In the wilderness outside Li City, quite a few cultivators were lurking about, all searching for ancient graves, every last one of them drawn there by the Nine Secrets.
The emergence of the Nine Secrets had shaken the Northern Region to its core. No sect could remain indifferent, and even the ancient aristocratic clans had made clear their intention to compete for it.
“Caw!”
A crow let out a mournful cry, a grating sound that made one’s skin crawl.
This was a stretch of wasteland used for mass burials — desolate and bleak, with only a few withered trees and old vines. Everywhere else was bare, strewn with shattered grave mounds.
“These people have gone too far! Not even graves are off limits to them. It’s enough to make your blood boil.” Ji Ziyue huffed indignantly, her temper carrying a childlike innocence.
No one could say how many ancient burial grounds they had already come across. Every single one had been ransacked. Each tomb had been pried open, and some of the skeletal remains had even been dug out and tossed aside.
Duan De said, “It’s all that bronze bell’s fault. It leaked the secret of the Nine Secrets’ existence to the world, and now cultivators from the Northern Region are rushing here in droves.”
“Caw — caw — caw…”
In the desolate old burial ground, several crows beat their wings and circled among a cluster of dry bones, spreading a foreboding chill.
“Someone’s already dug through everything. Why should we bother wasting our energy?” Ji Ziyue was thoroughly displeased.
“Who is this poor Daoist? I know five thousand years of the past and five hundred years of the future. Trust me.” Duan De spoke with shameless self-assurance. Though his figure was decidedly rotund, he moved with surprising agility, pacing back and forth across the burial ground as though measuring something.
“Daoist, are you truly certain we should dig here again?” Yao Xi’s beautiful face was etched with bewilderment.
“What I’m asking you to dig isn’t the surface level — it’s the burial complex far deeper underground. After more than ten thousand years, the truly ancient tombs have been buried deep beneath the earth. The burial zone on the surface doesn’t amount to anything.” Duan De wore the expression of someone who had everything under control.
Ye Fan had anticipated this from the start. The reason they’d brought him along was almost certainly to use him as muscle. His cultivation was not high enough to match any of the others present.
Sure enough, the digging fell to him. He didn’t begrudge it. For the sake of the Nine Secrets, this was nothing.
Unfortunately, their luck wasn’t particularly good. They did indeed unearth a tomb deeper down, but it bore no connection to any ancient aristocratic clan from fifteen thousand years ago. There was no trace of the Nine Secrets.
By now night had fallen, and the world was blanketed in absolute darkness.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, the distant sky lit up in a blaze of light. Someone was locked in battle.
Two figures, each blazing like a small sun, tore through the night sky, their duel shaking the heavens with thunderous force — an exchange of breathtaking ferocity.
“That’s the Holy Son Yao Guang — but who is the other person? To match him like that!” Ji Ziyue exclaimed in surprise.
At that moment, Ji Haoyue’s Divine King Physique flared with brilliant radiance, his battle intent soaring. He gazed up at the night sky and murmured to himself, “Golden hair, incomparable combat power — could that be the Golden-Winged Xiaopeng King of the demon race?”
Ye Fan’s eyes grew distant and deep. He hadn’t expected the Golden-Winged Xiaopeng King to encounter the Holy Son Yao Guang so soon. The two of them moved like a pair of divine beings, their clash rattling heaven and earth, until they finally vanished beyond the horizon.
Ji Haoyue moved to leap into the air, but Ji Ziyue seized his arm. “Don’t go,” she said.
She was worried for her brother. She knew both of those combatants were heaven-defying geniuses fully capable of challenging the Divine King Physique, and she had no desire to see him drawn into it.
Duan De said, “Is Immortal Yao not worried about the Holy Son Yao Guang?”
Yao Xi smiled radiantly. “Daoist is asking why I haven’t gone to help him, aren’t you? If I were to act, he would refuse my assistance. In a certain sense, the Great Emperor Qualification Battle has already begun. He would not accept help.”
“The Great Emperor Qualification Battle…” Ji Haoyue’s eyes burned ever brighter, divine light blazing from his body like a roaring inferno.
“Even this poor Daoist’s blood is beginning to boil a little. A pity my aptitude is middling — I’m in no position to compete.” Duan De shook his head.
“And you, little Daoist — why so silent?” Ji Ziyue asked.
“The Great Emperor Qualification Battle is too far beyond where I stand. Thinking about it now would be pointless…” Ye Fan shook his head.
Over the following days, Duan De led the group in excavating more than a hundred ancient tombs, yet they came away empty-handed every time, without a single clue pointing toward the Nine Secrets.
Only now did the group finally understand why Duan De had sought them out as allies. Recruiting a Divine Physique bearer and the Holy Maiden of Yao Guang to serve as labor — that was an extraordinarily shrewd bargain.
“Duan De, for these past several days you’ve had us digging all over this burial ground and we’ve practically turned every old grave site upside down. Do you actually have any idea what you’re doing?” Ji Haoyue asked in a low, level voice.
Being the future Divine King and spending his days doing this was wearing on his patience. He was beginning to suspect Duan De was stringing them along.
“Don’t you have an important clue left behind by Gai Jiuyou?” Yao Xi had grown somewhat impatient as well.
“Rest assured, I will find it. The clue Gai Jiuyou left is extremely valuable, and I am following it step by step. Otherwise, do you really think that after fifteen thousand years, anyone could locate the ruins of the old Li City?” Duan De replied.
Five days later, Duan De’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Found it!”
“Found the burial site of the ancient clan?” Ji Ziyue pressed eagerly.
“No — I’ve found the old ruins of Li City from fifteen thousand years ago!” Duan De answered.
It was a barren stretch of flat terrain — nothing on it but rubble in every direction, more than two hundred li removed from the present-day Li City.
“What good is finding the ruins of Li City? It’s not the burial ground of that ancient clan.”
Duan De’s face glowed with satisfaction. “But from the position of this city, we can determine where their burial zone would be. It certainly wouldn’t be too far off, and the search area narrows considerably at once.”
“Heaven is vast, the earth is wide — you’re not planning to have us dig up the entire surrounding territory, are you?” The group fixed him with looks that could have drawn blood.
“Don’t worry. The ancients placed great importance on the principles governing burial sites. They would not simply inter anyone carelessly. I have some expertise in this field. I can identify a handful of the most likely locations.”
That same day, Duan De identified fifty-four auspicious geomantic sites in the area surrounding the ruins of old Li City. But also on that very day, others arrived in the area.
“We’ve run into skilled competition. Someone has made the same deductions I have!” Duan De cried out in alarm.
By the next day, the numbers had multiplied several times over. The territory was swarming with cultivators, more arriving by the hour.
“This is trouble. The Nine Secrets truly has shaken all under heaven. More than a few remarkable figures who understand the burial arts have been drawn out. Nothing else could have led them here.” Duan De frowned.
“So the Daoist himself is one such remarkable figure?” Yao Xi said with a smile.
“Bluntly speaking — in the field of burial studies, I am indeed a master. Even the Shadow Tomb of the Demon Emperor could not hold me. You all know that.”
The group knew he wasn’t exaggerating.
Over those two days, they excavated eighteen of their selected geomantic sites in rapid succession. The results: either empty or someone else’s ancient tomb from ages past.
“Trouble. Of our fifty-four sites, others have already dug twenty-seven. We’ve truly run into skilled competition.” Duan De’s expression shifted uneasily.
Nine burial zones remained. Nine great tombs still to be excavated. If nothing went wrong, the ancient clan’s burial grounds would very likely be among them.
“Let’s move quickly and get ahead of the others. If we don’t, someone is going to beat us to it!” Duan De was growing anxious. He was certain genuine experts had entered the field.
That day, the crowds grew thicker by the hour. Nearly every cultivator in the area had caught the scent and converged on these ruins.
Suddenly, Duan De smeared a handful of grime across his face, then used his Bone Shrinking Technique to alter his build and features. This sort of disguise couldn’t change the fundamental essence of a person the way the secret arts recorded in the Cosmic Book of Origins could, but it was more than enough to fool the ordinary observer.
Only then did Ye Fan notice: Wu Zhongtian had appeared not far away, arriving in this area together with Li Heishui, Liu Kou, and Jiang Huairen.
Duan De had dug up that man’s ancestral tomb, so naturally he was feeling rather uneasy. If Wu Zhongtian recognized him, the man would come after him with murderous intent.
“The Golden-Winged Xiaopeng King!” Ji Haoyue’s eyes flashed like lightning as he gazed into the distance. A streak of golden light swept across the sky, and the Xiaopeng King of the Tianpeng clan descended in the far distance.
“Brother, don’t fight him today!” Ji Ziyue rushed to restrain him.
Did the Holy Son Yao Guang actually lose? Ye Fan wondered inwardly.
“They likely didn’t fight to the death that night.” Yao Xi gazed toward the horizon, sensing the Holy Son Yao Guang’s aura — still vigorous and fierce as a blazing furnace-fire.
“The Jiang Family has arrived as well!”
Savage beasts roared across the sky. Several hundred cavalry mounted on exotic beasts came thundering in, each rider a powerful warrior clad in gleaming iron armor. The sky itself trembled under the drumming of their mounts’ hooves.
“The Divine Physique of the Ji Family has come — I can sense his presence!” Ji Haoyue’s body blazed with radiance like a section of divine rainbow, a full moon rising luminously above his head.
Up in the sky, the several hundred riders swept through the air and came to rest on the far horizon.
Everyone could feel it — a pair of eyes of scorching, searing intensity had swept down over them a moment ago, as though capable of piercing through to the marrow of one’s bones. There was no question: it was the Divine Physique of the Jiang Family.
Among the younger generation, the most supreme of talents could sense one another. Should they come to blows, the result would shatter heaven and earth. Each of them was qualified to walk the path of the Great Emperor.
Silken music drifted on the breeze. Mist swirled and petals danced through the air as a group of young women in white robes appeared — graceful as immortals gliding over water.
“I didn’t expect that even the people from the Jade Pool would come…” A strange light flickered in Yao Xi’s beautiful eyes.
Ji Ziyue stared in surprise. “The Jade Pool has always remained aloof from worldly affairs — they almost never get involved in conflicts. For the sake of the Nine Secrets, they’ve actually sent people, and the Holy Maiden of the Jade Pool herself has come in person.”
“This is bad. This poor Daoist has a terrible feeling about this. I don’t want to stay here anymore.” Duan De was ready to cut his losses.
“Daoist, what do you mean by that?” Yao Xi asked.
Duan De turned to Ye Fan. “The two of us should slip away. All of them have powerful backers. We’re the poor ones with no backing. Even if we managed to get our hands on something here, it would only end up benefiting others. We’d be making wedding clothes for someone else.”
“Daoist, you’re overthinking it. We’re allies — how could we possibly do anything to harm you?” Yao Xi said, still smiling.
“Give it a rest. The supreme talents of the younger generation have all gathered. You can be sure the old fossils are here too, lurking in the shadows, watching everything. At the critical moment, they’ll all come crawling out of the woodwork.” Duan De’s expression was deeply troubled.
“There are only nine burial zones left. Daoist, are you truly going to give up now?” Ji Haoyue spoke up. “Rest assured — with me here, I guarantee your life will be safe.”
It was virtually certain that among the nine remaining burial zones, at least one held the ancient clan’s burial grounds. Duan De wavered.
“Boom!”
Like ten thousand horses in full gallop, dozens of ancient war chariots came rolling across the sky in a thunderous procession, making the heavens themselves shudder.
“Another holy land — and all young elite fighters!”
“Woooooo…” A battle horn rang out, deafening in its intensity.
Even the clouds in the sky were scattered by the sound. A massive golden warship came sailing through the air — several hundred zhang in length, blazing with brilliant golden light, breathtakingly magnificent.
Duan De sighed. “Can it be that every major holy land is sending people?”
Ye Fan spoke up as well. “Why are they all sending the younger generation?”
“It’s likely an intentional arrangement by all sides — to let the younger generation have a true showdown and see who is strongest and who is weakest.” Yao Xi offered her analysis.
“Exactly. The elders haven’t stayed away. They just haven’t shown themselves. The great battle for the Nine Secrets will most likely be ignited first among the younger generation!” Duan De cursed his rotten luck under his breath.
“Brother, is that really what’s happening?” Ji Ziyue asked worriedly.
Ji Haoyue’s battle intent surged to a fever pitch, divine power roiling through his body as a divine moon rose slowly into the air, commanding and awe-inspiring in all directions. He gave a nod. “Yes. Today, it seems, we will determine who stands above the rest — and see who among us will one day reign supreme across the Eastern Wasteland!”
At the same moment, mighty battle intent erupted from the Jiang Family’s forces. The Divine Physique of the Jiang Family had finally emerged into the world.
On another side, the Holy Son Yao Guang stood apart from the crowd like a solar deity, radiant in every direction, every inch of him the image of a god.
In the distance, the Golden-Winged Xiaopeng King let out a long, piercing cry. His golden hair whipped wildly in the air, and his towering frame radiated a demonic magnetism that was almost impossible to look away from. A terrifying wave of energy surged outward — the bearing of one who acknowledged no equal in all of heaven and earth.