“The human race of the primordial era was very mysterious. Their numbers were few, and they rarely interacted with other races, yet they did produce unrivaled existences…”

The Monkey seemed to sink into distant memories, slowly recounting ancient primordial affairs, drawing the minds of everyone present into his tale.

In the primordial age, only the supreme beings who had reached the absolute pinnacle of cultivation took human form. This form represented invincibility—the hallmark of a king. Whenever such a being was encountered, all living creatures would bow in reverence.

Yet the human race appeared out of nowhere, shattering this convention. They were born looking like this from the very beginning, which genuinely startled every race.

At first, other races were terrified upon seeing so many human-shaped beings. Only when they learned that this race was extraordinarily weak did they gradually relax.

Some ancient races flew into a rage, deeming the humans an affront and humiliation to the primordial kings, and came close to exterminating all of humanity.

However, the primordial beings were not all savage and brutal—they could distinguish right from wrong—and powerful races stepped forward to protect the humans, allowing them to survive and continue.

Throughout the long passage of time, the great earth could not escape countless wars, and all manner of living creatures were inevitably caught up in them. The human race was no exception.

They were extremely scarce in number and incomparably weak, yet they had room to grow. Among them arose a supreme existence capable of standing against the Nine Transformation Divine Silkworm, which shook every race of the primordial era.

From that point on, the human race secured a place for itself, and certain races no longer watched them with hungry, predatory eyes or treated them as food.

“Could you be more specific—such as what cultivation arts they had, how they cultivated, and how they came to appear?” Wu Zhongtian asked.

“Before the great calamity struck, I was far too young. My knowledge is limited—I only know a few simple things,” the Monkey sighed.

As a member of the primordial royal bloodline, he had been far too young at the time, and his understanding of that era was extremely limited. When the great calamity arrived, he was inexplicably sealed away and slept for hundreds of millions of years. Then Ye Fan had cut him out from the strange stone of the “Immortal Burial Site.”

“The origins of the human race are mysterious—they should have arrived from beyond the domain…” the Monkey shared what past events he knew.

“Their cultivation arts were primitive, yet possessed extraordinary power…”

The True Scripture of the Sun—simulating the supreme Yang of heaven and earth, pioneering the innate, supremely rigid and supremely strong. It could be described as terrifying beyond measure, and was the ancient holy law of the human race from the primordial era.

“Indeed…” Li Heishui sighed with emotion.

He had obtained a piece of black beast bone from the mountain range where the Sacred Cliff was located, upon which were recorded the remnant arts of the True Scripture of the Sun—they had discussed it at the time.

The True Scripture of the Sun was one of the oldest holy laws of the human race. The ancient emperors of old had studied it and drawn inspiration from it. When they created their own ancient scriptures, they had to deduce ten thousand methods and explore many scriptures.

The True Scripture of the Moon—simulating the supreme Yin of heaven and earth, it stood in opposition to the True Scripture of the Sun. It could be described as supremely dark and supremely strong, and was equally a holy law of the ancient human race. Even by today’s standards, it would rank as an ancient scripture.

“The human race is very mysterious—their numbers were so few. Who could have imagined that after ten thousand ages, they would flourish so magnificently and surpass all other races,” the Monkey exclaimed.

Regarding the affairs of the primordial era, he truly knew very little. He even knew little of his own lineage, the Dou Zhan Sage Apes. He only remembered that his father had died and his uncle had gone to the Western Desolation—everything else was vague and unclear.

Ye Fan and the others speculated that the great calamity of the primordial era must have been a shift in heaven and earth that made the world unsuitable for living beings, severing the path of cultivation forward, thereby bringing about the great extinction.

Yet when the Monkey heard this, he shook his head and said: “The ancient prophecies came true—that was what caused all the primordial races to withdraw…”

At that time the Monkey had been a young child, making it impossible for him to have access to the highest secrets. He knew only scattered fragments. He had grown to his current state because he had already awakened within the strange stone of the “Immortal Burial Site” and cultivated for many years—only then did he achieve his current attainments. Afterward, Ye Fan had cut him out.

The royal clans of the primordial era, upon reaching the absolute pinnacle of cultivation and transforming into human form, were honored with the title of Emperor. This was the first time Ye Fan and his companions had heard this—previously they had lumped everyone together as “Primordial Kings.”

Before death, each successive ancient emperor had been like a divine being, nearly able to see through past and future alike, leaving behind prophecies that were subsequently proven true one by one.

Regarding these matters, the Monkey said little more—he didn’t understand them either, and was wholly unable to explain the true nature of the great primordial calamity.

Ye Fan and the others felt a deep sense of regret. This was a mystery that had endured for ten thousand ages—if even this living fossil could not shed light on it, who else could?

“Some primordial races were sealed away, and some should have gone beyond the domain…” The Monkey shook his head, unwilling to say more.

“Are there actually immortals?” Li Heishui suddenly asked, and everyone fell quiet—they all wanted to know the answer.

“There should be. My father was an Emperor, peerless above heaven and earth—but alas, when I was born, his lifespan had already withered, and he died not long after…”

The Monkey was not yet three years old when his father, the Sage Emperor who had shaken all the primordial ages, passed away. Apart from the racial inheritance, he had left almost nothing behind.

Yet the Monkey had remembered one thing his ancient Emperor father had said: in the most ancient of eras, there should have been immortals—but they could never be seen again in later ages.

Everyone fell into a daze. Even the Monkey’s father—an Emperor unrivaled throughout the primordial era—had spoken of having to look back to the most ancient times…

That so-called “most ancient era”—what kind of period would that have been? What had happened there? What tales lay hidden within it?

“The Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone, the Undying Mountain, the Divine Ruins, the Primordial Ancient Mine, the Immortal Mausoleum…” Ye Fan and the others brought up the seven great Life Forbidden Zones again.

“During the primordial era, there weren’t this many Life Forbidden Zones—there were fewer,” the Monkey said.

The Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone and the Undying Mountain had never been heard of in the primordial era. The Monkey speculated that these must be terrifying forbidden zones that formed later, comparable to or even surpassing the deadly grounds of antiquity.

The Primordial Ancient Mine had been the supreme holy site of the primordial races. In those lost ancient ages, only an all-conquering primordial Emperor could enter.

An Emperor among primordial beings was exceedingly rare to emerge—just as rare as the ancient Emperors of the human race. Across all of time from past to present, there had been only a handful.

The people of the great primordial royal clans, once fully matured, were indeed extraordinarily powerful. But they were ultimately still a step below an Emperor, and becoming an Emperor was a supremely difficult feat.

“You don’t know what is inside the Primordial Ancient Mine?” Jiang Huairen asked, astonished.

“In those lost primordial ages, only a few ancient Emperors and the leaders of the great royal clans ever entered it,” the Monkey said with regret.

“The Dou Zhan Sage Ape clan is likely down to just you. You are the master of the Sage Ape clan—wouldn’t that mean you could enter it now?” Li Heishui said.

“So much time has passed. According to what you’ve all described, it has already evolved into one of the seven great Life Forbidden Zones. Anyone who enters without becoming an Emperor would surely die,” the Monkey shook his head.

“He still has an uncle in the Western Desolation!” The Great Black Dog gnashed his teeth and muttered under his breath.

“The Immortal Mausoleum is said to be the burial place of immortals—vast beyond measure, without a blade of grass growing, with blood-soaked earth stretching for tens of thousands of miles. It was already a Life Forbidden Zone during the primordial era.”

Several of the primordial Emperors had spoken of it—it was a place where immortals were buried, not to be approached, for death was certain to all who came near. It was the most perilous region in all the world.

Now, after endless ages, that place had finally acquired a hint of vitality. Amid the blood-soaked earth, many peerless spiritual medicines had grown—yet sadly no one dared go pick them.

For even ancient sages who ventured inside found it nearly impossible to come back out—it devoured lives.

“However, there was also an Emperor who said: what the ears hear is false, what the eyes see is real. Having never seen an immortal, he held the view that there are no immortals,” the Monkey added.

The primordial Emperors were supremely terrifying, peerless in the world, with no one who could contend with them. Among countless races and hundreds of billions of living beings, across ten thousand ages—there had only been a handful.

There had even been fewer of them than the ancient Emperors of the human race, and their views were not consistent. Their understandings of immortals differed greatly.

“The Divine Ruins is said to have fallen from another world…”

These words from the Monkey shook everyone. The history behind the formation of the Divine Ruins was so ancient it could not be traced back. Not even the most ancient Emperors among the primordial races could deduce its age.

“The Divine Ruins is that ancient?” Even the Great Black Dog drew in a sharp breath.

Within the Divine Ruins, there were indeed awe-inspiring ruins such as the South Heavenly Gate and the Celestial Palace, standing for hundreds of millions of years without crumbling—something utterly beyond the power of any mortal means to preserve.

“Could there truly be a vast and mysterious immortal realm?” Ye Fan furrowed his brow.

In his view, the cultivators of this world were already comparable to the immortals and divine beings of mythology and legend. If there were yet another mysterious world beyond this one, he truly could not imagine what manner of beings might dwell there.

Yet he had always harbored doubts. He did not believe that immortals truly existed. The ancient Emperors of old should represent the absolute limit. Although he had witnessed the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin, those were most likely ancient dragons of the sage level—not immortal spirits.

“I never heard any talk of an immortal realm. However, I did hear my old father mention the two characters ‘Immortal Domain’…” the Monkey said slowly.

The Monkey’s old father had lived for ages terrifyingly long. As a primordial Emperor, his power touched the very workings of creation—he was one of the mightiest existences across all of time from past to present.

His lifespan had withered to nothing. He had sired a child in his old age and in his final moments had spoken of the Immortal Domain, saying it most likely existed—but it was his lifelong regret that he had been unable to enter it while he lived.

“My little uncle said my father was born at the wrong time. Otherwise, he might have had a slight chance. But alas, he encountered the great upheaval of heaven and earth, and had no affinity with the Immortal Domain—he could not deduce a path to it,” the Monkey said.

In the end, his father had merely let out a long sigh—profoundly desolate—for he could not personally verify his own speculation before the very end.

Several of the primordial Emperors had believed that the Divine Ruins did not belong to this world, that it had fallen from some mysterious place. Their views had been known to all the races.

“The South Heavenly Gate and the Celestial Palace have been imperishable from ancient times to now, that place aglow with ten thousand golden rays and crimson mist, with a thousand strands of auspicious energy billowing purple vapor…” the Great Black Dog murmured to himself, his pair of eyes extraordinarily deep.

“Is there truly an Immortal Domain? That seems unlikely…” Li Heishui and the others furrowed their brows.

“It fell from another world—could immortals truly exist there…” Wu Zhongtian murmured. His grandfather was learned in all things ancient and modern, and had also made many deductions on the matter.

“Brother, what is an immortal?” Xiao Nannan tugged at Ye Fan’s sleeve, tilting her head back with childlike innocence to ask, her face full of hopeful curiosity.

Ye Fan patted her head and said: “A kind of ethereal, elusive existence—perhaps they never appeared at all. And even if they did, they are not in this world.”

“Oh.” The little one nodded with a half-understanding look.

“The Undying Mountain… I find that name somewhat familiar, yet there was no such ancient mountain during the primordial era,” the Monkey furrowed his brow, turning to another forbidden zone.

“Think carefully—what exactly was the Undying Mountain during the primordial era?” the Great Black Dog said.

Both the Beginningless Emperor and the Ruthless Great Emperor had entered the Undying Mountain and left indelible imprints beneath the ancient tea tree of enlightenment. The Great Black Dog wanted to learn more.

“I truly have never heard of the Undying Mountain. However, in the legends of the primordial era, there was a figure called the Undying Heavenly Emperor,” the Monkey pondered for a long while before recalling this near-mythical figure—though he could not confirm whether this being had ever truly existed.

“The Undying Heavenly Emperor… someone dared to use such a title?!” Even the Great Black Dog was greatly astonished.

“The first owner of the Undying Divine Phoenix Herb was said to be that Undying Heavenly Emperor. Legend has it he had nearly surpassed even the divine—many people do not believe he ever existed,” the Monkey shook his head.