Chapter 1010: Spanning the Ages
The Immortal Pool was about three meters long and over a meter wide, made of an unknown material. Inside, radiant light blazed brilliantly, and the essence of heaven and earth was so dense it had condensed into liquid, gathered within the pool.
Ye Fan opened his Heaven’s Eye, and his expression instantly froze. He saw the “hope” of becoming an immortal, his face shifting through a series of changes as he remained silent for a long time.
“It’s that!”
It was a bronze vessel, dull and lusterless, quietly resting at the bottom of the pool. Its entire body was engraved with various patterns—birds, beasts, fish, insects, the sun, moon, and stars—all blurred and indistinct.
It was a cauldron!
It was not intact, severely damaged, with less than a third of the original remaining. The three legs were still there, but the circular walls were almost entirely gone, and the bottom had a large hole.
“The Green Cauldron… it’s that!” Ye Fan’s eyes blazed with divine light.
If this cauldron had been complete, it would have stood about a meter tall, simple and natural, its entire body bearing mottled marks. It was made of the same material as the two pieces of green copper he carried.
Ye Fan was stunned for a long time. He had not ruled out this possibility; before entering the Immortal Birthplace, he had made countless speculations, considering every possibility. Yet, seeing it in reality still left him dumbfounded.
“The hope of becoming an immortal is actually this!”
He murmured to himself, his heart shaken to its core. Finally seeing the true form, the object that had carried the hopes of countless people across past, present, and future was now right before him.
Ye Fan’s emotions were extremely complex. After a life-and-death search, with countless heroes across the ages tracking it across the stars, to see the main body one day felt surreal.
“That’s right, the Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty should have been escorting this all along!”
In the Big Dipper Star Domain, some ancient texts recorded that the Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty had led the world over two hundred thousand years ago and once possessed a Green Cauldron.
Years later, when the Central Province Ancestral Temple emerged, various secrets spread. The world’s powers, including the ancient clans, were all stirred and swarmed there to compete for the supreme treasure.
Among them, the various ancient royal clans sought nothing else but this Green Cauldron, for it was of great significance, and every clan desired it.
When Ye Fan left, the Central Province Ancestral Temple was a gathering storm, with all the world’s heroes rising. A great battle was about to take place there, primarily over this ancient cauldron.
“Many heroes emerged, even the ancient kings could not remain calm, and even Chaos Expansion Great Sage personally arrived…”
None of the heroes would have guessed that the Green Cauldron was not in the Central Province Ancestral Temple but on this side of the stars, placed here over two hundred thousand years ago for repair.
“No wonder the two pieces of old copper trembled when I returned to Earth a few years ago,” Ye Fan muttered to himself. He had indeed felt that sensation back then. When descending from the outer realm, aside from glimpsing countless towering mountains tens of thousands of feet high, the most peculiar thing was the Green Copper’s tremor, which he found strange.
Ye Fan’s eyes blazed as he stared at the bottom of the Immortal Pool. This was a cauldron heavier than ten thousand ages, the greatest throughout history, its true value utterly immeasurable.
The mere chance to become an immortal was enough to drive people mad, to make ancient great emperors act for it. If this were spread, the vast starry sky would struggle to remain calm, with battles raging to madness over it.
“Long ages, endless stars, so many rises and falls, so much decay and prosperity, from one ancient star to another…” Ye Fan sighed deeply.
All of this was too mysterious and dreamlike. Throughout history, how many heroes had been involved, hiding countless secrets, filled with blood, bones, and tears.
This Immortal Birthplace had ancient origins, at least several million years old, involving ancient emperors and imperial clans, with many secrets impossible to fully explain.
Ye Fan pondered. He could piece together some threads, but truly tracing the source and clarifying each ancient era was utterly impossible.
Initially, it should have originated from the Heavenly Court, an extremely ancient period, likely before the ancient times, or even older. They had designed all of this.
“I don’t know if there were immortals in the ancient Heavenly Court, but they firmly believed this could nurture immortals, laying out a grand blueprint for it…”
The ancient Heavenly Court was immensely powerful, capable of driving the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains from one ancient star to another, which was proof enough. They did not hesitate to destroy many life-bearing lands.
Among them, aside from that Emperor Lord, there were even several other ancient emperors, because from the layout of the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains and the arrangement of the Kunlun Immortal Birthplace, Ye Fan discovered that a Source Emperor must have been involved!
From this, he inferred that era was extremely prosperous, with great emperors coexisting. This was evident, and it was precisely why the Heavenly Court’s supremacy and power were demonstrated.
Ye Fan had reason to believe that the Source Emperor could move the sun, moon, stars, and mountain ranges, likely one of the main designers of the grand blueprint, pouring immense effort into it.
Unfortunately, their plan was too long and distant; many of them could not wait for the results. During this time, Emperor Venerable died, the gods’ chaos erupted across the domains, the Heavenly Court collapsed, and the Immortal Cauldron was taken by the victors.
But whether the one who obtained the cauldron became an immortal was unknown, as that era was too ancient to judge, with no records left even in ancient texts.
However, it could be imagined that it was a magnificent period, inevitably filled with earth-shattering battles and many glorious events.
Afterward, the major events could be interpreted through the peerless figures of each era.
From what the Monkey and the Celestial Prince said, along with secrets passed down by the ancient clans, it was known that Immortal Emperor had once obtained the Green Cauldron and made significant breakthroughs, revered as the supreme deity by all clans.
Rumors said Immortal Emperor intended to reestablish the Heavenly Court but ultimately abandoned the idea, which itself spoke volumes.
“What era was Immortal Emperor from? It’s hard to say now. All the ancient clans revered him, claiming he was from before the ancient times, or even more distant.”
Ye Fan even speculated that the obscure period after the Heavenly Court’s collapse was the era of Immortal Emperor, and he was the victor in the gods’ chaos, possibly having seen Emperor Venerable and being the one who took the Immortal Cauldron after his death.
From Emperor Venerable’s death to the Heavenly Court’s collapse, and then to Immortal Emperor’s era, it was impossible to truly verify. Even ancient great emperors likely could not understand it, given how far back it was.
Then came the vast and brilliant ancient period. The Sun Saint Emperor of the Ziwei Ancient Star Domain must have seen the Immortal Cauldron, because Ye Fan had encountered his divine thought in the star domain. That one-armed old man was shocked when he saw the broken green copper, saying it had shattered.
It could be inferred that in the era when the Sun Saint Emperor was revered across all domains, the Immortal Cauldron was still intact. In the following period, a great upheaval must have occurred!
Regarding this catastrophe, there were tales among the ancient clans, but they were hard to clarify, as the level involved was too high. Even royal clans like Divine Spirit Valley could not fully understand.
Back then, when Ye Fan fought Wang Teng at the Ji Family, he had used a black gourd. The young master of Divine Spirit Valley, Zi Tiandu, and his sister were shocked, vaguely guessing that the black gourd was an artifact preserved from the divine war, matching the shape described in certain ancient divine texts.
From this, one could infer the scale and terror of that divine war, which must have nearly destroyed the ancient era and wiped out all races.
Ye Fan had asked others and learned from the ancient clans that that catastrophe was far more terrifying than people imagined, not much less than the legendary battle that collapsed the Heavenly Court.
It was a divine war!
“Hmm, it seems the cauldron was destroyed in that era, scattered across various places.”
For the events that followed, much could be traced. Several Forbidden Zones of Life in the Big Dipper Star Domain were born, including Divine Ruins and Immortal Mound, whose origins could not be verified.
Then, ancient emperors from Divine Silkworm Ridge, Blood Phoenix Mountain, Fire Qilin Cave, and others successively ruled the world, until the Battle Saint Emperor passed away at the end of the ancient era, ending that period.
After that, history had another gap, hard to clarify. Immortal Mountain and others likely appeared in this period or slightly later. Although such forbidden zones existed in ancient times under different names, their true occupation as untouchable lands likely occurred in this era.
Then came another blank period, impossible to know, a long stretch of desolate ancient times.
Ye Fan stared blankly. A single Immortal Cauldron spanned the entire ancient history, involving countless ancient stars, from the ancient Heavenly Court to the present, not yet concluded!
Of course, what came before the ancient Heavenly Court, and the equally glorious eras of various star domains later, were all hard to verify. There might have been artifacts even more significant than the Immortal Cauldron.
“Swish”
Immortal light surged, flooding the pool again. Ye Fan’s eyes flickered. This was the essence of heaven and earth, turned into divine liquid here, nourishing the Immortal Cauldron.
He came back to his senses, filled with endless emotion. This cauldron was of great significance, spanning past and present, with many major historical events tied to it.
“Is there really an immortal in this world? Did anyone who obtained this cauldron become one?” He did not know. The mists were thick, and the lost years were too distant.
At the same time, he thought of Emperor Wu Shi, who seemed not to have relied on anything yet still reached the pinnacle. He just did not know if he had ascended eight thousand years ago or forcibly broken through the gates of the Immortal Domain.
The Dragon Horse “gulped” the divine water from the Immortal Pool, while Little Pine sat quietly, not disturbing Ye Fan, letting him ponder.
“The universe is vast and boundless, too expansive. Some incredibly brilliant ancient stars have appeared. If I’m not mistaken, the Heavenly Court only ruled one domain for a period.”
Ye Fan muttered to himself, because the Immortal Cauldron was a testament to the Heavenly Court, spanning the past, present, and future of that supreme immortal dynasty.
However, as far as he knew, there was at least one Desolate Tower that could rival the Green Cauldron and had not been destroyed to this day!
This was not a product of the Heavenly Court, falling outside the scope of his previous thoughts.
It was a complete mystery. At the very least, Ye Fan did not know its origins, could not fathom its history, or which star domains it had spanned, or for how many years.
He could not even infer its origin or why it ended up in the Big Dipper Star Domain.
At the same time, he thought of the Immortal Treasure Ancient Scroll. The front was a vast star map, while the back had three regions, with the Immortal Birthplace being just one of them.
“Too much time has passed. I’ve only clarified a few periods regarding the Immortal Cauldron. Compared to the vast universe, it’s insignificant.”
“Ziwei is called the Emperor Star. Could the Heavenly Court have originated in that star domain?”
“Ancient galaxies stretch endlessly. The Fire Mulberry Star is entirely the Golden Crow Clan, while the Heaven-Piercing Star is all the God Clan… Were they within the Heavenly Court’s rule back then?”
The more Ye Fan thought, the more overwhelmed he became. Long ages, ancient history, endless heavens—there were too many secrets. The ancient Heavenly Court might have been just a corner of it all.
“Is there really an immortal, beyond this starry sky? Is there truly a bizarre, magnificent, mysterious world belonging to immortals?”
This was his most pressing concern. But after spanning past and present and clarifying some threads, he fell silent, because there had never been evidence of the possibility of becoming an immortal.
“Splash”
Divine liquid splashed from the Immortal Pool. Ye Fan let out a soft sigh and began to retrieve the cauldron from the pool, saying, “If there is no immortal, then I will forge a path to become one.”
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