Chapter 618: The Devouring Demon Art Again
The Salvation Divine Art was a mysterious and formidable secret technique. It could transform a person with dissenting intentions into a devout mountain gate protector. How heaven-defying was that?
One must understand that this was not about controlling the mind, but rather starting from the very core of one's being. Everything happened naturally, through proper conversion, never by seizing one's will.
Although the Qin Sect was small, with only a little over a hundred members, it was unfathomably deep, stirring a sense of reverence in Ye Fan. Even the Azurefall King had been converted—this was truly a major event.
According to the sick old man, the Azurefall King was far from the only great expert converted on the main peak. Over the past thirty years, there must have been others, all of them extraordinary figures.
In fact, anyone who could find this place in search of the Nine Secrets was certainly no ordinary person. The cream of the crop among them were naturally dragons among men, far surpassing their peers.
Ye Fan parted ways with the sick old man, his mind filled with many thoughts. The Qin Sect was full of peculiarities and must never be underestimated. If he, the Sacred Body, were to be converted himself, the joke would be on him.
At the same time, a trace of unease stirred within him. The Salvation Divine Art was created by the Southern Ridge Heavenly Emperor, suspected to be another incarnation of the Ruthless Person—this was hardly good news.
Hua Yunfei should be in the Qin Sect. This secret art would undoubtedly hold a fatal allure for him. If he obtained it, it would be like adding wings to a tiger, since it originated from the same lineage.
"I still have to enter the inner sect; otherwise, I can't obtain the Nine Secrets. But I must guard against being converted," Ye Fan mused. He had formulated a certain countermeasure in his mind.
"For now, I should focus on improving my strength first. Since entering the inner sect isn't easy, I'll use this time to search for Dragon Marrow," he decided.
The night wind blew, and the clusters of low hills appeared hazy under the scattered stars. The trees rustled, and the roars of wild beasts came from deep within the mountains.
The crescent moon was thin, its light limited, leaving the forest dim. Ye Fan walked alone, observing the mountain terrain at midnight, searching for Dragon Marrow.
In the distance, a pine forest was very quiet. A clear spring gurgled forth, night birds chirped softly, and the fragrance of grass and trees drifted in the air.
Suddenly, his expression shifted. He stopped in his tracks and saw a beautiful woman. She was sitting cross-legged on a green stone, her five hearts facing the sky, surrounded by a pure white radiance.
The stars and moon were dim, but deep in the pine forest, starlight and moonlight flowed down, converging toward her body, making that area appear pure white and hazy.
"Li Xiaoman..." Ye Fan was surprised.
The technique she was cultivating was definitely a miraculous art. Three hundred and sixty-five golden whirlpools appeared around her body, extremely dazzling, gathering the essence of the ten directions and absorbing the finest essence of the sun and moon.
"The heavens and stars... using the body to correspond to three hundred and sixty-five main stars?" Ye Fan was uncertain. This profound technique was something he had never heard of or seen before.
He activated his Source Heaven Divine Eye, carefully observing, wanting to see what was going on.
Suddenly, his heart trembled. Within those three hundred and sixty-five golden whirlpools, each one held a golden figure sitting cross-legged, like a deity.
The essence of the ten directions' plants and trees, the dragon energy of the earth, the essence of the stars and moon—all of it gathered like water, flowing into the three hundred and sixty-five golden whirlpools, casting those golden figures.
Ye Fan wanted to see more clearly, but the figures in the golden whirlpools were too hazy, without any discernible features. He could only sense a kind of majesty and loftiness, a divine aura.
"What a powerful miraculous art. The human body corresponds to the main stars of the heavens, casting a deity in each golden whirlpool. What heaven-defying divine abilities would one have at the end of this cultivation?"
Ye Fan pondered, quite astonished. In the end, he realized that those three hundred and sixty-five golden figures were actually a single deity, residing in different parts of the body.
"Casting a single... unparalleled deity. Truly marvelous."
Suddenly, his body shook. He saw an even more bizarre scene. Behind Li Xiaoman, an ancient diagram emerged. A golden deity stood on an ancient battlefield, looking down upon all gods.
On the ancient battlefield, a golden light flowed. Many corpses lay scattered, their blood of five colors, clearly not ordinary mortals. It was mysterious beyond compare.
Ye Fan was greatly shocked. Among those corpses, there were actually golden-bodied Arhats. Upon closer inspection, there were also seven-colored Bodhisattvas, all lying dead on the ground.
"What a powerful deity, walking on the five-colored blood of Bodhisattvas and Arhats..."
The mountains trembled slightly. The essence contained in the endless veins across the mountains and plains all burst forth, converging toward Li Xiaoman's body, entering the three hundred and sixty-five golden whirlpools, casting that golden deity.
Throughout this process, Li Xiaoman's body continuously flickered with divine radiance. Her jade-like crystalline physique was repeatedly refined, merging with the three hundred and sixty-five deities.
When her eyes opened and closed, golden sparks flickered within them, indescribably eerie. She was like an ancient demon god, beautiful yet wild.
The essence of the sun and moon from the sky, the spiritual energy of the ancestral roots from the earth, turned into rivers flowing into her body. The speed at which she absorbed essence was astonishing.
This place was a full thousand miles from the Qin Sect, so there was no worry about being discovered. She sat there motionless, cultivating this heavenly art that had never been recorded in ancient texts.
"Where did she learn this?"
Suddenly, Li Xiaoman's body shook. Her hair flew wildly. Above her head, a golden whirlpool appeared, and within it sat a golden figure. This figure was different from the others. It was actually holding a green copper cauldron, emitting a vast, ancient aura.
"Green Copper Cauldron!" Ye Fan was shocked. This was the fragment of the Extreme Imperial Weapon that had been with him for many years. It had been taken away by Li Xiaoman and had now been refined into a deity.
"Could it be that she obtained the legacy of the Ruthless Great Emperor? No, that's not right. The Devouring Demon Art is not like this. But... Li Xiaoman also entered the Immortal Palace outside the Ancient Forbidden Land. Did she obtain a great opportunity there?"
Yet he still felt something was off. The first profound technique was too eerie when cultivated. Casting a deity within a golden whirlpool, walking on the corpses of golden-bodied Arhats and Bodhisattvas—it was very wild and demonic.
"What kind of encounter has she had? Her actual combat strength is definitely far above the Dao Palace realm. What happened to her?"
Ye Fan made no move, not wanting to alert the enemy. He wanted to lure out Hua Yunfei. This man was hiding too deeply; there was still no clue about him.
The Qinling Mountains were filled with ancient tombs underground. Whenever a mountain flood erupted, one or two ancient coffins might wash out from the mountains. This was no longer considered unusual locally.
Ye Fan traveled along the way, appearing in the Qinling Mountains. He observed the mountain terrain, searching for rare and precious marrow to use for breakthroughs during enlightenment.
Over the past half month, he had traveled over a hundred thousand miles. He had discovered eight ancient coffins in the earth veins, all containing corpses of Saint Lord-rank figures, long decayed for who knows how many years. Even their weapons had rotted away.
The oldest one dated back a hundred and eighty thousand years. There were clear inscriptions on the jade coffin, identifying him as a former Imperial Lord.
However, he had not found a single drop of strange marrow. He had delved deep into the bellies of countless mountains, seen dragon energy, but could never obtain the marrow.
"This million-mile Qinling Range is coiled by a shocking great dragon. It must contain unparalleled divine marrow, but this region is just too vast..."
Ye Fan frowned. He stood in the sky, overlooking the boundless Qinling Mountains. A million miles stretched endlessly. How could he see to the end? But he could see the astonishing dragon energy gathering.
This kind of energy was very special. Only those who had inherited the Source Heaven Master's legacy could see it. It was actually a great dragon tens of thousands of miles long, truly too vast.
"No wonder the Qinling Mountains have so many ancient tombs. This dragon is too large, containing endless life force and the mysteries of life and death. Ancient people must have glimpsed this secret long ago and came here to be buried."
The dragon vein was too large, making it hard to determine where the precious marrow was born. Moreover, many false dragons intertwined, making it difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood.
"There must be dreamlike divine marrow, comparable to an Immortal Elixir. It has probably already transformed into a living being," Ye Fan speculated.
Another quiet night. The full moon hung in the sky, covering the earth in silver white, as if a thin smoke was swirling.
Ye Fan had been searching for over half a month without any results. Unknowingly, he had arrived deep in the Qinling Mountains, far from the Qin Sect, over a hundred thousand miles away.
"Ao..."
Suddenly, a sound like a bird's cry and a wolf's howl came, shaking all the mountains.
"Boom," "Boom"...
In the distance, over a dozen great mountains were shattered by the roar. Dust filled the sky, obscuring the divine moon above.
"What kind of powerful creature is this?!" Ye Fan's expression changed.
A strange bird, its body flashing with green light, was shaped like a green roc but had a wolf's head. It was over thirty zhang long, and the sound came from it.
"Ancient exotic species—Night Sky Wolf."
"Roar..."
Another great roar came from another mountain range. A silver giant ape, a full hundred zhang tall, walked over, trampling some of the lower hills.
As soon as the two creatures saw each other, they charged together as if they had a great enmity. Green light and silver light boiled, and the ground shook violently. Over a dozen nearby peaks were leveled.
Ye Fan was shocked. These were two beast kings. Even a Saint Lord would find it hard to subdue them. Their strength was extremely formidable.
"What are they fighting over?"
"Bang"
In the distance, half of a majestic mountain collapsed. A battered bronze carriage drove out, pulled by several ceramic horses. It looked quite bizarre.
Behind it, an old man in an ancient, worn-out dragon robe and a rusted dragon crown drove the carriage. His face was deathly gray, without a trace of life.
"An ancient Imperial Lord turned into a corpse king, driving a carriage for someone..." Ye Fan was quite astonished.
Inside the battered bronze carriage sat a small figure, about a foot tall, its entire body purple, flowing with light. It was very peculiar.