“This Daoist, calculating with one hundred and eighty ten-thousand years of cultivation insight, further substantiated by my many years of archaeological expertise, has determined that the great tomb beneath Yao Guang’s former grounds must belong to Huang — who is also undeniably the Ruthless Emperor!” said Duan De.
“Senior Uncle Duan, the human progenitor only descended upon the Northern Dipper Ancient Star about one million years ago — it was nowhere near one hundred and eighty ten-thousand years ago,” Ye Tong said quietly.
Duan De let out a hearty laugh and said, “Who do you think I am? ‘One dream spanning a million autumns, immortality built and the Dao forged in the Primordial Era.'”
Ye Tong rolled her eyes at him and paid him no further attention.
The four characters “Ruthless Great Emperor” sent a tremor through Ye Fan’s heart. Along his journey, he had accumulated many threads of karmic connection with this legendary and breathtaking woman.
“Young one, you are in serious trouble. Setting aside the Myriad Energies Mother Qi Cauldron, the Immortal Treasures Chart, and all the rest — just the sacred fruits you plucked when you first arrived on the Northern Dipper aboard the Nine Dragons Bronze Coffin were the Nine Wondrous Divine Herbs cultivated by the Ruthless Emperor herself. From the very beginning you owed her an immense debt of gratitude that reaches to the heavens.” The Black Emperor bared its teeth.
Ye Fan’s head grew heavy with the weight of it. If one traced it to its roots, even the act of retrieving the green cauldron from the immortal ground on Earth was connected in various ways to the things the Ruthless Emperor had done in her time.
“Impossible. How can a single person live for over two hundred thousand years? I find it very hard to believe — even if she were a human Great Emperor, I don’t think it would be possible!” Long Ma shook its enormous head.
“Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter. Every indication points to the possibility that Huang may be a mortal shell shed by the Ruthless Emperor!” the Black Emperor said coldly.
“That defies all natural law. Has she become an immortal? A discarded skin of the self that is undying and imperishable — one that can transform into a forbidden zone. Is there anything she cannot do?” Long Ma’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“In the past I didn’t believe it either — but the black-gold imperial cauldron of Yao Guang, the great tomb, and Huang’s power over undying life force have all made me realize what kind of true intention the Beginningless Great Emperor was expressing when he gazed upon the nine sacred mountains, glanced back at Yao Guang’s old grounds, and peered into the Northern Region with that particular look in his eyes. The Primordial Forbidden Zone is most likely the transformation of a human Great Emperor — the forbidden zone itself is that Great Emperor!” The Black Emperor gazed far off toward the Southern Land.
If this spread throughout the world, it would undoubtedly be an earth-shaking revelation — news that would stun all of existence. One of the seven great life-forbidden zones had been created by a human being. What manner of astonishment could compare to that?
“How can she be so supremely defiant of heaven, to have accomplished all of this?” Long Ma came from the other shore of the starry sky and had limited knowledge of the Great Emperors of antiquity; it could not comprehend it.
“Because she is the Ruthless Emperor!” said Duan De. The implication was clear: no other reason was needed. Simply because she was the Ruthless Emperor — that was enough. There was nothing she could not do.
A breath of cool wind swept through. The former grounds of Yao Guang were a scene of ruin and devastation. White bones lay scattered across the surrounding wilderness, and nearly all birds and beasts had been wiped out.
Once Huang emerged into the world, she devoured heaven and swallowed the earth — every form of life energy would be claimed by her, boundless in its terror.
Ye Fan and the others returned to the Northern Region and entered Heavenly Village. Dongfang Ye, Yan Yixi, Li Heishui, and the rest of their companions gathered from time to time. When the conversation turned to the Primordial Forbidden Zone, everyone was filled with awe.
At present, all they could determine was that it was connected to the Ruthless Emperor — that Huang might be her. But there was truly no conclusive evidence. And as for the other six great life-forbidden zones — what were their origins?
The road to immortality was about to open. No one knew whether, when that day arrived, the supreme existences within those forbidden zones would emerge. It was difficult to even imagine what kind of turbulence that would set off.
“The most glorious golden age has arrived. A grand and sweeping war hymn has already sounded. Who can say how many people will die…” said the Sage-Slayer Qi Luo, his eyes narrowed to slits.
In the days that followed, Ye Fan kept an extremely low profile — and indeed could not afford to do otherwise. He had slain the Celestial Emperor’s son, chased the Golden Celestial Maiden into fleeing for her life with nothing to cover herself, and then slaughtered the Ancient Sage Huo Tan. His presence had become far too conspicuous.
Within the ancient clans, a price had been placed on his head in secret. Anyone capable of killing Ye Fan would receive a staggering reward. Numerous great clans were eager to be rid of him. Undercurrents surged and churned. The radical faction had no wish whatsoever to see Ye Fan ascend to sagehood.
To tolerate a person who might one day prove the Dao and allow him to grow unimpeded — for them, that would be a catastrophe. Extinguishing the threat in the cradle was the wisest choice.
For the next two months, Ye Fan remained in seclusion. Even those with profound skill in divination and the arts of deduction could not calculate his whereabouts, for he carried the green bronze cauldron on his person.
Throughout this time, he had been standing upon the sixth sub-step of the Third Severance along the Immortal’s path of severing the Dao, on the verge at any moment of ascending to the seventh. Yet he had never found the key insight he needed, and advancing proved impossible.
Sitting in closed seclusion had already ceased to solve the problem. With three or four months remaining before he would have to leave this world, Ye Fan let out a soft sigh, rose to his full height, and decided to go out and walk for a while — to see it all one last time.
Once he stepped onto the Celestial Road and embarked upon that most extreme trial of all, there was a chance he might never return. He might become a handful of earth scattered somewhere beyond the realm.
The old Grandmaster of the Academy of Peculiar Scholars had made it abundantly clear: even those of the human Holy Body lineage had three who fell in battle — their blood staining the starry sky, their bones buried in foreign soil. Those were his predecessors, possessing the same constitution as him. They may well not have been weaker than he was.
In recent days the world had been in turmoil, and it had been impossible to find calm. Three more ancient sages from beyond the realm had arrived, descending upon this ancient star, sending hearts into a state of anxious unrest.
This portended that the day the road to immortality would open was drawing near. People were simultaneously filled with eager anticipation and dread. Wanting to enter the immortal realm — the available places were limited, and in all likelihood it would be fought over until the ancient star itself cracked and crumbled.
After coming out of seclusion, Ye Fan found that no place in the land was at peace. Through secret channels he learned that anyone who could provide information about his whereabouts would be rewarded with a sage weapon.
What a staggering thing that was. One had to understand — the vast majority of Ancient Sages didn’t even possess weapons forged from divine materials. Only a select few held legendary sage weapons handed down through their lineage.
Beyond that, the Primordial Forbidden Zone had become a sacred site of pilgrimage. Day after day, incense smoke curled gently through the air, and great numbers of human cultivators came to pay their respects — having come to regard Huang wholly and completely as a human Great Emperor.
“West of the Hangu Pass, a series of small five-colored altars transmitting in a single direction have appeared one after another, appearing on numerous ancient stars. Where exactly are they leading?” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
On that day long ago, he and Long Ma and the others had landed outside the Undying Mountain but failed to find the five-colored altar that should have been there. Based on their deductions, it might be inside the Undying Mountain — but there was truly no way to enter and search for it.
“Perhaps it’s somewhere outside the Undying Mountain after all…”
Ye Fan came to the Central Region once more, standing outside the Undying Mountain, gazing upon this expanse of towering, imposing black peaks — every one of them massive and magnificent, kings and emperors among mountains.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a streak of extreme brilliance flashed past — impossibly fast, too quick to make out clearly. It grazed the Undying Mountain and disappeared into the distant wilderness beyond.
“What was that?” Ye Fan was astonished, feeling a faint sense of familiarity about it. He gave chase. But after searching for half an hour, he found nothing. A group of cultivators then came rushing over, and the mountain range fell into a chaotic uproar.
“Fellow Daoist — what is happening?” Ye Fan asked someone.
“Are you from the Central Region? Have you not heard about what’s been going on recently?” The person stopped and stared at him oddly.
“I only happened to be passing through and saw it by chance. Is there some hidden matter behind it?” Ye Fan asked.
“A strange magical artifact has appeared near the Undying Mountain. In recent days it has grown increasingly brazen — constantly preying upon cultivators, collecting their blood. Just now, a renowned elder was abducted.”
“What?! Such a thing is happening?” Ye Fan was astounded. Apart from a rare few exceptions, generally only sage weapons could give birth to a divine spirit and develop spiritual intelligence — and yet such a mysterious treasure had actually appeared in the world like this.
In the end, the search was called off without result. No one had found anything. Ye Fan also searched for several days outside the Undying Mountain and still found no trace of the small five-colored altar. He could only choose to leave.
“Hm…” As he was departing, Ye Fan caught sight of a silver flying artifact flashing into view and vanishing — tearing through the sky like lightning, fleeing into the distance in an instant.
“It’s… that thing!”
Ye Fan was shocked. He recognized it — this was the same artifact he had seen a few days ago, and also the same mysterious flying vessel he had witnessed in the ancient city of “Gazing Skyward” in the Central Region several decades earlier.
Gazing Skyward City was one of the ten great ancient cities of the Central Region. Within the city stood a crystalline stone platform, and legend had it that during the era of the Beginningless Great Emperor, he would often stand there and gaze out toward the realm beyond.
Decades ago, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the Black Emperor had all witnessed with their own eyes a flying vessel descending from beyond the realm, triggering a mad pursuit by Central Region cultivators before it ultimately fell into the Undying Mountain.
In that remote and distant ancient age, legends had it that from time to time, within the vast and boundless starry sky, powerful divine objects would fall.
At the time, people naturally assumed it was a divine artifact from beyond the realm. But Ye Fan had seen it clearly — it looked remarkably like a flying disc.
“It truly does look like a flying disc…” Now that he had seen it again, his heart was immediately shaken. It was exactly like what he had seen all those years ago.
It was an enormous luminous object, moving at extreme speed — like a bolt of silver light plunging toward the depths of the mountain range. It was shaped like a massive circular disc, flickering with a cold metallic luster.
Ye Fan activated the Movement Script and gave chase — yet still found nothing, no clues whatsoever.
“It came out of the Undying Mountain…” He was deeply stunned. What manner of place was the Undying Mountain? No one knew it better than he did — because he had personally ventured through it once. If not for Xiao Nannan being with them, even with the Black Emperor as a grand master of formation arrays, they absolutely would have died inside long ago.
Ye Fan re-entered Gazing Skyward City and, through detailed inquiry throughout the Central Region, learned what had been happening recently — becoming convinced that this was indeed the flying vessel that had descended from beyond the realm all those years ago, for many others had remembered it just as he had.
“It seems to have been damaged back then. Now it has been repaired, and has begun acting with complete impunity, moving against many cultivators.”
“All it takes is a single beam of light sweeping over someone — no matter how powerful — and they are taken captive. People everywhere are living in fear and uncertainty.”
Ye Fan was astonished. This flying vessel had been collecting blood. The earliest batch of people it had abducted — some had died, others had been released, and through those survivors, people had come to know of this.
“The more powerful the living being, the more interested it is. From strange beasts to humans to the ancient clans — in just half a month, it has abducted at least several hundred to a thousand people.”
“You are mistaken. It began operating years ago — it is only that in recent days its actions have grown increasingly brazen, until it became known to more and more people. My guess is that it may have achieved its purpose and is now thinking of leaving — which is why it no longer bothers to hide itself.”
And indeed, in the days that followed, this circular-disc-shaped flying vessel appeared frequently. At last, a stunning and extraordinary rumor began to spread.
“Several path-severing cultivators of the ancient clans… were swept by a beam of divine light, and have also been taken away!”
“What?! It has started going after path-severing cultivators — it grows more brazen by the day!”
People’s jaws dropped, and a chill of fear set in. What manner of weapon was this? Why did it behave this way — always targeting cultivators?
In the days that followed, this mysterious magical artifact — gleaming with silver radiance, its entire form seemingly cast from pale blue-white sacred gold — frequently appeared, and actually launched an assault on the great ancient sacred site of the demon clan: the Ten Thousand Demons Palace.
And on that very same day, several major strongholds of the human race and the ancient clans in the Central Region were separately raided, with numerous powerful experts going missing.
“This is madness. A weapon daring to behave like this — it will certainly draw out an Ancient Sage before long. It must be an extraordinary sage weapon!”
Everyone stood in stunned disbelief.
Hum!
The void resonated. No one anticipated it — the artifact appeared above Gazing Skyward City, searching for powerful targets.
Ye Fan furrowed his brow. This disc-shaped flying vessel was enormous, and its speed was enough to rival light itself — truly astonishing. Its material, moreover, was very unusual — comparable to the divine materials used to forge sage weapons.
Flash!
A beam of divine light swept downward — aimed directly at him. Ye Fan activated the Movement Script, but was still a step too slow. This column of light was extraordinarily vast, covering nearly half the entire city in its reach.
“You old ancestors — it actually came at me!” Ye Fan discovered, to his alarm, that he was rising involuntarily, carried up on the light column, heading straight into the pale blue-gold circular disc above.