Chapter 949: Cremation Immortal
Qin unified the six kingdoms and also standardized the written script. The scripts of the six kingdoms were nearly extinct. What was seen here was a form of large seal script, resembling oracle bone script and also like bronze inscription script.
Melodious and clear, it grew louder, entering the ears, washing the soul, making one's heart pound while also feeling a sense of relief.
Ye Fan descended the steps, stepping on the white jade staircase, feeling a kind of yin coldness. This type of jade was somewhat special, containing a trace of Taiyin Qi.
He had come this time to protect Yang Xiao, so naturally he had to eliminate all dangers. He circulated the Taiyin True Scripture, refining away every wisp of yin cold.
Soon after, he entered a vast underground palace, feeling a chill wind blowing in his face. As soon as he looked up, he saw a creature, flapping demonic wings, diving headfirst downward, clawing at his crown.
"Pfft"
Ye Fan pointed out a finger, and a wave of sword energy rippled out. Blood splattered, and the creature was instantly sliced into a mist of blood. It turned out to be a bat, over two meters long, shaped like a demon.
"What a huge bat. This underground world is sealed off. How did it survive? Is there another exit to the outside?" Ye Fan didn't care much; such trivial matters didn't need deep thought.
Walking forward a few meters, he found two corpses, blood pooled on the ground, their skulls pried open, their deaths miserable, killed not long ago.
An ancient tomb from a bygone era, without any special traps set, had already claimed the lives of six later cultivators. Their deaths were utterly worthless.
Ye Fan reached the end of this level of the underground palace, where another white jade staircase appeared, continuing deeper underground, as if step by step approaching the legendary cave dwelling. The project was massive.
During this process, he shook out sword waves several times, killing dozens of bats, all two to three meters long, with terrifying forms like ghosts. After death, he burned them all to ashes, otherwise, if the archaeological team came down, it would certainly be a mess.
Ye Fan entered deeper, where the celestial music was playing. Ahead was a row of chime bells, all sounding on their own, trembling without being struck.
He spread his palm, emitting wisps of multicolored light, flying toward these bells, fixing them in place, silencing them.
These chime bells were ancient but well-preserved, without any damage. Ye Fan carefully examined them and found they were items tempered by cultivators through thousands of refinements. However, there were no Dao marks inside, only a kind of essence-like spirit. He guessed that the tomb owner loved musical instruments, and the bells rang because, after the tomb saw the light of day again, his residual imprint acted unconsciously.
At this moment, after Ye Fan fixed these chime bells, the imprint dissipated, finally fading away. Because this was not a magical artifact, its thought could not endure long.
He continued forward, walking deeper, when suddenly he felt a fierce killing intent. Beams of sword light crisscrossed and slashed like ribbons, with flying swords of gold, red, purple, blue, and other colors tearing through the void.
Peerless killing intent!
Even from afar, before getting close, Ye Fan's skin broke out in goosebumps. This was an extraordinarily powerful flying sword, so strong that even he could barely withstand it.
"Whose tomb is this? It must be left by an ancient saint!"
Among them, a red sword radiance was the brightest, only the size of a palm, spinning and dancing in the underground palace, while other purple, blue, and golden flying swords followed, splitting the void.
"No, these aren't real flying swords, just a kind of sword intent. So powerful, so terrifying!" Ye Fan marveled.
If it were the weapon of an ancient saint flying here, he probably couldn't even approach. Just this sword intent alone was extremely frightening, making his body feel like it was splitting, as if it could sever the sky.
Three cultivators from the Dao Palace Secret Realm lay on the ground, without a single wound on their bodies, not struck by the flying swords, but the sword intent had penetrated their bodies, killing them. Of the several cultivators who entered, the farthest they got was here, and all died.
Ye Fan sighed softly. These people were considered experts in the current world, yet they died so pointlessly, probably not even knowing how they were injured.
How could an ancient saint's tomb be entered by ordinary people? As long as they retained a single wisp of killing thought, it was enough to kill any top expert of today.
This was a stone chamber for sword practice. On the wall hung seven scabbards, each the length of a palm. The craftsmanship was not refined, just simple animal hide, so tattered it was nearly turning to dust.
From this layout, this ancient saint was very simple, leaving no traps. Apart from the Taiyin Qi seeping from the stone door, there was no danger at all.
"Where are the seven saint swords?" Ye Fan searched. He circulated his cultivation, trying to retrieve the seven scabbards.
"Pfft"
But with a slight movement, the seven animal-hide scabbards turned to dust. It wasn't because of age, but because they contained a kind of sword intent that the material could no longer withstand.
After the scabbards were destroyed, the seven beams of sword light crisscrossing the stone chamber also vanished, annihilating into the void, the endless killing intent becoming nothing.
Ye Fan sighed regretfully. These seven scabbards had self-destructed; otherwise, they would have been priceless treasures. Through the terrifying sword intent within, they might have been able to restore the tomb owner's supreme sword art.
After thinking it over, he let it go. The scriptures he had obtained were not few. On the Ancient Yinghuo Star, the ancient saint had said that accumulating too much like this was bad and could lead to great trouble.
Passing through this stone chamber, he entered a blazing area. A sea of fire blocked the way ahead, the temperature terrifying, actually being Sun Essence Fire.
Through this flame, he could see a coffin ahead, wrapped by an ancient vine, buried in the deepest part of the tomb, making the area shine brilliantly.
Cremation coffin!
The legendary cremation coffin was for figures of great origin. Ordinary people couldn't arrange it, because it required Sun Essence and a fire vine nurtured with a saint's essence blood.
That ancient vine clearly had a lifespan of several thousand years. Its roots were like a coiled dragon, its leaves like red gold, gleaming brilliantly, incomparably radiant in the firelight.
It was rooted in the Sun Essence Fire, absorbing the nutrients of the fire essence, growing from it. This was a nearly dreamlike spiritual vine, a treasure for refining artifacts and forging weapons.
The seeds of the fire vine were very rare, especially those that could root in Sun Essence Fire, as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, a favorite of ancient saints.
Why choose this kind of cremation? There were many legends. The most accurate saying was that when a saint knew he was about to die, he used the supreme yang essence of the fire vine to sustain the last trace of yang Qi in his body, waiting for resurrection. Therefore, cremation coffins were all extraordinary!
A sea of Sun Fire Essence, a fire vine, a coffin, an ancient saint.
Ye Fan was deeply shaken. He had actually seen such a thing. Could this ancient saint be resurrected? Could it be a dazzling figure recorded in history?
Little Pine was very nervous, its purple fur gleaming, its big black gem-like eyes blinking gently, obediently following Ye Fan, not daring to approach.
"This ancient saint didn't set up traps in the tomb to kill intruders. He seems kind-hearted. There shouldn't be much danger here."
Ye Fan cultivated the Sun True Scripture and wasn't afraid of the Sun True Fire. He entered the blazing flames and carefully examined the coffin.
This flame was extremely terrifying. Under normal circumstances, even a king who had severed the Dao couldn't approach; touching it would surely turn them to ashes. The firelight was horrifying.
The fire vine was thick, each leaf clanging like metal when touched, as if forged from Phoenix Blood Red Gold. The thick vine, like a coiled dragon, wrapped around the ancient coffin, lifting it into midair.
A coffin, bearing death, was originally an ominous thing, but here it was accompanied by a red-gold fire vine, full of life.
Ye Fan silently sensed, then sighed softly. The person in the coffin was dead, unable to sustain the last trace of yang Qi with the supreme yang fire essence, and had not revived.
Then, he noticed a stele beside the coffin, cast from bronze, very heavy and thick, with some ancient characters on it, in bronze inscription script.
Since returning, Ye Fan had been enriching himself these past days, reading the Huangting Scripture, reciting the Nanhua Scripture, going in and out of various libraries, reading rare books, consulting authorities, and learning ancient characters like oracle bone script.
He recognized some of the characters on it, and at that moment, his heart shook violently, surging with towering waves. This was indeed a famous great figure from ancient times!
Red Pine Master, recorded in the Daoist scripture *Dao Zang*, included in the *Biographies of Immortals*, where he was said to be an ancient immortal. Moreover, other ancient texts also recorded him, with the earliest traceable record being in *Huainanzi: Qisu*.
Such an ancient tomb, its origin could only be described as terrifying. Ye Fan's heart was immensely shocked. Through his heavenly eye, he saw something extraordinary inside the coffin.