There was Kunlun on land and three mountains in the sea. This was a saying that had circulated on Earth since ancient times.
Kunlun Mountain, ancestor of all mountains, ancestor of dragon veins, homeland of all gods, had once been the supreme holy land of Earth's cultivation world. The fact that the Ancient Heavenly Court had ultimately placed Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountain there showed just how important this ancestral vein was.
The three mountains at sea referred to Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou. They were immortal lands beyond the world, divine soil of the Great Dao.
The Book of Fengshan Sacrifices in the Records of the Grand Historian recorded: "Since the reigns of Kings Wei and Xuan, King Zhao of Yan had sent people out to sea in search of Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou.
"These three divine mountains were said to lie in the Bohai Sea, not far from human lands. Yet whenever ships were about to arrive, the winds would carry them away. Those who had reached them claimed that the immortals and Immortal Elixirs were all there."
Later, Guo Pu of the Eastern Jin annotated the Classic of Mountains and Seas and also described Penglai: "There are immortal palaces above, all built from gold and jade. The birds and beasts are entirely white, and from afar they resemble clouds. It lies within the Bohai Sea."
Since ancient times, countless kings, nobles, monks, and Daoists from Middle Earth had sought the three overseas mountains, dreaming of obtaining Immortal Elixirs from them and attaining Longevity.
The most famous among them was none other than the First Emperor. He had once ordered the alchemist Xu Fu to take several thousand boys and girls out to sea in search of the mountains.
Yet Xu Fu never returned, and no one knew what became of