Wushi Great Emperor's Former Haunt

Amid the desolate, boundless Northern Region, oases were rare treasures. In such a lifeless land, no patch of pure land should be destroyed.

He intended to remain here for some time and did not wish to settle in a place blanketed in red, ravaged by devastation, and barren of even a blade of grass.

After clearing out the disciples of Mysterious Moon Cave, Jiang Yun had already gathered more than a hundred cultivators behind him.

He had not slaughtered every cultivator from Mysterious Moon Cave, Azure Cloud Sect, and Seven Stars Pavilion. It was not because he had gone soft-hearted, but because he needed people to handle miscellaneous matters.

Killing them all would not change the state of this region. Others would eventually come and establish sects again, returning things to how they had been before.

Thus, they kept a portion of the obedient and honest people to await orders.

Jiang Yun had left his mark in their minds, so the fate of anyone who leaked secrets was plain to see.

Turning over an Emperor Jade he had taken from Chen Big Beard's lair, Jiang Yun dismissed these people and sent them back to reorganize their sects.

He brought Xia Weier deep into Mysterious Moon Cave. The oasis pure land where Mysterious Moon Cave stood differed from the several sects they had visited before.

This place was filled with ancient caves and secluded ravines. Vines intertwined like coiling dragons, forming vine bridges that connected the entire oasis and suffused it with a mysterious atmosphere.

It concealed many profound Dao rhythms. Many had attempted to enter this pure land and lingered here for years, yet few could truly comprehend its mysteries.

Gradually, Xia Weier also sensed the extraordinary nature of this place and calmed herself to contemplate it carefully.

Wushi Great Emperor had once stayed in this region. He was a supreme Great Emperor who had flattened an era of golden splendor. In an age overflowing with prodigies and monsters, he had looked down upon all without rival. Even as a Quasi-Emperor, he could catch an Emperor Weapon with his bare hands.

After becoming an emperor, he intimidated all races, suppressed the seven forbidden life zones, annihilated gods from beyond the domain, and swept across heaven and earth. Invincible above and below the heavens, feared throughout ancient and modern times, he was the most domineering existence among the Great Emperors and ancient emperors.

"At the end of the Immortal Road, who stands at the peak? At the sight of Wushi, all Dao turns to emptiness." It was no mere boast.

The ancestors of Heavenly Demon Palace had all left behind the same words: better to battle a fully perfected Sacred Physique than ever encounter Wushi.

That was Wushi—a supreme human Great Emperor who towered over ancient and modern times. He ascended to the absolute peak, his presence swallowing heaven and earth, looking down upon eternity as the sole sovereign. Few could contend with him.

In terms of background, Eternal Immortal King was a supreme giant of the Immortal Domain. Wushi and Eternal Immortal King were like two similar flowers. Whether it was reincarnation or something else, no one could explain it clearly.

In terms of physique, his mother, Queen Mother of the West, had become an emperor with an Innate Dao Embryo, while his father possessed a perfected Sacred Physique. A perfected Sacred Physique could challenge a Great Emperor. The Innate Sacred Physique Dao Embryo born from the two of them was one of the strongest physiques.

In terms of bloodline, the child born from two Great Emperor-level beings naturally possessed an incomparably noble bloodline.

Yet by the Sacred Ruins era, how had Black Emperor nearly caught up to him?

At the deepest reaches of Mysterious Moon Cave stood bare stone cliffs, devoid of even a blade of grass. Within the fractured rocks was an ancient cave. Endless years had left countless marks upon it, yet the cave had remained standing here all along.

Time flowed like water, and Dao rhythms appeared in the void, as though a Great Dao flowed forth from within.

A visibly fractured piece of ancient jade glowed gently in Jiang Yun's hand. Its radiance spilled forth, crystalline and iridescent, unconsciously clearing the mind as though one were strolling through an immortal heavenly palace.

A mountain need not be high, nor water deep. Three lines of writing were carved into the cliff wall.

"The Dao is vast and boundless, the heart unrestrained and unfettered, all things ever-changing and never wrong."

Because of these three lines, the ancient cave had endured through more than a hundred thousand years and remained to this day.

The long years seemed to flow backward. They seemed to see a figure buried beneath gray earth and dust, as though they had crossed time itself and beheld Wushi Great Emperor. It was an imprint nearly worn away by the passage of time.

The ancient jade gradually grew hot, its rosy light overflowing and slowly flowing into the depths of the ancient cave, illuminating everything before them.

"Gazing to the end of the Immortal Road, I see no ancients before me, no successors behind me. I alone stand atop the clouds."

A Dao rhythm left behind by Wushi Great Emperor was triggered by the Emperor Jade. Jiang Yun and Xia Weier's divine senses seemed to undergo a cleansing. Their entire bodies shone, every pore felt refreshed, and they were untouched by the slightest dust as insights surfaced one after another in their hearts.

Only after an hour did they awaken.

The two exchanged a glance. Both had gained something. Then the ancient cave collapsed, burying everything within it.

The Emperor Jade still reacted. This was a unique connection between Emperor Jades. In the end, Jiang Yun found another Emperor Jade beneath a stretch of wasteland.

One Emperor Jade was enough to enter Purple Mountain directly. Having another would naturally be all the better.

Jiang Yun had no intention of collecting all nine Emperor Jades. Compared to the difficulty of gathering nine of them, it would be easier to simply kidnap Zixia and first produce a Sacred Physique Dao Embryo.

That night, they found an intact sleeping palace, and Jiang Yun and Xia Weier moved in.

A night of labor passed without comment, not fit for outsiders to know.

Jiang Yun cultivated diligently for more than ten days. The treasures from the vaults of those sects were sold off in exchange for more than ten cubic meters of Source. He also extracted dense life essence from Divine Source the size of walnuts, all of which became resources for his advancement.

He successfully opened the Spleen Divine Treasury, manifested the Central Yellow Emperor deity, and stepped into the Fourth Layer of Dao Palace, drawing closer to the Four Extremes Realm.

During this period of secluded cultivation, Jiang Yun seemed to exist in an ethereal and strange state. Operating the Dao Scripture was extraordinarily wondrous. Waves of Great Dao sounds resounded through his Dao Palace, as though the five directional Great Emperors were expounding the Dao and empowering him.

His Dao Palace seemed connected to an unimaginable mysterious power. It was as though Buddhist chants and ancient sacrificial sounds tore through time and space, drifting toward him from afar.

Four deities had already been manifested from the five qi of his Dao Palace. Only the metal qi of the Western White Emperor remained. Once it was manifested, his Dao Palace would be complete.

Cultivating the Dao Palace would also feed back into the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm and advance it. The five great secret realms were not isolated existences; profound connections existed between them.

The sound of scripture recitation and Dao exposition gradually arose within Jiang Yun's Sea of Reincarnation as well, as though it were about to connect with his Dao Palace. The immortal king phenomenon also became increasingly clear.

Under the cleansing of the Great Dao's heavenly sounds, rosy light emerged from his flesh, and his body seemed to undergo constant transformation.

One could not progress along the path of seeking the Dao by shutting oneself away. One had to gather the strengths of all schools.

The sects Jiang Yun had destroyed possessed several secret arts. Though they were far inferior to the scriptures he cultivated, they still had some worthwhile aspects. Jiang Yun read through them all and committed them to memory.

He even rewarded some meritorious people with the treasured secret arts those sects had regarded as priceless. Those elders and disciples were naturally deeply grateful and served Jiang Yun with even greater dedication.

They obtained secret arts that had once been difficult to glimpse, while Jiang Yun gained abundant resources and a group of diligent subordinates. He had won twice over.

That day, Jiang Yun left the oasis pure land and entered the desolate wilderness. He was preparing to go to Stone Stronghold.

Supporting such a large group of cultivators while only spending and never earning meant that if he continued cultivating, he would need to take out Source to subsidize them.

He would never engage in such a losing business. It was time to invite Fifth Master Zhang from Stone Stronghold.

Then he would enter Purple Mountain to find the Source Heavenly Book and pass it on to Fifth Master Zhang. Surely they would then be able to provide for themselves.

As for the direction of Stone Stronghold, Jiang Yun had long since figured it out. The nearby bandits knew the surrounding villages and strongholds like the backs of their hands.

When he dealt with Chen Big Beard, Jiang Yun had searched his sea of consciousness.