Wang Teng, hailed by the young elites of the Five Great Domains as the Northern Emperor, was someone almost no one dared to cross — all who encountered him gave him a wide berth.
Yet now, that monstrous talent from the Eastern Wastelands had arrived and nearly killed his younger brother, leaving many people stunned.
In this era, among the younger generation, perhaps the only one who could rival Wang Teng was the man who had slapped a king’s constitution holder to death with a single palm — a figure many called the Central Emperor. That was the prevailing opinion.
The Northern Emperor had once traveled under the alias “Wolf God,” roaming between the Northern Plains and the Eastern Wastelands. By the age of fifteen he had already been unmatched among his peers, and after a further decade of accumulation and tempering, no one could fathom what heights he had reached.
Moreover, everyone knew he carried the grand fortune of heaven and earth — even the Nine Secrets had fallen into his hands. Heaven only knew what other ancient arts he had mastered.
Since entering the Hall of Exceptional Talents, no one dared challenge him. Yet he had been in seclusion the entire time, rarely showing himself, and even when he did emerge, he only visited the great cultivation retreat at the back of the hall.
As for the Central Emperor, some said he simply did not belong to this world. The specifics, no one could explain clearly. Strictly speaking, in this age there was only one Wang Teng — peerless among the younger generation.
“Elder brother, you have to avenge me.” Wang Chong shook his elder brother’s arm. Only in moments like this did he seem like a child, his usual ferocity completely gone.
“He stole my war chariot, beat me, and showed you disrespect — you must kill him!” Wang Chong hung from that arm and refused to let go.
This was an ancient cave dwelling within the Hall of Exceptional Talents. On ordinary days, not a single person dared to enter — it was Wang Teng’s place of seclusion, regarded by other holy sons as forbidden ground.
Inside the cave, there were dozens of spiritual medicines, all surpassing ten thousand years of age. At the center stood a medicinal king, its fragrance intoxicating, its body crystalline and radiant with brilliance. Had anyone entered, they would have been astonished — for this medicinal king was one of the six that had emerged from the Immortal Burial Ground, and it had been transplanted here.
The interior of the cave was entirely austere, not a trace of luxury. Beside the medicinal king stood a bed of dark jade, upon which Wang Teng sat cross-legged, perfectly still.
He was tall and imposing, his black hair flowing loose. His face was chiseled as though carved by a blade, his sword-like brows sweeping into his temples. Within his eyes, endless stars rose and fell — unfathomably deep, like an ancient emperor reborn.
“Elder brother, why won’t you say anything? Help me get revenge!” Wang Chong started wheedling.
“The way you carry on, sooner or later you will die out there. Even if I am your elder brother, I will not always be able to save you.” Wang Teng spoke calmly.
“Elder brother, how can you say that? Mother said that when we go out, you are supposed to look after me.” Wang Chong hugged his arm and wrinkled his nose in displeasure.
“You need to rein yourself in.” Wang Teng extended a single finger and pressed it to the space between the young man’s brows. “I will suppress you for one year. If your temper does not smooth out, you will not be released from seclusion!”
With that one finger extended, the ancient cave filled with crystalline radiance. A true dragon, a divine phoenix, a white tiger, and a black tortoise appeared in succession, crying out together in harmony — sacred and serene, as though divine beings were descending into the world.
“No! Please, no!” Wang Chong cried out and tried to flee, but could not break free — he was fixed in place.
Utterly dejected, he said, “Elder brother, that person has a sacred constitution — it is worth your going personally to kill him.”
“What people call constitutions amount to nothing. In my eyes there are only the living and the dead. Until one reaches great completion, there is no difference from the masses.” Wang Teng’s expression was indifferent.
“You may be the foremost in the world, but I am not, elder brother. If I do not kill him, it will become a demon within my heart and I will not be able to cultivate in peace.” Wang Chong cried out.
“Go into proper seclusion and reflect for one year!” Wang Teng reached out and tapped his finger. Wang Chong, who had reached the Fourth Transformation of the Dragon Transformation, had not a shred of resistance. With a great cry he flew backward into a stone chamber, the stone door fell shut, and he was sealed inside.
“Wuguli, Jinwuduo — come in.”
“We pay our respects to our master!” From outside the cave walked two tall beings.
One stood three meters tall, its entire body shimmering with silver light, covered in scales, possessing four arms brimming with power, silver hair cascading to its shoulders, and a vertical eye at the center of its brow.
The other stood two meters tall, its entire body gleaming with golden light, bearing a pair of golden divine wings. Every inch of its form was covered in golden scales, and from its golden hair grew a pair of deer antlers.
“Go and bring me the head of the young man called Ye Fan.” Wang Teng spoke with calm detachment.
“Is that… the one with the sacred constitution? The outside world is buzzing with word of him — that when he grows to full power, he can overwhelm kings from the primordial age.” One of the beings expressed surprise.
“Why concern yourself with another’s constitution? The strong must be self-assured. Only the self is supreme. If one cannot prove one’s Dao, then what does it matter if one is the reincarnation of an immortal? It is merely the difference between the living and the dead.”
“Your teaching is wise, Master.”
Wang Teng said, “He has cultivated certain ancient arts and some forbidden secret techniques. He is capable of fighting Saint-Ground Supreme Elder-level figures. The two of you go together to ensure there are no mishaps.”
“With his level of power, one of us would be more than enough to kill him several times over.”
“Even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it exerts its full strength. I do not want any accidents. Go — bring me his head.” Wang Teng said coldly.
“Understood!”
The two beings dared not say another word. They withdrew from the cave and conferred in low voices.
“The heavenly art our master has been cultivating is almost complete. Once it is, not even the Central Emperor will be a match for him.”
“The Central Emperor is not even a person of this world. In a certain sense, our master is already first under heaven.”
Within the Hall of Exceptional Talents, peak after beautiful peak rose one after another — each disciple had their own spirit ground, and they generally did not disturb one another.
“Those are… primordial era creatures!”
Someone spotted the two beings and could not help but change color, crying out in alarm from a distance.
“I heard long ago that Wang Teng is unfathomably deep. It was said he once ventured into the most perilous reaches of the Eastern Wastelands and took primordial era creatures as servants — and it is true!”
Many people, hearing the commotion, watched from afar atop the beautiful peaks. All were moved, and none dared approach.
Two arcs of light — one gold, one silver — tore through the sky and vanished over the horizon. It was a long while before the onlookers came back to their senses. Their awe of Wang Teng’s cave dwelling had deepened considerably.
“The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. Nameless — it is the origin of heaven and earth; named — it is the mother of ten thousand things…”
Recently, someone had carved a passage of text onto the stone wall before the main gate of the Hall of Exceptional Talents. It caused quite a stir — many people stood before the stone wall in contemplation, and even some of the most powerful cultivators within the hall had come to observe it.
These words did not set out any specific cultivation method. They only expounded upon the fundamental nature of the Dao. Though they contained no secret techniques, they gave everyone much to ponder.
The matter spread beyond the hall and into the outside world, causing a wave of sensation. Many people marveled and came seeking it out, believing that the Hall of Exceptional Talents truly harbored extraordinary individuals whose words and insights were worth pondering.
Ye Fan learned of it and came immediately. Activating his divine eyes, he quickly spotted Pang Bo among the crowd and felt a surge of excitement within his heart.
He sent a secret sound transmission, and the two then departed one after the other, heading to an uninhabited place to meet amid a cluster of peaks.
Since parting in the Eastern Wastelands, they had not seen each other for over two years. In a world this vast, traversing a single domain could take anywhere from ten to twenty years of flight — a reunion was no small thing.
“That cursed Black Emperor, transmitting me into a place where not even birds would defecate — I dropped straight into a dead volcano…” Pang Bo recounted his experience, cursing the great black dog without end, filled with resentment.
Dropping into the mouth of a volcano had been bad enough — but it was a place of deadly peril, carved with endless formation inscriptions, and Pang Bo had nearly been refined away there.
“Was it an ancient cave dwelling from some bygone era? Surely there was treasure?”
“Not a single hair of it. The inscriptions nearly refined eighty pounds of flesh clean off my body. Don’t let me lay eyes on that dog, or I’ll eat it alive!”
Pang Bo had been trapped there for nearly two years. His only gain was that he had been forced to cultivate day and night to resist the formation inscriptions — otherwise he would have been reduced to ash.
“Two and a half years, and you’ve reached the Fourth Transformation of the Dragon Transformation. That’s a remarkable achievement.” Ye Fan laughed.
“That cursed dog… after I got out I spent a full half year flying before I made it from the uninhabited regions to a place of civilization…”
The two shared their experiences with each other. Pang Bo had naturally heard of Ye Fan’s recent tribulations, and he handed over the Divine Punishing Whip, saying, “This treasure is strange — it can conceal one’s aura completely. With it on you, there’s no need to fear the Divine Calculator’s disciples tracking you through divination.”
“It has that ability too?” Ye Fan was surprised. He wasted no time accepting it and slung the whip over his back again.
He thought it over, then took out the treasures he was carrying. First he handed Pang Bo the wooden planks carved from the Enlightenment Ancient Tree, along with several stone nails.
“Sit atop it and cultivate — you’ll achieve twice the result with half the effort. These are carved from the divine coffin the Undying Heavenly Emperor built to preserve his immortality.”
“Is that the ancient sage from the primordial era?” Pang Bo was astonished. After seeing Ye Fan’s collection of treasures, he was especially startled by the block of divine source that had an old man sealed within it.
“What exactly is in the Hall of Exceptional Talents?”
“There might truly be a road leading to beyond this domain. I’ve been investigating it of late — perhaps we can use it to find our way home.”
Ye Fan handed the Nine Divine Weapons to Pang Bo. “You have no reliable weapon. Keep these safe and use them to protect your life — but whatever you do, don’t let that depraved Daoist know.”
“I don’t need these. You’re in a precarious situation right now — these nine weapons would be of great use to you.” Pang Bo refused.
“I set these aside specifically for you. The Nine Divine Weapons paired with your Demon Emperor’s Nine Slashes is the most fitting combination possible. Don’t worry — I still have reliable weapons of my own to use.”
Ye Fan was genuinely worried about Pang Bo’s safety. The last time Liu Yiyi had been captured, if not for his meticulous scheming and the timely tribulation lightning that had buried everyone at the critical moment, she would certainly have died.
He had a vague feeling that it had likely been an “old acquaintance” making moves behind the scenes. Though many people had died that day, the true culprit had never been identified.
Ye Fan told all of this to Pang Bo. The two deliberated for a long while and agreed it was necessary to be on guard — that “old acquaintance” could prove to be extremely dangerous.
Though he had given away the Nine Divine Weapons, Ye Fan’s cauldron had already woven the laws of heaven and earth through it and was fully capable in its own right. Moreover, he still had a gourd he had seized from the Purple Mansion Holy Son — its very stopper alone could fire blasts of primordial chaos light, making it very likely a king-grade weapon.
The two spoke at length, and with the Divine Punishing Whip now concealing Ye Fan’s aura, there was no need to fear anyone tracking them.
From Pang Bo he learned a great deal of information about the Hall of Exceptional Talents — most exciting of all was the possibility that a road leading beyond this domain truly existed.
He also learned in detail about the situation of various powerhouses.
Some believed that beyond Wang Teng and the Central Emperor, a third and fourth should be added — the Southern Fiend, and a mysterious powerful figure from Mount Sumeru — but those two were rarely seen, and not many agreed.
“Ye Fan, let’s just focus on cultivating diligently for now. We’ve only been at it for a few years — we’re still far behind others. Some people you simply have to admire. Do you know who the Central Emperor is?”
“Who is it?” Ye Fan was puzzled.
“He is not a person of this age at all. His name is Xiang Yufei.”
“That sounds familiar…” Suddenly Ye Fan’s eyes went wide, and it came rushing back to him.
When he had pillaged Duan De, he had found a Longevity Lock among his possessions — a remnant material from the forging of the demon-subduing pestle by a certain Buddha, later cast into a life-protecting divine lock by several arhats. The final owner of that lock had been Xiang Yufei.
Nine thousand years ago, a world-shaking genius had appeared upon the land of the Central Continent — Xiang Yufei. Before the age of nineteen he had become an Emperor-tier figure, sweeping all before him, possessing the bearing of a great emperor from antiquity.
But heaven begrudges the gifted. He had barely turned twenty when he died young — and even the Longevity Lock had been unable to extend his life.
It was said that in his final moments, Xiang Yufei had sealed himself within an ice coffin and sunk into slumber atop a snow-capped peak, hoping to avert his death and one day be reborn.
Nine thousand years had passed. Duan De had stolen the Longevity Lock from his body — so how had he been revived?
“Are you certain the Central Emperor is Xiang Yufei?”
“To be precise — he is the twenty-year-old Xiang Yufei. Over nine thousand years have passed, yet the passage of time has not left a single mark upon him.”
“How is that possible?!” Ye Fan was shaken. Not long ago he had been lamenting how heaven had begrudged that man, feeling pity on his behalf — and now he had been reborn into the world.
“The Central Emperor is without doubt the Xiang Yufei of nine thousand years ago!” Pang Bo said with absolute certainty, and then revealed some hidden details — everything had been done by the Hall of Exceptional Talents.
Though the Hall of Exceptional Talents had been sealed for ten thousand years, during that time they had not been idle — they had done many things behind the scenes.
“Why would they do this?” Ye Fan did not understand.
“Because at that time, the Demon Emperor had only been dead for a thousand years. Even with the bearing of a great emperor, Xiang Yufei could not have proven his Dao and become an emperor in such a special period — he needed to wait it out.”