Chapter 190: The Great Emperor Arrived Too Late
This was indeed a humanoid creature, about two meters tall, with a wingspan of four meters, rushing from the depths of the ancient mine toward Ye Fan.
Its claws were like blades, gleaming coldly, aiming directly for his throat, while its mouth emitted strange fluctuations that made his eardrums buzz.
Ye Fan raised the stone knife and thrust it forward, cutting off the humanoid creature's path.
"Clang!"
The claws struck the stone knife, producing a metallic sound, sparks flying in all directions.
"Old Man Zhang said the stone robe wards off evil, so why did we attract some unknown creature as soon as we entered?" Ye Fan wondered inwardly, but he wasn't afraid. He felt this humanoid creature wouldn't be hard to deal with.
"Whoosh!"
The humanoid creature spread its wings, soared into the air, gathered its strength again, and swooped down once more. This time, it spat out a dazzling beam of light from its mouth, slashing down like a sharp blade. Ye Fan put away the stone knife. This creature clearly had innate techniques. Using the stone knife to strike it down, "Chi chi chi!" He spread his five fingers, and five sword beams shot up, as blinding as lightning, illuminating the pitch-black ancient mine.
"Clang!" The light blade spat from the humanoid creature's mouth was shattered, and the remaining sword beams all struck its body.
"Pfft!" Blood splattered. The humanoid creature was pierced through, flapping its wings violently, trying to escape deeper into the ancient mine. Ye Fan couldn't let it get away. He let out a soft shout, and a surge of energy shot upward, directly shaking it to death.
He knew this definitely wasn't a creature from the primordial era; otherwise, it wouldn't be this weak, far from the legends.
Ye Fan stepped forward, spread its wings to reveal its true form, and examined it closely. This humanoid creature was a full two meters tall, covered in gray beast fur, with fleshy wings for arms, resembling...
Ye Fan recalled records in ancient texts. This was a species that lived underground, called demon bats, extremely rare and almost never seen.
Legend had it that when bats attained enlightenment and became great powers, their descendants, after dozens or even hundreds of generations, would have their blood gradually diluted. If they couldn't advance, they would degenerate into demon bats. "According to ancient texts, wherever demon bats appear, it must be a place of great danger and evil."
Whether it was instinct or not, the ancient texts said that this rare underground creature's habitat was always on the edge of deadly lands. "This isn't a good omen!" Ye Fan muttered to himself. He had thought that Purple Mountain might hold the legacy of an ancient great emperor, but now it seemed far from benign.
Ye Fan didn't delay and continued forward. After advancing more than ten li, he ran into big trouble—over a hundred demon bats. He showed no mercy, using the Golden Book to slay any that dared to attack him.
Finally, a giant demon bat five meters long with a ten-meter wingspan appeared. Ye Fan shattered it with a single punch, and the ancient mine fell silent.
After advancing another twenty li, everything was dead quiet. The ancient mine was pitch black and eerily deep. He muttered to himself, "Have I entered the range of a deadly land?"
Ye Fan proceeded another seven or eight li, unhurried and steady, slowly pushing forward. On the cave walls, he saw many stone carvings, all left by the chisels of ancient people.
They were very simple patterns, recording various aspects of source mining from the past. Ye Fan didn't find it tedious but examined them patiently.
At first, they were all trivial matters, but later carvings showed many corpses, all the figures lying on the ground. "Were the ancients from over a hundred thousand years ago trying to leave something behind?"
The more Ye Fan looked, the more astonished he became. He felt this was a story. In the end, these people dug up something strange, and even more died.
Later, a creature with a single horn on its forehead appeared, unearthed from the vein by the ancients, and nearly everyone was wiped out.
This horned being had six arms and a pair of wings, looking down on the world. In the carving, it roared at the sky, the earth cracked, the mine collapsed, and underground magma erupted.
Ye Fan gasped. Was this a creature from divine source? Its roar shook heaven and earth—such power was truly terrifying. No wonder so many had died.
The later carvings were even more shocking. That horned humanoid creature actually knelt on the ground, bowing to a massive piece of source. "Such a powerful being, trembling in fear and bowing to another?!" Ye Fan's heart raced.
He eagerly looked at the next carving, wanting to see what the creature in the peerless divine source looked like and what kind of power it had.
In the following carving, the creature in the peerless divine source didn't appear; it was still a blurry mass. Although it hadn't emerged, the surroundings were filled with countless corpses, stretching far into the distance. "What is in that source?" Ye Fan couldn't help but be alarmed.
Before it had even emerged, it had already caused boundless slaughter. According to the carvings, the dead numbered in the tens of thousands.
For several carvings in a row, the divine source lay there without any creature emerging, only showing more and more corpses piling up into mountains, many of them cultivators. Blood gathered into real rivers, winding into the distance, like a hellish underworld.
And that horned creature with six arms and wings knelt devoutly beside the divine source the entire time. "Such a tragic event happened over a hundred thousand years ago. How many died? According to the carvings, this land was clearly shattered. How does the ancient mine still exist?"
Ye Fan had come seeking the Source Heaven Scroll, but now he was deeply captivated by the carvings in the ancient mine.
In the next carvings, the peerless divine source remained very hazy, with no creature emerging, only human corpses piling up. The creature kneeling before the source never acted, only kept bowing. "The being in this divine source was likely a terrifying existence in the primordial era..."
Ye Fan was shocked. He continued looking. That creature never left the divine source, but the corpses of cultivators around it grew more numerous, blood dyeing the earth red.
Finally, a human powerhouse surrounded by a halo descended from the sky, and everything began to change.
His face was unclear, and it was impossible to tell if it was male or female. His entire body was wreathed in auspicious light, and above his head was carved the character "Emperor." "An ancient great emperor!" Ye Fan's heart jumped, and he quickly looked down.
True to the reputation of a sovereign emperor, with one move, he suppressed the horned creature that devoutly guarded the divine source, slapping it directly into the ground.
That aura dominated heaven and earth. The ancients, with simple strokes, had captured a bit of its essence, displaying the emperor's supreme might. The clouds scattered in all directions, his energy pierced the rainbow, and the stars and moon trembled—such was the emperor's power! As soon as he acted, he suppressed the humanoid creature.
In the next carving, he directly attacked the divine source. But unfortunately, at this point, the cave wall was broken, and the pattern was severed, making it impossible to see the outcome.
Skipping this section, Ye Fan continued looking. He felt as if he had returned to the ancient land of a hundred thousand years ago, experiencing the emperor's unparalleled grace.
The being in that peerless divine source was clearly terrifying, powerful to the extreme, forcing the emperor to use his weapon. It was a great bell, as tall as heaven and earth, crashing down to cover the divine source. "An extreme imperial weapon!" Ye Fan was shocked. The emperor's weapon unleashing its power was truly fearsome. He had never seen such might.
It was as if it had pierced through a hundred thousand years, the emperor's unparalleled grace about to burst through the wall! Ye Fan's heart surged. The emperor's world-shaking divine power filled him with longing.
In the next carving, the divine source cracked. The creature inside finally emerged, but only a delicate, jade-like hand was depicted. The stone behind it was broken again, so he couldn't see it fully.
Ye Fan couldn't calm down. He quickly walked forward, but after going a long way, the stone wall was all broken, and the carvings had fallen off.
After all, over a hundred thousand years had passed. If the mine's stone hadn't been special, it wouldn't have been preserved until now. Damage was normal.
Only after going another hundred meters did carvings reappear. But by then, the battle was already over. The emperor used his extreme weapon—the bell—to suppress the primordial creature, sealing it in peerless divine source. In the end, he still couldn't see the true face of that terrifying creature.
"A delicate, jade-like hand, seemingly a woman's, yet so powerful..." Ye Fan gasped. The creatures of the primordial era were truly unfathomable, surviving in divine source and living into later ages.
But he admired the emperor even more. Suppressing such a terrifying creature showed he was truly a peerless figure overlooking the vast earth.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see the course of that battle. The hundred-meter-long stone wall was destroyed, which must have recorded the most brilliant and intense combat scenes. Ye Fan advanced another dozen meters and finally finished viewing the last carvings.
The ancient emperor from the primordial era restored the land to its original state, then used the bell to suppress the divine source, flying toward a distant mountain.
"Purple Mountain!" Ye Fan recognized it at once. It was the "pearl" guarded by the nine dragons.
After seeing all this, he didn't move forward. He stood still for a long time, silent, deep in thought.
These were carvings left by ancients over a hundred thousand years ago, recording the situation back then—the various aspects of mining the ancient mine, all in the pictures. This vein was beneath a mountain ridge, which was also a so-called dragon vein.
In this region, there were nine dragon veins, guarding one pearl. They must all contain divine source. Did this mean each dragon vein held a terrifying creature? Had similar events happened in all of them, eventually suppressed by the emperor?
In the source region of Yaoguang Holy Land, when the pyramid flowed with light and green vitality reappeared, Ye Fan had personally seen the formation of source. Creatures sealed in source were pure coincidence—source liquid dripped down, sealing the corpses on the ground.
Were the powerful creatures of the primordial era here passively sealed by source, or did they actively enter the dragon veins, sleeping in peerless divine source?
Logically, once divine source solidified, it couldn't be entered. Since the veins had already formed, forcing entry would only shatter the divine source, making preservation impossible. This was an original source vein, not artificially arranged. But Ye Fan felt it wasn't that simple.
If the powerful creatures of the primordial era had sealed themselves in divine source, then more could be inferred. There were nine dragon veins here, meaning at least nine pieces of divine source. If each held a terrifying creature, did they know each other?
In the distant past, did nine fearsome ancient creatures know each other and make this choice together?
Old Master Zhang's ancestor, the Origin Heavenly Master, had said that the "great momentum" of this place could only be moved by an emperor. In the distant primordial era, those ancient creatures chose this place. They dared to move such "great momentum."
Pushing further, Ye Fan thought of a terrifying conclusion. If powerful creatures from the primordial era had already occupied this place, did that mean Purple Mountain was the same? If so, each of the nine dragon veins held a terrifying creature. What were they guarding?
Only an emperor could move the "great momentum" here. The human emperor was ultimately a latecomer. When he appeared here, other races had already taken root. Yes, according to this reasoning, that great emperor arrived too late! "Everything lies in Purple Mountain..." Ye Fan understood. The root of all this ultimately converged on that Purple Mountain.