The killing formation of the Undying Emperor had blasted away an entire corner of the South Heavenly Gate, stunning every single person present on the spot. What kind of place was this? It was truly bizarre and terrifying.

Dust and sand billowed through the air. The corner of this magnificent structure lying on the ground had no telling how many years it had existed, preserved by undying Dao markings. The three characters on the plaque reading “South Heavenly Gate” turned everyone to stone.

“What place have we barged into? Feathered Immortal Valley — can people actually ascend to immortality here? Have we entered the Heavenly Realm?”

“Does this count as us making a ruckus in the Heavenly Palace?”

Standing back to back, they nervously kept watch in all four directions. All around them, the storm of blood and gore raged on, with ghosts and demons running rampant. Bone-white fragments and crimson blood rain continued to fall in a sight that chilled the heart.

Above loomed a vast, oppressively dark Heavenly Palace, while below, a hundred demons roamed through the night, engaging in fierce battle. Wave after wave of demonic shadows descended from the corner of the Heavenly Fortress that had been struck down.

“No matter what it is, kill everything in sight. So what if this is the ancient Celestial Court? It’s all turned to corpse-demons now — none of these are the supreme existences they once were. Let’s slaughter them all.” The Monkey King bellowed.

At that moment, opening their Heavenly Eyes, they could see the scene around them clearly. Every one of those surging demonic shadows was clad in armor, resembling Heavenly Soldiers and Generals — an intimidating sight. Yet every single body bore corpse-hair growing from its skin. These were not living people!

“Unbelievable. These beings’ power is at the level of the Three Cuts of the Immortal Dao. It defies all logic — there cannot be this many Sovereign-level existences. It must be an illusion!” Pang Bo shouted.

Ghosts wailed and gods howled. Black wind shrieked. Everything in this place felt utterly unreal, far too strange. Who in the whole world could command so many ghost-gods, every single one of them possessing Sovereign-level power?

The more they thought about it, the more unsettled they became. Perhaps only true Heavenly Soldiers and Generals could possess such might — preserving a portion of their combat power even in death. There was no other explanation.

“Could our luck truly be this wretched — did we actually dig up the ancient Celestial Court? Could these things actually be the dead ghosts of that bygone era?!” Even the Black Emperor felt his fur stand on end.

“The clan elders said the ancient Celestial Court does not exist in this world. If any part of it does, it would only be the South Heavenly Gate that fell into the Divine Ruins.” Ji Ziyue spoke, streams of purple mist swirling around her as she cradled the Demonic Sage egg in her palm — crystalline and luminous.

“Correct. We must remain calm. What we see before us must have something wrong with it. Source Heaven Eye — shatter the illusion!” Ye Fan shouted.

However, even as beams of light shot from his eyes spanning several miles in length, what he saw remained exactly the same, with no change whatsoever. The magnificent Heavenly Fortress existed in the sky above, while the terrifying corpse-demons below continued their onslaught. Everything was real.

“Damn it. No matter what this is, even if it truly is the ancient Celestial Court — so what? Even if these are reborn Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, what of it?” The Black Emperor threw all caution to the wind, raving madly: “The Undying Emperor suppressed the nine heavens and ten earths, slaying gods and cutting down immortals. His killing formation can sweep through the Celestial Court itself.”

Ye Fan carved out a spread of Source Heaven markings and arranged a pile of divine ore at the center, then placed the Jade Disc at its heart to provide it with even greater divine power.

BOOM!

In that instant, the Jade Disc blazed with boundless light. Ten thousand chains of divine order surged skyward, weaving together into a terrifying divine formation that pulverized everything in its path. The multitudes of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals were reduced to blood and bone.

Then the Undying Killing Formation drained every last trace of Life Essence dry, unleashing a strike capable of destroying heaven and earth. With a thunderous crash it swept away the Heavenly Fortress in the sky, reducing it to dust and ashes.

Everything vanished. The blood rain ceased. The dark wind stilled. The ground was covered in bloodstains and rubble — a scene of utter devastation.

For a long while, none of them spoke. Everything felt as though it had happened in a dream. Every terrifying scene had disappeared. They had blasted apart the ancient Celestial Court, leaving only a corner of the South Heavenly Gate standing as a crumbling ruin.

Crash!

Ye Fan stepped forward, his wide sleeves sweeping aside all the rubble, revealing a collapsed thatched hut. Once cleared away, a skeleton appeared — slender and white, dead for perhaps a year or two.

“This…”

His heart sank, then filled with a wave of melancholy. Had that quick-witted young woman truly died? Ye Fan felt a heaviness in his chest. Memories of their time together still surfaced in his mind, even though he had ultimately ended up walking through life with Li Xiaoman…

“Another old friend has passed on.” Pang Bo let out a long sigh as well.

“Wait. This woman was not old — she should not be one of your old friends. She was no more than sixteen or seventeen at the most.” The Black Emperor said, drawing on its seasoned experience to make the judgment.

Hearing this, Ye Fan crouched down and examined the skeleton carefully, saying: “This is a young girl of tender age. It is not Lin Jia.”

“If it is not Lin Jia, then who could it be? Surely she did not set a trap here to kill us old friends?” Pang Bo muttered.

“Were it not for the ancient Emperor’s killing formation protecting us, anyone who entered this place would have died. It is plain for all to see — whoever did this had no intention of letting us leave alive.” Ye Fan sighed.

The area had been swept clean, and before long, auspicious rosy mists rose into the air, auspicious energy pervading the space, transforming it once more into a stretch of immortal land. The whole thing felt inexplicably uncanny.

They had already walked quite a distance away when the large black dog let its head hang low, muttering in a strange manner: “Something is wrong. Everything that just happened was fake. The true South Heavenly Gate lies within the Divine Ruins. Xiao Nannan and I once went there and observed it from a great distance — that one is real, carrying an immortal, boundless Heavenly Majesty about it.”

Then it suddenly reared up on its hind legs, shuddering with a violent tremor. “Could it be… that kind of thing!”

Its words gave everyone a fright. They all stopped in their tracks and turned to look at it together. What had this wretched dog discovered?

“That goes without saying — it is certainly not the ancient Celestial Court. I said so from the beginning: it does not exist in this world.” Ji Ziyue’s large, spirit-filled eyes rolled about as she muttered under her breath, cautiously guarding against the large black dog making a move to steal the Demonic Sage egg.

“This Emperor has just figured out what that thing is. We may be able to obtain a heaven-defying treasure!” The large black dog was nearly delirious with excitement, its crimson tongue lolling out as it threw its head back with a wide-mouthed laugh.

“What treasure?” Pang Bo asked.

“A treasure forged by a Quasi-Emperor!” The large black dog’s single statement made everyone draw a sharp breath.

Whoosh!

It transformed into a streak of dark light and shot back the way they had come, fearing someone might get there first. It arrived swiftly at the ruined ground from before, first calling upon the Jade Disc for protection, then extending its great paws to begin digging, tearing away the foundation of the thatched hut.

BOOM!

A surge of terrifying malevolent energy erupted skyward, causing everyone to involuntarily break out in goosebumps. Their pores all opened at once, and a bone-deep chill swept through their bodies. Beneath the foundation appeared a black stone statue.

It was shaped like a vicious ghost — grotesque and hideous beyond measure, black as ink, saturated with an ominous aura. Were it not for the suppressing power of the Undying Killing Formation, it seemed as though it could extinguish all life around it. No living creature could draw near.

“What manner of ghoul is this?” Li Tian asked. The others were equally bewildered.

“What a waste. This thing has been nearly used up. I knew it — how could an ordinary person ever operate it? So it turns out it has been destroyed.” The large black dog was consumed with grief, beating its chest and stamping its feet.

Crack after crack spread across the black ghost-shaped stone statue. It seemed as though the lightest touch would shatter it entirely, and indeed it could not remain in the world much longer. The large black dog proceeded with great care, inscribing various Dao markings around it to seal it, then drew it into its own treasury.

“What on earth is this thing?”

“This is a humanoid battle formation!” The large black dog explained.

To be precise, it was a type of spell formation of immense power, with all its secrets carved into the body of a single stone statue. Once activated, its killing power swept across the heavens like an unstoppable tide. It could animate corpses and transform them into the most powerful of weapons — capable of slaying sect masters, killing fully-realized Sovereigns, and cutting down Saints. It seized the wondrous workings of heaven and earth, and its power was immense beyond measure.

“Even Saints can be killed?” Several of them were astonished.

“Of course. This humanoid spell formation was forged by a Quasi-Emperor who poured his entire life’s work into it. According to legend, there was once an era without an Emperor. A Sacred Spirit came into the world and brought chaos across the land — yet in the end, it was trapped and killed by just such a spell formation.” The Black Emperor said.

“Is that possible? Just this one stone statue could kill an unrivaled Sacred Spirit?” None of them believed it.

“Naturally, it would not be just one stone statue. There should be an entire sequence of them, and none of them in the near-ruined condition of this one.” The large black dog said.

This was a ghost stone statue. A complete set should include a ghost stone statue, a human stone statue, an immortal stone statue, and others — nine in total, each one an incomparably powerful spell formation unto itself.

Once the ghost stone statue was unearthed, Feathered Immortal Valley became utterly tranquil. No more killing intent remained. Every danger had been neutralized.

Pang Bo suddenly slapped himself on the head in deep regret. “I missed a tremendous opportunity. I may have seen a human stone statue once.”

“What?” The Black Emperor immediately perked up and asked where he had seen it.

“At that Immortal Palace outside the ancient forbidden wilderness. At the time I paid it no mind — I only noticed it was covered in cracks, much like this ghost statue, almost on the verge of crumbling. I did not bother to look closely.”

The large black dog bared its teeth, wanting badly to take a bite out of him. “That was a once-in-a-millennium opportunity. If you had examined it carefully, it most certainly would have had the method to activate it engraved on it. You… you’ve infuriated me to death.”

“In that case, could the ghost statue have also fallen out from that Immortal Palace?” Ye Fan pondered.

Before long, they arrived at that bamboo grove. Every stalk of jade bamboo was pristine white and crystalline, brilliantly translucent, with milky-white Life Essence swirling and steaming around them.

Ye Fan strode up to the stone platform and picked up the mobile phone, carefully generating a faint electrical current with his divine power before switching it on. A pleasant melody rang out.

In that moment, both Ye Fan and Pang Bo felt as though they had lived through multiple lifetimes at once. They both fell into a daze. It had been so very long — certain memories were unlocked by that sound. The life they lived now was completely different from the past.

“Little Ye Zi, are you alright?” Ji Ziyue was worried, and gently shook his arm.

“I am fine.” Ye Fan came back to his senses, gave her a smile, then told her what the device was and explained it in detail.

Ye Fan discovered some photographs. Several of them were of him — taken at moments he had almost forgotten — and there were quite a few more that were of Lin Jia herself, smiling brilliantly, warm and tender.

“This is…” Suddenly Ye Fan’s gaze froze, his expression solidifying in an instant. Pang Bo beside him drew a sharp breath, and the others, seeing this, crowded over.

The photograph was dim and dark. A number of people appeared in it, their expressions panicked and helpless. Many were stricken with terror, pressing tightly together, nearly in despair.

“Lin Jia took this inside the Ancient Bronze Coffin with her phone.” Ye Fan said in a heavy voice.

They could make out that the people in the image were old friends — expressions filled with despair and dread, a scene captured within the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.

“Terrifying. There was actually a vicious ghost beside us all along, and yet we were completely unaware of it.” Pang Bo felt as though every part of his body had gone cold. Even his heart felt a chill rising from within.

In the photograph there was also a dark shadow — not far from them — hideously sinister beyond all reckoning, lurking in the darkness and completely out of place among them. Only a pair of eyes showed, glowing with a ghostly light. It was deeply frightening.

Ye Fan too felt wave after wave of horror, sensing a layer of goosebumps rising across his skin as a chill washed over him. Within that pitch-black coffin of years past, there had been another entity — a black vicious ghost that none of them had ever detected!

“To think Lin Jia actually photographed something like this. She most likely chose not to say anything so as not to alarm everyone.”

The more Ye Fan and Pang Bo recalled those events, the more terrifying it seemed. That pitch-black Ancient Bronze Coffin had harbored such an existence, traveling alongside them the entire time. It was enough to make one’s bones run cold.

After they recounted the full story of what had happened back then, even Li Tian, Li Heishui, and the others felt their scalps prickle. Traveling alongside an unknown vicious ghost, right beside them all the while, with no knowledge of it whatsoever — only now learning the truth — it was truly the stuff of nightmares.

Then Ye Fan tapped open an audio recording. A terrifying voice transmitted from it, as though carried from the depths of hell: “I have returned…”

Both Ye Fan and Pang Bo shuddered violently, holding their breath as they listened intently.