The Nine Mysteries of Lizhou originated from an extraordinarily mysterious place. Ye Fan examined the brocade cloth carefully. According to what was recorded upon it, the location was exceedingly remote — already approaching the central regions of the Eastern Desolate.
Sacred Cliff — this was an ancient name marked on the brocade cloth, and it was precisely the place where the Nine Mysteries were said to be stored.
Ye Fan found something peculiar about this name and could not help asking the Great Black Dog: “Black Emperor, have you heard of Sacred Cliff?”
The Great Black Dog’s heart gave a sudden leap. “How do you know that name?”
“I threw the ancient scroll to Duan De and kept this brocade cloth. It mentions that the Nine Mysteries are hidden there.” Ye Fan made no attempt to conceal this from the Black Emperor.
“That place is far from ordinary. A Great Emperor once visited there. Standing before the ancient cliff, his heart was moved with feeling, and he lingered there in solemn remembrance.” The Black Emperor spoke thus.
“Just what kind of place is it?” Ye Fan grew even more astonished.
“There is a legend that a fully-realized ancient Sacred Physique once fell there, and his blood stained the stone cliff red. The ancient Great Emperors were all solitary and without equal in the world. Those who wandered to the ancient cliff and gazed upon it mostly concluded that had that Sacred Physique still been alive, it might have been worth raising their hand against him.”
“To think there was such a remarkable story…” Ye Fan rubbed his chin. This was clearly no ordinary place. With the Nine Mysteries hidden within that region, he absolutely had to make the journey there one day.
For now, however, he had no desire to leave. With the brocade cloth in hand, the Nine Mysteries were not going anywhere — he could follow the map to find them when the time came. What he most needed at present was to raise his cultivation realm, not to urgently seek out secret techniques.
In the days since, he had traveled through dozens of cities, continuously purchasing ore and then splitting it open in uninhabited places. Combined with what he had previously accumulated, he had now gathered over ten thousand jin of source.
At this point, he was already capable of breaking through to the third level of the Dao Palace. But he was not satisfied with that — he very much wanted to advance to the fourth level of the Dao Palace.
The difficulty, however, was immense. It would require one hundred thousand jin of source — a figure that made one’s head spin. Relying on stone gambling alone would be quite difficult.
“Perhaps it is time to go to the Holy City…” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
More than half a month had passed, and the turmoil in Lizhou had not subsided — on the contrary, it had grown ever more intense. The other focal figure from that day — Duan De — was in a far more miserable state than Ye Fan.
The unscrupulous Daoist was indeed a figure of considerable ability. Even in such a dire situation that day, he had somehow found an opportunity and managed to escape.
But the days that followed were extremely difficult for him. The major sacred grounds were hunting him simultaneously, Wu Dao of the Thirteen Great Outlaws was roaring after him in frenzied pursuit, and the demon clan was clinging to him without letting go.
Duan De had been fleeing for half a month, so exhausted he was nearly vomiting blood. He had narrowly escaped being skinned alive, and finally, finding he could no longer hold on, he threw the ancient scroll away in desperation.
Yet even so, his situation did not improve. Wu Dao of the Thirteen Great Outlaws appeared to have locked onto him, relentlessly pursuing him without a single moment’s rest, day and night.
Someone reported seeing that after half a month, Duan De had shed a large amount of weight, his body covered in bloodstains. Yet the one thing that surprised everyone was that he was still jumping around quite vigorously, showing no signs of wavering.
“This plump fellow truly has an extraordinary life. The major sacred grounds couldn’t kill him; even with Wu Dao personally making his move, he still hasn’t been caught.” Ye Fan was somewhat speechless.
According to the latest news, with Wu Dao hunting Duan De relentlessly — leaving him no path to the heavens and no way into the earth — he had fled in the direction of the Central Prefecture.
After the unscrupulous Daoist threw out the ancient scroll, the successors of the major sacred grounds came to violent blows over it, shocking even the elder generation with the intensity of their combat power.
“We must return to Stone Village — we need to relocate the people there. I estimate that after a while longer, the contest for the ancient scroll will have a result, and the major sacred grounds will likely sit down together to negotiate.”
That was not the Nine Mysteries — it was a world-shaking map. Once the major sects had deciphered it, there would certainly be enormous upheaval. It was not something a single family could swallow whole, and one sacred ground alone could not conquer that place.
He had no wish for the people of Stone Village to be caught up in the fallout, and wanted to arrange their safety in advance and move them far from Purple Mountain.
“If the major sacred grounds make a large-scale assault on Purple Mountain, the other locations will inevitably be left thin and exposed. That may be an excellent opportunity — and I will need source!” Ye Fan was filled with eager desire.
Half a month later, Ye Fan and the Black Emperor returned to Stone Village to find it exactly as it had always been, with little significant change.
This place was far from rich or beautiful — a small settlement enclosed by reddish-brown stones, barren and sparse in vegetation, amounting to nothing more than a small oasis of perhaps ten or so li in extent.
Yet the people who lived here were in good spirits, making their living by mining source and subsisting without worry, able to travel to more distant oases to trade for daily necessities.
“Little Brother Ye is back — and that… Black Emperor.” The people of Stone Village called out warm greetings, nearly stumbling over their form of address for the Great Black Dog.
When word spread that they were to leave this place, many of the elders fell silent. Their families had lived here for generations. Leaving suddenly — no one could easily accept such a thing.
“We must leave. This place will not know peace from now on. A great storm is coming.” Ye Fan explained patiently.
In the end, finding no other recourse, he invited Elder Zhang to come forward and gave him a brief account of the situation concerning Purple Mountain.
Upon hearing that the major sacred grounds were coming, Elder Zhang’s expression changed. He sighed: “Our ancestors charged us to guard this place. Has the time truly come when we must withdraw?”
The Black Emperor extended his enormous head. “Leave. Your clan is destined for great fortune in the future.”
Ye Fan had heard this before — the founding ancestor of the Zhang Family, that Master of Source, had once said: those who guard this place and pay reverence to Purple Mountain will receive great fortune in the future.
For many people, thoroughly departing from this place was a sorrowful process. Ye Fan did not rush or press them, for there was still sufficient time.
Even once the ancient scroll fell into the hands of a sacred ground, it would be difficult for any result to emerge in the short term. All sides would need to engage in constant negotiation and redistribution of interests.
However, it was precisely at this moment that the Great Black Dog made a discovery. When it went to observe Purple Mountain, it caught sight of a human figure — someone had already arrived!
“Are you certain?” Ye Fan was startled. This was far sooner than expected.
“That person is extraordinarily terrifying. I only glimpsed a shadowy form — one flash and they were gone.” The Great Black Dog said in a solemn voice.
The Black Emperor had only barely glimpsed them: the person wore a Daoist robe and stood at the peak of Purple Mountain, vanishing in an instant. The sight had given it a considerable fright.
“Wearing a Daoist robe — could that be the fat fellow who came? But he was being chased in the direction of the Central Prefecture, wasn’t he?” Ye Fan was puzzled.
“That plump fellow it certainly is not — he could not possibly move that fast. I remember clearly every person I have ever bitten. This person is considerably terrifying. One blink of my eye, and his trace had vanished completely like drifting mist.”
Ye Fan felt the need to leave quickly. This place was no longer peaceful, and this storm had arrived faster than he had imagined.
“You urge them to pack quickly. I’ll go out and take a look around.” He left Stone Village and made his way to Pingyan City to gather information, only to learn that the sacred grounds had not yet made their move — the turmoil over the ancient scroll had not yet subsided.
“Something is wrong. If the sacred grounds haven’t come, yet someone was already there first — this must be a supremely powerful expert.” Ye Fan speculated inwardly. This person had certainly already seen the ancient scroll.
When Ye Fan returned, he found the Great Black Dog several dozen li from Stone Village, and asked in surprise: “Why are you out here?”
“A Daoist came and entered Stone Village. I cannot see through him, and I feared he might intend me harm.”
“So you ran out here?” Ye Fan was taken aback. He was somewhat worried about the people of the village.
“Have no fear. Someone who has reached that level of cultivation would certainly not make things difficult for ordinary people. I simply could not tell why he entered Stone Village.”
“You said this Daoist — could it be the one you spotted at the peak of Purple Mountain?”
“Most likely it is that very same old fellow. Otherwise, how could two supremely powerful experts possibly appear in the same area?” The Great Black Dog deliberated for a while and said: “Go and see what he’s doing.”
Ye Fan thought it over, then altered his appearance and disguised himself as Wang Shu, making even his fundamental source aura nearly identical.
At present, with their imminent departure from this place, Wang Shu was not in Stone Village — he was in Pingyan City purchasing necessary supplies.
Wearing Wang Shu’s appearance, he returned to Stone Village. The moment he arrived, he saw that a considerable number of people had gathered in a circle, many engaged in lively discussion.
“What is going on?” Ye Fan asked.
“An old Daoist has come, and something is strange about him. He took a liking to Elder Zhang’s stone mill, and then took a fancy to Er Lengzi’s family’s grinding stone, and is now intending to purchase them.”
“This old Daoist has terrible eyes. Even I can tell that the mill and grinding stone have no source inside them. Yet he wants to pay a high price for them — I truly cannot fathom what he is thinking.”
Ye Fan’s heart gave a sudden leap, and he quickly pressed forward. Within the crowd stood an old Daoist, wearing an ancient Daoist robe that appeared to be of considerable age — so faded from washing that the color had almost gone entirely white.
“Clothing like this, not in keeping with the present day…” A thought stirred in Ye Fan’s heart. The style of the Daoist robe was very old.
He kept his expression calm, but inwardly a shiver ran through him. In a single flash of his spiritual sense, he felt as though he was facing a dormant ancient primordial savage dragon.
Yet the spiritual sense flickered and was gone in an instant — that feeling vanished from him just as quickly. He remained unruffled, without any outward reaction.
This was a white-haired elder with hair falling to his shoulders, who appeared to be in his sixties or seventies by the look of him — vigorous and hale in spirit, carefully examining Er Lengzi’s family’s stone grinding wheel.
“I will give you ten jin of source. I want this grinding wheel.” The old Daoist spoke to Er Lengzi’s parents.
“Ten jin?!” Everyone around was utterly astonished.
Even Ye Fan was somewhat puzzled. He had also been examining this grinding wheel carefully, yet perceived nothing unusual about it.
In the end, the old Daoist purchased the grinding wheel and began to split the stone right there in front of everyone.
Stone shavings flew through the air. He was extremely careful — as though afraid of damaging some precious treasure — peeling it away layer by layer, not hacking at it with broad sweeping blows at all.
Yet in the end, the grinding wheel became nothing more than a pile of stone shavings, and nothing had been cut out. The old Daoist furrowed his brow and rose to his feet. Pointing at the stone roller in front of Elder Zhang’s door not far away, he said: “That roller — I will offer twenty jin of source for it.”
“This…” The people of Stone Village were considerably taken aback.
“Elder Zhang, do these stone rollers and grinding stones have any origin?” Ye Fan asked Elder Zhang in a low voice.
“I haven’t heard of any particular origin…” Elder Zhang furrowed his brow and thought carefully for a long time before saying: “They have been in use from generation to generation for as long as anyone can remember. Nothing particularly special about them — at any rate, I cannot see any source inside them.”
Suddenly, Elder Zhang’s expression shifted, and he exchanged a glance with Ye Fan. The same thought had occurred to both of them simultaneously: could these grinding stones and rollers have been intentionally left behind by their ancestors?
One must understand — the ancestors of the Zhang Family were no ordinary people. That was a figure of remarkable and extraordinary ability.
If deliberately left behind by an ancestor, it would certainly be far from commonplace. With the eyes they possessed, they would be completely unable to detect a single thing unusual about them.
“Are there many stone implements like these throughout the village?” Ye Fan asked.
“Specifically… no count has been taken.” Elder Zhang’s fingers trembled slightly.
Things left behind for his descendants by that remarkable figure — could they truly all be in the form of the most ordinary stone mortars, grinding wheels, and rollers? Ye Fan’s heart gave a jolt.