Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 610: Chapter 614: Pointing to the Green Emperor

The mysterious monk of the Western Desert was severed in two, his life hanging by a mere thread. The head of the monstrous Yan Yunluan had been taken, and he was on the verge of death.

It was a blood-stained scene. After Ye Fan transformed into a dragon-shaped Dao Mark, both powerhouses met their end, unable to withstand the Taiji eight trigram diagram’s Yin Yang Division Line.

Ye Fan held Yan Yunluan’s head in one hand, while his other hand transformed into a golden Heavenly Stele, pinning down the monk’s upper torso as he stood in the center of the field.

Here, one could hear a pin drop. Blood flowed, falling drop by drop, like a somber melody from the Yellow Springs. Two great experts were overpowered by a single man, their bodies broken, a heart-pounding sight.

In the distance, the crowd was silent. When Ye Fan finally unleashed the Dou Character Secret, his power was so overwhelming and his methods so terrifyingly decisive that it left them feeling suffocated.

A long moment passed before someone finally spoke, their voice a low whisper filled with shock.

“The legendary Nine Secrets—the Dou Character Technique! It’s truly in his hands. It’s capable of deriving all combat skills in the heavens and evolving all forms of fighting arts.”

“Unfortunately, Bitter Monk’s ‘Om’ Mantra is incomplete, unable to contend with Taoism’s Dou Character Secret.”

“The Buddhist Six-Character Mantra will surely reappear in the world. In the future, it will likely truly contest Taoism’s Nine Secrets for supremacy.”

Ye Fan stared at the monk and asked, “Who is the Fighting Saint Buddha? What are his origins?”

This was also what the others wanted to know. In the post-Ancient Desolation era, Buddhism still had such an Ancient Buddha; their foundations were truly unfathomable, beyond imagination.

Bitter Monk remained silent. He was extremely unwilling, but the incompleteness of his Om Mantra left him frustrated and without words.

“If you don’t speak, I’ll make you realize that form is emptiness, and that death, too, is emptiness.”

“Stop!” Suddenly, a shout came from afar. Two elders flew over, their expressions horrified as they stared at the head in Ye Fan’s hand.

“Release Yunluan!” shouted the other, his face filled with astonishment.

They were Yan Yunluan’s guardians, though they weren’t always by his side. Knowing they had arrived too late, their expressions naturally changed.

“You want me to release him just because you say so?” Ye Fan was indifferent.

“Stop at once! Release Yunluan!” They rushed forward.

“And what if I don’t stop?” Ye Fan asked.

“If you dare harm Yunluan, you’ll meet a terrible end! The Yan Clan will not spare you…”

“I detest being threatened more than anything.” Ye Fan directly interrupted them. “CRACK!” With a flick of his finger, he shattered Yan Yunluan’s head as easily as cracking a walnut.

“You… I’ll kill you!”

The two turned deathly pale, their hearts feeling as if they had plunged into an abyss. Ye Fan feared nothing; Sacred Lands and Divine Dynasties meant nothing to him. He had cleanly and decisively ended Yan Yunluan’s life.

“Yunluan… Die, Ye brat!” The two from the Yan Clan lunged forward, their hair disheveled, their demeanor crazed.

“Since you miss him so much, you can follow him. I’ll let you reunite.” Ye Fan collected Yan Yunluan’s Bronze Battle Armor and Heavenly Spear.

“Kill!” The two experts charged.

「In the Qi Shi Mansion, before a picturesque mountain peak」

Two young men hesitated outside Wang Teng’s abode, not daring to disturb him.

“Who is outside? Come in,” a calm voice echoed from within.

The Stone Gate rumbled open, and a mist of spiritual energy surged out, colorful and radiant, suffused with Immortal Qi. The two young men nervously walked inside.

Inside the abode, a man sat silently on a Mystic Jade Bed. He had thick, jet-black hair, and his eyes seemed to contain endless stars undergoing Illusion Destruction, making him appear unfathomable.

“Gr-greetings… Brother Wang,” one of them spoke, his voice trembling slightly. The pressure exuded by this man was even greater than that of his own patriarch.

“What business do you have?” Wang Teng asked indifferently.

“The Sacred Body, Ye Fan, has appeared…” one of them quickly recounted the events that had transpired outside.

However, after a long wait, Wang Teng said nothing. The two exchanged puzzled glances.

“Brother Wang…”

“I know.” Wang Teng merely uttered these few words, showing no intention of taking action.

“He used the Nine Secrets! He defeated Yan Yunluan and an ascetic monk with the Dou Character Technique! The Buddhist Om Mantra also appeared!” one of them blurted out.

Is that so? Nine Secrets… Wang Teng’s eyes flickered. A beam of Divine Light shot from his Sky Gathering Parasol, and a Golden Ancient War Chariot materialized with a rumble.

The Divine Light transformed into a heroic figure. His body was enveloped in golden light that pierced the sky, and he carried a Holy Sword. Like a Heavenly Emperor descending to the mortal world, he stood upon the War Chariot.

Around him, the Divine Light was brilliant. Nine True Dragons, nine Divine Phoenixes, nine White Tigers, and nine Mystic Turtles flashed with dazzling splendor, forming the Four Symbols that encircled him.

“Lead the way!” this figure commanded softly, his voice shaking the very sky.

The two young men suddenly found themselves on the War Chariot. They had already shot out of the abode and were flying into the sky, their hearts trembling in awe.

Even a mere incarnation of Wang Teng was incredibly powerful. Standing on the Golden Ancient War Chariot, dragons and phoenixes cried in harmony, white tigers roared to the heavens, and mystic turtles traversed the seas. Layers of golden brilliance radiated outwards, as majestic as an ancient emperor patrolling the heavens.

“It’s… Wang Teng!”

“Wang Teng has set out in his War Chariot!”

“This is a sliver of his incarnation, carrying an Emperor Sword! Who is he going to slay? Is he going to battle the Central Emperor?”

Amidst the picturesque mountain peaks of the Qi Shi Mansion, many witnessed this scene in astonishment. Figures soared into the air and followed.

Wang Teng’s every move attracted immense attention. When one of his incarnations set out, it naturally stirred the hearts of many, who trailed behind.

“He’s going to slay that monster from the Eastern Wastelands!”

“What? The Sacred Body, Ye Fan, has appeared again? He’s fighting far away? He’s likely in grave danger this time!”

“The Nine Secrets have appeared! Wang Teng aims to collect all Nine Secrets of Taoism and master them completely. No wonder he’s taking action personally!”

Along the way, shadows flickered as several hundred people followed, startling more than half the people in the Qi Shi Mansion. Everyone wanted to witness the Northern Emperor’s majestic presence.

The Nine Secrets had appeared, and the Northern Emperor had emerged from his seclusion. The Golden Ancient War Chariot sped like lightning, accompanied by dragon roars and Phoenix Cries, while white tigers shone skyward—a resplendent and magnificent sight.

However, when the War Chariot arrived, the battlefield had long since fallen silent. Everything was over. The two powerful guardians of Yan Yunluan had been defeated and killed. Ye Fan had departed a long time ago.

Bitter Monk had also perished, leaving behind only a tattered piece of his monk’s robe. All the experts had been slain by Ye Fan; not a single one had escaped.

“What a pity, we missed it again! We couldn’t make it in time,” someone lamented. It was rare to see Wang Teng emerge, yet they had missed the chance to witness his invincible style.

Ye Fan was unaware of all this; he was already thousands of miles away. He bid farewell to Pang Bo and Li Heishui, not particularly worried about their safety.

Recently, the second most notorious bandit of the Northern Region had been sighted in the Central States. He had once appeared in the Qi Shi Mansion carrying the Heaven-devouring Demon Jar. He might not interfere in the struggles of the younger generation, but that living fossil would certainly not stand idly by if someone tried to take their lives.

“We’re just over 300,000 miles apart, which isn’t too far. We can meet often,” Ye Fan said as he bid them farewell and journeyed west.

It had to be said, the Qi Shi Mansion was very mysterious, housing all sorts of Ancient Books. Pang Bo had found a great deal of information for him, and he could now speculate on a rough area.

Ten thousand years ago, in the Central States, there was a Cai Clan at the height of its prosperity. They had an ancient lineage and profound foundations, and were rumored to possess one of the Nine Secrets. However, they were annihilated overnight.

The Nine Secrets originated in the Eastern Wastelands and were scattered by someone. For one secret to have ended up in the Central States… Unfortunately, the lineage of the other secrets seems to have been truly broken.

Yet, what unsettled Ye Fan the most was the question of who had acted to destroy the Cai Clan—an ancient family whose power was not much weaker than that of a Divine Dynasty.

The Ancient Books from that time offered no clear verdict. Lacking evidence or clues, it remained an unsolved mystery.

Ye Fan reviewed these materials. He found no definitive conclusions from that era, but thousands of years later, many speculations with differing viewpoints had emerged.

Some claimed it was the Great Xia Divine Dynasty, which, wielding the Grand Emperor Sword’s Extreme Divine Power, had annihilated the Cai Clan with a single strike. Others asserted that the Jiuli Divine Dynasty had used Extreme Dao Weapons to obliterate this ancient heritage.

There were also claims that people from the Eastern Wastelands were responsible, appearing with an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon to reclaim the Nine Secrets, wiping out the Cai Clan of the Central States without leaving a trace.

Still others said that Western Desert Buddhism was behind it. Sumeru Mountain is mysterious and unfathomable, home to extraordinary figures capable of such deeds.

The Fighting Victorious Buddha? No, the timeline doesn’t match.

Afterward, Ye Fan came across more hypotheses, all of which seemed plausible.

It really became an unresolved historical case, difficult to fathom.

Finally, amidst the pile of materials, Ye Fan found a piece of folklore containing an astonishing conjecture, vastly different from the previous viewpoints.

“It was not a group of people carrying out a slaughter, but a single individual who, from ten thousand li away, casually flicked a finger and erased an immortal heritage…”

Reading this, Ye Fan felt a shiver run down his spine. Could a single person’s power erase an ancient family with just a flick of a finger?

This was truly appalling. One had to remember that the Cai Clan of that era was not much weaker than a Divine Dynasty!

This piece of folklore didn’t specify who it was, but it vaguely pointed to a certain individual. Throughout history, only a few possessed such terrifying combat power, and in that particular era… the name was practically on the tip of everyone’s tongue!

The Green Emperor!

A Great Emperor lived in the world ten thousand years ago. If there truly was such a person capable of this feat, it had to be the Green Emperor.

A Great Emperor was involved… what really happened back then? Was it truly the Green Emperor’s doing?

Ye Fan was stunned. This was an astonishing inference. Why would the last Great Emperor of this world do such a thing? What secret could have justified the Green Emperor taking action?

So many conjectures, it’s hard to discern the truth… he sighed softly. Too much time had passed. Everything was now shrouded in mystery, leaving only speculation.

「Travelling west for over 300,000 miles, Ye Fan arrived at an ancient land.」

He saw endless desolation, surrounded by boundless Ancient Woods that encased a field of ruins.

The surroundings were lush, with a vast, endless primeval forest. Yet, this central area alone was barren, devoid of even a blade of grass; it was desolate and cold.

This is the Cai Clan’s remnant site…

Only a few dilapidated walls remained, where crows perched, cawing mournfully. The past prosperity contrasted sharply with the present cold bleakness.

A huge abyss stretched for over a hundred miles across this barren land, with rubble and debris scattered along its edges. One could imagine that the once endless Heaven Temple had been swallowed by the earth, sinking into the depths below.

The Cai Clan’s Pure Land must have been built upon this great gorge, but it sank.

Ye Fan flew high into the air, observing with the Source Heavenly Divine Technique. His heart instantly stirred!

The abyss was irregular in shape and appeared terrifying. However, he was skilled in Source Technique and could reconstruct the former mountain terrain, allowing him to precisely deduce the changes in the land’s formation.

Light flickered in his eyes, alternately dimming and brightening, as he meticulously reconstructed the various landforms of the past.

Under his gaze, the abyss constantly transformed until it settled into a regular shape—a vast chasm stretching for over a hundred miles, its depths unfathomable!

This is a finger imprint!

Ye Fan could hardly believe his eyes. The hundred-mile-long abyss looked as if it had been carved out by a single finger flick! And afterward, someone had attempted to erase all traces of it!

Was it truly the Green Emperor’s doing? Why did he do this…?