Ye Fan was taken aback. Someone had actually come to demand the Myriad Things Mother Energy Cauldron from him — and with such a justification as this. It was truly astonishing.

The one who led them was a gray-haired old man — tall and slender in build, wearing tattered Daoist robes embroidered with purple-edged silkworm brocade in a gossamer Eight Trigrams pattern, a wooden hairpin thrust through his gray topknot. His face bore a few wrinkles, his eyes were lead-gray in color, his expression stern and cold — giving the impression of something hardened and unyielding.

Behind him came a large group: old women, middle-aged men, young women, and children — men and women, old and young alike, all cultivators. This entire crowd walking in together had something of a formidable momentum to it.

This jeweled hall was imposing and magnificent, all gilded glory, and those who entered and left were people of no ordinary standing. These people’s willingness to come here and press their grievance meant they had some confidence behind them.

“Holy Physique of the Ye surname — give back our clan’s sacred cauldron. It does not belong to you!” A young woman cried out in a sharp voice, strikingly beautiful but at this moment brimming with hostility.

“Correct — that is an immortal object of our clan. You cannot claim it for yourself.” Another man echoed.

A large group stood behind the old man, every face cold and stern, not a trace of goodwill among them — as though pressing a debt against a wrongdoer, wearing an expression of detached indifference and pitilessness.

Ji Ziyue was caught between exasperation and laughter. How the Myriad Things Mother Energy Cauldron had come to them — she understood better than anyone. The extortion technique of this group was appallingly clumsy. Was this not simply robbery?

Her temperament was gentle. The corner of her mouth curved upward in a faint smile. “You claim over and over that this cauldron is yours — on what grounds? Do you know its true origins?”

“How could we not — it was left by our forefather, the Ruthless One.” The old man at the front said. His lead-gray pupils flickered with a cold light.

Ye Fan’s expression shifted at once. The little amusement that had been there a moment ago disappeared, replaced by solemnity. He thought of certain legends — could these truly be those people?

Long Ma had no such composure and was considerably more fierce in temperament. It deeply despised this kind of person — extorting others to such a brazen and shameless degree made it want to slap them all flat with a single blow, turning them into a puddle of mush. It bellowed: “You even want to grab the Myriad Things Mother Energy Cauldron — shall we say the Beginningless Bell and the Desolate Pagoda also belong to your household?!”

Pang Bo and Ji Haoyue also stepped forward, readying themselves for battle. By instinct, they sensed that someone was looking for trouble. These newcomers bore ill intent — most likely there would be a fight.

“What is this — people actually trying to contend for the Myriad Things Mother Energy Cauldron? That demand goes a bit far.”

“Truly, strange things happen everywhere these days. Even if this cauldron is a supreme treasure unlike any other in the world, there’s no need to use a justification like this to fight for it, is there?”

Within the jeweled hall, many cultivators found this scene startling and whispered among themselves. They did not recognize these people.

Yet Ye Fan was frowning. He did not immediately dismiss them — for he was thinking of certain events from the past.

In the days when he had roamed the Northern Region, he had visited the Ruthless One’s sacred ground, seen the secret earth where the Black Emperor had been trapped, and entered the place where the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar had emerged into the world.

Both the Black Emperor and Duan De had spoken of certain hidden matters — the Ruthless One did indeed have descendants. This was well and truly the case.

When the Ruthless One departed, the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar was left to these descendants. But however great a legacy, it too had its twilight. The lineage of the Ruthless One had been confined to a few sacred grounds in the Northern Region until its final decline and fade into obscurity, vanishing entirely.

It had been a great and mighty legacy — yet for various reasons, it had been cruelly extinguished.

Some said the Ruthless One had been too filled with killing intent in her time, too contrary to the natural order, and had ultimately incurred heaven’s curse upon her descendants, causing this lineage to swiftly fall into ruin.

Others said the Ruthless One was a figure of stunning brilliance — she had slain powerful sacred spirits who had grown flesh-and-blood bodies, and had ventured deep into the seven forbidden zones to cut down supreme beings dwelling within, accumulating grievous enmities. While she lived, the world submitted and ten thousand spirits fell silent — none dared challenge her. The entire world lay prostrate at her feet, and she could be called the unrivaled sovereign of all antiquity.

But once she was gone, matters were different. Whether sacred spirits that had grown physical forms under heaven’s protection, or supreme beings lurking within the forbidden zones, all would emerge in vengeance — destroying her sacred grounds and slaying her descendants.

Thus, even possessing divine arts and the Heaven-Swallowing Jar, the lineage of the Ruthless One ultimately fell and was erased from the world. Hence came the later events: Duan De going to pay his respects at the ruins, searching through various relics, and ultimately excavating the Heaven-Swallowing Lid.

Ye Fan fixed his gaze on these people. He studied the old man at their head, trying to discern something from them — such as whether they had cultivated the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art — but found nothing.

“Are you descendants of the Ruthless One?”

“Since you know, hand over the Myriad Things Mother Energy Cauldron.” Several young men and women answered, their expressions cold.

“Is this true?” The crowd erupted. Everything seen today was simply too unbelievable. The Ruthless One had shaken past, present, and future alike — and these were her descendants?

“Impossible!” Pang Bo shook his head vigorously. Having ventured into the starry sky, he had heard no small amount of rumor about the Great Emperor. How could the Ruthless One have descendants?

“You are lying. The Female Emperor never married in her life.” Ji Ziyue’s large eyes blinked, her expression cooling. As a woman herself, she admired and revered the peerless Ruthless One and detested people who made false claims to seize weapons.

The Ruthless One — looking down upon all ages — was one of the rare few who had been revered as a Heavenly Emperor after the Venerable Emperor. The Southern Ridge Heavenly Emperor had become a name known throughout the world, and considerable evidence pointed to that being the Ruthless One.

Of course, this had only been a title bestowed upon her and revered for a certain period — it was not her true Emperor’s name.

But across the great ages — in every era of great upheaval, every time a single person fought alone against the whole world in a battle that stunned all of history, pioneering what no one had done before — people inevitably revered that person as a Heavenly Emperor for a time.

“The Ruthless One walked a proud and solitary path. She naturally looked down upon every man. She never married in her life.” Ye Fan shook his head and explained to the crowd.

The Ruthless One had been alone and desolate. In her youth, she and her elder brother had depended on each other for survival — but her only kin was taken away by the Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty very quickly, leaving her entirely alone. She had begged for alms in the sea of people, timid and wandering, before eventually being raised by a certain mountain village.

When she attained the Dao, she looked back — and found only bitterness, with little joy. Her descendants were not of her bloodline. They were the young men and women of that village — she had left her Dao legacy with them.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, moved by many feelings.

All of this had been pieced together from historical truths assembled by Duan De and the Black Emperor. Whether it was truly so or not, Ye Fan could not say with certainty. The Ruthless One’s life was shrouded in mist, and those who came after could not truly see through it.

“The Ruthless One — a born mortal physique, considered at the time to be far too ordinary with no natural talent for cultivation. The Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty took no interest in her at all. And yet — precisely because of that — came the female Emperor unlike any other who shook the world.”

“Holy Physique of the Ye surname — are you going to return it or not?!” Behind the gray-haired old man, several young men and women raised their voices, their expressions cold and ruthless, as though pressing a genuine debt, already losing patience.

“If you truly are descendants of that village, why is it that the lineage has vanished, even the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar buried in the yellow earth — and now you appear? What evidence do you have?” Ye Fan asked calmly. He could confirm that these people had not cultivated the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art — they carried no such energy.

“Whoever stands up and says they’re a son of the Beginningless Great Emperor, or a descendant of the Azure Emperor, or a grandson of the Venerable Emperor — does that give them the right to inherit everything those figures left behind?” Pang Bo said coldly.

The crowd burst into laughter.

“Exactly — so if someone stands up and claims to be a grandson of the Venerable Emperor, does that mean the entire cosmos must bow to him as the supreme divine sovereign?”

Many people scoffed privately, and many simply shouted it aloud, expressing their contempt.

“Since you are her descendants, you naturally have some proof. Come and show us.” The gray-haired old man said at this point, unfurling a painted scroll. Upon it was carved the image of a Heaven-Swallowing Jar, which released an undying immortal aura — wisps of dark energy flowing out one after another, stinging the eyes shut.

The crowd drew a sharp collective breath. This was merely a painted scroll — and yet the jar-shaped figure standing upright like a person was vivid and lifelike, as though possessed of life, about to walk free of the image.

This was the aura of an Emperor!

“Is the painting left by our ancestor sufficient?” The gray-eyed old man said.

On the scroll there was also a woman — her hair swept up in an elegant cloud, expression dignified and majestic, beautiful to the absolute extreme. The Heaven-Swallowing Jar rested in her palm as streams of dark energy burst forth from it.

The sight was stunning and awe-inspiring. This truly appeared to be painted by the hand of an Emperor.

In antiquity, when an ancestor passed on, a portrait would be made and left for later generations to venerate. The demonic jar in the image implied this had come from a Great Emperor’s hand — evidently the Ruthless One herself.

“Is this what the Ruthless One looked like? It is said that no one in later ages was ever able to glimpse her true face from any relic stone carvings.” The crowd was transfixed, hearts shaken, every pair of eyes fixed upon the scroll without blinking.

“This was left by our ancestor — does it serve as proof?” The lead old man’s pair of gray eyes blazed with radiance.

Ye Fan said: “If you are truly descendants of the Ruthless One, why did you not go to the Eastern Wasteland to search for the Heaven-Swallowing Jar? Why are you more interested in my Myriad Things Mother Energy Cauldron?”

“We will make a trip to the Northern Dipper in time.” Someone answered.

Ye Fan paid no mind and stepped forward. He moved past the streaming dark light of the demonic jar and fixed his eyes solely on the woman in the painting, studying her for a very long time as golden light coursed through his Celestial Eye.

“This is not the Ruthless One. This woman has not that manner or bearing. The appearance and the spirit are both wrong. I once beheld a hazy shadow of her within a heavenly tribulation. The woman in this painting was added later by someone from later generations — placed here beside the jar!”

Ye Fan solemnly declared this truth, his eyes sharp and stern as he fixed them on the group.

“Preposterous — how could this be added later? The demonic jar carries the Emperor’s imprint and aura. If it is genuine, who other than our ancestor could have obtained it?” The old man let out a cold, repeated laugh.

Pang Bo stepped forward. “Truly laughable. Setting aside whether you are the Ruthless One’s descendants or not — even if you were, there would be no justification for this demand. Throughout history, how many rare and precious objects have changed hands? Does anything once obtained by a single person become forever prohibited from passing to another?”

“And what is most despicable is that you are impersonating the descendants of the Ruthless One. That is vile in the extreme!” Ji Ziyue also rebuked them sharply.

As for Long Ma, in this moment it seemed possessed by Duan De, the Black Emperor, and Tu Fei all at once — saliva and sound flying in equal measure, one Dao seal after another spitting from its mouth as it berated and cursed them loudly, its voice and spittle somehow crystallizing into Dao laws that rang out with a clear metallic resonance. In short: it was an absolute torrent of abuse.

Ye Fan’s eyes blazed with light. He stared at the ancient scroll, and his Source Celestial Eye — unlike any other, utterly extraordinary — channeled a stream of law, restoring the truth.

The scroll transformed before his eyes. The woman disappeared, leaving only the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar. And within the jar, the faint outline of a single character appeared: “Seal!”

Ye Fan immediately cried out in a loud voice: “What descendants — this is clearly a seal-and-binding diagram drawn by the Ruthless One to imprison a demon! You are most likely an ancient demon of some domain that has emerged again into the world!”

Everyone was deeply startled. On the scroll, the jar truly bore that character — “Seal” — emitting wisps of imperial aura. Though nearly worn away, it was utterly real.

“You have desecrated our clan’s ancestor’s portrait and destroyed her Dharma body image — this is an unforgivable sin of ten counts. Today there must be an accounting!” The old man bellowed furiously.

The light in Ye Fan’s pupils blazed to its fullest. He fixed his gaze on this group and cried: “No matter how well you conceal yourselves, you cannot escape my Source Celestial Eye. The blood within your bodies carries a terrifying fluctuation — one that clearly does not belong to the human race’s bloodline. How could you possibly be of the Ruthless One’s lineage? Most likely, you are enemies the Ruthless One sealed away, now emerged into the world. You seek revenge against her and want to destroy everything she left behind.”

The crowd erupted. Everything fell into chaos at once.

“Holy Physique of the human race — you are a fraud and a charlatan, a butcher who has secretly harmed many of your fellow cultivators. Today I will expose you as the greatest demon in the world.” Just then, another group came rushing over, led by yet another elder, his voice stern and fierce.

Everyone was momentarily dumbfounded. What was happening?

Ji Haoyue and the others all snapped to alertness. This was evidently aimed at them. And now that the Holy Physique’s name rang far and wide, what kind of formidable alliance would dare act like this? For one must understand — this was the human race’s final pass. It was no ordinary place.