After being announced, Ye Fan and Huntuo entered the Jade Pool one after the other. The whole way, Great Saint Huntuo had acted as though he had seen a ghost, refusing to have anything to do with that child.
“It is said to be a forbidden language. The most ancient historical records contain only scattered fragments of it, and it was lost long ago. Everyone who spoke that language was a bringer of world-ending disaster. In ages past, a great imperial clan once antagonized a group of such people. They fought for half a day, and blood flowed like a river — the entire clan was wiped clean,” Great Saint Huntuo said, speaking the plain truth.
He then brought up the sacrificial rites sounds, telling Ye Fan clearly that when the Undying Heavenly Emperor passed away, those very sounds of sacrificial rites had arisen — along with the weeping cries of ten thousand tribes.
Yet even that was not as vast and sweeping as the burial sounds recorded in this child’s Immortal Platform. The sense of consciousness within was like an ocean beating against the heavens, carrying a meaning of all the world mourning together. That it could be made manifest again through one child’s sea of consciousness was itself sufficient to explain everything.
“Looking like an ignorant young child, yet possibly the most ancient living ancestor — he may have undergone some kind of transformation. It is best not to provoke him.”
In ordinary times, Great Saint Huntuo always appeared calm and at ease, bringing calamity wherever he went — but today he had brought calamity upon himself, and his face was as bitter as a winter gourd.
“The safest course of action is exile. Activate an imperial weapon, following the manner of the great emperors of old in their burial rites, and send him into the void,” Huntuo suggested.
Even someone of his standing had only seen vague and incomplete records in ancient texts and did not truly understand the matter — only knowing that those sacrificial rites sounds, and the people who spoke that language, were not to be provoked.
Otherwise, it might well become an enormous and devastating calamity.
“When the Undying Heavenly Emperor was laid to rest, there were also similar sacrificial rites sounds — yet the ones reverberating within this child’s Immortal Platform were even grander?” Ye Fan asked.
“I know what you’re thinking. But there will always be people and matters beyond your expectations in this world. Do not pursue this child any further — let him go,” Huntuo said solemnly when he had finished, then rose and took his leave.
Ye Fan did not make things difficult for him — by now there was no great conflict between him and this old calamity-bringer.
The Jade Pool was as it had always been — mountains and rivers of lovely beauty, trees and flowers stretching in all directions, fallen petals drifting in colored profusion, the clean fragrance drifting to the nose.
The ethereal divine halls hung suspended on the mountain cliffs, mist and haze drifting soft and hazy, clusters of lakes gleaming like pearls scattered across the land, towering ancient trees swaying with a luminous grace — a scene of countless breathtaking vistas.
When Ye Fan saw the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady again, she had already become the master of this inheritance. Her grace and bearing were unchanged — the foremost beauty of the Eastern Desolation, once spoken of in the same breath as An Miaoyi as the two most peerless beauties of the age.
She came walking gracefully toward him, her moon-white long skirt trailing far behind her. Her figure was slender and elegant. Without a trace of cosmetics, she could still make every beauty under heaven pale by comparison. Her luminous, fair face bore arched, dark brows and clear, limpid eyes, full of a spirited vivacity — a beauty beyond all description.
“Congratulations, Brother Ye, on standing unrivalled on the human race’s ancient path,” she said, offering her congratulations with a warm smile.
“Ye Fan!” Liu Yiyi had come as well. Her face held both a smile and tears, and deep emotion — a dear friend from the other shore of the starry sky, the closest person to her in all the world.
In a grand and magnificent palace hall, they talked for a full two hours, recounting some of their experiences over all these years, deeply feeling the boundless power of time — so much had occurred.
Ye Fan explained his purpose directly: he wanted to see that Nine-Aperture Immortal Stone with his own eyes — otherwise, something in his heart would not rest easy. He spoke: “I don’t know what preparations you have made, but understand this — once she comes into the world, she will in all likelihood be unrivalled under heaven. Aside from those existences within the forbidden zones, nothing will be able to check her!”
The Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady shook her head. “She is a child of our Jade Pool. From the time her divine awareness first stirred, we have been speaking the scriptures to her, pouring into her an immense amount of care and effort. Even a heart of iron or stone would long since have been moved. Moreover, she is inherently of one heart and mind with the Jade Pool — you may set your worries aside.”
She showed a slight look of difficulty, and tactfully conveyed to Ye Fan that there was no need for concern. As for this divine fetus, the Jade Pool had difficulties that were hard to speak of — but she guaranteed it would never become a calamity.
Beside the Immortal Pool, the ancient peach tree was still lush and green, its leaves as lustrous as carnelian jade, glittering and sparkling. All around it, various auspicious birds and sacred beasts wandered in and out; the sacred stone with nine apertures and eight orifices swallowed and breathed the essence of heaven and earth, surging with a vigorous and thriving life energy.
Ye Fan paused at the edge of the pool waters, fixing his gaze upon the Stone King beneath the ancient tree. His Source Heavenly Eye opened wide, and he looked with great care, seeing through the stone wall.
Within that stone, a woman of divine bearing and jade-like bones stood transcendent and peerless in beauty. Her flesh and blood had taken full shape, crystalline and translucent — she might awaken at any moment and break free of the stone!
“Please, Brother Ye, set your mind at ease. The Jade Pool knows what it is doing. Even were we less cautious than we should be, we would still not let the world fall into chaos,” the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady said in her gentle voice as she gazed upon the sacred stone.
Ye Fan, with his keen perception, sensed that there truly was something hidden here — something different from what the former Sacred Lady of the Jade Pool had told him. This sacred ground harbored many secrets, concealing much from the eyes of the world.
In the heavens above, primordial chaos energy swirled and drifted. An ancient tower appeared and faded, rising and sinking in and out of sight — the Western Emperor’s Tower, cast from the tears of an immortal forged into green gold, standing guard over this entire pure land.
Immortal tears green gold was an immortal material. There was a saying in the world that it represented sorrowful song and tears — and indeed it was so. It was said that even the Western Emperor herself had lived half a life of bleakness and regret.
The Jade Pool — every woman of breathtaking talent and beauty within it seemed fated to carry some kind of lack, each leaving behind a different story of heartbreak and sorrow.
In the heavens above, a woman appeared, her face filled with boundless grief. She gave Ye Fan a slight nod and then disappeared into the region where the Western Emperor’s Tower stood, remaining there as its companion.
Ye Fan performed a deep bow of respect. This was Yang Yi — the beloved companion of Zhang Lin, the fifth generation Source Heavenly Patriarch — and it seemed to serve as yet another confirmation of the ill omen woven into the immortal tears green gold tower, leaving behind a story of regret and sorrow.
“What is the true relationship between the Undying Great Emperor Wushi and the Jade Pool?” Ye Fan asked suddenly.
“That black dog should know,” the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady said.
“It has gone missing.” Ye Fan said helplessly.
The Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady said, “As you have surmised in your heart — it is not unfounded. And I myself only confirmed this in recent years, after an ancient sage sealed within the Immortal Pool came into the world and spoke of what had transpired in the past.”
“The Undying Great Emperor Wushi… truly came from the Jade Pool?!” Ye Fan spun around abruptly. He had only asked the question offhandedly, never imagining the other party would truly reveal this truth.
“Yes. The Undying Great Emperor Wushi is the son of the Western Emperor,” the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady said calmly — and like a thunderclap, it sent a tremor through Ye Fan. This was truly something to shake the foundations of heaven and earth.
The belief that one family could not produce two emperors and could never be broken? No — someone had already shattered that barrier and done the impossible!
Born of the Western Emperor’s own flesh and blood, he had not been held back from reaching the absolute pinnacle by her supreme and unmatched imperial dao. Instead, he had broken through against all odds, defying the very heavens — and so there came to be the one and only, incomparable Wushi!
Were this news to spread, it would shake the heavens and send tremors through the universe!
Who said the descendants of a great emperor could not attain the Dao? Who said one family could never produce two emperors? Throughout all of antiquity, no one had ever broken this curse — yet unbeknownst to all, it had long since been broken by Wushi.
This was an astounding event, a tremendous wave — enough to rewrite certain accepted truths in the history of cultivation, shaking heaven and earth, reverberating through all ages.
“He broke the myth and created a miracle unprecedented since ancient times!” Ye Fan exclaimed in admiration.
It was always said that the master of the Jade Pool could never be wed — yet the Western Emperor had left behind a young son. If this were to spread, it would naturally set off a great wave of upheaval.
“The Western Emperor had one bittersweet love, and with her own hands sent the person who had once accompanied her to his final rest. Then with her own hands she sealed away her only young son, and lived out the rest of her days in solitary desolation — until at last, within the Jade Pool, she accepted disciples in great numbers and founded the order,” the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady said, with nothing to conceal.
“I see.”
Powerful and peerlessly brilliant as the Western Emperor was — a great emperor — she had still carried a sorrowful song within her, one that had left her helpless, even as a great emperor, to do anything more than send her beloved to the final release with her own hands. What grief and anguish must that have been.
Ye Fan did not know what had occurred in those days, but he could imagine that kind of heartbreak. The Western Emperor must have carried within her endless sorrow and regret — enough to move one deeply.
Wushi had been sealed away while still very young. He came into the world in an age of darkness, and because there was no other way — an emperor’s son was needed to quell the darkness and chaos — his seal was broken. And from that came the legend of his unblemished life, undefeated through all of eternity.
“Just how powerful was the Undying Great Emperor Wushi?” Ye Fan held deep reverence for this great emperor, and he very much wanted to know everything about him.
“Powerful beyond all measure to gauge!” — that was the Jade Pool’s assessment.
Ye Fan understood. A great emperor could not be looked up to, could not be measured. One could only estimate from his combat power before he achieved the throne.
“When he was born, auspicious light from the top of his head pierced through the nine heavens, and the four seas all trembled,” the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady revealed a stunning fact.
A tremor ran through Ye Fan’s heart. He immediately lifted out the white, fair-skinned baby and fixed his eyes on the little fellow inside the divine source, staring at him until the child felt uneasy.
Yet the little fellow showed considerable backbone. After a brief moment of timidity, he stared right back at Ye Fan, glaring and mumbling non-stop.
“An-duan-deh-ma-sen-fei-la-gu-nu!”
Liu Yiyi, after learning how this little fellow had come to be, could not help but gasp in disbelief — truly terrifying beyond words.
“When Wushi was young, how did he compare to this little chubby one?” Ye Fan asked.
“Why call him chubby — all children are like this when they’re small, it’s what makes them adorable,” Liu Yiyi could not help herself, and reached out to cradle the immortal source and, keeping a little distance from it, affectionately patted the baby’s head.
“Specific details are unknown.” The Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady shook her head. Wushi had lost his father at a young age, and had been sealed by his mother while still very young, never having grown up at his parents’ sides — outsiders knew very little.
Without question, his father had been a Sacred Physique. If nothing had gone wrong, it was very likely he had fully matured — otherwise, what would have qualified him to be a match for the Western Emperor, who had already attained the Dao?
With the blood of two supreme sovereigns flowing in his veins, one did not even need to think about it — it was bound to be utterly extraordinary. And indeed, the matchless renown of the Innate Sacred Physique and Dao Womb had shaken all of antiquity, long since proven beyond all doubt.
With Liu Yiyi’s coaxing and comfort, the divine baby was behaving himself, his large eyes half-lidded, babbling softly a few words.
“Little chubby one — you can understand what we’re saying, so don’t keep speaking in that ancient tongue,” Ye Fan said.
“Bad guy, bad guy, bad guy, bad guy!” The divine baby transmitted through divine sense, calling out those two words four times in a row.
Both the Jade Pool’s Sacred Lady and Liu Yiyi burst out laughing. Only Ye Fan was left to threaten: “Little chubby one, if you keep talking like that, I’ll sell you into the Primordial Ancient Mine and let those strange entities there study you inside and out.”
“You’re the chubby one!” This time, he cried out in a childish, milk-soft voice — and it was not the ancient tongue, but the language of the present age.
Ye Fan was taken aback, then realized: this child had been awake in the Ji Family’s stone workshop for many years. He had been able to perceive everything outside all along — he had certainly long since come to understand the speech of men.
“Yiyi — when the time comes, I’ll take you and Zhang Wenchang back to the other shore of the starry sky to see it,” Ye Fan turned and said.
“Really… is that really true?!” Liu Yiyi’s voice trembled, and tears fell in a stream.
“Really,” Ye Fan gave her a definite answer.
“I want to go too — that is the place where I was born!” the divine baby called out.
Ye Fan was taken aback. This little chubby one had suddenly become quite talkative — and how could he be certain of that? Then in an instant he realized he had underestimated this child. He was able to sense other people’s emotions, and he had picked up on Liu Yiyi’s spiritual sense fluctuations, perceiving what kind of place it was.
“Little chubby one, you’re not as well-behaved as you seem,” Ye Fan held him up, keeping him away from Liu Yiyi — who, in her state of agitation, had let down all her guard — to prevent him from probing into her sea of consciousness.
Afterward, Ye Fan asked the question he had long wanted answered yet had never been able to get to the bottom of: “What is the truth about the Jade Pool’s former grounds? What exactly happened there in those days?”