“It is suppressing the lump of flesh — trying to pull it into another world. Is this the legendary supreme treasure, the Immortal Bell?” The thirteen great demonic creatures all stared wide-eyed. For what purpose had they come here in those long-ago days? Today, they had seen it.

Even as they sighed, they shuddered with dread. That lump of flesh was too terrifying — it had consumed imperial-level cultivators. What manner of thing was it?

A place of lethal danger, layered ten thousand deep in yin energy, nursing within it a vitality that was eerie yet extraordinarily powerful. This lump of flesh had reached the furthest extreme of transformation. It was bound to have an incomparably extraordinary origin.

“It is only the Wushi Bell,” Ye Fan said, shaking his head. He recognized it naturally, having seen it with his own eyes before — yet he could not have imagined that it would appear here. The supreme treasure that had been driven into the immortal path — how had it come to manifest in this place?

“What? The weapon of Wushi the Great Emperor?” No matter what age one belonged to, the mere mention of that world-transcending, peerless supreme being was enough to inspire awe in demons, humans, ghosts, and gods alike.

However mighty you might be, before this man it was difficult to hold your head high. You could only look up at him. The years in which he had moved across all under heaven were an irreproducible and glorious legend.

“How can this be — the lump of flesh consumed the flesh and blood of ancient emperors. Is it undergoing a metamorphosis? And it has drawn the weapon of Wushi the Great Emperor here to suppress it.” The voices of the thirteen great demonic creatures were unsteady. They knew they had encountered something supremely and catastrophically dangerous.

Had it not been for the Chaos Bell of Wushi the Great Emperor standing guard here, they might already have been in mortal peril — that was the silent conviction of every one of them, from the silver serpent to the Dragon Sparrow. They were filled with deep unease.

Ye Fan might be able to escape. But for those among them who had not reached the Quasi-Emperor realm, there was not the slightest hope — none of them had the power to fight. The evidence before their eyes was already proven: three Quasi-Emperors had perished here.

“So terrifying!” When even a Great Sage could say this while their body went cold, one could imagine the kind of horror that lay before their eyes.

The lump of flesh radiated a demonic force that affected people’s thoughts, filling them with an irresistible urge to sacrifice themselves, to offer up their own blood essence — for among the thirteen great demonic creatures, certain individuals had already begun to make such gestures.

Had Ye Fan and the Mountain Phoenix not been standing right beside them, those individuals would have been doomed.

In truth, even Ye Fan felt deep wariness before this lump of flesh. After observing it for a long while, he led the group away from it, and they circled the vast and majestic palace hall several times.

Across the sweeping expanse of ground, bones lay in endless array without a visible end. Was it truly the case that every powerful figure of an entire era had been buried here?

How else could there be so many?

Even the earth itself was compacted of blood-mud and shattered bone. No wonder this place was called a place of supreme demonic peril. The tears and blood of the past, the tragedies of bygone days — all had converged here.

The thirteen great demonic creatures spoke in low voices, speculating on the origins of that lump of flesh, reasoning that the most terrible of events had taken place here — that this place had been transformed into a second underworld.

The difference was that the ocean of remains here had not all awakened into spirit. They had not transformed into countless yin soldiers and yin generals — but had given rise to just one single living being.

The thirteen great demonic creatures speculated that only one divine spirit among the dead had undergone transformation alone, drawing in the last threads of divine essence from all the other remains, consuming the residual Dao-foundation of every other body, and transforming into a supreme and peerless existence.

“In this world, there exists a kind of being called a yin-spirit — a powerful figure who, after death, is buried beneath the ground and awakens in spirit, the physical body forming a reincarnation mark, giving rise to a new existence.”

And the yin-spirit of this place had transcended all that had come before. Perhaps it could rightly be called the greatest of its kind in all of history.

“A yin-spirit achieving the Dao… the very idea is terrifying.”

Such a grim speculation, such an ominous premonition — even the unyielding thirteen great demonic creatures shuddered as one. Such a being would be an undefeatable existence, unchecked by anyone in the current world.

What remained unknown was why the Chaos Bell of Wushi the Great Emperor had flown here of its own accord to suppress it.

“Perhaps it is not so simple,” the Mountain Phoenix said quietly.

In those days, the battle was said to have buried an entire age. The boundaries of the universe itself had been shattered, countless stellar domains destroyed — it was as though every powerful figure of an era had been annihilated.

Called the War of the Heavenly Gods, it had mobilized an immeasurable number of cultivators. Ancient emperors had emerged to participate. Not only were their weapons destroyed — the cultivators themselves fell.

Ye Fan’s thoughts ranged widely — the black gourd he had given to the old madman, the Human Emperor Seal that the remnant clan of Kunlun had obtained — all of these were ancient artifacts destroyed in the war of the gods.

Throughout history, the war of heavenly gods had broken out more than once. Traced to its root cause, it was always the strife among the life forbidden zones that had set it off.

Without that, even the most formidable of cultivators could not have caused damage so catastrophic. The cause lay in the immortality disaster — the desire to survive, to never perish. Even among the very strongest, such a drive would lead to fierce combat, and once that confrontation reached a certain threshold, it was bound to explode.

“Tell me — do you think it possible that someone deliberately guided events, intentionally stirring up conflict, content to watch all living beings plunge into war, so that an entire era could be buried?” the Mountain Phoenix asked.

This old rooster had experienced far too much. It had stumbled into an ancient immortal’s cave dwelling and there cultivated a supreme and unparalleled set of divine abilities — naturally, it had also heard many secrets. It had pieced together many fragments of old events and arrived at certain conclusions that differed from the rest.

The war of heavenly gods existed in this world only as legend. Many people simply did not believe it had truly occurred — yet after today’s exploration of what lay beneath the surface, they all fell silent.

It was too terrifying. The imperial-level remains in the palace hall must certainly have been figures who fell in that battle long ago — only to have their remains consumed.

“Perhaps that lump of flesh is not what you call a yin-spirit at all, but rather a supremely powerful being who already existed long before, a figure from history,” Ye Fan spoke.

This speculation made everyone’s blood run cold. If it were true, then the war of the gods in that age had been deeply sinister and worth pondering — each person instantly felt ice run down their spine. Terrifying.

“This is a confrontation among the life forbidden zones, a clash between supreme-level existences — it is beyond anything we can touch. Friends, since we cannot obtain the supreme treasure and Immortal Bell, let us withdraw quickly.”

Every one of the thirteen great demonic creatures was a peak-level cultivator who had experienced far too much. Through even the smallest details, they could see the full terror of this place. Some things lay beyond their reach.

They felt that this journey had been fruitless. Even having entered the sealed burial ground of Yinghou, they had gained nothing of worth — being able to survive and leave was already remarkable enough. Three Quasi-Emperors lay dead ahead of them, and that made every one of them deeply uneasy.

Whatever the case, this visit had at least fulfilled a long-held wish to explore and see this place with their own eyes.

Ye Fan was truly reluctant to leave. He had walked this place for a long time, come to understand just how terrifying the battlefield of the gods’ war truly was — and yet the Immortal Bell was nowhere to be found. That made him frown.

Coming again before the palace hall, he stared fixedly at the lump of flesh. The others felt their nerves crawl at the sight. The Mountain Phoenix advised: “Though we are Quasi-Emperors, that thing is not something we can touch. Let us withdraw — this involves the secrets of the ancient supreme-level existences.”

The others echoed the sentiment. The thing within the lump of flesh was in slumber — if angered awake, calamity might follow.

Ye Fan stood in silence, then led them away to a distance. He was somewhat unwilling to give up just yet. He began to recite an ancient scripture aloud, his mind and spirit submerging entirely into its words, his entire body radiating precious radiance.

The people beside him were shaken and instinctively stepped back. A practitioner at the sixth tier of the Quasi-Emperor realm, releasing his presence without restraint — they could not withstand it. Their entire bodies trembled.

The Mountain Phoenix shielded everyone and brought them retreating to a safe distance.

“Dong!”

Suddenly, a long and resonant bell toll rang out. Deep within the burial ground, the earth cracked open and magma surged forth. At the very core of the earth, a field of ancient runes blazed — woven together into the form of a great bell, flickering with all manner of Dao-symbol divine light.

“An immortal cave — with a bell formed from order itself suspended within!”

Everyone was dumbfounded. None had expected this. They had explored the burial ground and found nothing. Just as they were about to leave, this extraordinary vision appeared.

Ye Fan was rendered speechless. He had expended every effort and obtained nothing — yet here he stood, witnessing this, and all of it had come from standing here reciting scripture. Had he known it would be this simple, he could have just stood here from the beginning.

“This is someone’s place of seclusion. Do you feel it — the immortal cave is filled with the same presence as that lump of flesh. It once sat in closed meditation here!” the Hundred-Limbed Celestial Worm said.

They descended deeper. This was a cave within the molten rock at the earth’s core. Inside, there were several scattered fragments of tattered hide — radiating a presence that made it difficult to breathe.

“These were left behind by a figure of the Great Emperor level. Yet the laws have been ground away, the divine essence entirely depleted — or perhaps the person themselves underwent nirvana and left behind only these remnants.”

The Mountain Phoenix spoke, unable to suppress its trembling. Today, it had touched upon a secret of staggering magnitude — one that might involve the most powerful figures from ancient times to the present.

Flames burned and roared within the ancient cave, heat blazing and searing. Those few fragments of hide, now entirely stripped of divine essence, posed no threat to anyone alive today.

“A pity — this is not the true Immortal Bell, but merely a form constructed from runes. It once appeared here, leaving behind indestructible Dao-imprints!” the Mountain Phoenix said.

Even so, only Ye Fan and the Mountain Phoenix could approach and observe the divine bell forged from order.

Ye Fan gazed at it carefully. “Someone studied the divine bell in this place, seeking to understand its deeper nature. This is the Dao-imprint of the Immortal Bell that they sketched out — astounding.”

When these words were spoken, everyone was shaken.

Someone had once obtained the Immortal Bell and studied it with their own eyes? If they had truly come to comprehend it, what boundless wonders might they have achieved?

“How chaotic the ancient world must have been — even now my mind is in turmoil. What exactly happened?” the silver serpent sighed.

“In the war of heavenly gods long ago, ancient emperors emerged, imperial weapons were destroyed, and the Immortal Bell was said to be involved. In the end, there were no victors, and this entire place was thoroughly sealed,” the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow said.

“Correct. And after that, a supreme-level existence came. This one once sat here facing the Immortal Bell, studying its divine runes of order — yet in the end, the Immortal Bell still flew away. Look — there is evidence here. A great opening, where the void was struck through. The bell pierced the universe and departed.” Ye Fan speculated further.

Deep within the ancient cave, a bell-shaped opening gaped — struck through by that impact. A chaos pathway extended from it, and to this day it had not fully closed. It remained visible.

“The imperial-level cultivator who once studied the Immortal Bell here is still alive — undergoing metamorphosis within the lump of flesh,” one of the thirteen great demonic creatures said softly.

Every person’s scalp prickled. The hair all over their bodies stood on end. Just how powerful a figure could this be?

Consider: in that age, a certain paramount existence had once slaughtered their way up the immortal mountain for the sake of the Immortal Bell, assaulting the remnant clan of Kunlun — yet had never obtained it, for the bell had broken open the void and left. That supreme being had failed.

Who was this other figure?

“There is also a chaos rift here — with Northern Polar Immortal Light within it!” The immortal crane among the demonic creatures exclaimed in astonishment.

“This is a node of the immortal path!” Ye Fan was startled. In the long-distant past, this place had been a part of the immortal path’s route.

“Too terrifying — could this person have walked in and out of the immortal path while still alive? One wonders whether they had the power to fight their way into the immortal domain itself!”

What lay before their eyes shook them to the core. They stood staring, momentarily at a loss.

The Mountain Phoenix approached to get a better look. Though by now this place had nearly closed, and ahead there was surely no longer any passage into the immortal domain, it was still drawn irresistibly forward.

Suddenly it let out a muffled grunt, and went flying backwards from within.

Within the fractured chaos rift, two figures sat facing one another in meditation, locked in a standoff. It was their very existence that had kept this long-since-should-have-closed passage still open.