Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 110: Priceless Ancient Characters

Having consumed four golden fruits, Ye Fan had returned to his optimal state, his physical body was perfect and free from any impurities, as though it were a sparkling and translucent divine weapon, with a wave of his hand the divine energy would surge and he could feel that his physical body had been strengthened significantly.

“Within the endless abyss, the power of Desolation is indeed frightening, even the Sacred Grounds and ancient aristocratic families are helpless against it. In this world only the divine fruit is capable to dispersing its effects, it’s no wonder that its name has resounded throughout the Eastern Badlands since ancient times, it really is a divine medicine.”

Before entering the Forbidden Ancient Desolate Land, the disintegration of a skeleton had caused ten odd experts to die one after another. One could see how frightening the power of Desolation was. As for Ye Fan, he had suffered from the more frightening attack of a Desolation Slave, his body had been contaminated with a greater amount of the aura of Desolation and if he did not have the primordial ancient divine body together with his previous consumption of a divine medicine, he would certainly have died.

“The dwelling of a poisonous insect would likely have a spiritual elixir that can cure the poison, these words really have their logic.”

This forbidden area was extremely mysterious and demonic yet it was able to give birth to nine kinds of divine medicine, this caused one to sigh in admiration.

“I’ve already fully recovered my youth, I should now focus on increasing my strength.” Ye Fan was extremely agitated, he needed the powerful divine medicine to help him breakthrough.

However, when he saw his reflection within the spring, he suddenly felt stunned. He seemed to have become even smaller, becoming a youth of around thirteen years of age, the delicate and pretty visage brought a feeling of naivety and tenderness.

Ye Fan helplessly sighed: “Damn, if I consume another golden divine fruit, won’t I become a young and tender baby?”

Thinking of this terrifying outcome, his goosebumps stood up. If he became a baby above the endless abyss, that would certainly becoming a big laughing matter.

“Your granddaddy.”

Ye Fan contemplated for a long period of time but could not think of any solutions as he felt a migraine.

There were eleven small trees surrounding the spring and at this moment seven gold divine fruits remained, sparkling and translucent, flashing with brilliance as a fragrance assailed the senses, making one feel drunk.

“That’s right!” Suddenly, he recalled what was recorded within the Dao Scripture, there were a few words that lightly mentioned an ancient technique, using the artifact to suppress one’s body, allowing one to achieve immortality.

“Using my cauldron to suppress my body then ingesting the divine fruit, that should solve the problem.” However, he did not dare to risk it here, if anything unforeseen occurred, this would become his burial ground.

Ye Fan retrieved several jade cases from his bosom as he carefully plucked the golden divine fruits and placed them within. He felt as though he was carrying seven treasure rooms with him as he cautiously kept them, these were divine medicine which would aid him in cultivating his primordial ancient divine body, he could not afford any mistakes!

“Finally acquired them.” He let out a sigh of relief. After a life and death struggle, he had finally succeeded. Thinking of how the people of the Jiang Family, Ji Family and Alkaid Sacred Ground perished, even cultivators who had reached the Other Shore realm, he felt that obtaining the divine medicine was simply too difficult and made a feeling of accomplishment well up within him.

Ye Fan stood up as he gazed at the seven other sacred mountains and muttered: “There are still seven other types of divine medicine……”

He really wanted to obtain all of them, in that way he would no longer fear any obstructions due to his unique body, he would very likely be able to climb to the pinnacle. However, this seemed like a difficult task to achieve. Each sacred mountain was guarded by a Desolation Slave and they actually had physical bodies, each of them was an existence at the level of the sacred woman of the Celestial Rotating Jade, extremely terrifying.

Ye Fan did not feel that the aurichalcite would automatically protect him, such a serendipitous affair would not occur a second time and if a Desolation Slave really acted against him, he would definitely not have any chance.

“I really want to know what the other divine medicines are like.” Ye Fan muttered.

Each sacred mountain had a type of divine medicine and this made him feel puzzled. Were they planted by men? It was clear that those small trees had existed for an endless number of years and in that distant past, what exactly happened and how did it occur?

Ye Fan felt that this forbidden area was like a pure ground back in the past, otherwise, how could there be a divine spring and divine trees, there should have been some frightening circumstances that led to this area becoming a forbidden area.

Thereafter, he recalled the words of the crazed old man: “That crazed old man mentioned previously that ‘it has come again’, what exactly was he referring to?”

Ye Fan gazed at a sacred mountain in the distance, the skeletons gathered there were the most numerous, far more than the other mountain peaks and more skeletons were continuing to climb from within the abyss, forming a small mountain of bones.

“The large bronze coffin has been drowned by the skeletons, what is going on, how did the ancient coffin make it back atop the sacred mountain? Could this be the doing of the Desolation Slaves? Were they afraid and did not wish for it to remain in the abyss?” Ye Fan’s heart was filled with questions.

One should not tarry for long within the forbidden area and he did not wish to ponder any further as he picked up a pure jade bottle, it was merely the size of a palm, spotlessly white as though it were carved from sheep-fat white jade. This was the treasure of the Alkaid Sacred Ground which Xu Dao Ling had given him to acquire the divine spring waters, there was a natural space encased within which could fit an entire mountain.

At this moment the pure jade bottle had dimmed significantly as its divine glow receded. The Dao Inscriptions carved on it were extremely blurry and seemed as though they would vanish without a trace.

“Could this precious treasure have been destroyed by the demonic power of the Forbidden Ancient Desolate Land?” Ye Fan brought the pure jade bottle before the spring as he began to fill it with the divine spring water.

“Splash! Splash!”

The spotlessly white pure jade bottle did not fill up quickly, Ye fan estimated that he had already filled it with seven to eight jin worth of water and this made him elated, although it was not as precious as the divine medicine, this water was still that of a divine spring.

“Your granddaddy, didn’t he mention that it could contain a mountain, why is it suddenly full?” He had absorbed ten odd jin of water but the pure jade bottle was already full.

I can only obtain so much divine spring water, there’s no way to continue. Ye Fan stood up as he came before came before the eleven small trees, plucking a needle-like leaf as he placed it into his mouth to chew, feeling a strong spiritual energy.

“If it was a greedy individual, he would certainly even uproot these divine trees and leave.” Ye Fan did not wish to recklessly waste natural resources, this divine tree could only grow by relying on the divine spring water and he did not wish to make it extinct, who knew if he would return to pluck the divine medicine again in the future.

He merely broke off a few slender branches, placing them within the pure jade bottle before taking big strides down the mountain.

Not far away from the peak, Ye Fan saw a copper mirror, this was elder Jiang Han Zhong’s weapon and at this moment is was dull without any lustre as it lay within the rubble.

“The artifact forged by a cultivator who has reached the Other Shore realm is definitely extraordinary.” Not long ago, he had personally witnessed the frightening might of the copper mirror, it could cause the sun and moon to seem dull and the world to be colourless, shooting forth dazzling lights and trembling with a vast amount of divine energy.

Ye Fan picked up the eight trigrams copper mirror and spoke: “It’s identical to the pure jade bottle, its divine glow has receded and the Dao Inscriptions have vanished, who knows if it will recover after leaving the Forbidden Ancient Desolate Land……”

No far away was a parasol, elder Ji Yun Feng’s weapon. After being pierced by a finger from the sacred woman of the celestial rotating jade, it was currently damaged but Ye Fan still kept it.

After searching for a while, he did not make any other discoveries as he swiftly rushed down the mountain without stopping, he did not wish for the youth which he had painstakingly recovered to once again fade away.

“I can’t return by the original path.”

There was a divine carriage following each of the families which came into the forbidden area, the person seated within made Jiang Han Zhong and the others very respectful, making it clear that there was a formidable presence within.

Ye Fan chose a direction and did not tarry any longer as he hastily moved off, increasing his speed to his limit.

“If those bigwigs are willing to expend large amounts of energy, they will be able to use their celestial vision to piece through hundreds of Li, the ancient bronze coffin was discovered by them in this manner. I have to leave as soon as possibly to prevent them from from locating me. If they feel anxious and use the ability, I will not have any way to live within the Eastern Badlands any longer.”

Not long after, Ye Fan finally rushed out of the forbidden area. He did not hesitate as he began to swiftly drink the divine spring water, he was afraid that he would suffer any frightening changes from leaving the Forbidden Ancient Desolate Land as mentioned by Jiang Han Zhong.

It was clear that he was overly cautious, he was already a cultivator of the Spring of Life realm and had even consumed the divine medicine atop the sacred mountain, he had already undergone the changes and at this moment no other changes occurred to him.

“I wonder how Liu Yi YI, Zhang Zi Jun and the others fared…….”

Ye Fan rushed into the depths of the mountains and swiftly left the forbidden area far behind, he knew that in the days that followed there would be waves of commotion, the experts of the Jiang Family, Ji Family and Alkaid Sacred Ground had all been exterminated and once this news spread, there would definitely be a huge ruckus.

“I can only temporarily hide, after a year or so when everything dies down before showing my face again.” He did not wish to take any risks and decided to establish a cave dwelling within this piece of primitive land, hiding here while raising his cultivation level without anyone noticing.

Finally, Ye Fan chose a stone mountain and established a cave dwelling within it.

Time passed swiftly and in the blink of an eye a month had already passed. Ye Fan had attempted to use the cauldron suppress his body to achieve immortality as written within the Dao Scripture, however, there was too little mentioned within it and he had almost killed himself during the suppression.

“Damned ancestors! He had spent an entire month struggling before finally escaping from the suppression and kept his cauldron. His expression was extremely pale as he hurriedly retrieved the pure jade bottle and began to take large gulps of the divine spring water to recover.

He continued to experiment for two months before finally finding a way. The cauldron was simple and unadorned yet natural as it slowly became five metres tall within the cave dwelling, thereafter, Ye Fan placed himself within it as he became suppressed.

Ye Fan followed the mystical arts recorded within the Dao Scripture, there were nine unique ancient characters etched within the cauldron and when they were arranged perfectly, they seemed to have a frightening power that could change the heavens, immediately causing the inside of the cauldron to become muddled and misty, as though it had been transported to the beginnings of the world.

“These nine ancient characters……” At this moment, a streak of light seemed to flash through Ye Fan’s mind as he seemed to think of a possibility.

When he first studied the Dao Scripture, he had felt that these nine ancient characters were extremely special.

They were indicated with symbols within the Dao Scripture but their exact meanings were not indicated and he naturally could not understand them. However, there were a few sentences which mentioned of a simple ancient technique, carving these nine ancient characters into one’s’ artifact will provide energy to suppress one’s body, allowing one to achieve immortality.

“I understand!” Ye Fan was extremely agitated, these nine ancient characters made him think of the ancient scripture which he had obtained within the ancient bronze coffin, these nine ancient characters were extremely similar to those hundreds of ancient characters, they seemed to be of the same calligraphic style!

“These nine ancient characters actually contain such a mighty force, that mysterious ancient scripture is formed from all those ancient characters. If we do not talk about the actual value of the content, just the several hundred ancient characters can be regarded as a priceless treasure!”

At this moment, the nine ancient characters were etched within the cauldron, muddled and misty, time seemed to stop as the music of dao reverberated, as though one had achieved eternity.