Chapter 583 – The Five Steles, Temptation, and the Lotus Throne - Part 1

Han Feng appeared swiftly before Li Yuan.

She was the same crone Li Yuan had seen back in Kabrol, the one who had trained Naran. She was also the first caretaker he ever met, the first to sense something unusual about him, and the first to invite him to rest within the Deathless Tomb when the time came.

This Han Feng had once hidden inside the body of the Wolfmother that Li Yuan had encountered. Naturally, it was she who caused that wilful Wolfmother, who had dared to go watch a sunset, to be frozen to death.

She existed beyond the physical form, more like a ghost than a living being. Even so, her lifespan could never exceed 4,800 years. Lifespan, like a series of iron-tight shackles, bound every single genius to their eventual doom.

They might have dominated their era, overturning the heavens with a mere flip of the hand, but what of it? When their time ran out, their souls would return to the heavens. And yet, what kind of genius would resign themselves to simply dying? They stood before the door to the second rank, their hollow eyes fixed upon it.

Perhaps once, long ago, they were full of light and laughter, kind and hopeful. Maybe they had believed in living simply, in loving one person for life. They had once raced the fastest steeds and downed the fiercest liquor with abandon.

But those things were long gone.

All that remained was their pursuit of the second rank.

Neither Han Feng nor Meng Xingxian was a match for Li Yuan now. The Deathless Tomb, too, was essentially under his control.

So whether it was Elder Xia, Princess Yuge, or even the Human Devil Xin, they had all bowed to Li Yuan, hoping he would lead them out.

Because he was their only path forward. There was no alternative.

Who Li Yuan actually was didn’t matter anymore. Which was why, at this moment, Han Feng needed no prompting from Meng Xingxian. The moment she laid eyes on Li Yuan, everything became clear. She now inhabited the body of a new Wolfmother, and she bowed to Li Yuan with a graceful dip of the head.

A silver veil fluttered in the wind, revealing the pale, tender skin of this young Wolfmother. Her eyes were pure white, a sign she was a jade husk.

A pitiful child whose very bones had long forgotten their past. Perhaps she still dreamed of watching a sunset one day. But sadly, to the Deathless Tomb, she was nothing more than a noble-looking little puppet.

“I’m willing to follow the Khagan,” she said. Her words used the most ancient form of address.

“Let’s unify the titles. Just call me Young Master,” Li Yuan replied.

“Yes, Young Master.” Han Feng bowed slightly. Then she fell silent, standing quietly to the side.

Li Yuan turned to look at Meng Xingxian. He knew her past, her temperament, her deeds, everything. But how to deal with her...that was truly Naran’s responsibility. As her father-in-law, it wasn’t his place to interfere.

Still, after a moment’s thought, he asked right in front of Han Feng, “Xingxian, what kind of person is Han Feng?”

Meng Xingxian replied respectfully, “Father, back in the Xia Dynasty, Han Feng was the sect leader of the Nine Nether Sect. This sect specialized in secret soul arts of the earth. Their conduct was neither righteous nor evil, they simply did business, trading in spirit stones like any mercenary organization. The truth is she was never truly one of the Arcane Supreme Sect. She just paid an astronomical price to buy herself a spot in one of the coffins.”

Li Yuan raised an eyebrow. “So the people entombed in the Deathless Tomb...aren’t all members of the Arcane Supreme Sect?”

“Only a small portion. The rest joined the Arcane Supreme Sect temporarily, Guest Elders, in name only. They were simply paying for access to the Deathless Tomb,” she replied. “The

Guest Elder

title was just a polite way of saying they used all kinds of means, wealth, favors, or sheer power, to secure a place in the tomb.”

Meng Xingxian went on, “That’s why, the Arcane Supreme Sect at the time may have been called a sect, but in reality, it was a vast coalition of elite forces from over 20,000 years of the Xia Dynasty’s cultivation history. It was a giant among giants, so massive that even the mighty Scarlet Faith couldn’t compete with it.

“In the beginning, the Arcane Supreme Sect was pushed out to the Eastern Sea. Later, when the Severance of Yin and Yang was carried out, the Scarlet Faith had already withered away. But since the Eastern Sea was rich in spiritual energy, the Arcane Supreme Sect never moved again.”

“I see...” Li Yuan nodded. He understood.

The Deathless Tomb held the twisted geniuses of 25,000 years of cultivation.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It reminded him of the

Noah’s Ark Project

he’d read about before his transmigration, only the rich and powerful could afford a ticket aboard. This so-called Deathless Tomb was like a martial world version of Noah’s Ark.

And those who made it inside...weren’t they all former overlords of their eras?

The tragedy, though, was that this ark never reached its intended destination. And now, the exit had been jammed shut by a junior like him.

He had, quite literally, hijacked the ambitions of an entire generation of monsters.

“Come with me, Young Master,” Han Feng said. “In the far west, there are five steles hidden away, each containing ancient secret arts. One is for creating jade husks like the Wolfmother, one for jade servants, one for a nine-headed direwolf, and the last two are Earth Soul and Heaven Soul cultivation techniques.”

“That’s it?” Li Yuan frowned.

Han Feng replied, “Young Master, those resting in the Deathless Tomb did, in fact, leave behind numerous cultivation legacies in the outside world. But all of them were deliberately left incomplete.”

“Why?”

“Because if we left nothing behind, someone might eventually create their own method. And while crafting a new path is incredibly difficult, even in the impoverished, fractured state of the Central Plains after the Severance of Yin and Yang, there’s no guarantee that a peerless genius wouldn’t rise in these 5,000 years.

“And if someone does manage that, creating new martial arts and reaching the peak despite such poor conditions, they’d be a nightmare to deal with. So we left legacies, many of them. But each one was missing something. Some end at the sixth rank. Some at fifth. Others at fourth. But never, ever beyond that. Never a third rank technique.”

She paused before adding, “And we especially made sure not to leave any Heaven Soul or Earth Soul cultivation techniques. That way, no one would dare tamper with meat fields and ghost domains. The result is simple. When cultivators reach a certain level, they hit a wall. Their path ends. And so, for 5,000 years, no one has managed to climb to the third rank.”

Li Yuan listened quietly for a while. Then he asked, “Your cultivation techniques...the ones you left behind. Did the Eastern Sea purge them?”

Han Feng bowed her head. “Yes. The Eastern Sea created their own sub-sects built on the five elements. On one hand, it allowed them to control the mortal world and manipulate the great currents of history from the shadows. On the other hand, it laid the groundwork for their sect’s future.”

Now that the spiritual energy of the Eastern Sea was surging, many disciples who had grown up in barren lands were being drawn in as the Eastern Sea's reserve force.

Looking back, it was all part of a quiet erasure, a systematic purging of their presence from the world. The goal was clearly to make it impossible for them to ever control the Central Plains again.

Hang Feng continued, "3,000 years ago, Human Soul cultivation techniques were still fairly accessible. It's only in more recent times that they’ve become so scarce.”

“Mhm.” Li Yuan nodded slowly.

Funny, really. He almost owed the Eastern Sea a thank-you.

If the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain hadn’t done such a thorough job purging those incomplete techniques, he might’ve stumbled into one after unifying Gemhill, Flowerpath, and Southsky County. Then, all too eagerly, he would’ve started cultivating it, oblivious to the fact that it led nowhere. Just another mess waiting to happen.

And all those cultivation techniques scattered across the Great Zhou that mysteriously

went nowhere

? Now he knew why.

They were traps, dead ends deliberately left behind by the monsters buried in the Deathless Tomb.

Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly again.

All five of the secret art steles were buried in the western reaches of the Nine Flame Tribe’s territory.

Each stele had a strange property. A person could only remember its contents while looking directly at it. The moment they looked away, it would vanish from their memory. So while they could learn from the steles, they couldn’t pass the knowledge on to others.