Chapter 847: Meeting an Origin Heavenly Master Again
Ye Fan and the others were all stunned. Even the big black dog widened its copper bell-like eyes, stuck out its bright red tongue, and looked a bit dumbfounded. None of them had expected Fatty Duan to pull such a stunt in the end.
"Come over and help!" Duan De shouted. He alone couldn't hold down that ghost soldier. It possessed immense strength, shaking heaven and earth with its struggles.
"Fatty Duan, have you lost your mind?" The others finally snapped back to reality.
Ahead of them were tens of thousands of ghost soldiers. Even ancient saints would avoid them when they were on the march. If those soldiers turned back, who could stop them?
"It's fine, they can't come back!" Duan De yelled. He pressed the ghost soldier to the ground and pulled out a ghost-binding rope, ready to tie it up.
His movements were as rough as tying up a pig, leaving everyone speechless. This was a tool he always carried with him, essential for entering ancient tombs and old mausoleums, consecrated through feng shui burial arts.
"Roar..."
On the other side of the stone arch bridge, tens of thousands of ghost soldiers turned back and roared in unison. Their shouts collapsed heaven and earth, and a fierce aura surged forward, causing the group to spit out large mouthfuls of blood. Their bodies nearly shattered.
The ghost soldiers charged forward, their killing intent dominating the heavens!
However, at this moment, the mist thinned, and everything on the other side became blurry. The tens of thousands of ghost soldiers rapidly faded, vanishing along with the netherworld on the opposite shore.
In that instant, even the monkey's palms were sweating. If they had charged back, none of them would have survived. He felt that this fat man was truly playing with fire, daring beyond measure.
"Hurry up and help! If we want to save the barbarian, we might have to start with this bastard!" Duan De could barely hold the ghost soldier down anymore. Flustered, he couldn't manage to tie it up with the ghost-binding rope.
"Grave robber, you're... too ferocious!" Even Black Emperor could only say this before opening its bloody maw and charging over.
Ye Fan and the others also rushed forward, pressing hands, grabbing legs, twisting necks—it was the first time in their lives they had wrestled with a ghost. The touch was icy and bone-piercing, somewhat prickly.
The ghost soldier only manifested on the stone arch bridge and the opposite shore. After being dragged back, its true form was unclear, but Duan De scattered a handful of powder, instantly making it visible.
"This is fine powder scraped from the coffin board of that ancient ghost, Immortal Emperor. Even if a grand immortal ghost came, it would have to show its true form!"
The ghost soldier had tremendous strength. Except for Ye Fan and the monkey, no one else could hold it down alone. Duan De wrapped it in eighteen loops, binding it tightly.
When everything calmed down, they looked at each other in bewilderment. This was the first time in their lives they had caught a living ghost!
They had seen spirits before, but those were ethereal beings that turned to ash with a single strike, nothing special. But this thing they caught was different—it had a physical body.
"It has a nice feel to it." Duan De groped around on it. "Don't believe me? Come and try it yourselves."
"You're really twisted!"
The group gathered around to examine the ghost soldier. It was covered in black iron armor, with pale, bloodless skin. Black Emperor was curious and kept touching it, feeling like its big paw was going numb from the cold.
Its battle armor was ancient, from an unknown era, bearing the marks of time, solid and indestructible.
"This armor must be a rare ancient suit from before the Primordial Era. It's incredible. Since it's not a legendary saint weapon, how has it lasted so long?" the monkey wondered.
"Crack"
As soon as he spoke, the black armor began to crack. Wisps of black netherworld energy seeped out, and the armor started to disintegrate, turning to dust.
"What's happening? When many ghost soldiers gather, they can withstand the ages, but now they're finally returning to dust?"
"Clang"
Duan De struck, knocking off the ghost soldier's helmet, revealing its true face. It was a pale face, eyes tightly shut, with gray hair scattered. The deathly aura was terrifyingly thick.
It was a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties, motionless. Bound by the ghost-binding rope, he didn't struggle, like a statue of death.
Duan De tried to extract a brand from its brow to understand what the netherworld was all about. But at that moment, the man's deathly aura grew even stronger. His entire body emitted a dark light, as if burning up.
"Fall back!"
They retreated quickly. The ghost soldier rose into the air, then emitted a blinding light, shrinking continuously in a bizarre manner until it became the size of a thumb. With a clink, it fell to the ground.
The dark light faded, and the middle-aged man vanished. In his place was only a jet-black jade figurine, exquisitely carved, identical to the ghost soldier from before.
"What is this thing? How did it turn into this?" The big black dog approached and pawed at it with its large claws.
Duan De's expression shifted. With a flash of light, two similar black jade figurines appeared in his palm, also thumb-sized and lifelike. He said, "I dug these up from an ancient tomb. They were left by a feng shui burial master."
"What use are they? How strange." Li Tian and the others came closer, picked up the ghost soldier jade figurine from the ground, and were utterly puzzled.
"It's a pity that notebook wasn't finished. That feng shui burial master was scared to death in a stone chamber. Otherwise, we'd know more." Duan De clenched all three black jade figurines in his palm.
"Forget about these for now. Let's focus on saving the barbarian." Li Heishui said.
"I feel uneasy. I don't know why, but I keep thinking this ghost soldier borrowing the road is very suspicious..." Ye Fan muttered to himself. He looked back behind him but saw nothing.
"What are you looking at? Scaring people to death. The ghost soldiers are long gone." Li Tian grumbled.
"Hmph!"
Ye Fan suddenly snorted coldly and stomped hard. Underground source energy surged out like a great dragon, leaping forward, dazzling and brilliant.
"Is there really something there?!" The monkey and the others were startled. Even with their powerful spiritual senses, they hadn't sensed anything.
Ye Fan stared at the dim ancient battlefield, where ribbon-like demonic mists swirled. He saw no figures, but the unease in his heart persisted.
From then on, they walked in silence, saying nothing. But Ye Fan had already borrowed the Divine Maiden Furnace, staying on high alert, ready to unleash a fierce strike.
"It's coming, it's coming again. I can truly sense it. It should be coming for me..." Ye Fan transmitted his thoughts to the others.
Then, after advancing over a hundred li, he suddenly sacrificed the Divine Maiden Furnace and struck backward. A vast divine light illuminated the entire sky, and the dim battlefield instantly became brilliant.
Behind them, a piercing scream rang out, making their scalps tingle. A sinister chill enveloped everyone, an indescribable feeling.
In that split second, Ye Fan saw a figure flash by, dodging the Divine Maiden Furnace and disappearing into the darkness. The brief glimpse of its true face as it turned chilled him to the bone.
"What did I see? A terrifying ghost monkey!" Yan Yixi gasped.
"It's covered in red fur, and those eyes are so venomous! That fleeting glance nearly turned my body into an ice sculpture. How terrifying!" Li Heishui couldn't help but shiver several times.
Only Ye Fan remained silent, staring into the darkness, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Brother Monkey, do you have any relatives? I clearly saw a red-haired vengeful spirit with a thunder-god mouth. It looks a bit like you!" Li Tian said.
The monkey almost swung his wolf fang club at him. His fiery golden eyes shot divine light, and he also looked solemnly into the darkness.
"What is that thing? It seems very hard to deal with. Based on my years of grave robbing experience, this is definitely a tomb master that appears once every tens of thousands of years, or even more terrifying!" Duan De concluded.
That face covered in red fur was so ferocious, lingering before Ye Fan's eyes. He caught a trace of aura similar to his own—the unique trait of an Origin Heavenly Master.
"It's him, an Origin Heavenly Master who encountered misfortune in his later years!" Ye Fan said gravely.
Everyone's hearts sank. They knew this was bad. They all knew how the Divine Spirit Valley was destroyed. An Origin Heavenly Master who had encountered misfortune possessed terrifying strength.
"The third-generation master is in the Qinling Mountains, the fourth-generation master is in the Primordial Forbidden Zone, and the fifth-generation master died in the Divine Spirit Valley. This place... is it the first-generation master or the second?" Ye Fan muttered.
The others felt a chill. How many years had the first two generations of masters existed? If they could absorb the essence and laws of heaven and earth, even a pig would become a saint.
The most critical thing was that their bodies were intact, but their consciousness was muddled, controlled by a strange, evil thought, ferocious and boundless—the most terrifying kind.
Now, their first thought was to leave. Going up against a master of the Origin Heaven lineage meant certain death, with no hope at all!
However, when they turned back, they saw various Origin Heaven patterns flickering, forming a continuous stretch. Even for someone as skilled in source arts as Ye Fan, breaking through would be difficult.
"Let's go. Keep moving forward. He's already cut off our retreat." Ye Fan said.
"What do we do then? Isn't this a dead end?" Yan Yixi asked.
"It's fine. The fourth-generation master gave me something—eighty-one great banners left by Immortal Emperor. If we really have to fight, we can suppress even several ancestral kings!" Ye Fan said.
Unless absolutely necessary, he was unwilling to waste this secret treasure. The time was too distant; the banner poles were nearly shattered and could only be used once more.
Now, he had sealed them with the nine ancient characters from the Dao Scripture to achieve eternity. Otherwise, they wouldn't last long in this world.
Ye Fan and the others ran swiftly. Since they had come this far, they wanted to find the barbarian as quickly as possible, rescue him, and then use the banner formation to break out together.
They ran all the way, searching everywhere. On this vast battlefield, they discovered dozens of corpses, all recently dead, all from the ancient clans, with their skulls pried open.
"They're from the Primordial Lake. None of them are weak. There are true royal clan members among them!" the monkey said, alarmed.
Ye Fan crouched down and picked a few red hairs from their opened skulls. They were so glaring. Without a doubt, this was the work of the Origin Heavenly Master.
"Boom"
Thunder roared ahead. It was an even more terrifying battlefield. The killing aura there was so thick it wouldn't dissipate. Blood-red lightning bolts appeared, their momentum astonishing.
"This is the core of the battlefield. Dongfang Ye was most likely chased into here and hasn't been able to escape. It spans about five hundred li!" the monkey said.
Ahead, after passing through a patch of pitch-black demonic mist, the area suddenly became dazzling. All kinds of lights flew, various ancient weapons clashed, and countless laws flickered.
"What? These are... weapons of Primordial Ancestral Kings, their laws. Is someone fighting a great battle here?!" The group was shocked.
The monkey shook his head. "No, these are just killing thoughts, undying resentment, the battle intent of fallen heroes!"
This was a terrifying battlefield. All kinds of ancient weapons and divine lights were manifestations of laws, surging and never fading.
"The laws unleashed by Primordial Ancestral Kings in the past gather the essence of heaven and earth, cycling endlessly. This place has become an eternal killing field. Entering it means no escape!"
"Heavenly Eye!"
Ye Fan shouted softly. Divine light shot from his eyes like lightning, piercing through hundreds of li, trying to see into this terrifying killing field. But various laws quickly cut off his gaze, making it impossible to penetrate.
"Bang"
He stomped hard, and a source pattern quickly spread along the ground, deep into the distant battlefield. Ye Fan closed his eyes. After a long time, he suddenly opened them and said, "Dongfang Ye is alive. I sensed his wolf fang saint weapon. It's protecting his dharma body!"
Suddenly, a terrifying aura appeared behind them, chilling and piercing, like thousands of steel needles stabbing into their backs.
Not far away, a monster covered in red fur appeared, growling low. It extended a terrifying red-furred claw, moving forward and then retreating, as if hesitating.
Ye Fan held the Divine Maiden Furnace, ready to strike at any moment. Everyone looked solemn. They were finally face to face with this being—an Origin Heavenly Master who had encountered misfortune, terrifying beyond measure.
"He's crying!" Li Tian exclaimed in shock.
"I... don't want to kill you." The voice was old and hoarse, as if struggling to control itself. It trembled, its red fur shaking, its body swaying.
On its fur-covered face, tears kept rolling down. The fierce light in its eyes faded, and for a moment, a trace of clarity seemed to appear. It spoke with difficulty, "You... are also about to become an Origin Heavenly Master. We are... kindred spirits. I don't want to kill you..."
Its words were broken, hard to string together. Occasionally, a fierce light flashed in its eyes, unable to control itself, trembling continuously.
"He's not from ancient times. Look at the artifact in his hand—it was forged in recent times." Duan De, sharp-eyed, whispered.
"That's right. Could he be from the Source King lineage? The old ancestor of that clan was only one step away from becoming an Origin Heavenly Master in his later years. A few years ago, he encountered misfortune and disappeared. The clan invited a top disciple of the Divine Calculator to deduce his fate, but that disciple also met with disaster." Ye Fan immediately understood.
"It's me..." The red-furred monster ahead heard his muttering and immediately became agitated. A bit more clarity appeared in its eyes, and the fierce light was somewhat suppressed.
"I... was brought here by the fourth-generation Origin Heavenly Master!" It forced out this complete sentence.
"What?!" Ye Fan was greatly shocked. The fourth-generation master had hidden in the Primordial Forbidden Zone in his later years but still encountered misfortune and disappeared. Years ago, Ye Fan had seen his remains in that "place where extremes reverse."
"He made me guard this place... escort the ghost soldiers across the border... ensure nothing goes wrong." The red-furred monster said with difficulty.
"What? The ghost soldiers borrowing the road is related to you? Where is the fourth-generation Origin Heavenly Master?" Ye Fan, Duan De, and the others were all shocked.
"If he appears, even a saint might not be able to defeat him..." The red-furred monster said laboriously, as if struggling internally again. "I don't want to kill you. We are kindred spirits, but I'm about to lose myself."
"Senior, please stay clear-headed. You can definitely recover!" Ye Fan shouted, his voice thunderous.
"A word of advice... the domain of Origin Heavenly Masters is full of misfortune. Don't tread lightly... They are coming... You must leave!" Its words were chilling. Who was coming? Everyone was shocked.
Earnestly begging for votes. For several days, I've been teetering. Brothers and sisters, do you have any bullets? Begging for support, begging for help. Grateful!
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