Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 113: Talents are meant to be stepped on

Ye Fan’s divine sense was exceptionally strong, a vast golden lake had formed between his brows and as he swept his sense, he could feel elder Wu Qing Feng’s cultivation which was at the Spiritual Bridge realm. “Elder, I have something to give you.” While speaking, he had a solemn expression on his face: “You have to carefully keep this, don’t let other people discover it, otherwise it will bring harm to you.” Elder Wu Qing Feng felt puzzled and did not understand why he was talking in this manner, a befuddled expression could be seen on his face.

“Find a pristine jade bottle.”

When Ye Fan retrieved his pure jade bottle and poured a drop of divine spring water, there was immediately a dense qi essence of life which could be felt causing the elder to instantly be stunned.

“This is…… such a strong vitality!”

“Although this spring water isn’t able to revive a person, it is sufficient to cure most wounds and extend one’s lifespan.” Ye Fan said in a serious manner. The old man had previously watched out for him and he was a person who knew how to show gratitude, he was leaving the Yan State and it was unknown when he would return, he naturally wanted to return in the favour in some manner. “This water is simply too precious, I can’t accept it. Hurry and keep it.” Elder Wu Qing Feng shook his head as he rejected.

“Don’t say anymore, I’m really sincere…….”

Finally, Ye Fan filled a jade gourd to the brim with divine spring water and placed it within the old man’s hands before instructing: “Make sure no one finds out.”

Elder Wu Qing Feng carefully inspected the divine water, he could feel endless amounts of life essence within it and knew that there was certainly a frightening origin as he looked at Ye Fan with a puzzled gaze: “This is……” “Don’t ask any further”.

The old man would never have imagined that this water was actually from a divine spring atop one of the sacred mountains within the Forbidden Ancient Desolate Land, if he got wind of this he would certainly be flabbergasted. “Now that I’ve settled everything, I’ll be leaving the Yan State. Old man, look after yourself.” Ye Fan paid his final respects to the old man.

“Child, where are you headed to? Could it be that you’re really intending to head over to the Jade Lake Sacred Ground?” Elder Wu Qing Feng glanced at him and said in a sincere voice: “The Jade Lake Sacred Ground is separated from the Yan State by tens of thousands of mountains and rivers, the journey is simply too far and a mortal would simply be unable to reach them even if they travelled for their entire lives. You shouldn’t take such a risk, even if you manage to reach the place, it would have already been……”

“Don’t worry, I have my own considerations, even if I don’t go there, I will travel the world, the Eastern Badlands is so vast, if I don’t explore it I’d really be wasting my youth.”

Thereafter, Ye Fan asked if the items he had left behind previously were still present, he wanted to take them. “I will need to send people to check on this, after you and Pang Bo went missing, that valley was given to someone else, the items that were left behind have likely been kept but it is unknown whether they have been properly looked after.”

“That’s fine, I’ll go outside to explore a bit.” Before leaving, Ye Fan wanted to explore the primitive ruins one more time.

The ruins were directly beside Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary, the two places were actually one body and gazing into the distance, one could only see collapsed mountains withered vegetation, simply desolate. The valley and mountains used to be lush and green but what remains were only scorched earth. The vegetation had long lost their vitality and the land was barren, back in the day it was full of life but such a scene now could be said to be as different as the sky and the earth.

Sprawling ancient trees, dense and lush vegetation, all this had been destroyed without much left, only a heavy deathly aura filled with desolation could be felt. “Endless numbers of cultivators came to the Eastern Wilderness to open the burial mound of the demonic emperor, deaths continued throughout the three years and this place can be considered to be thoroughly destroyed.” Ye Fan felt rueful.

He was thankful that he had been decisive in leaving the area, otherwise, it was likely that he would have been one of the cultivators who perished. In the distance, the fallen mountains were testament to the frightening events that had occurred in the past three years, that withered majesty made one’s heart feel chills.

“Pang Bo disappeared from this area, I wonder where he’s currently at?” Ye Fan came before the five finger mountain from long ago but did not find any traces, that perfect woman and the experts from the demonic race had already vanished without a trace.

Thereafter, he came before the demonic emperor’s Yin Tomb, the deep pond was like ink and it’s black was startling, a sinister aura seemed to rush towards the sky causing even the blazing sun to suddenly seem sinisterly cold. Only the valley which the deep pond was situated in remained intact, the surrounding large mountains had all fallen and the ground was dyed in a faint red colour, this was likely the blood of countless cultivators, the mountains of corpses had been cleared away but the traces of dried blood had been left behind, the black traces of blood showed the cruelty that had transpired.

“Pang Bo, once I’ve got enough strength, I’ll definitely find you and save you.” Ye Fan left this area and returned to the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary.

Up ahead, a waterfall was flowing down from a majestic celestial mountain, it seemed like a silver horse galloping down that was hung on the mountain.

A few young males and females were standing not far away from the waterfall, amongst them was a female of around twenty years of age, she wore an off-yellow dress together with a jade belt that accentuated her slender waist, her exquisite body was made even more moving, extremely alluring with a beautiful mole giving her a seductive feel.

As Ye Fan walked by the waterfall, a look of puzzlement appeared on the female’s face as she seemed to suddenly recall something as she coldly laughed: “So it’s you!”

Ye Fan naturally recognised this female, she was the celestial sprout of the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary, Li Lin, her relationship with Han Fei Yu was very good and had acted against Pang Bo and him three years ago within the primitive ruins, assisting Han Fei Yu in dealing with them.

There were still a number of people before the waterfall, a youth in his twenties heard the commotion and walked over, upon seeing Ye Fan, a look of shock appeared on his face before killing intent was exposed as he coldly said: “It’s actually you, back then you actually managed to escape through sheer luck, you actually dare to barge into our Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary.”

This male youth was not a stranger, he was Li Yun and had exceptional talent, he was not inferior to a celestial sprout and always stuck together with Li Lin. Ye Fan smiled and pretended to not recognise them: “Who are you people? Why have you blocked by path?”

“Acting dumb? Do you really believe you can fool us?” Li Lin’s face was extremely cold and a cold light seemed to flash through her eyes: “Three years have already passed and I’ve always been thinking of meeting you again, who knew that you actually dared to return.”

“Do i really have such charm to make you miss me so much? It’s true that I’m definitely better than that fellow beside you.”

Li Yun’s face became colder as he glared at him: “You wastrel who can’t even cultivate, till the end you still want to retort, besides this what else can you do?”

“Do we really have such a huge enmity between us?” Ye Fan asked cooly with a smile on his face.

“Let’s not talk about the enmity between you and junior brother Han, luring the Jade Horned Snake from the primitive ruins to attack the group of us has already made the situation unsolvable, I’ve previously sworn that if I were to meet a cripple like you, I would definitely kill you!” Li Yun recalled the events that had transpired years ago and his face became like ice, extremely sinister.

Li Lin was also speaking shrilly, the events from long ago flashed through their minds making her feel crazed, if it were not for Elder Han suddenly appearing to kill the Jade Horned Snake, Li Yun and her would have already been swallowed by the old snake. She had vowed back then to kill Ye Fan and with this chance encounter, her entire slender body began to tremble as she said coldly: “Who knew that we would meet again, you can’t even cultivate yet actually almost caused our deaths, you cripple, I’ll definitely kill you today!”

Li Yun’s face was similarly cold as he spoke up: “Why are you wasting your breath on him, I will definitely torture him to death.” Having said this, he began to walk forward. By the side, the other young disciples seemed as though they were watching a show. “I remember him, he was together with that celestial sprout Pang Bo back in the day, the two of them actually went missing at the same time.”

“That’s right, I also remember that they had beaten Han Fei Yu and a few others half to death before tossing them into a swamp.”

Li Lin and Li Yun pressed forward at the same time with a sinister cold smile plastered on their faces, the understanding of the two people towards Ye Fan was still stuck in the time several years ago and they simply had no inkling that he was already a cultivator at the Spiritual Bridge realm.

“I wish to see the scene of him kneeling down and begging for mercy……” Li Lin spoke, she felt that instantly killing Ye Fan would not assuage the feelings of hatred in her heart, only by shaming him would she feel satisfied.

“Why aren’t you kneeling yet!” Li Yun coldly exclaimed as he took big strides forward, looking down at Ye Fan with a cold expression on his face.

“In this world, there hasn’t been anyone who is worthy of me kneeling before them, just the two of you…..” Ye Fan swept a calm gaze at the two of them.

Li Lin was a celestial sprout while Li Yun was a talent with exceptional aptitude, three years had passed and the two people had already reached the Spring of Life realm, few people dared to talk back to them and they were always revered as talents amongst their peers, at this moment they were actually dissed by a wastrel in their eyes and their faces naturally became ugly.

“If I wish for you to kneel, you will have no choice but to kneel!” Li Yun kicked towards Ye Fan’s knees, a cultivator at the Spring of Life realm was extremely strong and kicking in this manner towards an ordinary person’s knees would definitely cause the bones to shatter, it was clear that his methods were extremely vicious.

“With riff raff like you, even a hundred will be insufficient.” Ye Fan retreated agilely, exceptionally nimble, he had reached the Spiritual Bridge realm and simply did not place these people within his eyes, he did not wish to lower himself to their level.

“A wastrel like you actually dares to address me as riff raff!” Li Yun’s voice was sinisterly cold, he had always been viewed as a talent but was actually looked down upon by an ordinary mortal, his facial expression was extremely ugly as he lifted his right leg and heavily kicked towards Ye Fan’s mouth.

Reaching his current cultivation, although Ye Fan did not wish to drop to their levels, he did not need to suffer their insolence and immediately grabbed Li Yun’s leg as he lifted him and smashed him towards the ground.

He was extremely decisive, natural and unforced, the group felt their eyes grow blurry as Li Yun was smashed into the ground like a dead dog, groaning in pain as he struggled on the ground.

Li Lin felt that something was amiss and did not walk forward, wanting to summon her artifact to instantly kill Ye Fan.

However, once Ye Fan began to move, he would never give her a chance to act. He became a mirage and instantly appeared before Li Lin, immediately chopping towards the back of her neck causing her to faint, thereafter, he threw her with a ‘Plonk!’ into the deep pond below the waterfall.

“Glurph Glurph…….” Li Lin who was semi-conscious began to bloat as she drank large amounts of the pond water. “You wastrel……” Li Yun painfully groaned as he struggled to sit up, killing intent flashed on his face as a light shone from his sea of bitterness.

“Bang!”

Ye Fan simply did not give him a chance to summon his artifact as he stepped forward to kick, forcing the light to dissipate while using his other leg to step down.

All this seemed extremely ordinary and the two cultivators at the Spring of Life realm seemed as though they had never cultivated any techniques, completely controlled by Ye Fan making the bystanders feel as though this was merely happenstance. “Cripple……” Li Yun struggled, he felt that this was simply absurd, he did not know that Ye Fan was at a higher cultivation level and his simple methods were filled with endless profundities causing him to fill with anger.

“So what if you’re a talent? Even if you are a real talent, you are only useful for being stepped on.” Having said this, Ye Fan was extremely unscrupulous as he used the soles of his shoe to leave an imprint on Li Yun’s face. In order to ensure a clear marking, he repeatedly stepped to ensure that the markings were clear.

“You…… I’ll kill you!” Li Yun’s face was swollen as fire seemed to spit out of his eyes.

“Bang!”

Ye Fan kicked him into the waterfall and did not look back as he left, he simply had no interest in the two people.

The few people before the waterfall were speechless as they watched Ye Fan saunter off, looking back to the two people who were unconscious within the water, their faces were filled with disbelief.

Ye Fan came before the dwelling of elder Wu Qing Feng and remained for a period of time before the old man came back.

“Old man, are the items I left behind still here?”

Elder Wu Qing Feng frowned: “They are still here, however…….”

“What’s the matter?” Ye Fan was rather confused.

“I’ve investigated for you but…….” Elder Wu Qing Feng seemed rather embarrassed and opened his mouth but no words came out.

“Could it be that someone wishes to keep the items and not return it to me?” Ye Fan asked.

This was indeed the truth, as an elder of the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary, elder Wu Qing Feng felt ashamed as he held Ye Fan’s hands: “Follow me, I’ll help you get the stuff back.”

“Who could possibly want my items? Haven’t those damaged artifacts already been broken? They simply don’t have any value.”

“It’s elder Han Yi Shui, he’s got a passion for forging artifacts and has been scrutinising the bronze lamp, golden vajra, Great Lei Yin Temple plaque and other artifacts for a long period of time.”

“An elder surnamed Han……” Ye Fan was immediately alarmed as he attempted to find out more. It was exactly as he surmised, this Han Yi Shui was actually the grandfather of Han Fei Yu.

Elder Han who refined medicines was the granduncle of Han Fei Yu, Ye Fan had also heard that the grandfather of Han Fei Yu was also an elder within the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary.

Han Yi Shui lived in a peaceful and serene mountain valley, beautiful trees that were verdant and lush with wondrous stones scattered about. A small bridge with running water passing through and a decorated pavilion, all of these put together gave off a picturesque charm.

Within a pavilion, three old man were seated together drinking tea. Looking as Elder Wu Qing Feng brought Ye Fan over, a withered looking old man with a fair complexion immediately frowned. “Elder Han, I’ve brought the child here to receive his items, return those artifacts to him.”

Han Yi SHui measured Ye Fan before looking over at Wu Qing Feng as he indifferently said: “Aren’t the bronze artifacts the possession of Pang Bo who is our disciple, what do they have to do with him?”

“You…….” Elder Wu Qing Feng’s expression immediately changed.

Ye Fan also felt extremely uncomfortable as he spoke up: “Elder Han Yi Shui, how could you speak like this? Of those damaged artifacts, some belong to me while others belong to Pang Bo, now that Pang Bo has gone missing, as his best friend, I’ve come to collect our items, how could there be no relation to me?”

Han Yi Shui’s expression immediately became solemn as he said in a cold voice: “Who do you think you are? This area holds our Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary Elders, our cultivations are all at the Spiritual Bridge realm, our discussions hold the mysteries of cultivating and is not a place for an ordinary mortal like you to barge into! Leave!”

Elder Wu Qing Feng felt humiliated as he shouted: “Han Yi Shui, what is the meaning of this?!”

Ye Fan also felt incensed, he did not expect Han Yi Shui to act in this manner, haughty and arrogant as he spoke down from his high horse, refusing to return his artifacts to him.

Han Yi Shui’s expression was calm as he faintly smiled towards elder Wu Qing Feng: “My intention is clear, this valley is an important area and isn’t a place for riff raff or ordinary mortals to simply enter.”

“I’ve only come here to retrieve what is rightfully mine.” Ye Fan had a calm expression as he stared at Han Yi Shui: “I hope that Elder Han can return those bronze artifacts to me.”

“What relation do those bronze artifacts have to you?” Han Yi Shui indifferently swept his gaze at him: “I’ve already made it very clear, those items belong to Pang Bo who is a disciple within my sect, since he’s already gone missing, his items naturally belong to my Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary. What is an outsider like you trying to do? You haven’t joined my sect, there isn’t any room for discussion, you have no right to discuss anything with me, leave!” As he said this, his face became grave: “Barging into a sacred ground within my sect, if you don’t leave, there will be dire consequences!”