Chapter 125: Illuminating Ten Thousand Blossoms Across Mountains and Rivers
This was undoubtedly a heaven-defying prodigy, yet unfortunately buried here, unknown to all, dying in confusion. Thinking back, many cultivators throughout the ages must have felt the same—despairing over the hopelessness of attaining immortality, many powerful figures spending their later years in doubt and melancholy, dying in frustration.
Ye Fan could find no way out. Fixing on a direction, he pressed forward. Before long, he discovered another white bone, lying face-up on the ground, its lower jaw slightly open, as if filled with loneliness at the moment of death. There were blood-written characters here as well. Ye Fan crouched down and carefully discerned them. "Attaining immortality... difficult! Difficult! Difficult!" Five words that spoke of all the bitterness within. This person seemed utterly despairing before death. "There are more words!" The purple-robed girl's large eyes darted toward the area beneath the snow-white arm.
Ye Fan gently pushed aside the bone arm, and it instantly turned to white powder. Beneath it were written several characters: Tian Xuan Yang Yi Zhen.
"Tian!" the purple-robed girl exclaimed, her rosy little mouth wide open, her face filled with shock. "Yang Yi Zhen of the Tian Xuan Holy Land—that's a peerless figure recorded in the ancient histories of the Eastern Wasteland! Ten thousand five hundred years ago, he roamed the Eastern Wasteland with few rivals, and he fell here..."
Hearing this, Ye Fan was also greatly astonished. The Tian Xuan Holy Land had long ceased to exist, leaving only the Old Madman alone.
This massive bronze hall was truly a burial ground for world-suppressing powerhouses. In ages past, the strong had come like moths to a flame, seeking hope of immortality, only to die here in frustration.
The third white bone drew a scream from the purple-robed girl. She was very agitated, for though the dark red bloodstains were blurry, the characters could still be made out. The deceased was a famous figure of the Ji Family. "He is an ancestor of my Ji Family from nine thousand years ago. Not only is he recorded in my Ji Family's genealogies, but the ancient histories of the Eastern Wasteland also bear his name. Unbelievable..."
Ye Fan continued forward, seeing over thirty corpses in succession. A few had names left behind, and all were peerless powerhouses recorded in ancient history.
The empty bronze hall was a void without end, no way out to be found. The lake water did not flow in; this place was a world unto itself. "Attaining immortality is so difficult..." Ye Fan felt a resonance. From ancient times to the present, how many peerless experts of the Eastern Wasteland had come here? But in the end, they had all died in this bronze hall, unable to find the path to immortality.
"What is the most important thing?" "The Gate of Life appears peaceful, but there will never be a way out. The Gate of Death will surely lead to a village hidden by willows and bright flowers—a chance for survival in the midst of despair."
"Are you sure?" Ji Ziyue blinked her large eyes, staring at him. "Don't let your imagination run wild, or you'll doom the future immortal Ji Ziyue. If that happens, you'll incur a tremendous karmic debt."
Ye Fan hesitated inwardly. His judgment was entirely based on the split Taiji he had seen, but this place was on the other side of the starry sky, not ancient China. His logic might not apply. Ji Ziyue wrinkled her delicate nose. "Little brother, do you have any certainty at all?" "Dong!" Ye Fan tapped her jade-like forehead. "Call me big brother. Don't be so disrespectful."
Ji Ziyue's eyes brimmed with tears, and she ground her little tiger teeth together until they creaked. "If you dare tap me again, don't blame me for being rude in the future. I am the future immortal." In the end, Ye Fan chose the Gate of Death and strode forward boldly. "Boom!"
Suddenly, a sound like a tsunami erupted. From the Yin Fish Gate, black light surged like a tide, rushing straight at them. From the Yang Fish Gate, white light blazed, piercing through.
The opposition of black and white, the radiance of life and death interweaving. Yin and Yang Qi swirled, covering the sky and earth, rumbling like an ocean in fury or thunderclaps shaking the nine heavens and ten lands.
When Taiji first forms, life and death stand opposed. Yin and Yang Qi are hazy and indistinct. This collision was terrifying beyond measure—capable of giving birth to all things, or withering heaven and earth into desolation.
Suddenly, the Green Copper Block trembled, shot out once more, and fixed itself before the Yin-Yang Gate. Though plain and unadorned, it was as majestic as a great mountain, instantly causing the Yin and Yang Qi to vanish. "What kind of treasure is this?" Ji Ziyue's small mouth gaped wide. She was extremely astonished, her lively large eyes flashing with strange light. Ye Fan did not respond. When the wind calmed and the waves subsided, the Green Copper Block returned to his body, and he continued striding forward.
The Yin Fish Gate exuded a bloody, hellish aura that rushed at them. At that moment, both he and the purple-robed girl saw mountains of corpses and seas of blood, endless bones numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They were like a tiny boat amidst great winds and waves, liable to capsize at any moment. Ye Fan remained steadfast. He pushed open the Gate of Death, represented by the black Yin Fish, with force.
Behind it, there was no grim killing intent, no bloody storm. There was only an empty, silent path, stretching into the unknown. "Tap... tap... tap..." The hollow echoes of footsteps reverberated, like an ancient road that no one had walked for tens of thousands of years, silent to the extreme. "Where does this ancient road lead? Could the secret of immortality lie at its end?" Ji Ziyue's large eyes curved into crescent moons.
A full half-hour later, Ye Fan finally reached the end. Ahead, chaos was hazy, and Yin and Yang Qi swirled. This was an empty hall, still cast from bronze. On the ground lay several gleaming white bones.
A massive character "Immortal" was carved into the bronze wall ahead, bearing an indescribable charm. It was written with fresh blood, branded into the bronze. The bloodstains were as fresh as new, not dried at all, radiating brilliant bloody light. It was extremely eerie! "Immortal" should be holy and pure—how could it be defiled with blood?
Moreover, this "blood" was clearly extraordinary. Who knows how many tens of thousands of years had passed? The flesh and blood of all the powerhouses had turned to dust, leaving only a few supreme experts' white bones behind. Yet the blood on this "Immortal" character here was still fresh and dripping, gleaming brightly, as if still flowing. It was truly unimaginable. "Could it be... the blood of an immortal?!"
Tomorrow, I will strive to update three chapters. Calling for monthly votes~~~~~ To be continued~