Shrouded Sky

Chapter 348 - God-King Jiang Taixu

In the Northern Region, the Jiang Clan were revered like gods. Their position was unshakable, supreme and untouchable.

No one knew how many kingdoms lay across this vast land, great and small alike. Many of the ancient nations worshiped the same god.

Grand Emperor Eternal Universe.

It was easy to imagine just how immense the Jiang Clan’s influence was in this region, they had been deified in the hearts of the people.

Snow covered everything in white. The wind howled across the frozen earth, snowflakes dancing wildly in the air. The cold was bitter, the breath of men freezing into shards of ice the instant it left their lips.

During such a frigid winter, few dared to travel between towns, much less venture into the wilderness.

Ye Fan carried the God-Striking Whip on his back, striding alone through the northern blizzard. He crossed dozens of kingdoms, the paradise of the Jiang Clan now less than two thousand miles away.

On this frozen plain, there were a few scattered settlements. In this kind of harsh winter, few ever left their homes. Occasionally, one might see sled dogs pulling a cart across the snow.

Before long, Ye Fan found a cultivator in one of the villages, a mere Life Spring stage practitioner. After Ye Fan gave him ten catties of source, the man agreed to deliver a message.

Ye Fan could not go to the Jiang Clan himself, doing so might bring death. The matter involved the Nine Secrets, a heritage of unimaginable importance.

He had no way to explain how he came to know of it. If he admitted to having entered the Purple Mountain, even with good intentions, he would likely be detained.

He had no wish to suffer such a fate, doing a good deed only to meet a miserable end.

“The blood flowing in the Jiang Clan’s veins is the blood of gods…”

In a hunter’s hut, the earthen bed was warm. Ye Fan drank old wine and ate dried venison as he talked with the old hunter, learning much about the Jiang Clan from him.

The fire crackled in the stove, the room filled with comforting heat. After a few cups of wine, Ye Fan gazed at the storm outside, the raging wind, the swirling snow, and for a moment, he felt at peace.

Before leaving, he placed a piece of source on the table, then stepped once more into the wind and snow.

That day, Ye Fan sought out five low-level cultivators in total, entrusting them each with the same message. Because the matter was so vital, he could not risk any single letter being lost.

The content of the letter was simple.

A rough map of the interior of the Purple Mountain, pointing directly to the place where Jiang Taixu was trapped. His name was written clearly.

Alongside it, Ye Fan placed a trace of the War Paragon Art’s imprint within five pieces of jade. Once the Jiang Clan saw this, they would have to believe.

After completing all of this, Ye Fan turned and left without delay. He used the Black Jade Altar several times in succession, crossing dozens of kingdoms through the void.

However, he did not leave the region. Instead, he settled in a small city, where he quietly cultivated and studied the Celestial Source Tome.

Over the following days, tension filled the Northern Region. Jiang Clan cultivators appeared everywhere, clearly searching for something, causing unease among the people.

Ye Fan knew then that his message had reached them, the Jiang Clan had received the news. He breathed a long sigh of relief. What needed to be done was done. Whether the God-King could be saved now depended on the Jiang Clan’s strength.

A few days later, a shocking rumor swept across the Northern Region.

God-King Jiang Taixu might still be alive!

The news struck like thunder, shaking the entire land. It spread like wildfire, reaching every corner of the world.

Soon, the whole Eastern Wilderness was in an uproar. Every sacred land and great sect heard the news, leaving countless mighty figures dumbfounded.

God-King Jiang Taixu was a legend, hailed as the most powerful man in the Northern Region in the past five thousand years. None could match his combat prowess.

When his name shook the world, he was not even old. In the eyes of many ancient beings, he was but a young man, yet he had already cultivated the God-King Physique to Grand Completion.

Many predicted that, given time, his potential would be limitless.

At the height of his glory, his every move stirred the world.

But at the peak of his rise, when his brilliance was unmatched, he suddenly vanished, never to appear again. He had disappeared from the human world entirely.

At the time, people speculated that he had entered a death seclusion, attempting to break through to an even higher realm.

But as time flowed, one thousand years, two thousand years, people eventually accepted that the God-King must have met some misfortune.

No one was more devastated than the Jiang Clan. The birth of a God-King signified a family’s rise to glory, yet their newly risen star had fallen before his light could fully shine.

In those years, the Jiang Clan raged. They suspected foul play from other holy lands, believing that peerless cultivators had conspired to assassinate Jiang Taixu.

More than four thousand years ago, the world teetered on the brink of a holy war between the great sects. Only after long explanations and careful diplomacy was the crisis defused.

Four millennia passed. Jiang Taixu’s name had almost faded into legend, until now, when it resurfaced, stunning all.

That peerless young god of a bygone age was still alive. Few dared believe it.

“To have a son like Jiang Taixu!” some ancient ancestors had once sighed.

“What truly happened back then?”

Four thousand years ago, Jiang Taixu had been like jade, refined, unyielding, a peerless talent whose presence commanded the attention of all.

“Why has he been silent for so long?”

Normally, a God-King’s lifespan could reach four or five thousand years. Now, having vanished for so long, he must be nearing the end of his life.

How could he suddenly reappear at such a time?

His youth had long passed, his vigor faded. Could an aged God-King with only a few years left still shake the world?

The Jiang Clan’s higher-ups were furious when the secret leaked, but no matter how they searched, they could not find the source.

Soon after, another shocking revelation spread.

God-King Jiang Taixu was trapped within the Purple Mountain.

Everything came to light. The God-King who had vanished for four thousand years had been imprisoned in the Purple Mountain all along. The world trembled.

A fragment of lost history was finally unveiled, but it only raised more questions.

How had the news emerged?

Had the inheritance of the Beginningless Emperor already been seized?

How had Jiang Taixu survived four thousand years without dying? Did he obtain something extraordinary within the Purple Mountain?

Could the legendary ‘Battle’ Secret of the Nine Secrets be about to reappear in the world?

Not only the Eastern Wilderness, but even the Middle Continent’s countless sects were shaken. They had gathered around the Purple Mountain, and now learned that a living God-King might be within.

When Ye Fan heard the news, his brow furrowed. The Jiang Clan’s secret had clearly been leaked on purpose.

Ten days later, the Jiang Clan brought forth their Paragon Artifact and marched toward the Purple Mountain.

It was the Sun God Furnace, also known as the Eternal Universe Furnace, forged from Phoenix-Blood Red-Gold and tempered by the Supreme Eternal Fire from the Sunfall Ridge within the Primordial Mine. It could shatter the heavens and incinerate all creation.

Its might was unimaginable. Even beings like the Peacock Monarch who could roar apart mountains, or the Red Dragon Daoist who could crush armies, would be reduced to ashes if struck by it.

The Jiang Clan were the first to reveal a Paragon Artifact, the Eternal Universe Furnace. They also urged the Ji Clan to bring forth the Infinite Void Mirror, and the Radiant Light Sacred Ground to reveal their Dragon-Rune Cauldron.

This confirmed the truth.

Jiang Taixu was indeed trapped within the Purple Mountain. The world was set ablaze.

The third assault on the Purple Mountain began in haste.

The Jiang Clan held partial maps of its interior. This drew many powers to their doors, seeking a glimpse.

But the Jiang Clan’s elders had one response, “Enter the Purple Mountain with us, and share the map.”

They sought to unite the sacred lands and the great sects of the Middle Continent to rescue the God-King.

Even leaving aside the inheritance of the Beginningless Emperor, just the Battle Secret of the Nine Secrets was enough to drive the Jiang Clan to action, it was of immeasurable worth.

Half a month later, the world’s attention converged on the Purple Mountain. The place became a gathering ground of dragons and tigers, Eastern Wilderness and Middle Continent powerhouses alike surrounded it.

This was to be the final attempt. The Paragon Artifacts had been unleashed, if even they failed, it would mean eternal failure.

Back in the Jiang Clan’s homeland, the storm subsided.

Ye Fan trekked through the snow until, in the distance, he finally saw the faint outline of their territory.

From dozens of miles away, he peered with his Celestial Source Perception.

What he saw was truly a sacred land. Outside lay a world of frozen wasteland and howling blizzards, but ahead, clouds shimmered with multicolored light, mist and rainbows swirling, life flourishing.

Vast mountains floated in the sky, never falling. Each was majestic and ancient, exuding the aura of primordial creation.

Some peaks were wrapped in colorful mists, waterfalls of silver cascading thousands of feet down like the Milky Way descending from the heavens.

Others were shrouded in black clouds, radiating an oppressive might.

And these were only what could be seen, the deeper regions were hidden, rumored to contain temples from before the Desolate Era.

It was also said that within the Jiang territory stood an eternal Celestial City, suspended in the clouds. Though smaller than the actual Celestial City, it was still awe-inspiring, an immortal monument surviving from ancient times.

“They say several sacred lands possess floating celestial cities… could there be a hidden connection?” Ye Fan pondered.

He couldn’t help but sigh. A force of such magnitude, its heritage truly fathomless.

“It’s said that the Four Pillars Chapter of the Eternal Universe Scripture is to the Eastern Wilderness what the Oceanic Wheel Chapter of the Dao Scripture or the Dao Palace Chapter of the Western Emperor Scripture are in their respective realms, the greatest of all.”

Ye Fan shook his head. Though he longed to learn it, seeing the Jiang Clan’s vast might made him realize it was nearly impossible.

He thought back to his arrogant boast about seizing the Jade Pool Heart Scripture and felt a wave of embarrassment. If not for the Black Emperor leading him to the ruins of Jade Pool, he never would have obtained it.

He had once tried to capture disciples of the great sects to search their divine seas, but the moment he probed them, their consciousness shattered instantly.

The more he learned, the more he respected these eternal powers. To challenge them with brute force alone was impossible, unless one tread the path of a Grand Emperor.

“I guess I won’t be seeing little Tingting anytime soon,” Ye Fan murmured.

He took one last look at the distant sacred land, then turned and left. There was no reason to stay. One day, when his cultivation reached its peak, he could walk straight into the Jiang Clan’s realm, not stand here, gazing from afar.

Ye Fan journeyed on across the snowfields, traveling swiftly until he reached a small town a thousand miles away. As he walked along its narrow street, a strange sense of familiarity stirred in him.

Then he froze.

Ahead stood a tiny tavern, simple, almost shabby. An old man with a deeply wrinkled face and patched clothing was inside, slowly wiping the tables again and again.

“Huh? Old Jiang… how can he be here?!”

Ye Fan was stunned. Why was this happening?

Could little Tingting be here too?