Chapter 843: The Primordial Purgatory

“Who?” Li Tian asked, surprised. He and Yan Yixi certainly didn't need a master; Ye Fan said this purely to find them a protector.

That day, led by Xiao Tingting, Ye Fan and his companions headed to the Jiang family, hoping to meet the White-Clothed Divine King. The Divine Maiden Cauldron was crafted by Emperor Hengyu, its inner walls inscribed with mysterious Dao patterns. Handing it over to Divine King Jiang for study might lead to new insights, making it difficult for him to refuse taking the two as disciples.

The archaic atmosphere of the Ancient Aristocratic Family remained unchanged, magnificent and awe-inspiring. Mountains that never seemed to fall rose into the clouds, and silver waterfalls cascaded down like celestial rivers, shrouded in mist and glowing splendor. Arriving there was like witnessing the ancient era where the Great Emperors once resided; everything was so magnificent and grand, leaving hearts deeply shaken. Deep within dozens, even hundreds, of floating colossal peaks were countless temples and an immortal ancient city, which was the most sacred place of the Jiang family.

Jiang Yifei himself came out to greet them, elegant in white robes, with a distinguished and handsome appearance, and a gentle smile that immediately inspired goodwill. A person who had defeated the Jiang family's Divine Physique would attract attention no matter how low-key they were. When he smiled, he seemed ethereal and radiant. As the future master of the Jiang family, he was very hospitable to them, inviting them to a divine island and into an ancient main hall—a highly prestigious treatment usually reserved for sect leaders.

"It's been many years since we parted, Brother Ye, and your demeanor is even more impressive than before," Jiang Yifei said, ordering tea to be served. Ye Fan smiled in response, then explained their purpose, but was disappointed: the White-Clothed Divine King was traveling the world and had not stayed long at home, which was a pity.

In the end, he went to see Old Man Jiang, and they chatted about old times. The elder sighed repeatedly, insisting Ye Fan drink a few more cups. The old man was in excellent spirits and had been living contentedly for years. With Xiao Tingting, the brightest rising star, who in the Jiang family wouldn't seek to win her over? The Grand Yin Physique was destined to shine brilliantly within the Jiang clan, holding immense importance!

"When you get old, you start missing home," Old Man Jiang said. "Two years ago, Tingting accompanied me back to the Southern Region. That little shop is still there, and many old neighbors are doing well. They told me something: a very beautiful woman once came there, asking about everything related to your past at the shop."

"Something like that happened? Who was she?" Ye Fan asked, pouring wine, unable to guess.

"An old friend asked her name," Old Man Jiang replied. "She seemed to be called Lin Jia. She only went that one time and never appeared again."

"What?" Ye Fan was stunned. It was a name from long ago, one he hadn't heard in nearly twenty years, and he had never seen her since. He and Pang Bo weren't the only ones who had arrived in this world; there were over a dozen others, but after all these years, their whereabouts remained unknown. Li Xiaoman had gone to the opposite side of life and death, while Kevin was taken by a holy monk from the Western Desert, who believed him to be a born prodigy and a reincarnation of a Buddhist guardian Vajra. Lin Jia, Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, and others were all individuals of unusual character. Why had none of them appeared throughout all these years?

Hearing Lin Jia's name so suddenly, Ye Fan's mind raced. Long-sealed memories opened, and past events flashed before his eyes.

"She must be a lost acquaintance," Old Man Jiang said. "I went back two years ago, so by that reckoning, the woman likely came to the shop about three years ago, asking about your past."

"It's nothing," Ye Fan replied, recovering his composure and continuing to drink. "Since the shop and neighbors are still there, I'll go take a look and ask around carefully when I have time."

Ye Fan and his companions left the Jiang family, personally seen off by Jiang Yifei, who mentioned that there might be a day in the future when they would fight side by side, as he watched them depart. They arrived at the Divine City and entered the Tianxuan Stone Workshop. Of course, they couldn't directly ask the Saint to take on disciples; they simply wanted to make an acquaintance. The entire Tianxuan Sect had suffered heavy casualties, and the Human Desire Dao had also been annihilated. In a way, they were similar, both being survivors of great calamities.

The Saint of Tianxuan, after observing the Divine Maiden Cauldron, silently contemplated for a long time before opening his eyes and saying, "I understand your intentions. You may frequent the Stone Workshop from now on." A single word from this Saint was enough. If he offered protection, who in the world would dare to challenge them? Even the Primordial Ancestor Kings would be intimidated. The battle at Jade Lake had demonstrated the awe-inspiring power of the human race's Saint, deterring all other races.

Ye Fan was dazed, surprised by how smoothly things had gone. Saints were unfathomable; they had discerned their thoughts, leading to this outcome. Finally, they respectfully bid farewell and returned to the Heavenly Court.

"Hum, hum, ha, hey!" The four little ones were diligently cultivating, while the Big Black Dog continued to drill the two Silver-Blooded Royal Family members, occasionally eliciting bloodcurdling screams. Everything was peaceful, and all these things were on track, destined to shine brilliantly in the future.

"Before I leave, if I can't rescue all my old friends and eliminate all our great enemies, I would truly be letting you down!" Ye Fan murmured to himself, standing on a peak, gazing out at the vast Eastern Wasteland.

Where was Purgatory? There was no need to wonder; Dongfang Ye had fallen off Vulture Descent Cliff, so it must be there. He wanted to bring him out. Although he had long heard the Monkey King describe it as a place from which few could emerge alive, he still wanted to venture in. In ancient times, during the Ten Thousand Races War, mountains of bones piled up, the land turned blood-red, and Vulture Descent Cliff was once used as a mass grave, filled with countless dead. It was originally an ancient battlefield, but it eventually became a burial ground, permeated with dense Yin evil energy. No living creature could survive inside, making it a veritable purgatory.

The Black Emperor leaned forward and said, "To rescue the wild man, we'll need the grave robber. He specializes in digging up tombs and messing with ghosts; he's an authority in that field."

"That fatty isn't easy to find," Li Tian said.

"That's not difficult," Ye Fan said. "I have a way to summon him."

That day, a shocking piece of news spread: a valley in the Northern Region had collapsed, revealing what was suspected to be a crumbled ancient emperor's tomb, with a surge of murderous aura reaching the heavens. The news caused a huge uproar. Countless people rushed to the location, shaking the Eastern Wasteland and alarming many major powers.

Ye Fan, the Black Emperor, the Monkey King, Li Heishui, and Yan Yixi sat on a distant hilltop, watching the valley and observing people arrive one after another.

"Isn't this trick a bit nasty? Look, the various ancient races are mobilizing, and some royal families are rushing here as if their butts are on fire," Li Tian exclaimed.

"Even members of the royal families from Blood Phoenix Mountain and Divine Silkworm Ridge have shown up," the Monkey King added.

"Better safe than sorry; I'm sure the major clans will send people to take a look," Li Heishui said.

Ye Fan's single piece of news stirred up great chaos, attracting countless powerful individuals. The collapsed valley was completely surrounded.

"He's here! That dead fatty has appeared. I'd recognize him even if he were dust," the Black Emperor said, opening his third vertical eye and looking forward.

A dead fatty appeared; no matter how he held his head high, he couldn't hide his shifty demeanor. He observed the collapsed valley, then grumbled, seemingly realizing he'd been tricked, uttering curses.

"Simply brilliant! Just one trick summoned Fatty Duan," Li Tian praised, and then the others burst into laughter. They sent a mental message to Duan De, and the unscrupulous Daoist immediately jumped up, cursing them for being immoral, for making him rush there for nothing, only to trick him into appearing.

The Black Emperor said, "Grave robber, why are you yelling? This time, we've prepared a massive tomb for you to dig, said to contain at least a million people, maybe even ten times that!"

"Nonsense! I, your Daoist master, have traveled the world and dug every kind of tomb imaginable, even climbed over the Immemorial Beginning's Dao platform. I've never heard of a tomb that massive," Duan De scoffed.

"Woof! You truly haven't given up your greedy ambition; you're still eyeing Purple Mountain," the Black Emperor almost started fighting him.

Ye Fan quickly separated them. They were a pair of scoundrels, neither one easy to deal with, and if they really started fighting, it would be chaos. The Monkey King stepped forward and explained that such a place indeed existed, and that a supreme being might truly be buried beneath that battlefield. His father, the Battle Saint Emperor, had once entered it and killed a Holy Spirit.

"What?! The corpse of a Holy Spirit capable of fighting an Ancient Emperor?" Duan De exclaimed, looking like he was about to charge forward. "I must go!"

That day, many people in the Eastern Wasteland cursed; the ancient emperor's tomb had yielded nothing but a few nests of mountain rats. Normally, no one would be so unscrupulous as to trick the public. Many cultivators, including numerous ancient clans, were furious. As for the instigators, they had long since vanished into the void, arriving at Vulture Descent Cliff, a notorious perilous place in the Northern Region.

As the name suggested, even an eagle landing on its cliff face would fall, illustrating its astonishing steepness and treacherousness, making it impossible to gain a foothold.

"This place holds the corpses of dozens, even hundreds, of ancient powerful beings?" Even Duan De, the expert, and the Black Emperor found that hard to believe. The cliff was steep, towering into the clouds, but the valley below seemed too small. Although unfathomably deep, it didn't look like it could accommodate hundreds of people.

"You'll know once we go down," the Monkey King said with a smile.

Vulture Descent Cliff was ten thousand *ren* high, a sheer drop. The valley it enclosed was like a chimney, extremely steep and perilous. Its entire body was dark red, as if stained with blood. According to the Monkey King, it was indeed due to ancient battles that raged fiercely, staining it this color with the blood of powerful beings, a color that never faded.

They leaped in. Wind whistled in their ears as they descended rapidly, the fierce gusts making their skin tingle, amidst surging black clouds and malevolent energy.

"It's getting bigger! How is it becoming more expansive below?" Li Tian exclaimed in surprise.

Below, they could vaguely make out rolling mountains and vast, boundless plains. It wasn't a valley at all; it looked like a continent. "In ancient times, this place was a battlefield—" Back then, too many people died in battle. The ancient battlefield was filled with seas of consciousness, malicious energy soared to the heavens, ghosts appeared in broad daylight, sorrowful clouds hung low, and the cries of ghosts echoed. Because so many had died, this vast region had nearly become a human realm, and many strange events occurred there. Eventually, an ancient emperor of unknown era used his power to grasp the entire land in his palm, refining it and drawing it beneath Vulture Descent Cliff, thus transforming it into its current state.

Soon after, they landed on the ground. The area ahead was incredibly vast. With their divine eyes, they could see the scenery, though it was somewhat dim.

"Someone's here!" They were startled. About twenty people stood motionless at the entrance of the battlefield, clad in ancient battle armor, like soldiers from the underworld.

"What is this? Are they guardians of Purgatory? Are there really Underworld Heavenly Sovereigns in the world?" Li Heishui exclaimed, surprised.

"No, they're ancient races. If I'm not mistaken, they should be from Primeval Lake. Why are they guarding this place? What happened inside, or is there some secret treasure?" the Monkey King said, uncertain.

"Primeval Lake?"

"It's one of the great Imperial Races from the Primordial Era, the same race that Yuangu belongs to," the Monkey King explained.

"Who are you? Why have you intruded into Purgatory?" The twenty or so people in front of them noticed their presence and demanded.

"It's... the Saint Prince!"

"And the Human Sacred Body!"

Evidently, the lineage of the Battle Saint Ape had astonished the ancient times, and all races recognized them. As for Ye Fan, his terrifying prowess in the Divine City battle had struck fear into people's hearts, making many ancient races remember him and his portrait.

"Why are you here?" the Monkey King asked.

"Run!" These people's expressions changed in unison upon hearing his question, and they rushed deeper into the valley. Ye Fan and the Monkey King acted together. One emitted golden blood energy that soared to the sky, while the other's entire body glowed with golden fur, illuminating the path ahead. Their Dharma bodies, a thousand *zhang* tall, stepped forward, cutting off the path of their enemies, nearly crushing them.

"Puff," "puff"—

Seeing this, these ancient races were decisive; they all self-destructed, turning into twenty-odd clouds of blood mist, dying instantly.

"So ruthless to themselves!" Ye Fan exclaimed in surprise, extending a large hand to gather their fragmented divine thoughts, wanting to examine them closely.

"This is..." He only managed to reconstruct one memory image: a man and a woman entering the valley, whom these individuals had been unable to stop—it was Hua Yunfei and Li Xiaoman. What was happening inside Purgatory? How had the ancient imperial clan from Primeval Lake arrived, and even the successor of the Ruthless Emperor? This was truly strange! Ye Fan wanted to capture more fragments of divine thoughts, but there was simply no time; they were all crushed by the malevolent energy, turning into smoke and ceasing to exist.

"Something's changed in Purgatory, everyone be careful!" the Monkey King warned.

This place was sealed by an ancient emperor of an unknown era, and the Monkey King's father, the Battle Saint Emperor, had also visited and even killed a Holy Spirit here. It was definitely not a pure land.

"Most likely, there are powerful experts from Primeval Lake inside. Yuangu might be here; we must be vigilant!" Duan De said.

"Hua Yunfei and Li Xiaoman have also entered. If we encounter them, we must kill them!" Ye Fan said in a deep voice.

After that, they walked into the vast and boundless battlefield, which truly resembled a continent, limitless and endless. After advancing for dozens of miles, Ye Fan opened his Heaven's Eye. It looked like a desolate wilderness under twilight, with swirling dark mist, very quiet and eerie. Soon after, they saw vast areas of tombs, each resembling a small mountain, grand and colossal, somewhat frightening.

"When we looked from above, I thought they were mountains. I never imagined they were ancient tombs!" Li Tian gasped.

Duan De's eyes immediately lit up. He rubbed his hands together, eager to go forward.

"Let's deal with the real business first! We didn't actually bring you here to rob graves!" Ye Fan pulled him back.

"The buried individuals were all powerful experts, otherwise their bodies wouldn't have been preserved, but there shouldn't be any burial goods," the Monkey King said.

They advanced cautiously, finally entering an open area where skeletons were everywhere. Perhaps they should be called fossils, as they had turned to stone. It was endless to the eye, and this was only a corner of the ancient battlefield. It was hard to imagine how many people had died there.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a terrifying aura erupted ahead, chilling and intimidating. Even powerful individuals like them felt their bodies turn icy cold, as if plunged into an ice cellar.

"I, your Daoist master, have a premonition," Duan De said, rubbing his hands, claiming it was an intuition. "Perhaps we can unearth an ancient emperor's mausoleum, or discover an immortal's tomb, or even dig out the Hall of Yama!"

"What, that is...!" Only Ye Fan's expression changed. He was utterly shocked, staring blankly ahead, wanting to curse Duan De for his ominous words. The others saw nothing, not even with their Heaven's Eyes or the Monkey King's Fiery Golden Eyes, but they all felt a tragic aura, as if millions of beings were wailing, and a horde of fierce primordial beasts was stampeding across the land.

"Underworld soldiers crossing!" Ye Fan's face stiffened. He witnessed an incredible scene: phalanxes of underworld soldiers, uniform in ancient attire, some holding iron halberds, others rusty battle spears, marched across the front. Tens of thousands of them strode forward, pressing towards the infinitely distant horizon.

Wasn't this a strange phenomenon that only a Source Master could see after experiencing misfortune in their later years? How was he seeing it now? A chill ran down his spine, and he momentarily lost himself.