The voice was distant and eerie, without a trace of life, as if transmitted from some empty, cold, and dark place deep underground, making one’s whole body uncomfortable, filled with venomous hatred.
“That you can hear my voice means you’ve survived—beyond my expectations…”
Ye Fan and Pang Bo said nothing, listening quietly. Like a vicious ghost escaped from hell, the voice sounded like two metal plates grinding together, harsh and unpleasant, sending chills through one’s entire body.
“Enjoy what little time you have left. I will come find you, take your life with my own hands, and offer you up as sacrifice!”
It was as if some thousand-year-old ghost were cursing them, cold and eerie. The words were few, but they filled one with loathing from the depths of one’s heart—his tone utterly venomous.
For a long while, the bamboo grove remained silent, without a sound. Ye Fan clenched his fists tight. Back when the Thirteen Sage Sons had schemed to kill him, it had always remained an unsolved case.
It had been this same voice back then too, the same venomous hatred, using Liu Yiyi as bait, luring him to his death. That had been the first time he’d drawn down heavenly tribulation to kill his enemies—blood covering the ground, corpses turned to ash everywhere, an unknown number of deaths.
Yet that battle had yielded no clues. Even though Ye Fan had searched exhaustively afterward, he never found the culprit, and the matter had eventually been left unresolved, remaining so until now.
Now, the hidden hand had finally appeared again—still the same person, still that same venomous voice. Once he’d heard it, he would never forget it.
Pang Bo pondered for a long while, reviewing everything from the past, feeling there were various possibilities, unable for the moment to grasp the ultimate truth, and said, “In all these years, he’s only struck twice—there can only be two reasons…”
One was that Ye Fan had always been cautious and careful; back then there had been too many powerful enemies, with many sect-master-level figures hunting him down. For years he had used Source Technique to conceal his true appearance, drifting from place to place where no one could find him. The other was that this person’s cultivation hadn’t been sufficient—only in recent years had he gained enough confidence, feeling he now had the ability to eliminate Ye Fan, which was why he’d finally made his move.
“Not necessarily a person.” The Great Black Dog muttered. It had been keeping up with the times, quickly learning how to handle a phone, flipping it over and over, wanting to embezzle it for itself.
“A cold ancient coffin, a suffocating atmosphere, accompanied by a ghost dwelling in darkness…” Li Tian stared at that image of the vengeful ghost on the bronze coffin, feeling it matched the voice from just now quite well.
“Nothing to fear. Once we’re back, we’ll think it over carefully.” Pang Bo pounded his fist on the stone table, feeling somewhat uneasy in his heart nonetheless.
“Back then, what exactly came across the void together with us? Besides this vengeful ghost, could there be other things as well?” Ye Fan stared at that blurry image, falling into deep thought.
He and Pang Bo counted it over—there had been sixteen living people in the coffin, plus several corpses. This should have been during the journey from the ancient star of Sparks toward the Big Dipper star region.
Had this vengeful ghost followed them from Earth, or boarded at the ancient star of Sparks? It was hard to say. The process of crossing the star regions had been far more complex than they’d imagined—being caught up in it at the time, they’d had no idea what was happening. Now, stepping back and recalling carefully, it couldn’t help but bring out cold sweat—truly quite terrifying.
“Perhaps there’s more. Be careful!” Ye Fan said. Now that they were out in the open, whatever hidden presence had been watching covetously for all these years was truly too dangerous.
They searched through the Feathering Immortal Valley. It had to be said, this truly was a wondrous place—ancient medicinal herbs rooted in the crevices of stone cliffs, their fragrance intoxicating, with many varieties of precious trees, many of which had been rare species even in primordial times, let alone in the current era.
Li Heishui’s luck was excellent—beside a secluded ravine, he dug up an ancient herb with a medicinal age of fully fifty thousand years, said to be a Minor King of Medicine, exuding auspicious energy, rich and fragrant.
The Great Black Dog set its sights on that grove of ancient kirin orchid trees, digging up dozens of plants at once, nearly cleaning the place out entirely, scooping them up soil and all into its own treasure vault, grandly declaring it would plant them in the Celestial Court later.
Of course, that grove of spirit bamboo, like mutton-fat jade, was also ravaged by it, leaving only a small amount behind to serve as seeds for continued propagation.
“This Emperor is most particular—I would never harvest all of heaven and earth’s essence. Something must always be left behind, a spark of life, to let it continue to multiply.”
Everyone present looked at it with contempt.
The Feathering Immortal Valley was vast, a small world unto itself, no one knew from what era it had opened. Ancient ruins were mottled with age, some stone tables and stone stools already decayed, and the vegetation had propagated through countless generations.
The valley was ablaze with flowers, fragrance everywhere. A gentle breeze blew, scattering various flower-rains, crystalline and glittering, the scent intoxicating, like an immortal realm.
This was a true pure land, beautiful and peaceful, making one reluctant to leave—an excellent place for cultivating body and mind, picturesque scenery, harmonious and pleasant.
Petals of flower-rain drifted everywhere across the sky, in every color, sparkling and crystalline, fragrance permeating the air. Ji Ziyue used Ye Fan’s phone to take a group photo of everyone.
Then she stood together with Ye Fan, smiling brilliantly amid the flower-rain, having Pang Bo help take a photo, capturing this eternal moment in the frame. She said she would keep it carefully, never letting it be lost.
The starry expanse was so distant—who could be certain they would meet again? She forced herself to smile cheerfully, then asked Ye Fan for his phone, keeping it close on her person.
“Smells fragrant—what heavenly treasure of earth has emerged.” The Black Emperor’s dog nose twitched, a suspicious look crossing its face, and it dashed forward wildly.
Everyone couldn’t help but admire it—following it for seven or eight li, they too caught a faint fragrance that made everyone’s whole body feel refreshed, pores opening wide, as if about to ascend and become immortal.
This was a stone forest, not a single blade of grass growing. After advancing over a li, a stone mountain appeared, its peak radiating brilliant light, bearing a four-colored flower, with four kinds of energy permeating the air, cascading downward, shrouding the entire mountain body in mist.
Earth-light, fire-light, wind-light, and water-light swirled together, making the place mysterious, the four-colored light interweaving upon the flower, making it radiant and dazzling.
The Great Black Dog cried out in alarm, “Demonic God Flower!”
The four kinds of radiance permeated the air—that extraordinary bloom was about to blossom, its fragrance growing even richer, tugging at one’s very soul, making one want to ascend and transcend along with it, wanting to swallow it whole in one bite.
The Black Emperor was tremendously excited, saying, “Borrow me another hundred thousand years from heaven, let me return to before my birth, to encounter this flower.”
This was the Demonic God Flower, containing the power of heaven and earth’s great Dao, possessing extraordinarily powerful spirituality—a sacred object in the eyes of the demonic race, something they would go mad for.
For a full-grown great demon, it held little use, but its marvelous function lay in nurturing young demonic spirits, refining their bloodline, spirituality, and foundation, transforming heaven and earth itself.
The so-called Demonic God Flower—one could tell from its very name the strength of its effect—was a supreme flower capable of cultivating demonic gods. Though this might sound exaggerated, it truly was something rare to find anywhere in the world.
The Great Black Dog’s eyes turned red. It snatched a jar of divine spring water from Ye Fan, tilting its head back to gulp it down wildly, saying, “I want to be young, I want to be reborn, I want to transform into a young spirit!”
Li Heishui hurriedly snatched the jade jar from its large paws, not letting it waste the divine spring water, saying, “Does it really have such great effect?”
“Of course. In this Emperor’s mind, this ranks second only to the Merging Dao Flower. Consuming it would greatly strengthen one’s divine nature in the future, drawing closer to the Dao, boosting one’s potential enormously.”
The Great Black Dog stood up on its hind legs, dancing about, spittle flying everywhere, wishing it could immediately be reincarnated, then come back to this very moment and swallow the Demonic God Flower whole.
“For those wishing to become a great sage of the demonic race, wishing to attain the Dao, this is undoubtedly a tremendous innate advantage. I dare say if you tried to sell this flower to the demonic race, they’d break their heads fighting over it, offering their most supreme treasures in exchange.”
“There’s nothing to regret. The Dao of heaven and earth can be cultivated by anyone, as long as you’re willing to endure hardship in cultivation yourself—it’s the same without the Demonic God Flower,” Pang Bo said.
“Easy for you to say. If this Emperor had eaten such a flower as a young spirit, perhaps I would have attained the Dao long ago,” the Great Black Dog said, unwilling to let it go.
“I finally understand now, why the Lightning Phoenix Bird risked its life to enter this valley—it was to obtain the Demonic God Flower for its young, which is why it met with such disaster,” Li Tian said.
They all sighed with emotion. Without doubt, that phoenix bird had already cut through the Dao as a King-level being, having long known the terror of this place, yet still risked opening a path to fly in—all for the sake of its child.
Clearly, it had failed, its body destroyed and its Dao dissipated, only managing to fly back to that golden egg before finally merging with the Dao.
“How pitiful.” Ji Ziyue took out that demonic sage egg, cradling it in her palm. Instantly, ripples of light and color flowed from it, Dao traces flickering.
The Great Black Dog, whose hide could withstand supreme imperial weapons, said, “I feel like… this Emperor is actually still quite young. Perhaps the Demonic God Flower would still be useful to me.”
“Something’s not right—there’s another life force on the peak, something is up there!” the Monkey said.
“That’s right, could some powerful demonic spirit have gotten there first?” Ye Fan nodded, looking toward the stone mountain.
“Shua,” “Shua”…
They all shot up into the sky, flying into the air, looking down at the peak, gazing at the Demonic God Flower, seeing points of golden light rippling outward like waves.
“A golden egg!”
“Heavens, could it be another Lightning Phoenix Bird’s divine egg? It really does look similar.”
Several of them exclaimed in surprise, their expressions changing.
On the stone mountain, the Demonic God Flower bore four leaves, topped with a bud about to bloom in four colors, swaying with wisps of radiant light, each strand so mysterious, naturally aligned with the Dao.
At its root was an egg, only about the size of a fist, rippling in waves, spreading outward, emanating a mysterious aura—clearly not of ordinary origin.
“A phoenix bird’s divine egg—there really is another one. It seems the Dao-cutting Lightning Phoenix Bird succeeded, making its choice, leaving a child here,” Li Tian said.
“Why do I feel there’s some difference, like it’s not quite the same, and the Dao-wave aura it emits doesn’t seem to share the same origin—doesn’t seem to come from the same lineage,” the Monkey said.
The golden divine egg in Ji Ziyue’s hand trembled gently, emitting an even gentler auspicious glow. At this point, everyone could see it—the two eggs were not quite the same.
“It’s angry—naturally in conflict with that other egg. The little thing is quite pitiable, yet also quite adorable, seeming to want to rush up there,” Ji Ziyue murmured softly, doting on the phoenix bird’s divine egg in her hand, stroking it gently.
“That golden egg on the peak is no ordinary thing—it seems no weaker than the phoenix egg at all,” the Black Emperor said. Being of the demonic race itself, it naturally perceived more than the others.
On the peak, that egg was also stirring, sending out waves of golden ripples beneath the Demonic God Flower, drawing in essence from all directions, waiting quietly for the flower to bloom.
“Another divine egg capable of becoming a demonic sage—truly something to look forward to. This time we really do have tremendous fortune, obtaining two eggs at once. If properly nurtured, they could sweep across the world in the future,” Li Tian said, quite satisfied.
“Kill it. This egg absolutely cannot be allowed to remain in this world.” Ye Fan suddenly spoke, his expression grave. His memory had been unlocked, his fists clenched tight, sensing a familiar aura, thinking of departed old friends one after another.