Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 304 - God-Striking Whip

The wooden whip was heavy in his hand. Though made of wood, it weighed more than metal, its surface etched with what seemed like naturally formed Dao Runes. It radiated an ancient, mysterious aura.

It looked less like a whip and more like a heavy, unsharpened iron sword, both in weight and in shape.

Ye Fan turned it over and inspected it carefully. It was simple and unadorned, yet when he swung it, it felt natural and responsive. Still, no divine radiance shone from it.

He poured godpower into the whip, but it did nothing. It remained as plain and weathered as before, without the slightest glow.

“What’s going on?” Ye Fan muttered in surprise. He lashed it through the void, the whip carried the weight of ten thousand cauldrons, distorting the very air.

“This isn’t so bad,” he thought. “It looks ordinary, but it’s solid and heavy enough to withstand other weapons’ strikes.”

Ye Fan was pleased. Plain and unassuming, yet dangerous in its own way, a weapon like this was valuable, precisely because its true nature was hidden.

He extended a wisp of divine sense, wandering through the Daoist temple where they rested. The whip didn’t react. But when he slowly pushed his divine sense toward it, he felt a sharp, needle-like pain stab his mind.

Ye Fan froze. Now he understood, this whip was a weapon designed to attack divine consciousness itself.

He rubbed his chin, deep in thought, tracing in his mind the ancient lineages of cultivators from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties of Earth, before snapping back to the present.

At that moment, the big black dog let out one last pained howl, stopped thrashing, and finally recovered. “What kind of treasure is this?!” it yelped. “It attacks divine sense! Even I fell for it!”

“Black Emperor, isn’t your divine sense supposed to be invincible? Come at me again,” Ye Fan teased.

“You bastard, trying to humiliate me? Throw that damned stick away, and I’ll show you what I can do!” The dog growled, clearly bitter about the loss.

Tu Fei had also recovered by now. He stared at the whip with lingering fear, his divine sense had been shattered by it earlier, and the memory shook him.

“So this weapon came from the other side of the stars? How was it refined? It’s terrifying…” Tu Fei said, taking the whip and examining it carefully.

“It’s a shame there’s no one else to test it on,” Ye Fan mused. “I want to see just how powerful this whip really is.”

“No doubt it strikes divine sense. That much is certain,” Tu Fei said. “Let’s also test its physical strength.”

The two men and one dog stepped outside the temple. Ye Fan held the whip while Tu Fei wielded a silver spear, thrusting at him with flashing light.

Ye Fan swung the whip forward. No divine glow appeared, but with a sharp crack under the moonlight, the silver spear shattered into pieces.

Tu Fei switched to a Purple Lightning Hammer, wreathed in dazzling violet energy. The result was the same, the whip smashed it apart, leaving fragments scattered across the desert.

Their experiments showed that this whip was incredibly tough, nearly indestructible. Yet it displayed no special divine techniques.

“The Purple Gold Gourd can capture people, the Yin-Yang Mirror can expose them… but this whip has nothing except sturdiness. It’s just a solid weapon,” Tu Fei commented.

“But it can shatter divine sense, what more do you want?!” the Black Emperor cut in, eyes gleaming with envy.

“True. That alone makes it terrifying,” Tu Fei agreed.

“Wait!” the dog suddenly barked, as if recalling something. “If it targets divine sense, then you should test it against a divine-sense-powered artifact, not just physical weapons!”

Tu Fei’s heart skipped. “You mean…”

Ye Fan’s eyes lit up. “Maybe it really has more to it.”

“I’ll try!” Tu Fei said, gritting his teeth. He summoned a silver brick imbued with his divine sense and hurled it at Ye Fan, blazing like a streak of silver rainbow.

Ye Fan stepped forward and struck with the whip. With a sharp snap, the brick shattered, scattering silver light under the moon.

Tu Fei gasped, the divine sense he had placed inside the brick was shaken violently, and if Ye Fan hadn’t held back, it would’ve been destroyed outright.

“This thing is monstrous! Its killing power is insane!” the Black Emperor exclaimed, his eyes glowing green as if he was about to pounce.

“Black Emperor, summon your bell and strike at me,” Ye Fan said. He knew the dog possessed a golden bell, a true artifact of immense power.

The dog didn’t hesitate. With a flash of light at its brow, a golden bell appeared, growing in size until it became a massive divine clock.

Ding!

The resonant chime spread for dozens of miles, filling the desert with golden brilliance, turning night into day.

Ye Fan strode forward and struck with the whip. It was plain and simple, but immensely heavy, blurring the air as it fell.

Ding!

The whip struck the golden bell with a thunderous boom. The desert trembled, sand rising like a tidal wave in all directions.

The bell was, after all, a godly artifact refined by a Supreme Giant. Its vibrations numbed Ye Fan’s arm, but the whip itself remained unscathed.

The dog’s divine sense was lodged within the bell. Since the bell wasn’t destroyed, it wasn’t harmed. Even so, it was shaken.

“This whip is strange,” the Black Emperor admitted. “It makes even me tempted. Truly an extraordinary treasure.”

According to its analysis, the whip was both unbreakable and lethal to divine sense. Its power would scale with the wielder’s strength.

“Imagine if your cultivation was at its peak, this whip would smash through anything, even souls. How terrifying would that be?”

Ye Fan nodded. He understood, this was no ordinary weapon, but a true rare treasure. “How does it compare to a Grand Emperor’s Paragon Artifact?” he asked.

The question came because it reminded him of a legendary divine weapon from Earth’s ancient legends.

“Best not compare them,” the Black Emperor said, shaking its head.

“Why not?” Ye Fan pressed.

“Do you know what a Paragon Artifact is? If someone could unleash its full power, it would be as if an ancient Grand Emperor had returned to life!” The dog’s eyes gleamed with longing.

“But this whip…” Ye Fan trailed off, unable to finish.

Tu Fei shook his head. “It can be called a rare treasure, but compared to the weapons of ancient Grand Emperors, it’s still far behind.”

Ye Fan had to admit, the legends of Paragon Artifacts were too fearsome, said to carry the power of creation itself. The whip couldn’t match that.

“Who were those Pre-Qin Energy Refiners, really?” Ye Fan pondered aloud. “How many crossed the void, and how many survived till now?” He thought of countless myths, were they all about cultivators like these?

“What were the ancient Grand Emperors truly like?” Ye Fan finally asked the Black Emperor.

For once, the dog grew solemn. “They were the loneliest people in all of history, standing so high that no one could accompany them.”

“Could they travel across outer space?” Ye Fan asked.

The dog hesitated, falling silent.

“Think about it,” Ye Fan pressed. “The Pre-Qin cultivators came from the other side of the stars. Even if they only followed in someone else’s footsteps, it proves someone had walked across the Starfields before.”

“I see…” the dog muttered. “Most likely, one of them reached Violet Starfield.”

Tu Fei was shocked. Someone had reached Violet Starfield? That was an earth-shattering claim.

“Who are you talking about?” Tu Fei demanded.

Ye Fan’s eyes were wide as well. Could someone in this world really have gone to Violet Starfield? He stared at the dog, waiting for the answer.

“Ahem…” the dog coughed, covering its slip. “Naturally, a Grand Emperor. Just a deduction I made from ancient records.”

“What records? I’ve never seen anything like that,” Tu Fei pressed, suspicious.

“Hmph. When I was reading those texts, your grandfathers were still inside their father’s balls! You wouldn’t understand even if I told you,” the dog snapped impatiently.

“This damned mutt talks way too much trash,” Tu Fei muttered, itching to hit it.

“Black Emperor, tell us more. Which Emperor went to Violet Starfield?” Ye Fan insisted.

“How would I know? I was just guessing!” The dog huffed, then suddenly darted back into the temple, sending dust and rubble flying.

“What are you doing?” Ye Fan shouted.

The dog had demolished the temple entirely, digging even into its foundations. “Looking for more treasures! Maybe I’ll find another one,” it answered without looking back.

“You damned mutt, you’re just changing the subject! That was an ancient building of great significance!” Ye Fan shouted, furious.

But the temple was gone, stones scattered, with nothing new unearthed. The Black Emperor had found nothing.

At dawn, the sun rose red over the horizon. Ye Fan and his companions set off again, still trying to escape the desert.

The dog, still coveting the whip, turned to Ye Fan and asked, “So, have you decided on a name for this treasure?”

Tu Fei grinned. “What’s there to think about? It struck you first. Let’s just call it the Dog-Beating Whip.”

“Woof!”

Whenever those two were together, they couldn’t go long without quarreling.

Ye Fan chuckled. “It came from the other side of the stars, a weapon of the Pre-Qin refiners. I’ll call it the God-Striking Whip.”

“A whip that attacks the divine sense… good name,” Tu Fei nodded approvingly.

“God-Striking Whip, huh…” the Black Emperor muttered. “That’s actually quite fitting.”

“Most likely, the Pre-Qin cultivators who brought it here gave it the same name,” Ye Fan said softly, gazing at the sky. But the sun was already high, no stars could be seen.

The golden desert stretched endlessly before them, without boundary or escape. Even after three more days of walking, they saw no hope.

“What kind of place is this desert? Why is it so strange? Is there really no way out?” Ye Fan finally lost his calm.

“There are too many eerie legends about this place,” Tu Fei sighed.

“Black Emperor, do you know the truth?” Ye Fan asked.

“Of course,” the dog said lazily after days of trudging. “This desert was burned into existence by the Sun God Furnace.”

“What?! It involves Grand Emperor Eternal Universe of the Jiang Clan? What happened here?!” Ye Fan and Tu Fei were shocked.

“Eternal Universe fought a life-and-death battle. The Sun God Furnace burned this endless desert into being,” the Black Emperor replied.

“That’s impossible! The ancient Grand Emperors were unmatched. How could they face a life-or-death struggle?” Tu Fei protested.

“And what if their opponent was also a Grand Emperor?” the dog asked.

“No way. How could two Grand Emperors exist in the same era? The records never mention such a thing!” Tu Fei exclaimed.