On a winter night so pitch-black one could not see five fingers outstretched before one's face, mountains and rivers spanning ten thousand li were locked in ice.
Niuben City stood silently, without a single sound.
It was as though the King of the Underworld had escaped Yujing and once again wielded his scepter, intent on plunging all living things back into an era of dead silence.
Across the boundless frozen plains, only the Golden Light Cave still emitted a faint glow, flickering like a single candle in the long night.
The three patriarchs stood frozen, their hairs standing on end.
A few breaths later, the Golden Light Cave roared once more, shuddering violently and nearly draining the spirituality of the super Fire Spring dry.
"How is it?" In the night mist, a blurry silhouette appeared and asked.
From within the deep, dark passage came the voice of another: "Real."
Surprisingly, a second being was standing guard near the Golden Light Cave.
Even with the Sky-Patrolling Divine Mirror, the three patriarchs of Yezhou had failed to detect it beforehand.
Standing in the wind and snow, they dared not approach that area of black mist, thick as ink.
The three patriarchs, all relatively "young," showed worried expressions. The "immortal hoard" in that new world was of immense consequence and treated with the utmost gravity by Yezhou's upper echelons.
That purple sword and the extraordinary book might help Yezhou break through its shackles and ascend into an unprecedented realm of glory.
Above all, the "Earth Immortal relic" among the humanoid ashes might rapidly cultivate a peerless powerhouse.
The higher-ups of Yezhou were already in discussions to select the most suitable senior patriarch to fuse with the Earth Immortal relic as quickly as possible.
"At the critical moment, someone beat us to it!" Indignation surged in the three patriarchs' hearts.
If an Earth Immortal were to emerge in Yezhou, it would reshape the current balance of power. With the aid of the thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes, they would be far better equipped to protect their homeland.
"Is it really an Earth Immortal?"
"Eighty percent likely to be such a being!"
The three patriarchs looked exceptionally grave. Yezhou possessed records concerning Earth Immortals. While they dared not lightly approach places where Yujing had rested, Earth Immortals had once appeared near Yezhou; when passing through, the commotion they caused was enormous and utterly terrifying.
In the deep night, the Golden Light Cave shook violently, rapidly siphoning spirituality from the super Fire Spring as a being returned.
"How did it go?"
"That Five Finger Mountain still possesses a suppressive power; I couldn't budge it."
After a brief silence, the other being spoke: "I will go with you."
Outside the Golden Light Cave, a hazy figure appeared and drove a battered, small black banner into the ground. Instantly, an inexplicable domain formed as immortal mist billowed up to shroud the area, preventing anyone else from drawing near.
In the next moment, the Golden Light Cave flared intensely, settling back into calm shortly after.
The three patriarchs could not hear the conversation between the two beings, but through the Sky-Patrolling Mirror, they could observe the changes at the Golden Light Cave.
"Should we go over and destroy the spatial tunnel?"
"How could beings of that level lack contingency measures? Our strength alone isn't enough. Rushing in would only mean throwing our lives away."
Before long, their expressions turned grim. Through the Sky-Patrolling Divine Mirror, they discerned clues: the Golden Light Cave had been "reinforced," and the components used appeared to be Yezhou's handiwork.
"A new Earth Immortal was about to emerge on our side, yet someone beat us to the punch tonight!"
"Have Yezhou's upper echelons been infiltrated?"
...
Yezhou was far from tranquil.
That day, terrifying auras from patriarchs of both the esoteric sect and the outer realm rippled outward, spreading into the distance.
Many even saw the thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes manifest against the night sky.
Afterward, the damaged bell that had fallen from Yujing in the past was struck, dyeing the pitch-black clouds golden and throwing the entire land into unrest.
...
In the latter half of the night, in the territory of the Minotaur clan, the Golden Light Cave radiated a blinding brilliance.
Then, a shrill, agonizing shriek tore through the frozen plains, blowing apart the drifting, feather-like snow across the sky.
Only a small fraction of a humanoid being's mangled body remained, dripping blood as it went. Its entire face twisted in agony within the thick mist. Tearing up the small black banner at the cave mouth, it shot skyward.
Rumble!
In the night sky, dense clouds shattered as though pulverized by an endless sea of thunder.
The blood dripping from that mutilated body radiated a startling scarlet glow, illuminating the abyssal firmament.
"An Earth Immortal... reduced to barely a third of its body! It was actually crippled!"
On the frozen plain, the three patriarch-level experts felt sheer horror, watching the scene in disbelief.
Next, the entire night sky was ripped open. The passage of an Earth Immortal crushed everything in its path, creating an utterly terrifying spectacle.
In the winter night, it was as if a Golden Crow streaked across the firmament toward the southwest, blowing apart every cloud along its path and plowing out a radiant corridor.
Its speed was beyond extreme; it vanished in the blink of an eye.
Yet the immense disturbance and terrifying, wondrous phenomena it left behind lingered for a long time.
Across the vault of heaven, a golden avenue led toward the southwest.
Furthermore, the night sky looked like delicate porcelain covered in cracks; with the Earth Immortal passing through, dense remnant energy flickered in the darkness like crisscrossing lightning.
"Only one came out. Could the other Earth Immortal... have been left inside forever?"
Through the Sky-Patrolling Divine Mirror, the three patriarchs of Yezhou saw the Golden Light Cave dim completely without any further movement, all showing expressions of shock.
Tonight, an Earth Immortal had very likely died!
Even seasoned by countless storms, their hearts pounded and thoughts churned. An entity of such stature had actually fallen on the other side of the Golden Light Cave.
The new world was far more perilous than they had imagined!
Earth Immortals had personally descended, yet failed disastrously—one dead, one crippled. This was a monumental event.
As the mutilated being disappeared into the distance, the oppressive dread over this land dissipated, and the ink-thick darkness gradually faded.
"What happened? I thought I had died!"
"What's going on? My conscious spiritual light felt frozen for so long, and it's only now starting to recover."
Near Niuben City, both the minotaurs and the Yezhou experts turned pale, gasping heavily for breath with hearts pounding like war drums.
Meanwhile, in the manor, Qin Ming was on high alert, as if confronting a formidable foe.
His consciousness was fused with his heavenly light, so he had not been "frozen" throughout, but like the masters, his vision had gone completely pitch-black, rendering him unable to see a thing.
Only now did he recover, gazing up at the dense, lightning-like residual energy shredding the boundless clouds across the night sky.
He was thoroughly shaken. Had that just been an Earth Immortal passing through?
As people gradually recovered, the entire place erupted.
"What? An Earth Immortal perished?"
"How could that be?!"
People simply could not believe it. To this day, Yezhou possessed no Earth Immortals; the patriarchs of each path were still pioneering their ways forward. Yet tonight, a being of that supreme level had perished.
In an instant, numerous figures darted toward the Golden Light Cave at top speed. Aside from grandmasters, there were Little Rulai, Jian Huaidao, Xie Lin, and others.
"No one is permitted near this place!"
The three patriarchs blocked the way, sealing off the Golden Light Cave.
This night was destined not to be peaceful.
Even among the rugged Minotaur clan, the old bulls of profound cultivation lost all their bravado, nearly abandoning their descendants to flee on the spot.
"No way! You cannot establish a portal to another world on our territory anymore! You must seal the Golden Light Cave as soon as possible!"
Having learned that an Earth Immortal had passed through, the old clan leader of the minotaurs was nearly scared out of his wits. Tossing his mop of lush green hair, he stiffened his neck and braced himself to confront the three patriarchs.
"Yezhou had its home raided. The special 'components' crafted by the leadership using the Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes to reinforce the Golden Light Cave fell into the hands of an Earth Immortal. This situation is exceedingly grave and terrible."
The news leaked, sparking widespread discussion.
Qin Ming, Wu Yaozu, and the others were also discussing it. Xiang Yiwu cast unfriendly glances at Little Rulai and his entourage, clearly distrusting them.
If there were an inside informant, the returning "Supreme Emperors" and their ilk fell under heavy suspicion.
The next day, Yezhou's upper echelons arrived as quickly as possible.
Sure enough, the crowd here received confirmed news: the "components" personally crafted by the patriarchs had vanished without a trace, stolen by a mysterious expert.
"Unacceptable! Our Yezhou has been infiltrated into a sieve! An outsider being actually entered the mysterious world ahead of us!"
After examining the Golden Light Cave, several patriarchs flew into a fury.
The night sky roiled as flashes of lightning streaked across from time to time; the patriarchs were incandescent with rage.
To have the fruits of their labor plucked away at the eleventh hour would infuriate anyone.
In particular, the new world's Earth Immortal relic, the extraordinary book, and the purple sword could elevate Yezhou as a whole to a new tier. The implications were monumental.
"Calm your fury, everyone. Although Earth Immortals appeared here, they likely did not succeed. The urgent priority is for us to send someone inside to see what has happened."
Evidently, peril lurked within. Even a formidable Earth Immortal-tier being had perished; sending anyone inside now provoked dread, as no one knew what might unfold.
"Old Bull, what do you think..." a veteran patriarch of the esoteric sect began with a chuckling smile.
Whoosh! The old clan leader of the minotaurs vanished instantly.
"I only wanted you to go gather some materials to craft puppets!"
Ultimately, after probing with various specialized methods, the patriarchs of the esoteric sect and immortal path concluded that there was no immense danger inside the new world—so long as one did not recklessly clash with Five Finger Mountain, there shouldn't be major trouble.
Soon after, several patriarchs prepared to venture deep inside personally.
"I shall go with you!" Past Rulai arrived.
From afar, Qin Ming saw an enormous figure half a body taller than an ordinary man and half a torso wider than even Xiang Yiwu.
He was a burly man, towering like an iron pagoda, with short hair and an aura of rich golden light enveloping his entire frame. Across his face ran gruesome wounds, as though it had once been torn open.
Similar horrifying scars even marked his neck and torso, looking as if they had been stitched together with coiled dragon sinew to heal.
In fact, the "Supreme Emperors" of the immortal path and the esoteric sect had also arrived, intending to follow them into the new world.
Qin Ming, Xiang Yiwu, Wu Yaozu, and the others looked on with peculiar expressions. Would the patriarchs of each path sacrifice these "living ancestors" to heaven on the other side of the Golden Light Cave?
For they well knew that turmoil had recently gripped each path.
The ancestral courts of the various sects had already developed issues, having nearly turned into private domains for the descendants of certain great clans. Now that powerful "Supreme Emperors" had returned, some people were genuinely eager to align themselves with them.
Over a dozen patriarchs crossed over into the new world. Near Five Finger Mountain, they found fragments of flesh and blood, along with bloodstained bones.
"Chengyun, if you want to laugh, go ahead and laugh your fill," said an elder with white hair and beard.
Clad in red-gold armor, Helian Chengyun appeared as a cold, aloof youth. A red marking graced the center of his forehead, and his entire body radiated a shimmering immortal luminescence, giving him an otherworldly aura. He replied coldly, "Martial Uncle, what are you talking about? Yezhou's great treasures have been stolen. I am deeply indignant!"
Past Rulai's dharma eyes were like torches. He could confirm that this flesh and blood originated from two Earth Immortals—one dead, one crippled—both illustrious figures of Pugong representing its pinnacle martial might.
The group of patriarchs searched meticulously throughout the area, but none dared touch Five Finger Mountain, much less attempt to take the purple sword.
"Shall we distribute this flesh and broken bone among ourselves, or keep them in one place for us to analyze together?"
"Keep them together. Once thoroughly studied, Yezhou might finally give rise to our own seventh-realm powerhouses."
...
In the end, the dozen-odd patriarchs walked out of the Golden Light Cave together.
"It seems the patriarchs are extremely furious—flushed red in the face and neck with anger," someone remarked with a sigh.
"Brother Ming, what do you think? Why do I feel like these angry patriarchs' old faces look positively rosy?" Wu Yaozu sent secretly via voice transmission.
Xiang Yiwu paused at that and said, "If you put it that way, saying they're glowing with high spirits works too, though they do seem to have a touch of anger."
Xiao Wu said, "If you had a 'Supreme Emperor' sitting on your neck, constantly trying to order you around, could you keep a pleasant face?"
Qin Ming looked closely again. The senior patriarchs wore solemn expressions and appeared very angry, yet they also seemed high in fighting spirit, a bright sheen gracing their slightly flushed old faces.
"This place is excessively perilous. Even Earth Immortals who enter meet their demise. In light of this, the cave shall be sealed starting today," a senior patriarch announced publicly.
Many believed that the naming of the Golden Light Cave had not been mistaken; it belonged to the grotto-heaven tier and was not yet suited for in-depth exploration.
People had mobilized in force, only to depart disheartened.
A portion of people harbored serious doubts, suspecting that the Golden Light Cave held many secrets; conspiracy theorists even speculated that what it connected to might not necessarily be an otherworldly realm.
Over ten days later, an urgent confidential letter arrived from afar:
"An Earth Immortal has fallen, the southwest sky has collapsed, and turmoil erupts across Pugong!"
Several days later, in the great desert before the Immortal Tomb, several figures stood side by side, conversing with the powerhouse inside the grave.
The being within the primary grave spoke, sighing: "In the end, I have only extended my life by twenty years. Such decrepit Earth Immortals, seven-sun stackers, were even more decayed with age than I. This transaction was an immense loss."
At this moment, a wondrous phenomenon manifested within the Immortal Tomb.
In the deepest reaches of the primary grave—the so-called sealing ground—lay the wondrous sight of Five Finger Mountain. After the humanoid ashes and the Earth Immortal relic fused together, they ultimately transformed into an Earth Immortal.
...
Yezhou, Kunling. In the depths of the layered mists, an earthen city caught the final ripple emanating from distant Yujing, shook violently, and began rapidly reviving!
At this moment, palpable tremors shook the entire region of Kunling.
Even that peerless terror who intended to swallow all the Perils of Kunling was startled awake, bursting through the ground and ascending into the night sky.
Chapter 361