Huang had entered the pit. For the Ancient Sages, it was nothing short of a catastrophe — one that none of them could endure. Two ancient imperial weapons had been sent flying.

The only saving grace was that the divine spirits enshrined within the golden mace and the Ten Thousand Dragons Bell had been reawakened, returning of their own accord from the outer battlefield. Had they not, both great imperial clans might have permanently lost their immortal weapons.

Yet even so, none of this could change anything. For those present, there was now only one word — flee!

A human Great Emperor’s ancient tomb must not be disturbed, must not be touched. This place had first been guarded by the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace, and now another being nearly equal to the imperial realm had arrived, inflicting devastating losses upon them.

Spit!

Cracks appeared at the brows of several Ancient Sages. Blood seeped down. Their life energy drained away at terrifying speed. The flames of their divine souls flickered on the edge of extinction. Their entire beings wilted and deteriorated, as though they had aged thousands of years in a single moment.

“Ahhh…”

Shrill and wretched cries rang out one after another. The moment Huang drew close, even those as powerful as Ancient Sages could not bear it. Their physical bodies aged rapidly, advancing toward the final boundary of life.

Far above, even on Ye Fan’s body a layer of gooseflesh rose — every single hair standing on end. What realm of cultivation was this? To enter the gathering of Ancient Sages alone, and lay them low one by one.

“Kill her!”

An Ancient Sage roared — and a palm descended from the sky, reducing him to a flat mass of flesh. His vital energy then scattered, both form and spirit destroyed together.

A few had weapons of legendary sage-craft, but like tattered rags and torn paper, a single light wave from Huang reduced them all to fragments. Before her, everyone was less than a three-year-old child — they were, in the truest sense of the word, mere insects and ants.

“Retreat!”

Qian Lun the Great Sage, the Golden King, and Hun Tuo the Great Sage wielded their ancient imperial weapons and fought their way outward. They did not wish to linger a single moment longer. Even if there were immortality medicines left within the great tomb, they no longer wanted them.

Crash!

The golden mace and the Ten Thousand Dragons Bell rang out together, at last carving apart the black mist and opening a path to survival. The three fled in utter disarray, with only four Sage Kings managing to follow them out.

The rest let loose a chorus of screams. A single palm from Huang fell, and all of them were reduced to flesh and blood, their vital energy exhausted, turning to dust. Not a single one remained.

The pit fell into absolute silence. Aside from the seven who had escaped, every one of those Ancient Sages had been slaughtered. For the ancient clans, this was a devastating and catastrophic loss.

And in so short a time — one figure had descended from the heavens and massacred every last one of these powerful experts. Only she remained, standing alone in quiet solitude, facing the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace.

In the many days since all this had begun, the Southern Region had been in a constant state of uproar. Both the ancient clans and human cultivators had all had their gazes fixed on this great tomb, drawing the attention of every person under heaven.

Yet now, the moment Huang appeared, all four directions fell silent. The clamor and chaos were completely stilled. Not a single person dared set their sights on this place any longer.

Huang walked a circuit around the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace, then lifted it with one hand. The palace rose into the air, hanging suspended in the sky, from which thousands of rosy rays and countless auspicious streams cascaded downward, the blood-crimson character “Immortal” growing quietly restrained.

She entered the Primordial Immortal Earth alone. It was not long before all manner of immortal light flew outward, transforming into wisps of dense and colorful mist, ringing out with clear tones as they flowed into the bronze palace.

Huang emerged. She seemed to carry with her a trace of wistful loss. The Primordial Immortal Earth began to collapse. One could clearly see that all manner of objects and artifacts flew into the bronze palace within.

Boom!

A moment later, black mist surged to the heavens. Huang shot into the sky. She bore the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace in her hand as she departed, leaving behind the ancient grounds where Yao Guang once dwelled.

The Primordial Immortal Land shattered and crumbled, dissolving into a expanse of mist and haze — gone forever, ceasing to exist.

“She is…” Duan De furrowed his brow.

The Black Emperor’s mouth hung agape. He wanted to say something, but found he could only swallow a dry mouthful of saliva. No words would come.

So simply. So easily. The great tomb was leveled to the ground. She cradled the magnificent Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace in one hand and flew toward the direction of the Primordial Forbidden Zone. No one in the world dared stand in her way.

“Just like that… she’s gone…” Ye Fan murmured to himself.

“Oh heavens above, we missed a once-in-all-eternity opportunity! The Primordial Forbidden Zone was completely unguarded just now, with no one watching over it. We could have snuck in and stolen the Nine Wondrous Divine Herbs, and taken a good look at how the path to immortality actually works.” Long Ma was filled with endless regret.

The others all glared at him simultaneously. Huang was that terrifying — who would dare raid her forbidden zone? That was a true death wish. Even if someone actually succeeded, they would not live more than a few days afterward.

Huang departed. Each step she took covered tens of thousands of li. She swept across the vault of heaven above, and every bird and cultivator that happened into her path became dust, their life force entirely extinguished.

The saving grace was that she did not walk upon the earth below. Had she done so, nothing at all would have survived — life would have been utterly extinguished across hundreds of thousands of li of dead ground.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Heaven and earth split apart, black mist rolled in ten thousand layers — Huang had returned to the Primordial Forbidden Zone in what felt like a single stride. It was as though this heaven and earth could scarcely contain her form.

She cradled the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace in her hand and stood alone above the abyss for a very long time. Then, slowly, she descended and her silhouette vanished, sinking into the darkness.

The wilderness fell into perfect stillness, its peace restored. Atop the nine sacred mountains, divine springs gurgled. The Nine Wondrous Divine Herbs released their subtle fragrance, growing in abundance, their radiance shimmering with vitality.

The Southern Region remained quiet for a long time. People were gripped by fear and trepidation. Huang had emerged into the world, moving freely through the life-forbidden zone — and this caused every cultivator in the region to be filled with deep terror, each wanting to pack up and leave.

An unparalleled supreme being of a life-forbidden zone — who could stand against her? In ancient times, every great dark upheaval had its origins in the seven great life-forbidden zones.

In this battle, many Ancient Sages had fallen. Word spread throughout the five regions, and all under heaven was shaken. There was not a single person who did not feel a chill of shock.

“Huang — who is she? How can she emerge into the world? The moment she appears, who can contend with her?”

“The ancient clans are weeping in mourning. Their losses this time are devastating — a whole assembly of Ancient Sages, all annihilated before the emperor’s tomb. Aside from the handful who escaped, not a single other person managed to flee!”

“This is a world-shaking event unlike any since the opening of the heavens. The supreme ruler of a life-forbidden zone has taken action — how many times throughout all antiquity has this ever happened?”

All under heaven erupted into fervent discussion. Huang’s emergence into the world had an impact beyond all comparison. People spoke of nothing else.

The ancient clans were draped in the gray clouds of devastation. This time they swallowed their broken teeth along with their blood — too terrible. An entire assembly of Ancient Sages had been scattered and annihilated by a single individual. They dared not resist.

Why had it come to this?

Even their extreme-path ancient imperial weapons had been unable to stop her, sent flying with a single slap. Even the reawakened ancient imperial aura had been incapable of suppressing her. What kind of existence was this?

“She did not radiate a Great Emperor’s aura — but her physical body has absolutely reached that realm. Otherwise, how could she have wielded such methods…” These were the words spoken by one of the surviving Sage Kings.

An imperial-realm physical body? It was a conclusion that forced people into deep reflection, one that made their scalps crawl.

In this world, there should only ever be one Ancient Emperor or Great Emperor at a time. Two would never coexist — otherwise, no one else could prove the Dao.

“Ohhhh…”

The ancient clans were draped in mourning white. So many Ancient Sages had died. Many wailed and wept. To have become an Ancient Sage, every single one of them had been the founding ancestor of their own clan — and yet this was how they had met their end.

In the Northern Region, sounds of lamentation spread. All four imperial clans and ten royal clans were wrapped in a pall of gloom and despair. The losses were so great they could not be replenished — this had truly damaged their very roots and foundations.

Who was she?

All under heaven debated it. Everyone wanted to know.

“Upon the sacred mountains grow the Nine Wondrous Divine Herbs — a single plant divided into nine, nourished day after day by nine divine springs, sustained by undying immortal energy. Could it be… the Ancient Emperor of the Divine Silkworm Clan?”

Within the ancient clans, someone put forward this conclusion — for the Nine Wondrous Divine Herbs had belonged to the ancient emperor of the Divine Silkworm Ridge, and legend held that the divine silkworm had transcended the tenth transformation, reaching the ultimate state, making it nearly impossible for it to wither and die.

“Impossible. That is far too remote in time. The Ancient Emperor of the Divine Silkworm Ridge is a figure from the Primordial Era — separated from the present by one or two million years. How could it possibly still be alive?”

Besides, the Divine Silkworm Ridge had records stating that a quasi-emperor of that clan had personally placed their own father emperor into a divine spirit ancient coffin and buried them beyond the nine heavens. It was impossible for that being to be alive and appearing now.

“It is the Ruthless Great Emperor — she may still be alive!”

Some ancient sects of the human race, those that preserved records of the most ancient secret histories, had living fossils among them who drew this conclusion — though they could provide no compelling evidence to support it.

“That is right. The great tomb beneath Yao Guang’s former grounds appears to belong to the Ruthless Emperor. If Huang is her, then everything can be explained.”

And yet — who could survive for so vast an expanse of time? The Ruthless Great Emperor had passed over two hundred thousand years ago. No matter how extraordinarily gifted she had been, she could not have withstood the erosion of such ages. Was it truly her?

“Devouring life force — this strongly resembles her Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art. More precisely: a sublimated form of that supreme technique!” Someone made the connection.

“Found it — I have finally found a passage of records. In a very ancient age, the nine sacred mountains were originally a place of origin for the human race. It is said that the human progenitor came from beyond this realm and descended there. Later, it was occupied by a sacred spirit — she may be a sacred spirit!”

All under heaven erupted into an uproar. People speculated endlessly, yet no definitive conclusion could be reached. The supreme existences of the seven great life-forbidden zones each had terrifying origins. From ancient times to the present, only Great Emperors had ever truly known what they were.

Within the ancient clans, a chill pervaded. So many Ancient Sages had died — their very foundations had been wounded. That silhouette made them shudder without end.

If this person was a Great Emperor — to which clan did she belong? The great clans of the Primordial Era all trembled with unease, for Huang had slapped so many Ancient Sages to death with a single palm, and her target had been them!

“She… is a human. I could tell. She is absolutely not an emperor of our ancient clans.”

One of the Sage Kings who had escaped with his life spoke these words, reaching this conclusion — and it sent a shock through every wise elder of the ancient clans.

As for the three Great Sages, they returned without saying a single word, going directly into seclusion. They said nothing at all.

“What?! A living human Great Emperor?” Every person gathered among the ancient clans was struck dumb. The cold spread from their heads down to the soles of their feet — this was a supreme force of awe and terror that transcended all things.

“Who shall go… to the Primordial Ancient Mine and deliver this news?” An extremely elderly ancestral king spoke in a trembling voice.

“The Primordial Ancient Mine — who could enter it? To blunder inside recklessly would bring certain death.” Another Ancient Sage replied.

“I believe she was not targeting us specifically. She only came for the Ancient Bronze Immortal Palace. Perhaps we… disturbed something that should never have been disturbed.”

The moment those words fell, everyone present froze — and then felt an even more bone-deep cold spread through them. The hair on their scalps nearly bristled outward. An icy chill crept into every joint and seam of bone.

That place… was the ancient tomb of a human Great Emperor. For Huang to have come and stopped them, slaughtering all those sages — what did that signify? One could well imagine.

“Live in peace with the human race. Never again harbor any delusion of treating them as blood prey. The world has changed. This is no longer the Primordial Era. The human race has produced no fewer Great Emperors than the ancient clans have produced Ancient Emperors!” An old sage said.

Many fell into silence.

From beginning to end, it was their own mindset that had failed to adapt. They always felt the human race was weak — that, as in the Primordial Era, humans should depend upon the great royal clans, prostrating themselves at their feet, to be killed or spared at whim.

Yet if one thought carefully — the human race had produced not just one or two Great Emperors, surpassing any single ancient imperial clan, towering above all the great clans!

“Annihilating the entire race — that is a delusion. If a human Great Emperor truly does still live, it will be our own kind who are entirely destroyed. If we must strike, it can only be a targeted engagement, knowing when to stop — such as a concentrated offensive against the human Holy Body. We must never allow him to grow and mature. He can already slaughter sages. This is a sign and a portent of one who may one day prove the Dao!” Someone declared.

Huang had emerged into the world, filling the ancient clans with fear and trembling. They dared not provoke her — and yet some among the more radical ancestral kings grew all the more convinced that they absolutely could not allow the human race to produce another Great Emperor. The threat must be extinguished while it still lay in the cradle.

Huang — suspected of being a human Great Emperor. And even more people came to believe she was the Ruthless Great Emperor herself — the most extraordinarily gifted person in all of history.

From this day forward, outside the Primordial Forbidden Zone, people came regularly to prostrate themselves and pray. They beseeched the human Great Emperor to watch over them, to suppress this great era from which all ten thousand clans had emerged, and to restore peace to the human race.

And it was from this day forward that an even grander and more sweeping war hymn began to sound. The path to proving the Dao was paved with countless bones. The road to immortality was about to open. Ye Fan would soon set out upon his ascent to the heavens — treading forward to the rhythm of that battle hymn.