“Heavens — is this an immortal egg?!” The crowd cried out in shock and disbelief.

The strange stone was about the size of a millstone. What seals had once bound it no longer existed — it could not be suppressed at all, and it trembled ever so faintly.

An egg was housed within, utterly mysterious, projecting through the stone wall itself to leave a clear and vivid imprint in the void, from which ten thousand strands of auspicious radiance flowed.

In the realm of source, many divine objects would produce the phenomenon of “Immortals Flying from Stone” before they emerged into the world, projecting a partial image of their true nature.

This Stone King was clearly unlike any other. At this moment it was nearly transparent, and everything within was visible — far beyond the ordinary “Immortals Flying from Stone” spectacle. It possessed a powerful surge of living vitality.

“Could this be the only egg a true dragon left behind in the mortal world?” Someone made this excited conjecture.

“The divine flames surge like a tide — look at how the radiance burns like fire. This greatly resembles the egg of an undying phoenix bird, just as it has been described in legend!” Another person said in astonishment.

Within the strange stone, the egg was about the size of a large bowl — perfectly round, brilliantly crystal clear, emanating a mysterious aura. Various patterns of the Great Dao surfaced upon it from time to time, only to vanish in an instant.

In those brief moments, it had already cycled through countless colors, radiating endless auspicious splendor, ceaselessly absorbing and releasing primordial essence — a sight to behold.

“A divine object — this may truly be an egg left behind by a true dragon, a phoenix, or another immortal spirit!”

“Perhaps it truly is an immortal treasure. The world holds many legends, and not all of them are false.”

Not one person could remain calm. All of them discussed it with excitement, for this Stone King’s origins were utterly mysterious and impossible to determine.

The Monkey muttered continuously, but no one could understand the ancient tongue, and they had no idea what he was saying.

“Eidetamu ni?” The Great Black Dog joined in, speaking a few halting words of the ancient tongue beside the Monkey, trying to get an answer.

“Now that this stone has emerged into the world — and it truly does exist — Yaochi will certainly not be able to hold onto it. If it is not sent away, there will be a catastrophe of heaven-shaking proportions in the future!” The Monkey made this judgment.

“With such great origins, why does it look vaguely familiar to me?” The Great Black Dog was suspicious.

It circled the stone several times, then suddenly raised its head with eyes flickering — as if light was coming and going — and muttered to itself, “That broken stone stuck in some forgotten corner?!”

“What are you muttering about?” Ye Fan asked.

“The Source Celestial Master… was no good either!” The Great Black Dog cursed.

Then, as if it had remembered something, it turned to one of Yaochi’s Grand Elders and asked, “What is the origin of this Stone King?”

Out of deference to Ye Fan, Yaochi’s people had no quarrel with the dog. If they wanted to request Ye Fan’s help, they naturally had to explain the stone’s origins.

“Long ago, the Source Celestial Master presented Yaochi with three Stone Kings. This is one of them — the most peculiar of all.”

“Damani!” The Great Black Dog ground its teeth and let out a string of curses in the ancient tongue.

“What are you going on about?” Li Heishui asked.

The Great Black Dog’s face went dark, refusing to say another word. It stared fixedly at the Stone King, from time to time giving it a tap or two.

Yaochi did not want the egg within the stone to emerge into the world, and sought to have the assembled individuals seal it — but everyone who tried failed.

“Unless the Six Seals of Immortal Sealing are used, nothing can hold it.” The people of the ancient source-arts families rendered this judgment, then turned to look at Ye Fan.

Hearing this, Yaochi’s people immediately understood the implication, and everyone else showed expressions of interest. The supreme divine art of the Source Celestial Master could only be performed by his inheritor.

“The Six Seals of Immortal Sealing is a theorized supreme source art — it can seal mountains and rivers, the sun, moon, and stars, and can suppress peerless masters. But it has not yet been brought to completion.”

Ye Fan shook his head, indicating he could only perform the second seal of the Six Seals. It was utterly impossible for him to manifest the power of all six.

Ouyang Ye spoke up. Being close to the level of Source Earth Master, he expressed that he could perform supreme source arts — so long as he had the formula, he was certain he could succeed.

“Source arts must be allowed to develop — one shouldn’t keep them to oneself. We can all study the ancient scriptures together.” Another man from an ancient source-arts family added, completing what Ouyang Ye had implied.

“For the sake of Yaochi, we are willing to exert our full efforts and jointly explore a perfect solution.” Others nodded in agreement.

Ye Fan smiled and spoke casually, reciting the theoretical formula for the third seal of the Six Seals, letting the others contemplate and study it.

“Just this little bit of a formula?”

“Far too little — how could we derive anything from this? It’s completely impossible to complete!”

The people of the ancient source-arts families all coveted the Source Celestial Book. To them, that ancient scripture was comparable to the supreme teachings left behind by the ancient Great Emperors.

Ouyang Ye dreamed of seizing it in his hands, yet dared not push too far now, fearing the Monkey would tear him apart. He could only turn to Yaochi’s people and say: “It is too sketchy. There is no way to derive anything from it.”

Ye Fan laughed coldly. “And this is already a portion that I have derived on my own. The original text is even more obscure than this. As I’ve said, such a source art does not yet exist — it needs those of later generations to evolve and perfect it.”

“Buzz!”

The strange stone shuddered violently, shooting out nine beams of divine light. The imprint on the egg came to life, all of it projecting into the void, emanating a terrifying surge of power.

“Thud!”

A mysterious aura spread out from Yaochi, and light that pierced to the heavens shone in all four directions for thousands of li. Had the Immortal Tear Tower not been suppressing Yaochi, it would likely have pierced through the heavens.

“Imperial blood…” Several thousand li away, an ancient being emerged from an underground cavern, gazing toward Yaochi with an expression of shock.

“These patterns, these inheritance imprints…” He stood there in a daze, feeling they resembled something from a certain entry in an ancient mythology.

“I must report this to the King!” He flew away swiftly.

In Yaochi, many people were alarmed, uncertain what to make of what had occurred.

The Monkey spoke gravely: “Send this egg away as soon as possible. The pulse has spread outward — there will certainly be ancient kings coming to claim it.”

“What? Ancient beings will covet it?” Everyone’s expression changed.

In the days that followed, many unusual figures worked together to seal three Stone Kings, expending considerable effort.

It must be said — the Source King lineage was formidable. They sealed one by themselves, guaranteeing it would not emerge for a long time.

Ye Fan suppressed half of one — his source arts were profound, but he had not yet reached the Source Earth Master level, and only with the assistance of another unusual figure was the sealing of that stone completed.

The ancient source-arts families, combining the strength of several clans, sealed one stone together — a result that left Yaochi both satisfied and hopeful.

During these days, the Black Emperor carried the Ancient Emperor’s Token and stood guard beside the strange stone that housed the immortal egg, murmuring endlessly.

“Can you sense the Ancient Emperor’s Token? We come from the same origin…”

Hearing this, Ye Fan was utterly speechless. What was this dead dog thinking? Was it trying to abscond with this strange stone?

“Stop scheming. Don’t stir up great disaster.”

“Damn it, this stone was fated to be mine from the start — back then, it was tossed in the same forgotten corner as the Ancient Emperor’s Token!” The Great Black Dog raged.

“Boom!”

On the fifth day, a pulse of aura that made people shudder spread into Yaochi, and a disciple came rushing in with urgent news.

“Queen Mother, something terrible — a massive number of ancient beings are gathered outside Yaochi!”

“What? Why would this happen?” Many people cried out in alarm.

Outside Yaochi’s sacred grounds, clouds and mist billowed. The void was filled with ancient beings, a dense and overwhelming mass of them, in what appeared to be a great assault.

There were violet clouds, grey mists, and white water vapors, all connected together. Among them, scales glittered and colorful feathers shimmered — creatures the likes of which had never been heard of or seen.

At the center of the dense clouds was an enormous block of divine source, blazing with light of ten thousand zhang, impossible to look at directly. Sealed within it was a peerless, beautiful woman.

Threads of primordial mist coiled about, and her features could not be fully seen — but without question, this was an ancient king!

The powerful members of the human race all felt their hearts sink. With a force of ancient beings like this, and an ancient king personally present, the pressure was enormous.

Their one consolation was that they were within Yaochi, where the Immortal Tear Tower left behind by the Queen Mother of the West could suppress all things — their supreme trump card.

“They appeared in the divine city — they caused enormous waves that day!”

“Indeed — they attacked the Purple Mountain, drawing out many ancient beings. They come from the place where the Infinite Beginning Great Emperor passed away in sitting meditation!”

The crowd cried out in recognition of these ancient beings.

Ye Fan’s heart trembled even more intensely. He had once again laid eyes on this block of divine source — the young woman sealed within was as pure white as jade. Though he could not observe her closely, she seemed somehow familiar.

“Is she truly the woman suppressed by the Infinite Beginning Great Emperor as recorded in the stone engravings of the Purple Mountain? More than a hundred thousand years have passed, and she has emerged into the world once more.”

With such a powerful group of beings surrounding Yaochi, everyone’s peace of mind was shattered. Each person prepared for the worst.

“What is the meaning of your presence?” One of Yaochi’s Grand Elders spoke.

“We have not come to attack Yaochi. We have only come to receive the descendant of a god.” A humanoid ancient being spoke.

“Yaochi holds no descendant of any god. You have come to the wrong place.” Yaochi’s Grand Elder replied.

“You are not mistaken. The moment we were outside the sacred grounds, we already sensed that aura. He is right here within Yaochi.” A powerful being stepped forward — eight pairs of wings growing from its back, its entire body shimmering with green scales.

At that moment, ten thousand strands of auspicious light soared up from within Yaochi, as the racial inheritance imprint projected itself into the void — a sight of mystical beauty and splendor.

“There — it is him!” One of the ancient beings pointed at the auspicious radiance and the imprint.

By now, everyone understood: they had come for the Stone King — and the egg within was connected to the ancient beings.

“The Undying Celestial Emperor truly existed once…” Several humanoid ancient beings trembled with agitation.

“It is identical to the inheritance imprint in the legends!” Another ancient being was deeply shaken.

The Undying Celestial Emperor was, for ancient beings, an unfathomably remote supreme ancient ruler — one whose very existence could not be confirmed with certainty.

To the ten thousand races of the ancient era, he was the supreme god — transcending even the scope of an ancient emperor.

“It was a stone in the Ancient Emperor Mountain. To think it housed the descendant of the Undying Celestial Emperor.” The beautiful woman sealed in the divine source sighed.

“Thud!”

The strange stone shook. The surging essence grew even more vigorous, crashing like a tidal wave.

“This is truly a child of the divine — could it mean the Undying Celestial Emperor truly existed, and also passed away in sitting meditation within the Ancient Emperor Mountain? And we never knew!”