Chapter 1006: Immortal Treasure
The Dragon Horse spat out two streams of white mist like flood dragons from its mouth and nose. It held a reverent awe for this place, not daring to act wild, and finally calmed down, no longer contending with Ye Fan.
Ye Fan circled around this area, not daring to act rashly. The ten thousand Dragon Head Peaks were fraught with deadly traps at every step. Without the final corner of the terrain map, he could not enter.
Little Pine chattered, barely able to move its feet. It saw many ancient herbs ahead in that Immortal Ascension Ground, every plant translucent, every stalk dazzling, with a pure fragrance wafting out.
Over the long years, how many people could have penetrated this deep? Nourished for ages by dragon qi and immortal radiance, this place had long become spiritually awakened. Every medicinal herb born here was priceless.
The ten thousand peaks were all shaped like dragon heads, each one lifelike, their draconic might oppressive. They were all naturally formed, a masterpiece of divine craftsmanship. On every Dragon Head Peak grew precious herbs, glittering like coral and pearls. Not to mention Little Pine, even the Dragon Horse's eyes went a bit straight as it swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
These ten thousand Dragon Head Peaks were all supreme treasures. The mountain bodies themselves could serve as divine materials for refining weapons, let alone the medicinal herbs growing on them.
Ye Fan couldn't help but sigh deeply. Draining the life force of many ancient life-bearing stars to create such a place for nurturing immortals—it truly monopolized the world's creation, leaving one's heart shaken. In this area alone, he had already seen dozens or even a hundred Medicine Kings, wreathed in immortal qi, their entire bodies gleaming with precious light, captivating the soul.
Medicine Kings were extremely difficult to cultivate. They required constant watering with the earth's spiritual milk, and only after growing for over eighty thousand years could they be called Medicine Kings.
Who could wait such a long time? Eighty thousand years—even the lifespan of an ancient Great Emperor would have long since reached its end. It was nearly impossible to cultivate them.
Only a place like this could do it, absorbing the life essence of an entire ancient star over endless years to give birth to so many.
Ye Fan observed carefully. This terrain layout was too extraordinary, almost defying all reason. Even using his highest Source Art to probe, he could hardly find any trace of human intervention.
But he had a feeling, an instinct born from his Origin Heavenly Master intuition, that even if this place was extraordinary, it shouldn't have reached such a level.
Vaguely, he felt that someone in the past had nurtured all this with heaven-defying means. After being washed and baptized by the River of Time for millions of years, it had finally become natural, indistinguishable from something formed by heaven itself.
He was looking for weaknesses. Without the ninth corner of the terrain map, there was no way in. But he was very unwilling to give up, hoping to crack it through his own Source Heaven Divine Art.
Little Pine carried its small medicine basket on its back, turning its head back at every step as it circled the Dragon Mountain, distracted. The little fellow wished it could jump right in and happily gather all the ancient herbs.
The Dragon Horse also snorted dragon qi from its mouth and nose, temporarily not bothering with Ye Fan. Its dragon eyes were wide open, flickering nonstop as it silently calculated whether it could use great divine powers to get some "fodder."
When they circled to the other side, Ye Fan was startled. He saw another "divine miracle." Not far ahead was a small star domain, dazzling and brilliant.
This divine miracle was not in front of the ten thousand Dragon Head Peaks but still within this safe area. On a huge mountain rock were embedded dozens of fist-sized stars, emitting a soft radiance.
Ye Fan believed these were real stars, refined and shrunk by someone, because he sensed a vast and mighty aura, so oppressive it was suffocating.
What kind of heaven-defying means was this? His hair stood on end. Refining dozens of stars to adorn this place, protecting the mountain rock—it could only make people shudder and gasp in cold air.
As soon as Ye Fan and the others approached a little, the dozens of stars floated up, evolving into a small star domain. Starlight shone brilliantly, and the mountain rock inside suddenly became infinitely distant, as if standing at the other end of the universe.
This was a power that pierced heaven and earth, leaving one only in admiration. They retreated, afraid of causing unnecessary trouble, and studied the words on the stone wall from a distance.
"I'm about to die... who... can take care of my little sister?"
The person who carved the words seemed to have exhausted his life force. The handwriting was sloppy and rough, some parts blurry, carrying a sense of despair and unfinished business.
"Ruthless's older brother... he really came here," Ye Fan murmured to himself.
The stars rotated, and a scene appeared, like a replay of history, brought back to the world by the power of the stars.
A blurry figure appeared, muttering to himself, as if unable to let go of the other side of the starry sky. He touched a ghost-face mask, filled with immense loss.
"Divine blood, demon blood, Buddha blood have all been poured onto it. It's almost my turn. Dying is nothing, but who can take care of my little sister? She's still too young. I can't rest easy."
This blurry figure begged the people beside him, asking that if they could return to the other side of the starry sky, they must not forget to help him raise his little sister.
Ye Fan was silent. This must have been where Ruthless came after attaining the Dao, using a divine power that astonished the ages to recreate the scene of that bygone day. This sight must have broken her heart.
In the end, she plucked stars and captured the moon, refining a small star domain to guard these final words and memories, leaving this giant rock forever, enduring through the ages without decay.
Bypassing this place, Ye Fan walked a full circle around the central Immortal Ascension Ground. He thought carefully and began to draw on the ground, calculating with Source Art.
Before long, he was drenched in sweat, his heart turning cold. The Source Art of this place surpassed his understanding, going beyond even the Origin Heavenly Master. It was a principle that seemed naturally formed, every terrain feature very deliberate, as if laid out by heaven itself. But he knew the killing intent was man-made. The dangerous situation formed by the terrain was one thing, but what troubled him most was the Great Emperor's slaughter formation. This place absolutely had a complete and flawless Emperor Formation. If triggered, death was certain. No one in this era could do anything about it.
After pondering for a long time, Ye Fan found he couldn't take a single step. He could still deduce some things with his Source Heaven Divine Art, but the Great Emperor's slaughter formation left him completely helpless. Having come this far, turning back was truly disheartening. He paced back and forth for a long time, but still had no solution.
For the next half month, he thought it over constantly, taking out everything he had to see if any item could help break the formation.
Finally, Ye Fan fixed his gaze on one artifact, his heart stirring. It was left behind by Ruthless and had also been held by the Battle Saint Emperor—absolutely a priceless treasure.
The Immortal Treasure Map. Since obtaining it, Ye Fan had never found a use for it. Later, he consulted a sage who speculated it might be a star domain map, because when activated with great power, it showed specks of stars.
Ye Fan couldn't figure it out. He had studied this map for many nights but gained nothing. However, at this moment, the map underwent a wondrous change. Here in this place, it emitted strands of immortal radiance, enveloping his entire body.
"Oh? This is..."
Ye Fan was greatly startled. The Immortal Treasure Map was already very crystalline, as if forged from starlight, but now it became even more extraordinary. The front side showed no change—even with great power, it was just scattered stars, hard to understand—but the back side had transformed.
Little Pine's big eyes rolled around as it also crowded in, curiously watching nonstop, almost diving right in.
Ye Fan quickly flipped the ancient scroll over, his heart pounding violently, because he saw a complete mountain terrain map!
This map overlapped with the Immortal Ascension Map pieced together from the bone fragments. The only difference was that it had one extra corner—this one was complete.
Ye Fan's mind surged with excitement. He gripped this Immortal Treasure Map tightly, afraid it might fly away. The blood in his body boiled.
In ancient times, quasi-emperors and great sages had fought over this secret map. It wasn't lost or incomplete after all—there was still a complete version, holding the hope of entering the Immortal Ascension Ground.
"Such a shocking secret, contained in this ancient scroll that has endured for ages—truly unexpected!"
Ye Fan's thoughts raced. In this moment, he realized many things. If his guess was correct, those nine bone fragments were likely rubbings of the patterns from this ancient scroll. This was the true original.
"So... the complete secret map has been by my side all along," he sighed with deep emotion.
For the past few years, he had used every means, seeking help from the Daoist sects of the Central Land, consulting the Buddhist faith, traveling far to ancient sacred sites like India and Egypt, gathering bone fragments, but in the end, he never assembled the complete map.
And now, such an unexpected turn of events—truly beyond his imagination, with the feeling of "turning around to find that person in the dim lamplight."
At the same time, Ye Fan keenly noticed a fact: the terrain map on the back of the ancient scroll only occupied one-third of the space, as if other important ancient maps had not yet appeared.
"What are the other two areas recording? Are they even more important than this Immortal Ascension Ground?" He couldn't help but marvel.
He looked closely and found that the back had three regions, this was certain. The other two regions had nothing to do with this terrain map.
"This is truly priceless!" Ye Fan felt as if he were holding a weight as heavy as an ancient star.
Just the back had three regions, and one of them had now revealed its secret—how precious it was, a place for becoming an immortal!
Then what about the front? What value did it hold? Truly unimaginable.
"That's right..." Ye Fan thought of many things.
This was definitely a relic left behind by the ancient Heavenly Court, passed down through untold ages. Several ancient emperors had obtained it and studied it seriously.
The monkey had once said that in the late Primordial Era, this map belonged to his father, the Battle Saint Emperor, who often gazed at it late into the night, looking up at the starry sky.
Later, after endless years, this ancient scroll must have fallen into the hands of the Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty. They copied the patterns onto bone fragments, bringing the hope of immortality here for restoration.
Afterward, the Feather Transformation Divine Dynasty turned to ashes overnight, and this map fell into the hands of Ruthless Great Emperor, leading to the scene of it floating in the Chaos Ten Thousand Dragon Nest.
Everything connected. Ye Fan's thoughts wandered. He imagined that over the long years, other saint emperors and great emperors had obtained this ancient scroll, just unknown to the world.
"This map is heavier than Mount Tai. Even Immortal Emperor might have studied it."
The Celestial Prince had once said that his father had also intended to establish a Heavenly Court back then, but for some reason, it never came to pass. Now, Ye Fan could be certain that this thing was definitely an immortal treasure passed down from the long-disintegrated ancient Heavenly Court, a priceless gem worth more than heaven.
"It's fine for now, but if an ancient Great Emperor-level figure appears, this map definitely won't be safe. Only such beings would know how important it is."
Ye Fan examined it carefully, comparing meticulously, and found a complex path of life that could lead to the deepest part of the Immortal Ascension Ground!