"If you are not That Person," the ancient General said with a face filled with sorrow, yet a fierce countenance that seemed to have witnessed the destruction of the universe while still unsheathing his weapon. "You are not of the Ancient Zhu Clan, nor are you of the Ancient Hua Clan. For what purpose have you come here?"

  Zhi Xuan, who had just fully recovered, felt the pressure of that will grow even stronger. The dark mist forming the faces of ancient wills around him swirled wildly, ready to pounce. In their eyes, he was a denied hope—a majestic presence, but one met with harsh rejection.

  He did not fully understand what he was seeing; wills that once seemed to be the strongest in the world were now looking at him with worship, battle intent, and sorrow. It was as if, the moment he stepped foot here, they immediately resonated. It was as if this mist of ancient people had guessed long ago that one day Zhi Xuan would come here.

  "Zhi did not come here to resonate with the dust of a past Age," Zhi Xuan replied, his voice sharp, cutting through the ancient air between them. He did not use a cultivator's title; he used Zhi, an assertion of self-identity. "Zhi came here for two things; the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit, and information on the legacy of Great Emperor Zhu Yan Tian."

  A haunting silence replaced the roar of the ancient wills. Those words, spoken before the soul remnants of the General and the followers of two Great Emperors, felt like a cold insult. But as they were about to roar, Zhi Xuan raised his Divine Cauldron high and stopped them from a roar that would have been deafening.

  "And, Zhi wishes to ask for three things," Zhi Xuan said firmly, even though his knees had begun to tremble from enduring the pressure of these ancient people for too long. This was no ordinary spiritual weight, but the burden of destiny appearing before his face. "Since you call me That Person just as the Lotus I once met did, then give me at least three legacies!"

  The dark mist forming the ancient faces swirled wildly, but they stopped. Zhi Xuan's bold demand, spoken firmly and coldly, seemed to desecrate the eternal resting place of the Emperors. However, the Divine Cauldron he held high—an artifact the ancient General referred to as the Cauldron carried by That Person—radiated an oppressive resonance.

  "Ruo Xianxue, help me quickly!" Zhi Xuan growled in his sea of consciousness, but Ruo Xianxue only sat cross-legged by the Devil Tree of Life, appearing to close off all access so as not to be detected by the ancient ones. "Curse you, red stone!"

  Zhi Xuan took a sharp breath, turning his gaze away from the ancient faces that made him feel a sense of familiarity and, for now, fear in his heart. He knew that if he took a wrong step inside this Great Emperor's Tomb, he would become mush that could never be restored. He racked his brain to find something he could use to secure himself.

  "I mean, the Great Emperor did not allow his lineage to enter the Tomb," Zhi Xuan finally said, taking a deep breath before continuing due to the heavy pressure. "And, I intend to be a... Silk that connects the legacy of Great Emperor Zhu, naturally to make the Ancient Zhu Clan even more glorious!"

  The dark mist forming the ancient wills shook violently. The decaying faces radiated hatred for Zhi Xuan's arrogant pretense, but the resonance of the Divine Cauldron and Zhi Xuan's claim as That Person made them hesitate to attack. Their confusion was a narrow window of opportunity.

  "You can no longer enter the Immortal Realm," Zhi Xuan continued, capitalizing on his informational advantage. He stepped forward slightly, ignoring his trembling knees. "I mean, why not just give them to this orphaned youth? This Zhi does not know his origins. And, does the Great Emperor not possess a great many Artifacts?"

  With a gentle wave of his hand, Zhi Xuan brought out the Heavenly Devouring Chalice. The blood-red jar immediately fell with a thud in the middle of the space between himself and the ancient figures. It radiated an Extreme Yang aura that caused him to be stung by a searing heat as he took the Chalice.

  "See? That is my power. Even the artifact used as bait by the Great Emperor can be conquered by me!" Zhi Xuan said, pointing at the Chalice with his free hand, as if proudly admitting to an act of theft. "So what are you waiting for? Low-tier Artifacts or High-tier Artifacts, it matters not!"

  The ancient General stared at the Heavenly Devouring Chalice lying on the Primordial stone floor. The Extreme Yang aura radiating from the jar, mixed with the Extreme Yin aura within the Tomb Core, produced a chaotic pressure. The General felt the fluctuations of blood and essence remaining inside the Chalice, evidence of mad courage and the will to steal a Great Emperor's artifact.

  The sorrow in the ancient General's eyes faded slightly, replaced by a flash of cold respect. The other wills, swirling in the dark mist, dampened their roars into a primordial hum full of desire. They acknowledged a courage not possessed by any Zhu or Hua lineage; the courage to take risks in the face of the lethal Emperor's Law.

  "Low-tier and High-tier Artifacts are but dust before the Great Emperor's Tomb," the ancient General hissed, his voice now calmer but still filled with the weight of authority. "However, the will of That Person never asked. He simply took. You, who claim to possess the Breath of That Person, instead whine before the Great Legacy."

  "Then let me take; just show me where the artifact treasury is!" Zhi Xuan smirked coldly, a smirk that showed not a shred of respect. He knew his words were full of arrogance that exceeded limits, but in this place, where ancient wills only valued strength and an arrogance that transcended the Heavens, whining was a weakness.

  The ancient General fell silent, the aura of sorrow surrounding him growing denser. Before this youth who dared to challenge millions of years of dead will, he saw a painful reflection. That Person whom they worshipped would never ask for a legacy; he would destroy the Tomb if necessary and take what was rightfully his.

  "The Great Emperor's legacy does not lie in an artifact treasury," the ancient General replied, his voice now softening, resembling a wind carrying primordial dust. He stepped forward slightly, his shadow now standing directly before Zhi Xuan. His decaying and mossy face felt like a weathered stone carving.

  "We, the fallen followers who vowed to guard the Tomb, have no authority over the possessions of the Emperors," he continued. "Those artifacts are hidden within layers of defense that can only be traversed by a pure lineage. However..."

  The ancient General paused, his shadow eyes staring sharply toward the two intersecting ancient gravestones in the center of the room.

  "You asked about the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit and the legacy information of Zhu Yan Tian. Those are two separate things. The Seven Lotus Yin Fruit grows at the collision point of Extreme Yin-Yang, a Heavenly plant that borrows the power of the Tomb Core to bloom. And the Legacy of Great Emperor Zhu Yan Tian lies within that ancient Coffin."

  The ancient General raised his bone-like hand, pointing to the floating Ancient Coffin, bound by sturdy obsidian chains, which radiated a cold and solid aura—the Tomb of Great Emperor Zhu Yan Tian.

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  "I understand," Zhi Xuan said calmly, looking toward the Ancient Coffin that was the casket of Great Emperor Zhu Yan Tian. He then looked back at the ancient General and the ancient figures. "You do not need to be sad because I am not That Person."

  Zhi Xuan stepped back for a moment to view all the ancient figures as well as the ancient General. He raised his hand; this time, he stored the Chalice and the Divine Cauldron back into his body. He only raised his clenched fist and stared coldly upward.

  "Long ago, I once made a Dao oath under the Starry Sky that I would tread upon the Throne of the Nine Heavens and Hells," Zhi Xuan said firmly and coldly, his sapphire blue eyes sharpening like two dark stars refusing to be extinguished. "Now here, before you who mention That Person, I will also make a Dao oath. When the day comes that I tread upon the Nine Heavens and Hells, even That Person you refer to will bow before me."

  The roar of the ancient General and the wills within the dark mist ceased entirely. The Dao oath uttered by Zhi Xuan—treading upon the Throne of the Nine Heavens and Hells, and even having That Person they worshipped bow to him—was an arrogance that transcended all Ages. It was a rejection of a mandated destiny and a claim to the absolute highest Dao.

  A haunting silence enveloped the Ancient Tomb Core. The two chained Ancient Coffins vibrated, and even the Primordial runes on the walls emitted a chaotic light.

  The shadow of the ancient General, which had been filled with sorrow, now expanded. His empty eyes radiated a light mixed with shock, fear, and a worshipful madness. A serious Dao oath, spoken at the eternal resting place of two Great Emperors, was not something to be taken lightly. That oath resonated with the Heavenly Law in the Tomb, even though that Law had decayed.

  The dark mist forming the other ancient faces no longer roared; they now trembled, their humming sound turning into a shocked primordial wail, as if they had witnessed the foundation of the Heavens they knew crack.

  "You dare..." the ancient General hissed, his voice choked. "You dare to make a Dao oath that surpasses That Person!"

  "Zhi dares," Zhi Xuan replied, his voice remaining calm and cold, unaffected by the resonance of the oath. He had used all his courage and mad pretense. He knew that before entities that only valued true arrogance, he had to provide a performance that surpassed their imagination. "If That Person could not hold Reincarnation and bring you along, then let this Zhi be the one to one day hold Reincarnation in these hands."

  Zhi Xuan, with a flick of the Azure Holy Flame, his Soul Fire which was not at the level of the Great Geniuses blessed by Heaven, flicked the flame from his finger and forced it to carve his name onto the tomb wall. He could feel the stone wall was extremely hard and his Soul Fire was unable to penetrate it.

  WHIRL! DING! DING! DING!

  Zhi Xuan wielded the Divine Cauldron again with a cold hand. He slammed the Divine Cauldron against the stone wall, scratching the three legs of the Cauldron into the wall and carving the characters that formed his own name there. An act of arrogance that exceeded limits, even carving a name on the walls of the Great Emperor's Tomb that had stunned the Ages, as if he would surpass all Great Emperors who ever existed.

  The three characters forced into the Primordial wall by the tip of the Divine Cauldron—Zhi Xuan—were embedded into the wall of the Great Emperor's Tomb by force, a cold and absolute desecration. The deafening metallic clanging sound faded, leaving a silence thicker than before.

  The ancient General, along with all the follower wills around him, now froze in the shadows. Zhi Xuan's action—an arrogant Dao oath followed by the carving of his name in the heart of the Tomb—was a declaration of war against the past. He did not just refuse to be the shadow of "That Person"; he demanded to be the Dao that surpassed "That Person."

  The ancient General's shadow shook violently, not out of anger, but because of his shock. This was a different kind of arrogance—not just a verbal claim, but a physical act that desecrated the holy place. The ancient wills within the dark mist began to roar again, but this time their roars were mixed with uncontrollable worshipful hysteria. They saw Zhi Xuan, standing in the middle of the silent Tomb, as an incredibly sharp blade who dared to claim a place beside the dead Emperors.

  "Show me the location of the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit, General," Zhi Xuan said, his voice now returning to a cold tranquility, as if he had just finished bargaining over a price in a mortal market. He wasted no more time savoring his victory over those ancient wills. "And, I respect the Great Emperor's will if he wishes to test me to take the Emperor's Artifact."

  The ancient General, who had now lost most of the weight of his majesty due to the shock, looked at the carving of Zhi Xuan's name on the Primordial wall. The Dao oath and the act of carving the name had shaken millions of years of his loyalty.

  "Mad Youth! You have desecrated the Tomb!" the ancient General hissed, but his voice lacked the power to punish. Behind his tone of rebuke, there was a hidden admiration.

  The ancient General's shadow slowly moved, no longer with the intent to suppress, but with a strange sense of respect, moving away from the area of the name carving. He knew that in this holy place, a Dao oath spoken with the Divine Cauldron as a witness was no nonsense.

  "The passage behind you, on the side of Pure Yang," the ancient General replied, pointing with his shadow hand to one of the corridors leading away from the Tomb Core. The passage radiated a lethal Yang aura that felt like a shrunken hell. "The Seven Lotus Yin Fruit grows in the most contrasting place, where Extreme Yin-Yang collide and destroy each other. That place is hidden behind four pillars of Pure Yang fire. You must cross the pool of pure Yang essence there."

  "A pool of Pure Yang essence?" Zhi Xuan repeated, his eyes narrowing slightly. It was the same pool he had seen. "You can let me take the Yin Fruit, but you will not let me take the Emperor's Artifact. A humorous injustice."

  The ancient General did not answer the mockery; he only stared at Zhi Xuan with infinite sorrow. "The quest for the legacy is a test determined by the Great Emperor. We are merely guardians. The Seven Lotus Yin Fruit is not the legacy of the Great Emperor; it is a Heaven's Fertilizer that grows by utilizing the Extreme Yin energy from the Tomb of Great Emperor Hua. We do not have the authority to prevent you from taking that Heaven's Fertilizer, but we have the right to annihilate you if you touch the Artifact without the Tomb's consent."

  "Heaven's Fertilizer," Zhi Xuan murmured, smirking. That name was more suitable for Zhu Qinglan's purposes. He turned back toward the Pure Yang passage that had been pointed out.

  He touched the Divine Cauldron again, letting it hover before him. He could not use his spiritual essence excessively, and that passage was filled with a Pure Yang aura stronger than the Extreme Yang Harvesting Pool from before.

  "Thank you for the guidance, General," Zhi Xuan said, his voice calm. "Zhi will not damage this place... for now."

  He stepped toward the passage, his newly recovered body once again facing extreme pressure. Each step into the Pure Yang passage felt like stepping on heated blades. The heat no longer just burned his skin; it penetrated his physical foundation, trying to evaporate the water within his bones.

  Zhi Xuan channeled the Azure Holy Flame into the Divine Cauldron, letting the dark purple pure fire create a heat shield around him, holding back the aggressive Pure Yang aura. This time, he walked calmly, his steps stable and calculated.

  After walking through the suffocating passage for a quarter of an hour, the passage widened into a cave that felt like the heart of a volcano. In the center of the cave lay the Pool of Pure Yang Essence mentioned by the ancient General.

  The pool was not lava, but a liquid that radiated a pure white light, with a temperature far hotter than lava, emitting the Law of Pure Yang. Surrounding the pool were four jade pillars radiating Pure Yang fire as high as the cave ceiling. The fire created a barrier wall impossible to penetrate without being burned to ash.

  Right in the center of the Pool of Pure Yang Essence, which was impossible to reach, he saw it.

  Atop a tiny island the size of a palm, surrounded by swirling Pure Yang essence, a lotus plant grew. The lotus was pitch black, with seven petals radiating a cold and pure Yin aura—the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit.

  The plant, struggling in the middle of a sea of Pure Yang, felt like a wonder of nature. The pure Yin energy from the lotus and the pure Yang energy from the pool collided, creating a locked and hidden Extreme Yin-Yang fluctuation.

  "Heaven's Fertilizer. It truly grows on the brink of hell," Zhi Xuan murmured. He narrowed his eyes, examining the cave and the formation before him. Those four pillars of Pure Yang fire felt like a Heavenly Fire Formation locked by the hand of a Great Emperor, protecting the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit with unparalleled authority. There was no mortal path to cross. Attempting to fly over it would be the same as challenging the Pure Yang to evaporate his physical foundation.

  "I will try something," Zhi Xuan murmured, a single thought crossing his mind. If this was indeed correct, then the fire formation should not attack him if his guess was right. "I hope this is exactly as I think."