The dragon-wood was deep black, immense and massive, built into an ancient nest. Countless ages had passed, and almost all luster had faded — this was a nest as large as a mountain, black as night.

Chaos churned at the base, as vast and mighty as the splitting of heaven and earth. The ancient coffin rose and sank within it, its lid shifting slowly, easing open amid the swirling primal energy.

“Thud!”

The coffin lid tilted to one side, and the sound it made caused every soul among the onlookers to tremble — like the first primordial sound after heaven and earth were first split.

The Cauldron of the Ten Thousand Things’ Primordial Energy above Ye Fan’s head shook violently, on the verge of flying free, wanting to plunge straight into the vast chaotic black nest — threatening to slip beyond control.

“Don’t let it escape! The Heaven-Devouring Great Emperor’s corpse is trying to call in its debt with you. You cannot give it up!” The Great Black Dog muttered, trembling even as it spoke.

Ye Fan’s mind and spirit remained tranquil. He had no desire for any entanglement with an ancient great emperor. If the Cauldron of the Ten Thousand Things’ Primordial Energy were to fly away, he would not feel much loss at all.

He stood quietly atop the cliff, making no deliberate move. If some so-called cause and effect truly was at work, the means of an ancient great emperor were surely beyond any resistance — struggle would be futile.

“A corpse…” The Ape was tense to the extreme, gripping the nearly-crumbling slaughtering weapon tightly in its hands, eyes locked on the ancient coffin without a blink.

The youth of the immemorial royal lineage was utterly terrified. His large eyes were full of dread. He pressed himself behind the others, body trembling faintly.

“The most heaven-defying great emperor of all antiquity, who lived impossibly long…” The Great Black Dog’s fur stood on end. It took several steps backward.

Within the ancient coffin, chaos mist swirled and was dense. A corpse, not entirely intact, lay drenched in blood, resting there in stillness — difficult to make out clearly.

This was the Ruthless One’s body from the fourth life!

“Even chaos cannot do the slightest damage to this corpse — it is difficult to imagine the degree to which his physical body has become hardened…”

“A single strand of hair could pierce through chaos. His flesh had long since become the most precious and rare sacred object in existence — capable of being refined into an extreme-path sacred weapon!”

Everyone was shaken to the core. This ancient great emperor’s realm was beyond all reckoning — comparable to a divine being, a god among mortals in this world.

Four lives, and then it ended!

Now it could be clearly confirmed: within the coffin lay the last physical form of the Ruthless One. That it was in such a damaged state made plain he had not been able to be reborn again.

Though the Indestructible Celestial Technique had been created, it had only been enough to extend a single lifespan. The path could not be walked again — the Ruthless One, the great emperor, had finally reached the end.

“Thud!”

The youth of the immemorial royal lineage fell to his knees in reverence, trembling uncontrollably. The trace of oppressive might emanating from that ancient coffin made him feel as though he stood before a divine being — filled with profound awe.

The Cauldron of the Ten Thousand Things’ Primordial Energy above Ye Fan’s head shook and trembled, yet did not truly fly away. Ten thousand threads of silk-like energy descended, and it finally came to rest.

Yet a subtle, arcane connection had not been severed.

In this moment, all present experienced a kind of waking dream — sensing a ripple of emotion, as though a person were whispering softly.

The Ruthless One had defied heaven itself, standing at the absolute apex of what the human race could attain. He looked down upon the ancient sovereigns, cast his gaze over the later emperors, astonishing the ages without equal.

That he could not live forever was not because he was insufficiently transcendent — it was because this heaven and earth permitted no one to ascend to immortality, no path existed to soar away on the clouds. He had already walked to the uttermost limit, yet found no road ahead.

And even so, he had pressed onward against all odds — like a god, forging a path no one in all of history had ever walked, living through four lives in defiance of fate. None across all of ancient and modern times could be compared to him.

All of this felt utterly real, as if a person were murmuring to themselves, transmitting into the hearts of the onlookers — leaving them astonished, hovering between reality and illusion.

“You astonished ten thousand ages, with none to rival you. Even in death, you are the greatest hero of heroes — surveying all of history, the emperor among men.”

“Dead. In the end, still dead. A life of dazzling brilliance, four ages brought to a close. None can be compared to you — a life of invincibility, and the loneliness that came with it.”

“Extraordinary talent and unmatched brilliance — an ancient celestial emperor — yet unable to persist. The fault lies with heaven and earth for not permitting it, not with any failing of your own.”

All present sighed with emotion. Such a magnificent powerhouse — in the end still ground to nothing by the passage of time, shattering their final, lingering hope.

Yet the Ruthless One’s life was absolutely the most transcendent in all of ancient and modern history. He had risen above it all in a mortal body, becoming one of the greatest figures in all of history — awe-inspiring beyond words.

“Was that the ancient great emperor’s emotions, which we somehow felt? He seemed very at peace before his death — as though life and death were simply something to be accepted.”

This was how all of them sensed it. Those emotions held lament, yes — but more than anything else, they held a kind of equanimity, a clarity born of having seen through all sorrow and joy, and a serenity in the face of life and death.

Perhaps the Ruthless One, the great emperor, had lived for so long that he was simply, genuinely, exhausted.

Ten thousand dragons leapt together, and countless streams of dragon energy formed great dragons that encircled and paid homage to the ancient coffin. Only when the surging wind rose could one catch a faint outline.

Once more, in a fleeting glimpse, the chaos mist within the ancient coffin cleared enough to reveal the head of this great emperor. His hair was black as ink — though regrettably, his face was covered by a mask.

A ghost face — neither weeping nor smiling, yet bearing both — sorrow upon it, and also laughter. Perhaps that was the summation of his or her life.

Laughing through tears; smiling through sorrow. The Ruthless One, the great emperor — no one knew him or her. The most mysterious of all, with the world knowing nothing of what lay in his or her heart.

Perhaps only that mask gave the faintest glimpse into the inner depths. No one else could truly understand.

For a brief time, all present fell silent, feeling a loneliness — and the desolation that comes with standing at the heights where no one else can reach.

None could say how long it was before they gradually came back to themselves.

“Dead. Dead. All dead…” The Great Black Dog gave a long sigh — then, astonishingly, began to mourn, crying out: “Wushi the Great Emperor is dead too. All of them dead. Not a single one managed to live on in the end. What meaning is there in cultivating to the very end?!”

The Black Emperor gave a rare outpouring of emotion, grief-stricken and murmuring in lamentation, gazing in the direction of the Purple Mountain: “Great Emperor — may you walk in peace!”

The last trace of hope was shattered. Ye Fan stood dazed for a long moment — truly, not a single great emperor had survived. His hopes for Wushi the Great Emperor had been extinguished by the Black Emperor’s words, dissipated like smoke.

“Rustle!”

A soft sound came from within the ancient coffin. A hazy radiance flew out — like a dragon soaring and leaping through the chaos — mysterious and strange.

“What is that?”

Everyone snapped back to alertness, staring into the chaos mist, hearts seized with shock and wonder. Could there actually be something living within the ancient coffin?

“Heivuliaqiong…” The youth of the immemorial royal lineage called out in astonishment, his face flush with excitement.

The Ape gave an astonished explanation: this was the immortal treasure of the ancient nest — ordinary people could not see it at all, and one appearance every tens of thousands of years was considered fortunate.

Even the immemorial sovereign who slumbered here had only had the fortune to sense it once or twice — yet had never dared to try and take it, only able to observe from a distance.

“Catch it, catch it!” The Great Black Dog wiped its face, all traces of sorrow vanishing, the greed of its true nature fully restored as it clamored without stop.

“Vuqionggunali ya…” The youth of the immemorial royal lineage called out in alarm and warning.

The Ape’s expression grew grave. “He says under no circumstances must you try to catch it — even the immemorial sovereign reaching out would not be enough to preserve anyone’s life.”

The Great Black Dog scratched frantically at its ears and head, completely unable to sit still — yet could only stew in anxious helplessness. It cried out: “We entered a treasury and can’t obtain a single immortal treasure — a true betrayal of our ancestors going back eight generations!”

“Clang!”

It held the ancient sovereign’s command token in its paw and struck it repeatedly, waving it toward the chaos dragon’s nest: “The ancient sacred sovereign’s command token is here — heed my summons…”

That radiance was not especially dazzling — more like starlight condensed into one, gentle and lustrous, extraordinarily captivating to the heart and spirit.

It circled the ancient coffin in flight, surging outward nine times and retreating inward nine times, before finally launching itself upward in a single burst and flying clear of the ancient black nest.

“Clang…”

The Great Black Dog struck the ancient sovereign’s command token even harder with its great paw. “This sovereign has truly summoned it!”

The radiance truly flew toward them — like a ray of moonlight descending — and the Great Black Dog yelped with delight, extending its great claw to catch it.

Yet in a flash of light, it veered away from the Great Black Dog entirely — and with a whoosh, vanished into the Cauldron of the Ten Thousand Things’ Primordial Energy hovering above Ye Fan’s head, retracting its brilliance.

“Young one, this is robbery — you are committing a crime!” The Great Black Dog was furious. It lunged forward, opened its great mouth, and snapped — trying to seize the cauldron along with everything in it.

“This has nothing to do with me — it flew in on its own.” Ye Fan pressed a hand down on its enormous head to prevent itself from being bitten.

“Nonsense! This sovereign called and summoned it through tremendous hardship, and you intercepted it halfway!” The Great Black Dog was indignant.

When everything had quieted, the Great Black Dog could do nothing about it — for once the radiance was taken out, if left alone, it would fly back into the cauldron of its own accord.

Everyone crowded around to examine this immortal treasure carefully — all of them astonished. None more so than the youth of the immemorial royal lineage, whose face was filled with shock.

Ye Fan cradled it in his hands. It was an ancient scroll — crystalline and shimmering, as though forged from the essence of the sun and moon, yet extremely soft.

It was square in shape, roughly one and a half meters on a side when unfurled. Across its surface, stars would occasionally flash and disappear — light and tranquil, full of serenity. What exactly it was, no one could tell.

“Could this be an ancient scripture?” The Great Black Dog was in a state of bewildered uncertainty.

They probed it with divine consciousness — yet still gained nothing. Within the ancient scroll, fashioned as if from the radiance of sun and moon, the interior was boundless — impossible to probe to its end.

The Ape thought carefully, as if recalling something, and suddenly wore an expression of shock. “My father seemed to have a scroll just like this — I have a vague impression of it. He would often gaze upon it late at night.”

His father was a sovereign of the immemorial age — the unrivaled champion of an era, invincible beneath the heavens — and yet would often sit deep in the night examining this kind of scroll. That was truly extraordinary.

“This wouldn’t happen to be the immortal treasure held by the Battle Sage Sovereign of the immemorial age, would it?” Ye Fan asked, full of uncertainty.

“It looks like it — extremely similar. I believe it is that very scroll!” The more the Ape looked, the more familiar it seemed. He nodded solemnly.

“Damn it — this is absolutely an immortal treasure. The Battle Sage Sovereign used to sit in quiet contemplation of it, and it later ended up in the hands of the Heaven-Devouring Great Emperor. Its value is beyond all reckoning!” The Black Emperor was practically pressing its face against it, staring with all its might.

“Thud!”

The mountain-like black nest let out a sound, and the coffin lid closed. Then it slowly began to descend, sinking down and vanishing into the endless chaos.

“Sinking away — leaving the world behind, returning to chaos.” Ye Fan was startled for a moment, and then thought: perhaps this was the finest resting place for an ancient great emperor. He let out a long sigh. “Let us go — we cannot linger here.”

The ancient nest surely still held divine objects, but they had no way to get close. Remaining longer would serve no purpose.

They all bowed to the black nest — a gesture of respect for the Ruthless One, the great emperor — and then moved quickly away.

“Vuqiongdalina?” The youth of the immemorial royal lineage called out, feeling that taking the immortal treasure away was deeply improper.

After the Ape’s repeated explanations, the youth said no more.

“Boom!”

When they had moved some distance away, a tremendous shock erupted behind them. The entire ancient nest was swallowed in a boundless haze, completely submerged in chaos — and every last trace of what had been there vanished without a trace!