A cold wind swept across the earth, moaning through the great mountains and ravines, making the desolation feel even more profound.

The Northern Domain was boundless and vast, where desolation and monotony were the eternal themes — blossoms rarely seen in bloom, the songs of birds and fragrance of flowers seldom found. Oases were scattered like sesame seeds, sparse and sparing, counting for almost nothing.

Ye Fan moved through one expanse of crimson earth after another, and at last, following memory, found the destination ahead — a vast purple mountain rising before him, like an enraged sword thrust toward the heavens.

Along the horizon, nine more mountain ridges lay stretched out in a row, like nine true dragons reclining side by side, radiating the boundless vicissitudes and loneliness of ten thousand ages.

Without question, he had arrived at Purple Mountain — also known among the ancient creatures as the Ancient Emperor’s Mountain. This was the place where the Beginningless Great Emperor had passed away in seated meditation.

Throughout all of history, who could equal the dominance of the Beginningless Great Emperor? He could overawe the nine heavens and ten earths and bring all life’s forbidden zones to heel.

In truth, the Ruthless Emperor would have also been a worthy choice — absolutely fierce and powerful enough. If he were to be resurrected, even the ancient primordial ancestral sovereigns would likely tremble. But the Ruthless One had lived through three or four lifetimes, and which life’s body to seek was entirely unclear.

“Purple Mountain… I’ve come again.” Ye Fan heaved a sigh of feeling. Time and again he had wanted to enter but could not, and now he was pushed to this extreme — he had no choice but to risk his life.

In those days, the various sacred grounds had launched repeated assaults upon Purple Mountain in hopes of claiming the Beginningless Great Emperor’s inheritance. But when the bell wave rang out, even those bearing multiple extreme Dao emperor’s weapons could only retreat.

The last time, the sacred grounds and the central province’s divine dynasty joined forces and finally fought their way inside. There were even reports of someone seeing the Beginningless Great Emperor seated in meditation upon a Dao platform.

“After so many years have passed, why has the Beginningless Bell rung of its own accord without anyone operating it? What force is controlling it, suppressing even other emperor’s weapons so that none can resist?”

“Did the Beginningless Great Emperor truly die? A being of such unparalleled dominance — perhaps he left behind some contingency plan.”

“To retreat a step further: if the Beginningless Great Emperor has died, his physical body must be indestructible. He was the innate Holy Body Dao Fetus — and I am also a Holy Body. Most likely I too can resonate with him, and if I could enter and occupy his body…”

Ye Fan spoke to himself, resolving firmly to enter Purple Mountain. He would see for himself whether the Beginningless Great Emperor was alive or dead — living or as a corpse, he needed a definitive answer.

He descended to the ground and approached step by step. The towering, magnificent purple mountain inspired a deep, bone-felt reverence.

This place held too many secrets. The deity in the hearts of the ten-thousand ancient clans — the Undying Heavenly Emperor — had once been entombed here as well, the mountain originally bearing the name Ancient Emperor’s Mountain.

Even the Heavenly Prince had come from here — carried out ten thousand years ago by the Primordial Heavenly Master as a world-shaking spirit stone, and later cut open by Ye Fan at the Jade Pool, producing a divine egg.

“The Ancient Emperor’s Mountain — the sacred ground of pilgrimage for the ten-thousand ancient clans. The Undying Heavenly Emperor was entombed here, and in the end the Beginningless Great Emperor also chose this place.” Ye Fan murmured.

The Primordial Heavenly Master had once said that this place encompassed the utmost extremes of heaven and earth’s transformations, and had encouraged later generations to pay reverence to the mountain, for those with a good connection to it would find it beneficial in the future.

Ye Fan had come here again, and naturally would not forget to employ his Source Arts to carefully survey the mountain, hoping today to finally unlock the riddle of what made it so uniquely special.

“What drew the deity of the ten-thousand ancient clans and the great emperors of the human race both to choose this place? What profound depth does it hold?”

Ye Fan circled Purple Mountain, measuring every inch of ground, gazing into the distance at the nine dragon veins laid out before him, attempting to peer through the mysteries of heaven.

Suddenly, as he rounded to the other face of the mountain, he came face to face with someone — both of them staring at one another in mutual surprise.

“You damned Duan De!”

“You worthless Holy Body — how are you still not dead?!”

Both spoke almost simultaneously, cursing each other, both wearing expressions of complete displeasure.

Before him stood a fat man who, no matter how you looked at him, did not appear to be a good person. He wore a Daoist robe, a purple-gold crown upon his head, and his garments were clearly all treasured objects. This was none other than the unscrupulous Daoist.

“Fat swindler — how many wicked deeds have you committed this time? How many graves have you dug? Looking at that crown on your head and the silkworm Dao robe on your body, they were clearly just unearthed not long ago,” Ye Fan said with contempt.

“Well now, your discernment has improved. By the way, damn it all — when are you going to return those weapons of mine? You looted everything and then acted as if nothing happened?” Duan De was thoroughly displeased.

“Fat swindler, what are you doing here?” Ye Fan stared at him with a look of genuine astonishment. “Don’t tell me you’ve set your sights on the Beginningless Great Emperor too and want to dig up his grave?”

“That’s not something to put it that way — whether or not the Beginningless Great Emperor is actually dead is still an open question,” Duan De said with some guilt on his face. “I’m here to pay reverence to the historical site.”

“You have the nerve to say that, with a man who digs up other people’s ancestors’ tombs day in and day out — coming to pay reverence to a great tomb. What exactly do you mean by that?” Ye Fan curled his lips.

“What are you blurting out carelessly in a place like this?!” Duan De turned anxious.

“So even you have things you’re afraid of. Do you also believe the Beginningless Great Emperor hasn’t died?” Ye Fan asked with curiosity.

“Even if Beginningless died, this is not something others can desecrate. Speaking recklessly here will invite great catastrophe.” The fat Duan became even more visibly guilty.

“Even someone like you who desecrates graves all day long has moments of fear?” Ye Fan found this amusing.

“Damn it, don’t lump me in with those common grave-robbing wretches. I am a scholar of verification with lofty ideals, and everything I do is solely to restore the true facts of history,” Duan De said with total shamelessness.

Ye Fan looked at him with undisguised disdain: “You’re a tomb raider, and yet you put on airs like an archaeologist. I’m embarrassed on your behalf. ‘Restoring the true facts of history’ — why don’t you just say you’re documenting the history of human evolution and cultivation?”

“I’ve discovered that you — this little wretch who doesn’t get along well with most people — can sometimes choose remarkably accurate words. That’s right. From this point on, I am an archaeologist. Don’t call me a tomb raider, or I’ll quarrel with whoever says it. I am a great archaeologist of noble ideals, who takes it upon himself to make sense of the human journey, re-presenting authentic history through subterranean mausoleums.” Duan De spoke with an air of righteousness and dignity.

“I have never seen someone so utterly shameless…” Ye Fan truly could not stand him.

“Which is why I say I have come here to conduct archaeology — to bear witness to the miracles of the ancient great emperors, to inspire posterity. This carries a milestone significance of tremendous historical importance.”

“Suit yourself.” Ye Fan was nearly beyond words with him.

“Right, you little rascal — how are you still alive? You provoked the Sacred Spirit Valley, roundly cursed the ancient royal clans, and now you’re bounding about alive and well in the Northern Domain. Have you eaten too much, or are you tired of living?” Duan De stared at him with an expression of genuine bafflement.

“Could you say something more pleasant for once? What’s wrong with me coming here to conduct archaeology?” Ye Fan cast him a sideways glance.

“I knew we were both great witnesses to history. Your Source Arts combined with my geomancy are unbeatable in this world.” Duan De was adept at spinning connections from thin air. Then he suddenly asked: “Did you really leave this world for twelve years? Where did you go? What did you see? Are there many tombs over there?”

“Take yourself to whatever cool place you’d like and die there!” Ye Fan chose to ignore him, then resumed measuring Purple Mountain, determined to make everything clear and precise.

The more he looked, the stranger it became — the more he pondered, the more astonished he grew. What mystery did this place conceal? It involved life and death itself!

That an ancient great emperor had chosen this place was already telling enough — they who plumbed the principles of yin and yang and penetrated the workings of life and death. This was rather unsettling. Could it be that Beginningless was truly still alive?

“Even you can see it’s out of the ordinary — for someone of my standing as the foremost authority in the field of archaeology, this place is genuinely, outright bizarre.”

“What have you made of it?” Ye Fan asked him.

“This is a great tomb — an enormous one. It is guided by nine dragon veins, as though it seeks to break through the heavens,” Duan De said.

“What?!” Hearing him describe it this way, Ye Fan felt a cold shiver run down his spine — as the man put it, it was exactly like the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.

“In my capacity as the foremost authority in archaeology, I can say with certainty that this great tomb was not built for a dead person. It was prepared for a living one,” Duan De made this declaration.

The two reached similar conclusions, and after a serious discussion, arrived at a startling consensus — the forces of heaven and earth here were capable of harmonizing yin and yang and reversing life and death. This was a place where the workings of creation gave rise to immortality.

“Impossible — all the ancient great emperors should have died out entirely. If Beginningless were still alive, the Azure Emperor could never have appeared in this world!”

“The last time this mountain was breached, there were people who claimed to have seen with their own eyes the Beginningless Great Emperor seated in meditation upon a Dao platform — lifelike, as though alive.”

The two of them spoke back and forth, each finding the matter stranger than the last, until both began to feel genuinely unsettled.

Then their thoughts turned to the Undying Heavenly Emperor — an existence of immense antiquity, the sole deity in the hearts of the ten-thousand ancient clans. Purple Mountain had originally been his burial site, and strictly speaking, the Beginningless Great Emperor had moved into a nest already belonging to another — occupying someone else’s home.

And then, in a flash, both of them thought of the Immortal Palace World of the central province: within it was a coffin fashioned from a Dao-comprehending ancient tea tree, containing inside it a skin belonging to the Undying Heavenly Emperor.

“Did the Undying Heavenly Emperor walk out alive on his own, or was he tossed out by the Beginningless Great Emperor?”

The more the two of them pondered, the more something seemed off. This place was more complex and more terrifying than either had imagined.

“Young man, do you still want to go inside?” Duan De asked, eyeing him sidelong.

“I have no choice but to enter. In order to overawe the ten-thousand ancient clans, there is no other option. If I don’t, the Sacred Spirit Valley will begin a great massacre!” Ye Fan sighed, then asked whether Duan De intended to enter as well.

“I am a person of great moral integrity. In order to restore the truth of history and unravel the mystery of why the Beginningless Bell rings of its own accord, I have resolved to venture deep within.” Duan De spoke with complete righteousness and conviction.

At bottom, he still wanted to dig around the tomb — his sights were set on the Beginningless Bell.

Ye Fan was glad to have him along. The man carried half of an emperor’s weapon on him, and was versed in the arts of geomancy and burial, which would absolutely prove a great asset.

“We cannot enter like this. Back then, several sacred grounds and undying divine dynasties went in bearing multiple extreme Dao emperor’s weapons and were blasted right back out — who knows how many old relics died in the process. With only half an emperor’s weapon between us, we’d be reduced to nothing the moment we went in,” Duan De muttered. He resolved to go seek the Old Blind Man and borrow the other half of the Heaven-Devouring Demon Vessel.

“Can you find him?” Ye Fan was doubtful. Over these years, many of the Northern Domain’s Thirteen Outlaws had died or disappeared, having suffered a devastating blow.

“Back in those days, he carried half the emperor’s weapon and went out to rescue those young outlaws, and he nearly got ambushed and killed by a projection of an ancient primordial ancestral sovereign. I arrived just in time, combined the Heaven-Devouring Demon Vessel into one, and shattered that ancestral sovereign’s projection.”

Ye Fan was astonished — he had had no idea such a thing had happened. It seemed that over all these years the Thirteen Outlaws had truly not had an easy time of it. No wonder the old rascal had gone to attempt his breakthrough — was he perhaps on the verge of proving the Dao and becoming a sage?

“Perhaps in this world, only the Heaven-Devouring Demon Vessel reunited can keep us safe. It is unlike any other emperor’s weapon,” Duan De said.

When the Heaven-Devouring Demon Vessel was separated in two, its power was barely perceptible — barely possible to activate at all. But once reunited, it became uncannily strange, and from time to time a sigh could be heard from within, as though the Primordial Heavenly Emperor were about to return to life.

It was the Ruthless Emperor’s weapon, forged from her own body — utterly unlike any other emperor’s weapon.

Duan De departed to seek the Old Blind Man, while Ye Fan also left Purple Mountain and began making his preparations.

Deep within an unknown mountain range, Ye Fan went a thousand li into the earth and buried his true body, then sent his primordial spirit flying out to occupy the holy shell.

“That damned Duan De is right in this area — that scoundrel had better not dig up my true body and make off with it.” Ye Fan muttered to himself, then engraved innumerable Source Heaven divine patterns around it.

He spent every effort and several days of work to extract two pieces of green copper from within the holy shell and draw them inside.

Afterward, Ye Fan took with him several pieces of imperial jade and various other necessities, and returned once more to Purple Mountain.

“Damn it — a sage!” Duan De had returned before him, and his eyes went wide. In that very instant, he brought out the Heaven-Devouring Demon Vessel.