The human sacred land could be found at the foot of Mount Buzhou—a legendary divine mountain that held up the skies and body slammed to pieces by Gonggong at some point in the future.

The latter two descriptions belonged to indistinct myths and legends that no one knew the truth of. According to the tales that Lu Yun had heard, Gonggong running afoul of Mount Buzhou happened in an era after humans became masters of the world. As for whether the mountain was indeed a pillar of the world or was formed from the spine of the mythical Pangu, that remained to be seen.

What Lu Yun was certain of was that the land beneath his feet belonged to a ponderous planet, a world unlike the world of immortals. In fact, he had a more specific guess that perhaps… this was humanity’s ancestral planet: Earth. Except, this Earth was hundreds of thousands times larger than the homeland he remembered.

Mount Buzhou was enormous and from a distance, it really did look like it propped up the clear blue skies. If one stood at the foot of the mountain and peered up, the mountain peak would be nowhere in sight. A teeming forest of bamboo carpeted the bottom of the landmass and multiple winding paths led into its depths.

This was the sacred land of humanity.

Legend had it that this used to be a place where demon gods gathered, but Holy Emperors Fuxi and Wahuang joined hands to run them off. Thus occupying this wondrous divine mountain, magnificent even in the great wilderness, they established a sacred land for mankind so they could protect humanity.

……

There were several thousand kilometers between Mount Buzhou and Yan territory; Lu Yun was to travel with Shennong while the others stayed behind. They were in a period of constant battles—though true war hadn’t yet broken out, enemies came by to harass them from time to time.

The two refrained from flying; though both of them could, it was an act of suicide to fly in the great wilderness. Thankfully, their walking abilities were unparalleled, especially as Lu Yun had reached mid golden core realm, putting him on par with the golden immortals of his time. Shennong had exceeded connate great dao as well, but in this world, that still placed him on the level of an ant.

In the world before Emperors Fall, great emperors were as common as cabbages and human kings as numerous as dogs. Theirs was a time of legends and mythology, which also put them before Emperors Fall. The world surged forward on a grand scale in these times, the human race just didn’t have the right to take their place on the stage yet.

Shennong and Lu Yun weren’t very strong, but their strength was sufficient for travel. All would be fine as long as they avoided any beings they couldn’t afford to provoke.

……

“This is the Yellow River!” Awe flashed through Lu Yun’s eyes when he looked at the roaring river in front of him. He’d once visited the Yellow River back on Earth, but that river paled far in comparison to this one.

“That’s right, this big river is called the Yellow River. It’s the river that nurtures all of humanity!” Shennong looked emotionally at its waters.

Locations where humans currently thrived, be they the basins of the Wei River or Ji River, were all valleys formed by the branches of the Yellow River. This great river was one of the most preeminent water systems in the great wilderness.

Of course, humans occupied only a few small branches as sites along the main channel were all claimed by other races. If one followed the Yellow River to the west, one would eventually make it to Mount Buzhou.

“Be careful!” Shennong suddenly paused and cocked his head, as if listening for something. “We need to leave!” He grabbed Lu Yun and whirled around.

Booooom.

A huge foot descended from the skies and stomped right next to Lu Yun and Shennong, sending the two flying into the distance.

Blood agitating, Lu Yun spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and gaped at the gigantic figure in front of him. 

It was a humanoid being five hundred kilometers tall, an animal pelt wrapped around his waist and a white bone club in hand. However, he exuded terrifying monster spirit energy; Lu Yun felt like he was facing the two scarlet apes of Levitating Island. This was a monster spirit, and an exceedingly dreadful one at that.

Monster spirits in the great wilderness usually maintained their true forms. Since he’d taken humanoid form, that meant he didn’t want anything to recognize him.

“Monster spirit, how dare you attack humans in the Yellow River basin! Have you forgotten Fuxi’s warning?!” Shennong struggled to his feet and roared furiously at their attacker.

“Fuxi’s warning?” grumbled the monster spirit. “I’m not a resident of the Yellow River, I’m leaving as soon as I kill you two. No one will recognize me in human form, and as mighty as Fuxi might be, how’s he going to catch me?”

He raised his bone club as he spoke and brought it whistling down on Lu Yun. Plainly, his target was Lu Yun!

However, an enormous spider web suddenly blinked into existence in the sky and enveloped the local space. The descending bone club halted in midair, and even the great monster spirit was frozen in a deadly grip.

“A Fated Spider observes the stars and weaves fate, do you want to die, scaled-dragon?” A lazy voice sounded as a sleepy-eyed girl dressed in mauve silks gently floated down. She took a look at the monster spirit in front of her and yawned softly. “No answer huh? Looks like you really do want to die.”

“Mmph mmph MMPH!!” The scaled-dragon struggled furiously and emitted guttural noises, but couldn’t form a single word no matter how hard it tried.

“You say nothing and don’t do anything. Alright then, I shall fulfill your death wish.” The girl yawned and limply waved her slender hand, contracting the spider web around the scaled-dragon.

Puff.

The scaled-dragon that’d seemed petrifying beyond compare exploded like a balloon, filling the air with dust.

The girl in mauve silks turned to Shennong and Lu Yun. “Annoying, so annoying. My nap was disturbed because of you two humans.”

“Thank you for saving us, Miss Ah Zhi!” Shennong quickly bowed in gratitude and threw a meaningful look at Lu Yun.

“Eh? It’s you! Where have I seen you before?” Ah Zhi ignored Shennong in favor of Lu Yun. She stared off into space and then smacked her forehead lightly. “Ah, whatever. I’m going back to nap. Yaaaawn—”

Another great yawn attacking her, she turned around and vanished into thin air.

“Who is she?” Incredulity crossed Lu Yun’s face when the girl left.

“She’s Miss Ah Zhi, guardian of the human sacred land.” Shennong answered and walked over to where the scaled-dragon had died. The club of white bone was still there. “What a treasure, what a treasure!! This is refined from the bones of a divine beast…” He flung the club onto his shoulder with a merry grin. This item could definitely be called a treasure, something that current humans sorely lacked. They used only ordinary metal weapons at most.