Yan Yunluan had channeled a boundless heavenly tribulation only to fail at his breakthrough, left half-crippled, his vital energy gravely depleted — who knew how long he would need to recuperate before recovering.

This result left jaws dropped across the board. Everyone stood in stunned silence. The one who had summoned the divine punishment was nearly struck to death by his own tribulation, while his opponent walked out alive and kicking — full of spirit and energy, as though he had drunk dragon’s blood.

Yan Yunluan lay collapsed and powerless, his entire body scorched black, occasional electric arcs bursting from within him, crackling and snapping. The other person, meanwhile, stood at ease, waving to the crowd.

It was a scene that left people utterly speechless. Everything seemed to have been reversed. Many opened their mouths, but ultimately said nothing. It was simply too devastating to process.

Ye Fan’s first thought was to finish Yan Yunluan off. Yet he reconsidered — even so, others would already have their suspicions. The intended target was half-dead, while he had emerged like someone who had eaten a spirit ginseng fruit, every pore wide open and brimming with vitality. That was simply impossible to explain.

The earth was a scene of utter devastation — shattered mountains, great rifts, chasms everywhere. The tribulation had obliterated this entire stretch of wilderness, turning it into a barren wasteland.

In the end, Ye Fan still extended his right hand, intending to sever Yan Yunluan’s head. Though it was under everyone’s watchful eyes, he had no reservations. At worst, he would leave and swap out his appearance for a new one.

A blessed cloud drifted over. Golden Dao robes billowing in the wind, an old man appeared — hands clasped behind his back, as though on the verge of transcending into immortality. He stepped forward and blocked Ye Fan.

“Hold your hand!” The old man spoke, saving Yan Yunluan’s life. He had a crane-white head of hair but the face of a child, vigorous and spirited — one look was enough to know his cultivation had reached the absolute peak.

Ye Fan recognized him. He had seen this man at the Immortal Peach Grand Gathering. The old man had once invited him to enter the Extraordinary Talent Manor, only to be politely declined. Now that this kind of figure had appeared, there was naturally no point in pressing further. He offered a respectful bow.

“I observe that this young friend has an extraordinary bearing. Would you be willing to enter the Extraordinary Talent Manor?”

“Many thanks, Senior — I’m grateful for the kind intentions. But this junior is accustomed to being carefree and lazy. I fear I would violate the manor’s rules daily if I entered.” Ye Fan smiled.

In the distance, everyone was astonished. Someone had actually turned down the Extraordinary Talent Manor’s invitation — politely worded, but with the same effect.

“What sort of background does he have, that he would not even deign to enter the Extraordinary Talent Manor? Has anyone ever refused before?”

“There has been — that monstrous prodigy from the Eastern Desolation has never come, has he? He also declined the invitation.”

Yan Yunluan’s crushing defeat, almost struck to death by his own tribulation lightning, shook the Extraordinary Talent Manor. Those who had not come to watch deeply regretted it when they heard the news.

Neighboring the Extraordinary Talent Manor, there was actually such a neighbor. The name of the small domain lord spread through the Ancient Immortal Mountain Ranges, and all the young powerhouses of the Five Great Domains were deeply surprised.

At this time, a great upheaval broke out within the Immortal Palace World. The Ancient Savage Beast King drove hundreds of thousands of异兽 in a flood-like rampage, and many people who had gambled on their luck and not retreated met with catastrophe.

In these recent days, blood had dyed countless stone cliffs and dwelling caves crimson. Numerous human cultivators had perished at the hands of the savage beasts, becoming food for their stomachs — casualties were devastating.

By conservative estimates, of all those who had not yet retreated, nine out of ten had been devoured by the savage beasts, leaving not even bone fragments behind.

Hundreds of thousands of savage beasts — boundless, like a dark cloud, like a flooding tide. Wherever they passed, any powerful cultivator was forced to retreat, and nothing was left behind.

At this very moment, no one dared enter. Even a peerless Sovereign could only wait outside. A rampage of savage beasts posed a threat to everyone.

In these few days, various major powers had urgently consulted with one another. The next time they entered the Immortal Palace World, no one was permitted to hunt savage beasts, and under no circumstances were they to provoke them.

This time’s enragement of the Ancient Savage Beast King — this blood-washing of human cultivators — had occurred primarily because many people had captured the young offspring of savage beasts, extracting wild beast blood to concoct medicines, committing a grave transgression.

In these past several days, no small number of people had appeared within Ye Fan’s domain — all of them disciples of the Extraordinary Talent Manor, come out of admiration, hoping to see what manner of person this small domain lord truly was.

Not a single one, however, had come riding a spirit beast. Many had already heard: this person loved eating spirit beasts, and had even eaten Qi Huoshui’s dragon horse.

Temporarily unable to enter the Immortal Palace World, Ye Fan grew bored and wandered around. He discovered a stretch of immortal cliffs in a neighboring domain, where numerous cultivators were coming and going.

Among them were many disciples of the Extraordinary Talent Manor, here to exchange what they needed — resembling a cultivators’ market district.

This stretch of immortal cliff rose over a thousand zhang high and was extraordinarily steep. Ordinary mortals simply could not ascend it. Not a blade of grass grew upon it. The cliff face was vast, and everyone entering or leaving was a cultivator.

This place was quite extraordinary, having existed for countless ages. They said that whenever the Extraordinary Talent Manor opened, this place would become a free exchange ground — ancient indeed.

Ye Fan found it novel and wandered about. There were pavilions built from jade stone, hung with all manner of divine weapons and sharp blades. There were also those who spread their wares directly on the ground, hawking various spirit medicines and ancient treasures.

In the end, Ye Fan stopped before a blind old man. On the ground lay only a tattered straw mat, upon which sat a few pitch-black, unremarkable stones.

“Dragon marrow stones — extraordinarily rare treasures! Don’t pass them by!” The blind old man was hawking energetically.

“How many Source per stone?” Ye Fan crouched down, looked carefully, and weighed a few goose-egg-sized stones in his hand.

“One thousand jin of Source per stone. No cheating the old or young — a fair and reasonable price,” the blind old man replied. He was dressed in rags and tatters, yet his asking price was lion-mouthed.

“Could this be an extraordinary figure in disguise?” Ye Fan was uncertain. He activated the Source Heaven Divine Eye, peering through each stone in turn — and in the end, tossed them all back onto the ground, saying: “Freshly dredged up from the river not long ago, weren’t they?”

“Ah, about four or five days now,” the blind old man replied without a trace of embarrassment. He shifted his rear, scooted forward two steps, and in a conspiratorial tone said: “Little brother, let me tell you — I do have real treasure here. Question is whether you can afford it.”

Ye Fan’s heart stirred immediately. He had noticed the stone the old swindler was sitting on — it too was pitch-black and unremarkable, but within it dwelled several drops of genuine dragon marrow.

“I’ll buy it!” He produced a piece of rare Source, worth a thousand jin of pure Source.

The blind old man sat back down firmly on the stone and said: “Very well — just don’t tell the others.” He produced a map and passed it over.

Ye Fan was speechless. This old schemer was absolutely doing it on purpose — showing the treasure as bait, then selling something else entirely. What use did he have for some broken map?

“I want to buy the black stone under your rear.”

“Oh, that thing? Just dredged up from the river not long ago. Sitting on it’s quite comfortable. Not for sale.”

Ye Fan suppressed the urge to rob him and asked: “What kind of map are you selling?”

“Shh, keep your voice down. If people find out, there will be a fight to the death over it. This is an Immortal Burial Map,” the blind old man said in a secretive, mysterious tone.

He unfolded the creased and crumpled tattered map onto the straw mat and said: “See this? This is a treasure map of the Immortal Palace World. It contains the mysteries of an ancient Emperor’s scripture.”

Ye Fan crouched before the straw mat and studied it carefully for a moment, feeling a surge of surprise. Some of the locations he had been to before — and they matched perfectly, with precision.

“See this? There’s a skull marking here — absolutely do not go there; death is certain. And here — there’s an immortal figure marking. Know what that means? It’s the place where an ancient Great Emperor passed away in seated meditation. There’s an ancient scripture there,” the blind old man said cryptically.

“Aren’t you blind? How can you point things out?” Ye Fan rolled his eyes. This old swindler was speaking falsehoods with wide-open eyes.

“I’ve cultivated the Heavenly Eye. Naturally I can see,” the old fellow replied with complete naturalness, not the slightest trace of embarrassment.

Ye Fan stood up, not wishing to argue with him further. This was clearly an old swindler — how could he possibly fall for this?

“Let me tell you — if you miss this, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. This map holds the secrets of the Supreme Emperor Scripture. Or possibly the Beginless Scripture. Or perhaps the Indestructible Heavenly Technique.”

“You take the map yourself and go look for them.”

“Don’t be in a hurry to leave, young man. How about this — you can go verify it first. See if what I’m saying is true or false. Come back and buy the map afterward.” The old swindler pointed to a location on the worn map, which had a marking — though a rather blurry one — and said: “This spot can’t exactly be called an immortal ground, but a sage passed away here in seated meditation, and it’s quite suitable for comprehending the Dao.”

Ye Fan paused. That location was indeed the place where an ancient sage had dissolved into the Dao. Even the indigo-blue small lake and the straight stone mountain were marked there.

He stared at this old swindler strangely. Could this fellow truly be selling a genuine Immortal Burial Map? Setting aside the other highlighted locations, even just this dissolution site alone was quite an exceptional detail.

“How much for this map?”

“Ten thousand jin of pure Source.”

“Why don’t you just rob people outright!” Ye Fan felt a powerful urge to do something deeply disrespectful to one’s elders.

“This is already a marked-down clearance sale price. I was planning to sell it for a hundred thousand jin of Source otherwise,” the blind old man said, completely unruffled.

“One hundred jin of pure Source. I’ll take it,” Ye Fan said.

“How about this — give me eight thousand jin of Source and we’ll call it done.”

“I don’t have that much. This map is worth at most two hundred jin of Source.”

“Young man, one must have integrity in life. Seven thousand jin. That’s as low as I’ll go.”

…

The two of them haggled back and forth endlessly. In the end, Ye Fan truly could not bear it any longer, threw down a thousand jin of Source, snatched the map, and walked away.

“I’m giving you a bargain this time. Come back and patronize me again!” The blind old man called out and waved from behind.

“I might as well just consider myself swindled once,” Ye Fan said, not looking back as he walked away. He found a secluded spot and studied the map carefully.

The immortal burial ground was marked with an immortal ascending to the heavens, located deep within the Savage Ancient World — the terrain was complex, and at a glance it was clearly a place connecting to the heavens, with blurred inscriptions of the Undying Heavenly Emperor, the Southern Ridge Heavenly Emperor, the Supreme Emperor, Wushi, and others.

“This old swindler — he really dares write anything!” Ye Fan looked it over for a while, then put the map away, planning to examine it more carefully the next time he entered the Immortal Palace World.

Before long, he drifted back near the blind old man’s stall. Biting down on his teeth, he observed — the old fellow was talking cryptically and mysteriously again, and before long had pulled person after person in. Initially they were all impatient, but very quickly they were all haggling with him over maps.

Ye Fan counted patiently. In less than half an hour, the old man had already sold over a dozen Immortal Burial Maps — the cheapest going for five hundred jin of Source, the most expensive actually finding someone willing to pay ten thousand jin of Source.

“This old swindler — he’s mass-producing these maps to this extent?” Ye Fan finally realized: under that straw mat was a thick stack, numbering no fewer than a thousand sheets.

Every single map had been aged and distressed to look tattered and ancient, carrying a slight genuine flavor of an Immortal Burial Map.

“This old swindler puts out a few broken stones as props — a classic case of hanging a sheep’s head while selling dog meat. In this short span of time he’s already made several tens of thousands of jin of Source.”

When the old swindler had sold thirty maps, a sudden commotion broke out. People from the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty had arrived — and among them was even a Great Ability cultivator.

The blind old man rolled up his tattered mat and bolted, leaping straight off the immortal cliff. In an instant, he had vanished without a trace.

“Where did he go? Where did he disappear to? To hawk such a secret map openly in public — who in the world is he?!” The imperial uncle of the Great Xia Imperial Dynasty was incensed.

Ye Fan was startled, gripping the ancient map tightly in his hand. This might actually be a genuine Immortal Burial Map. That old swindler truly did have something mysterious about him.