Chapter 609: The Second Saint
The dark clouds drifted far away, stars dotted the sky, moonlight spilled down, and the low mountain was very tranquil, as if nothing had happened at all.
Ye Fan walked step by step to the old tree. This ancient pine was at least over four thousand years old. Its trunk was hollow, its needles sparse, and it was already nearly dead.
At the base of the tree lay a piece of green stone, no more than one meter sixty-seven in length, exactly matching the height of the old Daoist. It was very smooth and somewhat extraordinary.
"By chance I came beneath the pine tree, resting my head on a stone pillow. In the mountains, there are no calendar days; when the cold ends, I know not the year…"
Ye Fan stared blankly, lost in thought. Was this old Daoist still alive? The world had changed so many times, and he sighed like this—just how many years had he lived?!
He strode quickly to the back of the small Daoist temple, arriving before the earthen grave. Activating his Source Heaven Divine Sense to observe, he shivered violently at that moment.
Beneath the yellow earth, the tattered Daoist robe was still there, and the ancient wooden hairpin still lay horizontally, not moved a single inch, still in its original position.
"How could this be…" Ye Fan felt a chill in his heart. He had clearly already dissolved into the Dao and ceased to exist, so why had he just seen his figure?
What had just happened could not have been an illusion. The dark clouds had appeared, the old Daoist had manifested, and then vanished inexplicably. It had been very real, and those words seemed to still echo.
"It wasn't a residual divine imprint, because I heard a real voice." Ye Fan returned to the front of the temple, pacing on the low mountain, deeply puzzled in his heart.
The night was like water, everything silent. Aside from the occasional cry of a night bird, there was no special sound. He could not sense any trace of a stranger's aura, and there was certainly no fluctuation of divine power.
His heart was full of questions, but he had no way to resolve them. In the end, he could only continue to sit in meditation. He believed that no matter what kind of powerful being that was, it should bear him no ill will.
Ye Fan went into seclusion here. Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Every day, he sat quietly before the Daoist temple, silently comprehending the Dao.
This was a pure land of returning to simplicity, far from the clamor. But there were no auspicious vapors swirling around either. Everything was very natural, like an elegant ink wash painting.
During the day, woodcutters occasionally sang, and sometimes hunters would chase some wild beasts out from the depths of the mountains, their roars shaking the peaks. Ye Fan's heart was ethereal, savoring all of this.
These past days, he had captured a peculiar trace of the Dao. The low mountain harbored a spirit. Even before taking the Dragon Marrow, he already had a mysterious feeling, his body and mind both numinous.
"A place of Dao dissolution is a divine land in the world. If discovered by a major sect, they would immediately occupy it, set up a heaven-encompassing great formation, and turn it into a forbidden zone that outsiders cannot set foot in."
Another deep night descended. Dark clouds rolled, almost pressing down to the mountain peak. It was pitch black, impossible to see one's fingers. Before long, thunder and lightning flashed, and a torrential rain poured down.
The world was a curtain of rain. Ye Fan stood in the Daoist temple, observing the rainy world. Occasionally, lightning bolts streaked across the dark night sky, instantly illuminating a bright rainy realm.
"Boom!"
Lightning struck wildly. In an instant, over a hundred silver bolts appeared between heaven and earth, connecting the sky and the ground. Endless heavy rain poured down, and the mountains in the water became bright in an instant.
But then, it plunged back into boundless darkness. The lightning disappeared, leaving only the heavy rain pouring down. Nothing else could be seen. In the terrifying deep night, standing alone, there was an unusual atmosphere.
"Boom!"
Another burst of thunder. Thousands of golden snakes danced, making the vast world between heaven and earth intensely bright. Rows of distant mountain peaks were clearly visible.
"That is…"
Ye Fan stood by the window, his expression changing instantly. He saw the old Daoist again, still in that tattered Daoist robe, with a wooden hairpin stuck in his topknot.
At this moment, he was sitting cross-legged in the rainy night sky. Opening his mouth, he inhaled, and thousands of electric lights all vanished into his mouth, disappearing without a trace.
"Boom!"
The rain fell like a waterfall. Water was everywhere between heaven and earth. The lightning became even more intense. This time, ten thousand zhang of thunder descended, and tens of thousands of bolts struck down together.
"So much lightning… comparable to a great heavenly tribulation…" Ye Fan muttered to himself.
However, what shocked him was that the old Daoist made the same move again. Opening his mouth, he inhaled, and tens of thousands of lightning bolts vanished instantly, all rushing into his mouth.
"This is… too… monstrous!"
Ye Fan's expression changed. He had experienced several heavenly tribulations and could resist them without fear. However, he always had to pay a price, often getting his physical body injured by the lightning. When had he ever been like this old Daoist, swallowing it all in one gulp?
This was like a fairy tale. Not a single bolt of lightning was missed; he swallowed it all into his body with his mouth. It wasn't like a tribulation, but more like drinking water.
"Boom!"
Endless thunder light descended. The world between heaven and earth was a vast expanse of white. Various kinds of lightning tribulations appeared one after another: the great tribulations of earth, fire, wind, and water descended, and there were even streaks of Chaos Heavenly Thunder.
And at the very top, a stretch of ancient heavenly palaces appeared. Some humanoid lightning figures emerged, intertwining and striking wildly across the sky.
"Could he even swallow this kind of great heavenly tribulation?" Ye Fan didn't believe it. The level of this tribulation had already reached an unimaginable degree.
He had seen heavenly palaces formed by lightning before, with humanoid lightning walking around, but he had never experienced it. He knew it was infinitely terrifying; being struck would surely turn one into ashes.
However, at this moment, the old Daoist was still the same. Letting the heavy rain pour down and the lightning flood the sky, he simply opened his mouth and inhaled, taking all the thunder light into his mouth.
"This… is he even human?!"
Ye Fan's hair stood on end. When he crossed tribulations, he resisted the heavenly tribulation, and the endless thunder light eventually dissipated into the world. But this old man didn't let a single bolt escape; he absorbed it all.
This was horrifying, beyond all reason. Especially the heavenly palaces formed by lightning and the streaks of humanoid thunder light—how terrifying they were—yet they were also swallowed down.
The old Daoist appeared out of thin air before the broken Daoist temple, so fast it was incomprehensible. Endless thunder light in his mouth condensed into a pill, slid down into his abdomen, making his entire body glow, and then dimmed back to ordinariness.
Ye Fan was stunned. Had this old Daoist actually turned those lightning tribulations into a pill?
Between heaven and earth, the lightning disappeared. Only the torrential rain remained, falling in curtains through the pitch-black night sky, the sound of water everywhere.
Ye Fan didn't move, quietly watching the old Daoist. He was afraid that if he made a sound, the person would suddenly disappear again, just like last time.
"The seas have turned to dust for tens of thousands of autumns, the Dao transforms, yellow hair grows long in sorrow. One dream spans several thousand years, the immortal path is rugged—where to roam…"
The old Daoist chanted softly, sitting cross-legged on the green stone, motionless. He merged into the night rain of the world, without radiance, without divine power. Raindrops fell on his body but did not wet his robes.
This was absolutely a supreme expert. Ye Fan's heart trembled. He felt he might have encountered a Saint!
He had originally thought that in the current age, only Old Madman had become a Saint. He never expected that Central Province also had one. His words were profound and unfathomable, his realm incalculable.
"Senior…"
He walked into the heavy rain, calling out softly, very devout and respectful. But the old man didn't move at all, his eyes closed like a stone.
Ye Fan carefully tried to sense him. He found the thin old Daoist sitting on the green stone, right beside him, but he couldn't sense his existence at all.
"No, it's not a spiritual imprint, but there's no physical body either…" He was startled, because at this moment, his Source Heaven Divine Eye had opened. This was a phantom.
Suddenly, the old man stood up and walked straight this way. Ye Fan was immediately shocked, but he made no move. If a Saint wanted to strike, in this age, except for Old Madman, even if all the experts came together, they couldn't stop him.
"Swish"
The old Daoist walked straight toward the temple, touching him. He scattered like air, passing right through him, and then slowly disappeared.
"He's not a real person. He has… died after all." Ye Fan was dumbfounded.
Then, in the heavy rain, he carefully examined this low mountain. He found many magnetic rocks; it was an iron mine.
"That's it… I understand…"
He thought of the reports he had seen at the other end of the starry sky. Figures appearing in ancient tombs, ancient soldiers fighting in great canyons—everything seemed real.
In fact, all these images were just replays of the past. Magnetic rock formations in nature, under specific conditions, could replay these "past events."
Ye Fan was immensely regretful. He had missed meeting an ancient Saint by only two years. He had not been able to see him. This person's Dao attainment had reached an inconceivable level.
Refining a heavenly tribulation into a pill—this kind of technique was not even recorded in ancient texts. It showed just how powerful he was. That was a heavenly tribulation that had manifested ancient heavenly courts, its terror unimaginable!
"A Saint silently sat in death here, unknown to anyone. The five domains knew nothing. Besides Old Madman, Central Province also had a Saint…"
Ye Fan sighed deeply. Perhaps this was a true supreme expert. He had no so-called ambition to dominate the world. With such world-shaking cultivation, no one knew of him, and he died in the wilderness.
"This is the realm of a Saint!"
In comparison, other cultivators were far inferior. Such a person had long seen through the mortal world, with nothing to cling to, only a heart seeking immortality.
After realizing it was a phantom, Ye Fan paid even more attention. He settled here for a long time. If he could witness the old Daoist's various cultivation practices, it would be an enormous opportunity.
Time passed quickly. Two months later, Ye Fan was in quiet cultivation, silently comprehending the Dao, refining the Dragon Marrow. A breakthrough was imminent; it might happen in the near future, triggering a heavenly tribulation.
However, in these past few days, he found it hard to calm his heart. He had seen several more scenes and obtained a shocking piece of information.
When the old Daoist spoke to himself, he mentioned the Nine Secrets. He was born into an ancient family that possessed one of the secrets!
Of course, it was just a few words, insufficient as proof. Ye Fan had pieced it together through various clues, a result of his own deduction, not necessarily true.
But even so, his heart stirred. The Nine Secrets were almost lost to inheritance. Only three or four remained in the world. Now, unexpectedly obtaining a clue to one secret in Central Province was a matter of great importance.
"The Cai family… there is no such ancient family in Central Province…" Ye Fan muttered to himself. Before coming to Central Province, he had carefully studied the major powers, and there was no Cai family.
"Could it be a hidden aristocratic family?"
"Or perhaps… the Cai family that was extremely prosperous ten thousand years ago but suddenly declined and vanished?"
In recent days, thunderclouds had frequently gathered in the sky. Ye Fan felt he might take that step.
That very night, the moon was bright and the stars sparse. He saw the old Daoist's figure again. He had only seen him five or six times in total, and he paid close attention.
"If only I could hear him recite a Daoist formula or chant one of the Nine Secrets…"
Ye Fan hoped, but he knew it was almost impossible. After this old Daoist died, he left not a single word, which fully showed his state of mind—too transcendent.
"What in the world does not bring tears? Gains and losses, human feelings, fate does not extend. Just as I was drinking in the hall at home, I looked back and saw eight thousand years…"
This time, the old Daoist had a hint of melancholy, unlike before. He walked around the temple three times in dejection, then looked up toward the west, and finally came to the back of the temple.
"His tone… why is it like this? As if he is about to leave the world?"
Ye Fan's heart shook. This old Daoist had lived at least eight thousand years. He had been away from home for eight thousand years. This was simply terrifying!
He must be a Saint, no mistake. Otherwise, it would be impossible to have such a lifespan, and he was a peak existence among them.
The old Daoist found an empty space behind the small temple, dug a pit, calm and natural, and walked in step by step, thus burying himself.
This exactly overlapped with the original earthen grave, the same spot.
"Coming is without trace, going is without shadow. Going and coming are the same. Why bother asking about the floating life? This floating life is but a dream…" These were the old Daoist's final words. With that, he dissolved into the Dao and vanished between heaven and earth.
"This… is an ancient Saint!" Ye Fan could only sigh these words.