Jade Pool Ruins

The Northern Region stretched vast and boundless, but ninety percent of it was barren, devoid of any life. Only a handful of oases dotted the land, forming one gathering place for living beings after another.

Over several months, Lu Chen passed through many oases. He stayed for a while at each one, entering its Gambling on Stones shops and using the Source Heaven Wonders to cut out considerable quantities of source. By now, he had accumulated tens of thousands of jin.

This was no small sum. For ninety percent of the world's cultivators, it was a supply of resources they could only yearn for, never attain.

But to Lu Chen, who had obtained the Source Heaven Wonders, this source amounted to nothing. It was merely the fruit of several months of practice.

The true holy land of Gambling on Stones was the Divine City at the heart of the Northern Region. Its source stones had been excavated from the fringes of the Primordial Ancient Mine, and the Various Holy Lands maintained their largest Gambling on Stones shops there, with countless divine treasures hidden within.

For anyone with superb Source Arts, the Holy City's many stone shops were veritable Divine Treasuries.

But Lu Chen had no intention of heading to the Holy City immediately. He had the advantage of being a "prophet," and he had also inherited the legacy of the First-Generation Source Heavenly Master. Cutting out wondrous treasures that would astound the world was a certainty, but with his current cultivation, he probably could not hold on to them. His trip to the Holy City would have to wait.

Several days later, he arrived in a region ten or twenty thousand li from the Primordial Ancient Mine. It was an enormous expanse of Gobi Desert, barren and silent.

A legend surrounded this place: the Flying Immortal Spectacle, also known as the Jade Pool's ascending immortals.

Rumor had it that tens of thousands of years ago, the Jade Pool Holy Land had stood in this region. But later, for some unknown reason, its women had actually abandoned their old grounds and sealed them away, leaving endless speculation behind.

Starlight spilled down, shrouding the entire reddish-brown land in a strange haze. Desolation, deathly silence, and mystery filled the place.

Suddenly, strands of divine light rose at the far edge of the horizon, soaring into the heavens. Within a breath, they were about to vanish into the depths of the sky.

"Finally!"

Lu Chen instantly transformed into a streak of rainbow light and shot into the sky. Unfortunately, he was a few steps too late. He could only watch vague white figures disperse, ethereal and traceless, like immortal spirits ascending, before disappearing into the boundless night.

"What exactly was that?" Watching the wondrous sight disappear, even Lu Chen, this "prophet," was puzzled. Of course, that was not his main objective.

Having found the Jade Pool's ascending immortals, he could now be certain that the Jade Pool Ruins lay somewhere in this region. His purpose in coming was to enter them.

The Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda, spiritually awakened and imbued with immortal qualities, could capture traces left by ancient sages as they comprehended the Dao in various ruins, engraving the scriptures within those traces. And the Jade Pool Ruins were an immense ancient site!

Since the Western Emperor founded the Jade Pool Holy Land, its women had remained here for at least a hundred thousand years. The Dao Marks left by its many saints and sages must have been plentiful. Even the earliest version of the Western Emperor Scripture that he had created remained here.

For Lu Chen, who possessed the Spirit-Communicating Divine Pagoda, the Jade Pool Ruins were a Divine Treasury.

The land beneath the deep night was extraordinarily quiet, with scarcely a sound to be heard. Clear moonlight shone upon the crimson gravel, making every stone gleam.

Lu Chen headed in one direction, extending his powerful divine sense to search beneath the piles of red gravel for a dry well-the entrance to Ancient Yaochi.

After a full four hours, Lu Chen finally detected an ancient well built of jade beneath the ground, with an enormous rock weighing down its opening.

With a wave of his hand, he blasted the ground open and tossed the rock aside. Soon, starlight and moonlight from the night sky poured down, spilling into the ancient well like flowing water.

It was absorbing the light of the sun, moon, and stars to replenish the vital essence within the Jade Pool Ruins.

Lu Chen vanished in a flash, flying into the ancient well. He descended several thousand zhang before reaching the bottom, then followed a pitch-black passage for thirty or forty li. At last, he saw light. Emerging through a large, dry fissure into an empty lakebed, he arrived at the Jade Pool Ruins.

This was a pure land sealed away by supreme divine powers. The essence of heaven and earth within it was abundant, yet all its flowers, grasses, and ancient trees had withered and died. Their leaves had fallen, leaving not a trace of life.

Many dead, towering trees rose into the clouds, each as immense as a mountain peak. In the outside world, ancient trees like these might already have become spirits, but here in the Jade Pool Ruins, they were all dead. The land had become a barren waste, permeated by an eerie aura.

"The Underworld is the final destination of all living beings! Those really aren't just empty words. Even someone as mighty as Great Emperor Wushi couldn't thwart their methods."

Looking at the Jade Pool Ruins, where all living things had vanished, Lu Chen knew the Underworld had caused it all. They had cursed a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body in his twilight years, and even the Western Emperor had been unable to stop them. In the end, corpse qi had leaked out, causing the Jade Pool to wither and forcing its relocation.

Yet after walking a little farther, he discovered a lake with many plants growing along its banks, brimming with life.

Here, trees spread lush branches, and swaths of vines crawled across the ground like serpents. All manner of wondrous flowers and exotic plants released refreshing fragrances, forming a stark contrast with the withered region beyond.

He continued onward and found that ninety percent of the area was steeped in deathly gloom. Only a few places still held any life.

After flying several dozen li, Lu Chen finally saw buildings. Heavenly palaces and halls stood in clusters, but many had already collapsed. Though profound Dao patterns were carved into them, they had been unable to withstand the erosion of long ages.

Before long, he reached the sacred lake of the Jade Pool Ruins. The vital essence here was extraordinarily dense, many times richer than in the outside world. Even without practicing a profound art, the body would automatically absorb the essence of heaven and earth. It truly was a precious place for cultivation.

Unfortunately, he knew that the remains of two supreme beings lay beneath it. Corpse qi might erupt at any moment, making a prolonged stay here extremely dangerous.

Otherwise, he would have liked to use the Jade Pool Ruins for a period of secluded cultivation.

Looking at the Jade Pool's sacred lake, shrouded in vital essence, Lu Chen longed to explore its depths. He knew there were nine levels beneath it, and the spring water on the ninth level was like the divine springs of the great Life Forbidden Zones-the finest spring water between heaven and earth. It could also be called the only divine spring outside the forbidden zones.

It had once been renowned throughout the world, arguably the most famous immortal pool under heaven. The Jade Pool had taken its name from it.

By regularly drinking the water of the Immortal Pool, ordinary people could prolong their lives, its effects rivaling miraculous elixirs.

For cultivators who drank it regularly, its effects were even better. It could improve their constitutions and remold them from the inside out, leaving their bodies flawless and free of impurities after many years.

At the same time, it was an exceptional source of water for refining pills and medicines. Many supreme sects and holy lands throughout the world had once come to the Jade Pool to request its divine spring water.

But now, within the sacred lake, the saints who had once served as the Jade Pool's hidden reserve had been transformed into yin ghosts by the Emperor Fiend. They posed an enormous problem.

If Lu Chen descended with his current strength, he would very likely die below. Thus, he left the place, intending to explore its depths only after he had grown much stronger.

After leaving the Immortal Pool and entering a mountainous area, Lu Chen discovered many stone carvings. Some had become indistinct under the erosion of time, while others remained clear.

Unfortunately, most contained no profound arts or secret techniques, merely records of ancient Jade Pool affairs.

Upon reaching another rock wall, he finally saw something useful. Carved into it was a figure standing with his hands forming a seal, profoundly mysterious. It depicted a powerful seal technique, but only half remained.

Lu Chen was not entirely disappointed by this. Though half of the seal technique's depiction had been destroyed, as long as Dao Marks still lingered here, he had a way to obtain the secret technique.

That way was the Spirit-Communicating Purple Gold Pagoda, which could capture the imprints of divine traces between heaven and earth.

Sure enough, before long, the divine pagoda captured the Dao Marks of a secret technique from this rock wall. It was a famed supreme art of the Northern Region—the Mountain-Embracing Seal.

Ye Fan had once obtained this powerful seal technique in a small sect, but that had merely been the incomplete version circulating in the outside world.

In truth, these seals formed a series of ancient Saint Arts known as the Heaven, Earth, and Human Three Seals: the Heaven Seal—the Heaven-Flipping Seal; the Earth Seal—the Mountain-Embracing Seal; and the Human Seal—the Human King Seal.

The complete Heaven, Earth, and Human Three Seals were on a cliff face within the distant Immortal Mansion World of the Central Plains.

The Mountain-Embracing Seal Lu Chen had now obtained was the true, complete Saint Art, not the incomplete version circulating in the outside world.

As for why Ye Fan could unleash the power of the complete Earth Seal despite obtaining an incomplete seal technique from that small sect, it was because he had manifested it through the "Battle" secret of the Nine Secrets. In essence, it was still the Battle Saint Method.

Having obtained the Earth Seal's secret technique, Lu Chen did not linger and began heading elsewhere. The Jade Pool Ruins contained the Western Emperor Scripture, as well as many Enlightenment Grounds where the Jade Pool's ancient sages had comprehended the Dao. With the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda at hand, obtaining secret techniques and profound arts would be no problem.