Chapter 461: Streaking
Before the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree, the Ruthless Great Emperor stood within a black hole. Whether male or female, old or young, none could discern. He extended a hand and slowly carved characters into the void, and the aura of the Great Dao immediately flooded forth.
Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the Big Black Dog all widened their eyes, holding their breath, trying to see what he was writing. Divine light shot from their eyes like cold lightning as they stared fixedly at that stretch of void.
"Rustle, rustle..."
The Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree swayed, all its leaves rustling in resonance with those ancient characters. The entire tree gleamed, and various forms—small cauldrons, immortals, eight trigrams, divine bells, immortal phoenixes—all emerged.
The group was shaken. An ancient Great Emperor carving characters, causing even the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree to react like this—what kind of wondrous realm was being displayed? Unfathomable!
"What exactly did he carve?" Tu the Big Mouth asked anxiously.
"Damn it, how can this emperor not see?!" the Big Black Dog howled.
Not only it, but even Ye Fan and Pang Bo could not perceive it. They could not even observe how he wielded his brush. The harder they stared, the more their vision blurred.
"Little Nannan, what do you see?" Ye Fan asked softly.
"I only see a cute little ghost face. It's very playful, crying and laughing at the same time, always blocking the front of those characters." Little Nannan's big eyes were pure and flawless, her long lashes trembling slightly as she replied.
"Swish!"
The Ruthless Great Emperor vanished. The Primordial Bell rang, and the Beginningless Emperor's figure also faded away. The Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree shook, its leaves rustling as it transformed into a streak of light, disappearing into the depths of the Immortal Mountain.
"Damn it, they're all gone!" the Big Black Dog shouted.
"Let's go too. This place is too dangerous. If the ancient beings from the Immortal Mountain awaken, we'll all be dead," Pang Bo urged.
"Don't be in a hurry. Let me see what the Ruthless Great Emperor carved." Ye Fan stepped forward, wanting to examine the characters left in the void.
But as he approached, the ancient characters in the void shattered, turning into specks of light that dissipated into the air. He was left stunned.
"What's the matter, dumbfounded?!" The Big Black Dog sprayed saliva everywhere, scolding each of them indignantly. "If you hadn't scared it away, we could have sat here for two hours and gained as much as a month of bitter cultivation outside!"
The Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree was a type of Immortal Elixir, naturally able to fly through the sky and burrow into the earth, choosing its own dwelling place. It was very hard to catch.
"Alright, be content. We've stripped the entire tree of its Dao leaves. Any single one sold outside would fetch hundreds of thousands of catties of Source. We've struck a divine treasury!" Li Heishui's heart was bleeding, but he consoled himself like this.
At this moment, only Little Nannan was quiet, blinking her big eyes, curiously examining everything in the Immortal Mountain.
"Let's go. Don't waste time. We need to leave quickly," Pang Bo urged.
Little Nannan sat on the Big Black Dog's back again, pointing the way with her tender, childish voice, following the winding path of golden array patterns.
"This... it's clearly heading toward the center of the Immortal Mountain Range. Are we seeking a path of life or walking into death?" The group muttered uneasily.
No one knew what lay at the center of the Immortal Mountain Range. Even Emperor Void of that era had entered with the resolve to perish together with his enemy. How could they not be worried?
On both sides, towering black mountains loomed, majestic and shrouded in mist, mysterious beyond measure. These were kings among mountains, emperors among peaks—each one unmatched anywhere in the world, oppressively imposing. The group felt as if they had returned to an age before the primordial era.
"Rumble..."
The roar of river water came. They were startled. Ahead, a great black river surged—so dark it was eerie, utterly devoid of life force. Just looking at it made their hearts feel stifled.
The waves churned violently, like a black evil dragon about to soar into the sky, unsettling their minds. Before it, their Dao hearts wavered, and the essence of their lives trembled.
"The Styx... such water really exists in this world..." the Big Black Dog clicked its tongue.
Legend said this was the great river of the underworld. Seeing it in reality shocked them.
"Look, there's also a spring there—yellow enough to be terrifying!" Li Heishui pointed.
Beside the black river was a spring pool, yellow as corpse fluid, exceptionally frightening. It bubbled forth, forming a lake not far away.
"The Yellow Springs?!" Ye Fan was alarmed.
"That's right, it really is the Yellow Springs. Could the Nine Netherworlds truly exist?" the Big Black Dog wondered.
The lake formed by the Yellow Springs was like a yellow dragon pearl, while the black Styx was like an evil dragon. Together, they created a terrifying landscape.
"There's something unimaginable beneath this evil water. Don't go near it!" Ye Fan warned. His Source Art could observe mountains and veins, and he sensed this was a deadly forbidden zone.
"An Immortal Elixir!"
"Right, look! There really is an Immortal Elixir!"
Pang Bo, Tu Fei, Li Heishui, and the others exclaimed. Even the Big Black Dog drooled.
In the Yellow Springs, a black divine herb slowly floated to the surface. Its fragrance was intoxicating, rich and sweet, making it hard to resist the urge to rush over.
It resembled an orchid, dotted with crystalline specks, as if carved from black jade. It shimmered with a captivating luster, rising and falling in the Yellow Springs, exuding the rhythm of the Great Dao.
The group inhaled, and every pore on their bodies opened. They felt refreshed and clear-minded, as if receiving the purest baptism, on the verge of ascending to immortality.
"Heavens, it's a fully mature Immortal Elixir! If we could harvest it, when we reach old age and our life force runs dry, eating it would let us live another life!"
"We must find a way to harvest it. Missing such a heaven-defying sacred treasure would be a lifelong regret."
Everyone grew excited. A true Immortal Elixir was many times rarer than the Enlightenment Tea leaves they had picked. Only the immortal fruit borne by the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree could compare.
Unfortunately, the divine fruit of the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree, once mature, would fall from the branches after a thousand years. Decades ago, no one knew whether it had been taken by some terrifying creature in the Immortal Mountain or had fallen on its own.
If they wanted it to bloom and bear fruit again, it would take at least five thousand years, possibly even ten thousand.
"Let's go for it! We must harvest this Immortal Elixir. Such a chance won't come again!" Even Pang Bo made this resolution.
"Wait!" Ye Fan was tempted too, but then he remembered something.
When the Peerless Divine King was resurrected, three heaven-defying ancient monsters who had lived for over four thousand years without dying had emerged. They had broken the life limit of two thousand years for top experts, extending it by more than double.
At the time, those three ancient monsters had said that four thousand years ago, they were chased by the Divine King into the Immortal Mountain. They survived by accident, eating Netherworld Grass, and lived until today.
"This isn't an Immortal Elixir. It's terrifying Netherworld Grass. Eating it will turn your body into a rotting corpse, leaving only your divine consciousness immortal," Ye Fan stopped them.
He fully recalled now. The three heaven-defying ancient monsters had said they picked the Netherworld Grass from a Yellow Springs pool. This must be that place.
After Ye Fan explained in detail, everyone sucked in cold air. Netherworld Grass had some properties of an Immortal Elixir, but its negative effects were far more terrifying. This was something not to be touched.
"What a pity!" Pang Bo, Tu Fei, and the others were deeply regretful. The Big Black Dog cursed repeatedly.
They had no choice but to move on, giving the Styx and the Yellow Springs pool a wide berth. That was a deadly evil ground, and even from far away, it made their hair stand on end.
Only after they had traveled a great distance did they let out a long breath. The inexplicable oppressive feeling finally lessened.
After advancing several li, the vegetation thinned, and rocks became more numerous. They entered a vast area of stone cliffs. The ground was hard and dry, with only a few sparse ancient trees.
It was very dry here, with huge boulders everywhere. Beneath a black stone cliff, they discovered several man-made ancient caves. The marks of axes and knives were clear, carved with the weathering of ages.
"Someone has been here before!"
They found a skeleton, crystalline as jade. Though countless years had passed, it still shimmered with luster, lying prostrate before an ancient cave.
"This must have been a top expert who entered the Immortal Mountain to extend his life but died here."
"Hey, there's a golden token beside him, and an ancient scroll that hasn't decayed!" Tu the Big Mouth's sharp eyes spotted something unusual beneath the jade skeleton.
"Treasures! After so many years, they haven't been destroyed. They must be good stuff!" The Big Black Dog was the first to pounce forward.
Little Nannan pointed the way, and the group followed, arriving outside the ancient cave.
"Clang!"
The Big Black Dog grabbed the golden token with its big paw. It shone brilliantly but was bone-chillingly cold. An endless killing intent surged forth, startling it so much that it dropped it again.
"Clang!"
The golden token was only the size of a palm. On it was a single ancient character: "Kill!"
The killing intent emanating from that single word made Black Emperor, Ye Fan, and the others feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar. It was hard to bear, and their hearts pounded with fear.
The killing intent was too heavy! It was as if it had been stained with the blood of millions of living beings. That one word transmitted endless murderous aura through the ages, nearly shattering their bones.
"How is it more terrifying than a peerless fierce weapon? What is this thing?!" Pang Bo was shocked.
This was definitely not a weapon. There were no Dao patterns imprinted on it. It was just a token, yet it carried a killing intent that spanned the ages. That single "Kill" character almost shattered their hearts and souls.
"This is a world-dominating fierce object!"
They were wary of this golden token, not daring to touch it lightly. It truly seemed to have been stained with the blood of millions of living beings, piercing cold to the bone.
The Big Black Dog grabbed the ancient scroll from beneath the skeleton, but it seemed frightened. It almost immediately threw it away again, yelping in alarm.
"What's wrong?!" Everyone stepped back.
"This is human skin... peeled from an ancient sage. The divine flesh and skin have remained undecayed for over a hundred thousand years!" the Big Black Dog said, trembling.
"What? It's the skin of an ancient sage?!" Everyone was stunned.
This sage's human skin was not damaged in the slightest. Though countless tens of thousands of years had passed, it still shimmered with luster. It was densely covered with tiny characters.
"Quick, see what's written on it!" Everyone breathed rapidly, their minds unsettled. Leaving so many words on the skin of an ancient sage was certainly no ordinary thing.