Chapter 939: The Second Disciple
The stone cave was dry and smooth, polished shiny by the frequent passage of animals. A small stone Buddha was half-blocking the cave entrance, providing shelter from wind and rain.
*Gulu gulu*
Inside the cave, a pair of bright, large eyes could be seen, somewhat timid yet curious, rolling around as they darted about.
This was a small creature. For it to possess extraordinary cultivation in this era of the end of the Dharma was truly beyond Ye Fan’s expectations—it could only be called a miracle.
“Come out. I won’t hurt you,” Ye Fan sent a strand of divine sense.
The little creature inside the cave had remarkable cultivation and was naturally intelligent, understanding the meaning of his divine sense. Yet it remained somewhat fearful, for it sensed this person’s immense power—he could hover in the air for extended periods, something it could not do!
In the end, it cautiously poked its head out, almost ingratiatingly blinking its large eyes. It extended a pair of small claws and bowed, standing timidly at the cave entrance.
What race was this little creature? Ye Fan was astonished; he couldn’t identify it at first glance. It was about a foot long, or two feet if you included its fluffy, bushy tail.
Its entire body shimmered with purple light, smooth as silk. The long, soft purple fur made one want to reach out and touch it. It was almost too beautiful, likely capable of captivating any girl who loved keeping small pets.
“A purple mink?” Ye Fan wondered, then shook his head. Not quite—it was cuter than a purple mink.
A squirrel!
He finally confirmed it, utterly amazed. A squirrel growing to look like this was incredibly rare, its whole body as translucent as purple crystal, exquisitely crafted to an almost excessive degree.
Its eyes were like two black gemstones, large and pitifully blinking, sparkling with light.
“You really are an anomaly. How did you cultivate?” Ye Fan sat on the stone mountain and casually picked up the small stone Buddha, finding it surprisingly heavy.
He was astonished. The small stone Buddha, seemingly rough and only as tall as a palm, weighed a thousand jin. An ordinary person could never lift it. He knew he had underestimated it—this was definitely a treasure; otherwise, how could it be so heavy!
The extraordinary little squirrel on the ground stood upright, looking at the stone Buddha with some reluctance, as if it had lost its most beloved treasure. Yet it dared not resist, lowering its head to stare at its own small claws.
For the first time in many days, Ye Fan revealed a faint smile. “Do you think I’d take your treasure?”
Hearing this, the little creature immediately perked up, blinking its large eyes ingratiatingly and bowing with its small claws, as if making a respectful gesture.
On Earth, there were almost no purple squirrels, except for rare mutated ones with a faint hint of that color. But this one was as crystalline as a purple diamond, every strand of its smooth fur shimmering with purple light.
It was so unique that if taken out and sold as a pet, it would probably stun everyone who saw it.
“Just how much cultivation do you have? Show me,” Ye Fan said, sitting on the stone mountain.
The little creature’s large eyes sparkled like a child showing off a treasure, eagerly performing, waiting for his praise.
*Xiu*
It transformed into a streak of purple light, shooting over a hundred meters into the sky. Then it wobbled, taking a dozen steps in the air before losing its strength and rapidly falling.
The first human secret realm was the Wheel Sea, with four minor stages: Sea of Suffering, Life Spring, Divine Bridge, and Other Shore. Reaching the Life Spring stage allowed one to fly.
By comparison, though the demon race had differences, the analogy was roughly the same.
This little creature wobbled and swayed, clearly just entering the Dao. Compared to a supreme demon race saint, it was like heaven and earth apart.
But on Earth, this performance was already impressive. With the Dao impossible to sense, reaching such a state could be called a shocking anomaly.
Moreover, Ye Fan carefully observed that this little creature was far more extraordinary than he had imagined. It was not merely at the Life Spring stage; it had already broken through the Wheel Sea and entered the Dao Palace, the second great secret realm. Of course, this was according to the human classification system.
“Earth is truly terrifying. A Dao Palace cultivator is suppressed so much that they can’t fly far—only a hundred meters before losing strength.”
At the same time, he couldn’t help but marvel. This purple crystal-like squirrel was extraordinary—a heaven-defying little demon that had grown up in an environment where the Dao was rejected!
Ye Fan focused on sensing the essence of heaven and earth. Over a vast area, he could only capture a few strands—far too thin. To have cultivated to this level under such conditions, was it a demon emperor’s child?
A strange expression crossed his face as he tried to see through the little creature. The purple squirrel immediately grew frightened. It picked up the stone Buddha with its small claws, looking pitiful, and offered it forward to ingratiate itself.
“I won’t take your things. I just want to know how you cultivate.”
The purple squirrel shook its fluffy tail, set down the stone Buddha, pointed at the Buddha’s head, then pointed at the sky. Ye Fan was puzzled. He had already examined the stone Buddha and found nothing special except its hardness and weight.
Before long, the sky darkened, stars appeared, and a silver disk rose. At this moment, the stone Buddha showed an anomaly—a ring of Buddha light appeared behind its head, formed from gathered moonlight.
“So that’s it. You rely on it to cultivate,” Ye Fan nodded.
The purple squirrel breathed in the moonlight. After being transformed by the halo behind the stone Buddha’s head, the essence was filled with mysterious Dao marks, enabling it to approach the Dao.
Moonlight was normally scattered, but with the stone Buddha’s guidance, the light particles in this area multiplied countless times, all absorbed by the little creature.
“This is truly a strange treasure. I didn’t see through it. Though the cultivators have all left Earth, they still left behind some mysterious things.”
In the latter part of the night, the little creature tugged at Ye Fan’s robe, timidly inviting him to follow, as if it wanted to go somewhere.
Surprised, Ye Fan followed it down the mountain to the ruins of an ancient temple built against the mountain. At the foundation, there was a huge crack leading underground.
*Sou*
The little squirrel jumped down, and Ye Fan followed. After twisting and turning for several dozen meters, he was startled to see a massive dragon’s head, identical to a real divine dragon!
This shocked him immensely. How could such a thing appear? Even in the Big Dipper Star Domain, a ancestral vein stretching millions of miles might not necessarily produce such a thing, and Earth certainly didn’t have such vast territory.
This was an ancestral root beneath the earth, transformed into a dragon shape, revealing a stone dragon head. But it had already withered, meaning this earth vein had lost its spirituality.
Earth was in the era of the end of the Dharma, so lacking spirituality was normal. But it shouldn’t have a lifelike stone dragon. Under such limited territory, it was nearly impossible to produce one—extremely rare in the world.
Ye Fan probed with his powerful divine sense and discovered that this withered stone dragon only belonged to this area, not extending far.
“What’s going on? Was Earth far vaster in ancient times?”
In front of the dragon’s mouth was a broken small clay jar containing a small amount of crystalline liquid, emitting a faint fragrance that refreshed the mind and heart.
The little purple creature ran forward, carefully picked it up, and offered it to Ye Fan to drink. But it couldn’t help swallowing its saliva, clearly longing for it as well.
Ye Fan took the small jar, sniffed it, and showed a strange expression. This was earth essence milk. For such a thing to appear on Earth today was incredibly rare, but it was useless to him.
It dripped from the dragon’s mouth, taking about half a month to accumulate half a bowl. He sighed softly. This great dragon was completely dead; this was the last “dragon saliva.”
Ye Fan returned the jar to it. The little creature looked confused, then blinked its black gem-like eyes and sincerely offered it to him again. In the process, it secretly swallowed its saliva once more, clearly treasuring it greatly.
“I don’t need it,” Ye Fan communicated with it through divine sense, asking if there were other intelligent creatures that cultivated. He felt it was pure and kind, so he didn’t forcibly probe its soul.
The purple squirrel couldn’t speak, but its divine sense expression was clear. It had never left this area and had never seen any other living beings with cultivation.
At the same time, Ye Fan learned its origin.
It pointed to a stone cave not far away, where a small skeleton lay—belonging to a squirrel, or more precisely, its mother.
Scenes appeared in Ye Fan’s mind: a fierce bird swooping down, a mother squirrel protecting her young and fleeing desperately, but still suffering severe injuries. In the end, she could only carry one cub into the earth crevice, arriving here.
Soon after, the injured squirrel died, and the cub crawled around, growing up by licking the earth milk dripping from the dragon’s head.
Ye Fan sighed. This little creature wasn’t human, just a small living being, but it still moved him, for he had just been separated from his parents by an eternal divide.
Yet the purple little thing pointed at the stone cave where its mother’s remains were buried, showing no sorrow, innocent and carefree.
Ye Fan took out a piece of divine source. Essence immediately filled the air, illuminating the entire stone cave. The purple squirrel was almost frightened, setting down the small jar and timidly backing away a few steps.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s for you,” Ye Fan handed it over. In this age of scarce spiritual energy, a piece of divine source was priceless for low-level cultivators.
The little creature came to its senses, recognized it as a rare treasure, and hugged it to its chest, rolling around happily under the dragon’s head, carefree.
“Would you like to leave here with me?” Ye Fan asked. Having spent time with this cultivated little creature, it temporarily made him forget his grief, and he wanted to take it along.
The purple crystal-like squirrel was stunned. It had never thought of leaving, filled with attachment to this place. Climbing onto the stone mountain, looking at the bright moon and the ruined ancient temple, it didn’t know what to do.
“Forget it. Living is about being at ease. You’re the same—just cultivate well here.” Ye Fan stood up and turned to leave.
*Sou*
As if a flash of wisdom crossed its heart, the purple little creature followed, grabbing his pant leg, looking up at him pitifully. Though reluctant, it decided to leave.
Ye Fan helped it gather the small stone Buddha, stepped on the moonlight like a banished immortal descending to the world, and flew away from the Tibetan region.
“From now on, you will be my second disciple.”
The purple little creature was confused but still very happy, laughing carefreely.
In a daze, Ye Fan saw a divine light within the purple radiance emanating from its body and murmured to himself, “Demon Emperor.”
After saying this, he was greatly startled, finding that the stone Buddha in his hand also trembled. In that instant, the divine ring behind the stone Buddha’s head seemed to transform into a stone mirror.
Looking again, there was nothing. The purple squirrel was still as adorable, and the stone Buddha was still as ancient and simple. Ye Fan fell silent for a moment.
On the way back, Ye Fan tried repeatedly and finally probed his divine sense into the stone Buddha’s interior. There was nothing else—only a few golden ancient characters, written in ancient Sanskrit, like several Buddhas sitting in meditation!
He didn’t understand their meaning and planned to look them up to find out.
Ye Fan returned to B City. Though grief still lingered in his heart, the trip to the Tibetan region had helped somewhat. He forcibly buried his sadness, for there were still things to do.
Before embarking on the return journey, he had discussed with Pang Bo about visiting the families of all the classmates lost in the Big Dipper Star Domain, to take care of them on their behalf.
“Pang Bo, I naturally trust you. I’ve always considered you a brother to share life and death with.”
Before stepping onto the Five-Colored Altar, Pang Bo had suddenly left, and then Li Xiaoman claimed he was a great evil. But Ye Fan didn’t believe it. Even if there was something strange about Pang Bo, the bond of sharing life and death couldn’t be false.
After returning to B City, Ye Fan first treated Xu Qiong’s family to a meal. In this mortal world, he didn’t want to display too much divine power, lest it shock the world. Moreover, he always felt that Earth was too mysterious, as if someone was watching everything from above.
He asked Xu Qiong for help to quickly locate the families of some classmates. In the process, he also handed the few ancient Sanskrit characters from the stone Buddha to Yang Xiao, asking him to find someone to decipher them.
Soon after, Yang Xiao really found someone to translate them and gave him the result, which shocked Ye Fan greatly!