The last sentence on the ancient stele struck Ye Fan as utterly baffling, leaving him nearly petrified and genuinely unable to believe what he was reading.
It mentioned the Ginseng Fruit Tree. His first thought was of the Immortal Zhengyuan from Journey to the West, the master of the Five Villages Temple — yet that was merely a fictional character.
“Did Zhengyuanzi truly exist in ancient times?” Ye Fan asked the Old Crane and the Three Valley Masters.
“No.” The Grand Valley Master shook his head, indicating with absolute certainty that no such person had ever existed.
The Monkey nearly burst out laughing. In his younger years he had wandered among the mortal world and had read Journey to the West cover to cover with great passion — which was precisely why he had given himself such an unconventional name. Now he shook his head vigorously.
“How very strange. The stele says it quite plainly — the Ginseng Fruit Tree was buried here alongside this person. Who could it be?” Ye Fan murmured to himself, asking the two whether they knew anything of this divine tree.
Both shook their heads, indicating they had never heard of it before. To say nothing of themselves — even the ancient demon-god ancestors of primordial times had never laid eyes upon an immortality elixir.
Such a thing was far too heaven-defying. They had heard of ancient secrets: a life-bearing ancient star could produce at most a single such plant, and if another were ever found, it would certainly have been brought from another star domain.
“Never mind all that. Even if an ancient sage-emperor lies buried here, the person is dead — there is nothing to worry about. A living immortal divine tree left behind is perfectly suited to benefit us.” The Third Valley Master was deeply agitated.
Earlier, having passed through eight dragon-mountain ranges, they had seen not only eight ancient jade coffins but also eight fragments of divine tree branches — all unfortunately corrupted by death energy, rendering them useless for refining medicine. Now, learning that the living mother tree was here, their hearts surged with excitement. To obtain it would be an extraordinary stroke of fortune.
Upon arriving at this place, all three could sense a kind of divine majesty. The ninety dragon-mountains had collapsed, yet the nine foremost dragon-mountains stood tall and imposing.
This one in particular was the most magnificent and grand of all. A waterfall cascaded down from within the dragon’s mouth, a vast expanse of white stretching a full thousand zhang, as though sealing the burial site on its own.
Waves of purple energy steamed and billowed across the mountain’s body, submerging it in a remarkable and extraordinary atmosphere. A single glance told anyone that this was sacred earth and hallowed ground.
Hiss!
The moment Ye Fan and the others drew near, a beam of light slashed down from the purple-mist-shrouded mountain. Its sharp edge split the void, cleaving the sky in two.
It was a sudden and abrupt attack — swift and terrifying, enough to shatter one’s mind and spirit. Ye Fan seized the two companions and retreated, moving like a phantom or a bolt of lightning, hurtling backward several li.
The fierce purple light split open space and slashed into the endless void, vanishing from sight. Yet the residual shockwave it left behind was deeply unsettling, stopping all three of them in their tracks.
“Truly remarkable. This earth immortal’s methods are utterly heaven-defying. This place has been nourished by the immortal divine tree for some time, granting this dragon-mountain a divine spirit — it has come alive!”
Ye Fan’s eyes blazed with radiant light. Judging by his source arts, this was the pinnacle of what a dragon-mountain could achieve through acquired cultivation — no further advancement was possible from this point.
The Old Crane and the Third Valley Master were equally shaken. This dragon-mountain had always possessed a dragon-like form, but now, gazing upon it with their spiritual sight, the sight made their hair stand on end.
The mountain’s surface was covered in rocky cliffs, all shaped like fine overlapping scales, one adjoining the next in an unbroken sequence. They even shifted and parted at intervals — identical to true dragon scales. The entire dragon-mountain was vividly, uncannily lifelike.
“Dragon scales have grown from the mountain’s body?!” The Grand Valley Master and the others had never heard of such a thing and could not help but be stunned.
Ye Fan too was witnessing this kind of mountain formation for the first time. He had only read of it in books — never imagining that someone had actually cultivated a living mountain such as this.
“This kind of terrain may eventually give birth to a true dragon — though it would require millions of years. For now, this is a dragon lying dormant, breathing in and expelling dragon energy, capable of killing any who draw too close.”
Ye Fan warned the others to be careful, then used his source arts to counter the danger and led the two forward, step by step toward the waterfall, advancing with great care.
This was a verdant mountain, with little vegetation on its body — rocks everywhere, transformed into azure-green scales, layer upon layer pressed against the mountain’s surface, like a massive azure dragon coiled at rest.
“Something is wrong. The dragon’s body is azure — yet why does purple energy seep outward from between the scales?” Ye Fan was startled and halted his steps.
He rose into the air and gazed out at the scene before him. The ninety dragon-mountains had collapsed, and wisps of energy seeped from them — ranging in color from black to crimson red, each hue different from the last.
He perceived a wave of bone-chilling cold. Though the dragons had been cultivated by a human hand, they had each gained a divine spirit of their own. The collapse of ninety mountains had generated a measure of resentment, which had seeped into this place, tainting the azure dragon — thus causing the energy it exhaled to transform and change.
“You must be extremely careful. Originally there was nothing threatening here, but now it is very likely that killing intent lurks somewhere within.”
Ye Fan suspended a cauldron above his head and held a piece of green copper in his hand, bringing the two companions along. He continuously employed the supreme source arts to alter the terrain beneath their feet.
One had to admit that his methods were heaven-defying — none in this age could compare with him. His source arts approached the divine, and yet here, beside a dormant azure dragon, he reshaped the mountain’s configuration while moving freely and without hindrance.
Normally, this dragon would have been a deadly weapon — the purple energy emanating from every scale could transform into killing light. Yet now it had been frozen in place, unable to surge outward.
Ye Fan carved open a path and arrived beneath the vast, white expanse of the great waterfall. The water poured straight from the dragon’s mouth; it was as though the mountain were alive, possessed of a divine quality.
“The earth immortal’s coffin is inside the dragon’s mouth — isn’t he afraid of the water flooding it?” the Grand Valley Master asked, uneasy and puzzled.
Ye Fan observed carefully, said nothing, applied his source arts extensively to sweep away obstacles, and advanced toward the dragon’s mouth. Suddenly, the great waterfall stopped — the flow cut off abruptly, and the thunderous roar of water vanished.
“The scales on this dragon are moving!” the Old Crane cried out in alarm.
Every cliff face of the azure dragon-mountain trembled, the surfaces unfurling like dragon scales opening one by one. Dozens of suspended coffins appeared — they had been hidden behind the scales all along.
Thud!
The ancient boat-shaped coffins burst open. A series of spine-chilling cries rang out as dozens of Daoists plunged down like demons of the night sky, diving toward them.
“What in the world are these things? Why do they look like this?” the Third Valley Master exclaimed in shock.
Every one of these figures had grown scales across their entire bodies — as though in the midst of transforming into dragons. Their eyes were azure, utterly devoid of any human emotion. They breathed in and expelled dragon energy, radiating a powerful aura.
Thud!
The Old Crane summoned a flying sword — white as jade — and sent it slashing forward. Yet when it struck one of the Daoists, it burst into a shower of brilliant light and shattered on the spot.
He was a cultivator who had reached the great perfection of the Dragon Transformation stage, attacking through his sword-cultivation lineage — yet he could not do anything to his opponent whatsoever, and his weapon was destroyed on the spot.
Ye Fan was astonished. These Daoists were formidable beyond expectation — they had merged with the mountain’s terrain, and much like the dragon-mountain itself, had reanimated from death, gaining a semblance of life.
Of course, this was merely the reawakening of their corpses. The people themselves could not truly return to life — their divine spirits had long since dissipated.
“Both of you, follow the exact path I walked and retreat.”
Upon hearing this, the Old Crane and the Third Valley Master dared not delay. They knew that Ye Fan was a great master of divine arts, and remaining here would only be a hindrance to him.
A piercing shriek rang out as one of the Daoists lunged downward. Dense scales covered his entire body, his pupils an unsettling shade of azure, his hair loose and disheveled — and he possessed the strength of the First Heaven of the Immortal Platform.
Pff!
Ye Fan did not move. His golden fist thrust skyward in defiance of all creation, and with a single blow that shattered all things, he reduced that Daoist to powdered fragments on the spot — a shower of azure blood that matched the color of the dragon-mountain.
In his heart he was startled. Judging by their garments, these people appeared to have been servants — the kind who chopped wood and boiled water in a Daoist sect. And yet even they were this powerful; their bodies in particular, having grown dragon scales, were harder than diamond.
Ye Fan struck continuously, his golden blood-energy blotting out the sun. Each blow was lethal, and he shattered more than a dozen of the plunging dragon-corpse people in rapid succession, filling the distant Old Crane and Third Valley Master with bone-deep terror.
“Celestial Source Demon-Sealing!”
Ye Fan employed his source arts, borrowing dozens of beams of light from within the azure dragon-mountain. He sealed back all the Daoists still diving from the suspended coffins, forcing them to retreat, closing the dragon scales and blocking away dozens of suspended coffins.
Heaven and earth fell silent. The sound of the waterfall was gone, the piercing screams were gone — yet Ye Fan did not advance. He stood in place, motionless.
“For some reason I feel those Daoists’ garments look strangely familiar — they closely resemble the ancient robes of Sichuan,” the Monkey said.
“That is correct — I noticed it too. They must be people of Sichuan.” The Old Crane nodded and murmured softly.
“Aooo…”
Suddenly, an even more piercing cry rang out. Two very small crystal suspended coffins revealed themselves from the opening scale-covered cliffs, and two young Daoist attendants came swooping down.
Their hair had long since turned snow-white, making clear they were both of considerable age and should have been thoroughly elderly — yet their faces were like those of young children, tender and childlike. Both had severed the Dao in life, and their physical bodies were incomparably powerful.
Ye Fan furrowed his brow, his heart filled with astonishment. The two young Daoist attendants who had served this earth immortal had already become kings who had severed the Dao. This was truly staggering — no wonder several saints had appeared among his disciples.
“Aooo-roar…”
At the same moment, four more great roars resounded. Four more ancient jade coffins appeared on the azure dragon-mountain — from the look of things, these belonged to the earth immortal’s formally registered disciples and the like.
“Three great completion-level kings, and one half-saint!”
Ye Fan was shaken. If all of these were to rush at him at once, he would be in serious danger. Even though their divine consciousness no longer existed and this was purely a form of physical instinct, it would still be extremely troublesome to deal with.
“Accumulated yang gives rise to the divine spirit, and within the divine spirit there is form. Form is born from the sun, and the sun is born from the moon. Accumulated yin gives rise to form, and within form there is the divine spirit…” He recited the complete Salvation Scripture aloud, then drew out the copper lamp with a human face and a ghost’s visage, letting it cast a green-hued ghostly radiance across everything.
It must be said — the effect was immediate and profound. Whether it was the Salvation Scripture or this ancient lamp obtained from the wandering star of misfortune, both were sacred instruments for subduing ghosts and demons, and the results were instant. All six corpses were sent flying backward, crashing back into their suspended coffins, sealed within the cracks of the dragon scale cliff walls.
Ye Fan ascended the rocky cliffs and entered the fissure shaped like a dragon’s mouth. Here he felt a current of peaceful, harmonious energy — the killing intent had vanished. He called out to the two people in the distance to come forward.
The waterfall had stopped, yet inside the dragon’s mouth there was no sensation of moisture whatsoever — quite the contrary, it was dry and clean. In the very center lay an ancient coffin, plain and ordinary, with nothing remarkable about it whatsoever.
It was, astonishingly, a coffin of yellow clay.
It was dim and lusterless, even somewhat rough in texture, lying there in silence without the slightest fluctuation. Was this truly the coffin of an earth immortal? Even the coffins used by his disciples were ancient jade, yet his own was this simple.
“That is without question what it is. One who is an earth immortal communes with the vast and boundless energy of the great earth — it is most fitting that their coffin be cast from yellow clay.” The Old Crane’s voice trembled as he spoke.
So this was the earth immortal that Chisongzi had been searching for? Ye Fan stood there, lost in thought. They had truly found him — in the past, only the great sages of primordial antiquity had dared to investigate this matter.
Consider how vast and boundless Chisongzi’s divine arts had been: he had attained the Dao during the era of Shennong, his cultivation penetrating heaven and earth. A single grain of dust transformed into a sword could fill the seas; a single blade of grass transformed into a sword could cleave down the sun, moon, and stars. He had shaken all of primordial antiquity and been revered throughout the world — yet he had never found this place.
The Old Crane and the Third Valley Master were likewise agitated, their bodies trembling. This touched upon a forbidden domain. Even the demon-god ancestors of Ten Thousand Demon Valley in ancient times had never found it — yet today it had been found by them.
All of this was possible only because they had arrived in the age of the Dharma’s decline, when the ancient sages and wise men had all departed and left behind only a ruined mess — giving them an opening to seize.
Without that, there would have been no possibility at all!
“Who do you suppose he truly is?” Ye Fan had grown calm.
Before this azure dragon-mountain, the ancient stele bore a few lines of text, apparently inscribed by his disciples, stating that this person had once traveled to Sichuan and been venerated there as the First Immortal.
“From what we saw of those Daoists’ and the attendants’ garments just now, they were indeed people of Sichuan,” the Old Crane said.
They dared not rashly disturb the earth immortal’s yellow clay coffin, choosing first to deduce his identity before proceeding. Without knowing that, they might easily walk into danger — they needed to use his character in life as a basis to make all manner of precise judgments.
“Could it be Rongcheng Gong?” The Grand Valley Master’s expression changed, a look of surprise crossing his face.
In Qiao Xiu’s Records of Shu from the Eastern Jin dynasty, there was the following entry: “Of the Eight Immortals of Shu, first and foremost is Rongcheng Gong — also known as Gui Rongqu, who dwelt in obscurity in the primordial chaos, in what is today Mount Qingcheng.”
That era was too far removed for them to directly perceive; they could only deduce and make judgments from the records preserved in ancient texts.
“We do not know what era he was born in. It is said he transcended in Sichuan.”
As for Rongcheng Gong — how immensely powerful he had been — even the Old Crane and the Third Valley Master, themselves born in Sichuan, did not know. This was because he had been extraordinarily low-profile, leaving behind no earth-shaking feats or records of battle.
“Chisongzi was searching for him — can he truly have been that powerful?” The Third Valley Master harbored some doubt.
“It should indeed be him, for he was also known as Rongcheng Zi,” Ye Fan said.
In primordial antiquity, anyone who could carry the title “Zi” was an extraordinary, heaven-defying figure. All the great masters of that age possessed abilities that penetrated heaven and earth — at the very least, they were ancient sages of the highest order.
“I had assumed the Daoist faith was deliberately mythologizing him. Now it seems those records were true after all.” The Old Crane sighed softly, clearly already familiar with the matter.
According to the Biographies of Immortals, Rongcheng Zi had appeared during the Western Zhou dynasty, going to meet King Mu of Zhou and teaching him the arts of longevity. And King Mu of Zhou was one of the most legendarily colorful rulers in all of ancient Chinese history — known throughout the ages as “Mu, the Son of Heaven,” a figure nearly divine in nature, recorded in The Biography of the Son of Heaven Mu.
During the Western Zhou, Rongcheng Zi had dwelt at Mount Taimu in Fujian province, refining elixirs and cultivating the Dao, likewise keeping a low profile — before eventually entering Sichuan.
“This all fits then. Chisongzi passed away during the Warring States period, having entered Sichuan beforehand — very likely to search for Rongcheng Zi’s whereabouts,” Ye Fan said.
“But that does not quite add up either. Even granted that Rongcheng Zi’s divine arts were vast and boundless, he may not necessarily have surpassed Chisongzi. After all, Chisongzi’s name resounded throughout the world already during the era of Shennong — he was the most renowned cultivator of the Dao of his time,” the Old Crane voiced his doubts.
Ye Fan shook his head. Rongcheng Zi too was no simple figure: as early as the era of the Yellow Emperor, he had made himself known, having taught the Yellow Emperor techniques of breathing exercises and expounded upon the great Dao of longevity. Even Ge Hong, the leading figure of Daoist thought, had written of him.
Rongcheng Zi appeared during multiple eras, and his name and deeds were recorded in numerous ancient texts, among them: the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine — Basic Questions, the Biographies of Divine Immortals, the Biographies of Immortals, the Annals of the Yellow Emperor, and others.
“Before Shennong attained the Dao, he studied the methods from Chisongzi. Before the Yellow Emperor attained the Dao, he received enlightenment from Rongcheng Zi. In a certain sense, these two men were equals — and Chisongzi should predate Rongcheng Zi’s era,” the Old Crane said.
Ye Fan said: “One of these two appeared during the era of Shennong, the other during the era of the Yellow Emperor — but who can truly know what era either of them actually belonged to? Yet one thing can be said with certainty: Rongcheng Zi is far more ancient than you might imagine. Traces of him can be found in the classical texts. For instance, Zhuangzi once mentioned a number of primordial ancient emperors…”
The chapter Rifling Trunks from the Zhuangzi records: “In ancient times there were: Rongcheng Shi, Daiting Shi, Bohuang Shi, Zhongyang Shi, Lilu Shi, Lichu Shi, Xuanyuan Shi… In those times, the people tied knots in ropes to keep their records.”
This passage names twelve primordial ancient rulers. Rongcheng Shi predated even the eras of Shennong and the Yellow Emperor — he was a powerful tribal chieftain of primordial antiquity, a figure of legend said to have been an immortal.
“If I am not mistaken, the Rongcheng Zi we have been speaking of is the Rongcheng Shi of primordial antiquity — an immortal figure of extreme antiquity, even older than Chisongzi,” Ye Fan said.
The Third Valley Master was somewhat stupefied. These two had drawn upon various ancient texts to piece together scattered clues, first elevating Rongcheng Gong to the level of “Zi,” and then further deducing that he was in fact Rongcheng Shi — it was truly astonishing beyond measure.
They gazed upon the yellow clay coffin, and the shock in their hearts can well be imagined. This was a being venerated as an immortal during the era of primordial peoples, whose true identity may well have been Rongcheng Shi — and the weight of that pressed down upon them enormously.