Chapter 493: Solar True Fire Breeds Divine Crows
Rows of massive black mountains stood side by side, flowing with an aura of primordial antiquity, majestic and towering, giving a sense of overwhelming pressure that tightened one's heart.
Among them, one black peak was broken, especially conspicuous, as if a colossal creature had burst forth from the mountain, splitting the body of the peak open and creating such a scene.
"Are you sure that Emperor Wu Shi once sealed a living being inside the mountain?" Li Heishui's face showed doubt. If it were true, just how enormous was that creature?
"Does this Emperor have any reason to lie to you?"
"Someone as powerful as Emperor Wu Shi, who looks down on all eternity—were there enemies he couldn't kill that needed to be sealed here..." Ye Fan's heart pounded, far from calm.
"Looking across past, present, and future, there is no enemy Emperor Wu Shi cannot destroy. Whether you are an ancient creature or a world-dominating sacred spirit, even if a god came, it wouldn't matter. They would only be stepping stones on his path forward. How I miss those days!" The big black dog's spittle flew everywhere.
"Even a god came... why don't you say an immortal descended from heaven? What are you nostalgic about?" Li Heishui squinted at it.
The big black dog coughed dryly. "This Emperor means, if I had been by Emperor Wu Shi's side, how glorious that would have been—roaming the world, who would dare to oppose? If a dragon came, it would have to coil; if a phoenix came, it would have to nest..."
"Doggy, don't brag," Little Nannan said, making the big black dog choke on its words.
"Do you know what creature was suppressed here?" Ye Fan asked.
"I don't know, but the battle was brutal. It was fought beyond the heavens, lasting a full hour."
According to the big black dog, Emperor Wu Shi usually suppressed his opponents with a single move. No matter how powerful the enemy, they were dealt with in just a few moves. In his entire life, there were hardly any battles that lasted several hours.
"That was Emperor Wu Shi, one of the most powerful beings in history, yet he fought for an hour beyond the heavens..." Ye Fan was deeply shaken.
Even the old madman beside him, with his hollow eyes, had light flowing within them, clearly stirred by the thought.
"Emperor Wu Shi originally wanted to kill it, but later thought it might be useful in the future, so he sealed it here. Outsiders cannot know exactly what kind of existence it is."
"By my mother's grave, that's either an ancient king or a world-dominating sacred spirit—definitely an existence on the level of an ancient great emperor! No need to think twice!" Li Heishui sighed. "People really can't compare. A true man should live like Emperor Wu Shi—nothing in heaven and earth can bind him, and anyone who dares to block his path just needs to be swept aside!"
The group moved forward. This stretch of the path had no array patterns, so it went relatively smoothly. They arrived before the broken black mountain and sensed a strange aura.
It felt as if a massive lifeform had only just departed, its warmth and presence still lingering, making them tremble involuntarily.
"Damn it, this... could it still be alive after over a hundred thousand years? Still here on this black sacred cliff..." Even the big black dog was unsettled.
"It has been entrenched here for a long time, leaving indelible traces," the old madman said. He took just one step and was already on the broken peak, looking down.
"He... is unaffected, still able to fly and traverse the earth. This terrible forbidden zone can't affect him, but we can't even leave the ground." Li Heishui was immensely envious.
Ye Fan and the others obediently climbed up. Black rubble was stained with the marks of time, and occasionally a spiritual herb or two grew in the crevices, their medicinal age very ancient.
"I can feel the aura of that supreme existence. Something's not right." The big black dog grew even more uneasy.
Standing on the broken peak, they looked into the hollow mountain belly. It was like a bottomless abyss, pitch black, with no end in sight.
"There's treasure..." Li Heishui said, pointing downward. At the deepest, darkest point, a divine light flickered.
The old madman reached out his hand, crossing endless void, and retrieved the light from the abyss. He threw it to the ground with a clang.
"It's that aura!" The big black dog screamed, its body going limp as it quickly retreated.
Ye Fan and the others also felt as if peerless sword light was pressed against their throats, the sharpness piercing to the bone, making them tremble and step back involuntarily.
It was a silver scale, about the size of a palm, crystal clear and dazzling, with silver sacred flames leaping and dancing. The fluctuations it emitted were heart-stopping.
"A supreme existence, comparable to a great emperor—this is its scale!"
Though the big black dog was trembling all over, drool still flowed from its mouth as it pounced forward, pressing it under its big claw. "This Emperor claims it!"
Without a doubt, this was a sacred material for artifact refining, rare in the world. A single scale was worth over a million catties of source. It was like the golden divine horn sealed in the source that Ye Fan had given to the Saint Lord of the Wind Clan—its value immeasurable.
The old madman frowned and even spoke on his own, muttering, "What a powerful creature!"
Suddenly, Ye Fan fixed his gaze on a stone, tapped it, and then with a "puff," cut it open. Soft light like moonlight shot out.
It was a piece of source like a star, about the size of a fist, extremely crystalline, floating in midair without falling.
"Divine source!" Li Heishui exclaimed.
This piece of source was like the one sealed with the ancient maiden cut from the blood sacrifice altar, condensed from starlight, vastly different from ordinary divine source.
"There's source even inside the black mountain? Doesn't that mean Immortal Mountain isn't lacking in divine source?" Even Ye Fan was surprised.
"Of course, and the quantity is not small!" The big black dog said excitedly as it put away the scale.
"If we get stronger, we can go to Immortal Mountain to dig divine source and gather the divine immortality pill. It's full of treasures there."
"Hehe..." The sinister, venomous cold laugh came again. The humanoid creature in the mountain ridge ahead flickered and vanished once more.
The old madman shot out a divine light, but it didn't strike it, disappearing into the void, becoming part of the eternal laws.
"What exactly is that thing?"
"It's a flesh-and-blood creature, covered in long black fur. Its cold laugh sounds like a demon from hell, sending chills down your spine."
They left the broken peak, and the big black dog began to suffer again. Ten thousand bolts of lightning continuously struck down. Every hundred or so zhang, the big black dog would let out a howl like a wolf.
This couldn't go on. Even though Ye Fan had brought out quite a bit of divine spring from the Ancient Forbidden Land, he couldn't heal a dog that was constantly being struck by lightning.
"At this rate, this Emperor is going to die!" The big black dog refused to go any further. Who knows how many of its bones were broken, but luckily the old madman helped set them.
"No wonder Red Dragon Daoist was trapped deep in Sacred Cliff for fifteen hundred years, nearly perishing in body and soul..." Ye Fan muttered. This was still the outer area, not even deep inside.
Who was Red Dragon Daoist? He was half a generation above the various saint lords, already over three thousand years old. If he stood up, even the great saint lords would have to retreat.
"Don't you know the array patterns here? Why are you still being struck so badly?" Li Heishui spoke without feeling the pain.
"Damn it, you try it! These are array patterns laid down by an ancient great emperor. Even if you know how they evolve, you can't fully comprehend them. Whoever walks in front gets struck by lightning."
Every time they crossed a black peak, the power of the array patterns increased tenfold. Given the big black dog's strength, it could barely hold on now. If it entered the next area, one strike would turn it to ash.
"Show the array patterns you know to senior," Ye Fan reminded.
The big black dog had already thought of that and agreed readily. It spread out a fragmentary ancient scroll on the ground for the old madman to study.
"It's just a corner, not even a tenth of it," Li Heishui rolled his eyes.
"Do you think it's cabbage? This is a killing array of an ancient great emperor. It doesn't even exist in the mortal world. Being able to record a tenth is already good. If you comprehend it fully, you can roam anywhere in heaven and earth," the big black dog said proudly.
"The array patterns are incomplete, just a corner. How do we get in? It's not much reference," Ye Fan said.
"That's where you're wrong. This corner happens to be the direction we need to enter. If we comprehend it, there will be no calamity," the big black dog said with certainty.
The old madman's hollow eyes filled with light, as if he had revived. He sat cross-legged, staring at the ancient scroll, motionless.
Ye Fan and the others didn't disturb him, waiting quietly nearby. The big black dog muttered, "Don't underestimate this small corner. Even if the various saint lords studied it for ten lifetimes, they wouldn't understand it. Only a sage can grasp its mysteries."
One day, two days... The old madman sat for a full nine days without moving, his eyes flashing divine light, almost piercing through the void.
During this time, roars came from the black mountain range, and black strange winds howled, sweeping past them several times.
"Just a corner of an ancient great emperor's array, and even a sage has to study it this long..." Li Heishui clicked his tongue.
"The key is the word 'comprehension.' Many people could study it for countless lifetimes and gain nothing. Those with great fortune might grasp it in a few months," the big black dog said.
"Are you saying we might have to wait months, even years?"
"Though he is a sage of this era, this is still a killing array left by a great emperor. At the very least, it will take some time," the big black dog nodded.
Emperor Wu Shi's cultivation was beyond comprehension. The array patterns he left behind were profound and mysterious, beyond the understanding of most in the world. They had to be studied bit by bit.
Just then, the old madman suddenly sighed and stood up, staring blankly at the sky.
"Uncle, have you understood it?" Little Nannan looked up with her innocent face.
"Though I cannot fully fathom it, I can enter and exit now," the old madman said, stepping forward while deep in thought.
"Thank goodness we have a sage. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to move an inch in this place..." Li Heishui felt fortunate.
"Rumble..."
Ahead, a sound like a tsunami came. A black gale uprooted many ancient trees, sweeping them into the sky.
"That black strange wind again. Why does it always appear near us?"
"Here it comes again!"
The black strange wind was hair-raising, lifting boulders weighing tens of thousands of jin, spinning nearby like a mountain collapsing and the earth cracking.
Ye Fan opened his divine eyes and looked carefully. He shuddered violently. In the black eye of the wind were a pair of cold, vicious eyes, staring fixedly at them.
"Chi!"
The old madman had clearly sensed it long ago. His eyes shot out two divine beams, slashing forward. Void cracks extended, instantly shattering this void region.
The black strange wind disappeared, and the eyes quickly extinguished, fading into the void without a trace.
In the sky, a tuft of black fur fluttered down. Nothing else remained.
"This..."
Everyone sucked in cold air. No wonder Black Emperor said that on Sacred Cliff, you could die without knowing how, encountering bizarre calamities.
The divine light unleashed by the sage hadn't destroyed the existence just now, only cutting off a wisp of black beast fur. They hadn't even seen what it looked like.
And this wasn't even the deepest part. Who knew what terrifying creatures they would encounter? Everything was so strange and unclear.
"Boom!"
When Ye Fan and the others stepped into a valley, they immediately felt an incredibly terrifying heat, as if they had jumped into a furnace, nearly turning to ash.
Ye Fan quickly took out the Bodhi seed and held it in his hand, helping the others except the old madman resist the dreadful heat.
Ahead, a tall black peak blocked the way. It was the same height as the other mountains but much wider, like a black wall as high as the sky, stretching endlessly, barring their path.
On this black mountain, there were many ancient caves, spewing flames. The heat came from there, unbearable even from a distance.
"The solar true fire here, as Emperor Wu Shi said, will never go out and will only grow stronger. It's just as he said," the big black dog muttered.
"What? Solar true fire? This is one of the most terrifying flames in the world, and it's been born here," Li Heishui exclaimed in shock.
"The flames in those ancient caves contain a lot of solar true fire. Its purity might be very high by now," the big black dog said, staring intently.
"Caw..."
Suddenly, piercing cries came. Flames shot out from the ancient caves on the black mountain wall, and black divine crows flew out, carrying sky-reaching true fire.
"Damn, this is bad. Over a hundred thousand years have passed, and fire divine crows have been born from the solar true fire. There seem to be a lot. We need to leave quickly," the big black dog's face changed.
"Caw, caw, caw..."
In front of the mountain wall, one ancient cave after another spewed out black divine crows, flashing with dark light, carrying overwhelming flames as they flew over.
"So many divine crows! Heaven..." Even the big black dog was terrified.
Li Heishui could only stare helplessly. The sky was covered with fire divine crows like a dark cloud, bringing down boundless fire.
On the entire mountain, the ancient caves boiled over. Endless fire divine crows flew out, all diving toward them. The heat was terrifying, melting stone to ash.
"Damn it, there are millions of them!"
Millions of black fire divine crows covered the sky. This was a force that could destroy heaven and earth, almost impossible for human power to resist. The numbers were simply too great.
These divine crows had all become spirits. They were not ordinary birds but were born from solar true fire, incredibly terrifying and lethal.
"Boom!"
The old madman stood unmoving. His body erupted with a terrifying aura. His thick black hair flew, making him look like an immortal demon.
Within ten zhang of him, all laws were inviolable. Neither the solar true fire nor the fire divine crows could enter. Any that tried would turn to dust.
Ye Fan's heart shook violently. With millions of fire divine crows, even the Bodhi seed might not be enough. The solar true fire was too concentrated, enough to turn them to ash. Without a sage accompanying them, they would surely die.
"Caw, caw, caw..." Millions of fire divine crows cried out in unison, shaking the heavens and chilling the soul.
On the black mountain, in the central ancient cave, flames surged. A pair of golden eyes flickered, fixing on everyone.
This was an extremely terrifying aura, like an evil dragon looking down on sheep, supremely powerful and fearsome. Even the big black dog couldn't help but tremble.
The golden eyes revealed boundless killing intent. This was an incredibly fearsome existence, about to dive toward the old madman and the others.
"Heaven! What kind of creature has been born here? Does it dare to attack even a sage?" Everyone's hearts pounded with fear.
But in the end, that existence restrained its impulse, closed its golden eyes, and let them pass.
"Could it be that a legendary three-legged golden crow has been born? That would be a heaven-defying existence!" The big black dog thought of this possibility and muttered, "The great emperor once mentioned this possibility..."
"There is a golden divine bird with three legs. Nannan saw it," Little Nannan said innocently.
"Swish!"
The existence in the ancient cave heard these words and instantly opened its golden eyes again. Its killing intent was infinite, spreading out as it coldly fixed its gaze on the group!
"Boom!"
The millions of fire divine crows went wild, covering the sky and drowning the area. That fearsome existence, like a deity, looked down at Little Nannan from the ancient cave!