On that day the world of the Nine Provinces fell into great chaos; report after report came in, each one raising wave upon wave of shock across the Nine Provinces. "The Cheng Earth Ancient God is dead, his body torn limb from limb!" "Chen Earth God Ancestor was waylaid and slain on the road!" "The Kai Earth Ancient God has passed away!" "The Bai Earth Ancient God's skull was split open, his three souls shattered utterly!" "The Yin Earth Ancient God was asleep, and died in his sleep, without a single wound upon him!" "The Tao Earth Ancient God was slain in his own ancestral ground!" ... These dreadful tidings, as though they had grown wings, spread through all the Nine Provinces; in the Three Pillar Heavens above, the three Pillar Gods sat in grave stillness, their faces dark. When these three ancient gods received the news, they did not, like the Shen Earth Ancient God, sit and chafe; instead they gathered together at the first moment — only by huddling into a knot could they feel the least bit easy, lest they die muddled and unawares. "From these reports, the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces have been wiped out to the last man," said the First Pillar Ancient God, his face indigo, blue of visage and tusked of mouth like a ghost king, his voice low. "Five days — from Bai Earth all the way to Shen Earth — nine ancient gods struck down. That means there was never any battle between equals. It was a killer running without pause, slipping into one ancestral ground after another and slaying them before the other Nine Provinces ancient gods could even hear the news." The Second Pillar Ancient God, red-faced and tusked, frowned and said: "We are hardly weak. All these years we have delved into our own great daos, our study of the dharma of the dao has grown ever deeper, our strength ever greater. In all the world, though we are not beings like the Ten Heavenly Venerables, we can at least stand shoulder to shoulder with the mighty of the Imperial Throne, surely? Would the Nine Provinces ancient gods truly have died, body and dao alike extinguished, without the least resistance?" The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "I heard the news, and a possibility came to me." His eyes flickered. "The greatest treasure under heaven has come into the world." At these words the other two ancient gods trembled violently, disbelief written on their faces. "The one who could slay the nine brothers of the Nine Provinces so swiftly is that greatest treasure under heaven, the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner. And that assassin I know as well: he is the man rumored to be the greatest Celestial Master under heaven, Longshan the Wanderer!" The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "From the youngest brother under the Black Emperor of the Northern Heaven I once heard an old tale. Six hundred thousand years ago, in the year the Heavenly Court split, the Black Emperor, Yin Tianzi, went to the heavenly palace of Xuanwu, the Northern Emperor, and there he met Longshan the Wanderer. With the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, Longshan the Wanderer dealt a crushing blow to the million gods and demons of the Heavenly River Navy; he beat Shang Pingyin, then the greatest Celestial Master of the Heavenly Court, until he spat three pecks of blood, and for the hundred thousand years that followed he never recovered his footing, sunk in gloom, until at last Yue Tingge took his place." He sat staring blankly, dread on his face, his voice a little hoarse: "At that time Shang Pingyin commanded the Heavenly River Navy, the two Divine Martial Guards, and Beiluo Shimen — a force such as that would have had strength to spare to level even the Earth Mother Sovereign. Yet Longshan the Wanderer, with only the ten-thousand-odd scattered divine-ability users and gods and demons of the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, cut those four armies of gods and demons down until half were dead and gone!" The other two ancient gods could not help but show the same dread. The more one knew of the Heavenly Court's strength, the deeper one's awe — and the less one dared to harbor a thought of resistance. They too had lived through the Heavenly Court's division in those years, and well they knew how strange and treacherous the situation had been then. The Heavenly Court had sent great armies to bar the four ancient god emperors from leaving, and every one of those armies had been beaten; the Fire Heavenly Venerable had even been gravely wounded by the Vermilion Bird, the Southern Emperor. But the most soul-shaking battle of that time had taken place on the Heavenly River, in the interception of the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace: the Heavenly Court's forces had suffered grievous losses and had not caught their breath for many years after. And what stirred men's hearts even more was the theft of the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, the greatest treasure under heaven; at the time opinions differed wildly, but those who knew the inside story were very few. "At that time, after Longshan the Wanderer had beaten back the Heavenly Court's armies, he stole the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner and vanished without a trace." The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "Because Yin Tianzi was in the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace at the time, he knew much of what lay behind it all; the youngest brother heard him speak of this matter once, unguardedly." The Pillar Heaven Ancient Gods numbered eight in all, called the Eight Pillar Heavens: the Western Heaven held three, the Eastern Heaven four, the Northern Heaven one — and the ancient god of the Northern Pillar Heaven was the youngest of them all. "It was for that battle that Longshan the Wanderer was hailed as the greatest Celestial Master under heaven. He vanished together with the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, and for six hundred thousand years no trace of him was seen; it became one of the unsolved cases of the Longhan Era. Who would have thought that when he appeared again, it would be to come for us ancient gods?" The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "We cannot sit here waiting for death!" The other two ancient gods frowned and said: "Longshan the Wanderer was already so formidable six hundred thousand years ago; now he can only be more so. With the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, the greatest treasure under heaven, in his hands, we have nothing but the road to death before us. How can we be his match? He may already be on his way here to kill us!" The Third Pillar Ancient God laughed: "Which is why we take a step ahead of him!" He rose and said: "We abandon our ancestral grounds and shift from Bai Earth to the White Emperor in the Western Heaven. Even if Longshan the Wanderer's powers reach the heavens, would he dare to cross swords with the White Emperor?" "Abandon our ancestral grounds..." The two ancient gods both looked troubled. The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "Stay, and we die; leave, and there is still a road to life. Are you coming or not?" The two ancient gods rose and said with one voice: "Our lives matter more than any ancestral ground. We go together!" The three ancient gods at once shrank their forms, flew out of the Third Pillar Heaven, and became three streams of flowing light, speeding straight toward the spirit-energy translocation bridge of Bai Earth. Two days later they came to the spirit-energy translocation bridge, passed through it, and arrived in the Western Heaven. The Western Heaven was the White Emperor's heavenly palace; the White Emperor's palace was splendid and grand, with as many as ten spirit-energy translocation bridges leading to other parts of the Western Heaven, and to the Heavenly Court, the Eastern Heaven, the Southern Heaven, and the Northern Heaven's nether capital, and other such places. Within the heavenly palace buildings stood in thick ranks, leaving no room to set translocation bridges, and so the spirit-energy translocation bridges had been built around the White Emperor's palace. When the three ancient gods arrived, they saw that the White Emperor's palace was much emptied; on inquiry they learned t