Purple Mountain’s bells rang out, the resonant waves crossing the void. Primordial creatures emerged from the ancient age, shaking the divine city.
“Roar…!”
Unknown living beings bellowed, their cries roiling through heaven and earth, scattering the clouds high overhead. The divine city itself trembled.
Not a single person’s expression remained unchanged — many felt their very souls quaking. What manner of terrifying creatures could have emerged?
There was certainly more than one. In every direction throughout the divine city, screams rang out, saturated with terror. Even from a considerable distance, one could sense the oppressive aura of dread radiating outward.
What on earth had the human cultivators encountered upon entering Purple Mountain, to have drawn out so many primordial creatures? Everyone was seized by fear and unease.
Boom!
From the north, a world-shaking shockwave erupted — murderous energy shot into the sky. A holy lord was locked in battle with primordial creatures there, sweeping away the clouds in every direction. The vault of heaven shuddered violently.
“Just how terrifying are the creatures that have appeared?!”
Many faces went pale. Even a holy lord-level figure had gone into action, meeting a formidable foe — one could only imagine how dire the situation was.
Hum!
The void quivered. From the west, a tide of demonic clouds surged forward — stretching across an unknown number of li — and came crashing down upon the divine city, bringing with it an aura of terror that made the flesh crawl.
Boom!
From within that dark cloud, an enormous claw reached out. Covered in green scales, it was the size of a small hilltop — and it swiped downward.
Splatter!
Before everyone’s helpless eyes, over a dozen veteran experts in that area were crushed to pieces in an instant, dissolved into a mist of blood — their bodies and souls alike annihilated.
“What manner of creature is that — how enormous can it be?!”
The sight struck terror into all who witnessed it. Every person who had seen the scene stood dumbstruck, their entire bodies drenched in cold sweat.
A living being of such overwhelming power — who could possibly resist it? Even a holy lord would likely struggle, and whether they could hold out at all was another question entirely.
Boom!
The great claw descended once more. No one could stop it. Dozens of powerful experts shattered in midair — with a single sweep, they were reduced to a pulp of blood and flesh.
Jing, jing, jing…
From the south, the sound of ancient music rang out — yet it carried no trace of softness. Killing intent surged like crashing waves, the musical notes ringing out sharp as sword-song, clanging with metallic resonance.
There was a patch of white cloud, and through the mist one could just make out a slender female figure seated high above the nine heavens, plucking at an ancient stringed instrument resembling a zither.
Clear to see — beams of brilliant light rained downward, while one wave after another of zither-song crashed like tremendous breakers, destroying everything in their path, blanketing the sky and covering the earth.
It was a terrifying melody of slaughter — the clanging thunder of iron horses and soldiers, as though ten thousand cavalry were stampeding without end, infinite killing intent sweeping downward. Countless powerful experts were pierced through.
Splatter, splatter, splatter…
Corpse after corpse dropped from the sky, torn apart on all sides by the boundless aura of carnage.
“This is terrifying — that is a human-shaped figure, and not a single person dares approach!”
People discovered with shock that the entire southern direction had been utterly cleared — not one person dared step forward to brave the edge of that blade. The zither-song surged like violent waves, sweeping across the south.
Boom!
Purple energy came from the east — like a flood of violet lava pouring forward, covering the entire eastern direction. Within it, a terrifying aura poured down like a column.
Bang!
In that same instant, a great purple hand pressed downward — blotting out the sky, blotting out the sun — like a purple mountain slamming down. In an instant, a vast swath of palace halls was ground to powder.
“Ahh…!”
Many people died in the chaos, screams rising up one after another. Quite a few burst upward into the sky, fleeing from that area — and yet they still could not escape.
With a sweep of that great purple hand, those people were like paper cutouts — all of them smashed to ruin and torn asunder, only to become pulverized flesh and blood.
“A holy lord has charged in!”
People watched in amazement as the holy lords of the Jiang Family and the Ji Family charged in together, plunging into the purple cloud.
The purple energy was stirred to a boil, the sky unfurling like a scroll — rattling and shaking violently, as though it might be torn apart or shattered at any moment.
All four directions of the divine city were being assailed by peerless powerhouses, and even more primordial creatures had entered the city, locking in battle with human cultivators.
Every great holy lord had entered the fray — no one could remain a bystander. This patch of heaven and earth trembled throughout. It was a catastrophic and terrible battle, and no one could say how many lives had already been lost.
“Purple Mountain — all these creatures are crossing the void from Purple Mountain. It’s absolutely terrifying!”
Many people’s hearts and guts were trembling. They wanted to flee the divine city, but dared not make any rash moves — if those creatures fixed their gaze on them, they were as good as dead.
“To have opened Purple Mountain is to have opened Pandora’s box — releasing peerless demon-fiends into the world. How will any of this end?”
“In truth, one cannot blame those creatures. The holy lands disturbed them and woke them from their slumber — which will accelerate the loss of their remaining lifespan. Of course they would come hunting people all the way to the divine city.”
“This is a catastrophe — there is no knowing how it will end…”
Ye Fan’s heart shook. The primordial creatures within Purple Mountain had escaped — someone must have ventured into the deepest reaches and disturbed their king.
Had Wushi the Great Emperor’s inheritance been obtained by someone? Though the Great Black Dog had been certain that no one could have gotten their hands on it, he still felt a nagging flicker of doubt.
Had Jiang Taixu been rescued? That was also something he cared about deeply.
“The ape — that ape has appeared again!” Someone in the stone garden cried out, pointing toward the far end of the sky.
Indeed — the Fighting Battle Sage Ape somersaulted high up into the heavens, standing atop a cloud, peerless deadly weapon in hand, golden eyes ablaze. It came to hang above the divine city, filled with bewildered uncertainty.
Jing, jing, jing…
The divine city was in peril, and the southern direction was the most dire — the zither-song struck out by the slender female figure in the clouds carried devastating killing power, and no one dared approach.
Boom!
Suddenly, a streak of crimson red radiance shot into the sky, rolling toward that female figure — boundless divine flames taking the form of a divine phoenix, coiling through the high heavens.
In that instant, every person in the divine city felt an irresistible trembling — it was an aura of power that reached into the soul, causing them to involuntarily fall to their knees on the ground, prostrating themselves.
“A paramount weapon!”
“It’s the Jiang Family’s Hengyu Furnace!”
“That’s right — the divine furnace forged from Phoenix Blood Red Gold. It can shatter heaven and earth, and boil the oceans dry!”
Cultivators cried out in amazement from all sides, their expressions shaking with disbelief. Every one of them trembled — the urge to kneel in reverence welled up beyond their control, as though they stood before a divine being.
The zither-song was cut short. The female figure within the cloud transformed into a beam of divine light and shot off into the sky, fleeing without daring to meet the weapon head-on.
“Can this be real — a paramount weapon has actually been invoked?!” Many among the elder generation felt their hearts constrict.
“What was just shown was only a show of awe and intimidation — the true might of the paramount weapon has not yet been unleashed,” someone replied.
“What?! Even that terrifying divine power was not the weapon’s full force?!” Countless cultivators were stunned.
Boom!
Suddenly, a brilliant radiance soared upward. A heaven-shaking divine power erupted — people trembled once again, rendered nearly speechless.
The violet cloud in the eastern direction receded like a startled tide, rapidly withdrawing — retreating far from the divine city, coming to a halt at the horizon.
Many people’s hearts hammered wildly. Some nearly collapsed to the ground, barely able to hold themselves up.
“That is the Ji Family’s — Void Mirror!”
“Indeed — someone is channeling the Void Mirror, using it to awe and intimidate the primordial creatures!”
Not yet unleashing the full might of a paramount weapon — merely pushing forth a single wave of imposing power — was already this terrifyingly formidable. People found it nearly impossible to imagine what scene would unfold if the full force were truly brought out.
“It could absolutely pierce through heaven and earth, and boil the oceans dry!”
“If sufficient divine power were channeled to drive a paramount weapon, it could sweep through any force under heaven. This is what the weapons of the ancient Great Emperors were — their divine might can be glimpsed from this.”
Ye Fan was also struck with awe. He thought of the Palace of the Underworld God on the glacial plains — an ancient holy land that had stood for seventy or eighty thousand years, completely razed by the Jiang Family’s invincible Divine King wielding the Hengyu Furnace.
He had once half doubted it, but now he found himself ninety percent convinced it was true. The weapons of the ancient Great Emperors were too terrifying.
Boom!
Yet another world-shaking shockwave erupted. Black light spilled out in all directions, dragon-song resounding through heaven and earth. A supreme aura of power that seemed capable of splitting open this patch of sky surged outward.
“A supreme holy weapon forged from Dragon-Veined Black Gold — the Dragon-Veined Cauldron!”
“The only paramount weapon in existence that was not forged at the hands of a Great Emperor.”
People were stunned to the point of swaying, barely keeping their footing. Under such crushing power, even elder-generation figures were struggling to endure.
Within the divine city, the various holy lands held the three paramount weapons of the Eastern Wastelands — using them to overawe the terrifying primordial creatures. At last, heaven and earth grew quiet.
The invading ancient creatures all retreated to the edge of the horizon and dared approach no further. The two sides faced off against each other in a tense standoff.
“Why not just invoke the paramount weapons and slaughter them all — why settle for intimidation?”
“Easy for you to say. If it came to that, blood might stain the earth and a dark age would descend upon the Eastern Wastelands.”
Suddenly, everyone fell silent. An unspeakable oppression settled over their hearts — nearly cutting off their breath — and countless cultivators found themselves unable to speak.
On the horizon, the primordial creatures had gathered. Clouds and mist churned and roiled. An enormous mass of divine Source materialized there, and within it was a humanoid creature. Though it had not broken free of the Source, it radiated a terrifying wave of spiritual pressure.
In the distance, the Fighting Battle Sage Ape’s entire body blazed with golden light from its fur. Weapon in hand, golden eyes wide, it mounted a cloud — and then, with a single somersault, it vanished.
Inside the divine city, several holy lords soared into the sky, supreme weapons in hand, rising to face the creatures in a standoff at the heights.
Powerful spiritual waves pulsed and surged like tides, sweeping through the high heavens — the two sides appeared to be engaged in some form of communication.
In the end, a terrifying voice resonated within the mind of every single person: “Do not disturb our peace again!”
On the horizon, a great black void tore open — the creatures crossed the void and disappeared, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
“That was absolutely terrifying — beings that powerful as enemies would be nothing short of a nightmare!”
“Thank heaven they have left!”
Everyone’s hearts were still pounding. They let out long, relieved breaths.
Above the divine city, the clouds and mist dispersed. Sunlight streamed down. Everything was over — and yet all that had just transpired felt like something out of a dream.
Ye Fan’s heart was deeply shaken. That mass of divine Source he had glimpsed just now looked strangely familiar. He thought carefully — and then, all at once, an alarming realization struck him.
In the underground mineral veins that led toward Purple Mountain, he had once seen a series of wall engravings — among them, a scene in which Wushi the Great Emperor suppressed a female primordial royal.
That mass of divine Source just now… matched the engravings far too closely.
The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he became. It was not merely similar — it was identical in every detail. Could it be that the woman from over a hundred thousand years ago had not been slain by the Great Emperor, and still existed in the world?
The thought set off a cascade of realizations within him, and a chill crept across his entire body. Nine great dragon veins encircled and guarded Purple Mountain — a geographical configuration found nowhere else in the Eastern Wastelands, more daunting even than the Ten-Thousand Dragon Nest.
Within each of those nine great dragon veins lay supreme divine Source, and within each dwelt primordial creatures of immense power — beings on the same tier as the terrifying existence he had just witnessed in that mass of Source.
He could scarcely imagine what manner of place lay at the heart of it all — Purple Mountain itself.
After studying the Source Heaven Scripture, Ye Fan had come to gradually understand: this was the supreme sanctuary of the nine ultimate extremes under heaven, the place where the transformations of heaven and earth reached their most profound and wondrous limit.
He had only managed to discern the four words “reaching the utmost transformation” — but how exactly that “transformation” was meant to unfold, he could not fathom, no matter how deeply he pondered.
What manner of supreme existence had taken up residence in Purple Mountain before the primordial age, requiring the terrifying creatures of nine great dragon veins to stand guard?
What had Wushi the Great Emperor done after entering? Ye Fan could not begin to guess — just what was meant by “the transformations of heaven and earth reaching their most profound and wondrous limit”?
“Having truly entered Purple Mountain and successfully withdrawn — what in the end did the holy lands obtain?”
“The Central State and the Eastern Wastelands together deployed five paramount weapons. This successful entry into and exit from Purple Mountain must have yielded some supreme inheritance.”
“Is Divine King Jiang Taixu still alive — was he rescued?”
…
The divine city was in an uproar. Everyone was talking.
That day, rumors of every kind swept through the city like a storm.
Some said the holy lands had obtained an ancient Great Emperor’s secrets and had laid eyes on Wushi the Great Emperor’s carved inscriptions.
Others said the people from Central State had seen Wushi the Great Emperor’s remains — intact and lifelike after more than a hundred thousand years.
Still others claimed that Wushi the Great Emperor had never died at all — that he sat even now atop a Dao platform within Purple Mountain…