Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 291 - Splitting Open The Stone Tools Left Behind By The Celestial Source Master

Ye Fan’s golden fist was brimming with raw power. With just a light swing, the void itself buzzed and trembled. He had the illusion that he could slay a true dragon with a single punch.

A waterfall a thousand meters high thundered down, white and roaring. Standing in the pool below, Ye Fan punched upward. The long waterfall reversed its flow, like a white silk ribbon hanging upside down in the air.

“Just one month of closed-door cultivation and you’ve already broken through your old realm. The Primeval Desolate Sacred Physique really is terrifying!” Tu Fei clicked his tongue in amazement.

Ye Fan lifted a boulder weighing tens of thousands of kilos with one hand, then pivoted and hurled it with all his might. The massive rock shrank into the sky, vanishing in the distance.

On the horizon, a flock of wild geese flew by, only to be smashed down by the flying boulder.

Tu Fei’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. After a long moment he shouted, “Beast! You actually used a boulder weighing tens of thousands of kilos to swat a whole row of geese from the sky. I’ve never seen such a freak of a man!”

Ye Fan’s physique was too powerful. He had the strength to lift mountains. A single strike from his body, who could endure it?

“Woof, woof, woof…” From more than twenty li away came an enraged barking. The Black Emperor howled miserably, “Damn it, is there no justice in heaven? Even sleeping, I get smashed half to death by rocks falling from the sky!”

After his initial shock, Tu Fei burst into wild laughter when he heard the black dog’s cries.

“Woof! Tu brat, just you wait! I know this was your doing!” the black dog roared from afar.

“Damn it, what’s it got to do with me?!” Tu Fei cursed.

At the foot of the thousand-meter stone mountain, Ye Fan swung his golden fists again and again. The sounds were like pounding mud, each punch sinking deep into the mountain body with ease.

Finally, he threw a full-force punch. The golden fist pierced straight into the mountain’s heart!

“You’re a monster!” Tu Fei’s jaw nearly dropped. He summoned a bronze mirror, hazy with purple energy, and thrust it forward. “Let me test your strength now.”

It was a purple-bronze treasure mirror, a weapon only Four Pillars Realm cultivators could wield. Sturdy and mighty, it fell like a purple mountain crushing down.

Clang!

Ye Fan flicked his finger. A golden fingertip struck the bronze mirror with a crisp crack. The Four Pillar treasure shattered into fragments, bursting apart like fireworks in the air.

Purple radiance surged skyward, violent energy raging in all directions. The waterfall reversed, the stone mountain shook, but Ye Fan remained unmoved.

Tu Fei wailed, “Is your body forged from godly relics? My treasure!” His heart bled with pain. Though he owned many weapons, watching one be destroyed so easily made him feel gutted.

Ye Fan’s blood and essence surged like a great river. He could feel his own strength. Cultivating the Western Emperor Scripture, he had advanced into the third stage of the Dao Palace realm, completing the Liver’s Divine Treasury, aligned with the wood element.

Yet he still hadn’t manifested a god-spirit. Unlike others, he had no guardian deity within.

What he realized instead was that he was cultivating against the Five Elements. The heart belonged to fire, the lungs to metal, the liver to wood. He had cultivated the Heart’s Divine Treasury first, then the Lung, now the Liver, fire restraining metal, metal restraining wood, walking the Five Elements in reverse.

If no accident occurred, his next step would inevitably be the Spleen’s Divine Treasury, tied to earth, since wood restrains earth.

“You don’t need weapons at all. Your flesh is stronger than any treasure.” Tu Fei looked on with envy.

“I lack source. I need vast amounts of it.”

Tu Fei’s expression grew complicated. He sighed, “As long as you have source, there will be no bottlenecks for you in the Dao Palace realm. You can advance in leaps and bounds.”

“That’s why I want to borrow source. However much you have, lend it to me. I’ll repay you tenfold in the future.” Ye Fan spoke earnestly. A sense of urgency gnawed at him, he was desperate to reach the Four Pillars Realm.

“Bro... my little stash isn’t even enough to fill the cracks in your teeth. Do you know how much source it takes to reach the fourth level of Dao Palace? Fifty thousand kilos! Just hearing it makes one dizzy.”

“How much do you have?” Ye Fan pressed.

“I’ve got a bit over one square block, about two thousand kilos.”

“Not even five thousand? And you’re the grandson of a Warlord?”

Tu Fei rolled his eyes. “If my grandfather had piles of source mines, he wouldn’t have been a bandit. And even if he had a treasure hoard, I wouldn’t dare touch it.”

“Source is a big problem,” Ye Fan muttered to himself.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go out for a run. I can scrape together twenty thousand kilos for you.” Tu Fei planned to rally Blackwater, Liu Kou, Jiang Huairen, and Wu Zhongtian.

“I’m a ruined body. Helping me isn’t worth it.”

“I’m not a sentimental man. To be honest, I have a gut feeling, you might break the curse of the Primeval Desolate Sacred Physique. Just imagine, if you one day reach the Grand Completion stage, I’ll never need to cultivate again. I could still swagger across the Eastern Wilderness and Middle Continent just under your protection. With a Grand Completion Sacred Physique alive, my descendants could rule the world for ten thousand years.”

“What if I can never break past Dao Palace?” Ye Fan asked.

“Then hand me the Motherly Energy Cauldron. I’ll use it to patch up my Heaven-Devouring Jar.” Tu Fei half-joked, half-serious.

“Woof, woof, woof…” The black dog appeared on the horizon, seething with killing intent. It had been sleeping peacefully, only to be smashed into a swollen mess by a falling boulder. It was pissed off.

“I’ll be gone for half a month at the shortest, a month at most. I’ll definitely be back. Seven regions of source, no problem.” Tu Fei said, then shot into the sky.

The black dog ran over, face dark, glaring at Ye Fan. “Why do I suddenly feel this was your doing?”

“What did I do?” Ye Fan feigned ignorance.

“Don’t play dumb! Damn it, a boulder weighing tens of thousands of kilos dropped from the sky and flattened me. Not just anyone can do that!” The mutt’s mangy tail nearly stood straight up.

Ye Fan denied it to the end, managing to muddle through and avoid a man-and-dog brawl.

By now the stone village had been rebuilt, nestled among green mountains and clear waters. The houses were more beautiful than before.

Most important of all was the change in environment. Girls and children were the happiest. They could play in the clear springs every day, no longer forced to face endless wind and sand.

Outside the village, piles of stones formed small hills, mostly foundation rocks. Ye Fan had moved every stone from the old village here, afraid to miss anything.

With Fifth Master Zhang, he carefully sorted through the rubble, picking out stone rollers, stone blocks, and millstones, over fifty stone tools in total.

The black dog crouched nearby, watching like a predator, afraid of missing any benefit.

“Elder, are you sure you want to cut them open?” Ye Fan asked.

“Do it. I want to see what the ancestors left behind,” Fifth Master Zhang answered calmly.

Ye Fan began. He split three stone blocks in a row, worthless, nothing inside. Fifth Master Zhang tried his own hand, cutting four stone locks, also empty.

“Did we guess wrong? Did that old daoist misjudge?” The two exchanged glances.

“Why be so cautious? Smash them all at once, quick and clean.” The black dog urged.

“Stay out of this, you idiot!” Ye Fan glared.

Suddenly, a fragrance wafted out, like orchid, like musk, seeping into the bones, intoxicating.

“Huh? What’s that smell?” As expected, the dog’s nose was the sharpest. The Black Emperor nearly plastered itself to the stone roller, drool dripping.

“Something’s inside!” Fifth Master Zhang’s expression turned grave. He was cutting open a stone roller, and the fragrance was seeping from a crack.

Ye Fan’s heart skipped. He dropped the millstone in his hand and rushed over. What a strange thing, to cut stone and have fragrance flow out?

Could it be some ancient creature sealed inside?

His fingers gleamed with golden light. He signaled Fifth Master Zhang to step back, then held the roller himself. The black dog craned its massive head close, eyes glued.

Shh, shh, shh.

Stone chips flew. Soon most of the roller’s shell was stripped away. Ye Fan saw moisture seeping out.

Fifth Master Zhang had cut with a little too much force earlier, cracking the fragile stone roller. From that fracture, water trickled and fragrance poured.

“There’s treasure inside!” The black dog’s big head and copper-bell eyes stared, unblinking.

Ye Fan carefully peeled away the stone. From the roller’s center, he uncovered a fleshy fruit, pink in color, a bit like a peach.

“This… it’s made of flesh?” The black dog was dumbfounded.

“What is this thing?” Ye Fan frowned. He had studied the Celestial Source Tome, but had never seen such a record.

Fifth Master Zhang was also stunned, finding it unbelievable.

The fragrance came from the fruit itself. Its skin had cracked, half its translucent juice spilling across the stone roller, filling the air with a scent that made one want to devour it instantly.

“So fragrant, could it be a Live-Forever Immortal Fruit?” The black dog’s eyes shone green.

Fifth Master Zhang’s heart stirred. “Our ancestors did say… what is sealed inside stone isn’t limited to source.”

“These must be extraordinary rare stones. Their contents are unpredictable!” Ye Fan stared at the stone tools.

The Celestial Source Tome had no mention of such things. This fleshy fruit was beyond ordinary source material, an oddity, a miracle stone. The Celestial Source Master must have left behind something of great meaning.

“The fruit’s changing color! And the fragrance is fading!” Fifth Master Zhang’s face changed.

The pink fruit gradually turned green, its scent weakening.

“Eat it quick, or its essence will disperse!” The black dog grew anxious.

Ye Fan hesitated. Could it really be eaten? He dipped a finger in the liquid and touched it to his tongue. In an instant, he nearly roared to the sky.

The bitterness was extreme. His tongue went numb at once, his head spun, and he almost collapsed.

“Let me try!” The black dog snatched it, chomping down a chunk, skin, flesh, and juice together.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

In the next instant, the dog convulsed like mad, howling, vomiting, then foaming at the mouth. It collapsed, limbs twitching.

Fifth Master Zhang was thoroughly frightened. He had thought it was some kind of fleshly Immortal Fruit. Now he backed off like avoiding poison.

No one knew how long it was before Ye Fan’s dizziness faded. He gasped, “What the fuck kind of fruit is this?!”

By now the black dog looked half-dead, only its legs spasming, still foaming at the mouth.

Ye Fan checked it over, its life was safe, but its state was dire, recovery uncertain.

He swept his gaze over the remaining stone tools. For the first time, he sensed real danger. “These are strange treasures left by the Celestial Source Master. We don’t know their uses. We shouldn’t cut more, not until we understand.”

A faint thought arose in him: these might be incredible treasures. Perhaps the red dragon daoist had been searching for such fruits.

They could be priceless. Without knowledge, he dared not risk further.

“This millstone you’ve already cut, go ahead and open it. But the others, preserve them,” Fifth Master Zhang said.

Ye Fan nodded. He had already split several with nothing inside, only one yielding a fruit. This millstone might well hold nothing.

But when he stripped away the stone and reached its core, suddenly, ten thousand rays of divine light burst forth, dazzling beyond sight, forcing their eyes shut.