Nine Ancient Jade Tablets

"Does that matter!"

Yan Kuan's rhetorical question plunged the First Valley Lord and Third Valley Lord into silence. After a long while, the Immortal Crane who had attained the Dao and become the First Valley Lord finally spoke.

"Third Brother, go and retrieve the item! Brother Li is a distinguished guest of my Ten Thousand Demons Valley. I believe we can have a proper discussion."

Now that the First Valley Lord had spoken, the Third Valley Lord naturally had no objections. Yet the warmth in his gaze toward Yan Kuan had faded, leaving him with a lingering sense of having been deceived.

The First Valley Lord said with a genial chuckle, "Brother Li, do not take offense. Third Brother's temperament is simply like this."

Yan Kuan openly admitted that his motives for entering Ten Thousand Demons Valley were impure and carried other intentions. "First Valley Lord, I know my actions have indeed been somewhat excessive. But before now, I had no certainty that I could share this secret with you, so I had to resort to a few small measures."

"Brother Li, this should be what you are seeking."

When Monkey returned to the attic, he had already composed himself. He placed a jade box before Yan Kuan. "As far as my Ten Thousand Demons Valley knows, in ancient times, the Great Sage Chisongzi once obtained an Immortal Bone on Mount Tiantai of Zhejiang. It is said to contain the secrets of attaining immortality."

Following the clues, he traced his way to the land of Shu. According to legend, part of a remnant map on the Immortal Bone pointed here. Yet he spent half his life in Shu without finding the ultimate secret realm, falling short at the final step and failing to become an immortal.

My Ten Thousand Demons Valley is considered a major power within Sichuan, so naturally we know many ancient secrets. Successive Valley Lords have all pursued this mystery, even following the trail left by Chisongzi in his time.

Our predecessors discovered that Chisongzi might truly have been chasing a real immortal back then, nearly touching upon that secret.

Especially an old Valley Lord from five hundred years ago, who made a startling discovery. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to reveal the secret before he fell at the Immortal Sword Sky Pool.

Monkey recounted everything in detail. After Chisongzi passed down his teachings and departed in obscurity, Ten Thousand Demons Valley also began to investigate that secret.

They expended vast amounts of manpower and resources in the pursuit. By chance, they made a breakthrough discovery among the ancient Hanging Coffins, unearthing several Ancient Jade Books from the oldest of them.

Ancient texts recorded this, and not just in one place. Ten Thousand Demons Valley had also made careful deductions, believing that a true Earth Immortal might have existed—not merely a deified human legend.

"The Earth Immortal's Dwelling, halfway up the cliff with thousands of hanging coffins."

"It is said to be the burial bones of an immortal."

The experts of Ten Thousand Demons Valley discovered that what Chisongzi sought might well be that legendary Earth Immortal.

As Yan Kuan listened to Monkey recount these ancient tales, his right hand casually opened the jade box, revealing several ancient jade pieces. These jades were dull in color, their luster worn away by immense time, with blood-like stains upon them—said to be corpse blood that had seeped in from prolonged contact with bodies.

He held them in his hand, turning them over. Though they lacked shimmering hues or strange colors, they were warm and smooth to the touch, exuding a gentle heat. These were Ancient Jade Books, each one priceless.

Without a doubt, these were national treasures. Every single piece would cause a sensation if unearthed. The jade pieces were densely carved with Oracle Bone Script.

These six ancient jades each had a different color—some yellow as gold, some red as blood, some white like mutton fat. Their luster was subdued, as if veiled in dust, bearing the mottled marks of age. They were unmistakably ancient artifacts.

They were obtained by generations of Ten Thousand Demons Valley experts who had expended endless effort, retrieved from ancient Hanging Coffins stretching from Sichuan to Mount Wuyi, opening countless coffins along the way. The two oldest pieces were personally sought out by the first generation Valley Lord, that ancient demon god.

Yan Kuan held the ancient jade pieces up to the sunlight, carefully studying every character on them. These ancient scripts resembled birds, beasts, fish, and insects—extremely obscure and difficult to decipher. He listened to Monkey's interpretation while comparing it with his own knowledge, grasping the general meaning.

The Ancient Jade Books recovered from the Hanging Coffins recorded a shocking secret, vaguely pointing to an Earth Immortal. In those days, Chisongzi possessed an Immortal Bone with a partial terrain map. He came to Sichuan to search, personally opening tens of thousands of Hanging Coffins, yet fell short at the final step, never obtaining what he sought.

After learning of this secret, successive experts of Ten Thousand Demons Valley also pursued it. Though they lacked the guidance of the Immortal Bone fragment, they used a more direct method—traveling across the Eastern Lands, opening one ancient Hanging Coffin after another, searching for what Chisongzi had wanted.

These six ancient jades were their ultimate harvest, vaguely mentioning an Earth Immortal without specifying a location. Where he was remained utterly unknown, profoundly mysterious.

"This is... the complete Jade Scroll Map."

Monkey suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Beside him, Old Crane also stared in surprise at Yan Kuan's actions. He watched as Yan Kuan took out the six jade pieces and laid them on the table, then produced three more from somewhere, piecing them all together into a complete Jade Scroll Map.

Back then, when Chisongzi entered Shu to open the Hanging Coffins, he had not come away empty-handed. He obtained three jade pieces, but for some unknown reason later abandoned the pursuit of that secret, ultimately burying himself in the Ancient Tomb of Mount Ba Ling, attempting Liberation by Violence to become an Immortal of Flame Burial.

After Chisongzi, the ancient demon god progenitor of Ten Thousand Demons Valley obtained two jade pieces. The remaining four were collected over thousands of years by later generations.

Monkey carefully studied the terrain map of jade pieces before Yan Kuan, then suddenly exclaimed with excitement, "These nine ancient jades are all different colors—how can they fit together as one, with even the Oracle Bone Script connecting seamlessly?"

Old Crane spoke gravely from the side, "They were originally nine jade pieces carved in the same period, only later separated. That is why they fit together, with continuous content."

When the nine ancient jade pieces merged into one, they revealed a stunning dragon-mountain terrain. Beside it, Oracle Bone Script served as a record, its words concise, confirming the existence of an Earth Immortal—born never touching the ground, dead never entering the earth, an immortal fetus that never sullies itself with dust.

Once the nine ancient jade pieces combined, they manifested ninety-nine true dragons. Upon closer inspection, these were ninety-nine dragon mountains, coiled and gathered in a magnificent, awe-inspiring formation. Such terrain was truly rare through the ages.

"What place is this? Setting aside everything else, this terrain alone is extraordinary!"

The Third Valley Lord shook his head repeatedly in amazement. "I have never seen such terrain. I have traveled the world, both within the seas and beyond, and nowhere have I encountered this."

"This is a terrain map from ancient times, vastly different from the mountains and rivers we see today. Look—does one of these lines resemble the Yellow River? The terrain is like a dragon, surging into the sea, winding in nine bends, vigorous and majestic."

Old Crane, with his vast experience, recounted some ancient secrets he had heard. The legend of the ninety-nine dragon mountains from ancient times was no fabrication. This legend had existed for ages, and this terrain map could not be false—it simply needed to be measured against the actual mountains and rivers of the present.

As he spoke, Old Crane carved the ancient course of the Yellow River beside them. It was vastly different from the present, for over tens of thousands of years, the Yellow River had changed its course countless times.