Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 456: Chapter 461: Streaking

Before the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree, the Ruthless Great Emperor stood within a black hole. It was impossible to determine if this figure was male or female, old or young. He extended a hand, slowly engraving characters into the void, and the aura of the Dao instantly radiated outwards.

Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the Big Black Dog all widened their eyes and held their breath, trying to discern what he was writing. Cold gleams of light shot from their Divine Eyes as they fixed their gaze upon that patch of emptiness.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

The Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree swayed, all its leaves rustling as they resonated with those ancient characters. The entire tree shone brilliantly as various small cauldrons, figures of Daoist saints, Eight Diagrams patterns, images of divine bells, and silhouettes of Immortal Phoenixes all manifested upon it.

The crowd was astounded. An ancient Great Emperor engraving characters had actually caused such a reaction from the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree! One could only imagine what kind of Miao Realm it demonstrated—it was utterly beyond comprehension!

“What on earth was engraved?” Tu Da Mouthed asked anxiously.

“Damn it, why can’t this Emperor see it?!” the Big Black Dog wailed.

Not only the dog, but even Ye Fan and Pang Bo found they couldn’t see anything; they couldn’t even witness how the strokes were applied. The more intently they stared, the more blurred their vision became.

“What did you see, pitiful little girl?” Ye Fan asked softly.

“All I saw was a cute, mischievous face. It was playful, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing, always blocking those words,” the pitiful little girl replied, her innocent eyes blinking and long lashes gently trembling.

WHOOSH!

The Ruthless Great Emperor vanished. The Beginningless Great Emperor, with the Big Bell atop his head, strode in. The bell above him cascaded myriad strands of Chaos Silk like misty threads.

He became one with heaven and earth, his true form unseen. He stood where the Ruthless Great Emperor had been, as if observing certain ancient characters. After a long period of thoughtful contemplation, he finally began to engrave.

Once more, they could see nothing. The Chaos Silk descending from the Big Bell obscured everything, completely hiding the meaning of what the two Great Emperors were inscribing.

“I understand now! The two Great Emperors are competing across the river of history!” the Big Black Dog sighed, recalling some past events.

“What do you know?” Li Heishui couldn’t help but ask.

“According to the Ancient Books, the Beginningless Great Emperor once said…” the Big Black Dog mumbled.

Several people wore peculiar expressions. This annoying dog always claimed its knowledge came from Ancient Books, yet no one in the Eastern Wastelands had ever seen such texts. Still, they hesitated to interrupt.

The Ruthless Great Emperor was born very early, a full hundred thousand years before the Beginningless Great Emperor. Even a Great Emperor could not be immortal, and the ages separating them were too vast for them to have ever met.

However, the Beginningless Great Emperor had come to understand the other’s combat power. His evaluation of the Ruthless Great Emperor was that he was exceedingly strong and terrifying, stating that he had seen the Dao Marks left behind by him.

“So the contest took place here—a duel across the river of time! Alas, we shall never see their forms again. How many heroes have returned to dust…” the Big Black Dog lamented.

“Listening to you, does that mean none of the ancient Great Emperors survived?” Ye Fan felt a deep unease. He had originally harbored some fantasies, but now that sliver of hope felt extinguished.

“Sigh!” The Big Black Dog sighed softly.

“This annoying dog knows too many secrets! Let’s torture them out of him!” Tu Da Mouthed suggested.

“Woof!”

“Alright, stop arguing. Let’s quickly harvest the Enlightenment Tea and then leave this place,” Ye Fan proposed. This place was the Undying Mountain, renowned throughout the ages and one of the seven Ancient Desolation Forbidden Lands of the Eastern Wastelands. Any further delay meant more danger.

Ye Fan collected over fifty Dao Leaves but soon found he could harvest no more. The Qilin Divine Medicine Seed was now wrapped as tightly as a “dumpling.”

A thought struck him, and he brought out the God-beating Whip, handing it to Pang Bo for him to try.

“Yes! This piece of wood is so sturdy that even Star Sand formed from the bone fragments of ancient sages cannot penetrate it. Perhaps it truly was refined from Divine Roots. It’s perfect for a test.”

Pang Bo wielded the God-beating Whip, carefully plucking Enlightenment Tea Leaves, while Ye Fan held the Qilin Seed below to catch any that might fall, preventing any waste of the precious Dao Leaves due to a miscalculation.

SWIPE!

The leaves of the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree adhered to the God-beating Whip instead of falling aside, surprising everyone.

“It truly is refined from Divine Roots! Indeed, a secret treasure. A pity it can only target divine sense; its power is insufficient,” the Big Black Dog commented.

Pang Bo moved quickly, plucking all the Dao Leaves from the tree. They adhered to the God-beating Whip, each leaf sparkling brilliantly. Some resembled small qilins, others small suns, or tiny moons, all glittering and exuding the Dao’s Qi Mechanism.

Everyone was incredibly excited. Even though it took two of these to equal one mature leaf, their total value was equivalent to over fifty mature Enlightenment Divine Tea Leaves. If word of this spread, even a Peacock King would go mad and fight desperately to seize them!

This was an Immortal Treasure, rare holy divine relics that could calm the mind and enable enlightenment. Even if one or two leaves didn’t guarantee success, eight or nine would almost certainly grant a cultivator an enlightenment session!

After reaching the Four Extremes realm, cultivators required enlightenment to break through to higher realms. Experiencing two or three such enlightenments might allow one to shatter their shackles and reach a new level. These were precious divine items, difficult to purchase even with vast amounts of Source, and generally not for sale.

The Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree was now bare, yet it remained extraordinarily mystical, seeming to resonate with the supreme Dao and evoking a unique sensation in those nearby.

“Let’s just dig it up and take it with us,” Li Heishui suggested.

“Indeed, that’s a good idea!” Tu Fei nodded in full agreement.

“I’ll dig it!” Ye Fan wanted to do it himself; after all, he was an “experienced hand,” having dug up Undying Divine Medicine roots before.

“Let me help you!” Pang Bo stepped forward, offering assistance.

“Are you locusts? How can you be even more determined than this Emperor? Taking the leaves was one thing, but now you want to dig up the roots too, not even wanting to leave a single hair root behind? That’s too much!” The Big Black Dog was somewhat dumbfounded.

“Do you expect to get another chance to come in here? This is it,” Ye Fan said, placing the pitiful little girl on the ground and preparing to act.

The Big Black Dog was nearly speechless. “How come you lot are even more like me? Is it my influence?”

They all felt a bit embarrassed, realizing they were indeed acting more unscrupulously than the Black Emperor himself.

The Big Black Dog continued, “You’d better stop right there! It can’t survive anywhere but the Undying Mountain. The Beginningless Great Emperor had tried transplanting it once and nearly tormented the old tree to death.”

“Who would’ve thought that someone so often struck by lightning would try such a thing,” Tu Da Mouthed grumbled, blissfully unaware that they had intended the very same.

“If we can’t dig up the root, how about we snap off a few branches? I feel these branches also have wondrous uses,” Pang Bo proposed.

“Indeed, that’s the way to go!” Tu Fei responded.

SWIPE!

Brilliant light surged—five-colored radiance pierced the heavens, and seven-colored light obscured the sun. The ancient tree uprooted itself, its two main roots looking remarkably like human legs—a very expressive sight.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

It burst from the earth and sprinted off at incredible speed, disappearing into the depths of the Undying Mountain in the blink of an eye.

“I’m stunned… It… it ran away!” Tu Da Mouthed’s jaw dropped wide open, completely unable to close it.

Pang Bo was equally dumbfounded. That old tree sprinting away left him so bewildered his jaw nearly dropped. After a long moment, he exclaimed, “Damn it, it ran off naked!”

Everyone was stupefied, speechless for a long while. This old tree was so comical, fleeing in such a manner, that it left them utterly speechless.

“Well? Dumbfounded, aren’t you?!” The Big Black Dog spattered saliva as it berated them one after another with indignation, saying, “If you hadn’t scared it off, we could have meditated here for two hours, which would have been equivalent to a month of hard cultivation outside!”

The Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree, being a type of Undying Divine Medicine, could naturally fly and conceal itself, choosing its own dwelling place and making it very difficult to capture.

“Alright, be content. We’ve plucked all the Dao Leaves from the tree. Selling even one leaf could fetch hundreds of thousands of jin of Source! We’ve essentially stumbled upon divine treasures!” Li Heishui said, trying to console himself though his heart ached at the lost opportunity with the tree itself.

At this moment, only the pitiful little girl was calm, blinking her large eyes, curiously observing everything in the Undying Mountain.

“Let’s go. Don’t waste any more time; let’s get out of here quickly,” Pang Bo urged.

The pitiful little girl once again sat on the Big Black Dog’s back and guided them with her tender, childlike voice, leading them along the winding golden Array Patterns.

“This path… it’s clearly headed toward the center of the Undying Mountain Range,” they murmured among themselves. “Are we searching for a way to survive, or are we walking into our own doom?”

No one knew what lay at the center of the Undying Mountain Range. Even the Great Emperor of Void, back in his day, had entered with the determination to achieve Jade and Stone Burn Together. How could they not be worried?

On both sides stood massive black mountains, majestic and shrouded in mist, exuding an unparalleled mystery. These were kings among mountains, emperors among peaks. Each one was a rare sight in the world, incredibly intimidating, making them feel as if they had returned to the time before the Ancient Netherworld era.

RUMBLE…

The roar of rushing water reached them, startling everyone. Up ahead, a black river surged violently. It was a chilling, lifeless black, and the mere sight of it cast an oppressive weight upon their hearts.

The waves billowed furiously, like a black evil dragon about to take flight, unsettling their hearts and minds, destabilizing their Dao Hearts and stirring their very Life Origin.

“The Netherworld River… So such water actually exists in this world…” the Big Black Dog gasped.

Legend told of this great river within the Netherworld, the land of the dead. To see it in reality was nothing short of shocking.

“Look, there’s also a spring over there, a terrifying yellow!” Li Heishui pointed.

Beside the black river, there was a spring pool, as yellow as corpse water, exceptionally frightening. It gurgled forth, forming a lake not far away.

Yellow Springs?! Ye Fan was startled.

“That’s right, it really is the Yellow Springs! Could there truly be a Nine Netherworld?” the Big Black Dog questioned suspiciously.

The lake formed by the Yellow Springs was like a yellow dragon pearl, while the black Netherworld River resembled an evil dragon. Together, they formed a terrifying landscape.

“There must be something incredible beneath these cursed waters! Don’t go over there!” Ye Fan warned. His Source Technique allowed him to read the lay of the land—the mountains and earth veins—and he sensed this place was an exceedingly dangerous Desolate Land.

“Undying Divine Medicine!”

“That’s right, look! It really is Undying Divine Medicine!”

Pang Bo, Tu Fei, Li Heishui, and the others exclaimed, and even the Big Black Dog began to drool.

Within the Yellow Springs, a black Nine Leaf Phoenix Herb slowly floated up. Its fragrance was alluring and intoxicating, making everyone irresistibly want to rush toward it.

It resembled a dark orchid, dotted with crystalline specks, as if carved from Ink Jade. It flowed with an intoxicating luster as it bobbed in the Yellow Springs, possessing the rhythm of the Great Dao.

They all took a deep breath, feeling their pores open and their senses refreshed, as though they had received the holiest of baptisms, feeling as if they were about to ascend as Immortals.

“Heavens! It truly is a mature Undying Divine Medicine! If we can acquire it, then when our Life Essence runs dry in our later years, consuming it will grant us another lifetime!”

“We must find a way to acquire it! Missing out on such a heaven-defying holy divine relic would be a regret we’d carry for a lifetime.”

The group was excited. They realized that a true Undying Divine Medicine was far more precious than the Enlightenment Tea Leaves they had picked. Only the Undying Divine Fruit produced by the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree could compare to it.

Regrettably, once matured, the divine fruit produced by the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree would hang on the branches for over a thousand years before falling off on its own. It was unknown whether it had been plucked by some terrifying creature within the Undying Mountain Range decades ago, or if it had simply fallen off on its own.

For the tree to bloom and bear fruit again would require at least five thousand years for it to mature, possibly even more than ten thousand years.

“We have to risk it! We must acquire this Undying Divine Medicine! Such an opportunity won’t come again!” Pang Bo declared with determination.

“Wait!” Ye Fan, though also tempted, suddenly remembered something.

When the peerless Divine King was resurrected, three heaven-defying old fiends had emerged. They had lived for over four thousand years without dying, shattering the lifespan limit for supreme experts—who could normally only live for a little over two thousand years—more than doubling it.

At that time, those three old fiends had said that four thousand years ago, they were pursued by the Divine King into the Undying Mountain. They had narrowly survived by mistakenly consuming Netherworld Grass, which allowed them to live to this day.

“This isn’t Undying Divine Medicine; this is the terrifying Netherworld Grass! Consuming it would turn one’s body into a rotting corpse, with only the divine sense remaining immortal,” Ye Fan said, stopping them.

He fully recalled now: the three heaven-defying old fiends had mentioned picking the Netherworld Grass from a Yellow Springs Pool. This had to be the place.

After Ye Fan finished his detailed explanation, the others all gasped. The Netherworld Grass did indeed possess some characteristics of Undying Divine Medicine, but it also had terrifying negative effects. Such a thing was not to be trifled with.

“What a pity!” Pang Bo, Tu Fei, and the others were filled with immense regret, while the Big Black Dog cursed repeatedly.

They had no choice but to set out once more, giving a wide berth to the Netherworld River and the Yellow Springs Pool. That area was a supreme Desolate Land of evil, and even from a great distance, it sent shivers down their spines.

Only after they had walked a considerable distance did they finally heave a sigh of relief as the oppressive feeling began to diminish.

After traveling several more miles, the vegetation thinned out, and rocks became more frequent. They entered a large expanse of stone cliffs where the ground was hard and only a few sparse Ancient Woods dotted the landscape.

The place was very dry and filled with boulders. Beneath a black stone cliff, they found several man-made Ancient Caves. They bore the clear marks of chisels and axes, etched deep with the vicissitudes of time.

“Someone has been here!”

They found a skeleton, as crystal clear as jade. Countless years had clearly passed, yet it still exuded a lustrous sheen as it lay sprawled before one of the Ancient Caves.

This must have been a supreme expert, one of them mused. They likely entered the Undying Mountain to extend their life, but perished here instead.

“Hey, there’s a golden token and an Ancient Scroll by his side, and they haven’t corroded!” Tu Fei’s sharp eyes noticed something unusual beneath the jade-like skeleton.

“Treasure! To have survived for so many years without decaying, it must be something good!” The Big Black Dog was the first to pounce forward.

The pitiful little girl showed them the way, and the group followed, arriving outside the Ancient Cave.

CLANG!

The Big Black Dog snatched up the golden token with its large paw. It shone brilliantly but was bone-chillingly cold, exuding an endless killing intent that startled the dog into immediately dropping it.

CLANG!

The golden token was merely palm-sized, with a single ancient character engraved on it: Kill!

This single word radiated such a fearsome killing intent that the Black Emperor, Ye Fan, and the others felt as if they had plunged into an icy cavern. It was almost unbearable, and their hearts pounded in terror.

The killing intent was overwhelming! It seemed to be stained with the blood of millions, this single word transmitting a timeless aura of slaughter through the ages, powerful enough to nearly shatter a person’s sinews and bones.

“How can it be more terrifying than a Supreme Evil Weapon? What is this thing?!” Pang Bo was shocked.

This was definitely not a weapon; it bore no imprinted Dao Glyphs. It was merely a token, yet it carried a killing intent that spanned eons, the single word ‘Kill’ almost powerful enough to shatter their very souls.

This is a peerless, malevolent artifact!

They were apprehensive of the golden token, not daring to touch it lightly. It felt as if it were truly stained with the blood of millions of lives, a chill that pierced them to the bone.

The Big Black Dog snatched the Ancient Scroll from beneath the skeleton. However, as if receiving a terrible shock, it tossed it away almost instantly, yelping in alarm.

“What happened?!” The others all quickly backed away.

“This is human skin… It was peeled from an ancient sage! A piece of Divine Skin and flesh that has remained incorruptible for over a hundred thousand years!” the Big Black Dog stammered.

“What? The skin of an ancient sage?!” Everyone was stunned.

This piece of an ancient sage’s skin was completely undamaged. Despite the countless millennia that had passed—over a hundred thousand years—it still exhibited a flowing luster and was densely inscribed with tiny characters.

“Quick, look and see what’s written on it!” They were all breathing heavily, their hearts restless. For so many words to be inscribed on the skin of an ancient sage, it could not be anything ordinary.