Chapter 33: Youth Turns to White Hair
Ye Fan stared at the dozen or so white-haired elders, unable to speak for a long time. They were definitely familiar classmates, but all had become like this—it was truly frightening.
Pang Bo was also dumbfounded, feeling a lingering fear and dread. If he had turned out like this too, he would have been utterly despairing.
The two quickly walked over to check on everyone present. Fortunately, they were all still breathing and not in danger of death.
"Eh?"
Pang Bo spotted Liu Yiyi in the grass. She showed no signs of aging, still as delicate and gentle as before, her eyes closed, looking pitifully vulnerable.
This delighted Ye Fan and Pang Bo. They had been close to Liu Yiyi since their school days, and now they felt even more sympathy for her, hoping nothing worse would happen to her.
Ye Fan found Zhang Ziling under an ancient tree. He now looked about forty years old. Though he seemed to have lost some years, he wasn't as aged as Zhou Yi and the others.
"Handsome Ziling turned into an uncle."
"Better than turning into Grandpa Ziling."
Ye Fan and Pang Bo muttered quietly to each other.
Soon, Liu Yiyi woke up. When she saw Ye Fan and Pang Bo's appearance, she was so shocked her mouth fell open. Shortly after, Zhang Ziling also came to. When he realized his condition, he couldn't help but let out a loud cry. Turning from a youthful young man into a plain-looking uncle was something no one could accept.
"Ziling, don't get upset. Look at their situation, and you'll feel better."
Zhang Ziling looked at Zhou Yi, Li Xiaoman, and the others, and was instantly stunned. He realized there was no tragedy greater than others'—only greater ones.
"How could this happen..." He stood there dazed, but his despair was somewhat less than before.
Among the dozen present, Ye Fan and Pang Bo had regained their youth, Liu Yiyi remained unchanged, Zhang Ziling had lost twenty years, and the others had all turned into old men and women, their bodies withered.
Ye Fan and Pang Bo exchanged glances. They immediately thought of those translucent red fruits. When they ate them, they only felt a fragrant taste and quickly regained their energy. Now it seemed those fruits were extraordinary—almost divine!
For unknown reasons, everyone had aged, except those who had eaten those fruits, who resisted the erosion of time.
"What power stripped them of their youth and vitality?" Pang Bo wondered, utterly puzzled.
"I think it must be that Ancient Forbidden Land," Ye Fan speculated.
Just hearing the name "Ancient Forbidden Land" made its meaning clear—it was related to ancient times, or a forbidden zone that had existed since the ancient era. Even birds, beasts, and insects avoided it. Inside, it was barren and lifeless, absolutely a place of great danger and evil.
Yet they had walked out safely without any danger, which seemed unreasonable and made the name "Ancient Forbidden Land" somewhat undeserved.
"Yes, it must be the Ancient Forbidden Land's doing!" Pang Bo also understood the key.
According to their shared speculation, the Ancient Forbidden Land contained a terrible power that stripped everyone of their youth and vitality. But why did it only take effect after they left? That puzzled them.
"Perhaps it's like a curse. Maybe once you enter the Ancient Forbidden Land, whether you leave or not, no matter where you are, when the curse's time comes, there's no escape."
Ye Fan and Pang Bo had to be grateful. If they hadn't picked and eaten those strange fruits, they too would now be decrepit.
After a while, the others woke up one by one.
"Ye Fan, why haven't you aged?" Zhou Yi was the first to calm down, staring intently at Ye Fan and Pang Bo, two gleams of light shooting from his cloudy eyes.
The others temporarily set aside their grief and all looked over.
Pang Bo found Zhou Yi's words unpleasant and spoke bluntly, "Hey, Grandpa Zhou, you're not suspecting us of causing this, are you? If we had such great powers, we'd just become gods and stop being mortals."
Lin Jia stopped crying, looked at Ye Fan, and asked earnestly, almost pleading, "Ye Fan, tell me the truth—how can we regain our youth? How did you do it?"
Ye Fan could only comfort her and give her hope. Those strange red fruits had already been eaten; there was no other way.
"Leave here... go to that celestial palace!" Zhou Yi stood up shakily, pointing at the distant mountain where palaces stretched in succession, like heavenly halls descending to the mortal world. Though his body was aged, his mind wasn't dull, and he clearly pointed out the only hope. If there were immortal beings there, everything could be resolved.
Supporting each other, they headed down the mountain. Many were old and slow, so Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Liu Yiyi, and Zhang Ziling had to run back and forth to help.
"Grandpa Zhou, Grandpa Wang, let me help you both," Pang Bo said, walking in the middle with Zhou Yi on one side and Wang Ziwen on the other. Wang Ziwen gave a bitter smile, while Zhou Yi remained expressionless.
For some reason, Li Xiaoman chose Ye Fan to support her, but said nothing on the way, only crying continuously until she nearly fainted from weeping.
"What's going on? Why is there still a mountain in between?"
Ye Fan and the others sensed something wrong. Clearly, only one mountain separated them from the peak where the celestial palace stood, but after struggling over one peak, they still saw another mountain ahead, as if nothing had changed.
"Since a while ago, no matter how far we go, the distance between us and that celestial palace doesn't seem to change. What's happening?"
They looked again, moved forward again, crossed another mountain, but the result was the same. Then everyone understood—they could never get close.
"It's time to choose. Maybe we shouldn't keep heading that way. It seems like a maze we can never reach."
Suddenly, a fishy smell hit them. The trees shook, and a black beast five meters tall rose up on its hind legs, lunging at them with gleaming claws. Its body was covered in half-foot-long black fur, terrifying to behold. It resembled an ape but had a strange head with a bird-like beak over a foot long, like a bird demon that had gained sentience—a beast none had ever seen.
Most present were terrified, and two even collapsed to the ground. If such a monstrous creature caught them, they would surely be torn apart.
"Ye Fan, be careful!" Pang Bo shouted, as Ye Fan was in the front. Pang Bo urgently swung the Great Thunderclap Monastery copper plaque and charged forward.
Ye Fan pushed the two beside him away, gripped the Vajra Pestle he had taken from Liu Yunzhi, and swung it fiercely.
"Bang!"
The Vajra Pestle clashed with a gleaming claw, smashing the black beast's hand until it bent—clearly broken.
Everyone was stunned, thinking it was the power of the Vajra Pestle. Only Ye Fan knew that the last trace of divine power in the pestle had been used up by Liu Yunzhi; it was entirely his own immense strength that caused this result.
He was astonished. In his original state, he could never have such power. But since regaining his youth, he felt surging energy throughout his body, as if he had the divine strength to tear tigers and throw elephants!
The beast let out a piercing scream, opened its bird-like beak, and pecked fiercely at Ye Fan while its other gleaming claw slammed down.
Ye Fan moved with incredible speed, dodging to the beast's back in an instant, then swung the Vajra Pestle heavily, smashing it into the beast's spine. The sound of breaking bones rang out.
"Bang!"
It was hard to imagine how much force was behind it. The five-meter-tall black beast was sent flying like a puppet, crashing nine or ten meters away, hitting the ground hard. It struggled twice and then lay still.
Everyone was dumbfounded, unable to believe it. The barbarian's body had shrunk, looking like an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy, even more delicate and quiet, but his strength and speed had reached terrifying levels, shocking everyone.
Relieved that the danger had passed, they let out a long breath and then murmured among themselves, unable to understand why Ye Fan had such divine strength, feeling both envy and jealousy.
The sky gradually darkened, and the last rays of sunset disappeared. Unwilling to give up, they crossed another peak, only to find that the distance to the celestial palace remained unchanged, with another mountain still in between.
At this point, they were utterly disappointed and decided not to go any further.
But just then, a streak of colorful light appeared in the sky, like a rainbow arcing across the heavens, especially striking in the dim twilight.
"That is..."
Everyone was shocked. Within that rainbow light was a human figure, soaring through the sky and flying through the air—this could not be an ordinary mortal!
"Whoosh!"
The rainbow suddenly changed direction and flew toward them in an instant, its speed astonishing, like a rainbow spanning the sky, arriving in the blink of an eye.
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