Chapter 222: Stirring Thoughts of Tai Chu
Warm jade gave off warmth, crystalline and glowing with rosy light. A soft radiance flowed from Ye Fan's fingertips, bringing peace to the soul, as if walking under a hazy night moon.
"The Dao is vast and unknowable..." Ye Fan stood with his hands behind his back, feeling something stir within. The Dao had no form, no end—how could one grasp it? Who could claim to understand it?
After standing silently for a long time, he stepped forward to the stone cave and touched the cold rock wall. The ancient characters, worn smooth by time, left only faint imprints that would soon vanish forever.
Using his finger as a brush, he traced the three lines of script again and again, his mind focused on the ancient words, pondering the state of mind of Emperor Wu Shi.
Ye Fan forgot everything else, standing alone before the stone wall. His movements grew slower and slower, each stroke deliberate, his strength penetrating through his fingertips like the bright moon reflected in a well, fixed before the ancient cave.
Time flowed slowly, as if reversing. He seemed to see a figure buried in dust and ashes, standing on a desolate land.
He wanted to walk forward, but found no beginning or end, an endless distance he could not close. He knew this was—Emperor Wu Shi.
Ye Fan immersed himself in an extremely ethereal state, his fingers carving slowly as if lifting a heaven-supporting mountain, heavy beyond measure.
But in the end, he could not approach that figure standing at the edge of the world, could not meet Emperor Wu Shi. It was merely a lingering imprint worn away by history.
The Imperial Jade in Ye Fan's left hand grew hotter. The stone cave trembled slightly, stone skin cracking and falling away.
Ancient jade light radiated in all directions, flowing into the cave. Stone chips flew, dust covered the ground. He stepped forward as if standing under the starry sky of over a hundred thousand years ago.
This Imperial Jade was indeed extraordinary, growing more hazy and gradually scalding hot, illuminating the ancient cave brilliantly.
It seemed as if a fragmented historical scroll was spreading before Ye Fan's eyes. A phantom figure flickered in and out of existence, appearing and disappearing.
"Gazing to the end of the immortal path, no ancients before, no successors after, I stand alone on the cloudy peak."
This was the imprint fixed by the Imperial Jade. The words of the Great Emperor from over a hundred thousand years ago stirred the heart.
Yet, time was too distant; nothing could last forever. The fragmented scroll ultimately scattered with the wind, leaving little behind.
"Vast as the ocean, tiny as dust, all things..." The voice stopped there.
Ye Fan did not move. His fingers traced characters in the void. Just now, he had felt an inexplicable state of mind, an ethereal quality that had persisted until now.
No one knew how long passed. His entire body radiated light, every pore open, like a jade figure, spotless, as if receiving a baptism.
A full two hours later, Ye Fan slowly returned to clarity, awakening from that mysterious Dao resonance.
"The Wu Shi Scripture—I must obtain it!"
He had not heard the wondrous teachings, but the residual imprint still allowed him to feel a kind of great Dao divine charm. His spirit and flesh were bathed in holy light, receiving an indescribable baptism.
A rumbling sound came as the rock wall collapsed. Ye Fan had to retreat.
Looking back, the ancient cave no longer existed. In the blink of an eye, it had become a relic. He felt regret. Though he had long known the Wu Shi Scripture was not here, he was still somewhat disappointed.
The Imperial Jade still glowed, not dimming. He understood there must be something else.
Stone cliffs stood in rows, low hills dotted the landscape. Immortal vines served as bridges, connecting one cliff to another, quiet and elegant.
Ye Fan walked forward, passing stone mountains, moving through flowers and grass, arriving at a secluded place.
"Who are you?" The people of Xuan Yue Cave were alarmed. Figures rushed over, shouting in rebuke.
Ye Fan had arrived at the back mountain as if entering an unguarded territory. His wide sleeves fluttered, sending the young disciples flying one by one.
Holding the ancient jade, he searched forward by instinct.
"Quickly report to the elders! Someone is forcefully entering our Xuan Yue Cave!"
"An enemy has invaded! They've entered our back mountain!"
Many shouted, reporting to the sect's senior elders.
Ye Fan drifted past beautiful peaks, arriving at a tranquil place. The back mountain was lush with vegetation, containing a huge deep valley.
When he reached this place, the Imperial Jade grew even brighter, extremely hot, almost flying from his hand.
This was a waste valley, filled with miscellaneous items: medicinal dregs, broken furnaces, rusted swords, and cracked talismans. It was a desolate valley for discarded items.
No one knew how many years had passed. The vast valley was nearly filled with discarded items from cultivators, lifeless and heavy with turbid qi.
"Here..."
Ye Fan frowned but did not hesitate. His robe sleeve flicked, sending miscellaneous items flying. Broken bronze and iron clanged as they fell into the distance.
"Hey, Daoist, what are you doing?" An elder of Xuan Yue Cave finally arrived.
Ye Fan ignored him. His sleeves swept back and forth, filling the air with debris. The valley was continuously cleared, and the Imperial Jade grew hotter.
"Bang!"
An elder rushed over, only to be sent flying by Ye Fan along with a large pile of waste.
"Who are you? Why have you broken in here?" Several elders of Xuan Yue Cave flew over, landing around the valley.
Ye Fan had already sealed off Xuan Yue Cave. Without further concern, he said, "I am the one who killed your Supreme Elder."
"What?" The surrounding people were shocked.
They had not yet received the news, only knowing that the previous sect leader had stayed at Qing Xia and never returned.
"Go report to your current sect leader. I will come for his life shortly." Ye Fan stirred the waste valley, continuing his search.
"Nonsense! The Supreme Elder is deeply skilled and powerful. He has been in seclusion for years and has few rivals in this region."
Ye Fan summoned the Li Fire Divine Furnace and immediately collected several elders inside. With a flash of fire, they turned to black ash, erased from existence.
"You..."
The others changed color instantly, filled with terror. Several elders had been annihilated without even a chance to resist.
Such methods made everyone's legs tremble. Panic and chaos erupted as they fled cleanly.
Ye Fan used the Li Fire Divine Furnace to incinerate all the waste in the valley, finally clearing it.
"Ding!"
The ancient jade emitted a trembling sound, its light growing stronger. Ye Fan went to the valley floor and began to dig, pushing aside black soil among the ruined materials.
"Another piece of Imperial Jade!"
He was overjoyed. Buried in the soil at the valley bottom was a piece of broken jade covered in mud, sealed away for who knows how many years.
"Weng—"
The two pieces of Imperial Jade met, both bursting with auspicious light.
Ye Fan picked up the jade pendant from the ground. The mud fell away on its own. He placed them together, and they shone upon each other, warm and crystalline.
"Still incomplete. These are just two corners. At least six or seven more pieces are missing." Ye Fan frowned.
Still, he hadn't expected to gather all the Imperial Jade at once—that would be unrealistic.
The sect leader of Xuan Yue Cave and eight Supreme Elders all arrived, and battle erupted directly.
Unfortunately, it was a fight without suspense. Ye Fan summoned the Li Fire Divine Furnace. Flames crackled, melting even a mountain peak.
Magma surged, heat waves scorching the sky.
Soon, peace was restored. All nine power-holders were struck down.
Ye Fan strolled leisurely to the front mountain, his heart as calm as an ancient well. With each step, he killed ten men, continuously flicking his fingers, ending one life after another.
This was a massacre. One man killed over a hundred. All who had committed evil, who were unforgivable, were completely erased from this world.
In the end, only thirty-one people survived—those with not a trace of wrongdoing, who had all vehemently opposed plundering.
Ye Fan opened Xuan Yue Cave's treasury. Light sparkled before him—a full one thousand four hundred catties of Source, comparable to Qing Xia Sect. He unceremoniously pocketed it.
He carefully read through Xuan Yue Cave's highest secret scriptures, then threw them along with various weapons to the survivors before drifting away.
These people were future "miners," but he could not tell them that yet.
Before coming to Xuan Yue Cave, Ye Fan had disguised himself as the Supreme Elder of Li Fire Sect, summoning the Divine Furnace to burn several immortal peaks of Seven Stars Pavilion and Sunset Cloud Sect.
As expected, both sects went to Li Fire Sect to demand justice, leading to bloody conflict, though not a full-scale battle.
Li Fire Sect had two Supreme Elders at the third level of the Dao Palace. Ye Fan had killed one, leaving one strong expert guarding the sect.
The three parties all agreed that the Li Fire Divine Furnace had been stolen, and it was not the real Li Fire Sect Supreme Elder committing the killings.
Unfortunately, even with this deduction, they could not change anything.
In the following days, Ye Fan struck one by one, "visiting" Li Fire Sect, Seven Stars Pavilion, and Sunset Cloud Sect, eliminating them all.
By removing these four tumors from the region, he obtained a total of two square fangs of Source, weighing six thousand six hundred catties.
This was a huge harvest, but still far from what he needed. Every step forward required a tenfold increase, meaning to break into the third level of the Dao Palace, he needed ten thousand catties of Source—a full three square fangs.
Ye Fan felt dizzy. In the past, he wouldn't have dared to think of it. Now, the Source he needed could no longer be measured in catties but in square fangs.
Ten thousand catties he could still imagine, finding a way to gather it. But thinking of the next number—one hundred thousand catties—made his head spin.
If not for possessing the Source Heaven Scroll, he felt he would have to give up cultivation altogether, as it would be impossible to collect otherwise.
One could imagine that even the Holy Lands would spit blood at the numbers beyond that. No one could bear such a burden.
Qing Xia, Seven Stars, Xuan Yue, Sunset Cloud, and Li Fire—five sects existed in name only, becoming Ye Fan's miner reserves.
His gains were enormous. In particular, he found a yellowed thin booklet in Li Fire Sect containing only one technique: the Mountain-Embracing Seal.
It was extremely profound, greatly inspiring him. Similar to the Mountain and River Great Seal, its power was immense, adding another variation to his Battle Saint Art.
"If I obtain one more square fang of Source, I can advance to the third level of the Dao Palace." Ye Fan's thoughts wandered. He prepared to enter the Jade Pool.
He was not worried about causing a stir by destroying the five sects.
Small cave heavens like Li Fire Sect, Qing Xia Sect, and Xuan Yue Cave were the lowest-level sects in the Northern Domain. Above them were medium sects, large sects, superpowers, and Holy Lands.
Unless they were small forces in special regions like the Forbidden Zones of Life or the Divine Medicine Garden, which superpowers supported as outposts, they rarely had any connection with major powers.
The Northern Domain was vast beyond measure. Even for cultivators, flying from one end to the other took months.
Some sects were separated by hundreds of thousands of miles, even millions, making travel extremely distant.
In such a vast region, major powers were naturally well-known. But bottom-level sects like Li Fire Sect and Xuan Yue Cave were almost unnoticed, known only to small sects of similar scale in the same area.
One could say they were as different as heaven and earth, existing in two separate worlds.
Thus, Ye Fan was not worried that the disturbance here would attract the attention of any Holy Land. The distance was too great. The heavenly gates above would not concern themselves with ant nests on the ground.
The Eastern Wasteland had seven great Forbidden Zones of Life. The Ancient Forbidden Land in the Southern Domain and the Primordial Ancient Mine in the Northern Domain were among them.
In terms of mystery, without doubt, this Forbidden Zone of Life in the Northern Domain ranked among the highest.
Originally a Source mine, it had become a death ground. Successive Saint Lords had entered but never returned.
Named "Tai Chu," meaning it existed before heaven and earth began, it was hard to imagine how ancient it truly was.
One legend said this ancient mine was not dug by humans at all—it existed long before the birth of the human race.
Another theory claimed humans dug it, but the word "human" needed an "immortal" added after it. This view was not widely accepted, as it was hard to say whether immortals truly existed.
Regardless, this place was a forbidden zone. No matter how talented a prodigy, they would not return. Countless heroes had been buried there.
The most recent incident was seven hundred years ago. The imperial lord of an undying dynasty in the Central Province, a true heroic ruler commanding boundless lands, entered the Primordial Ancient Mine for some reason. He didn't even stir a ripple before disappearing.
Outside the Primordial Ancient Mine, vast territories were almost entirely occupied by various Holy Lands, forming the most productive Source mining region.
This land was barren, completely lifeless.
Outside the Primordial Ancient Mine, on the endless reddish-brown earth, only one city stood, named—Source City.
It lay within the Source mining region, built by cultivators. No mortals appeared here, mostly disciples of major powers and those transporting Source stones.
Of course, it was still far from the Primordial Ancient Mine—about thirty thousand miles away. Otherwise, no one would dare come.
Ye Fan arrived at this city because he heard the Holy Maiden of Yao Chi had not yet returned to the Jade Pool but was still in this area, seemingly transporting a batch of stone materials.
"The Holy Maiden of Yao Chi is still here. It might be inappropriate for me to enter the Jade Pool early with her jade pendant. The Stone Appreciation Conference is still far off."
Additionally, he had another purpose. Having heard so much about the Primordial Ancient Mine, he wanted to observe it from a distance.
Source City was not large, just a small city built entirely of reddish-brown giant stones, but it was quite famous.
Most of the rice and grain needed by the various mining areas were purchased here. It was a transit hub.
Soon after arriving, Ye Fan learned everything. The Holy Maiden of Yao Chi had gone to the edge of the Primordial Ancient Mine and would not return for some time.
He also learned that Yao Xi and Holy Son Yao Guang had accompanied her.
Of course, the so-called edge region was at least a thousand miles from the true Primordial Ancient Mine. No one dared to truly take risks.
"The Primordial Ancient Mine—what kind of place is it?" Ye Fan rubbed his chin, pondering seriously.
The first ancestor of the Zhang family, that Origin Heavenly Master, had his greatest regret in failing to enter the Primordial Ancient Mine. Even such an extraordinary figure was so wary, so he naturally would not rashly charge in.
"Observing from afar might reveal some clues." He believed the former Origin Heavenly Master must have seen something, which was why he dared not enter.
He wanted to verify this with the Source Heaven Scroll, to begin unraveling the mystery of the Primordial Ancient Mine—what made it so eerie.