In the hearts of the Northern Domain’s people, the Jiang Family was like a clan of gods, its status unshakeable, supreme above all else.
This region contained countless kingdoms, large and small, and many of its ancient nations revered a deity who turned out to be the Eternal Universe Emperor. One could imagine how enormous the Jiang Family’s influence over this region was — they had been all but deified.
Snow lay pure and white across the land. Cold winds howled over the earth, snowflakes danced, and a bone-piercing chill pervaded everything — the breath that left one’s mouth turned to ice crystals almost instantly.
In this bitterly cold winter, the various towns and cities had very few people venturing outside, let alone the desolate wilderness.
Ye Fan, carrying the Divine Punishing Whip on his back, advanced alone against the piercing northern winds across the frozen plain. He had traversed dozens of kingdoms, and was now less than two thousand li from the pure land of the Jiang Family.
On this frozen plain, there were small settlements scattered here and there. In such severe winter cold, people rarely ventured out — one only occasionally caught sight of sled dogs pulling sledges.
Before long, Ye Fan found a cultivator in one of these settlements — though only at the Life Spring cultivation level. After paying him ten jin of source, the man agreed to deliver a letter for him.
Ye Fan could not go to the Jiang Family himself, for doing so might bring about his own death. The matter involved the Nine Secrets, and such a transmission of legacy was of paramount importance. He had no way to explain himself, and could not reveal that he had entered the Purple Mountain — otherwise, even with the best of intentions, he would be detained.
Good intentions, yet meeting a wretched end — that was not something he was willing to let happen.
“The people of the Jiang Family have divine blood flowing through their veins…”
In an old hunter’s home, the earthen kang bed was warm and toasty. Ye Fan drank aged wine and ate dried venison, chatting with the old hunter, learning quite a bit about the Jiang Family from his words.
In the hearth, firewood crackled and popped. The room was warm. With a few cups of old wine in his belly, watching the howling winds and swirling white snow outside, Ye Fan suddenly felt very at ease.
In the end, he left behind a piece of source and strode out, stepping back into the wind and snow.
That same day, Ye Fan found five low-level cultivators in total, giving each of them an identical letter to deliver — for the matter was of great importance, and he feared unexpected mishaps.
The contents of the letter were simple: a rough sketch of part of the Purple Mountain’s interior, pointing directly to where Jiang Taixu was trapped, with the name written out clearly.
At the same time, he had left behind an imprint of the Sacred Combat Art, embedded within five jade stones respectively. He trusted that when the Jiang Family saw all of this, they could not help but believe it.
Once Ye Fan had done all of this, he turned and left without a moment’s delay. Using the jade void platforms several times in succession, he traversed the void and moved through dozens of kingdoms.
However, he did not leave this region. He settled in a city and cultivated quietly while studying the Source Heavenly Book.
In those same few days, this entire region was thrown into extraordinary tension. The Jiang Family’s strongest cultivators set out in full force, seemingly searching for something, filling many people’s hearts with unease.
Ye Fan knew the letters must have been delivered — the Jiang Family had received the news. With that, he finally let out a long breath. What had to be done was done. Whether the Jiang Divine King could be rescued now depended entirely on the Jiang Family’s own strength.
Several days later, a stunning piece of news spread throughout the Northern Domain — Divine King Jiang Taixu might still be alive!
This news was earth-shattering, shaking the entire land, spreading outward with the swiftness of winged creatures.
Soon after, the entire Eastern Wastelands stirred. All the great schools and sacred grounds came to learn of the news, leaving countless great figures stunned and dumbfounded.
Divine King Jiang Taixu was a legend — hailed as the cultivator with the greatest offensive power the Northern Domain had seen in five thousand years, none able to touch the edge of his blade.
In the years when his name had shaken the world, he had not been very old at all — in the eyes of many of the elder generation, he was still a wet-behind-the-ears youth, yet he had already cultivated the Divine King Physique to the level of Great Completion.
Many had speculated that, given time, his future prospects would be limitless!
Though young in years, he had been at the height of his glory, and whenever he made a move, the four directions were set in motion. It was precisely during this period of his most brilliant and glorious rise that he had suddenly vanished from the world without a trace, never to appear again — disappearing forever from the eyes of all people.
At the time, many had speculated he might have entered a death-defying seclusion, attempting to break through to a higher realm.
Yet as time passed — a thousand years, two thousand years — slipping by in silence, people finally came to believe that this world-shaking Divine King had truly met with an accident and was no longer in the mortal world.
The most devastated of all was the Jiang Family. The emergence of the Divine King Physique was a sign that a family was on the rise — yet before they could celebrate, Jiang Taixu had only just begun his ascent when misfortune befell him.
In those years, the Jiang Family had made a great commotion over it. They suspected certain sacred grounds had conspired against them, with supreme experts joining forces to secretly harm Divine King Jiang Taixu.
Over four thousand years ago, turbulence had swelled to the brink of igniting a world-shaking war between the sacred grounds — fortunately, the matter was ultimately explained and the storm subsided.
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye four thousand-some years had passed. The name of Jiang Taixu had nearly been forgotten by the world — yet here it was, surfacing once more.
Everyone was stunned. The Divine King who had once stood radiant and glorious, extraordinary in bearing, was still alive — something many people could scarcely bring themselves to believe.
“A son worth having is one like Jiang Taixu!” — this had been the lament of certain ancestral figures from four thousand years ago, long since passed from this world.
“What in the world happened?”
Four thousand-some years ago, Jiang Taixu had been graceful as jade, his martial prowess shaking the world, drawing attention wherever he went — a true peerless hero of his age.
“Why has he remained in silence for so long?” That was the question on many people’s lips.
Under normal circumstances, a divine king could live for four to five thousand years. So much time had now passed — the divine king who had once been in the full vigor of his youth was now approaching five thousand years of age.
One could say he had arrived at the twilight of his years, when his lifespan would draw to a close and his vital energy run dry. How was it that news of his survival was only now emerging?
All those years of splendid prime had flowed away like water, and the once-vigorous divine king had entered his declining years. Could an aged divine king with little lifespan remaining still accomplish anything of great consequence?
The news leaked unexpectedly. The Jiang Family’s upper echelons were furious, yet in the end they could not determine how it had gotten out.
Before long, new information emerged — Divine King Jiang Taixu was trapped within the Purple Mountain. With this revelation, the world was shaken even further.
Everything came to the surface at once. The divine king who had vanished for four thousand years had been within the Purple Mountain all along — all under heaven was stunned.
A long-standing historical mystery was finally unraveled — yet it gave rise to even more speculation. Divine King Jiang Taixu had been trapped for four thousand years yet had not died — how exactly had the news come out? Had someone already gotten their hands on the legacy of the Beginningless Emperor? The world-shaking divine king had survived to nearly five thousand years of age — could he have obtained something within the Purple Mountain? And how many more years could he live? Could the Dou character secret among the Nine Secrets be about to see the light of day again?
…
Not only was the Eastern Wastelands stirred up, but the hundred schools of the Central Continent were also alarmed. They had surrounded the Purple Mountain, only to find that within it there might be a living divine king.
Hearing all this news, Ye Fan could not help but frown. The Jiang Family’s information had leaked out — it had certainly been done intentionally by someone.
Ten days later, the Jiang Family took out their Extreme Path Sacred Weapon and headed for the Purple Mountain.
The Solar Divine Furnace, also known as the Eternal Universe Furnace, was cast from sacred phoenix-blood crimson gold, and refined using the supreme immortal fire from within Fallen Sun Ridge in the Primordial Forbidden Zone. It could shatter heaven and earth and incinerate all things. The power of this sacred object surpassed imagination — whether it was the Peacock King, who could shatter rivers and mountains with his roar, or the Red Dragon Daoist, whose divine might shook the world — if struck by it, they would absolutely be reduced to ash in a single blow.
The Jiang Family were the first to produce their Extreme Path Sacred Weapon — the Eternal Universe Furnace. At the same time, they urged the Ji Family to produce the Void Mirror, and Yao Guang to produce the Dragon-Patterned Cauldron.
This confirmed the news that the divine king was trapped within the Purple Mountain, and instantly set wind and clouds in motion, with rumors flying in every direction.
The third assault on the Purple Mountain was being accelerated.
The Jiang Family held in their possession a partial sketch of the interior of the Purple Mountain, drawing the various great powers to their doorstep in droves, all wanting to examine it.
To this, the Jiang Family’s upper echelons gave only one response: enter the Purple Mountain together, share the sketch among all — for they wished to borrow the combined strength of the various sacred grounds and the hundred schools of the Central Continent to rescue Jiang Taixu.
Setting aside the legacy of the Beginningless Emperor, the Dou character secret alone among the Nine Secrets was enough to make the Jiang Family spare no effort. It could be said that this unmatched and peerless secret art was of incalculable importance!
Over the following half-month, the winds and clouds of all under heaven converged upon the Purple Mountain. That place became a land where dragons and tigers leaped, as many great figures from the Eastern Wastelands and the Central Continent jointly encircled the Purple Mountain. When they moved, it would assuredly shake the entire world.
For this was the final opportunity. With even the Extreme Path Sacred Weapons being brought to bear, if the mountain still could not be broken open, it meant failure for all time.
The region where the Jiang Family dwelt had settled into calm. Ye Fan advanced through wind and snow until, at last, he glimpsed a faint outline in the distance.
He observed from tens of li away, perceiving it with his Source Heavenly Divine Awareness.
That was indeed a sacred and pure land. The outside world was locked in ice, blanketed with heavy snowfall, yet ahead there were rising clouds and streaming mist, a stretch of deep, lush green.
Clouds and mist surged upward, colored fog drifted in currents, a dazzling spectacle — mountain after great mountain, all suspended in the sky, not a single one touching the ground.
Each of these great peaks was majestic and imposing, as if it had existed since the very beginning of creation, radiating an aura of primordial antiquity.
Some of the great peaks were encircled by colored mist, their scenery like poetry made visible, with waterfalls several thousand zhang in length cascading downward, silver ribbons of light dropping straight to the ground below like an inverted silver river from the ninth heaven.
Other great peaks stood solemn and serene in their towering grandeur, wreathed in spectral clouds that inspired awe.
And this was only the tip of the iceberg — the deepest scenery was beyond all perception, and it was said that within the furthest reaches were numerous ancient temples predating the immemorial age.
Beyond this, what could be confirmed was that the Jiang Family possessed a divine city that never fell — standing in the clouds. Though it could not compare in scale to the Northern Domain’s divine holy city, it was still extraordinary, having endured since the immemorial age imperishable.
“Legend has it that several sacred grounds possess floating divine cities suspended in the sky — could there be some connection between them?” Ye Fan pondered.
He could not help but sigh. Such a great power, possessed of such grandeur and bearing — it could truly reign over the Eastern Wastelands, its accumulated strength unfathomably deep.
“It is said that the Four Extremities volume of the Eternal Universe Scripture holds a place in the Eastern Wastelands equal to the Wheel Sea volume of the Dao Scripture and the Dao Palace volume of the Western Emperor Scripture.”
Ye Fan shook his head. Though he yearned for it greatly, seeing the Jiang Family’s splendor, he knew attaining it was almost impossible.
He thought of how he had once spoken so grandly about obtaining the Jade Pool Heart Method — and felt a flash of embarrassment. If not for the Black Emperor having led him to the ruins of the Jade Pool, it would have been absolutely impossible to obtain.
Seizing disciples of the sacred grounds and scouring their spiritual sense had been entirely fruitless — he had tried it several times with Ji Family disciples, and their spiritual seas had simply collapsed and shattered directly.
The more one came to understand these immortal great powers, the greater one’s reverence for them. Relying on a single blow to contend against them was nearly impossible — unless one set foot upon the path of a great emperor.
“It seems I will almost certainly not be able to see little Tingting.” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
He took one final look, then turned and left. There was no need to linger here — if one day he had attained great cultivation, he could simply walk right in, rather than gazing from this great distance.
Ye Fan moved across the frozen plain and departed swiftly. He arrived at a small town a thousand li away, and looking at the not-so-wide street before him, he felt a sense of familiarity.
“That is…” He stared in a daze.
Ahead was a very small tavern, looking quite humble, and an old man with a face full of wrinkles, his clothes patched all over, was moving slowly, wiping the tables and chairs again and again.
“Elder Jiang — how can he be here?!” Ye Fan was stunned. Why was this so? Was little Tingting here as well?