Several objects within the cave emitted a brilliant radiance. The violet-copper Eight Trigrams Mirror — forged by a cultivator who had transcended the Other Shore realm — had been left by Ye Fan in the sealed chamber for an entire year, and now divine radiance swirled about it, and purple mist drifted around it, its splendor renewed once more. As for the jade purification vase, it was white and warm-lustrous, its surface covered densely with Dao markings; it too had recovered its divine nature, though it remained unknown whether it was still capable of containing an entire mountain. At this moment, the sacred tree branch inserted within it, soaking in the divine spring water, remained as vibrant as ever, with no sign of withering. And the Heavenly Net Canopy — though it had been pierced through by the Holy Maiden of Tianxuan — had not suffered severe damage, and a hazy luminous mist clung to it, making it look quite remarkable.

“Cultivators who have transcended the Other Shore realm — their weapons ought to be tremendously powerful…” Ye Fan repeatedly consecrated and refined them, erasing all traces left upon them so that no one could sense them through psychic connection. He then drew his several weapons into the Sea of Bitterness — and in that moment, something astonishing occurred. Whether it was the violet-copper Eight Trigrams Mirror, the white jade purification vase, or the Heavenly Net Canopy, none of them could sink into the Sea of Bitterness, let alone be immersed in the Spring of Life. They could only hover beneath the divine bridge above the Sea of Bitterness.

“Green copper slab — you occupy the finest position but serve no use to me, and you drive away all other weapons so none dare approach.” Ye Fan was at a complete loss for words. The source of the problem was clear to him at a glance.

The green copper slab had sunk to the eye of the spring at the sea floor, monopolizing the finest location and having squeezed the golden scripture all the way to the periphery. It had further driven out the violet-copper Eight Trigrams Mirror, the jade purification vase, and the Heavenly Net Canopy, refusing to allow any of them entry into the Sea of Bitterness.

“This is merely golden paper upon which the Scripture of the Dao is recorded — yet it surpasses the violet-copper Eight Trigrams Mirror and the jade purification vase. I’m not sure whether to praise its extraordinariness or declare those three weapons to be useless.”

Weapons forged by cultivators who had transcended the Other Shore realm were naturally no ordinary things. This served as indirect testimony to the golden scripture’s divine nature.

This location was roughly four hundred li from the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. The surrounding area was all great mountains, where strange birds and wild beasts occasionally appeared — a stretch of primordial wilderness.

Ye Fan did not take to the air. Instead, he practiced the old madman’s footwork techniques as he walked out from among the mountains — that divine art of covering great distances in a single stride. He envied it greatly; it was even faster than flight. Unfortunately, his cultivation realm was insufficient, and he could not comprehend the “Dao markings” he had memorized, making him unable to execute those mystical techniques.

Two days later, Ye Fan appeared at a small town, at last arriving at a place with human habitation.

“More than a year has passed — the Jiang Family, the Ji Family, and the Yao Guang Holy Land must have withdrawn long ago…” he thought, wanting to find someone to fill him in.

Over this past year, Ye Fan’s greatest gain had not been reaching the Divine Bridge realm. Rather, it was the fact that his spiritual consciousness had grown to a truly terrifying degree — extraordinarily refined. The small golden lake between his brows could project beams of spiritual light, capable of being razor-sharp like a heavenly sword or as gentle as a soft breeze, perceiving everything in the surrounding area in an instant.

“There are cultivators in that tavern…” Not long after entering the small town, Ye Fan’s spiritual consciousness had already detected the aura of cultivators.

Unfortunately, in that tavern, he heard no news of the Jiang Family, the Ji Family, or the Yao Guang Holy Land. Instead, he heard news of another important matter of great significance.

“The tomb of the Demon Emperor has finally sunken down at last. The ruins there are seething with resentment and piled with mountains of corpses, rivers of blood having flowed there — it was ultimately never breached. The greatest treasure of our Eastern Wilderness — the Desolate Tower — has thereby vanished forever.”

“It cannot vanish permanently. The Desolate Tower co-exists with the world itself — sooner or later it will re-emerge.”

“That’s true enough. It can even trap an immortal to death within it, so naturally it will not decay. Perhaps after several thousand or tens of thousands of years, it will come back into this world and choose someone with whom it shares a destined connection.”

“I doubt it will take that long. The Desolate Tower has already been missing for ten thousand years. I believe it should be manifesting soon — perhaps not long from now, it will come bursting up from beneath the earth of the Eastern Wilderness.”

……

Ye Fan’s heart was filled with shock. The storm surrounding the Demon Emperor’s tomb had persisted for a full three years, only now truly quieting. All the factions of the Eastern Wilderness had made their move. Even several mysterious great figures from the Central State had come, yet they still could not hold it down. At the critical moment, it had slipped into the underground dragon veins, like a dragon returning to the sea, vanishing completely beneath the earth of the Eastern Wilderness.

In the half-month that followed, Ye Fan moved through towns and cities, keeping a low profile whenever he appeared in crowded places, and gradually came to learn the things he had wanted to know.

A year ago, the Jiang Family, the Ji Family, and the Yao Guang Holy Land had all forced their way into the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. The result was utter annihilation — not a single person came out alive. This had triggered quite a shockwave, shaking every major faction to its core, and no one dared breach the forbidden zone of life again.

“Liu Yiyi, Zhang Ziling, Lin Jia, Zhou Yi, Li Xiaoman — they’ve all vanished…” This piece of news was not particularly welcome. Ye Fan furrowed his brows.

“If I were them, I wouldn’t return to my respective sect either. Otherwise I would inevitably be interrogated by the holy lands and the ancient noble families — and once even the slightest flaw was detected, death would be inescapable. The Eastern Wilderness is vast; nations like the Yan territory are countless. Fleeing this region would be the wisest choice.”

Ye Fan felt those six people had not died. They had likely seen how precarious the situation was and made a direct getaway.

“We’ll very likely meet again someday.”

Ye Fan also felt there was no longer any need for him to remain in the Yan territory. There were no powerful sects here, no ancient noble families — only six caves of paradise, negligible in the eyes of the great factions. This place lacked opportunity. He needed to explore the secret realms beyond the “Wheel Sea,” and he had to leave.

“I should join a holy land or an ancient noble family to obtain cultivation methods for the other secret realms. The golden scripture records only the cultivation method for the Wheel Sea secret realm — that is far from enough.”

Ye Fan had never believed he could assemble the complete Scripture of the Dao. That was highly unrealistic. It had been split apart countless ages ago, and no one could now say with certainty where each page of the golden scripture had ended up. The holy lands and ancient noble families all possessed mysterious ancient scriptures no less profound than the Scripture of the Dao. He intended to approach things from that direction — cultivating the Wheel Sea secret realm with the Scripture of the Dao and the remaining secret realms using the ancient scriptures of the various holy lands — provided he could obtain them.

“I still have time. There is no need to worry now about not having a cultivation method to continue with.”

Ye Fan had reached the Divine Bridge realm, with the Other Shore still ahead of him. He did not know when he would be able to cross it. Exploring the body’s other secret realms required first reaching the Other Shore. The endpoint of the Wheel Sea secret realm — the Other Shore — was the starting point from which one could reach the other secret realms.

“The Eastern Wilderness is boundless and vast, containing countless nations. It is said to have seven great life-forbidden zones. I have so far encountered only one — the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. I truly wonder what the other forbidden zones must be like.”

Ye Fan believed that in the near future it would be impossible for him to venture deep into the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land again. It was far too dangerous. With his current strength, he had no chance of plucking the third variety of sacred medicine, and it would be very difficult to succeed by luck again. He suspected that the other life-forbidden zones must also be extraordinarily mysterious places — perhaps harboring great opportunities as well.

“The mysterious ancient scriptures of the holy lands and ancient noble families, the seven great life-forbidden zones, the vast expanse of the Eastern Wilderness — all of it is worth exploring.”

But before departing, he felt it was necessary to make one visit to the Lingxu Cave Paradise to retrieve the belongings he had left behind there. At the time, lacking sufficient strength, he had fled for his life and had not had a chance to retrieve his possessions. Now that he had reached the Divine Bridge realm, he naturally had the confidence to do so.

Over these three years, the Lingxu Cave Paradise had known no peace. The Demon Emperor’s tomb in the ruins had drawn the endless factions of the Eastern Wilderness, and blood had dyed that blighted land red. Corpses had filled the cold pool to the brim, resentment surging skyward.

When it was all over, a figure of peerless renown had employed an unfathomable great divine art to at last purify the ruins — otherwise the Lingxu Cave Paradise would have had no choice but to relocate the entire sect.

Arriving before the mountain gate of the Lingxu Cave Paradise, Ye Fan felt a surge of feeling. Back then, having been deemed a flawed body by everyone with no one willing to take him in, he had been able to come here entirely because of Pang Bo.

“Pang Bo… once I have sufficient strength, I will surely bring you back!”

The Lingxu Cave Paradise was wreathed in drifting clouds and mist. Celestial mountains half-appeared and half-vanished within it. Before the mountain gate, ancient trees stood with gnarled grandeur, strange rocks jutted up at odd angles, and flying waterfalls cascaded over flowing springs — the whole scene carried a genuine flavor of immortal paradise.

“Who are you, and what brings you to our Lingxu Cave Paradise?” the disciple guarding the mountain gate stepped forward to ask.

“Senior Brother, I have come to pay my respects to Elder Wu Qingfeng.” Ye Fan’s appearance at this moment was no more than that of a fourteen-year-old youth, wearing a sunny smile that made it easy for others to feel favorably disposed toward him.

The disciple guarding the gate did not make things difficult for him. He said: “Follow me inside.”

Walking into the Lingxu Cave Paradise, as he stepped onto the flight of over a hundred bluestone steps, Ye Fan was suddenly struck with great astonishment. He asked: “Why are these bluestone steps all cracked? They were not like this before.”

Back then, on his first visit to the Lingxu Cave Paradise, stepping up those bluestone steps, the ancient scripture in his heart had automatically resonated — a memory that had left a deep impression. He had always believed that something extraordinary lay beneath those steps.

“How do you know what they were like before?” the disciple asked, looking at him with suspicion.

“I used to reside here, so naturally I would know. Senior Brother, please — what on earth happened? Why are all these bluestone steps cracked?” Ye Fan was desperate to know. At this moment, the ancient scripture in his heart had not resonated, and he was certain that whatever “object” had lain beneath had now disappeared.

The disciple glanced left and right, saw that no one was passing by, and then lowered his voice: “Truth be told, it’s terrifying — there was actually a yin vein beneath the ground, connected to the Demon Emperor’s yin tomb. It was through here that it finally made its escape, sinking into the earth beneath the Eastern Wilderness.”

Ye Fan’s heart gave a violent start. He had never imagined such an outcome. In that instant, his mind went to the Desolate Tower — said to co-exist with the world and capable of suppressing immortals to death.

“Back then, when I first entered this place, the ancient scripture resonated on its own. Was that because of the Desolate Tower?” Ye Fan pondered endlessly without arriving at an answer. The ancient scripture had come from the other end of the starry sky, obtained from within the Ancient Bronze Coffin. He could not fathom why it would resonate in response to a vessel belonging to this world.

Within the Lingxu Cave Paradise, peaks were green and valleys verdant — it was remarkably beautiful. Halls and towers punctuated the landscape here and there, and mist swirled and billowed, adding a quality of ethereal transcendence.

Seeing Elder Wu Qingfeng again, Ye Fan felt a deep warmth. He performed a full formal bow in greeting. This old man had shown him much care and consideration in years past — he was an elder worthy of genuine respect.

“Child, it is you after all…” Elder Wu Qingfeng revealed a moved and agitated expression. He had not changed much: white hair and white beard, a tall and slender frame, carrying an air of otherworldly detachment.

Seeing Ye Fan naturally made him think of Pang Bo, and he could not help but let out a long sigh. Pang Bo had been accepted by him as a disciple, yet had unexpectedly been coerced by the demon clan and vanished within the primordial ruins.

This was a tranquil mountain valley. Not far away, a clear lake glistened like a sapphire. Ahead stood four or five thatched cottages surrounded by a broad stand of bamboo — extremely serene and quiet.

Seated on a stone chair within the bamboo grove, Ye Fan picked up the teacup on the stone table, took a light sip, and began to converse with the old man.

When Ye Fan asked about the other secret realms of the human body, Elder Wu Qingfeng looked at him with a surprised glance and said: “Child, do not be overambitious. Do you still remember what I told you? A person who can explore a single secret realm to its very end over the course of a lifetime has achieved something truly remarkable. Cultivating the Wheel of Life and the Sea of Bitterness to their ultimate peak can equally make one a pinnacle-level powerhouse.”

“Then why do those holy lands and ancient noble families cultivate the other secret realms?”

“You cannot compare yourself to them. They possess ancient scriptures comparable to immortal classics — that is their innate advantage.” Elder Wu Qingfeng let out a sigh and shook his head. “In truth, cultivating a single secret realm is sufficient. It is said that many great sages of High Antiquity cultivated only a single secret realm.”

Ye Fan bowed his head, deep in thought. But ultimately he raised his head again, a decision made. It was impossible for him to cultivate only a single secret realm. Since other secret realms existed, there was surely a reason and a purpose for cultivating them.

Elder Wu Qingfeng was quite puzzled. He felt that even if the Desolate Ancient Holy Body could barely manage to cultivate, it could not achieve too great an accomplishment. But the elder was a kind man, and in the end he patiently answered Ye Fan’s many questions.

Ye Fan at last learned the name of the next secret realm: the Dao Palace. It lay beyond the Wheel Sea secret realm. One had to cross the Sea of Bitterness, reach the Other Shore, and only then could one slowly feel one’s way toward it.

It was said that within the “Dao Palace” dwelled five “divine deities,” and cultivating this secret realm would bring about all manner of mysterious and unfathomable phenomena.

Ye Fan possessed only the cultivation formula for the “Wheel Sea” secret realm. The golden scripture was merely a single page of the Scripture of the Dao — it was utterly impossible for it to contain the cultivation method for the “Dao Palace” secret realm.

“To obtain the most profound and abstruse formula, it seems the only option is to go to the holy lands and ancient noble families — I must obtain the mysterious ancient scriptures in their possession…” Ye Fan murmured to himself inwardly.

“Elder, among the ancient scriptures held by the various holy lands and ancient noble families, whose is the most profound?” Ye Fan asked.

Elder Wu Qingfeng shook his head. “Those holy lands and ancient noble families are too mysterious and powerful — beyond what people like us can fully understand. Which mysterious ancient scripture each one possesses is very difficult to say with any certainty.”

Ye Fan genuinely wished to know which ancient scripture was the strongest. Hearing this, he murmured to himself: “Perhaps each has its own strengths.”

“Indeed, that is so.” Elder Wu Qingfeng seemed to recall something. “It is said that for the ‘Wheel Sea’ secret realm, the Scripture of the Dao is supreme, while for the ‘Dao Palace’ secret realm, the mysterious ancient scripture of the Yaochi Holy Land is supposedly the strongest. Each ancient scripture has its own areas of emphasis in its cultivation methods.”

Right then and there, Ye Fan made his decision: he would go to the Yaochi Holy Land to learn their cultivation method for the “Dao Palace” secret realm.

“Does the Yaochi Holy Land accept male disciples?”

“Never.” Elder Wu Qingfeng looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Surely you are not thinking of…”

“Then, do the female disciples of the Yaochi Holy Land marry?” Ye Fan asked with a completely straight face.

Elder Wu Qingfeng burst out laughing at that. “They can marry, but the conditions are extremely demanding — I fear you would be unable to take one as a wife.”

Ye Fan did not feel the slightest bit embarrassed. He smiled, then asked many more questions. Elder Wu Qingfeng, though somewhat perplexed, did not press for reasons, and patiently explained everything.

The Yaochi Holy Land was extremely far from the Yan territory — among all the holy lands and ancient noble families, it was the most reclusive and mysterious.

At the same time, Ye Fan unexpectedly learned that one of the Eastern Wilderness’s seven great life-forbidden zones — the “Grand Primordial Ancient Mine” — was also located in that same general region where the Yaochi Holy Land could be found.

Of course, this so-called “same general region” was only relative to the vast scale of the Eastern Wilderness. In reality, the actual distance between the two was a full ten thousand li.

The Jiang Family was also in that general region, roughly thirty thousand li from the “Grand Primordial Ancient Mine.” What was described as the “same general region” was in fact enormously vast — the Eastern Wilderness being immense beyond measure.

“Grand Primordial Ancient Mine…”

This was the first time Ye Fan had heard the name of this life-forbidden zone. As one of the Eastern Wilderness’s seven great life-forbidden zones, it was certain to have an extraordinary origin.

“The ‘source’ in that region is very abundant. The fact that both the Jiang Family and the Yaochi Holy Land chose to develop themselves in that area is inextricably linked to this.”

Ye Fan felt all the more strongly that he should go there. “Source” was something he needed greatly. If he could not obtain sacred medicine, seeking out “source” was not a bad alternative.

“The Grand Primordial Ancient Mine is…” he asked, uncertain and curious.

“The name ‘Grand Primordial’ alone is sufficient to convey its antiquity — it is impossible to estimate how many ages it has existed.” Elder Wu Qingfeng took a sip of tea and continued: “It is said that in ages immemorial, the Grand Primordial Ancient Mine was the most famous ‘source’ mine in the Eastern Wilderness. Later, something ominous was excavated from it, and it subsequently became one of the seven great life-forbidden zones.”

Ye Fan was deeply astonished and curious. “What exactly was excavated?”

“Some peerless ‘divine sources’ were unearthed. It is said that within the ‘source,’ powerful living creatures were sealed. They ultimately revived and slaughtered everyone.”

“What?!” Ye Fan was profoundly shaken.

“According to legend, some of the ‘divine sources’ actually contained sealed human beings.”

Hearing these words, Ye Fan was left speechless with shock. He felt that the region he was heading toward was immensely mysterious — the Yaochi Holy Land, the Jiang Family, the Grand Primordial Ancient Mine. For him, all of them held significance far beyond the ordinary.