Chapter 478: Divine Infant
A second great cry came, causing ten thousand mountains to shake, all trees and grasses to shed their leaves in a rustling cascade. It was utterly terrifying, like a monstrous mountain flood striking the heavens.
The crying was brief, soon ceasing, yet the ten thousand beasts continued to tremble.
Not long after, a third great cry rang out. Endless mountain ranges, all the great peaks, began to quake. This land of coiling dragons seemed as if thousands upon thousands of great dragons were leaping up.
"All the mountains are about to turn over! How can one person's crying be so terrifying?"
"Boom, rumble—"
Ten thousand peaks shook, boulders collapsed, and clouds scattered, as if the world were being created anew!
In that instant, a very strange phenomenon occurred across the endless mountain ranges. Grasses and trees withered and then flourished again, as if several years of seasons had passed in a flash.
In this heaven-piercing land, the boundless earth's dragon energy connected heaven and earth, linking the sky and the ground. The scene was horrifying in the extreme.
"What kind of person is crying like this? It's too frightening!" Even the big black dog shivered.
After a moment, all sounds ceased. The ruins of the Heavenly Pivot Holy Land returned to tranquility, with no further noise. All things revived, neither withering nor growing wildly.
Ahead, the wild ancient lands stretched out. Ten thousand mountains were like dragons, ancient trees soared into the sky, and old vines pressed down on the great peaks. It was vast, ancient, mysterious, and primal... carrying an indescribable aura.
The great peaks were lofty, each one majestic and grand. Numerous large waterfalls cascaded down from the mountains, thousands of feet long, like a vast expanse of white, incomparably magnificent.
Long after the great crying had passed, spirit beasts finally began to appear. Longevity apes climbed the sacred mountains, immortal cranes danced among the white clouds, seven-colored divine deer leaped while holding ganoderma in their mouths, and there were many more rare birds and strange beasts whose names were unknown.
"Should we go take a look?" Li Heishui asked.
"Don't go. The cultivation of the person crying is unfathomable. If we anger him, it could bring a great calamity." Divine Physician Wang stopped them.
"Could it be the Old Madman?" Ye Fan's heart was uncertain, but the crying didn't quite sound like it—it didn't seem to come from a white-haired old man.
Their hearts were unsettled. They hadn't expected to encounter such a thing—someone crying loudly in a holy land that had been destroyed for six thousand years.
"That person's emotions are very unstable. It's better not to provoke him. Let's wait a couple of days and see what's going on." Even the big black dog was startled, retreating for once.
Divine Physician Wang's secluded dwelling was simple and plain, built against a cliff. There were a few thatched huts, a small bamboo grove, and a waterfall with flowing springs.
In the nearby area, Divine Physician Wang had cultivated several medicinal fields, planted full of spirit herbs. From far away, one could already smell the fragrance of medicine.
In the fields, bees flew and butterflies danced, full of vitality. The leaves and flowers shimmered with flowing light, clearly all rare and precious herbs.
The big black dog's drool immediately flowed out. Divine Physician Wang sternly warned it not to randomly eat them, as some strange herbs were highly poisonous.
Black Emperor agreed readily, but that very day, it sneaked into the medicinal fields and was poisoned, foaming at the mouth, collapsing to the ground, and convulsing all over.
If Little Nannan hadn't been playing nearby and passed the fields, seeing its pitiful state and calling for help in time, that dead dog would have lost half its life.
"Doggy, don't eat things randomly, okay?" Little Nannan blinked her big eyes and earnestly reminded it.
"Serves you right!" Li Heishui had no sympathy, spitting out those two words.
"Woof!" The big black dog bared its teeth while foaming at the mouth, furious.
Ye Fan also thought the dead dog was out of line. It had just arrived at Divine Physician Wang's place and already stole spirit herbs to eat, only to poison itself half to death.
Divine Physician Wang had no concerns about Ye Fan's injuries, as his Dao wounds had completely healed. He had been pondering Little Nannan's situation instead.
He locked himself in the thatched hall, flipping through various ancient texts to find clues, his brows tightly furrowed, as this truly stumped him.
It wasn't until two days later that he pushed open the hall's door and came out, holding a yellowed ancient scroll in his hand, a look of shock on his face as he sought out Ye Fan.
"Where is that little girl?" He seemed somewhat nervous, his speech a bit unnatural.
"Little Nannan is playing in the bamboo grove with the big black dog," Ye Fan said, then asked, "Did you find something?"
"I found a record from an ancestor of mine. He once encountered a little girl who looked exactly like her, over two thousand five hundred years ago!" Divine Physician Wang's voice trembled.
"What?!" Ye Fan and Li Heishui were both shocked.
"Two thousand five hundred years ago..." Li Heishui was stunned. This time span was enormous. It didn't seem like much at first, but upon reflection, it was incredibly ancient—before the Qin and Han emperors were even born!
"Are you sure this is true..." Li Heishui almost stammered. If it was correct, Little Nannan's origins were too mysterious.
Divine Physician Wang's ancestor had once passed through the town where that old couple lived, diagnosed the little girl, but had no way to treat her.
Later, this divine physician went again. The old couple had passed away, and the pitiful little girl had become a little beggar again, disappearing into the vast sea of people.
The matter didn't end there. Several hundred years later, when Divine Physician Wang's ancestor was in his later years, he passed through the ancient city of Purple Heaven and saw that pitiful girl again. Though it was just a brief glance, the impression was extremely deep.
However, he was being pursued by enemies at the time and couldn't stop. He missed the chance, and when he later searched for her, he couldn't find her.
This was a great regret for that old divine physician, weighing on his mind. Less than half a year later, he passed away, leaving behind only a yellowed handwritten journal.
"How is this possible? It's unbelievable!" Li Heishui's head spun. He vigorously rubbed his temples, unable to figure it out.
A pitiful little beggar—Ye Fan thought of Little Nannan from the past. Her tattered little clothes, even her small shoes had holes in the toes, heartbreaking.
Had she been living like this all along? Tasting all the bitterness and sweetness of the world, enduring the coldness of human relationships? If so, how much suffering had she endured?
A little abandoned child, less than three years old, struggling alone in the vast sea of people, always forgetting the past. Having lived through such a long time, she must have tasted every kind of worldly pain.
"This is truly beyond speculation!" Ye Fan sighed with a hint of bitterness.
"Sacred Lords can't live past two thousand five hundred years, yet Little Nannan has never changed..." Li Heishui was utterly perplexed.
"Divine Physician Wang, didn't you find any clues?" Ye Fan asked.
"My ancestor, on his deathbed, focused on this little girl again. On the last page of his journal, he wrote a conjecture."
"What conjecture?" Ye Fan and Li Heishui's eyes both lit up.
"He only wrote two words—Divine Infant!" Divine Physician Wang said.
"What does that mean?" Li Heishui didn't understand.
"I don't know what it means either. Our lineage has lost too much. By the time it reached my generation, the medical arts I've mastered are less than a tenth of the original, maybe even less than half."
"So much lost..." Ye Fan was shocked, knowing this old man was called a divine physician.
"In the ancient times, my distant ancestor could even heal Dao wounds. He himself was a sage. Later generations cannot compare." Divine Physician Wang shook his head.
"What do these two words, Divine Infant, mean? That senior from two thousand five hundred years ago, though he didn't have your ancestor's sacred arts, probably guessed something."
"I don't know either. Divine Infant probably has some allusion, but unfortunately, more than ninety percent of our Wang family's medical texts have been lost, so I don't know what it entails."
"A divine infant that endures in the human world..." Ye Fan pondered.
Two thousand five hundred years ago, Little Nannan was still in the central region of the Eastern Wasteland. Eventually, she ended up in the Southern Domain, having traveled across most of the Eastern Wasteland.
"Grab that dog and interrogate it. It definitely knows something!" Li Heishui said.
Ye Fan nodded and gently called for Little Nannan. The little girl happily ran back, her big eyes blinking, looking up with a soft voice, "Big brother, what is it?"
"We're going to make some black dog meat for Nannan later." Ye Fan smiled and patted her head, then together with Li Heishui, they suddenly attacked and pinned down the big black dog.
"Woof... you two are tired of living, daring to provoke this emperor?" The big black dog bragged shamelessly.
"Speak, what is a Divine Infant?" Ye Fan grabbed its square head and big ears to avoid being bitten.
"You know about the Divine Infant?!" The big black dog was quite shocked, clearly caught off guard by the sudden question.
"Talk, or today we'll stew you into a black dog pot!" Ye Fan pressed.
"Big brother, don't eat the doggy. Even though it's very naughty, it's not bad." Little Nannan took it seriously, timidly trying to persuade them from the side.
"Woof... today I'm going to eat the Sacred Body!" The big black dog was unyielding, barking loudly.
"Doggy, be good, don't talk nonsense." Little Nannan tried to mediate, a bit scared, but still reached out her small hand, wanting to pull them apart.
"Can you eat a Divine Infant? This emperor knows nothing! Don't ask me!" The big black dog bared its teeth, snarling fiercely.
"Damn it, this dog just needs a beating!" Li Heishui couldn't help but raise his big hand and slap its rear a few times.
"Woof woof woof..." The big black dog barked wildly, its big mouth suddenly stretching very long, biting Li Heishui wildly, almost swallowing him whole.
"Damn it, I still got bitten by a dog..." Li Heishui was furious.
The two interrogated it, but the big black dog was very stubborn, absolutely refusing to say what the Divine Infant was, instead barking nonstop.
They had no choice; they couldn't really boil the big black dog, but it bit them many times.
"It's been four days. Should we go check the Heavenly Pivot ruins?" On the fourth day, Li Heishui suggested.
"We can go take a look." Ye Fan nodded. He had long wanted to investigate.
The big black dog couldn't hold back any longer, carrying Little Nannan as it led the way.
Ahead, towering mountains and ridges formed a land of coiling dragons, with a myriad of scenes. The mountain ranges were majestic and grand, almost reaching the high heavens.
As soon as they entered this area, they spotted rare beasts like flood dragons, qilin beasts, and nine-tailed foxes, all of which put them on high alert.
After traveling over a hundred li, they arrived at the mountain gate of the Heavenly Pivot ruins. Broken walls and ruined foundations, a scene of desolation, filled with a bleak atmosphere. A supreme holy land, due to a single catastrophe, had completely become history and smoke.
"Damn it, there's someone there!" The big black dog shouted, staring at a figure inside the mountain gate, standing like a wooden stake. Its glossy black fur, smooth as silk, stood on end. It growled, "Powerful to the point of being freakish and outrageous!"