The unscrupulous Daoist sighed again and again. “We can no longer enter this Yin Grave — damn it all…” He could not get the green bronze out of his mind, and now suddenly losing any opportunity to recover it filled him with regret and vexation beyond measure.

Though the killing formation within the cold pool had been triggered, those outside the cold pool were in no danger.

Just then, five blinding beams of light came shooting in at high speed. All five great figures had been alerted and arrived at the mountain ridge at the first moment. They emanated tremendous auras of suppression, hovering in the air like deities.

Ye Fan tried to observe them, but found that he could not see through those brilliant divine radiances at all — only five clusters of blazing divine light were visible; nothing else.

“The Demon Emperor’s Yin Grave!” One of them drew in a sharp breath of cold air. With eyes like torches, they understood at a glance what lay beneath the cold pool.

“The active volcano is the Yang Tomb; the netherworld cold pool is the Yin Grave — one yang and one yin, embracing the Taiji, seizing the creative forces of heaven and earth, capable of manifesting endless transformations.” Another great figure let out a long sigh. “The Demon Emperor was truly extraordinary. Had we not stumbled upon it by chance, it would have been truly difficult to imagine he had set up both a Yin Grave and a Yang Tomb.”

“This is a serious problem now. The Yin Grave’s killing formation has been triggered — it will be very difficult to enter!”

“The Eastern Wasteland human race’s supreme treasure has shown no trace. The Desolate Tower is most likely in this Yin Grave!”

The great figures could not settle themselves, yet they could not think of a solution for the moment and did not dare to enter the Demon Emperor’s Yin Grave lightly.

“It’s not as though there is absolutely no way. Over ten thousand years have passed — even the most perfect arrangement will have developed some tiny flaw. We could carefully attempt to slip in and investigate, then make our decision afterward.”

“Agreed!”

At this point, all five clusters of light descended simultaneously. One of them instantly enveloped the unscrupulous Daoist.

“I just overheard someone say that even if one met a disciple of a Sacred Ground, they would dare to slap them to death. It seems you are quite remarkable. This place was triggered by you — why don’t you come down with us?”

The unscrupulous Daoist’s face immediately turned green. He hurriedly said: “Esteemed seniors, I was speaking nonsense — please do not hold me to the same standard as yourselves. As things stand, the Yin Grave’s killing formation has been triggered. With my level of cultivation, if I go down there, it will be my death for certain.”

“Indeed you are quite remarkable — knowing of both the Yang Tomb and the Yin Grave. It seems you are truly exceptional. Come down with us!”

“Please, I beg you esteemed seniors, show mercy…” The unscrupulous Daoist cried out miserably.

Whoosh!

In a flash of five beams of light, the five supreme great figures, taking the unscrupulous Daoist along — his face having turned green — plunged into the blood-red cold pool in an instant. The wretched squealing of the unscrupulous Daoist, like a pig being slaughtered, was cut short all at once.

As they entered, the cold pool boiled and churned, shooting boundless blood light skyward, while those demonic generals had already vanished into the depths one step ahead.

“Truly, the wicked find their match in someone more wicked — fat man, you’d better pray for yourself!” Ye Fan stood up, dusted off his backside, and left the place. No matter what was said, he could not remain here.

Boom boom boom!

Blood-red radiance flashed and blazed. The entire primeval ruins were enveloped in blood light, turning utterly eerie and sinister — terrifyingly strange.

In this moment, everyone felt a palpitation of the heart. Beneath the blood-red cold pool, something of tremendous, earth-shaking consequence seemed to be happening!

Ye Fan left that mountain ridge, retreating far away to safety.

Now, the mountains and rivers in all four directions had Dao Runes carved into them, sealing this ancient land. Ye Fan was unable to break through and could only wander among the mountain terrain. He was waiting for a chance to leave. At this moment he had obtained a golden page, and had also unexpectedly acquired a mysterious piece of green bronze — a “harvest” that would drive every cultivator present to madness. Fleeing far away was the best choice.

“I hope the sealing restrictions break open soon…”

With his cultivation at such a low level, Ye Fan had absolutely no ability to compete with other cultivators for spirit-awakened weapons. He understood his situation well and deliberately chose to travel through desolate and deserted areas.

Ye Fan opened a jade box. A wave of delicate fragrance immediately assailed his nostrils. The jade serpent orchid was rich and fragrant. In this moment, he felt a desire to take action — to use this opportunity to search for spirit herbs. Now that he had already obtained a golden page, and the complete “Wheel-Sea Volume” would guide his path forward, if he could now find enough spirit herbs, he would surely be able to make significant progress within a short period of time.

Ye Fan moved quickly, heading deeper into the mountains. With the Demon Emperor’s tomb having emerged into the world, the many spirit beasts had nearly all fled. Only a small number remained hidden in caves and refused to come out. Now, gathering spirit herbs was countless times easier than it would normally be.

Earlier, when Ye Fan had come through the depths of the ruins, he remembered passing a swamp. He had spotted a powerful strange beast there that appeared to be guarding something, and had steered well clear of it at the time. Now he decided to go back and take another look.

He found his way to that stretch of mountain terrain, and Ye Fan quickly located the swamp. He vaguely sensed waves of baleful energy, and within the swamp he found many enormous scales — each as large as a palm.

“It seems something big was hiding here earlier. Fortunately it has already left.”

Ye Fan searched carefully for a very long time but came up empty. In the end, at the spot where the most scales had been shed, he noticed something unusual. A plant of unknown variety grew there — appearing perfectly ordinary on the surface — yet the strange beast seemed to have carefully avoided it, never treading upon it.

He was a little suspicious. He crouched down and began digging into the soil, working toward the root structure. He dug well over a meter deep without finding anything unusual.

Just as Ye Fan was about to give up, a glimmer of golden light suddenly caught his eye. There in the soil, at the very tip of this plant’s taproot, a golden tuber had formed — no larger than a dragon’s eye, yet it shimmered brilliantly.

“This is…”

Ye Fan was greatly startled. It suddenly occurred to him that when he had been reading through the spirit herb compendiums in the Spiritual Ruins Cave Heaven, he had once come across a certain entry. It was said that when ancient trees that had gained sentience failed to endure a heavenly tribulation, they would not necessarily be completely destroyed. They would often leave behind a tiny essence of life, attached to the root structure of another plant — and in the future there was a strong likelihood of being reborn.

“Could this be a trace of life essence left behind by an old tree spirit?” Ye Fan looked at the golden tuber with a delighted expression, then placed it into a jade box.

Afterward, he set out for the next location. Before long he came to a rocky mountain. At the base of the cliff was a large black cave, from within which came the faint and elusive scent of fragrance.

Ye Fan’s face lit up with pleasure, and he quickly moved to go inside.

Suddenly, a low, deep roar came from deep within the stone cave, accompanied by waves of terrifying baleful energy.

Ye Fan’s body instantly froze, and he hastily retreated — fleeing as fast as he could.

Waves of rumbling sound followed. A savage beast pushed half of its body out from the stone cave, letting out repeated low growls. It resembled a jackal in shape, but its entire body was hairless, with rows of sharp, venomous spines growing from it — pitch black in color, and rather fearsome in appearance.

It was seven or eight meters in length, with an extremely heavy aura of blood and baleful energy. As it growled, dark light kept blazing across its body — like black flames burning.

Ye Fan watched from a distance. At a single glance he knew this savage beast was something he absolutely could not afford to provoke. It was far more powerful than the jade-horned serpent, and its aura was deeply intimidating.

“Every other strange beast has fled — yet it dares to stay. It must be extraordinary!”

In the end, Ye Fan gained nothing at this location and began searching elsewhere. Two hours later, he found three more varieties of spirit herbs — though none were particularly rare medicinal plants, far less precious than the golden tuber.

Boom!

Just then, boundless blood light surged skyward from the cold pool area, and several silhouettes burst into the air, engaged in fierce battle.

One of them was a monster — its entire body jet black, shaped somewhat like a lion, yet on closer inspection it was not. It bore a striking resemblance to the legendary creature called a Hou, and it was exchanging blows with one of the great figures — not at a disadvantage at all.

“Who would have thought it — the Demon Emperor’s mount from back then has been sealed in ice here. Its body undecayed, transformed into a spirit corpse. It has actually become a tomb guardian!” Several great figures in the sky surrounded and entrapped the creature, attempting to slay it.

“Descended from the legendary Hou — truly extraordinary. It did not follow the Demon Emperor for very long, yet evolved to such an inconceivable level.”

The black Hou beast charged and crashed in all directions without any sign of defeat, and several times nearly burst back into the cold pool.

Boom boom boom!

The cold pool seemed to boil. Corpses of demonic generals kept surging out one after another, controlled by the Hou beast, assaulting the figures in the sky.

“Even if we slay this Hou Corpse, we cannot break the Dao Runes the Demon Emperor laid down. We cannot truly enter the Yin Grave…”

From a distance, Ye Fan was astonished. There seemed to be a great many strange things in the depths of the Yin Grave, and now so many monsters had come surging out.

Clang clang clang!

Suddenly, from all four directions of the ruins, ringing, clanging sounds came — at first like the vibration of metal and stone, then swelling like a great ocean tide, vast and undulating, rumbling without cease. Then from all four directions and eight sides, streaks of divine radiance burst forth as boundless divine light inundated all ten directions.

The “Dao Runes” laid down by the five great figures had been forcibly broken by someone!

This left everyone utterly shocked. They all knew that another supreme powerhouse had arrived — and not just one. These newcomers had shattered the Dao Runes laid down by the five great figures, dissolving what had been a less-than-perfect “celestial momentum.”

Then, streak after streak of divine rainbow came surging in, and countless cultivators arrived — the numbers several times greater than before in an instant. While the great figures who had made their move in secret had not shown their faces, they had clearly already entered the ruins.

In the primeval ruins, centered on the cold pool, blood mist drifted and swirled — growing ever more eerie and sinister. Countless monsters came surging out, while cultivators gathered in greater and greater numbers, none departing, with even more sects still on their way.

The sealing restrictions in all four directions had been broken. Ye Fan was overjoyed — he could finally leave.

At this moment, his golden Bitter Sea contained the green bronze. It was both a tremendous boon and a boundless calamity — if someone were to discover it, he would plunge from the heights of heaven straight to the depths of hell in an instant. He decided to leave this patch of ruins immediately.

“Fight away — crack the heavens and shatter the earth, let ghosts wail and gods howl. It has nothing to do with me anymore.”

Ye Fan quickly departed. Only when he was on the verge of walking out of the ruins did he look back, saying: “I’ll walk my own path — let others go search for the supreme treasure.”

If the unscrupulous Daoist knew the truth, and then heard these words of his, he would surely spit blood in fury — and would certainly have him flayed alive.

And of course, if the other cultivators knew the situation… they might well react even more extremely.