More than fifty black mountains stood side by side, pressing down with tremendous force on all who beheld them. Looking upon them, one felt as though one had entered the Deathless Mountain once again.
“Big brother, is there Enlightenment Tea here too?” Xiao Nannan asked, tilting her head upward — the little one still remembered that naked, streaking old tea tree.
“There is none here, but there are things far more mysterious,” Ye Fan said, ruffling the little one’s hair.
“What strange things are inside?” Li Heishui asked the Great Black Dog. In ordinary times, no one ever dared approach this place — all avoided it as though fleeing from demons and ghosts.
“Hard to say what’s in there. In any case, it’s quite uncanny — going inside may lead to strange and inexplicable deaths,” the Great Black Dog muttered.
“What do you mean?” Li Heishui pressed.
“To put it plainly: once you go in, you may die without ever knowing how you died. Extremely bizarre and mysterious — impossible to make heads or tails of,” the Great Black Dog added.
“So it is also cursed ground, where one cannot even know what dangers to expect?” Ye Fan was surprised. This was no ordinary place — who could know what they might encounter?
Even so, none of them felt excessive fear. After all, a saint was traveling with them — and if even the Mad Old Man could not enter and leave this place, then no one in the present age could.
Owwwoooo…
A solitary wolf’s long howl reached them — mournful and desolate, echoing through this black mountain range.
“Looks like your kin are about,” Li Heishui jabbed the Great Black Dog.
Woof! The Great Black Dog bared its teeth and clamped its jaws around his wrist, refusing to let go.
“Damn it all, I was only stating a fact — why are you getting agitated?! Let go!” Li Heishui cried out in pain.
Croak…
Several aged crows, their aura thick with the energy of death, flapped their wings on the branches of a withered old tree at the edge of the black cliffs, emitting a hair-raising cry — a sound full of desolation.
“Why do I feel this place is so utterly ill-omened…” Li Heishui said, after shaking off the Black Emperor’s great jaws. He felt a chill creeping up his neck.
“Relax. I simply refuse to believe this black cliff can truly be haunted. Though the great perfect Holy Body did indeed meet his end here, it has been over a hundred thousand years now — whatever nameless existence may have been here would long since have been dissolved by the power of time. Nothing can live for so long.” The Great Black Dog spoke with a somewhat hollow confidence, its only true faith being in the Mad Old Man’s combat power.
“Let’s go!” Ye Fan picked up Xiao Nannan, placed her on the Black Emperor’s back, then strode forward.
Thump!
A white rabbit came bounding out, followed by a weasel dashing past — both impossibly ancient, their fur nearly all fallen away.
Hiss hiss!
Then an emaciated serpent, thick as a water vat and slow-moving, slithered out and wound its way into the distant cliffs.
“How can it be these creatures — all of them ill-omened in folk tradition…”
Everyone found this deeply strange. Such creatures were nothing to them in terms of threat, but in folk legend they all carried great significance.
As they drew near the black Sacred Cliff, the eerie aura grew even more intense — as though approaching a burial ground, sending chills through their entire bodies.
Wuuu wuuu…
Abrupt sobbing rose up — extremely bitter and mournful, carrying for more than ten li.
Right beside them stood a withered old tree, so large it would take five or six people linking arms to encircle it, growing at the very edge of the Sacred Cliff.
In that tree sat a horrifying bird’s nest, built from dried bones — more than half a person’s height, dense with deathly energy, wreathed in wisps of black mist.
“What the hell kind of bird is this?” Li Heishui was startled, feeling the chill on his body deepen further.
Beside that nest of human bones stood a strange and monstrous bird — its body as black as a crow, yet bearing a human face along with a bird’s beak, its black curved hook like a blade.
More than a meter long, black as ink, its deathly aura was extremely heavy, as though it wore a dead person’s head, making the entire withered ancient tree seem ice-cold.
“This place is seriously damned strange!” The Great Black Dog’s body gave a shudder, unable to help itself from cursing, then said: “This is an ancient bird, rarely seen even in the Primordial Age. It feeds exclusively on the bones of the powerful, and legend holds that anyone it has howled over will not live long.”
Flutter flutter!
The strange bird spread its wings and flew away, dropping as it went a half-gnawed human skull, a rather grisly sight.
“Why do I feel like this is getting off to a bad start — a sense of ill omen?” Li Heishui muttered quietly.
Whoosh!
The wind raged suddenly. The Mad Old Man struck without warning — his great sleeves swept out like a scoop across heaven and earth, sending countless trees and stones flying into the distance. A low, deep roar came from far away, one that made the very soul tremble.
Ye Fan and Li Heishui were stunned. A humanoid creature, its entire body covered in long black fur, was a hair-raising sight — and it vanished deep into the black Sacred Cliff in a flash, disappearing from view.
“Damn it all — there really is something here. What kind of creature was that?!” The Great Black Dog was shocked.
All around, every ill-omened sight vanished. The sounds of the old crows and the lone wolf fell silent, and this range of black mountains returned to quiet.
“Let’s go in. Once we’re there, I’ll be relying entirely on your grasp of array markings,” Ye Fan said.
The group finally set foot within what felt like the Deathless Mountain. Ye Fan retrieved the ancient scroll obtained in the Northern Domain’s Li Prefecture, searching for the location marked with the Nine Secrets.
“It’s at the deepest point of the Sacred Cliff…”
The group gathered together to study it carefully, and then simultaneously furrowed their brows. The moment they stepped into the Sacred Cliff’s territory, they felt as though they had entered the Deathless Mountain — the sensation was indistinguishable.
“We can’t fly!” Li Heishui was the first to notice the anomaly. They could not leave the ground at all — leaping into the void above was impossible.
“There are array markings here from an ancient great emperor — not carved by the Void Emperor, but laid down by someone else…” A strange light flickered in the Great Black Dog’s eyes.
“We must be extremely careful. Even the Red Dragon Daoren was trapped in the deepest reaches for a full fifteen hundred years, nearly refined to ashes,” Ye Fan reminded.
“Don’t worry — this time I have absolute confidence. With my mastery of array markings, I can walk through this place as though there’s no one to stop me!” The Great Black Dog, for reasons unknown, suddenly brimmed with confidence. “Follow me.”
Crack!
The Great Black Dog led the way forward — but the moment it took two steps, lightning ten thousand zhang long suddenly descended from a clear sky, striking it until it was foaming at the mouth. It lurched and tumbled to the ground, its entire body smoking black.
Had Ye Fan not already sensed it was unreliable and brought Xiao Nannan back in advance, the little one would have been caught in the lightning strike as well.
“Doggie, are you all right?” Xiao Nannan asked with wide blinking eyes, genuinely frightened.
“That hurt so much…” The Great Black Dog lay there, all four great paws twitching continuously, murmuring: “Great Emperor… how could you strike even me…?”
“I’ve noticed — everything you do, you dead dog, ends up going completely off the rails. You said you’d walk through as though no one could stop you — and how did that turn out? You just got yourself struck by lightning,” Li Heishui needled.
Woof, damn it all! The Great Black Dog wanted to bite him, but struggled for a long while without being able to stand up. It had suffered severe injuries, with many of its bones broken.
This made everyone’s heart grow cold. The Sacred Cliff — mysterious and terrifying — was even stranger than they had imagined. They had only just entered, and it had already nearly struck the Black Emperor dead, whose mastery of array markings was extraordinarily deep.
Slash!
The Mad Old Man pointed a finger, and the Great Black Dog was enveloped in a sphere of radiance. In an instant, its bones crackled and popped, and its injuries rapidly healed.
It scrambled to its feet, cursing a string of oaths. “Damn it all — why did it strike me too?! Something must be wrong with the array markings here. Let me puzzle this out carefully.”
After studying the matter closely, the Great Black Dog wore an expression of suspicion — then relaxed. “So there were subtle alterations. I know where the error was. This time there will absolutely be no problem.”
It led the way forward again. Initially there was no trouble at all, but when it took its thirteenth step, another thick bolt of lightning descended from ten thousand zhang above.
Crack!
This time the Great Black Dog fared worse. Its entire body was charred black, white smoke poured from its ear holes, sparks of electric fire coughed from its mouth, and the entire dog was nearly cooked through.
Owww… that hurt this Emperor so badly — damn it all, woof! The Great Black Dog howled piteously, every inch of its flesh twitching.
“Good lord — this dead dog is going to get itself killed. Lucky for us it wasn’t us this time.” Ye Fan stared wide-eyed. He had seen unreliable things, but never anything this unreliable.
“Doggie, are you all right? I can smell roasted meat…” Xiao Nannan asked with concern.
“Smells wonderful!” Li Heishui, an absolute specimen of a person, could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva at this moment.
The Great Black Dog was immediately furious. “Damn it all, you dark-skinned wretch — what kind of eyes do you have?! What do you mean by that?! Woof!”
When two such absolute specimens were thrown together, peace was impossible. They would always be going at each other endlessly, no matter the circumstances.
Once again it was the Mad Old Man who had to step in with treatment, and only then did the Great Black Dog stagger to its feet — though its fur, once smooth as silk, now looked as though it had been plucked at, pitted and patchy, no longer sleek.
“There’s no justice in this world — why would it strike even me?! This Emperor must have racked up eight lifetimes’ worth of terrible luck!” The Great Black Dog was seething with resentment.
“Do you know who laid down these array markings?” Li Heishui looked at it with suspicion.
“These are Wushi array markings. I clearly saw in one ancient text how they evolve — why was I still struck…?” The Great Black Dog gnashed its teeth.
“Nonsense. How could array markings of an ancient great emperor ever be recorded in an ancient text? Such things simply cannot exist in the world. Even if they somehow did, even a grandmaster studying them for ten lifetimes couldn’t begin to understand them,” Li Heishui said, unconvinced.
But Ye Fan’s heart gave a sudden lurch. He recalled certain things the Great Black Dog had said before — that Wushi the Great Emperor had once come here to pay his respects to the dead.
Following this reasoning, there was a strong likelihood these were indeed array markings carved by Wushi the Great Emperor. But this dead dog knew far too much — had it perhaps once followed alongside Wushi? Yet how could it possibly have lived to the present age? Even the ancient great emperors could not manage that!
Throughout all this, the Mad Old Man had not said a single word, standing to one side, his gaze fixed on this ancient ground, as though lost in careful contemplation.
The Great Black Dog did not dare to walk in front anymore, so it tried to coax Li Heishui to go first while it provided directions.
“Damn it all — you unreliable dog, you don’t dare go yourself anymore, and now you’re trying to get me killed instead!” Li Heishui refused with every fiber of his being.
In the end, it was the Great Black Dog itself that had to steel itself, clutch the jar of divine spring water Ye Fan gave it, and stand at the very front.
Boom, crack…
Nearly every ten-odd steps, the Great Black Dog would let out a blood-curdling howl, struck by lightning again and again, convulsing more times than anyone could count.
“Great Emperor, you yourself frequently got struck by lightning in your day — surely you don’t carry such deep resentment over it? How can even the array markings at the outer perimeter be this terrifying — nearly striking me to ashes!” The Great Black Dog grimaced and winced, rambling and grumbling incessantly.
Finally, after cresting a great black mountain, they arrived at an empty expanse — a region without array markings, though the aura here was exceedingly strange.
This was a wide-open valley nestled between the black great mountains, with a lake at its center, smooth as a mirror.
By this time, evening clouds had already dyed the horizon red, casting even the lake in a layer of golden radiance.
“A supreme spiritual medicine — over twenty thousand years old!” Li Heishui pointed to an azure plant growing in the lake, flowing with dreamlike luminescence.
The Great Black Dog ran over as well, and they moved to gather it — but at that very moment the lake let out a tremendous roar, waves surging skyward.
This was a humanoid creature — white hair like snow, skin equally pallid and bloodless as snow, looking every bit like a walking corpse. It stretched out great claws to swipe at the group.
“What is this thing?” Everyone was alarmed, retreating rapidly.
“This is an ancient corpse — dead for at least several tens of thousands of years. In recent years it has gained spiritual awareness and now possesses half-step great ability cultivation!” the Great Black Dog shouted.
“Uncle, please save us!” Xiao Nannan was very frightened, grabbing the Mad Old Man’s sleeve and shaking it.
Had Ye Fan’s group entered alone, the odds would have been heavily against them — with their cultivation level, they had no way to contend with this thing.
Rip!
The Mad Old Man lightly pointed, shooting a streak of azure radiance from his fingertip. The ancient corpse was immediately frozen in place, unable to move at all.
Boom!
But at that very moment, the lake water surged violently. The rattling clang of iron chains rang out in a clamor, and even more terrifying entities were below.
Everyone’s eyes shot out divine radiance as they peered into the lake — and immediately drew in sharp breaths of cold air. From below, three more ancient corpses surged upward, each also comparable to a half-step great ability.
And in the deep center of the lake, there was a massive shadow — an iron palanquin, its carrying poles wrapped and bound with iron chains, deeply eerie and sinister.
“These four ancient corpses are nothing more than the palanquin bearers — what manner of existence lies within that iron palanquin?” Everyone’s heart turned cold, even their scalps tingling.
Rip!
The Mad Old Man raised his hand and pointed again, freezing the three ancient corpses in place, then fixed his gaze on the lake depths and let out a light shout: “Desist!”
His tongue unfolded like rolling thunder, carrying some inexplicable great power — like a divine god subduing demons. The boiling lake water immediately fell calm, and the black iron palanquin swayed several times, seemingly very unwilling, yet ultimately ceased its trembling.
Ye Fan and the others felt their skin crawl. They sensed this journey would not go smoothly — they had barely entered and were already encountering such formidable creatures. Heaven only knew what lay further within.
Heh heh heh…
A chilling, eerie laugh — like that of a ghost ten thousand years old — came from among the black mountains ahead. A humanoid creature was faintly visible, appearing for a moment before vanishing.
Two beams of light shot from the Mad Old Man’s hollow eyes, piercing through the black mountain ridges. The humanoid creature let out a string of malicious cold laughter, then vanished completely.
They scaled a great mountain and looked out ahead, their hearts lurching — for before them lay a great black mountain range that had been snapped and shattered, a sight that left even the Great Black Dog shaken.
“What happened — who destroyed that peak? I remember… wait, no — legend says Wushi the Great Emperor once carved the character for ‘seal’ there, suppressing a terrifying creature. Has it escaped?”
“It doesn’t matter — it’s been over a hundred thousand years. Even the most extraordinary existence would have long since turned to dust. No matter how great a figure, none can resist the power of time,” Ye Fan said.
“That’s true enough. Even so, let us be cautious — I feel uneasy somehow.” The Great Black Dog, in a rare moment, revealed a look of genuine unease.