The great lake lay still and peaceful, veiled in a haze of mist, stretching for several thousand li in all directions. No creature dared intrude upon it.

Along its shore, ancient trees stood lush and verdant, full of life and vitality. Upon the stone cliffs and precipitous rock faces, stalks of spiritual herbs grew in clusters, releasing wisps of delicate fragrance.

Ye Fan had been seeking enlightenment a few dozen li away. Over these past few days, the wondrous phenomena he had drawn forth had long since alarmed the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon in the lake — yet it had not appeared, enduring in restrained silence.

For it had witnessed the extraordinary sight of the person on the shore — ancient scripture characters manifesting like characters cast from metal, revolving around his body, the scene too breathtaking for words.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon was a Sacred Beast and the overlord of this region. Unlike ordinary beast cultivators, its strength was extraordinarily powerful and its immortal root remarkable.

Over the years, it had slain more than one Saint before seizing control of this aquatic domain and obtaining an ancient inheritance. Its natural gifts had left many elder ancient beasts deeply wary of it.

Yet today, its heart was leaping with anxiety — it felt as though it had been fixed in the sights of a ferocious beast, its entire body running cold from head to tail, chilled to the core.

This had never happened before. Was there truly a more ferocious beast than itself? What an absolute irony.

“True dragon blood flows through my body — none know the full extent of my potential. I am among the most powerful lineages since ancient times — and now a creature wants to hunt me?!” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon seethed with rage. It surged up from its aquatic domain, coiling atop a reef and exposing its enormous body.

The entire form was golden yellow, as though cast from gold itself — blindingly bright, brilliant enough to sting the eyes. Within its body pulsed an explosive force of shattering power.

It was a colossal creature: a body of golden yellow, its scales dense and sharp, blazing with golden light. A true dragon’s head sat atop a crocodile’s body, with nine tails growing from it — several hundred zhang in total length.

“It is that human!” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon narrowed its eyes. Its golden body shed streams of sacred radiance as it lay sprawled upon the reef, its heart filled with deep wariness.

It was this human who had been seeking enlightenment beside its aquatic domain for so many days and had still not departed — had in fact drawn closer to the lake — filling it with unease.

The man tread through the water toward it, his body powerful and strong, black hair cascading loose, eyes deep and dark — free and unrestrained as an immortal. Yet that lean frame seemed to contain a power capable of refining the entire universe, sending shudder after shudder through the crocodile dragon.

Ye Fan radiated a luminous glow, calm and serene — seemingly light-hearted and detached from the world. Yet he exerted an enormous pressure upon the beast, like an Immortal King treading the waves.

“Human, halt. You have entered my territory — this is a provocation and an affront to me.” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon spoke.

Golden rays of light blazed outward. When its body moved, the golden scales rang out with a clanging resonance, scattering great swaths of brilliant light, as sacred might spread in all directions.

Ye Fan did not stop. And behind him, Long Ma let out a long neigh, its hooves striking across ten thousand acres of emerald waves and raising a thousand layers of tremendous breakers — a vast and churning expanse surging forward.

“Human, and you — its mount — halt at once. We have had no quarrel with one another. Do not compel me to be discourteous.” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon called out.

“A rare and unusual ancient species with partial dragon blood flowing through it, a remnant of the ancient era — not bad at all. Why don’t you serve as this Seat’s attendant?” Long Ma declared.

“Vile horse — you go too far! I have held myself back again and again, yet you continue to press forward at every step!” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon let out a roar of fury. Its golden body sent the thousand-li expanse of the great lake into a boiling frenzy, sweeping toward Long Ma and the others with tremendous force.

A great battle broke out. Long Ma and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon clashed fiercely — their auras of blood and qi piercing through the sun and moon, their fighting spirits rending the heavens. This was a battle between Sacred Beasts of world-shaking caliber.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon howled. All these years, it had always been the one picking fights and causing trouble — never once had anyone dared to actively provoke it.

Just a few days ago, it had devoured more than a dozen powerful human cultivators, including those in the sacred realm, none of whom had come close to being its match and had all become its fodder.

Ye Fan’s robes billowed gently, his hair crystalline and gleaming, cascading loose across his chest and back. Using his Source Arts, he perceived the lay of the land and the heavenly alignment of the area, searching carefully for the rare and precious heavenly treasure and earthly wonder he had sensed here.

It had to be said — the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon was a formidable adversary. It actually traded blows with Long Ma for a very long time, evaporating the lake water across a radius of several thousand li and reducing over ten thousand li of mountains and rivers to ashen ruin — all without being defeated.

“This Seat refuses to believe it — a mount I’ve set my sights on can’t be subdued!” Long Ma declared viciously.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon was even more shaken to its core. It was a rising Sacred Beast that many ancient creatures held in awe, unmatched in its own realm, never having met its match. Who could have known there existed a more heaven-defying ferocious beast than itself — pushing it all the way to coughing up blood, barely clinging to survival.

“Heavenly Dragon’s Eight Strides!” Long Ma let out a great shout. Its hooves fell like the beating of a celestial drum, shattering the vast heavens. One enormous golden crocodile dragon crashed to the ground, its entire body drenched in blood.

“What say you to serving as my attendant?” Long Ma regarded it with a sideways glance.

“In your dreams!” The crocodile dragon let out a furious screech and spat a sacred artifact from its mouth — a sacred-level weapon it was prepared to detonate, choosing death over submission.

“You may end yourself however you wish, I certainly won’t stop you. Afterward, though, I plan to skin you and make a pair of brilliantly gleaming crocodile-skin battle boots.” Long Ma looked perfectly at ease.

……

This was Long Ma’s battle. Ye Fan had not involved himself. Instead, he had discovered something unusual about the great lake — the two ferocious beasts had just finished battling and completely evaporated it, and yet in the very next instant it had filled back up again with water.

“There is an ancient cave dwelling here, concealing a rare and exceptionally precious heavenly treasure and earthly wonder.”

He perceived the disposition of heaven and earth through his Source Arts, penetrating its mysteries, then pointed downward. A Saint-level formation array shattered and collapsed, sending a soaring blaze of light shooting into the sky.

“No!”

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon cried out, and in the same moment was deeply shocked. Ye Fan had shattered an ancient formation array with a single pointed finger — it was like a heaven-piercing stroke of sword qi.

Within the underwater cave dwelling were some magical artifacts and certain cultivation techniques of Sacred Beasts — and even a supreme secret art for purifying blood and gradually cultivating the emergence of true dragon blood, refining and concentrating it step by step. Far more complete than what could be seen in the outer cave.

Even Long Ma was greatly startled by this, stunned one moment after another. After subduing the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, it eagerly devoured every detail, savoring and comprehending these ancient techniques.

Ye Fan cast a glance over them, thought for a moment, and committed to memory the few techniques that might be useful to him. The other beast cultivation methods were of no use.

He proceeded through the underwater cave, making his way to the deepest part of the ancient dwelling. He stopped briefly before a stone wall, then pressed both hands against it, driving with world-shaking strength — a low, muffled sound rang out as a stone wall was moved aside.

Within the ancient cave there was yet another cave — more mysterious still. Through the passage of untold tens of thousands of years, even the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon in this generation had not discovered it.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon in the outer cave stared in disbelief. This aquatic domain had existed for many ages, the presiding figure changing generation after generation — and yet none of them had ever found the innermost secret.

It was plainly visible: sheet after sheet of rosy haze came shooting out, pouring forth a torrent of resplendent and multicolored light. It flooded through the aquatic domain, spilled across the great lake, and dyed the entire sky a brilliant and radiant expanse.

Never mind Long Ma and the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, who were practically at arm’s reach — even cultivators at great distances could tell that an ancient treasure had emerged into the world.

“The Ancient Demon Clan’s Heavenly Tome!” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon let out a great shout, its eyes turning red. It had been sitting atop a mountain of treasure without knowing it, having failed to claim the most precious thing within. How had it not known that within such close proximity lay a divine rarity?

These were nine pieces of ancient jade, each one overflowing with an ancient, primordial aura — radiating an aura of ages long past, suffused with a gentle and auspicious haze of rosy mist.

Had Ye Fan’s Source Arts not been of the most extraordinary caliber, it would have been impossible to discover this inner cave — after all, it had concealed itself from so many generations of occupants.

He reached out with his divine sense and examined the contents of the Ancient Demon Clan’s Heavenly Tome. He found imprinted upon it a series of patterns and inscriptions — nine jade pieces, each different from the others, each recording different techniques.

Ye Fan was greatly astonished. This was not a single complete ancient scripture, but various deeply profound and esoteric surviving fragments of Dao lineages from the demon clan — long since lost to the world.

For example: methods for purifying the blood, allowing a Sacred Beast to gradually develop true dragon blood, refining and concentrating it step by step. Far more complete than what had been seen in the outer cave.

These were not a single ancient scripture, yet for Sacred Beast cultivators, each was of the utmost importance, covering a very broad range of subjects and not limited to any single domain.

“These were undoubtedly left by a brilliantly talented figure of the demon clan, gathering and organizing these with deliberate intent. Their cultivation was of the highest level. Even if they ultimately never became an Emperor, they were not far from it.” Long Ma examined everything and said in astonishment.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon wished it could devour Long Ma on the spot. All of this had originally been its own — yet it had been snatched away by outsiders right in front of it, filling it with nothing but bitter resentment.

Among one of the jade pieces, Ye Fan found speculations and explorations regarding certain lost Dao lineages within the demon clan. Only a person of peerless and extraordinary genius would have deduced and expounded such things. The perspectives expressed were sharp, incisive, and full of remarkable vision.

“This was very likely left behind by a Demon Emperor of a generation — before he achieved the Dao, in his youth. It can be called a heaven-shaking tome!”

Though this was not a true Demon Emperor Scripture, it recorded what that person had studied and explored in youth, along with certain musings and speculations. Through these, one could glimpse something of his thinking.

In a certain sense, though the techniques recorded on the nine ancient jade pieces were priceless beyond measure, they were nonetheless somewhat less significant than those reflections and deductions — for this was a cultivation journal.

“Through this one can observe the sparks of thought that arose as a great figure walked the path toward achieving the Dao. That is what is truly priceless!”

Long Ma examined everything again and again, and was generous enough to let the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon examine a few of the pieces as well. Their hearts both jolted with excitement — they unanimously concluded that this was most likely left behind by a figure who had achieved the Dao in his youth.

Ye Fan read in silence for a long while. The Dao lineages within were of limited use to him, yet the thinking behind the Dao-creation filled him with a sense of admiration — as though separated by time and space, he had caught a distant glimpse of a worthy opponent.

“It is him… the Demon Emperor of a generation!”

Ye Fan discovered an imprint — identical to the one he had seen in the Southern Ridge Demon Emperor’s Palace in the Northern Dipper star domain: like a demon god arriving in the world, or like a soaring ancient character.

As for whether the Demon Emperor had truly existed, even the great demons of the Northern Dipper’s Southern Ridge had no sufficient evidence — for he was too ancient. Even the Green Emperor had to address him by the title of “Ancestor,” making it difficult for later generations to verify his name.

According to legend, the Demon Emperor came from the depths of the star sea, and in his later years entered the Northern Dipper, dwelling in the Southern Ridge.

For demon clan members to travel the ancient path of the human race was nothing unusual. Even now, demon races such as the Southern Demon continued to walk it — simply because it was close to their own life-bearing star.

Just as some members of the human race would ultimately walk the ancient paths of the demon clan, the divine clan, and other races — after all, all paths ultimately converge toward the one and only ultimate ancient path.

Of course, the dangers of doing so were also enormous. If one’s identity were exposed, the attacks one faced could be many times greater. Only those of heaven-defying caliber would dare to attempt it.

“What say you — are you willing to serve as my attendant? The Ancient Demon Clan’s Heavenly Tome is yours to read freely.” Long Ma said shamelessly, making its temptation plain.

The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon compromised — though it insisted on the terms of sworn brotherhood, rather than serving as an attendant.

Long Ma put on a reluctant air and said, “Very well — just don’t fall too far behind me in cultivation. And help me find some Sacred Beast attendants — the more the better.”

Ye Fan let it handle the matter as it pleased. Both the Great Demon God and the Emperor’s Son of Heaven had gathered subordinates — if Long Ma was willing to follow their example, he would give it his support.

“There is another box here — what is inside it? The life force emanating from it is so powerful.” Long Ma looked at it with puzzlement and astonishment, noticing another wooden box sitting on the stone table.

Ye Fan opened it. A rush of vibrantly living aura washed over him at once — precisely the life force he had sensed earlier.

“A… seed!” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon exclaimed in shock.

“Mmm — what extraordinary good fortune. To think this great lake concealed an ancient cave dwelling of this caliber, holding a truly world-class divine treasure.”

The radiant light from the cave shooting straight upward had alarmed many powerful creatures in the vicinity — and the first to arrive was a group of human trial participants.

Among them, one young woman was extraordinarily beautiful, with an appearance like flowers and the full moon. She smiled lightly and said, “I have nothing more to say. Leave immediately — and I will not make things difficult for you.”

And another man, clearly also one of the central figures, his entire body wreathed in divine halos, smiled and said, “Put down what you’ve found and leave. You may go.”