Fortunately, that terrifying Nether Phoenix was merely pausing mid-journey in the Styx River to quench its thirst, not lingering. Otherwise, no high-tier Nether Beast could have survived under such terrifying might.
The three ascended the Styx River, flying cautiously by controlling their artifacts.
The Styx River was the core of the entire Western Gloom Continent. It was said that any departed souls that did not dissipate would appear in the Styx River. The Ghost Beasts roaming near the Styx River were numerous, and their power levels were extremely high; instances of Nascent Soul stage Nether Beasts were not uncommon.
Nether Beasts were intensely aggressive; once entangled, escape would be a significant problem.
However, Ye Qin dared not fly too slowly, as the pursuers in the Nascent Soul stage were closing in tightly; falling behind even slightly meant risking capture.
The three flew for several months.
They glimpsed a lake ahead.
The end of the Styx River was, indeed, a lake.
Though called a lake, it exuded a sense of boundless vastness.
A layer of shimmering, resplendent light covered the serene lake, exquisitely beautiful, all the radiance coalescing into a light pillar tens of thousands of feet high, reaching from the Ninth Heaven down to the Nine Hells.
The terminus of souls, a scene of breathtaking tragedy.
The water of this lake was clear and translucent, yet its bottom was shadowy and bottomless.
The scenery around this lake was countless times better than the Styx River, yet paradoxically, there was almost no activity from Nether Beasts nearby. This was the Pool of Reincarnation; once a wandering soul entered it, escape was impossible. Those Nether Beasts had no desire to enter Reincarnation.
Ye Qin arrived at the lakeshore.
Just as the trio reached the edge of the lake, a group of Nascent Soul cultivators appeared ten thousand li away.
“This is the Pool of Reincarnation!”
The moment Ye Qin saw the lake, he recognized it.
Huangfu Bing'er stood by the water’s edge and couldn't help but exclaim, “If this place weren't the land of Reincarnation, perhaps even the most beautiful lake in the world would pale in comparison to the Pool of Reincarnation.”
“This is a calamity; how many such calamities have we endured in our past lives!”
The moment Ye Qin stood beside the Pool of Reincarnation, he felt a faint sense of returning to this very spot, sighing softly.
He suddenly understood why his Natal Primordial Spirit Tablet bore the Fate Mark of 'One Calamity.' Reincarnation and re-cultivation is a trial, traversing tribulations. Fortune is a heavenly secret, and heavenly secrets cannot be known. His fate remained unknowable.
“It doesn't matter; as long as we can be together in the next life, what are a few more calamities!”
Huangfu Bing'er chuckled lightly.
Each of them swallowed a stalk of Purple Spirit Reversion Grass.
Ye Qin took Huangfu Bing'er’s hand and plunged into the Pool of Reincarnation.
Huangfu Bing'er gazed at Ye Qin with her clear eyes.
Once the water of the Pool of Reincarnation touched them, it intensely eroded the vital energy of the Primordial Spirit. The mighty Primordial Spirits of the Nascent Soul stage gradually weakened, ultimately invading the shade-soul and completely severing all memories.
Ye Qin’s memories began to fade.
He calmly looked at Bing'er, engraving every expression and subtle movement onto the deepest core of his heart.
If memory is lost after reincarnation, he hoped this was the last trace preserved.
From within Ye Qin’s physical body, a cluster of misty gray fog interspersed with purple light suddenly shot out—this was the Purple Mansion.
This sphere of gray-purple light contained a world unto itself and followed Ye Qin’s Primordial Spirit through the Pool of Reincarnation.
The Purple Mansion was of an extremely high grade, not inferior to the Pool of Reincarnation itself.
The Pool of Reincarnation possessed its own laws.
As the Purple Mansion attempted to traverse the Pool, it instantly triggered the Pool's laws.
Two fundamentally different laws clashed.
“Boom!”
The rules within the Purple Mansion began to undergo continuous, radical changes, and its appearance mutated wildly. It transformed from a gray egg into an ancient tree, then into an ancient mirror, then into a demonic rabbit, shifting into countless bizarre forms.
Qingqiu Li glanced back at the pursuing Nascent Soul cultivators.
She had nowhere to run.
She was originally the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon Saint, but the current Demon Realm could no longer accommodate her. Nor could she see herself as a true cultivator.
After gritting her teeth and swallowing the Purple Spirit Reversion Grass, Qingqiu Li leaped into the Pool of Reincarnation. Her Primordial Spirit emerged—a Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox. Upon seeing the Purple Mansion trailing Ye Qin, its eyes lit up, and it shot toward it, attempting to draw near.
But soon, terror washed over its face as a colossal suction force violently dragged it into the Purple Mansion.
Whoosh, whoosh—!
Dozens of streaks of light belonging to Nascent Soul cultivators appeared at the edge of the Pool of Reincarnation. They were momentarily stunned by the sight of the pool. However, this shock did not last long, quickly replaced by a greater sense of frustration and anger.
“Damn it! That spiritual treasure was brought into the Pool of Reincarnation with him! Once reincarnated, it will vanish completely from heaven and earth, and we will never find a trace of him again!”
Cultivator Xu raged.
“The Pool of Reincarnation—can souls carry spiritual treasures through reincarnation?”
The assembled cultivators were astonished.
But the scene before them forced them to suspect that the spiritual treasure had reincarnated along with Ye Qin.
This matter was something even Ye Qin himself did not understand the reason for. Perhaps it was because his Primordial Spirit and the Purple Mansion had long been one entity, or perhaps due to some other cause, they were bound together.
Cultivator Xu led a group of Nascent Soul cultivators, who pursued Ye Qin arduously through the Styx River and to the Pool’s edge, only to find that Ye Qin and the others had vanished within the Pool of Reincarnation. There are countless living beings in the world; without a single clue, there was nowhere to search.
They had completely and utterly escaped their pursuit and plunder.
The group of Nascent Soul cultivators had gone to immense trouble, ultimately failing. Now, they had to fight their way out of this perilous region back to the Southern Demon Continent. Upon returning to the Southern Demon Continent, they would still have to face the Demon Saints of the Demon Realm and the predicament caused by the loss of one abyssal strange beast.
“Junior Brother Eryu, it seems our expedition for treasure has failed! We must quickly return to the South to guard against the Demon Saints of the Demon Realm taking the opportunity to attack our Southern Demon Continent. Regarding dealing with the Demon Lord, Junior Brother Eryu, are you willing to lend a hand?” Cultivator Xu said solemnly.
“The Demon Saints of the Demon Realm have been weakened for a long time. Although the number of Demon Saints exceeds that of Nascent Soul cultivators, they lack true powerhouses. The Demon Lord is not worth worrying about; handle it as you see fit. If I cannot break through to the Nascent Soul stage within a thousand years, I may also have to enter the Pool of Reincarnation here for a rebirth and re-cultivation—that is what should be concerning!”
Divine Lord Eryu gazed impassively for a long moment, carrying his gray sword on his back. He ignored the surrounding Nascent Soul cultivators and turned, flying away alone. Since he could not obtain that mysterious, unfathomable supreme-grade spiritual treasure, staying with this group of Nascent Soul cultivators served no purpose; it was better to cultivate alone in hopes of breaking through his realm.
Cultivator Xu and the others could only watch him depart helplessly.
“The cultivators of the Ancient Alliance are truly arrogant! Does he really intend to sit by while the Demon Saints attack the Southern Demon Continent?!” a burly man next to Cultivator Xu exclaimed angrily.
“Forget him, let’s go! Since the Abyssal Hunt, the Southern Demon cultivators have suffered heavy losses that cannot be recovered by one or two people,” Cultivator Jing shook his head.
Divine Lord Eryu sat cross-legged on his gray sword, cultivating the Nascent Soul chapter of the Scripture of Forgetting All: “‘Riding the Wind in Emptiness’—soaring on the wind, drifting and traversing unbound, forgetting heaven and earth, only I walk alone!”
He had visited this Pool of Reincarnation in his previous life and failed to break through the Nascent Soul stage, eventually having his lifespan exhausted and falling into reincarnation.
He wondered if this life held the opportunity to pass this crucial stage.
The path of immortal cultivation requires countless years of arduous searching. If one fails in this life, cultivation continues in the next. With every cycle of reincarnation, one grows stronger. After millennia upon ages, the day will finally come to pierce the veil of the Heavenly Dao and achieve immortality.
Seas turned into mulberry fields; time flowed by in an instant, an unknown number of years passing.
The Central Continent, riddled with countless small states, experienced ceaseless conflict over innumerable years, gradually transforming into the Nine Provinces Continent. Old immortal sects declined, new ones rose, and the cultivation world underwent immense changes.
Nine Provinces Continent.
Yun Province.
A humble farmhouse in a village within the State of Wu.
“Quickly bring hot water! She’s about to give birth!”
The midwife inside shrieked.
“Waaaah! Nnnngh!”
Not long after, the cry of a newborn infant echoed out.
“Congratulations, it’s a big, sturdy boy!”
Soon, a midwife emerged, holding a swaddled, plump baby with a laugh.
“My son is born!”
The farmer, who had been waiting anxiously outside, rejoiced instantly, rushing forward to embrace the infant in swaddling clothes.
One month later, the baby was one month old.
At the farmhouse, firecrackers exploded amidst several tables set for a celebration feast.
Relatives sharing the surname Ye, and neighbors with whom the family had good relations, all came for the full-moon banquet. The only private tutor in the village was also invited.
“Master, could you please give him a name to bring good luck!” the farmer said with a simple smile.
“Let me calculate!”
The old master was already quite tipsy, his eyes glazed over from drinking. He usually performed small calculations for people with some accuracy.
However, this time, as he interlaced his fingers, he found he could calculate nothing at all.
The old master merely assumed he was dizzy from drinking too much wine and thought nothing of it. But he couldn't accept a free meal without doing something in return. Waving his hand grandly, he drunkenly declared, “Based on your child’s birth chart, naming him ‘Chen’ is excellent. The dawn is breaking, so let’s call him Ye Chen! This small place won't amount to much for him. When he’s four or five, send him to an external academy for study. Perhaps he can achieve something significant.”
Millions of li away.
An immortal mountain, home to a major immortal sect.
The ancestor of the immortal sect had given birth to a female infant. Cultivators from various immortal sects came to offer congratulations. Spirit cranes, spirit vultures, and other sacred birds circled within and outside the sect grounds. Furthermore, flying vessels, the mounts of high-level cultivators, traveled back and forth, and mounds of heavy immortal gifts piled up like mountains. Even a small portion of these gifts would be astonishing treasures to low-level cultivators.
“Congratulations, Senior. I have been sent by my master to deliver these congratulatory gifts. Three hundred stalks of ninth-grade spirit medicine, a humble offering, hardly sufficient respect.”
“Congratulations on the Old Ancestor gaining a treasured daughter! I have been sent by my mother to present three thousand pieces of eighth-grade purple jade.”
The sect’s thousands of disciples, as well as disciples from other major immortal sects, arrived ceaselessly to offer their blessings.
“Haha, thank you all for coming to share in this joy! It is truly a cause for elation that this Old Ancestor has gained a daughter at this late age! This Old Ancestor has decided to celebrate for three years and host the guests. Treat all visitors from the immortal sects well; do not slight them.”
In the main hall of the immortal sect, a long-bearded cultivator sat in the head seat, looking energetic with a ruddy complexion, laughing loudly.
“The Old Ancestor’s wisdom is unmatched!”
The sect’s cultivators sat below, their expressions reverent.
Hosting banquets required immense daily expenditure for the sect, but compared to the joy of the sect’s Old Ancestor gaining a beloved daughter, this cost was negligible.
The mysterious Purple Mansion traversed the Pool of Reincarnation, its rules continuously evolving, transforming into various bizarre objects. Finally, it manifested as an ancient scroll painting of an immortal manor, sealing within it a small young fox.
The ancient scroll painting of the immortal manor shot out of the Pool of Reincarnation, tearing through the firmament. Several years later, it landed in the library of a struggling family in the State of Wu, Yun Province.
The old story concluded.
The new story began.
Fifteen years later, the youth Ye Chen was studying martial arts at the Wu State Academy. In the scripture pavilion, he accidentally obtained an ancient scroll painting titled Immortal Manor, embarking upon a new journey of immortal cultivation.
The Purple Mansion’s Immortal Fate — The End of the Book!
The new book, The Fate of the Immortal Manor, tells the story after the protagonist’s reincarnation.
Synopsis: Ye Chen arrives at the Wu State Academy to study martial arts. In the scripture pavilion, he accidentally obtains an ancient scroll painting titled Immortal Manor, and from then on, embarks on the path of immortal cultivation.