Within the immortal pool, spiritual energy overflowed in abundance. Nearby, iris orchids spread their fragrance, dragon grass released its fresh scent, clam-shaped spirit ginseng gleamed and sparkled, ten-thousand-year spirit medicines blanketed the earth, and auspicious birds and rare beasts resembling three-legged golden crows, divine phoenixes, and Qilins roamed the grounds — all of it as though drawn from the world of myth.
The curious stone with nine apertures trembled gently, its radiance blazing. Thread upon thread of light, like strands of fine silk, connected themselves to Xiao Nannan’s soft, delicate arms. Essence energy flowed and surged, seeping entirely into her.
The several senior elders of the Jade Pool were in a great panic, trying to intervene and stop it — yet every last one of them was repelled outward by a wave of colorful light. Not one could get close, and each person was gripped with anxiety and unease.
“Quickly stop her — don’t let the Stone King come to harm!”
They called out, acting in unison — streams of jade light shot out from between their fingers, one after another, trying to pull Xiao Nannan away and break the Stone King free from its crisis.
“Nannan, what’s wrong?” Ye Fan was very worried. He moved quickly to her side to ask, and reached out to touch the colorful light — only to be pushed back as well, unable to get close.
“It’s biting me.” The little girl was very aggrieved. Her small lips pouched in a pout, and her eyes were clear and bright, her lashes trembling gently.
“It didn’t hurt you badly, did it? Were you injured anywhere?” Li Heishui also asked with great concern.
The Stone King with its nine apertures and eight openings blazed with flowing splendor, trembling without cease. Essence energy erupted outward and poured into the small girl’s arms, covering her in a layer of brilliant, dazzling radiance — as though she were a luminous porcelain doll.
“My palm hurts a little. It’s biting down and won’t let go.” Xiao Nannan looked utterly innocent, her delicate little nose wrinkling.
“As long as she isn’t actually injured — make absolutely sure nothing happens to her.” Wu Zhongtian said.
The Jade Pool’s people were rendered completely speechless, with a flicker of annoyance in their hearts. It was the Stone King that was dissipating its essence energy right now — and yet these few people were worried about this small child.
“Do you have any way to make her let go?” A senior elder spoke.
“Little sister, can you move away from the curious stone? Come back quickly — you’ll be in danger if you stay.” The Jade Pool Saintess crouched down and spoke patiently with Xiao Nannan.
“She’ll end up being nothing but trouble sooner or later. Better to just let her drain it completely!” The Great Black Dog bared its teeth, its expression excited. It would have been more than happy for Xiao Nannan to suck the Stone King completely dry.
“Wretched dog, stop talking nonsense.” Ye Fan shot it a sideways glance, and then also told Xiao Nannan to retreat. Otherwise, they would likely never be able to leave the Jade Pool in one piece.
“Nannan wants to step back too, but it’s biting my palm and won’t let go.” Xiao Nannan pouted and strained backward — yet her small hand remained stuck fast to the surface of the stone.
“Whatever shall we do?” The Jade Pool’s people were increasingly anxious. Some were prepared to go summon the Queen Mother of the West, and there was even talk of drawing upon the ultimate sacred might of a Great Emperor’s weapon.
The moment the Great Black Dog heard that the ultimate Emperor’s Sacred Weapon was about to be deployed, it shivered violently from head to tail, leaped to its feet, declared it had a solution, and stepped forward to guide Xiao Nannan.
“Close your eyes. Imagine in your heart that you are a divine being — omnipotent, floating through the air…”
“Are you stalling for time?” The Jade Pool Saintess was exceedingly perceptive and looked at the Great Black Dog with an expression of displeasure, streams of divine light flashing in her eyes.
“Not at all. I am using an art of mental guidance to help her relax. If she doesn’t relax, even the arrival of the Queen Mother of the West won’t be enough to separate them.” The Great Black Dog spoke with great conviction, and then continued its guidance.
“You are a divine being, gazing down at the ancient earth from above. The mountains and rivers are magnificent, all living things are being born, everything lies beneath your feet, and you fly toward the immortal realm…”
The Great Black Dog rambled on and on in its strange, murmuring way, like an old sorcerer — babbling and nattering, on and on without end.
The women of the Jade Pool, though they were all of gentle temperament, found their foreheads covered in exasperated lines, each of them wishing they could plant their lotus-like feet right on the Great Black Dog’s large black face.
“What are you even going on about?!” One of the senior elders had finally lost all patience and was preparing to stir up the great Dao hidden within the Jade Pool to draw upon a thread of its ultimate sacred might.
Whoosh.
At that very moment, Xiao Nannan’s hand let go. She floated upward and slowly drifted away from the stone with nine apertures, no longer drawing upon its essence energy.
The little girl had been deeply earnest and utterly meticulous, following every word the Black Emperor had said to the letter. Her eyes were closed as she slowly imagined those scenes in her mind. Her entire body was flowing with colorful light, making her look like a small immortal.
Every inch of her skin shimmered with radiance, glowing like seven-colored glass, pure and unblemished. A sacred aura even began to permeate the air around her, purifying the hearts and minds of all who were present.
“Did that actually work?” The Great Black Dog muttered a sentence.
Upon hearing these words, everyone wanted to stomp on it — especially the graceful and beautiful immortal maidens of the Jade Pool, every one of whom glared at it furiously.
“What I mean to say is, this ancient method of mental guidance — your emperor has never tried it before. I never imagined it would actually work.” The Great Black Dog hastily explained itself, afraid of provoking the ire of this group of immortal maidens.
Whoosh.
Freed from its entanglement, the Stone King with nine apertures bolted like a startled old hare, transforming in an instant into a streak of divine light and plunging into the immortal pool, refusing to come back out.
“It’s practically become a spirit of its own — running around by itself!” Liu Kou cried in astonishment.
Every Stone King was capable of flying through the heavens and diving into the earth, each having developed its own spiritual awareness and being more formidable than many powerful cultivators. Not to mention this particular stone with nine apertures, which was on the verge of nurturing a sacred spirit within it.
Whoosh.
Xiao Nannan, still deeply earnest, continued to contemplate those scenes in her mind without distraction — and all at once she shot upward into the sky, releasing boundless rosy light.
“She’s flying up to become an immortal!” The Great Black Dog cried out in alarm.
Everyone was astonished — Ye Fan, Li Heishui, and the rest especially. In her everyday life, the little girl was completely incapable of flight. Yet now, not only was she floating aloft, but she was tearing through the air and ascending at speed — it was truly shocking.
“She really does look like a flying immortal…” All of the Jade Pool’s people stared on in a daze.
At this moment, Xiao Nannan was enveloped in immortal light. Like a figure ascending to immortality in broad daylight, she rose amid a cascade of rosy clouds — and actually carved out a passage through the air, as though she were about to enter a mysterious world.
Boom!
Suddenly, a thread of an ultimate Emperor’s aura descended — as though the nine heavens themselves were pressing down — and every person present was frozen in place, their hearts and souls overtaken by awe.
“Ah…!”
Xiao Nannan cried out in alarm and began to plummet. She could no longer fly, and the endless void of sky yawned ten thousand zhang below her, her large eyes filling with terror.
Ye Fan’s entire body surged with golden blood energy. With great effort he summoned the Cauldron of Mother Qi of All Things, and thread after thread — over ten thousand strands of mother qi — cascaded downward, shielding him.
Whoosh.
As though bearing the weight of a million mountains, he moved against the heavens and flew upward with tremendous difficulty, catching Xiao Nannan as she fell and bringing her back to safety.
That brief stretch of distance had subjected him to incomparable, terrifying pressure. Had his physical body not been so immensely powerful, and had the mother qi not been cascading downward, flight would have been virtually impossible.
“The Western Emperor Tower!”
Wu Zhongtian, Jiang Huairen, Liu Kou, and the others were all deeply shaken. This had to be the ultimate Emperor’s Sacred Weapon forged from Immortal Tear Green Gold — the Western Emperor Tower, also known as the Immortal Tear Tower!
This was a thread of an ultimate Emperor’s aura, suppressing all things. No one could resist it, and not even a Saint-level expert could contend against it.
Throughout the age of the ancient Great Emperors, the total number of Great Emperors was only a few. The ultimate Emperor’s Sacred Weapons were naturally equally few in number. The Jade Pool possessed one — forged by the Western Emperor from Immortal Tear Green Gold, its name resounding through ten thousand ages!
A holy land that had produced a supreme Great Emperor had, in a certain sense, a depth and foundation that surpassed all other ancient lineages. The sacred weapons left behind were sufficient to suppress all things!
Anyone who entered such a holy land would be enveloped by the Emperor’s Sacred Weapon. Even the most peerless of experts would not dare act brazenly within it, for its defenses were utterly impenetrable.
In ordinary times, without needing to be actively driven, the Immortal Tear Tower sat here endlessly, having naturally formed a supremely vast and great Way that suppressed the entire expanse of heaven and earth within it — as solid as a fortress.
It was this oppressive might from the ultimate Emperor’s Sacred Weapon that had blocked Xiao Nannan and prevented her from shattering the void to leave. She had been unable to force her way through.
“This child…”
While Ye Fan and the others were still shaken by the terror of the Western Emperor Tower, several senior elders of the Jade Pool had their gazes fixed on Xiao Nannan, studying her intently without pause.
“Nannan didn’t do it on purpose. It was that stone that bit me…” The little girl was somewhat uneasy, speaking softly, thinking she had made a serious mistake.
The Stone King had not been damaged at its foundation, and this allowed the Jade Pool’s people to breathe a sigh of relief. Yet within their hearts, they were stunned by Xiao Nannan’s identity and origins — it was plainly obvious that she was no ordinary child.
The monkey’s fiery golden eyes had been fixed on the little girl for quite a long while, yet he could not see through her. He muttered a single sentence under his breath: “Strange — a divine being?!”
Ye Fan and the others walked out of the immortal pool, all of them breathing a collective sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Jade Pool’s people were of calm and composed temperament, and had not made an issue of anything.
“Sooner or later the Jade Pool will face a great catastrophe. That Stone King will very likely cause the land to run with rivers of blood. Once it enters the world, it will be an existence rivaling the Great Emperors of antiquity — who could ever stand against it?” The Great Black Dog said gravely.
“In any case, it has nothing to do with us. In five thousand years, our bones will have all rotted away.” Jiang Huairen said with indifference.
Upon hearing these words, Ye Fan felt, for the first time, a particular and peculiar sense of loss. Five thousand years from now he would be in the height of his prime — yet if nothing went wrong, all the friends at his side would long since have passed from this world.
Even a holy saint could only live for over two thousand years, yet he, if he fully achieved his potential, could live for ten thousand years — and would watch with his own eyes as Li Heishui, Tu Fei, and the others died one by one.
The Jade Pool was vast and sprawling, its terrain varied and wide-ranging. Passing through a stretch of spiritual mountains, they came upon an expanse of marshland ahead. Several flashes of golden light leaped about within the muddy pools, as a few elderly figures stood watching from around the edge.
“Dragon Loaches!” The Great Black Dog was astonished, and immediately dashed over, quivering with excitement. “These are treasure beyond measure for alchemy — many times more precious than ten-thousand-year spirit medicines, beyond price and entirely without equal as spirit creatures. And the Jade Pool has three of them!”
A Dragon Loach was no longer than a foot, shaped like a miniature dragon, yet in truth it was a variety of mudfish, its entire body gleaming gold. It leaped about in the marshy mud, its spiritual energy billowing skyward, and every single drop of its essence blood was worth a fortune.
Beside the marshland, those few elderly figures were all individuals of extraordinary bearing. Even the monkey felt a flicker of tension upon seeing them, and plainly viewed them as adversaries capable of a life-or-death struggle.
“One of them looks like it might be the Queen Mother of the West!” Wu Zhongtian said quietly, with a look of shock.
One of the women appeared to be in her mid-thirties — beautiful and dignified, her expression serene and tranquil, her black hair flowing lightly, a vermilion dot between her brows, her eyes as still as water, making all who looked at her feel a sense of warmth and closeness. She truly bore the air and bearing of a great Queen Mother.
Beside her stood three elderly figures, each of exceptional quality. One wore a robe of golden feathers, as though on the verge of undergoing a transformation and ascending to immortality. Another was dressed entirely in purple, purple energy coiling around him, radiating an air of supreme and inestimable nobility. The third seemed utterly formless and insubstantial — like a wisp of mist — having merged himself entirely into the great Way of heaven and earth.
“Another Sacred Physique has appeared — truly rare.” The elder in the golden feathered robe nodded.
“You are…?” Ye Fan hesitated and asked.
“These are remarkable senior figures from the Central Continent.” The Queen Mother of the West spoke. She was dignified and radiant, her gaze ethereal and luminous.
These were absolutely major figures, Ye Fan and the others surmised. Otherwise, the Jade Pool’s Queen Mother of the West would not have offered such a pointed introduction.
“Would you be willing to go and cultivate in the Central Continent?” The elder in the golden feathered robe asked with calm composure.
Ye Fan was taken aback, uncertain why this question was being put to him, and did not quite understand.
“The Academy of Wonders is about to reopen — this is a rare opportunity.” The Jade Pool’s Queen Mother of the West said from the side with a smile.
“The Academy of Wonders…” Ye Fan was unfamiliar with the name. He truly had never heard of it — he was, after all, not originally of this world.
Nearby, Li Heishui and the others were stunned, their words coming out in a stammer. “Once in ten thousand years… the Academy of Wonders is reopening again?!”
“After so many years, it’s still continuing…” The Great Black Dog muttered in shock.
“Only those of Holy Son caliber can enter. It is a sacred land for the growth of kings, reopening once every ten thousand years — and to think that day has come again!” Wu Zhongtian’s eyes blazed with radiant light.
“I’ve heard that each time, the most peerlessly gifted young experts are selected from the Central Continent, the Northern Plains, the Western Desert, the Southern Ridge, and the Eastern Wastelands — is that true?” Jiang Huairen asked.
The elder in the golden feathered robe nodded. “Each holy land may send no more than two people. The Central Continent, the Eastern Wastelands, the Southern Ridge, and all five major regions operate under the same rule — only the very finest young experts are selected.”
“Young man, agree to it!” The Black Emperor sent a secret transmission.
“Why?” Ye Fan asked.
“The Academy of Wonders reopens once every ten thousand years, and may have a connection to the world beyond the boundary. The great emperor Wushi once touched upon the two characters of Purple Subtlety. Moreover, all the holy sons and holy daughters, and all the various king-physiques, will be entering — all the ancient lineages are sending their disciples. There must be benefits beyond imagining, the kind known to no one outside. You must go!”