Before the Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree, the Ruthless Emperor stood within the dark void. Whether he was male or female, old or young, none could discern. He extended one hand and slowly carved characters into the empty air, and in an instant the breath of the Great Dao permeated outward.

Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the Great Black Dog all widened their eyes, holding their breath, wanting to see clearly what he was writing. Cold lightning shot from their spirit-sight eyes as they fixed their gazes on that expanse of void.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

The Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree swayed, all its leaves turning and fluttering, resonating with those ancient characters. The entire tree radiated brilliance, and various images — small cauldrons, immortal figures, Eight Trigram patterns, divine bells, immortal phoenixes — all manifested upon it.

Everyone was shaken. The ancient Great Emperor carving characters had caused even the Dao Comprehension Ancient Tea Tree to react in such a way. One could only imagine what wondrous realm had been revealed — it was simply inconceivable!

“What on earth did he carve?” Tu with his big mouth was anxious.

“Damn it, why can’t this Emperor see it?!” the Great Black Dog howled and wailed.

Not only him — even Ye Fan and Pang Bo found they could not perceive anything. They could not even observe how he had set his strokes to paper. The more intently they stared, the more their eyes blurred.

“Xiao Nannan, what did you see?” Ye Fan asked softly.

“I only saw a cute ghost-face. It was very mischievous — crying one moment, laughing the next — always blocking in front of those characters.” Xiao Nannan’s large eyes were pure and flawless, her long lashes trembling lightly as she gave this reply.

Whoosh!

The Ruthless Emperor vanished. The Beginningless Great Emperor appeared, treading forward with a great bell atop his head, from which ten thousand strands of primordial chaos descended like silken ribbons, hazy and dreamlike.

He merged with heaven and earth as one body; his true countenance could not be seen. He stood in the very spot the Ruthless Emperor had occupied, seemingly studying certain ancient characters, then showed a contemplative expression. Only after a very long time did he begin to inscribe his own strokes.

This time, again nothing was visible. The strands of primordial chaos hanging from that great bell blocked out everything entirely, leaving no way to know what either of the two Great Emperors had carved.

“I understand now — the two Great Emperors are competing across the long river of history!” the Great Black Dog sighed, certain memories coming to mind.

“What do you know?” Li Heishui could not help but ask.

“According to the records of ancient texts, the Beginningless Great Emperor once said…” the Great Black Dog muttered.

Everyone’s expressions shifted strangely. Every time this dead dog claimed something was recorded in ancient texts, people had searched all across the Eastern Desolation and no one had ever laid eyes on such texts. Even so, they did not feel comfortable interrupting.

The Ruthless Emperor had been born very early — a full one hundred thousand years before the Beginningless Great Emperor. Yet even Great Emperors could not escape death, and the span of years separating the two was simply too vast for them ever to have met.

However, the Beginningless Great Emperor had nonetheless come to learn of the other’s battle prowess. His assessment of the Ruthless Emperor was that he was extremely strong and frightening, noting that he had seen the Dao-traces the Ruthless Emperor had left behind.

“So the contest happened here — a duel spanning the river of time. It is a pity we can no longer witness their figures. So many outstanding heroes have returned to the yellow earth…” the Great Black Dog sighed long and deep.

“The way you say it, not a single ancient Great Emperor was able to survive?” Ye Fan’s heart was very unsettled. He had still harbored some fanciful hopes before, but now he felt that thin thread of hope had been extinguished.

“Alas!” the Great Black Dog gave a soft sigh.

“This dead dog has too many secrets. Let us apply grand torture to force them out!” Tu with the big mouth suggested.

“Woof!”

“Enough, stop bickering. We should quickly pick the Dao Comprehension Tea and then leave this place.” Ye Fan said. This place was the Undying Mountain, renowned across ten thousand ages, one of the Eastern Desolation’s Seven Great Life Forbidden Zones. Every moment of delay was another thread of danger.

Ye Fan had gathered over fifty Dao Leaves before it became completely impossible to pick any more — the Qilin divine medicine seed had long since become like a rice dumpling, wrapped up thoroughly and tightly.

A thought stirred in his heart. He retrieved the Divine God-Beating Whip and handed it to Pang Bo, letting him try it.

“Right — this wooden staff is so sturdy that even stellar sand formed from the powdered bones of ancient sages cannot pierce through it. It is very possible it was indeed refined from a divine root. Might as well use it here.”

Pang Bo held the Divine God-Beating Whip and carefully picked Dao Comprehension Tea leaves, while Ye Fan held the Qilin seed below to catch them — in case their guess was wrong and precious Dao Leaves were wasted.

Whoosh!

The leaves of the Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree clung to the Divine God-Beating Whip and did not fall away to the side, giving everyone a great surprise.

“This truly was refined from a divine root — it really is a secret treasure. A pity it can only strike divine sense; its destructive power is not strong enough.” the Great Black Dog said.

Pang Bo moved swiftly. Every Dao Leaf on the tree was picked and clung to the Divine God-Beating Whip — crystalline and gleaming, each one different: tiny qilins, tiny suns, tiny moons and more, shimmering with the breath of the Great Dao.

Everyone was overwhelmed with excitement. Even if two of these immature leaves combined could only equal one mature leaf, they still amounted to more than fifty Dao Comprehension divine tea leaves. If word got out, even Holy Masters would go mad and come to blows over them!

These were immortal treasures — rare and sacred objects. They could bring stillness to one’s spirit and aid in comprehending the Dao. Even one or two leaves might not guarantee success, but eight or nine could certainly allow comprehension of the Dao at least once!

After the Four Extremes, cultivators needed comprehension to break through to higher realms. Two or three additional comprehensions might very well shatter one’s shackles and allow one to ascend another level. These were precious divine objects — even with vast quantities of Source, they would be nearly impossible to buy, and people generally would not sell them.

The Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree now stood bare, yet it remained profoundly wondrous, as though it drew upon the highest Dao and gave people a very peculiar feeling.

“We might as well just dig it up and take it with us.” Li Heishui offered this idea.

“That’s right — good thinking!” Tu Fei nodded, expressing full agreement.

“I’ll dig it!” Ye Fan wanted to do it himself — after all, he was an “experienced hand,” having dug up the roots of Undying divine medicines before.

“I’ll help you!” Pang Bo stepped forward, wanting to lend assistance.

“Are you people a swarm of locusts? You are even more resolute than this Emperor. Picking all the leaves was one thing, but now you want to dig it up by the roots — you don’t want to leave a single hair behind. This is going too far!” the Great Black Dog was somewhat stupefied.

“Do you expect to ever come in here again? This is the only chance.” Ye Fan said, setting Xiao Nannan down on the ground and preparing to act.

The Great Black Dog was nearly speechless, saying: “How have you all become even more like me than I am? Is this due to this Emperor’s influence?”

Everyone felt a little embarrassed, sensing that they had indeed out-done the Black Emperor at his own game.

The Great Black Dog continued: “You’d best stop right now. Outside of the Undying Mountain, this tree cannot take root anywhere else. The Beginningless Great Emperor once tried — he nearly tortured this ancient tree to death.”

“Worthy of being struck by heavenly thunder so often — to have actually done something like that.” Tu with the big mouth grumbled, completely unaware that they themselves had been about to do the same.

“If we can’t dig up the roots, can we at least break off a few branches? I feel these branches would also have wonderful uses.” Pang Bo said.

“Exactly — we should do precisely that!” Tu Fei responded.

Whoosh!

Brilliant light erupted. Five-colored radiance shot into the sky; seven-colored light blotted out the sun. The ancient tree uprooted itself entirely from the ground, two large main roots resembling a pair of human legs — a very vivid image.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

It burst from the earth and bolted, running for all it was worth. Its speed was at the extreme limit; in the blink of an eye it had vanished deep into the Undying Mountain.

“Good heavens, it… ran away!” Tu with the big mouth gaped, his mouth stretching wide — completely unable to close.

Pang Bo was also completely stupefied. The ancient tree had actually taken to its heels and sprinted off at full speed, shocking him so thoroughly his jaw nearly dropped. After a long time he finally managed to say: “What the hell — it made a naked dash for it!”

Everyone was dumbstruck, mouths agape, unable to speak for a long while. This old tree was simply too comical — to have escaped like this. No one knew what to say.

“Well? Dumbfounded now?!” The Great Black Dog sprayed saliva everywhere, going through them one by one with reproaches, fuming with indignation. “If you hadn’t frightened it off, we could have sat in meditation here for two hours and it would have been worth a month of bitter cultivation outside!”

The Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree was one of the Undying divine medicines — naturally it could fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, choosing its own place of dwelling as it wished. It would be extremely difficult to catch.

“All right, be content. We picked every single Dao Leaf on the tree. A single one taken out to sell would be worth hundreds of thousands of catties of Source — we might as well have dug up a divine treasury!” Li Heishui’s heart was bleeding, yet he was consoling himself in just this way.

At this moment, only Xiao Nannan was very still, blinking her large eyes, curiously surveying everything within the Undying Mountain.

“Let’s go — stop wasting time. We need to leave quickly.” Pang Bo urged.

Xiao Nannan sat again on the Great Black Dog’s back, and in her soft, childlike voice she pointed the way, moving along the winding direction of the golden formation markings.

“This… is obviously heading toward the center of the Undying Mountain Range. Are we searching for a path to life, or marching ourselves to our deaths?” All of them were muttering uneasily.

No one knew what lay at the center of the Undying Mountain Range. Even the Void Great Emperor of old had entered with the resolve to perish together with whatever was there. How could they not be anxious?

On both sides, black mountains rose one after another, imposing and magnificent, wreathed in mist — mysterious beyond measure. These were kings among mountains, emperors among peaks. Each one would be nearly impossible to find elsewhere in the world — incomparably overpowering. Everyone felt as though they had returned to a time before the primordial chaos.

Rumble, rumble, rumble…

The sound of a roaring river reached them, giving everyone a fright. Ahead, a great black river surged and churned — black enough to send chills down one’s spine, without a single trace of life. Just looking at it made one’s heart feel oppressed.

The waves surged and tumbled, like a great black evil dragon about to soar into the sky, making one’s spirit feel uneasy. Before it, one’s Dao-heart became unstable, and the fundamental source of life trembled.

“The Netherworld River — so such a thing truly exists in this world…” the Great Black Dog clicked its tongue.

Legends had it this was the great river within the Shadowy Netherworld realm. To actually see it in reality left everyone unable to suppress their astonishment.

“Look — over there is also a spring, yellow enough to be terrifying!” Li Heishui pointed.

Right on the bank of the black river, there was a spring pool — yellow as corpse-water, frightening beyond measure. It gurgled and flowed, forming a lake not far away.

“The Yellow Springs?!” Ye Fan was alarmed.

“Correct — these truly are the Yellow Springs. Can it be that the Nine Depths of the Underworld actually exists?” the Great Black Dog said with suspicion.

The lake formed by the Yellow Springs resembled a yellow dragon pearl, while the black Netherworld River looked like an evil dragon — the two together formed a scene of terrifying grandeur.

“There is something inconceivable beneath these foul waters. Whatever you do, do not go near!” Ye Fan warned. His source arts could perceive the veins of mountains and rivers, and he sensed that this place was absolutely a land of fatal ill omen.

“An Undying divine medicine!”

“That’s right — look quickly, there truly is an Undying divine medicine!”

Pang Bo, Tu Fei, Li Heishui and the others cried out in alarm, and even the Great Black Dog began to drool.

Right there within the Yellow Springs, a black divine herb slowly floated to the surface, its fragrance assailing the nostrils — rich and intoxicating — making one unable to help oneself, longing to rush over immediately.

It resembled a dark orchid, crystalline and glittering, as if carved from jet-black jade, flowing with an intoxicating radiance. It rose and fell within the Yellow Springs, carrying the breath of the Great Dao.

Everyone breathed in deeply. Every pore on their bodies opened wide. Their spirits were refreshed and their minds clear, as though they had received the holiest of baptisms — as if they were about to soar up into the rosy clouds.

“Heavens — this truly is a mature Undying divine medicine. If we could obtain it, then in our later years when our life-essence runs dry, consuming it could allow us to live another lifetime!”

“We absolutely must find a way to pick it. Missing such a heaven-defying sacred object would be a lifelong regret.”

Everyone was stirred with excitement. A truly genuine Undying divine medicine was far rarer and more precious than the Dao Comprehension divine tea leaves they had picked — only the Undying divine fruit borne by the Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree could compare to it.

Unfortunately, the divine fruit produced by the Ancient Dao Comprehension Tea Tree, once it ripened, would cling to the branches for over a thousand years before falling of its own accord. Decades ago, no one knew whether it had been picked by some terrifying creature within the Undying Mountain or had dropped on its own.

If they wished to have it flower and bear fruit again, at minimum five thousand years would be needed before it could ripen — it might even require over ten thousand years.

“We must stake everything — we absolutely must pick this Undying divine medicine. An opportunity like this will never come again!” Even Pang Bo had steeled himself to this resolve.

“Wait a moment!” Ye Fan had been moved as well, but then he suddenly recalled something.

When the Peerless Divine Kings had been revived, three extraordinarily powerful old monsters who had lived over four thousand years without dying had emerged, shattering the limits of supreme experts being able to live only around two thousand years — more than doubling the lifespan. At that time, those three old monsters had said that four thousand years ago they had been chased by divine kings into the Undying Mountain, had narrowly survived their great calamity, and had accidentally consumed the Netherworld Grass, thus surviving to that day.

“This is not an Undying divine medicine — this is the terrifying Netherworld Grass. Consuming it will cause one’s body to become a rotting corpse, with only the divine sense remaining indestructible.” Ye Fan stopped everyone.

He now fully recalled that the three extraordinary old monsters had once said the Netherworld Grass had been picked from a Yellow Springs pool — this should be exactly that place.

After Ye Fan explained everything in detail, everyone drew a sharp cold breath. The Netherworld Grass possessed some of the properties of an Undying divine medicine but also carried horrifying side effects. This thing must not be touched.

“Such a pity!” Pang Bo, Tu Fei and the others were filled with boundless regret, while the Great Black Dog cursed incessantly.

They had no choice but to set out again, making a wide detour around the Netherworld River and the Yellow Springs pool. That place was a supremely dangerous and ominous ground — even from a great distance it made everyone’s flesh creep.

Only after walking well past it did they finally let out a long breath, and the inexplicable sense of oppression finally eased.

They advanced several more li. Grass and trees grew sparse while rocks increased, and they entered a large stretch of stone cliffs. The ground was dry and hard, with only a scattered few ancient trees.

This place was very dry, boulders everywhere. Below a black stone cliff, the group discovered several man-made ancient caves, the marks of chisels and axes clearly visible, inscribed with the frost and wind of countless ages.

“Someone has been here!”

They discovered a skeleton — crystalline as jade, its brilliance still flowing no matter how many years had passed. It lay face-down before one of the ancient caves.

“This was certainly a supreme expert. He entered the Undying Mountain most likely seeking to prolong his life, yet died here.”

“Eh — beside him there is a golden token, and also an ancient scroll, neither of which has decayed!” Tu with the big mouth had keen eyes and spotted the irregularity beneath the jade-bone skeleton.

“Treasures! So many years have passed and neither has been destroyed — they must be excellent things!” The Great Black Dog was the first to lunge forward.

Xiao Nannan pointed the way; everyone followed, arriving before the ancient cave.

Clang!

The Great Black Dog seized the golden token with its great paw. It blazed with splendor, yet was piercingly cold, and an endless murderous intent poured forth, so alarming that it immediately let it fall back to the ground.

Clunk!

The golden token was no bigger than a palm. On it was engraved a single ancient character: Kill!

The murderous intent emanating from just that one character plunged the Black Emperor, Ye Fan, and all the others into what felt like an ice cellar — almost unbearable. Everyone’s hearts were pounding with alarm.

The murderous intent was too heavy! It was as though it had been dyed with the fresh blood of tens of millions of living beings. A single character, carrying boundless killing energy through ten thousand ages, nearly severed the sinews and bones of everyone present.

“How can it be even more terrifying than a peerless deadly weapon? What is this thing?!” Pang Bo was shaken.

This was definitely not a weapon — no Dao markings had been branded onto it. It was merely a token, yet it carried a murderous intent that ran through ten thousand ages. A single kill-character almost shattered everyone’s spirit and courage.

“This is a supreme object of malevolence!”

They were wary of this golden token, not daring to touch it casually. It seemed to have truly been tainted with the blood of tens of millions of living beings, the bone-piercing cold cutting all the way to the marrow.

The Great Black Dog hauled the ancient scroll out from beneath the skeleton — but seemingly frightened by it, it flung it away again almost instantly and cried out in alarm.

“What happened?!” Everyone retreated at once.

“This is human skin… flayed from the body of an ancient sage — divine skin and flesh imperishable across over a hundred thousand years!” the Great Black Dog said in a trembling voice.

“What — this is the skin of an ancient sage?!” Everyone was stunned.

This sage’s skin had not sustained the slightest damage. No matter how many tens of thousands of years had passed, it still had brilliance flowing across it, densely covered on every surface with tiny characters.

“Quick, look — what exactly is written on it?” Everyone’s breathing quickened, their spirits in turmoil. With so many characters left upon the skin and flesh of an ancient sage, this could be nothing ordinary.