Vast and towering Kunlun — magnificent and immense, spanning six cardinal directions, pressing down upon eight wildernesses, stretching without end.
This was a primitive wilderness with no visible limit. By comparison, the Kunlun mountain range of the mortal world was merely one corner — a mere terminal branch of this main range. Truly entering it, one could not help feeling the smallness of one’s own being.
Facing it was like facing the vast starry sky. Every mountain peak was tall enough to fill one with fear — wrapped in clouds and locked in mist, like the energy of primordial chaos permeating everything, filled with the primordial energy of heaven and earth at the moment of creation.
If one soared to the high sky, one could broadly understand: this was a sleeping great dragon. Those countless enormous mountains were the dragon’s vertebrae, stretched out in great sleeping coils — a spectacle of vast magnificence.
“This truly is a pure land fit for a soaring dragon!”
Ye Fan was well versed in the art of origin techniques and could naturally perceive the extraordinary terrain of this place — the ancestor of all veins, the root of all mountains, the terrain reaching the utmost extreme permitted by heaven and earth.
“Dong”… “Dong”…
The ground trembled lightly. Heavy footsteps arrived from the distance, and several enormous creatures appeared — several dozen zhang in height. Each step they took caused the ground to rock several times.
“What manner of creatures are these?”
Ye Fan was astonished. These beings resembled giant apes, yet between their brows grew a spiraling long horn. Their entire bodies were blood-red, covered in dense thick fur, their eyes burning and blazing like torches.
Kunlun was full of ancient beasts. Though the area ahead was a restricted zone, it was divided into many regions of relative safety where various creatures could survive.
They fixed their gaze on Ye Fan immediately. The long horns between their brows crackled with thunder and lightning, sending a bolt of blue blazing electricity crashing down — shearing off an entire section of mountain peak.
Ye Fan’s entire body was bathed in radiant light, suspended in mid-air, utterly unmoved. In this expanse of starry sky, in this present age, there were almost none left who could injure him.
“Worthy of being called the immortal lands of Kunlun. These beasts surpass even the sect masters of today.”
He pointed a single finger forward, releasing a wave of clear radiance, instantly stripping away half of their cultivation. Then his divine might spread forth — enveloping heaven and earth.
The several enormous beasts immediately trembled. Every one of them collapsed and knelt down, shaking with fear, not daring to cause any further trouble — motionless, as though in reverence before a god.
Ye Fan searched their sea of consciousness for some memories. Within this ancient Kunlun range, there were some extremely powerful living creatures that were regarded as forbidden, not to be approached — not even a single step.
At the same time, this was also a secret land capable of producing unpredictable divine objects — rare treasures of all kinds.
Ye Fan let them go and continued forward with Little Song, cross-referencing the terrain map in his hand, carefully avoiding dangerous zones. His pace was not especially quick.
Along the way, ancient trees grew hardy and vigorous. Many old trees — one did not know how many years they had grown — soared into the clouds. Sometimes several stood together, their canopies blocking out countless li, even overtopping mountain peaks.
There were also many old vines — twisted and gnarled like powerful dragons — wrapped horizontally around several great mountains. Vines spread across the ground; cliff faces were covered and buried beneath them. Lush and vigorous.
“Plants wither and then flourish again, yet few among them can ever cross the tribulation and take on human form.”
It was just as with humanity — countless in number, yet how many truly set foot upon the path of cultivation?
Within Kunlun, plants grew lush and flourishing because they were rooted on dragon veins, able to receive the nourishment of earth energy. Their vitality was especially vigorous. Yet mountains and rivers had few among their plant life that ever gave birth to a spirit and consciousness.
Beyond a small number of rare varieties, ordinary plants could only serve as stepping stones, offering the life essence they had nurtured as a gift to others.
Little Song darted about here and there, digging up many ancient medicines. The years and age of each were very long. Having grown for sufficiently distant ages, they were brimming with spiritual energy.
Ye Fan was inwardly startled. In a region where one great peak followed another, he came upon a natural dragon cave — capable of nurturing a true immortal — yet it had failed to produce a holy embryo.
This place had overlapping peaks of lush greenery, with many mountain peaks stacked upon one another, forming a terrain like a dragon coiled around a crouching tiger. At the center was a deep valley — a naturally formed dragon cave of the highest order.
Rosy clouds erupted; auspicious light poured out. Yet Ye Fan, upon going deeper, discovered no divine embryo. What he dug up was a dead stone person — one that had not yet fully taken human form before being drained of life by the mountain terrain.
“Truly pitiable. A sacred spirit can swallow the essence of heaven and earth, and the divine radiance of mountains and rivers should be seized by it as a matter of course. Yet here the reverse has occurred — it was overcome and drained here.”
The terrain of Kunlun had been formed to give birth to immortals. The spiritual energy of all eight directions, the divine radiance of every side — all were channeled through the dragon veins toward the central forbidden grounds. The sacred spirit embryo could not compete.
Ye Fan walked for half a day and had already penetrated deep into the Kunlun mountain range. He encountered several rare spiritual objects. Little Song had even dug up a small medicine king.
This kind of rare plant variety was seldom seen — its medicinal age exceeding fifty thousand years. At the node of a dragon vein, nourished by a rich concentration of earth energy, it was crystalline throughout, with a fragrance that enveloped everything. Little Song was so intoxicated he could only wave his hands and feet in delight.
For this was the first time he had ever picked such a spiritual object by himself. Delighted, he hugged it — it was taller than he was — and presented it like a treasure to Ye Fan.
Usually it was always Ye Fan giving him spirit fruits. For once, things were reversed. Little Song dug for medicine all around, running and jumping with joy, showing filial care to his own master.
“Howl—!”
A clear roar rang out. A boundless wave of heat rolled over. Ahead, for thousands of li, the earth was scorched bare — not a blade of grass grew. In the midst of Kunlun, this was truly a strange sight.
“A drought demon!”
Ye Fan was astonished. He saw a human-shaped creature about two chi in height. Wherever it passed, rocks melted and grass and trees turned to ash, leaving only barren wasteland.
Scarlet clouds flickered. The drought demon transformed into a bolt of fire and came rushing forward, sweeping along with it a raging flood of solar fire. It was flicked away by Ye Fan’s finger. He turned his hand and brought a great mountain crashing down to suppress it beneath.
“How is such a thing here? Legend has it these are formed from corpses that undergo strange transformation. Can it be that someone actually dared to inter a body within Kunlun?”
The Yuewei Cottage Notes, chapter seven, records: “What is called the drought demon in recent times are all animated corpses. When dug up and burned, rain frequently follows.”
Ye Fan gazed into the distance, examining the surrounding scene. This Kunlun was the location of the primary dragon vein, nurturing the hope of immortality — who would dare to bury a coffin in a place like this?
They passed through this barren region and re-entered mountains and seas teeming with life. Little Song, utterly carefree, hopped and skipped along with a small medicine basket on his back, gathering medicines in every direction.
Though the small medicine basket was no larger than a fist, it was a treasure that Ye Fan had refined for him — capable of containing mountains and rivers. Normally, it was where he stored his spirit fruits.
Before long, he cried out with delight and dug up another small medicine king. About sixty thousand years in age, with powerful medicinal potency, its entire body like carved gemstones, fragrant and clean.
This was astonishing. Even in the Northern Dipper it would be difficult to find many small medicine kings in the mountains. The key to Kunlun was that no one could enter — without a terrain map, entering here meant certain death.
This was the accumulation of ages uncounted. This place had practically transformed into sacred ground for divine medicines. Unfortunately, Ye Fan and Little Song could only travel along specific terrain paths and could not venture deeper into the broader and more expansive regions — otherwise, world-ending killing formations would have obliterated them body and soul.
“Splash!”
Suddenly, Little Song tumbled into an underground cave, then quickly scrambled out, patting his little chest — clearly badly startled.
“Hmm — it seems someone has buried coffins here.”
Ye Fan discovered a whole expanse of coffins underground. Most were stone, and therefore had not decayed, preserved down to the present day.
“What manner of people were these, leaving drought demons behind after all these ages?”
Suddenly, a stone coffin was pushed open from within. A creature with flame-red fur all over its body leapt out, its gaze terrifying. It lunged forward.
It opened its mouth and spat a torrent of black light — like an evil god escaped from the underworld. It actually possessed divine abilities at the level of an ancient patriarch, enough to frighten Little Song, who immediately retreated in alarm.
“Hiss!”
Radiance blazed from between Ye Fan’s brows. A thread of divine light shot out, instantly dissolving the black light from the underground cave and fixing the creature in place — stripping it of its entire cultivation.
More stone coffins stirred. Several more undead beasts leapt out — but all were suppressed before they could approach. They erupted in flames on the spot and were reduced to ash.
Ye Fan fixed his gaze on some ancient characters inscribed on the coffins and studied them for a long while. A strange expression entered his eyes. These were the script of the Northern Dipper — found here on Earth.
“So that is how it was. These are people from the Featherization Divine Dynasty!”
In that long-ago time, a group of people had been escorting the “hope” of immortality to the Kunlun immortal vein for restoration. Upon withdrawing, they encountered an extremely powerful adversary. The terrain map in their possession was lost, and some of them became trapped here.
“These are their descendants. The bloodline was sustained for a long time — yet in the end, all of them died here, unable to escape.”
Kunlun was an immortal vein, and dragon energy nourished the ground beneath, sustaining these bodies. Several of them had barely decayed even now — having transformed into drought demons and other demonic creatures.
Ye Fan followed the terrain map in his hand and proceeded without encountering any danger. It was a winding and twisting ancient road. Everywhere else had ancient divine formations, and stepping into them would mean total obliteration of body and soul.
Two days later, he sensed wisps of immortal energy drifting toward him from ahead. This meant he was drawing close to the immortality grounds, and his heart was stirred with great excitement.
“Whoosh!”
A cyan mist flashed past. Waves of fragrance poured out. Little Song almost lifted off the ground and followed it. His cute little nose twitched; he was utterly enraptured, blinking his great black-gemstone eyes with unbridled wonder.
It was a sacred medicine!
A divine ancient medicine capable of moving through the earth veins — already become a spirit. Cyan mist glimmering, its medicinal fragrance intoxicating, it drew even Ye Fan’s attention, who personally gave chase.
“Could this be a Herb of Immortality?”
Rongchengshi had dug up a Herb of Immortality in these very Kunlun immortal veins. To encounter another here would not be surprising, for this was a place that nurtured immortals.
Cyan mist flickered — it was the vine and leaf blades radiating this light. This ancient medicine was extremely fast. Its root and stem resembled an old person, its expression fearful, sprinting away in frantic flight.
“It is a He Shou Wu!”
Legend has it that a He Shou Wu that has taken human form, if eaten, can grant immortality. Yet in the mortal world, a humanoid root had never been seen — the roots of He Shou Wu were generally block-shaped.
Now, here in this place, there was a He Shou Wu with a human-shaped root. This was truly a remarkable thing. Ye Fan was quite astonished, and he chased after it with Little Song.
This He Shou Wu had green-emerald vines and leaves, and golden-yellow roots. Its face was aged, its expression terrified, as it plunged into the earth veins and fled along them into the dangerous territory marked on the terrain map.
Then it halted, clasping its hands together repeatedly, pleading unceasingly, begging Ye Fan to spare its life.
This was a semi-divine medicine — of the same level as the Ancestor Ginseng of Changbai Mountain. If four such plants were gathered together, they would be roughly equivalent to one Herb of Immortality.
This was the ancestor of He Shou Wu. How many ages it had grown, no one could say. It was a divine herb nurtured by heaven and earth — breathing in the essence of the sun and moon, its vital energy full and abundant, limitless and inexhaustible.
It could not soar through the sky and cross the void as a Herb of Immortality could, but like the Ancestor Ginseng of Changbai Mountain, it could move through the earth veins. Only an origin technique master of Ye Fan’s level could catch it.
Beyond its emerald-green vines and leaves, the old He Shou Wu stood over half a meter tall, entirely golden-yellow, fragrant throughout, kneeling there trembling from head to toe.
Little Song was soft-hearted. His long lashes trembled. He looked up, blinking his great black-gemstone eyes, and pleaded with Ye Fan on the plant’s behalf. He thought the He Shou Wu looked very pitiful.
The He Shou Wu shed tears, bowing in reverence to Little Song, then turned to Ye Fan and begged piteously. It transmitted a vague consciousness, begging Ye Fan to spare its life.
Such divine herbs, like the Herb of Immortality, found it very difficult to develop a powerful divine sense. Their medicine body could live forever, yet they had no way to cultivate heaven-reaching abilities for self-protection.
Ye Fan nodded. He had no wish to disturb the natural balance of things. The He Shou Wu, unlike the Herb of Immortality, could not survive long outside its pure land — without being immediately consumed, its vital energy would slowly dissipate and it would dry up and die.
At the moment, he had no need to eat a Herb of Immortality — to do so would simply be a waste.
The old He Shou Wu gave thanks a thousand times over, transmitting a vague consciousness. If Ye Fan or Little Song’s life ever reached its very end, he could come here and seek it out — at any summons, it would appear and offer its He Shou Wu essence to bring the dead back to life.
Ye Fan was struck speechless. He had never imagined that such a karmic connection would come of this. Though he had not picked the human-shaped He Shou Wu, if some day a beloved companion faced death, he could still come here to save them.
He then asked the old He Shou Wu about everything within Kunlun Mountain. He unexpectedly learned — there was a god here!
What manner of god, the He Shou Wu could not say. Its divine sense was feeble and its ability to communicate was limited. It did not even know the true form of that god.
In the end, the He Shou Wu led him forward to a hidden place, saying there were divine traces left behind by an ancient immortal. When the ancient immortal had passed through, it had witnessed with its own eyes — a female immortal whose divine abilities were unrivaled throughout all ages, surpassing everyone else who had ever come to this place.
The He Shou Wu had lived for ages immeasurable. Heaven had given it an undying body, yet gave it no capacity for cultivation — just like divine medicines, this was a fatal flaw.
Throughout all its endless ages, it had witnessed many extraordinary events and secret affairs in this place. It had even witnessed with its own eyes people spoken of only in legend.
Ye Fan was startled. In his exchange with the He Shou Wu, when the conversation turned to Rongchengshi, he provided a detailed description — and further said that Rongchengshi had once caught a Herb of Immortality in this very place.
The He Shou Wu immediately recalled this event. It said that the divine medicine had gone willingly with Rongchengshi, wishing to leave this place behind.
“Why?” Ye Fan did not understand.
The He Shou Wu said: divine medicines possessed spiritual awareness, and all had the divine nature of gravitating toward fortune and avoiding calamity. The herb had sensed that in the future, this place might be visited by a great catastrophe, and had set out early.
As for the He Shou Wu — it had not yet reached that level, and had never developed such a premonition. This left Ye Fan at a loss for words.
The He Shou Wu had witnessed Rongchengshi, had seen his overwhelming power — a quasi-Emperor of his generation, supreme throughout the world, with few throughout all history who could match him.
Yet the He Shou Wu also said: Rongchengshi was by no means the most formidable to have come here. Others of the same level had also come, and yet none could compare to that immortal woman — not even a ten-thousandth part of her. To say she was superior to all past and present would not be an exaggeration.
At the time, even the ginseng fruit tree had wished to follow that immortal woman of its own accord — yet she, for reasons unknown, her face streaked with tears, had not acknowledged it at all.
Ye Fan was wide-eyed with astonishment. This was too extraordinary — a divine medicine offering itself up to follow someone of its own accord, yet being turned away!
Very soon, he let out a long sigh. Why did every great Emperor of old always have a Herb of Immortality? It was a mutual selection — one seeking long life, the other seeking shelter and protection.
“What did she look like? What did she leave behind?”
The He Shou Wu led him forward, telling him that above the ancient immortal’s head hung a great Dao treasure vessel. Wherever she passed, all ten thousand things retreated, all ten thousand laws shattered. Between heaven and earth, she alone was supreme.
“What… it was her!”