A faint remnant spiritual imprint of the Female Saint drifted out, making even Ye Fan’s heart tremble. What kind of devotion was this?
To pursue someone with a Female Saint’s true heart, yet only to find his footsteps, following behind him, spending a lifetime looking up at him from afar — it left people sighing with sorrow.
To become a Female Saint, one must be a peerless divine daughter of her generation, cloaked in divine radiance, the focus of all eyes, looking down upon the world with pride.
Yet, she abandoned everything, set out alone, facing the cold darkness of the universe, endlessly searching.
Through the long years, walking her lonely path alone, her rosy youth turned to bones, sitting in meditative death in a corner of the desolate universe.
Living out such a solitary life to old age, no one knew what was in her heart at the very end.
No result, no hope — yet in the end, this was the outcome.
On the magnificent Dao platform, chaotic energy swirled in a haze. That tall figure seated cross-legged on the ground remained motionless, as if it had not moved a single inch across eternity.
Ye Fan felt that the crescent moon pendant being able to calm the Wushi Killing Formation was, in itself, enough to explain everything.
In the eyes of the world, Wushi was divine and magnificent, all-powerful, subduing the myriad races, suppressing the seven great forbidden zones of life, annihilating divine spirits from beyond the domains, sweeping through the six directions and eight wildernesses, unrivaled above and below the heavens, feared through ancient times and present.
And yet, no matter how vast his abilities, no matter how his might shook the ages past and present, he still could not reverse time, could not change the Female Saint’s fate.
There must have been an untold history between them — otherwise, the crescent moon pendant could never have calmed the Wushi Formation. One must understand, even the Black Emperor could not set foot in this place, and no one knew whether Wushi was alive or dead.
“What a pity, what a lament. The ancient Great Emperor, though unrivaled above and below the heavens, was also the most sorrowful of men.”
Everyone has their own story. The ancient Great Emperor, overwhelmingly powerful, suppressing the myriad heavens through the ages, sweeping aside divine spirits from beyond the domains — yet he too carried such regret.
“We pay respects to Emperor Wushi!” The old blind man bowed with pious devotion.
Duan De and Ye Fan were no exception, performing the great ceremonial bow with sincerity, genuinely paying homage to Wushi. Walking the path of an emperor means fearing no heaven, honoring no earth, believing in no one else — but it does not mean disrespecting the sages who came before.
Wushi had rendered great contributions to the human race, and deserved their reverence — this was a fitting awe and veneration.
“Great Emperor…” When the old blind man raised his head again, the space ahead was empty. There was nothing there at all.
“How could this be?” They were struck with terror — the tall, majestic figure had vanished, no longer on the Dao platform, as if it had never appeared at all.
“Was what we just saw really him?” They began to doubt.
“Perhaps it was a shadow left behind from years past.”
After careful consideration, they came to believe this must be the case — otherwise, given how overwhelmingly powerful the ancient Great Emperor was, a mere trace of his imperial might alone could crush heaven and earth.
If his true body had truly been there, they would never have been able to approach at all — they would likely have been instantly shattered, their flesh and blood, their primordial spirit, utterly destroyed.
Who among the living had ever truly seen the Emperor’s corpse? No one in the world could get close to it.
In years past, even the shed skin of the Undying Heavenly Sovereign required extreme-Dao imperial weapons to contend with — otherwise one could not even approach it, let alone the true body of a Great Emperor himself.
The whole world had fallen silent — this was the desolate latter half of the Great Emperor’s life.
Alive, unseen; dead, no corpse found. Where had Wushi gone? Where was he now?
At this moment, the three of them were filled with doubt, their minds racing with countless thoughts — what exactly had happened here? This Dao platform was actually empty, with nothing at all.
The Dao platform lay in complete silence, chaotic mist swirling about. Carrying complicated emotions, they walked forward step by step, carefully examining every inch of the ground.
The ancient Dao platform bore the mottled marks of the ages, recording the loneliness of the ancient Great Emperor’s entire life — sitting alone, cross-legged, facing away from all living beings. What had he been gazing at in the distance?
At the center of the platform, the majestic cross-legged figure had vanished, yet the image of that thick, waterfall-like black hair from behind was hard to erase from their minds.
“There’s something on the ground!”
At the spot where he had sat cross-legged, there lay a shattered feathered robe, scattered there — no one knew how many tens of thousands of years it had endured, persisting all this time.
“A Dao robe that has undergone feathering ascension!”
“Could it be that Emperor Wushi has transformed into the Dao?”
The hearts of all three trembled at once, feeling a sense of sorrow — even the most powerful Great Emperor of the human race, in the end, could not withstand the passage of time; he hadn’t even left behind a corpse.
Wushi left nothing behind. How magnificent he had been in life, unrivaled across the nine heavens and ten earths — yet when he departed this world, it was in such a low-key manner, vanishing like a breath of wind.
At his death, there was no earth-shaking upheaval, no tremor through the world — he simply dispersed with the wind. Was this really the same Emperor Wushi who had once made all the myriad worlds unable to breathe?
“For him to have left the world like this — this doesn’t seem like the overwhelmingly powerful Wushi. Even in death he should have shaken heaven and earth. How could he possibly have chosen to dissolve his own imperial body?” Duan De muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the old blind man’s body trembled, his face taking on an expression of disbelief. He said, “This… could this be feathering ascension into immortality?”
Duan De exclaimed in shock, “What? Impossible. Since ancient times, who has ever become an immortal? All the legends from the past have proven false — every one of them has been shown to be fabricated.”
“Perhaps Emperor Wushi truly succeeded, forcibly breaking through the shackles of heaven and earth, ascending to immortality.” The old blind man’s eyes burned with fervor.
Ancient texts recorded that feathering ascension was, in fact, simply transformation into the Dao — meaning life reaching its end, not truly becoming immortal.
However, some also disputed this, claiming that in that distant ancient era, true immortals of antiquity had existed — that only once in ten thousand ages could a single person achieve immortal ascension.
“I think it was transformation into the Dao. Look, there’s still ash here — clearly left behind when the Great Emperor cremated his imperial body during the feathering process,” Duan De said, staring at the shattered fragments of cloth.
“In feathering ascension, the true body can only carry a single weapon into the immortal realm. The ashes must be the other imperial artifacts of the Great Emperor that were destroyed,” the old blind man countered.
“That just proves further that Emperor Wushi transformed into the Dao — because the Wushi Bell is still here, it wasn’t taken with him,” Duan De said.
“Perhaps there was some special reason, and he didn’t have time to bring his imperial weapon, heading to the immortal realm alone. Since ancient times, who could open such a passage? The opportunity would vanish in an instant,” the old blind man said, his confidence faltering.
“Forget it, arguing about this is meaningless. Whether it’s transformation into the Dao or ascension into immortality, in any case he has undergone feathering — he’s no longer in this world. A chaotic age without a human emperor is coming — we’d better think about that instead.” Ye Fan cut off their argument.
There was nothing else on the platform. The group sighed, this outcome having been completely beyond their expectations — they were deeply disappointed.
In the end, Ye Fan placed the snow-white skull of the Female Saint among the shattered feathered robes, burying it there.
“Unable to be together in life — let them share the same grave in death.” He let out a soft sigh.
In the crevice of the cliff below the Dao platform, an ancient King Medicine plant bloomed with seven-colored flowers, swaying with dazzling divine radiance, its entire form crystal clear, its fragrance intoxicating.
“Having entered a mountain of treasures, how could we leave empty-handed? Every King Medicine plant is worth a lifespan — let’s harvest them all,” Duan De said.
He was quite relaxed about it, pulling Ye Fan along to go harvest them. At this point, they dared not put down the crescent moon pendant, otherwise they would be unable to move a single step, instantly reduced to dust.
On the Dao platform, the Dao patterns were densely woven — this was the flawless Wushi Killing Formation. Unless the Great Emperor himself arrived in person, no one could enter.
The chaotic waterfall poured down, cascading from the platform, dense Dao patterns flickering in and out of view, yet not harming the three of them in the slightest. They climbed all the way up and, in one breath, harvested eight ancient King Medicine plants.
Duan De and the old blind man trembled with excitement — each plant could extend one’s lifespan by four hundred years. This was an astonishingly precious hoard; harvesting a few more would nearly rival an Undying Divine Elixir.
In the end, their whole bodies were saturated with medicinal fragrance, their flesh and blood rendered nearly translucent from the ancient King Medicine’s radiance. Breathing in the ancient medicine’s essence, every pore on their bodies opened wide, leaving them feeling as though they might float away like immortals.
By the time they climbed down from the platform, they had gathered a total of thirteen ancient King Medicine plants — news of this, if it ever got out, would shock the entire world.
Aside from Purple Mountain, all the other wastelands and wild mountains, even all the Great Wastes combined, probably didn’t have this many — each plant required nourishment from earth milk for eighty or ninety thousand years or more.
“We’ve struck it rich now — combined, this nearly matches a single Undying Divine Elixir!” Duan De was so excited he could barely contain himself.
The old blind man couldn’t calm down either, his eyes burning hot, nearly manic, ceaselessly caressing one King Medicine plant after another, his eyes filled with dazzling, crystalline splendor.
Once the three of them had calmed down, Ye Fan flicked his wrist and tossed the crescent moon pendant onto the Dao platform, where it landed precisely among the feathered robes, before the snow-white, crystalline skull.
The towering chaotic divine waterfall cascaded down, submerging the platform — no one could step forward again, or they would surely turn to ash, even a Sage arriving would be no exception.
“Wait a moment. Do you think this platform might be a great tomb, with Wushi’s corpse inside?” Just before they left, Duan De suddenly spoke up.
“This…” Both Ye Fan and the old blind man were startled.
“Based on my many years of tomb-robbing experience, this is very likely an imperial grave,” Duan De said with absolute certainty.
Even so, they had no ability to enter — the Dao platform was densely covered with patterns everywhere; even if they truly tried to break through, let alone holding the pendant, even following the formation diagram to dismantle it would get them obliterated.
In the end, they left this place. Purple Mountain was vast, with many areas they still hadn’t explored, but Ye Fan had lost all interest — he only wanted to go to where the Wushi Bell was.
The three of them walked back, and when they passed by the row of crystal coffins carved by the Undying Heavenly Sovereign, they all froze in place, their bodies turning ice-cold, a chill rising from the depths of their hearts.
All the crystal coffins had been opened, completely empty. There were black footprints on the ground — this place was as eerie and terrifying as the Hall of Yama.
“Run!” Duan De shouted, no one being more familiar with tombs than him — seeing this scene, his face turned pale.
“Aaawooo…”
From all directions came mournful howls and wails, as if the gates of hell had opened. Everywhere, dark, withered shadows charged forward.
“Damn it, these are all subordinates of the Undying Heavenly Sovereign — this time we’re truly in danger. Every single one of them was a divine general from the mythological age!”
Even though these beings had long since died, no longer possessing their magical powers, their withered bodies were still extremely fearsome. With this many charging at once, even an ancient Great Sage arriving would be torn apart.
There was no other choice — they had to summon the ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar. Even the Sacred Shell that Ye Fan inhabited wouldn’t be enough — there were simply too many of these terrifying fierce ghosts.
“There’s a living, terrifying being controlling these withered corpses. It wants to seize the King Medicine.”
The ancient Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar trembled, spewing forth billowing dark light, carving out a path as they fled forward quickly, not daring to linger.
The weapon of the Ruthless Great Emperor was indeed formidable, certainly capable of slaughtering swaths of enemies — but it consumed enormous energy, potentially draining them dry. This was not the place for a prolonged battle to the death.
The three of them fled rapidly, a group of fierce ghosts — some with dragon heads, some with qilin bodies — pursuing relentlessly close behind. The entire interior of Purple Mountain had erupted into chaos, corpse shadows everywhere.
“Damn it, even a Sage arriving here would have to swallow defeat. How did that old bastard the Undying Heavenly Sovereign leave behind such a bunch of worthless subordinates?” Duan De cursed loudly.
“Boom!”
Finally, they had no choice but to activate the Heaven-Devouring Jar, blasting out a swath of terrifying dark light. The subordinates of the Undying Heavenly Sovereign were formidably powerful, but they could still only be shattered.
“No good, there are too many, they’re not concentrated together, and there’s a living being secretly directing them,” the old blind man said, brows furrowed.
However, in the end, they finally retreated to the rear of the largest hall within Purple Mountain, where a stone scripture lay sprawled across the ground.
“You two go, I’m staying behind.” Ye Fan pressed a piece of Imperial Jade into a stone slot.
“Why are you staying behind? You’ll surely die here. Come with us, quickly,” the old blind man said.
“There’s no other way. The ancient myriad races are about to emerge into the world, and without a force to intimidate them, an unprecedented dark chaos is bound to arrive,” Ye Fan said.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Purple Mountain is my first stop. I want to make the Wushi Bell ring continuously for three months, to shake the human world, to make them doubt whether Wushi is alive or dead,” Ye Fan said.
“You’ve gone mad. Don’t even mention ringing it for three months — even ringing it three times would turn you to ash, even a Sacred Shell couldn’t withstand the Wushi Bell’s shockwave!”
“I have a way to withstand it. You two go, quickly.” Ye Fan urged them, pressing a piece of Imperial Jade into the groove. Instantly, a curtain of light burst forth, splitting open the void.
“You dare to stay behind — if we don’t do something, we truly won’t have the face to leave,” the old blind man said, resolutely determined to leave the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar behind as well.
Duan De was nearly in tears, but he didn’t object either, saying with a choked voice, “Damn it, don’t you dare lose it. Three months from now I’m coming to dig up the grave and steal back my own treasure.”
Moreover, of the thirteen King Medicine plants, the two of them only took four with them, leaving the remaining nine all for Ye Fan, for him to use to extend his life.
The Wushi Bell was about to ring — an unprecedented storm was approaching!