“It truly is a Great Emperor…” The Great Black Dog leaped with excitement, its entire body trembling.

“Doggy…” Xiao Nannan cried out in alarm. She had nearly been flung off — fortunately Ye Fan was right beside her and caught the little one in his arms before she hit the ground.

“There really is a shadowy figure — he… he must have noticed us! What… what do we do?” Tu Fei — normally a man of endless words — found his tongue somewhat uncooperative at this moment.

“You say he is a Great Emperor?!” Li Heishui asked in shock, keeping his voice extremely low.

By now they were less than three hundred zhang from the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree. Though other trees blocked part of the view, the group’s eyes were sharp as lightning, and they could see everything there clearly.

It was a hazy and indistinct silhouette — impossible to make out clearly. He paced slowly around the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree, as though he had not noticed them at all. Above his head floated an enormous bell, wisps of primordial chaos swirling around it, trailing down ten thousand silken threads — infinitely mysterious and hazy, like the long river of time flowing onward.

“Whoosh!”

He sat cross-legged beneath the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree. The bell rose and fell, making him appear as though he had become one with nothingness, merging into the boundless vast heaven and earth — as though he were about to fade away entirely.

Not long after, he seemed to come to some realization. He rose and gazed upward into the heavens, then step by step he walked away. He seemed to be walking against the river of time, passing through the gate of time and departing — returning to the far distant ages of antiquity, before the Primordial Era.

“Great Emperor, don’t go — take me with you when you leave!” The Great Black Dog shouted, its expression surging with excitement beyond all measure, and it was about to charge forward.

Pang Bo quickly reached out two great hands and seized it by its mangy tail. “Don’t run wild — one wrong step could take you straight into the heart of the Undying Mountain, to your death!” he said.

Ye Fan also reached out a great golden hand, pressing down on the Black Emperor to stop it, preventing it from acting on impulse and meeting with calamity. He had vaguely guessed who that person was.

“Great Emperor… are you entering the immortal domain? Take me with you!” the Great Black Dog cried until its voice gave out. Had Ye Fan and Pang Bo not been holding it down, it would have long since thrown itself forward.

“Is it truly the Beginningless Emperor?!” Pang Bo’s heart shook.

Everyone shuddered from head to toe. How many years had passed — at the very least tens of thousands of years, possibly far more ancient and distant than that. How could there possibly still be a Great Emperor living?

The ancient Great Emperor’s silhouette disappeared, as though returning to the vault of the blue sky. Nothing remained in that place — a fantasy, an empty dream — only a slight ripple in the air, utterly still and serene.

“Woof!”

The Great Black Dog bared its teeth, nearly biting Ye Fan and Pang Bo as it turned. It was overwhelmed with frustration, its expression surging with agitation — it could not calm itself down.

“Another person has appeared,” Xiao Nannan, held in Ye Fan’s arms, stretched out a small hand and pointed toward the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree three hundred zhang away.

The Great Black Dog, which had just been in a towering rage, fell completely silent the moment it saw this person. It lowered its body to the ground and instantly wanted to slip away — like a mouse before a cat — without even a shred of its earlier temper.

This person was even more mysterious. Only a shadow was visible. The place where he stood was a vast black void, with a jar carved with ghastly faces floating and sinking within it.

Not only did the Great Black Dog shrink and try to flee — even Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others felt every hair on their bodies stand up, and they too turned to run. This figure was simply too overwhelming in presence.

That aura alone sent cold spreading through every limb. The black void seemed as though it would swallow everyone whole — just a trace of aura leaking out was enough to make heaven and earth verge on total collapse.

“The Ruthless Great Emperor!”

Everyone’s hearts hammered with terror. The most ruthless person in all of history through ancient times to the present — was it truly her? Could she also be undying? It was beyond belief — every scalp crawled.

For Ye Fan especially — he was the Sacred Physique, and this Great Emperor specialized in devouring the primal source of every manner of physique. If she set her sights on him, never mind him — even if the Sacred Physique of Great Completion came, it would end in bitter defeat.

That shadow, deep as an abyss, made it impossible to determine even whether she was male or female. She stood before the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree for a very long time, lost in thought for a prolonged period — and ultimately she too left.

“She didn’t come after us — that’s impossible. I dug up her sacred ground, plundered her tomb — given her nature, how could she possibly let me go?” the Great Black Dog muttered in a voice barely above silence.

“They’ve disappeared — what’s going on?” The group had all sensed something amiss. Two Great Emperors of antiquity had appeared in succession, then vanished without explanation. It was deeply strange.

“That’s not right at all — they didn’t look at us even once. How could this be? Even if the ancient Great Emperors were of serene temperament, they couldn’t possibly treat us as thin air,” Pang Bo felt the inconsistencies were far too many.

“I understand now…” the Great Black Dog said with a soft sigh. “Those were remnant images from before the Primordial Age. The ancient Great Emperors left behind indelible impressions beside the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree.”

Everyone’s hearts shook. By that reckoning, these were shadows from at least tens of thousands of years ago — perhaps even over twenty or thirty thousand years ago — and they had persisted to this day without fading. The thought was staggering.

“Ancient Great Emperors actually came here to cultivate — that is truly something…” They were deeply shaken. Ordinary people would run from this place as fast as they could, yet those Great Emperors had come here to sit in contemplation.

From their appearance just now, they seemed to have encountered difficulties in their cultivation and come here seeking inspiration.

“What a pity, what a shame — those Great Emperors in the end could not hold back the erosion of time. No matter how they gazed down upon the ages, no matter their astonishing brilliance, they ultimately all returned to dust, returning to earth,” Pang Bo sighed softly.

After deducing that those were the impressions left by two Great Emperors in the time before the Primordial Age, they were all moved with emotion. Those had been the supreme protagonists of heaven and earth in their day — throughout all of history, who could compare?

Yet even they, though they had shaken the ancient past and illuminated the present, though they had looked down upon all under heaven — they could not change anything. No matter how great the hero, no matter how supreme the monument, in the end none could escape the ultimate fate — they were all destined to decay and pass away.

Together they walked forward. Closer and closer to the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree, each person’s mind became clearer and more open. The agitation and unease from moments ago dissolved entirely.

Even the Great Black Dog, whose emotions had fluctuated most violently, was now peaceful — its inner heart a place of tranquility, without joy or sorrow, all troubles forgotten.

This was the extraordinary nature of the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree. Drawing near to this place, everything was different. It was as though the Great Dao itself had nurtured this tree — making all who approached feel peace and serenity.

Three hundred zhang was not so great a distance. Following Xiao Nannan’s guidance, they passed through swaying ancient trees and gradually drew close — seeing with their own eyes this ancient tree that had stood since the beginning, never withering.

Its bark was cracked and split, like dragon scales spread open. Its trunk was barely half a meter in diameter, shaped like a coiled dragon lying in repose, winding and extending upward through the air — the topmost point barely three meters above the ground.

The entire tree was crystalline. Every single leaf was unlike any other — all of them flowing with the radiance of the Dao. It was so extraordinary: small cauldrons, divine phoenixes, immortals, divine bells, rivers and mountains, clouds, eight trigrams… each one vividly alive, every leaf like a small world unto itself, representing a distinct and unique Dao — swaying, casting out a dreamlike brilliance.

Every manner of leaf, strange and wondrous in its shape, each possessing a singular and precious Dao resonance. A single tree blazed with splendor — breathtaking, enough to make one lose oneself completely.

The ancient tea tree’s trunk was ancient — filled with grandeur and a sense of timeless antiquity — while its leaves were natural, brimming with life and Dao resonance. The two merged together, mysterious and profound beyond expression.

“One, two, three…” Xiao Nannan tilted her head back and began counting the leaves above. The others too felt a stirring in their hearts — this ancient tree had very few leaves, just over a hundred. Yet it didn’t appear sparse, because every single leaf was unlike any other, drawing all attention away from the thought of how many there were.

“A total of one hundred and eight leaves — exactly as described in legend. Every year, without fail, not one more, not one fewer — always this exact number,” Tu Fei exclaimed, unable to stop himself from drooling.

At that moment, the Great Black Dog was like a wolf with glowing green eyes — its saliva practically running, it darted forward in a flash and extended a great paw toward the tree to grab one.

“Whoosh!”

A flash of light, and a leaf shaped like a small gourd tumbled down from the tree — golden all over — it slipped right through the Great Black Dog’s claws, fell to the ground, and instantly disappeared without a trace.

The Great Black Dog was greatly vexed. It reached out once more and seized a leaf shaped like a true dragon — gleaming like greenish-gold — yet the same thing happened again. A flash of light and it slipped away, dropping to the ground and vanishing.

“Black Emperor, stop wasting them!” Li Heishui said with displeasure. Though there were a hundred and eight of them, they couldn’t be squandered so carelessly.

“You think this Emperor wants this? The truth is these leaves are uncanny — they move on their own. I can’t hold onto them,” the Great Black Dog said with indignation.

“Let me try,” Pang Bo stepped forward, pinching a crimson leaf shaped like an immortal phoenix between his fingers and lightly plucking it from the tree.

“Whoosh!”

The instant the leaf separated from the ancient tree, a flash of light — it shot away, sinking into the earth, just like the others. There was no holding it, no stopping its escape.

“Uncanny indeed!” Tu Fei, the big mouth, also stepped forward, grabbing hold of a leaf shaped like a small set of eight trigrams — five colors flowing through it, mysterious beyond all reckoning.

Yet the result was the same as before. The moment it was plucked, the tea leaf was certain to escape — impossible to keep, let it flee as it would.

“Everyone stop plucking — this Emperor has remembered!” the Great Black Dog called out, straining to think and recall. Then it muttered to itself: “Right — that’s it.”

“What’s happening?” Everyone asked simultaneously.

“The ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree can gestate the birth of the Dao, yet it can only be harvested after the leaves have fully ripened. Otherwise, once plucked, they will sink back into the roots — impossible to take away.”

“Why is it like this?” Everyone was deeply disappointed. To have reached the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree — one could say this was a windfall of the heavens. Yet it turned out they couldn’t harvest it.

“Unless one possesses an Undying Divine Root — that too can attract the leaves and hold them fixed,” the Great Black Dog said.

Ye Fan’s heart stirred. He had excavated some roots of Undying Divine Medicine from the Primordial Forbidden Zone earlier. Perhaps he could try them. But first he brought out the Qilin Divine Medicine Seed.

“Whoosh!”

He gently plucked a leaf shaped like a small cauldron. It was wreathed in wisps of mist — and it immediately adhered to the Qilin Divine Medicine Seed, not falling to the ground.

“Wonderful — truly wonderful!” The entire group was overjoyed.

The Great Black Dog was in a state of uncontainable excitement. “Pick them all — every last one. As long as we take them far from the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree and seal them within jade vessels, they’ll be too difficult to escape from.”

“These leaves haven’t ripened yet — will the Dao they’ve gestated still be effective?” Ye Fan did not want to see such things squandered.

“Rest assured — they are absolutely effective. Leaves like these, two combined together, equal one fully ripened Dao Leaf,” the Great Black Dog replied.

The entire group erupted in joy. There were over a hundred leaves in total — paired two by two, that was equivalent to more than fifty fully ripened leaves. This was a supreme divine hoard without equal in the world!

For one must understand — every year after the leaves of the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree fully ripened, they would spontaneously shoot upward into the sky and fly away from the mother tree. The supreme figures waiting outside the Undying Mountain would join forces with all their might, and at most they would be able to claim only thirty or so leaves — with all the Holy Masters and great powers throughout the entire Eastern Wastelands, there still wouldn’t be nearly enough to go around.

“We’re rich — what a heaven-sent windfall! My grandfather spent enormous effort, expended a staggering number of source stones, and only managed to exchange for a single leaf from someone else. Yet here we are having stripped the entire tree clean!” Tu Fei grinned from ear to ear in a foolish smile.

Li Heishui also burst out laughing: “This year, those great powers who’ve been guarding outside the Undying Mountain won’t get so much as a single leaf. I’d love to see the look on their faces when that happens — ha ha… I’m really looking forward to it!”

A faint bell tone rang out, gentle and unhurried, filling one with the feeling of the Great Dao dissolving into nothingness — as though treading to the very end of the immortal path. The ancient Great Emperor’s silhouette manifested once more: Wushi — the Beginningless Emperor!

The black void fell silent, annihilating all things. It too appeared before the ancient Enlightenment Tea Tree — the Ruthless Great Emperor, standing in the darkness, had re-emerged.

Different from before — this time the two Great Emperors appeared together. Everyone involuntarily froze in place, their hearts shaking with terror.

“This… what has happened? Have the two Great Emperors actually met one another?”

“Impossible — the Great Emperors of antiquity never met one another. When one was born, the other had already died; when one died, the other had yet to be born. This must simply be their impressions meeting… yet what has happened?” The Black Emperor’s uncertainty was absolute.