Entering Purple Mountain

After making his preparations, Zhou Tong quickly headed toward a dragon vein due east.

The dragon vein he chose was precisely the one due east, the route Ye Fan had taken in the original work.

With the original work as a guide, he was most familiar with this path. Who knew what demons and monsters he might encounter on the other eight routes? To be safe, he would take the path he knew best.

The towering stone ridges were bare and reddish-brown, devoid of plants, with faint traces of purple that resembled the purple mountain.

Rather than immediately breaking through the earth and descending, Zhou Tong searched patiently. At last, he found an Ancient Mine and swiftly followed its tunnels into the depths of the dragon vein.

The mine shaft was extremely deep. He descended a full three thousand meters before finally reaching the underground.

This pitch-black Ancient Mine had been excavated over a hundred thousand years ago. It was filled with the aura of ages, and it was quiet to the extreme.

"Purple Sun Lamp!"

Zhou Tong murmured softly, and a purple lamp drifted out from within him. He poured threads of divine power into this Great Sage treasure, and a dim purple glow immediately illuminated the path ahead.

The lamplight was not especially bright, because Zhou Tong had not expended much power.

Of course, with Zhou Tong's current strength, he could not activate such a Great Sage treasure himself.

However, this Great Sage treasure had absorbed essence for countless years atop Kunlun's Dragon Mountain. It contained sufficient power on its own to unleash three strikes at the pinnacle of the Great Sage realm!

Though there were only three strikes, they were Zhou Tong's greatest source of confidence.

Why did Saint Weapons and Imperial Weapons alike need a process of "revival"? It was because the power stored within them was insufficient. After all, they were weapons, not people, and could not cultivate by breathing in and out on their own.

But Zhou Tong's Purple Sun Lamp had passively been nourished by the essence atop Dragon Mountain for countless years, storing more than enough power within itself.

Holding the Purple Sun Lamp, Zhou Tong continued onward through the dark mine tunnel.

Whoosh!

Before he had gone far, a humanoid creature suddenly flapped its wings and charged toward him. It was an ancient creature, and one of the weakest kind at that.

Zhou Tong pointed a finger, and a streak of sword light cleaved the ancient creature apart.

It was a creature that looked remarkably like a humanoid bat.

It was an underground species known as a Demon Bat, exceedingly rare. Yet without exception, wherever such creatures lived was certainly a place of great peril.

Zhou Tong continued onward. Along the way, he encountered more than a hundred Demon Bats. He showed no mercy—any that dared charge him were killed without pardon. Only after the final enormous Demon Bat, fully five meters tall, was cut down by Zhou Tong's sword did the Ancient Mine finally grow quiet.

After advancing several dozen li farther, he saw paintings on the mine walls by the faint glow of the Purple Sun Lamp.

These paintings depicted the mining work of that era. At first, they were utterly ordinary, showing nothing but mundane affairs. Yet as he went deeper, strange events began to appear.

Ancient creatures had been excavated, bringing about a monstrous calamity. Blood flowed like rivers across the land. In the end, a Great Emperor came here and suppressed every creature causing trouble.

This must have been the might Wu Shi the Great displayed when he took control of this place! Zhou Tong thought.

However, the mural soon ended, and Zhou Tong did not see the final outcome.

Zhou Tong continued onward and quickly traveled more than thirty li. By then, the ground had turned ash-gray, the color of bone ash. At the same time, the yin energy grew heavier and increasingly piercingly cold.

As he continued forward, the Ancient Mine became like an ice cellar. Chilling gusts scraped across his skin like knives.

"Woooo..."

The yin wind howled. Amid the piles of dry bones, indistinct ghostly figures began to appear, hazy and faint.

Zhou Tong glanced at those ghostly figures and poured another stream of divine power into the Purple Sun Lamp. Light immediately burst forth, and threads of saintly might emerged. The ghostly figures instantly scattered, while the howling sounds gradually subsided, making the place much quieter.

What a bunch of cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong! Zhou Tong thought disdainfully.

The moment they sensed someone entering, they became restless; the moment they sensed even a trace of saintly might, they quickly quieted down.

There was nothing to fear from such "ghosts," such humanlike "ghosts."

But after Zhou Tong had traveled roughly forty li, the previous sinister atmosphere abruptly vanished. Peaceful, dense spiritual energy gradually began to emerge.

At the same time, a world of light appeared before him. Gentle radiance flowed through it, serene and sacred.

After proceeding another li or so, Zhou Tong reached the place where the spiritual energy was most concentrated. Yet alongside that spiritual energy was astonishing killing intent.

Yin-Yang Eye! Zhou Tong silently thought.

Ahead lay two great openings. One erupted with spiritual energy, source energy continuously surging forth; the other surged with baleful energy, as though countless sword gleams were flashing within it.

Moreover, the opening that spewed source energy was surrounded by fossilized bones, while the opening that emitted baleful energy was peaceful all around, with source stones scattered everywhere.

The two openings bore yin and embraced yang, bore yang and embraced yin. They formed a completely natural Taiji Diagram.

"I'll have to display a trace of saintly might to break through!" Zhou Tong looked at the Purple Sun Lamp beside him and immediately sent a strand of divine sense into it.

Buzzz—boom!!

In an instant, the power stored within the Purple Sun Lamp surged forth. A brilliant purple beam shot from the lamp and pierced directly into the Taiji Diagram.

The Purple Sun Lamp truly deserved to be a Great Sage treasure; the power it unleashed was terrifying beyond measure.

The purple light appeared utterly unremarkable, yet it directly transformed into a splendid purple path, completely blocking out all source energy and killing intent. This Yin-Yang Eye, filled with endless deadly danger, was breached in an instant.

Zhou Tong flashed forward, carrying the Purple Sun Lamp as he instantly rushed into the Taiji Diagram. Then the purple light dissipated, and the Yin-Yang Eye returned to its original state.

"A Saint Level strike has already been used... Fortunately, it was only a Saint Level strike, so the Purple Sun Lamp's expenditure wasn't significant." Zhou Tong carefully examined the Purple Sun Lamp and roughly calculated that the strike had consumed about one-thousandth of the power stored within it.

"If it merely displays Saint Level power, this Purple Sun Lamp could probably reign supreme throughout the Big Dipper! After all, no other Heirloom Sacred Weapon had the Purple Sun Lamp's environment." A smile could not help appearing on Zhou Tong's face. It truly was an unparalleled treasure he had risked danger to bring out of Kunlun's Dragon Mountain.

Only after inspecting the Purple Sun Lamp did Zhou Tong notice that the mine tunnel had reached its end. Purple Mountain lay ahead, because the purple wall before him was the distinctive color of Purple Mountain's rocks.

"Purple Mountain! I've finally entered!"

Zhou Tong brought two fingers together like a sword and directly cleaved through the rock ahead, walking inside.

After Zhou Tong entered, the rocks behind him naturally closed back together. This Purple Mountain seemed to possess life.

Seeing this, Zhou Tong quickened his pace as he split the mountain apart.

Boom!

With one final deafening explosion, Zhou Tong split open the last boulder. A hazy scene appeared before him: Cyan Jade formed the stairs, White Jade formed the gateway, and a magnificent complex of buildings emerged.

He had finally reached his destination and entered the interior of Purple Mountain.