Chapter 1002: The Land of Immortality

Chapter 1003: The Land of Immortality

The majestic Kunlun, grand and vast, traverses the universe and dominates the eight directions, stretching boundlessly.

This is a primeval, boundless wilderness. The Kunlun Mountains in the mortal realm are just a small corner, a mere offshoot of this main range. Truly venturing within makes one feel utterly insignificant.

Facing it is like confronting the vast starry sky. Every peak is astonishingly high, shrouded in clouds and mist, as if primordial chaos pervades the air, imbued with the initial essence of creation.

If one were to ascend high into the sky, one would perceive that this is a slumbering great dragon, its countless colossal mountains forming its sprawling, coiling spine, presenting a majestic and awe-inspiring spectacle.

"This truly is a Pure Land of Soaring Dragons!" Ye Fan, skilled in Source Techniques, could naturally discern the extraordinary topography. As the ancestor of ten thousand ley lines and the root of all mountains, the terrain here had reached the utmost limit permitted by heaven and earth.

"Thump," "thump..." The ground trembled slightly as heavy footsteps echoed from afar. Several colossal creatures appeared, dozens of feet tall, each step shaking the earth.

"What kind of monsters are these?" Ye Fan was surprised. These creatures resembled giant apes, but they had a spiral horn on their foreheads. Their bodies were blood-red, covered in thick fur, and their eyes glowed like torches.

Kunlun is home to many ancient beasts. Although the area ahead was a forbidden zone, many relatively safe regions had been separated out, allowing various creatures to survive.

They immediately fixated their gaze on Ye Fan. The horns on their foreheads instantly crackled with lightning and thunder, striking with a searing blue bolt that sliced off a piece of the mountaintop.

Ye Fan, bathed in radiant light, hung motionless in the air. On this side of the starry sky, there was almost no one in the current era who could harm him.

"As expected of the ancient land of Kunlun, these beasts are comparable to today's sect masters." He pointed his hand, and a sheet of pure light shot out, instantly reducing their cultivation by half. Then, he unleashed an overwhelming divine power that spread across the land.

The giant beasts immediately trembled. They all knelt down, trembling with fear, daring not to act rashly again. They remained motionless, as if revering a deity.

Ye Fan extracted some memories from their minds, learning that in this ancient Kunlun range, there were still some powerful beings which they regarded as taboos and dared not approach.

At the same time, this was also a secret land, capable of giving birth to unpredictable divine objects – a rare treasure.

Ye Fan let them go and continued forward with Little Song. Comparing his movements with the topographical map in his hand to avoid straying into dangerous areas, he did not move very quickly.

Along the way, ancient trees stood robust and towering into the clouds, many having grown for unknown centuries. Sometimes several merged together, shading an area of many miles and even dwarfing high mountains.

Furthermore, many ancient vines, like coiling dragons, horizontally entangled several large mountains. Vines covered the ground, and cliffs were overgrown, lush green and robust.

"Plants wither and flourish, yet few can transcend their tribulation and transform." Just as there are countless humans, how many truly embark on the path of cultivation?

The vegetation within Kunlun Mountains grew profusely because, rooted in dragon veins, they received nourishment from the earth's energy, granting them exceptionally strong vitality. Yet, few mountain and forest plants developed spiritual consciousness.

Except for a few rare species, ordinary plants could only serve as "wedding dresses," pointlessly contributing the life essence they had nurtured.

Little Song ran and jumped about, digging up many ancient herbs. Their medicinal ages were very long, having grown for ancient periods, and they were filled with abundant spiritual energy.

Ye Fan was startled because, in an undulating mountain region, he discovered a natural dragon cave, capable of gestating immortal beings, yet no sacred embryo had emerged.

This area was characterized by verdant, overlapping peaks, formed by the accumulation of many mountains, creating a topography like a coiled dragon and crouching tiger. At its center was a deep valley, which could be called a naturally formed dragon cave.

Rosy light gushed forth, and auspicious colors were emitted. But when Ye Fan ventured deeper, he found no divine embryo. He only unearthed a deceased stone figure, whose vitality had been taken by the mountain's energy before it could fully transform into a human form.

"How pitiful," he mused. "Sacred spirits should seize the essence of heaven and earth, and the divine splendor of the mountains and land should be theirs to take. Yet now, it's reversed; they were countered and died here."

The Kunlun terrain was formed for the birth of immortals. The vital energy from all eight directions and divine splendor from all ten directions converged through the dragon veins towards the central forbidden zone, a power the sacred spirit embryo could not contend with.

Ye Fan walked for most of the day, having already entered the depths of the Kunlun Mountains. He encountered some rare spiritual objects, and Little Song even dug up a small medicinal king.

Such a rare species was uncommon. Its medicinal age exceeded fifty thousand years, and situated on a dragon vein node, it received abundant nourishment from the earth's energy. Its entire body was translucent, and its fragrance was intoxicating, making Little Song dance with delighted intoxication.

This was the first time Little Song had personally gathered such a spiritual object. It happily hugged the herb, which was even taller than itself, and presented it to Ye Fan like a precious offering.

Normally, Ye Fan always gave it spiritual fruits, but now the roles were reversed. Little Song happily ran and jumped about, digging for herbs everywhere, showing filial respect to its master.

"Roar..." A clear roar echoed, and boundless heat waves swept through. The land ahead was barren for a thousand li, not a blade of grass growing – truly an unusual sight within Kunlun.

"Drought fiend!" Ye Fan was surprised. He saw a humanoid monster, over two feet tall. Wherever it passed, rocks melted and vegetation turned to ash, transforming the land into a desolate wasteland.

Red light flickered as the drought fiend transformed into a streak of fire and charged over, carrying with it immense flames. But it was sent flying by Ye Fan's flick of a finger. He then flipped his hand, moving a large mountain to suppress it.

"How can such a thing exist? Legends say these are transformed corpses. Does someone dare to bury bodies in Kunlun?" Volume 7 of "Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes" records: "What are called drought fiends in recent times are all reanimated corpses. Dig them up and burn them, and rain will often follow."

Ye Fan gazed into the distance, observing the surrounding landscape. This Kunlun was the location of the main dragon vein, holding the hope of gestating immortals. Who would dare to bury a coffin in such a place?

They traversed this area and entered a vibrant landscape of mountains and seas. Little Song, carefree, happily carried a small herb basket, collecting herbs everywhere.

Although the small herb basket was only fist-sized, it was a treasure refined by Ye Fan, capable of containing mountains and rivers. Normally, it was where Little Song stored its spiritual fruits.

Soon after, it let out a joyful chirp, having dug up another small medicinal king. Around sixty thousand years old, its medicinal power was intense, its entire body seemed cast from gems, and its fragrance was intoxicating.

This was astonishing. Even in Beidou, it was difficult to unearth many small medicinal kings in the mountains. This area of Kunlun was primarily inaccessible; without a topographical map, one would surely die upon entering.

This was an accumulation from ancient times. This place was almost becoming a sacred land of precious herbs. Unfortunately, Ye Fan and the others could only proceed on specific terrains, unable to venture into broader regions; otherwise, they would face unparalleled deadly dangers.

"Plop!" Suddenly, Little Song fell into an underground cave. It quickly scrambled out, lightly patting its tiny chest, clearly having been greatly startled.

"Oh, it's here. Someone buried coffins here," Ye Fan realized. He discovered stretches of coffins underground. Most were made of stone, thus they had not decayed and were preserved until now.

"What kind of people were these," he wondered, "that after so many years they turned into drought fiends?"

"Boom!" Suddenly, a stone coffin was pushed open, and a monster with fiery red fur all over its body leaped out. Its eyes were daunting, and it quickly pounced.

It opened its mouth and spat out boundless black light, like a demonic god escaped from hell. It actually possessed divine abilities comparable to ancient sect masters, making Little Song retreat in fear.

A ray of divine radiance burst forth from Ye Fan's glabella, instantly disintegrating the black light in the cave, pinning the creature in place, and severing its entire cultivation.

Other stone coffins rattled as several corpse beasts leaped out, but they were all suppressed, unable to approach, and instantly ignited, turning into ashes.

Ye Fan stared at some ancient characters on the coffins. After a long time, a strange look appeared in his eyes. They were actually characters from Beidou, seen here on Earth.

"So that's it! They are people from the Feathered Divine Dynasty!" Back then, a group of people had escorted the "hope" of becoming immortal. When they came to the Kunlun Immortal Veins to repair their withdrawal route, they encountered supreme experts. Their topographical map was lost, and some of them were trapped here.

"These are their descendants," he realized. "Their bloodline continued for a long time, but they all eventually died here, unable to escape."

Kunlun is an immortal vein, where dragon qi is nurtured underground, nourishing these corpses. Some of them had barely decayed even now, transforming into drought ghouls and other demons.

Ye Fan proceeded according to the topographical map in his hand, encountering no dangers. This was a winding and circuitous ancient path. Everywhere else was guarded by ancient divine formations; venturing deeper would lead to annihilation of body and spirit.

Two days later, he sensed wisps of immortal qi wafting from ahead, indicating that he was nearing the land of immortality, making his heart pound with excitement.

A streak of green mist flashed by, emitting waves of fragrance. Little Song almost floated along with it, twitching its cute little nose, utterly intoxicated, vigorously blinking its large eyes.

It was a precious herb! An ancient herb, capable of moving by relying on earth veins, seemed to have gained sentience. Glowing with green light, its fragrance was intoxicating, startling even Ye Fan, who personally gave chase.

"Could it be an immortal medicine?" he wondered. Rongcheng Shi had unearthed an immortal medicine in these Kunlun Immortal Veins back then, so finding another would not be surprising, for this was a land that nurtured immortals.

The green mist flickered, emitted by its vines and leaves. This ancient herb was extremely fast. Its roots resembled an old man, and it fled quickly with a look of panic.

"It's Polygonum multiflorum!" Legend has it that once Polygonum multiflorum transforms into human form, consuming it grants immortality. However, human-shaped roots have never been seen in the world; most Polygonum multiflorum roots are tuberous.

Yet now, a human-shaped Polygonum multiflorum was seen here. This was truly an oddity, and Ye Fan was quite surprised, chasing after it with Little Song.

This Polygonum multiflorum's vines and leaves were verdant green, its roots golden, and its aged face bore a look of panic. It sank into the earth veins and naturally fled into the dangerous zone marked on the topographical map.

Then, it stopped there, repeatedly cupping its hands together and pleading, begging Ye Fan to spare its life.

This was a semi-divine medicine, on the same level as the Ancestral Ginseng of Changbai Mountain. If four such herbs were combined, they could roughly equal one immortal medicine.

This was the ancestor of Polygonum multiflorum, having grown for an unknown countless years. It was a divine herb nurtured by heaven and earth, breathing in the essence of the sun and moon, its entire being filled with boundless and inexhaustible vital energy.

It could not traverse through the air like an immortal medicine, but it could travel through earth veins like the Ancestral Ginseng of Changbai Mountain. Only a Source Heavenly Master like Ye Fan could capture it.

Excluding its lush green vines and leaves, the old Polygonum multiflorum was over half a meter tall, its entire body golden with an intoxicating fragrance, kneeling there, trembling slightly.

Little Song, being kind-hearted, nervously raised its head, its long eyelashes trembling slightly, blinking its large, black-gem-like eyes, and pleaded with Ye Fan, as it felt the Polygonum multiflorum was very pitiful.

The old Polygonum multiflorum shed tears, bowing in reverence to Little Song and pleading bitterly, conveying a blurry consciousness, begging Ye Fan to spare its life.

This type of divine herb, like an immortal medicine, found it difficult to develop powerful spiritual consciousness. Its medicinal body could live forever, but it lacked heaven-reaching cultivation and could not protect itself.

Ye Fan nodded. He also did not wish to commit an act that would harm the harmony of nature by picking such an ancient herb. After all, Polygonum multiflorum was not an immortal medicine; it would dry up and die not long after leaving this pure land, its vital energy gradually dissipating, unless consumed immediately.

Currently, he did not need to consume an immortal medicine, and doing so would merely be a waste.

The old Polygonum multiflorum expressed immense gratitude, conveying a blurry consciousness that if Ye Fan or Little Song's life force withered, they could come here to find it. It would surely appear upon being summoned and give them its Polygonum multiflorum essence blood, bringing them back from the dead.

Ye Fan was speechless. He hadn't expected to form such a positive connection. Although he hadn't picked the human-shaped Polygonum multiflorum, if an old friend's life was nearing its end in the future, they could still come here to be saved.

Afterwards, he asked the old Polygonum multiflorum about everything in Kunlun Mountains, and was surprised to learn that there was a deity in this place!

The Polygonum multiflorum couldn't say what kind of deity it was. Its spiritual consciousness was weak, and it couldn't express itself clearly, not even knowing what the deity's true form looked like.

Finally, the Polygonum multiflorum led the way, taking Ye Fan to a secret place. It stated that there were divine traces left by an ancient immortal there, and that it had personally seen an immortal maiden back then, whose divine abilities surpassed all others, past and present, stronger than anyone who had ever visited this place.

The Polygonum multiflorum had lived for an extremely long time. Heaven and earth had granted it an immortal body but could not bestow upon it the aptitude for cultivation. Like other divine medicines, this was a fatal flaw.

Throughout these endless years, it had witnessed many anecdotes and secret events here. But its spiritual consciousness was limited; it had even personally witnessed legendary divine beings.

Ye Fan was startled. In communication with the Polygonum multiflorum, when discussing Rongcheng Shi, it provided a detailed description, and even mentioned that Rongcheng Shi had captured an immortal medicine here.

The Polygonum multiflorum immediately recalled this past event, stating that the divine medicine had willingly left with Rongcheng Shi, wishing to escape this place.

"Why?" Ye Fan asked, puzzled.

The Polygonum multiflorum explained that immortal medicines were sentient and possessed a divine nature to seek good fortune and avoid disaster. They had foreseen that this place might suffer a great catastrophe in the future and had departed early.

As for the Polygonum multiflorum, it hadn't reached that level yet, not having developed such a premonition, believing there were still long ages ahead. This left Ye Fan speechless for a moment.

The Polygonum multiflorum had seen Rongcheng Shi and witnessed his overwhelming magical power. After all, he was a quasi-emperor of an era, revered throughout the world, with few rivals throughout history.

However, the Polygonum multiflorum stated that he was by no means the most powerful. Others of similar caliber had also visited this place, yet all of them combined couldn't compare to even a ten-thousandth of that immortal maiden. She could be said to have surpassed all ancients and contemporaries.

Back then, even the Ginseng Fruit Tree had wanted to willingly follow that immortal maiden. But for some unknown reason, she had tear stains on her face and completely ignored it.

Ye Fan was dumbfounded. This was simply too mystical—a divine medicine willingly offered itself, yet someone refused it!

Soon after, he sighed. Why did ancient Great Emperors all possess an immortal medicine? This was a mutual choice: one sought longevity, the other sought protection.

"What did she look like, and what did she leave behind?"

The Polygonum multiflorum led him forward, telling him that the ancient immortal had a Great Dao Treasure Bottle suspended above her head. Wherever she passed, all things retreated, and all laws collapsed. In heaven and earth, she alone reigned supreme.

"What... it's her!"