sacred City. Practically no one here had the stomach for bets that large.

Left in peace after that, Ye Fan continued selecting material. He purchased another two thousand jin of stone material and collected it into his jade clean bottle, then entered the thirteenth courtyard.

This courtyard was draped in hanging vines, many of the stones half-buried beneath them. It was very secluded, and few people came here to choose material.

Ye Fan picked out several dozen pieces, and then his eyes lit up. He spotted a stone as dark as ink—pitted and uneven, as though eaten through by worms. It resembled the kind of material associated with ink jade, which sometimes concealed extraordinarily precious rare variant source stones.

He strode toward it quickly—but at that very moment another figure appeared, reaching out and sweeping it away with a divine light.

“Why did you take my stone?!” Ye Fan was irritated.

The person appeared to be in their mid-thirties, rotund of build, with a ruddy complexion and a cultivator’s robe, wearing a perpetual beaming smile.

When Ye Fan made out the man’s face clearly, he froze—it was Duan De, the morally bankrupt Daoist.

He was genuinely astonished. The last thing he had expected was to encounter him here—which only confirmed further that something must have happened in this place. Otherwise there was simply no way so many people would have converged here by coincidence.

This fat Daoist in particular was like a dragon rarely seen—utterly mysterious. Wherever he appeared, there were always significant opportunities to be had. Otherwise there was no reason for him to show himself.

“You fat scoundrel—don’t you understand the rule of first come, first served? Why are you taking my stone?” Ye Fan gritted his teeth. Recalling past encounters, he very much wanted to press the sole of his shoe into this fat man’s face.

“The poor monk reached it first,” Duan De answered with an expression of perfect innocence and a cheerful smile.

Ye Fan wanted badly to kick him several times, but could only restrain himself. This fat Daoist was far from ordinary.

In the past he had dug up the Fifth Great Bandit Wu Dao’s ancestral grave—and had somehow survived, still bouncing around as lively as ever. Afterward he had crossed the void to the Southern Region, been tossed into the Demon Emperor’s yin grave by several great figures, gone in and out nine times, and still refused to die.

Now he had crossed the void back to the Northern Region, and judging by his sleek, well-fed appearance—plump and glistening—he was clearly living quite comfortably.

“Little brother, didn’t you just say you won’t wager anything under a thousand jin? I’d like to have a few rounds with you,” Duan De said with a beaming smile.

Ye Fan found the sight of him infuriating—every angle of him practically radiated a need to be smacked. He said: “Fine—let’s wager.” He would have loved nothing more than to win everything down to Duan De’s trousers.

“The poor monk has no thousand jin of source stones, but…” Duan De said.

“But what? If you don’t have a thousand jin of source stones, what are you wagering with me?!”

“If I lose, I’ll sell you a piece of information—worth ten thousand jin of source stones,” Duan De said. He then recited a Daoist invocation and assumed the bearing of an enlightened sage.

“You fat scoundrel—I’ve never seen anyone as shameless as you. If you lose, you want me to pay you ten thousand jin of source stones for some information? What kind of garbage information could possibly be worth that? It’s obviously a scheme,” Ye Fan wanted to slap him. This unscrupulous Daoist was truly lacking in all moral fiber.

“A man of the cloth speaks no falsehoods,” Duan De said with great solemnity. “Those with keen noses have all been making their way to Li City—because a priceless treasure is here.”

“What sort of thing?” Ye Fan asked, casually dismissive.

“One of the Nine Secrets—there is a strong possibility it can be found here. I know important clues about this particular secret,” the unscrupulous Daoist said, his ruddy face splitting into a grin. “Do you wager or not?”

Ye Fan’s heart gave a sudden jolt. He didn’t believe the fat Daoist would hand over any genuinely valuable clues—but it was quite possible that Li City truly did harbor one of the Nine Secrets.

Otherwise, why would Ji Haoyue, Ji Ziyue, Wu Zhongtian, Yao Xi, and Duan De all appear at once? Perhaps others would arrive as well.

“You are—” Just then, Yao Xi appeared. She was a vision of unparalleled beauty, like a luminous pearl in full radiance, stepping into this courtyard. Her gaze locked onto the unscrupulous Daoist.

“You must be the renowned Daoist Duan!” Yao Xi said with a mild note of surprise, quickly recovering her composure.

Given that this was the Yao Guang Sacred Land’s Wondrous Stone Pavilion, her presence here was entirely natural—Ye Fan felt no surprise.

“Infinite Celestial Worthy—this humble Daoist greets the Sacred Lady.”

“Older Sister Yao Xi—” At that moment, a clear and bright voice rang out. From an adjacent courtyard, Ji Ziyue came skipping over like a purple-clad sprite, laughing cheerfully, with the Divine Body Ji Haoyue following at her side.