Ye Fan felt that what existed between himself and Li Xiaoman had become as still and flavorless as plain water. The only connection they could ever share was having been cast adrift together into this world.
Beyond that, there was little else. The small moments they had once shared had long since dissolved with time, like fireworks blooming and fading in the sky.
He had thought about it before — even if they could not be together, even without the emotions that once stirred in him, they might still be friends. But that last encounter had made him feel it was entirely wishful thinking on his part.
Ye Fan had no intention of making himself known to Li Xiaoman. Better to pass by her like a stranger, gently, than to endure that coldness.
Before coming to the Taixuan Sect, Ji Ziyue had smeared something across her own soft, rosy face, leaving her looking nearly like a little painted cat. Only her pair of wide eyes still carried that lively spark — they curved into crescent moons now as she quietly caught the change in Ye Fan’s mood.
Within the endless immortal mountains, the one hundred and eight main peaks each represented a distinct lineage — the very bedrock that had kept the Taixuan Sect thriving through the ages without decline.
Even when certain lineages began to falter, others were already rising to take their place. Through the rise and fall of dynasties, through the turning of uncountable years, the Taixuan Sect had always stood firm.
Inside the mountain gate, the terrain opened wide, and people flowed in surging waves. No fewer than tens of thousands had gathered here, yet the space felt far from crowded — all of them waiting for the selection to begin.
And this was only the first day. It would continue for seven full days. If every day drew this many people, one could scarcely imagine how vast a multitude would eventually assemble.
These people had come from dozens of surrounding kingdoms — all possessing some measure of natural talent — yet only a small fraction of them would be allowed to remain. Extraordinary gifts were the bare minimum; only the truly exceptional had any hope of passing.
“This many?!” Ye Fan stared at the sea of people and felt genuinely astonished. It put even an emperor’s selection of consorts to shame in terms of sheer strictness.
Ji Ziyue glanced at him. “Of course. The Taixuan Sect’s reputation is immense. At its height, it ranked within the top one hundred powers across the entire Eastern Wilderness — one of the rare super-powers of its age, with a lineage stretching back more than ten thousand years.”
“Which means your Ji Family must be even more terrifying, holding a firm grip above a sect of this scale. I can barely begin to imagine what kind of might your clan commands, how profound its foundations must be.”
“Ancient families and the sacred ground lineages go back so far that their depths cannot be measured. Even I, standing within it, have no way of truly grasping how formidable it all is.”
Hearing this, Ye Fan could only draw a sharp breath. There was simply no way for him to fathom what it truly meant for a clan of such transcendent antiquity to exist.
“Little brat,” Ji Ziyue said, “I get the feeling you have no real sense of these major powers — no understanding of them whatsoever.”
“Don’t call me little brat.” Ye Fan found the nickname deeply grating.
Ji Ziyue let out a light laugh and ran both hands through his mane of black hair, tousling it into a hopeless mess. “You look thirteen or fourteen years old at most. Trying to act like a weathered old man, pretending to be an adult — honestly…”
Just then, from amid the one hundred and eight main peaks in the distance, dozens of figures came streaking through the sky. All of them had white hair cascading over their shoulders, every one of them a sprightly elder — men and women alike — looking for all the world like a gathering of ancient immortals descended from the heavens.
They hovered in midair and gazed down at the tens of thousands below. One among them spoke — words brief and to the point, his voice carrying with perfect clarity to every corner so that all could hear.
According to what the elder said, the initial trial was simple: pass through an immortal gate up ahead. Those without an immortal affinity could not pass. Only those who made it through the gate would proceed to the one hundred and eight main peaks for further examination. If a candidate proved suited to the lineage of one particular peak, they could remain and become a disciple of the Taixuan Sect.
Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue mingled with the crowd and moved forward together. Before long, they arrived before the mysterious gateway. It stood a full thousand meters tall, formed by a natural barrier of mountain stone, with swirling mists concealing an endlessly deep gorge within.
Many entered, but fully nine out of ten were transported back out by the immortal light — deemed to lack any immortal affinity.
“This natural barrier, shaped like a stone gate, was said to have been refined and consecrated by the Taixuan Sect’s nineteenth patriarch. Those unsuited for cultivation simply cannot pass through,” many people murmured to one another in low voices.
Those who had been transported back out were mostly unwilling to accept the verdict and attempted to enter again — only to meet the same result. The Taixuan Sect had young disciples stationed at the gate, keeping order, and no one dared to cause a scene. After being expelled several times over, those individuals had no choice but to depart in disappointment.
When it was Ye Fan and Ji Ziyue’s turn, neither of them felt the slightest tension. They stepped inside along with several hundred others. Ji Ziyue passed through effortlessly, stepping forward with light and airy strides — but at that very moment, a flash of light went off, and Ye Fan was transported back out.
“His constitution is… unmistakably extraordinary beyond all reason. How is this possible?” Ji Ziyue’s small mouth fell open into a perfect O, her expression one of pure, wide-eyed disbelief.
What had happened was that Ye Fan had sealed off all fluctuations of his divine energy — his Bitter Sea solid as divine iron, unshakeable. As a result, being transported back out was entirely inevitable. He grasped the reason in an instant. His face betrayed not a flicker of embarrassment; his heart rate didn’t budge. He simply turned and walked forward again. People around him jeered and laughed — he paid them no mind whatsoever.
This second time, he allowed the faintest trace of divine energy to leak outward. Without any surprise, he passed through cleanly. The onlookers who had been waiting to see him fail were left staring in stunned disbelief.
“You — what exactly just happened?” Ji Ziyue fixed him with a look full of curiosity and studied him carefully. “Your constitution is extremely unusual. You must have some secret.”
Of the tens of thousands, only a few thousand remained in the end. They dispersed toward the one hundred and eight main peaks, each going in search of their own immortal affinity. Even among these few thousand, many would still be eliminated — those who remained would be a small minority.
Deep within the Taixuan Sect, beautiful peaks rose in the thousands. The most magnificent of them all were those one hundred and eight main peaks.
Some main peaks rang with the music of heavenly instruments, while clouds and mist and rosy haze drifted and shimmered around them. Others teemed with vibrant life, their waterfalls cascading for a full thousand feet as though the Milky Way itself had descended from the heavens. Still others had immortal cranes wheeling through the air and celestial palaces hovering above, utterly serene — pure lands beyond the mortal world.
“Those palaces aren’t resting on the mountain peaks at all — they’re floating on the clouds…” Ye Fan stared up at them in genuine amazement.
“What’s so strange about that? This kind of super-power naturally commands such things. Our family even has an ancient city that has never once fallen from the sky.”
“This…” All Ye Fan could do was marvel in silence.
“We’ll lie low here for a while. I’ll observe from the shadows — see who is moving against me — and then root them all out!” Ji Ziyue blinked her wide eyes, then added, “But since we’ve come all this way, we shouldn’t leave empty-handed. The Taixuan Sect has several legendary ancient arts that are genuinely remarkable — things that even the sacred grounds and the ancient families envy.”
Ye Fan’s heart stirred with excitement. “Then what’s there to hesitate about? We should head straight for the main peak with that lineage.”
“Unfortunately, those few ancient arts are said to have nearly had their lineage severed — they’ve been in decline for many years. We can only try our luck.” Ji Ziyue came from an ancient family; she had seen much of the world and possessed some knowledge of the Taixuan Sect. In the end, the two of them turned toward a particularly desolate main peak and made their way over.
This main peak was not especially impressive — barely three thousand meters tall. The “secondary peaks” attached to it numbered several dozen, and many of them were actually taller than the main peak itself.
It was evident this was a lineage in decline. The area was extremely quiet — nearly devoid of any human presence. The main peak was overgrown with ancient trees tangled in old vines, bleak and wild, as though no one had set foot here in a very long time.
“Even though it’s one of the one hundred and eight main peaks and represents a powerful lineage, it looks like it’s completely fallen into ruin. This place is too desolate — there isn’t even a disciple guarding the mountain gate.” Ye Fan felt their chances of gaining anything worthwhile here were slim.
Ji Ziyue rubbed her little painted face and then shot two streams of divine light from her wide eyes — nearly solidifying into visible beams — sweeping them across the main peak ahead.
“In years past, this main peak was at the height of its power. But five hundred years ago, the lord of this peak clashed with a grand elder of the Sacred Ground of Yao Guang. They destroyed each other utterly, and the lineage has been near-broken ever since.”
“Then why are we coming here at all?” Ye Fan was baffled.
“Among the Taixuan Sect’s one hundred and eight main peaks, the lineage of any given peak has never truly been severed — because each main peak is itself a natural scripture. Even after declining for hundreds or even thousands of years, they will eventually rise again. The scripture reveals itself anew, and the lineage reopens.”
“So what exactly is here that interests you this much?”
“Legend has it that this peak’s lineage contains an immortal technique with the power to move even gods and ghosts. Every sacred ground covets it.” Ji Ziyue’s wide eyes blazed with light.
“An immortal technique?”
“Indeed. Because it is so mysterious — bordering on the supernatural, yet nearly divine — it has come to be called an immortal technique.”
“What makes it so unique?” Ye Fan was deeply curious; he could feel that this lineage was no ordinary thing.
“For those who successfully cultivate this immortal technique, once it is set into motion, it can occasionally multiply a person’s combat power by several times — even tenfold.” Ji Ziyue spoke of it with longing in her voice.
It was a mysterious inheritance. When this technique was activated, it sometimes unleashed combat power many times greater than the practitioner’s own. Though it could not be triggered reliably every time, it was terrifying nonetheless — in battle, if it activated unexpectedly, the damage it could inflict was difficult to imagine.
“A technique like that actually exists?” Ye Fan was deeply moved.
“It is said that long ago, there was a profoundly mysterious ancient scripture. It contained no deep cultivation methods — only nine secret arts — and yet it was counted among the greatest immortal classics alongside the Dao Scripture and the Void Scripture. Unfortunately, that ancient scripture was split apart. Its nine secret arts have never appeared together again, scattering to the eight corners of the world — some of them may well be lost forever. According to legend, the immortal technique held by this main peak is one of those nine secret arts.”
“Only nine secret arts — and yet they rivaled the ancient scriptures of the sacred grounds…” Ye Fan drew a sharp, audible breath. This main peak’s lineage, being one of the Nine Secrets, carried tremendous significance!
“Let’s hope we can find this secret art.” A divine radiance swirled within Ji Ziyue’s eyes.
“Is this the only secret art the Taixuan Sect has?”
Ji Ziyue nodded. “To have obtained even one of the secret arts already represents an extraordinary stroke of heavenly fortune.”
At this moment, the area ahead was completely silent and barren. Weeds choked the mountain gate at the foot of the main peak, making it look nothing like an immortal mountain. Nearby, several crows perched in an old tree, calling out with harsh, sharp cries before flapping their wings and taking flight.
The path up the mountain had been completely swallowed by thorns and tangled vegetation that had grown wild and unchecked, as though no one had tended it in ages.
Just then, a bent and trembling old man emerged from a dilapidated hall further up the mountain and made his way slowly down.
“Have you come for the assessment?” His clouded, aged eyes took them in. “Five hundred years now, and the lineage has yet to manifest — it is nearly severed completely. Who knows how much longer we must wait. If you come here, you may do nothing but waste your years.”
“We’re not afraid of that. We have plenty of time to wait.” Ji Ziyue smiled sweetly, stepped forward to support the old man’s arm, and spoke with cheerful, lively warmth.
The main peak rose three thousand meters above them, dotted with many halls and pavilions — though a good number had already collapsed, crushed beneath fallen ancient trees and blanketed in trailing vines. The wild grass in the courtyards had grown to half a person’s height.
“This place has practically become a wasteland…”
“Indeed. With the lineage gone, who would want to come here? Of course it’s all fallen to ruin.” The old man sighed repeatedly.
Just then, more than ten streaks of divine rainbow shot past, flying toward the main peak up ahead. Ye Fan had not expected to see Li Xiaoman again so soon — she was already a cultivator at the Life Spring Realm, capable of riding the rainbow through the air.
“That main peak up ahead is thriving magnificently. Compared to choosing it, this peak offers you far less.” The old man gave this well-meaning advice.
“We are only interested in the lineage of this peak.” Ji Ziyue smiled gently.
The old man smiled kindly and nodded. “Very well. You have conviction. You surely know that this peak’s lineage is said to be one of the Nine Secrets of legend. I hope you are able to find what you seek.”