The Immortal Pool — the water and marshland crystalline and gleaming, fragrant and refreshing, mist and vapors drifting, rosy clouds blazing in the sky, auspicious radiance billowing upward.

The ancient Immortal Peach tree was rooted at the bank of the Immortal Pool, standing forty-nine meters tall. No one knew how many tens of thousands of years it had grown. Its old bark was cracked and split, rough and ancient-looking, like pieces of Dragon Scale. Yet it was full of life — branches and leaves flourishing, flowing with green light. Several crystalline peach blossoms bloomed upon it, their fragrance able to permeate to the very marrow of one’s bones.

Ye Fan drew close. Every pore of his body opened and closed, absorbing and exhaling Life Essence, reaching a state of equilibrium with this place. A layer of translucent luster appeared across the surface of his body.

The spiritual energy of this place was so thick it could not be dissolved — worthy of being called one corner of immortal land. Even if a true immortal realm existed, one imagined it could be no better than this.

The several ancient race powerhouses had not yet departed. They glanced at him a few times and said nothing, but it was difficult to sense any goodwill from them. There was a faint and chilling undercurrent — perceptible only to a Dao Severer.

“Our prince truly wishes sincerely to exchange for this stone embryo. A single volume of the Divine Spirit Ancient Scripture is a heavenshattering treasure. If the Jade Pool were willing, it could establish an entirely new mountain gate from it and give rise to another holy land.” A man with antlers growing from his head spoke — his long hair an ash grey color.

“Let this matter rest here. The Jade Pool has its own legacy, and there is no need to cultivate another’s Dao lineage.” The Queen Mother of the West spoke. She was magnificently dignified, with a Nine-Phoenix hairpin in her hair and golden step-sway ornaments hanging from it. Her entire body was clothed in feathered robes with shimmering aurora. Her expression was serene, yet she was deeply sacred and inviolable.

The ancient race member was unwilling to relent, and spoke earnestly: “This is not a handwritten copy — it is the original text of the scripture, cast in phoenix blood and crimson gold by the Undying Celestial Emperor himself!”

Beside them, Ye Fan’s heart stirred. It seemed the Celestial Prince was not attempting to deceive the Jade Pool — this was a genuine intention to make the exchange. This divine embryo truly carried a staggering price.

Within his heart he quietly weighed the situation. If the Celestial Prince were to personally come bearing the ancient scripture, he would be tempted to intercept and kill him along the way — both to eliminate a great enemy, and to see for himself what unique qualities the scripture penned by a being worshipped as transcending the divine by ten thousand clans in antiquity might hold.

“Speak of this matter no further. This stone king has already gained spiritual awareness and has been raised as a child by the sages of every generation. How could it be exchanged with another?” The Queen Mother of the West refused.

The several ancient race powerhouses exchanged glances. One of them presented a jade vessel to the Queen Mother of the West — within it held the Celestial Prince’s five-colored divine blood. With expressions of dissatisfaction, they departed.

They flicked a glance at Ye Fan — a killing intent flashed and vanished — and they left the Immortal Pool. A Jade Pool elder saw them off, exchanging several polite words.

The Queen Mother of the West smiled faintly and, apart from Ye Fan, kept only the Holy Maiden beside her, asking all others to leave.

Who Ye Fan truly was — that sort of thing naturally could not be concealed from her. The Holy Maiden had already reported it, for otherwise, how could just anyone’s blood be sprinkled upon the stone king?

“Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Ye, on your greatly advanced cultivation — crossing the celestial void is a divine wonder that all of us cultivators have dreamed of.” The Queen Mother of the West said, speaking with great courtesy and treating him as an absolute equal.

And indeed, by now Ye Fan’s cultivation was unfathomably profound. Even if a great accomplished king were to meet him, they could not allow themselves to be overly proud. Once one understood his true power, every holy land would have to tread carefully.

In truth, she was greatly moved within her heart. Thinking back to the past, Ye Fan had been nothing more than a minor cultivator, who had come to the Jade Pool needing her protection. Yet she could never have imagined that after all these years, he now stood towering in the highest heavens.

Ye Fan would naturally not be presumptuous in return. The head of a great and majestic holy land — setting aside her cultivation, her identity alone was sufficient to speak as an equal with the ancient primordial kings.

By now he had long since come to understand the terrifying depth of any immortal legacy. Not a single one could be taken lightly — their so-called “reserves” were truly formidable!

Ye Fan reflected: if a great war were truly to break out, the legacies that had once produced great emperors would most likely have trump cards capable of overturning heaven and earth.

The Queen Mother of the West held the jade vessel. The five-colored blood contained within shimmered brilliantly, overflowing with strands of powerful and terrifying fluctuations that inspired awe.

The Jade Pool was cautious. Every drop of divine blood sprinkled upon the stone king would be covertly purified once by the imperial aura of the Western Emperor Pagoda. As the blood-water was sprinkled, no one else could detect it — but Ye Fan could sense it. The pagoda above was trembling faintly.

Beneath the ancient Immortal Peach tree, this strange stone was crystalline and lustrous, bearing nine apertures and eight orifices, delicately translucent. At every moment it was autonomously absorbing and exhaling the essence of the sun and moon.

When the Celestial Prince’s blood had been fully absorbed, the stone trembled continuously, emitting a joyful and gentle hum. Its radiance grew even more dazzling, and the life gestating within seemed as though it might burst from the stone at any moment.

In the days that followed, Ye Fan remained in this place continuously — only the Queen Mother of the West and the Holy Maiden of the Jade Pool kept him company. No outsiders were permitted to approach.

He had already opened his Heavenly Eye. With divine light blazing unblinking, he fixed his gaze upon the strange stone. In former times he had not been able to see through it, for the stone was far too mysterious, with Dao markings laid upon it by ancient sages.

But now things were very different. With his origin arts at great mastery, he could clearly perceive every scene within the stone. What he saw was a physical human figure seated in meditation, their entire body radiating precious splendor.

“It is a woman.”

This divine embryo looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years of age. She sat in meditation with eyes closed, of incomparable beauty. Her body flowed with immortal light — beautiful to the absolute extreme, yet inspiring a sense of awe.

Her nine apertures and eight orifices were connected to the surface of the strange stone, as though she wore a thick garment of stone. Upon her body, various scripture texts flickered — those were the marks left by ancient sages who had spoken the Dao and recited the scriptures for her.

The Queen Mother of the West and the Holy Maiden had invited Ye Fan here for two purposes: first, they needed his holy blood. Second, they wished to use his unparalleled origin arts to see exactly what the divine embryo within the stone had become at this point.

“Heaven and earth in harmony, having nurtured such a divine embryo — it truly fills one with awe. I sense strands and strands of immortal energy.” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

Then he closed his eyes and carved into the void, imprinting the appearance and the aura of the divine embryo — causing both the Queen Mother of the West and the Holy Maiden to react with great surprise.

The woman within the stone was otherworldly and saintly — beyond all question. Her beauty did not belong to the mortal world. Her body had long since transcended flesh and blood — her organs, bones, and all else carried an inexplicable immortal resonance, dotted with luminous points.

“The magnitude of the potential within her body is beyond imagination. Every inch of her form contains power like a vast ocean. Were she truly to emerge into the world, she could pluck stars and seize the moon!” Ye Fan said in a grave tone.

This divine female form was without a single flaw. If this divine embryo were born into the world someday, there would be almost no one under heaven capable of suppressing her — which compelled him to examine her carefully.

Ye Fan was somewhat hesitant. The trembling of the stone seemed to be the divine embryo’s instinct, yet her sea of consciousness was very tranquil — its fluctuations faint and weak, incongruous with her powerful and beautiful physical form.

“That is the result of the ancient sages’ purification.” The Queen Mother of the West said.

The Jade Pool’s predecessors had also feared that something might go wrong. Using their world-piercing abilities, they had spoken the scriptures and completely purified the divine embryo’s sea of consciousness. According to their account, the divine embryo now possessed the pure and innocent heart of a newborn child — as though she were a daughter of the Jade Pool.

“When she truly enters the world, her divine consciousness will catch up.”

Though the divine embryo had been “purified,” her potential remained. Once awakened, it would be vast as an ocean.

In the days that followed, Ye Fan sat every day beneath the ancient Immortal Peach tree, nourishing the strange stone with his essence blood each day, and opening his Heavenly Eye each time to observe.

“She is drawing out the primordial power within the blood!” Ye Fan observed carefully over several days. The divine light in his eyes flickered, and his heart trembled with stirring.

Was all of this pure instinct? This beautiful and awe-inspiring divine embryo was drawing out slender strands of light from the holy blood, transforming them into a symbol that was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and imprinting it within her body.

“Ah — the few symbols drawn out from the Celestial Prince’s five-colored divine blood are exceptionally brilliant.” Ye Fan possessed a uniquely extraordinary Celestial Origin Eye. To him, there were no secrets within the stone, and he observed this phenomenon clearly.

“The blood contains primordial power, fragments of ancient ancestral memories — are these symbols that very thing?” He was astonished within.

If one thought on it deeper, the implications were extraordinarily complex. The Celestial Prince’s blood necessarily contained the power of the Undying Celestial Emperor — the supreme deity revered by ten thousand clans, very likely the mightiest being in all of history, past and present.

This was indirectly the blood and life imprint of the Undying Celestial Emperor himself! Who could compare to that?

Ye Fan pondered over it for several days without discerning any clues. In the end, he steeled his resolve and released no fewer drops of blood than the Celestial Prince had. Brilliant symbols immediately appeared within the stone.

“What exactly does the Celestial Prince intend?” Ye Fan did not know. In the end, a great deal of holy blood had flowed down, and the brilliant symbols were somewhat more numerous than the Celestial Prince’s.

At the bank of the Immortal Pool, ancient medicinal herbs grew in broad sweeps. Ginseng plants had taken human form. Orchids and lingzhi carpeted the ground everywhere, exhaling their essence, their fragrance intoxicating. Qilin beasts lay crouched here, auspicious beasts appearing and disappearing.

Ye Fan remained beneath the Immortal Peach tree for over half a month, without discovering any abnormalities whatsoever. In the end he departed, taking with him a scroll of handwritten notes.

The notes contained obscure records of some of the secrets behind the Western Emperor’s forging of her imperial weapon — almost like the stuff of legend. Things like: plunging into the Immortal Sea of Primordial Chaos, entering the highest heavens alone, slaying a deity as a sacrificial offering to heaven… Reading it made his brow furrow deeply.

“Forget it — I’ll contemplate this slowly later on. As things stand, it’s no different from reading mythological stories.” He shook his head.

Though he had walked out of the Jade Pool, the nine-aperture, eight-orifice strange stone lingered in his heart and would not leave. The Queen Mother of the West had once said that the path to immortality was about to open, and that they had no choice but to seek out various bloodlines to nourish the divine embryo — absolutely determined to have her born into the world before that moment arrived.

“Has what I left behind become a holy blood imprint?” Ye Fan murmured to himself. He felt it necessary to seek out the Celestial Prince and cut him down — otherwise there was always a sense that something was amiss.

“Hmm. You’ve finally come out. We’ve been waiting for you for over half a month.”

Several hundred li outside the Jade Pool, several members of the ancient races blocked his path. The leader had a head of grey hair, even his eyes an iron-grey color, antlers growing from his head — a Dao Severer.

“You have been waiting for me — is there something you need?”

“Nothing in particular. We just wanted to have a chat.” Several ancient race members surrounded him, the corners of their mouths carrying a trace of mockery. Every one of them exuded undisguised killing intent.

Ye Fan smiled. “Very well. I was just looking to have a chat with you as well.”

“Are you the Feathered King of the Central State, or one of the Twin Kings, or perhaps someone else — such as the King of the Underworld?” The antlered man asked in an unhurried tone.

They had received reliable information that several of the kings from the Central State were due to have arrived only within the past half month, and so they believed Ye Fan to be one of them.

“None of the above.” Ye Fan shook his head.

“You ignorant thing who doesn’t know death is before you — announce your name quickly.” One of them barked.

The grey-haired man with antlers was the first to act. A painted scroll unfurled, and black mist surged to fill the sky, instantly enveloping all of heaven and earth and drawing Ye Fan inside. “Best to be cautious. Capture him first, then interrogate him at leisure.”

This was a treasure bestowed by the Celestial Prince. They held absolute confidence in it — this painting could trap any Dao Severer, and was capable of annihilating the human race’s king-level powerhouses.

The world within the painting was like a cage. Those inside and those outside could see each other clearly.

“The Celestial Prince has invested so much effort — we cannot let a single rat spoil the entire pot. Search his sea of consciousness and see exactly what his identity is.”

The group looked down at the painted scroll with cold smiles, their killing intent fully revealed.

“This ignorant creature who doesn’t know death is before him, appearing at the Jade Pool of all times — utterly aggravating. First, split open his body and see what kind of blood flows within.”

These people all wore cold and ruthless expressions. The power of life and death held in their hands. One of them held a divine whip and lashed it toward the figure within the painting.

Pff!

A flash of blood light — that person shattered on the spot, dissolving into a cloud of blood mist. Everyone else was greatly alarmed.

Then a large golden hand reached out, covering all of heaven and earth, enveloping every single one of them, and in one grasp hauled them all into the painting.

“This… how is this possible?!” They were all seized with terror.

To their knowledge, apart from the Celestial Prince himself, only Huang Xu Dao, Huo Qizi, and a scant few others could break through this scroll. It was capable of suppressing and killing numerous human Dao Severers — and yet now, something like this had happened.

“Speak then. What exactly is that rat, the Celestial Prince, trying to accomplish?” Ye Fan stood atop a beautiful mountain peak within the painting.

“You—” One of them had just begun to bark back.

A great foot descended from the sky and stomped him into a cloud of blood mist on the spot. Not even fragments of bone remained — they scattered into the air.

“I was just thinking of going to find him myself. You’ve delivered yourselves right to my door at the perfect time. Hurry up and tell me — what exactly is he trying to do?” Ye Fan said in a cold voice.