In ages past, when the Sacred Body emerged, all under heaven submitted. Wherever he passed, the heroes retreated, none daring to test his edge.

Yet that glory had faded for far too long. Now, even a disciple of a minor sect would unhesitatingly slap the label of “crippled constitution” onto this physique when it came up in conversation.

Time flows on. Rise and fall, ebb and tide — the Sacred Body had long since become ordinary among ordinary people, the supreme brilliance of that age now difficult to glimpse, sinking beneath the turning wheel of history, unstoppable.

Ye Fan yearned to shatter the curse and change his current dire circumstances. He was desperately eager to grow stronger — and the revelations surrounding Emperor Wushi had stirred his emotions to their very depths.

The Divine City was truly enormous. Even after all these days, Ye Fan had only managed to explore a small corner of it and had by no means walked through it all.

Of course, this was mainly because he had come to gamble on stones. He couldn’t simply wander without purpose — once he settled on a stone workshop, he had to linger there for a long time.

On this day, Li Heishui led Ye Fan a little further than usual. The ancient street was wide and open, yet there were not many people traveling along it — an unusual tranquility prevailed.

On both sides of the road stood ancient trees with branches soaring to the sky. Their trunks, their old bark cracked and fissured, were so massive it would take more than a dozen men linking arms to encircle them. The canopy blocked out the sun and sky, giving the place a faint, eerie stillness.

When they had walked a bit further, Ye Fan sensed something was off. Beside the road stood a stone workshop — one of considerable scale, occupying an enormous expanse of ground — yet it was utterly desolate.

Weeds grew wild, old trees had run rampant, nearly swallowing the buildings and towers entirely. It was evident that no one had tended to it in years; it had almost become a stretch of wilderness.

“What on earth—”

Ye Fan stared wide-eyed, because he actually spotted a rabbit. A wild hare leaped out from the weeds and dashed into the depths of the garden. In the Divine City — where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold — how could a compound this vast have been left in such a state of neglect?

No one had tended to it, and it had become a place where ancient vines crept everywhere and trees ran wild. That alone was remarkable enough. But wild rabbits? That was truly something else.

Before long, Ye Fan spotted two wild pheasants as well, flapping their wings and vanishing into the thicket. He was at a complete loss for words. This was far too bizarre.

“What kind of place is this? Who in the Divine City could bear to abandon a property like this?”

“This place… is the stone workshop of the Celestial Pivot Holy Land.” Li Heishui replied.

Ahead, beside the road, stood a grand gateway like a city tower, half-hidden by ancient trees. Hanging above it was a mottled bronze plaque, upon which two ancient characters had been carved: Celestial Pivot.

“That holy land!” Ye Fan was astonished. He stepped forward to examine it closely and said, “No wonder it’s like this.”

He thought of the Old Madman. In the era when this holy land had been at its absolute height, it had marshaled the full strength of its entire sect and launched an assault on an ancient forbidden ground — and the result had been near-total annihilation, almost wiped from existence.

“Did the other holy lands have no designs on this place?” Ye Fan asked.

In the distant past, there had been more holy lands than there are now, but over time, many had broken their heritages. The treasures they left behind had been divided among the surviving holy lands — one of the reasons those that remained had grown ever more powerful.

“When the Celestial Pivot Holy Land ended with only three or four survivors, how could they possibly have held off the other holy lands who were eyeing them like predators? Much of what remained was divided up — including the vast Source ore deposits outside the Primordial Forbidden Zone.”

“Then why wasn’t this place divided up as well?” Ye Fan was puzzled.

“There are certain reasons for that…” Li Heishui explained.

The Celestial Pivot Holy Land had been located in the central regions of the Eastern Desolation. Not long after those three or four survivors made it back, their lifespans ran dry and they perished — bodies and spirits both extinguished.

The holy lands had wanted to divide the Celestial Pivot’s holdings among themselves, but then, every time the full moon arrived, the remains of the Celestial Pivot Holy Land would produce the sound of weeping. Several holy lords had gone to investigate in the dead of night yet found nothing at all.

Not long after that, this — the largest stone workshop within the Divine City — also began emitting sounds of sorrowful weeping on nights of the full moon. Every great holy land had sent powerful figures to investigate, yet not even a ghost’s shadow was ever found. In the end, none dared to touch this place.

In the years and centuries that followed, once every thousand years, those sorrowful cries of weeping would emerge again in the dead of night — and this had effectively kept every holy land at bay ever since.

To this day, no one has dared to move against this place.

“The gate is open.” Ye Fan noticed, surprised.

“After all these years, there is only one elderly caretaker remaining — a descendant of that loyal old servant from long ago. But this line is nearly at its end as well; the current caretaker has no descendants.”

“Can we go in and look around?”

“You can go in, though the stone materials were long since carried away by the various holy lands. There’s nothing of value left.”

“Are there still stones here to gamble on?” Ye Fan was a little surprised.

“The old servant who watches this place still has to survive. He tends only to this old estate — but as for the stone materials, if someone wants to buy, he’ll sell.”

In those days, the various holy lands had rushed to carry away the precious stone materials first, and the weeping in the night came only afterward. Though they hadn’t seized this place, returning the Source was out of the question.

Crumbling stone steps, collapsed halls, all of it hidden beneath encroaching grass and trees — and there, seated atop a mossy boulder, was an elderly man whose eyes had grown dim, his back bent with age. He was ancient and decrepit, his lifespan nearly exhausted, close to the point of an oil lamp guttering out. He sat gazing at the desolate garden choked with weeds, his eyes filled with wistful longing and sorrow.

At the sight of this, Ye Fan could not help but sigh. This was a loyal and honest family — generation after generation, they had kept watch over this compound with no future and no hope.

The old man was a little slow. He turned his head back gradually, his face a map of wrinkles, his eyes murky and dim.

“Young men, have you come to buy stone materials?”

A truly heartbreaking old man — what force, what belief, is sustaining him here? Ye Fan could not say.

“Yes, I want to buy a great many stone materials!” Ye Fan nodded and placed a sizable amount of Source down before the old man.

“You don’t need this much — there are no particularly valuable stones here…” The old man reached out with rough, aged hands and gently pushed the Source back toward Ye Fan, trembling as he did so. “Besides, you haven’t chosen your stones yet.”

“I’ll go choose now.” Ye Fan said.

“Look carefully — you might still find a treasure or two in there. Occasionally, legendary figures come here searching for them.” The old man’s eyes grew unfocused, and he gazed with a touch of sadness at the dilapidated garden. “Just a little while ago, someone came in and went deep inside to look — might well be one of those kinds of figures.”

Li Heishui smiled and quipped, “Perhaps if our luck holds, we’ll truly stumble across a legendary great expert.”

Suddenly, Ye Fan’s expression stiffened. His heart began to pound — because he truly had spotted a terrifying figure!

Deep within the overgrown weeds stood an old Daoist — draped in an ancient, worn Daoist robe, his body wizened and dry, crouching on the ground examining stone materials. It was none other than — the Scarlet Dragon Daoren.

Fortunately, Ye Fan’s cultivation in the art of preserving his composure was more than sufficient. Anyone else would certainly have let out a cry. He brought his emotions under control in an instant, his pulse without the slightest irregularity.

This was the sworn elder brother of the Peacock King — a supremely terrifying existence that even the great holy lords had cause to dread and find troublesome. Ye Fan could never have imagined he would encounter him here.

He couldn’t help but glance at the old man and at Li Heishui. He truly didn’t know whether to call them bad omens or to credit them with a gift of prophecy — they had genuinely pointed out an absolutely terrifying figure.

The Scarlet Dragon Daoren glanced in their direction, looked over the old man and Li Heishui, and said nothing more.

Several months ago, the Scarlet Dragon Daoren had selected a pile of stone artifacts at a stone village — only to have Ye Fan make a clean sweep of all of it, even pulling up the foundations of the villagers’ homes, without leaving so much as a scrap behind.

Ye Fan could well imagine the expression on the Scarlet Dragon Daoren’s face upon returning that day. He dared not let slip even a single flaw — if the other party discovered he had been the one responsible, there was a good chance he’d receive a savage thrashing.

He and Li Heishui wandered with an air of indifference among the ancient trees, searching for stones, showing not the slightest unusual behavior.

Before long, the Scarlet Dragon Daoren had selected over ten cracked stones. Nothing about them appeared particularly special. He stacked them before the old man and was about to pay with Source.

Suddenly, the Scarlet Dragon Daoren seemed to sense something. A terrifying aura surged out from him, and in an instant he vanished from the spot and shot outward — as though pursuing something.

“Why did he leave…” the old man muttered in puzzlement. Then, turning to Ye Fan and Li Heishui, he said, “Well, why don’t you two just stop choosing and buy these stones here — they’ve all been hand-picked.”

Ye Fan hesitated for a moment. Should he really make a clean sweep again, taking everything the old Daoist had his eye on?

“Buy! If that old Daoist doesn’t come back, count it as my great good fortune. If he does come back, I’ll be doing him a favor.” Ye Fan made this decision inwardly and stepped forward.

“Let’s cut them open right here.” Li Heishui wasn’t particularly invested — he didn’t know the Scarlet Dragon Daoren’s identity.

“Wait a moment.” Ye Fan was afraid the Scarlet Dragon Daoren would return.

But after a full quarter of an hour, there was still no sign of him coming back. Ye Fan inwardly cried out his luck and set to work cutting stones.

He stripped open thirteen stones in succession — all empty inside, nothing at all.

The fifteenth stone was no larger than a fist. The moment Ye Fan cut it open, a fragrance wafted out — like orchid, like musk, sinking into the very marrow of one’s bones, intoxicating to the core.

He shuddered then and there. This scent was far too familiar. Not long ago, he had cut it out of a stone artifact left by the Source Heavenly Master — it had poisoned that greedy great black dog so severely that he had been convulsing and twitching between life and death.

“The Scarlet Dragon Daoren’s eye is impossibly sharp — can it be that he too understands the most profound depths of Source arts?!” Ye Fan’s heart was shaken, and boundless bewilderment rose alongside.

Of course, in this moment, what he felt even more was a headache. He had cut out this kind of thing again. Was it all going to go to waste once more?

“A treasure has emerged!” Li Heishui shouted in excitement. When a fragrance this rich could seep out from a stone, it had to be a rarity almost unheard of in the world.

Even the old man beside them — his clouded eyes no longer dull — showed an expression of astonishment.

Ye Fan peeled away the outer stone husk to reveal a pink fruit — no larger than half a fist — identical to the one from before, only half the size.

Swish!

Abruptly, a flash of light — and the Scarlet Dragon Daoren appeared without a sound in his original spot, his expression revealing shock and fury: “Why have you moved my stone materials?”

Ye Fan didn’t answer immediately. He wanted to do the Scarlet Dragon Daoren a favor — there was absolutely no way he could allow the man to hold a grievance against him.

“You left and didn’t return, so I sold them to these two.” Right then, the frail old man leaning on his cane spoke up in a faint voice.

The Scarlet Dragon Daoren was taken aback, and couldn’t help but glance at the old man a moment longer.

“We’ve already purchased them. If you want them, bring enough Source to buy them.” Li Heishui had sensed that the Scarlet Dragon Daoren was extraordinarily powerful, yet regardless of how he thought about it, he never could have imagined the man was powerful enough to be the Peacock King’s sworn elder brother.

“Never mind all of that — quickly bring out a jade vessel to seal it! Otherwise, at the most conservative estimate, something worth over ten thousand jin of Source is about to be ruined!” The Scarlet Dragon Daoren was frantic beyond measure, sweat beading at his temples. He patted himself all over and couldn’t find a single jade object.

“Ten thousand jin of Source?!” Li Heishui nearly bit off his own tongue.

That damned Black Emperor!

In that instant, Ye Fan had an overwhelming urge to let out a stream of profanity, and the corner of his mouth very nearly twitched. Curse it — that greedy dead dog had taken a bite out of something worth over two hundred thousand jin of Source!

And what had come of it? The thing had been utterly useless to him. It had poisoned the dog itself into foaming at the mouth, twitching and hovering between life and death for half a month.