The black mountain face was like a wall without end, stretching across the path ahead and blocking the way. Within the great central ancient cave, utter darkness reigned — entirely unlike the other caves erupting with Solar True Flame.

There, a single pair of golden eyes was visible, their power to intimidate unmatched in the darkness. It was like a divine god from the depths of hell, with killing intent that knew no bounds.

Slash!

The Mad Old Man swept out a broad sleeve, drawing Xiao Nannan within, and placed her atop his own broad shoulders. He then turned to face that ancient darkened cave.

Killing intent surged like a tide, flooding toward the group. Above all else, the eyes in the darkness stared fixedly at Xiao Nannan.

“Is it really a three-legged Golden Crow?!”

Li Heishui and the others were stunned. How could such a thing exist in the world? It was an immortal spirit from ancient myth, comparable to the true dragon, divine phoenix, and purple qilin — invincible and unconquerable.

“A creature born of the Solar True Flame should only resemble a three-legged Golden Crow in form — it is absolutely not the true immortal spirit that can compare to those legendary beings.”

They understood: in this world, such a creature truly could not be born. Even the ancient saints had almost entirely ceased to appear, for heaven and earth had long since changed.

If no extraordinary circumstances arose, the ancient great emperors would become legends forever. As for the three-legged Golden Crow — it too could not appear in the mortal world. Only a form resembling it could.

Caw caw caw…

The fire divine crows blanketed the sky like a black tide, bearing surging Solar True Flame, burning the very earth to molten ruin as they swept down in continuous waves.

Everyone’s hearts trembled. Over a million fire divine crows submerged them — the fearsome power incomparable, destroying all things. Save for that wall-like black mountain that could not be destroyed, all other peaks were burned and crumbled.

“This mountain cliff was hewn from the Deathless Mountain itself — said to be indestructible — and even this is being melted down and crumbling. Truly terrifying!”

Boom!

Fortunately the Mad Old Man was powerful enough. Within ten zhang in every direction, all was still and serene, as though a gentle spring breeze was blowing. No matter how the million fire divine crows surged against it, they could not break through — any that forced their way in turned to ash.

The sound of rustling was unceasing, with many divine crows falling to the ground and turning to dust. Within the ten-zhang range of the Mad Old Man’s sacred ground, it was like inviolable holy land.

Screech!

Suddenly, from the black ancient cave came a terrifying shriek that made every scalp crawl. The pair of golden eyes turned even more glacial.

At the same time, the million fire divine crows seemed to receive a command. Hovering in the sky, each one shot out a beam of dark radiance — their life-bound primordial divine feathers.

Over a million black divine feathers, each one born from a divine crow’s life-bound essence and vital energy — the destructive power was chilling to contemplate.

Whoosh!

The void immediately deteriorated. A million dark feathers shot forth simultaneously, flooding toward the group, the catastrophic consequences this would cause defying imagination.

Boom!

This was the first time Ye Fan and the others had experienced a scene like this. Each fire divine crow had achieved spiritual awareness — they were effectively facing a million cultivators!

Had the Mad Old Man not been present, everyone would have been reduced to nothing but charred remains. A million fire birds sweeping through — everything in their path would turn to ash. Every last one of them would have had both form and spirit destroyed without question.

Pop!

The Mad Old Man stood alone against a million spiritually-aware fire crows. He swept both hands, then shook them with sudden force. From the sky came sounds of mourning — the charging life-bound dark feathers all shattered, reduced to powder.

Screech!

From the black ancient cave, once again came a soul-shattering bird cry. The cold eyes of the three-legged Golden Crow grew even more radiantly golden.

Clang!

It swept out a golden ancient staff, driving it forward. The infinite Solar True Flame was tens of thousands of times more scorching than before — everything it touched turned to cinders.

The Mad Old Man let out a cold shout, reached out a great hand and seized the staff. That golden ancient staff immediately snapped in two.

The bird cried out in agony. A golden sun burst from the ancient cave, shooting out a hundred million beams of divine radiance — each one like a golden needle. Ye Fan and the others could not open their eyes.

This was an indiscriminate attack, sweeping in all directions, capable of slaying a thousand armies — the magnitude of its destructive power was inconceivable. It was on the verge of breaking through into the Mad Old Man’s ten-zhang sacred ground.

Bang!

The Mad Old Man swept out a great sleeve, gathering tens of millions of golden divine radiances within it. He stepped forward one pace and charged directly toward the black ancient cave.

An existence comparable to an ancient sage taking the offensive initiative — this was the first time Ye Fan and the others had ever witnessed it. That alone was testimony to the three-legged Golden Crow’s power, defying ordinary comprehension.

A mournful cry rang out, golden light blazing even more fiercely — yet it could not halt the Mad Old Man for even half a step. He crossed the distance in a single stride and stepped into the ancient cave.

Boom!

A deafening sound rang out. The great black mountain was shattered apart on the spot. The rock above the ancient cave collapsed, enormous boulders piercing into the clouds.

Smoke and dust billowed, Solar True Flame shot skyward in a conflagration. When all finally returned to calm, only seven or eight golden feathers drifted down.

Every single one was as blindingly brilliant as the sun, and each was smeared with a strand of golden blood, emanating terrifying ripples that kept anyone from daring to approach.

“What a fearsome existence — and yet it escaped! What a pity!” The Great Black Dog was simultaneously excited and regretful. It rushed forward and, shaking with both trepidation and excitement, sealed away all eight blood-smeared divine feathers.

These were feathers of the three-legged Golden Crow — sacred materials for weapon-refining, almost impossible to find in the world, their value beyond reckoning.

“With these, one could refine the Golden Crow Fan — and with a single swing, burn the ten thousand things of this world to nothing!”

The three-legged Golden Crow had fled. On the ground it left a pool of golden blood, which seeped into the earth’s veins and vanished into the underground magma seething with Solar True Flame.

“What is this?” Li Heishui found a black beast bone within the shattered mountain.

“The Solar True Scripture…” The Great Black Dog’s heart lurched. It had recognized certain ancient characters inscribed upon it.

“Is it a cultivation method comparable to the ancient scriptures?” Li Heishui’s eyes immediately lit up.

“This is a fragmentary text — an ancient method deduced by cultivators of the remote past. It is far from complete. It’s unclear how it came to be in this ancient cave, but this three-legged Golden Crow has certainly studied it as a reference,” the Great Black Dog said.

Though it was only a fragment, it was still extraordinarily precious. The Supreme Yin and Solar True techniques within the ancient method were profoundly abstruse — compiled and deduced through the accumulated efforts of generations of sages of old.

The group gathered together and studied it carefully, feeling its profound mystery beyond fathoming. Even the Mad Old Man read through it carefully — which alone spoke to its value.

In the end, Li Heishui carefully stored it away. “If only one could gather the Solar True Scripture in its entirety — it is said this is one of the highest cultivation methods of the cultivators of the remote past.”

The Great Black Dog nodded. “In creating their respective ancient scriptures, several great emperors of antiquity were all inspired by this ancient method. It contains the wondrous art of stealing creation from heaven and earth.”

With the Mad Old Man leading the way, things were nothing like the unreliable Great Black Dog, which was always getting struck by lightning. They pressed forward one harrowing moment after another, cresting several great peaks in succession.

Ahead lay a great pitch-black gorge. Even from a distance came the sound of wuu wuu ghost wailing, drifting from the black depths, as though the gorge connected to the underworld itself.

“Why is that deep great gorge spewing hailstones?”

“Damn it all — those aren’t hailstones. Those are human skulls!”

Drawing closer, everyone stopped dead. The black great gorge was bottomless, ghost winds howling through it, sending countless white skulls spiraling upward to crash against the ground with hollow bang bang sounds.

“What is down there — does it truly connect to the underworld?! Why are so many human skulls being blown up out of it?!”

Around the great gorge, it was a white expanse in every direction — skulls rolling about in numbers beyond counting.

Xiao Nannan was very frightened. Sitting atop the Mad Old Man’s shoulders, she gripped him tightly with both small hands, her large eyes filled with unease.

Whooo… A great wind blew, sending even more skulls surging upward — a hair-raising sight.

On the ground, skulls rolled and tumbled — snow-white, rolling in every direction. This place had not a blade of grass growing. It was a world of death.

“That thing has appeared again!”

Ye Fan had spotted the existence within the black strange wind — those malicious eyes he could not forget, moving through the great gorge, hiding within the strange wind. An ice-cold mocking laughter rang out intermittently — a provocation against the dignity of a saint.

The Mad Old Man placed Xiao Nannan down on the ground, then whoosh — vanished, plunging directly into the black great gorge.

“Ahhh…”

Like a ten-thousand-year-old ghost screaming in agony — the entire black Sacred Cliff shook, all fifty-odd great mountains swaying at once.

Boom!

A large section of the black great gorge collapsed from the strike. Below, a sea of white bones stretched as far as the eye could see — pallid and terrifying, left from no one knew which age or for what reason.

Whoosh!

A stream of black blood spurted upward, corroding a great pit into the ground. The nameless existence covered in beast fur cried out in agony and vanished into nothingness.

The Mad Old Man rose from the great gorge into the air — divine-like and demon-like, he had dealt the unknown existence a severe blow. Unfortunately, he had not destroyed it.

“To escape from a saint’s grasp and survive — what an extraordinarily powerful existence that must be!” Ye Fan and the others were dumbstruck.

“What exactly is it?” Several people were shaken with astonishment.

“That was an arm from a corpse that had taken on a form of its own,” the Mad Old Man said.

“What — everyone froze. A single arm from a corpse had produced a true spirit and taken on independent life — and was already this terrifying. If the original body were still alive, how unimaginably dreadful would it be?

“I know what it is now…” The Black Emperor gave a full-body shudder. “In the ancient past, a dark great upheaval in the Deathless Mountain set the earth running with rivers of blood. The Void Emperor emerged, slew a supreme existence, and with the Void Mirror shattered its form and spirit to dust — leaving only a single arm behind, which fell into the Deathless Mountain.”

With this explanation, everyone immediately understood. The Sacred Cliff had been hewn from the Deathless Mountain, and that arm had come along with it.

An ancient great emperor’s flesh and blood did not decay after death — remaining lifelike and intact — so the preservation of that arm without decay was not remarkable in the least.

Yet it had produced a true spirit and taken on the form of a living entity — that was genuinely alarming. Short of a saint, almost no one could destroy it.

Passing by a small pool, the Mad Old Man stood for a long while, head bowed, gazing down, motionless — and only after a very long time did he give a start and retreat, staring blankly.

“Uncle, what’s wrong?” Xiao Nannan went over and tugged at his sleeve.

Ye Fan and the others were also very puzzled. What had come over the Mad Old Man? Why was he like this? They moved forward together to look.

“Don’t come near — this is the Reincarnation Lake!” The Mad Old Man let out a soft exclamation.

Ye Fan and the others immediately halted. All of them were shocked. The Great Black Dog cried out: “The Reincarnation Lake… so this heaven-defying thing truly exists! It can see through one’s past and future!”

Just then, Xiao Nannan peered curiously at the lake water and murmured: “Nannan can see herself — on a five-colored altar… no, on a great purple star. And there’s also…”

“Don’t look at those things!” The Mad Old Man immediately stopped her, pulling the little girl backward, away from the Reincarnation Lake.

“Never look at your own past and future — it will affect your state in the present life!” The Great Black Dog’s expression became extremely grave. “Wushi the Great Emperor once said this.”

“There is only one Reincarnation Lake in all the world. Legend says it is connected to the immortal realm — a place that may or may not exist, vaporous and indistinct. Only a great emperor may gaze upon it!” The Mad Old Man, unusually, said several more words than customary.

He left decisively, without a moment’s hesitation, heading deeper into the Sacred Cliff.

Though the fifty-odd great peaks covered an enormous expanse, they were not unreachable. With the Mad Old Man walking at the front, they passed through one cursed ground after another, and at last arrived at the deepest point.

The central great mountain soared into the clouds, its entire body a deep crimson — as though soaked in blood-water, with even a faint scent of fresh blood still lingering.

“There is a stone coffin on that great mountain!” They stood at a distance and surveyed the legendary Sacred Cliff, all revealing looks of astonishment.

“Surely the corpse of that great perfect Holy Body isn’t buried on the mountain itself?” Ye Fan’s heart hammered violently.

“The Divine Investiture Scroll… Wushi the Great Emperor’s refined Divine Investiture Scroll — how is it sealed onto this great mountain?!” The Black Emperor shouted in shock.

The others were equally astonished. They moved their steps, circled to the other side of the mountain, and there they saw it — a golden-gleaming ancient scroll.

On the great mountain face, entirely black, hung a golden ancient scroll, sealed into the mountain body, with mysterious aura flowing and surging — a vast and majestic pressure emanating from it.

“Something is wrong — when was this sealed here? Why didn’t I know about this?!” The Great Black Dog’s expression shifted again and again.