“Is the Great Emperor Wushi truly still alive?” Ye Fan murmured to himself, his expression grave and solemn. If this were true, it would overturn a great many of the accepted laws of the world, and the shock that would send through the mortal realm would be staggering.
The Black Emperor had already been trembling for some time — so overwhelmed with emotion that anxiety and hope warred within him, leaving him paralyzed with fear. If this turned out to be another false hope, another cruel disappointment, he was not sure he could endure it. One shattered hope after another took a toll that cut deeper each time.
“Perhaps there truly exists a technique that defies the natural order.” Ji Zi, rarely given to many words, spoke quietly, a strange and radiant light flickering in the depths of his eyes.
“Great Emperor, I am begging you — please come out and let me see you, just once!” The great black dog howled, his cry reverberating through the countless ore-veins and ancient tunnels within the Purple Mountain, the echoes rolling outward like a mournful tide.
The Sacred Son of the Void unleashed twin streams of golden fire from his eyes and swept his gaze across the entire area, straining to discern some truth. So much had happened today — all of it beyond comprehension, all of it deeply strange.
“Great Emperor, please come out and let Little Black see you…” The Black Emperor bellowed as he began racing through the ancient tunnels of the Purple Mountain one by one, desperate to find something — anything — that would give him answers.
But nothing answered him. The vast interior of the Purple Mountain was filled only with his roaring voice, rolling like thunder through every hollow, with no other sound at all.
“Great Emperor, I am begging you — Little Black truly longs to see you!” The Black Emperor sobbed, his anguish raw and uncontained.
He moved as though possessed, searching every corner, leaving footprints in every last recess of the mountain. In the course of that search, he discovered a ritual altar set up by the Eight Divine Generals, offering devotion to the supreme divine tablet of the Undying Heavenly Emperor.
Strange beyond measure — the divine tablet bore the inscription: Ascend to Immortality!
Yet it had been struck and shattered by a single palm, the imprint of that hand still pressed into the stone with startling clarity, as vivid and distinct as the day it was made, undiminished across the vast ages.
“It was the Great Emperor’s doing — he destroyed it with Emperor-level power back then!” the Black Emperor said.
Ye Fan and Ji Zi were both shaken by this. That had been a tablet left behind by the Undying Heavenly Emperor. What had the intent been? In that distant era, this place had been known as the Ancient Emperor Mountain — the most sacred ground revered by all the ten thousand clans of the primordial age, the burial site of the Undying Heavenly Emperor. It was only later that Wushi the Great Emperor had taken up residence here, and the world had long since forgotten its original name. For the many ancient clans of the primordial age, this had been a place one could only approach with reverence — a place said to connect with the heavens themselves, a path through which one might reach the Immortal realm.
The great black dog slumped to the ground, sprawled limp and motionless, unable to rise. He let out low, broken growls — unwilling to get up, unwilling to move.
“Search no further.” That voice rang out again, filling every corridor of the Purple Mountain.
Every figure there jolted as though struck. The great black dog wrenched its head upward, eyes seeking out the immense Emperor’s Bell hanging in the high reaches above — the Wushi Bell, now petrified, its entire form turned to stone, its original appearance no longer discernible, suspended high in the Purple Mountain’s vaulted reaches like a great palace hall looming over all below.
“Clang—”
A wave of sound rippled outward from the bell — resounding and penetrating, clean and serene, carrying none of the killing intent of an Emperor’s weapon. There was no sense of oppression. Instead, it struck with the clarity of a sudden revelation, granting a flash of understanding to all who heard it in that single instant.
Yet the great black dog reacted as though its very spine had been yanked out — going completely limp, collapsing where it stood. Like the others, it had perceived the truth with perfect clarity: it understood now exactly where that voice was coming from. And with that understanding came absolute despair.
The voice belonged to a divine spirit born from within the Wushi Bell itself — not the return of Wushi the Great Emperor!
“Ohhh… ahhhhh…” The great black dog let out a howl that tore at the soul, its whole body shaking violently. Grief surged through it in a wave it could not hold back, and it coughed up several great mouthfuls of blood that splattered red across the stone beneath it.
The Emperor’s Bell had been stirred awake by the Divine Ranking Stele — was it this divine spirit now that had been orchestrating everything? Had all of today’s events been its doing?
As the bell waves continued to spread outward, a stone wall in the distance cracked and fractured, great sheets of stone peeling away and tumbling to the ground, revealing a smooth expanse of wall behind — clearly a place where someone had once stood for long stretches of time, deep in contemplation.
“Wrong!” Those two words were carved into the open face of that expansive wall — and the force behind those characters was without equal, as though they could collapse the sun, the moon, and all the mountains and rivers of the world, rend apart the cosmos itself. Threads of a Great Emperor’s aura were woven within them, coiling and half-visible, present but barely there.
“These words were carved by the Great Emperor himself!” The Black Emperor’s gaze locked onto those characters and could not be torn away. And with that, what remained of his strength drained out of him entirely.
The bell waves ceased. Silence fell, complete and total — and with it, everything was gone. The wall grew dark with dust, those two characters veiled beneath the accumulated grime of ages, no longer visible.
There was nothing left here worth staying for.
Ye Fan, Ji Zi, and the Sacred Son of the Void moved together and took hold of the Black Emperor, physically dragging it out of the Purple Mountain — pulling it away from this sacred ground where the supreme Great Emperor of the human race had dwelt in his final years.
“Ohhhhh…” Across that cold and desolate earth, a series of mournful, keening cries rang out — like a lone wolf howling at the moon. All who heard it felt a pang in their hearts.
For the better part of an entire month, the Northern Region knew no peace. At irregular intervals, that wretched, wolf-like wailing would rise again, making the hearts of all who heard it tremble. Some cultivators had gone to investigate, and what they found was a great black dog circling endlessly outside the Purple Mountain, carrying within it a grief vast and boundless.
“Try to come to terms with it.” Ye Fan offered what comfort he could, saying: “Perhaps miracles will yet happen in the future.”
“The Great Emperor Wushi is, after all, no ordinary man. Whether he is living or dead cannot be stated with any certainty — perhaps there is still… some small measure of hope.” The Sacred Son of the Void reached that point and fell silent, shaking his head.
It had to be said that the Black Emperor’s capacity for recovery was remarkable. After half a month of absolute devastation, it finally turned itself around completely — reining in every last shred of grief, and declared: “I firmly believe the Great Emperor has broken his way into the Immortal Domain. If that is not the case, then I will follow in his footsteps, inherit his unfinished will, and walk this age to its end — carrying out his wishes, and finding the final answer at the end of the Immortal Path!”
Purpose creates drive, and life finds its vigor in goals. The great black dog’s spirit improved considerably. Ye Fan believed that with a disposition as thick-skinned and resilient as that dog’s, once it had made peace with things, within another two months it would be as lively and fierce as ever.
As it turned out, all three of them had underestimated it. Not even a full twenty-odd days had passed before it had fully recovered. The moment it caught wind of news that an Immortal Burial Map had appeared somewhere in the Northern Region, it immediately became lively again, practically crackling with energy.
“A divine map — possibly an artifact from the mythological age, appearing in this present generation. What could this mean? It must be an immense stroke of immortal fortune. An ancient celestial supreme was unwilling to let things end there, leaving their hope behind for future generations!”
“Several pieces of ancient heaven-piercing jade, when assembled, form a complete immortal path chart — truly astonishing. Word has it only the final piece is still missing!”
……
In recent days, a rumor had begun to spread through the Northern Region, sending hidden currents of movement rippling outward. Many had begun to search, hoping to locate the hidden treasury of scriptures left behind by an ancient celestial supreme.
Seeing the great black dog with its face full of excitement and its spirits riding high, Ye Fan was at a loss for words. All those comforting words he’d prepared earlier might as well have been fed to a cat. That creature clearly needed no looking after.
Over this past month, the great rift on the Immortal Path had been growing more severe, the pillars of light rising from the several great life-restricted zones blazing ever more intensely into the heavens. The sound of the Immortal Daoist’s howls from within the Sacred Cliff had grown faint and feeble — none could say what had become of him, for none dared to approach.
“I have finally figured it all out,” the Black Emperor announced, its eyes gleaming with a sharpness that left no doubt. “A powerful figure from beyond the realm is on the verge of assembling the complete map — only one final piece remains, and it is in the hands of an ancient clan strongman here in the Northern Region. There will be a major move within the next few days!”
“You should be grieving, not this excited,” Ye Fan pointed out.
“Watch your damned mouth,” the Black Emperor shot back, visibly disgruntled.
“Go have a good cry.” The Sacred Son of the Void added, with no trace of sympathy.
“Ape, don’t push me!” the great black dog threatened — keep this up, and once the Immortal Burial opened, it wouldn’t take either of them along.
In truth, none of the three had much inclination toward it in the first place. The Immortal Path itself was on the verge of opening — they had no desire to complicate things further. For now, they were quietly observing everything unfolding in the world around them.
Whether it was Emperor’s weapons, ancient scriptures, or immortal treasures — none of these held the same pull as the stirrings of the Immortal Path.
On this day, the great black dog came bursting in with great excitement, formally extending a grave and solemn invitation for the three of them to come investigate the Immortal Burial left behind by the ancient celestial supreme. All three of them shook their heads. The Ancient Primordial Mine and the Undying Mountain had both seen figures emerge — they were watching those developments closely, wanting to determine for themselves whether those coming out were ancient supremes, or merely figures of Emperor’s Child caliber.
“Don’t come crying to me later!” The great black dog bolted away.
Yet as quickly as it had left, it returned — in less than two hours it was back in front of them, cursing under its breath, its wide square face and large ears wearing an expression of pure, seething fury.
“What happened? Did someone beat you off? Do you need us to go in and back you up?” Ye Fan asked, puzzled.
At those words, the Black Emperor’s face turned even darker. That great black face was plastered with resentment — teeth bared, lips pulled back to reveal a mouthful of sharp white fangs, cold and glinting, as though it wanted nothing more than to take a bite out of someone.
Everyone exchanged glances. Something had clearly gone wrong. Ye Fan and the Sacred Son of the Void pressed for answers — had this creature managed to stumble into some enormous trouble again?
After much prodding, the great black dog finally dropped its wide, blocky head and spoke, its expression thoroughly sour: “Blast it all — that treasure was buried by me.”
The three stared at one another — and then burst out laughing. Its own buried treasure had been dug up by someone else. No wonder it looked like that.
“That’s not what you’re imagining…” The great black dog’s entire face looked ready to burst from the pressure, its eyelid twitching furiously as it fixed its gaze on Ye Fan. “You buried it with me.”
Ye Fan was startled — thoroughly bewildered. “When have we ever buried treasure together? You treacherous dog — you haven’t been hiding something good behind my back all this time, have you? Is it that Emperor’s Sword you never wanted to return to me, and now someone’s made off with it?!”
That only made the Black Emperor more furious — and more than a little humiliated — and then the vein at its temple began to throb visibly, in the most bizarre and agitated fashion imaginable.
“So what exactly did you lose?” the Sacred Son of the Void pressed.
“We didn’t lose anything. We dug up a dung pit.” The great black dog ground the words out through clenched teeth, scrunching its nose in disgust as it disclosed the truth — and then looked even more miserable and enraged than before.
This time, all three of them erupted into laughter — doubling over, gasping for breath. That great black dog had set off at dawn in high spirits, full of excitement — and after all that commotion, it had ended up digging up something like that. Truly jaw-dropping.
Ye Fan finally recalled it. “Was it… Jiang Yichen?!”
“Exactly, that’s the one!” The great black dog’s face was a storm cloud of seething fury, teeth and gums on full display, every crease of its wrinkled face radiating a hatred so deep it bordered on poetic. “Blast his grandmother — and those jade fragments were even made to look aged by me. They actually managed to fool the people from beyond the realm. And in the end, blast it all, I ended up following along to watch the excitement myself!”
Long ago, Jiang Yifei’s younger brother Jiang Yichen had been arrogant and utterly reckless, acting without restraint, and had repeatedly sought to bring about Ye Fan’s death. Eventually, when an opportunity arose, Ye Fan and the black dog and the others had cornered him and suppressed him — burying him and his great-uncle in separate dung pits, sealing them away.
That had been roughly two hundred years ago. It had long since been forgotten — yet today, of all days, someone had gone and dug up that “treasure.” What a spectacle this had turned into.
What was most outrageous of all was that the great black dog itself had gone along in eager excitement, only to walk right into its own trap. That was enough to make anyone pound the ground laughing until their sides split.
Once the full story came out — every cause and consequence laid bare — even Ji Zi, who was famously composed and mild-mannered, was left patting the Black Emperor on the shoulder, utterly at a loss for words. As for the Sacred Son of the Void, there was no need to even mention it — he laughed without any restraint whatsoever, on and on, which only sent the Black Emperor into an ever greater frenzy, itching to rake his face into ribbons.
To be fair, the Black Emperor had not personally excavated the “burial pit.” The moment it drew near that area, something had felt oddly familiar. Without much effort, it had broken the seal — and the moment a skin-and-bones creature had been unearthed, everything came flooding back in an instant.
On this day, the powerful figures from beyond the realm cursed without stopping, heaping condemnations upon the people of this land — who could fabricate something like a divine immortal burial map, even making the ancient jade look convincingly aged, perpetrating such a massive fraud. It was unconscionable.
This farce had many people laughing until they couldn’t stop, and became the talk of idle hours for days to come.
Not long after, Jiang Yichen — who had been sealed away long enough to have grown thoroughly muddled and disoriented — finally came to his senses. He roared and bellowed without cease, swearing oaths to wage mortal battle against Ye Fan and massacre his entire bloodline.
To have been suppressed and sealed in a dung pit for two hundred years was a humiliation so extreme it defied description. Had there not been a life-saving artifact hidden within his soul — one that had gone undiscovered when he was searched — the outcome in those days would almost certainly have been far worse than simple imprisonment.
Not long after, his great-uncle was also dug up — another pit of filth seeing daylight — which drove the powerful figures from beyond the realm and the ancient clan members into such incandescent rage that they abandoned all dignity and screamed curses at the top of their lungs. One pit would have been bad enough — but two dung pits?!
That this sort of thing should occur on the very eve of the great battle for the Immortal Path left the entire world speechless and bewildered — and provided everyone with a thoroughly absurd piece of entertainment.