The place where immortality was forged was an enigma. Throughout the ages, countless remarkable figures had sought to unravel its mysteries, yet almost all of them had died with regret.
Over ten thousand mountain peaks stood side by side, encircling a valley. Each dragon-headed peak had opened its draconic maw, cascading down a ribbon of colorful waterfalls. Immortal light billowed upward, converging toward the celestial pool at the center.
“What lies within the pool?” Ye Fan could not see clearly. Within that celestial pool, hundreds of millions of threads of divine radiance blazed with a brilliance so dazzling that even opening his Heavenly Eye could not pierce through it.
Throughout the valley, ribbons of immortal aura wound and drifted. Divine mists surged, auspicious radiance shimmered, and countless streams of celestial luminescence flowed, forming a breathtaking immortal landscape of the mortal world.
Even Long Ma could not suppress the violent surge of emotion within him. His four hooves stamped restlessly, unable to settle, and he wished nothing more than to charge forward at once. Born of Kunlun, he naturally knew of this place where immortality was gestated, yet had never had the opportunity to enter.
Ye Fan’s expression was charged with excitement. One hand gripping the ancient scroll, his other hand clenched into a fist. He had finally entered. He would unveil the mystery that had endured for ten thousand ages!
In that moment, the calmest of them all was Little Pine. It had no such grand ambitions. That celestial pool barely a zhang in length could only arouse its curiosity — it held far less appeal than a Medicine King, and even less power to stir the little purple creature’s heart.
A child’s innocent heart was the rarest of treasures, and it was precisely this that lay at the root of its swift cultivation advancement.
“Move out!” Ye Fan leapt down from Long Ma and personally took the lead, for this place was of immense importance — it concerned whether he would one day attain the Dao and become an immortal.
Upon arriving here, the killing intent grew even more oppressive. Even without triggering it, it caused waves of heart palpitations. And this was under the conditions where immortal mist permeated everything, concealing more than half of the murderous aura.
One could clearly perceive that throughout the void, countless fine and intricate markings were woven together, forming trajectories like the sweep of a stellar field, spreading into every corner. It was easy to imagine that once triggered, one would inevitably fall into a place of eternal damnation.
Within this immortal forging ground, flight was simply impossible. Only immortal herbs could grow on the surface — this was undoubtedly the work of the Primordial Emperor. Even amidst the densely laid killing formations, he had provided sacred soil where divine medicines could survive.
“Their roots and stems have merged with these laws, gaining acceptance before they could survive here.” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
Immediately after, he shuddered. The laws and killing formations of this place had grown terrifyingly powerful enough to make one’s heart seize up. They had almost certainly given birth to what the Black Emperor had called “the divine spirit within the formation!”
“That’s right — it must be so.” His pupils contracted sharply. After careful observation, he grew even more certain. The one who had laid this formation long ago had possessed a cultivation that reached the heavens, allowing the killing formation to evolve a will divine — to take on life, transforming into a living entity woven from traces of the Dao.
Only by coming here with this celestial-treasure ancient scroll in hand could one enter the formation. It was no longer simply a map of safe passages — it had become a kind of token of recognition. Otherwise, even one who understood the formation’s workings and layout would most likely die with regret. The methods of the ancient great emperors were beyond prediction; they had transformed killing formations into living entities, and the formation’s body could change freely.
The Black Emperor had said that this represented the highest realm of Dao markings and killing formations — for a divine spirit to gestate within a formation was a heaven-defying feat of the ancient great emperors, equivalent to a continuation of their very lives.
The valley floor was uneven, without a single speck of dust. Everywhere were jade-like medicinal fields. Those who had prepared this place long ago had clearly anticipated that precious medicines would inevitably be born here — perhaps even an undying divine medicine — to further sanctify the celestial pool.
Among these ancient medicines, Ye Fan had lost count of how many Medicine Kings he had discovered. His heart shook violently. If gathered together, these would be more precious than divine medicines.
It was a pity that he could only look on with longing. Except for those found directly along the path, even those right before his eyes and within arm’s reach could not be recklessly touched — to do so would certainly invite death.
Long Ma exhaled and inhaled immortal radiance, his eyes nearly bulging out, while Little Pine had also ground to a halt, unable to move forward. Medicine Kings appeared one after another, attainable with but a reach of the hand — a temptation of the most profound kind.
Demonic fruits shaped as though polished from red agate, glistening and crystal-clear, their fragrance wafting over. Celestial orchids carved as though from green jade, verdant and fresh, translucent through and through, their fragrance enveloping all. Cloud vines draped in blue-green mist, hazily ethereal, their clear scent seeping into one’s very marrow.
Ancient medicines were beyond counting, varying in grade and rich in variety, as though one had accidentally wandered into an immortal’s herb garden — priceless treasures everywhere one looked.
Each ancient medicine radiated flowing brilliance, dazzlingly magnificent. And among them were many withered and dead Medicine Kings that had lost their luster, collapsed upon the ground, their released life essence nourishing this land.
Because time had stretched on far too long, Medicine Kings were not undying divine medicines. Growing to eighty or ninety thousand years was already extraordinary — any longer and they would dissolve into rotting earth and wither away.
The immortal vines and divine orchids of this place had passed through who knew how many generations. The Medicine Kings present today had all grown anew from seeds that had germinated and taken root — ten thousand generations of rise and fall, withering and flourishing once more.
As they pressed forward along this relatively safe narrow path, Little Pine had, between its digging at the front and rear, unearthed eleven Medicine Kings in all. It was an extraordinary harvest — word of it would certainly leave people utterly stupefied.
They were finally drawing close, nearly at the celestial pool, and it was precisely at this moment that Ye Fan saw a grave. It was deeply strange, sitting right beside the path, severing the killing formation within the immortal valley.
He could not help but be astonished. What inconceivably lofty cultivation would one need to dare recklessly disrupt a great emperor’s killing formation — one that had already given birth to a divine will — and construct a tomb within it? Such a method was nothing short of heaven-defying.
Ye Fan opened his Heavenly Eye and looked directly into the grave, where he saw dozens of fragments assembled into a ghost-faced mask, resting before a blood-soaked robe — a sight that shook him deeply.
The ghost-faced mask, covered in cracks, seemed to weep yet not weep, seemed to smile yet not smile — smiling with sorrow, grieving with a faint smile. Its markings were identical to those on the Devouring Demon Jar.
“It is him — he died here!”
It must have been that young man. After parting from the Savage Emperor, he had never been able to meet her again. Life and death had separated them completely. He lay as a corpse within the immortal forging ground, never escaping his destined fate.
“My only worry is my little sister…”
From within that grave, from the shattered ghost-faced mask, came just such a faint and feeble voice — carrying regret, carrying unwillingness, carrying a pleading quality — as though it had traveled across a thousand ages to arrive here.
Although this mask was made of common copper, crudely crafted, it carried an ineffable spiritual resonance. Laid within the tomb, it stirred something deep within the heart.
Ye Fan let out a sigh. The Savage Emperor had used a heaven-defying forbidden divine art to reconstruct certain scenes she wished to know — ensuring that the last words the young man spoke before his death could never be extinguished.
“Not for immortality — only to wait for you to return to this mortal world.”
A woman’s voice seemed to descend from the ninth heaven above, causing even the gods to shudder involuntarily. Above heaven and below earth, she alone was supreme — she had chosen a path no person in the world could comprehend.
Ye Fan, Little Pine, and Long Ma all shivered in unison. A woman who looked down upon ten thousand ages, who gazed upon past, present, and future — in a single sentence, she had made her words endure for ten thousand ages.
Before this earthen mound there was no headstone, no visible interweaving of Dao markings — yet it traversed the killing formation and endured eternally, imperishable. One could only say it was a kind of miracle.
In a trance, Ye Fan saw a small girl of two or three years, her silhouette very blurry, her hair done in a pair of horn-shaped braids. Her face was indistinct, but her large, pure eyes could be seen clearly, brimming with the shimmer of tears. She was crying pitifully. Her small clothes were patched, her little shoes worn through to expose her toes. Helplessly, she stretched out her small hands, reaching desperately to grasp something.
He shook his head forcefully. The grave was still a grave, burying a blood-soaked robe and shards of a mask — nothing more.
Ye Fan paused briefly, then turned and walked away, his heart filled with feeling. The Savage Emperor’s name had resounded through ten thousand ages. Her talent was unparalleled, and she had created all manner of extraordinary techniques — yet she had such misfortune. Even standing at the apex of the ninth heaven, making all gods tremble, she could not change her end.
Even Long Ma, temperamental as he was, remained completely well-behaved in this place, not even daring to breathe loudly, following close behind.
The ancient scroll was laid open. Ye Fan compared it against the terrain map and traversed a region that only a handful of people throughout all of history had reached, drawing close to the celestial pool at the very center. Wave after wave of rosy clouds came flying, bathing them all in radiant light from head to toe.
This was a place that could intoxicate the soul — auspicious light erupting forth, auspicious energy in tens of thousands of streams. No second such place could be found in all the world. If one could cultivate here for a prolonged time, great gains would surely follow.
Yet no one dared linger long here to comprehend the Dao. If, by some misfortune, one were to disturb the Great Dao and interweave with this ancient killing formation — drawing out one killing pattern after another — there would truly be no way out.
“Whoosh!”
Within the medicinal field, an ancient medicine flashed and vanished, leaving behind a lingering fragrance that nearly made one’s very bones go drunk. Light-suffused mist entered their bodies, and Ye Fan, Long Ma, and Little Pine all felt as though they were about to soar up into rosy clouds — utterly at ease, their joints resonating with soft cracking sounds.
“An undying medicine!”
Within the immortal valley, there was a divine medicine that could fly and conceal itself on its own. The divine spirit born within the killing formation did not harm it; it had darted away into the distance.
“True to its reputation as an immortal ground — there is actually another undying medicine here!”
Ye Fan exclaimed in wonder. Rongcheng Shi had already obtained one, yet here was another. But for the land that gestated immortality to give birth to such a divine medicine was, in fact, not so surprising.
He thought of what He Shou Wu had told him, and so he stopped here and transmitted his voice to the distance, saying that this place would face a great calamity in time, and asking whether the undying medicine was willing to leave with him.
Long Ma rolled his eyes nearby. How could a person be so shameless? Even when wanting to capture an undying divine medicine, he made it sound so high-minded — as though he were doing it for the medicine’s own benefit.
Yet contrary to Long Ma’s expectations, the divine medicine truly gave a positive response. Through a spiritual sense that was not especially powerful, it transmitted a message to Ye Fan, informing him that if the hope of immortality were taken away from this place, the great calamity here would resolve itself — and if he found it difficult to take that away, then it would leave together with him.
Rosy clouds drifted, light-suffused mist billowed. Ye Fan stood in silence for a moment, not having seen the divine medicine’s true form. It was clearly a choice between two options, and he truly had no means of coercing the undying medicine.
Ye Fan could only choose to continue forward. Though undying medicines were extraordinarily rare — not every living ancient star could necessarily produce even one — encountering them was not absolutely impossible. But the hope of becoming an immortal was the only one in all of history!
The road ahead went smoothly. They pressed on all the way to the celestial pool. Along the entire path, Little Pine had unearthed seventeen Medicine Kings in total. Spread to any star domain, this would stun and overwhelm belief — it was a miracle!
“This is the… celestial pool that gestates the hope of immortality.” Ye Fan’s voice trembled. Finally standing before it, even he could barely contain his surging emotions. The mystery that had endured for ten thousand ages was finally about to be unveiled.
Long Ma’s entire body flickered with fiery light. With a powerful butt of his enormous head, he shoved Ye Fan aside — he wished he could leap directly into the celestial pool. Only Little Pine remained calm, standing beside Ye Fan with its small medicine basket on its back, looking around with curious eyes.
“This…” Ye Fan was profoundly startled. Upon careful examination, he discovered that this immortal-gestating ground actually resembled a placenta — and it had been smashed apart by a single palm strike, reduced to a pool!
“Who did this?” His expression changed at once. Could it be that the hope of immortality had been taken away — or destroyed? But that did not seem right. Just now the divine medicine had already said the hope of immortality was still here.
“It was the Savage Emperor!” Ye Fan immediately arrived at this conclusion, and could not suppress a shiver down his spine. This great emperor was truly extraordinary — truly as she herself had declared: she had no interest in immortality!
He parted his lips and exhaled a breath of innate life essence, intending to disperse the thousands upon thousands of rosy light streams shooting out from the celestial pool, for this place was too brilliantly blinding for one to open one’s eyes.
The immortal radiance was cleaved apart. He opened his Heavenly Eye and gazed into the pool — and in that instant, his heart and spirit shook violently. He had seen an artifact. The hope of immortality was still present, lying sunken at the bottom of the pool!