To be completely honest, Duan De’s behavior had left everyone at a complete loss. It seemed as though he had simply grown tired of living — daring to enter the primordial ancient mine? What a joke. Even the Victorious Fighting Buddha going in there might result in his fall!
Yet there he walked, singing, his expression utterly composed, and as they drew truly close to the forbidden zone, it was clear this was no bluff. He was about to step inside.
“Duan De, are you tired of living?” Ye Fan called out sternly.
“Unscrupulous Taoist, you’re not seriously doing this, are you? You’re actually going in?” The Great Black Dog fixed him with those copper-bell eyes and demanded.
“Uncle Duan De, please don’t! Please don’t do anything rash — if you died, I would be heartbroken.” Little bald-head shouted.
The Victorious Fighting Buddha came to a stop and looked at Duan De. His entire body radiated a golden, glowing fur, his bearing solemn and dignified, his expression one of compassion — and he spoke not a single word.
“Ancient Buddha, there is no need to look at me like that. I walk a different path from yours, and I have no connection with the people of Mount Sumeru — I have no intention of taking Buddhist vows.” Duan De gave a dry laugh.
The Victorious Fighting Buddha still said nothing. He actually walked a slow circle around Duan De, studying him carefully, his expression contemplative.
“I am a man of humble origins, with no special background.” Duan De chanted: “Infinite Heavenly Venerable.”
The others all found the scene peculiar. Without speaking, they fixed their gazes on him without blinking. Duan De’s origins were a mystery — no one knew his master or his lineage — and now he seemed more unusual than ever.
Yet no matter how they opened their celestial eyes to observe him closely, not one of them could discern anything.
The Victorious Fighting Buddha said: “If you had spent a hundred myriad years building the path to immortality and the Dao, what would be the point of still chanting to the Infinite Heavenly Venerable? Simply venerate yourself — you would likely be no less impressive.”
Duan De coughed, his face creasing with exasperation. He said: “If I were such an existence, why would I still constrain myself? I could ascend into the sun and moon above, and descend into the underworld below — throughout all the nine heavens and ten earths I could roam as I pleased, and even if there were divine beings within the primordial ancient mine, they would likely be unable to harm me.”
Everyone thought it over carefully, and indeed, that held true. Duan De’s origins were mysterious and his cultivation was uncanny, yet he absolutely could not be a supreme-level being — for if he were, why would his situation be what it was?
“Truth be told, coming here was something I had no choice but to do. In all likelihood, I have nine chances of dying and only one of survival. It is exactly as you say — it does seem very much like I am walking into my own death.” Duan De sighed.
“To enter this place, one must possess an ancient emperor’s token. Without one, the only outcome is death. Do you have such a thing?” The Shencan Princess asked.
A moment ago, it had still been possible to believe this was a jest, that he wasn’t being serious. But now, with him this grave-faced, truly on the verge of stepping inside — and possibly tumbling into a pit of eternal damnation — she had to say something.
“I have an ancient token.” Duan De nodded, and produced a tattered, somewhat rust-spotted bronze tablet — ancient, unadorned, and plain.
It was not as if Duan De were short of ancient tokens. In the past, he had overawed others with a few such tokens; now he had produced yet another, leaving people as unable to see through him as ever.
“An ancient emperor’s token is no ordinary object. How could you possibly have dug up something like this?” The Shencan Princess naturally didn’t believe his bronze tablet was genuine.
“Rest assured, I have no desire to send myself to my death immediately. This one should be authentic — I dug it up myself.”
The Shencan Princess was unconvinced. “Utter nonsense. Primordial emperors’ ancient tokens are all held within the great royal clans and have never been buried underground, nor have any ever been lost. How could you possibly possess one?”
“This token of mine is without question genuine, and it will certainly allow entry. An ancient emperor personally cast it, fashioned roughly one million years ago or so.” Duan De said with full confidence.
Since he had already said all this, and given how slippery this person was, he certainly wouldn’t be foolish enough to genuinely walk to his death. Everyone found they had nothing further to say, and no way to stop him.
“Brother Duan, now that you are about to enter the primordial ancient mine, do you have nothing you wish to say? Will you not speak of your own origins and past?” Ye Fan asked.
They had been acquainted for so many years. However immoral this Taoist might be, he had helped out on more than a few occasions — and now that he was heading into the primordial ancient mine, where his life or death was uncertain, Ye Fan felt compelled to ask.
“As for me, I am simply one of the countless ordinary souls in this world — nothing particularly special about me. But truly, over all these years that I have walked among the ancient tombs underground, I have always been seeking answers to three questions.” Duan De said, his expression entirely earnest.
Everyone’s expression sharpened slightly. To see him this serious was genuinely rare. Whatever these three questions were, everyone wanted to know — and they listened with genuine attention.
“Who am I?”
“Where do I come from?”
“Where am I going?”
Duan De’s face bore not the slightest trace of jest. Yet despite this, everyone still felt as though they had been played — it was obviously just a brushoff.
“Uncle Duan De is a philosopher.” Little bald-head said, blinking his great eyes.
Long Ma curled his lip in contempt. “Pfft. I will spit a mouthful of immortal breath on your face. If someone on the other shore of the stars were to say such things, one might let it pass, but you spend your days robbing graves and desecrating tombs—”
“The domain of my pursuits is not something you could possibly comprehend. This is magnificent archaeology — the study of all living beings’ origins and trajectories!” Duan De declared without the slightest shame, having reverted entirely to his usual self.
The whole group responded with contempt and said nothing more.
Ye Fan was momentarily taken aback, watching his retreating figure with a contemplative expression — yet still he could not see through him.
The group arrived at the outer edge of the primordial forbidden zone, and dared go no further.
The beings within the primordial ancient mine had awakened in this age when the path to immortality was drawing near to opening. In ordinary times they lay in slumber, unwilling to expend even a single thread of their “divine” essence.
In the past, even stepping into the forbidden zone would not have provoked any reaction. But now it was entirely different — the moment one set foot inside, it would disturb the supreme being dwelling in the depths of the forbidden zone, and whether that brought fortune or calamity was impossible to say.
Ye Fan and the others withdrew, crossing through the void to enter Shencan Ridge, where they would wait for news.
This was a vast expanse of mountainous land seemingly without end, covered everywhere in mulberry trees crawling with all manner of unusual silkworms, while the ancient emperor’s descendants — the Shencan themselves — were rarely seen.
“These mulberry trees were born from the divine spring — they are not true plant life!”
Ye Fan, Li Heishui, Yan Yixi, Dongfang Ye, and the others were visiting this ancient royal clan’s land for the first time and were naturally astonished, finding everything they laid eyes upon wondrous and strange.
Even the Holy Prince and Ji Zi, as the birth sons of an ancient sage emperor and a great emperor respectively, had never visited such a place before — they too were stepping onto divine soil for the first time.
As for the Great Black Dog, it looked rather uneasy, casting glances this way and that, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. There was nothing to be done about it — it had made enemies of far too many people, and had managed to provoke the Shencan clan as well.
Deep within the mountain range stood nine ridges of Shencan, majestic and boundless, cloaked in mystery, swathed in vast drifts of mist — all of it immortal energy, carrying within it the remnant spiritual aura left behind by the ancient emperor.
The reason Ye Fan and the others had been permitted to come here at all was entirely thanks to the relationship between the Victorious Fighting Buddha and the Holy Prince. It went without saying that they could not venture anywhere near the true central forbidden zone.
Even so, they had the rare good fortune to set foot upon the first of the nine Shencan Ridges, entering a place of magnificent and commanding grandeur — lush with thriving vegetation, dotted with shimmering pools, and enveloped in a deep, hushed stillness.
Upon a green boulder lay a disheveled Taoist, lost in deep slumber. Beside him was a row of wine jars — and this was none other than the ancient emperor’s own son, the Shencan Daoren.
His complexion was somewhat pallid, and between his brows lingered a faint cloud of melancholy. He had sunk into a deep, unmoving slumber.
The people of the Shencan clan let out a collective sigh, and no one said a word. This ancient emperor’s son was different from the likes of Huo Qizi and the Shencan in the Crimson Phoenix Mountain. He lacked vitality, and carried instead an air of twilight and weariness. He had never fit into this world, and had been this way for as long as anyone could remember — no one had ever been able to change it.
Ye Fan and the others did not disturb him. They passed through the ridge, crossed through the forest of divine mulberry, walked past the source mountain, and arrived beside a jade-green pool.
The pool was no more than one zhang in length, yet it pulsed with wisps of immortal energy rising upward. Under the Shencan Princess’s control, it grew limpid and crystalline, glowing with translucent light, and transformed into a mirror-like surface.
“Whoosh!”
A green light swept across it, and the pool reflected the scene of the primordial forbidden zone — projecting the figures of the Victorious Fighting Buddha and Duan De with perfect clarity.
This was a divine pool left behind by the ancient emperor of Shencan Ridge. Every member of the direct bloodline could use it to temper their body, and it possessed a singular remarkable ability: it could observe the three realms and six paths of existence, functioning much like the Heaven-Seeing Divine Eye of the Demon Emperor’s Palace.
Unfortunately, only an ancient emperor could fully activate it. Descendants could only channel the aura of a person or scene they wished to observe into the pool, allowing it to trace their presence.
Given the Shencan Princess’s relationship with the Victorious Fighting Buddha, she naturally had access to a strand of his refined aura. And so, standing here beside this divine pool, they could see all.
“They have entered!” Ye Fan said.
The Victorious Fighting Buddha and Duan De, each bearing their ancient emperor’s tokens, stepped forward into the primordial forbidden zone — and every one of those watching held their breath instantly, watching with wide, unblinking eyes.
“Blast it — how did I forget about the Heaven-Devouring Demon Cap? That is something I have coveted my entire life. Just now I should have grabbed it from him by force if nothing else. Letting him take it in there is like throwing a meat bun at a dog — you’ll never see it again!” The Black Emperor was overcome with regret.
The primordial forbidden zone was terrifyingly dangerous. Every single step could bring forth lethal crisis, for this place buried the greatest secrets of ten thousand ages. Even Great Sages and primordial powerhouses did not dare draw near.
“Something is happening — the primordial ancient mine is stirring!” Ji Zi said gravely.
In the jade-green divine pool, the reflected image of the primordial ancient mine showed a spreading tide of immortal mist rising upward — a drifting, hazy, uncanny presence that, even from this great distance, made everyone shiver.
“What is Duan De saying? Why can we not hear any sound?” The group was growing anxious, their eyes fixed upon the pool.
At that moment, inside the primordial forbidden zone, Duan De stood holding his ancient emperor’s token, his lips moving — yet what he was saying was impossible to hear.
“One more token — one never seen before.” A cold, impassive voice rang out, as though descending from the chaotic immortal realm beyond the thirty-three heavens, shaking heaven and earth with a thunderous, rolling reverberation. The faces of everyone gathered at the pool went pale.
Duan De said something more — no one could tell what. The primordial ancient mine fell into silence. After a long while, the rust-spotted bronze tablet in his hand flew into the primordial ancient mine.
“It truly is an ancient emperor’s token!”
Finally, only this single cold utterance emerged from within the mine.
Slash!
From within the mine, three beams of light erupted in succession, dazzling and blinding — true immortal brilliance — descending in an instant and striking Duan De’s body.
“Bang!”
His body exploded, blown apart into pieces. A mist of blood dissipated, dissolving into wisps of energy that merged into heaven and earth, vanishing in an instant.
“What — Duan De is dead!”
“No — why? Why did this happen?”
Those gathered by the pool cried out in shock, every face gone iron-grey. Duan De was dead, just like that — his form and soul both obliterated, not even bone fragments left behind!
No one could accept this reality. Duan De of all people — cunning and slippery through and through — how could he have chosen a path like this to his death?!
“Uncle Duan De!” Little bald-headed Hua Hua burst into tears.
“Teacher Duan!” Ye Tong cried out as well. In the long years when Ye Fan had been away on his distant journey, it had been the Great Black Dog, along with Duan De and Li Tian, who had guided him — to him, they were something close to half a teacher.
“How can this be?” Everyone cried out.
The immortal mist within the primordial ancient mine grew denser, immortal energy surging upward — cold and impassive as ever. Then the voice rang out once more, saying: “This is the ancient — Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art!”