Shrouding the Heavens

Ye Fan lifted a buck while carrying grains and noodles as he pushed open the door of the little store and walked in.

Ting Ting’s large eyes were red and she was currently using a warm towel to carefully wipe the old man’s wounds, her heart was hurting as she sobbed bitterly while wiping.

The old man’s wrinkled face had finger marked bruises on it, blood was flowing mainly from his nose and mouth and even his white hair had been stained with blood.

“This group of bastards how could they bear to do such a thing……” Ye Fan felt something grip his heart, a kind old man in his later years received such violent treatment, this really made one’s rage boil over. Ting Ting was so cute, sensible and barely five to six years old, yet she had also been bullied and pushed down to the ground, her little face had a hurtful expression on it as tears streamed down, this simply made one’s heart wrench in sympathy.

“Big brother……” Seeing that Ye Fan had returned, Ting Ting’s tears began to fall anew as she loudly bawled.

“Ting Ting be good, don’t cry, there’s nothing wrong with grandpa.” The man man tried to console Ting Ting as he tried to use his wrinkled hands to wipe her tears, thereafter he looked at Ye Fan in shock: “This buck and those grains and noodles……”

“I hunted the buck in the forest, grains and noodles were traded with a deer.” Ye Fan placed these items on the ground before taking out a jade bottle from his bosom, pulling out the cork he poured out a little of the hundred plants extract and began to apply it on the wounds of the old man.

“You’ve only eaten a single meal of ours, there’s no need to be like this…….” The old man was not good with words and although he was very grateful, his words came out in such a manner.

“Old uncle you don’t have to say anymore, a meal really doesn’t count for much but the kind intentions and camaraderie behind it are very important.” Having said this, Ye Fan crouched down and helped wipe the tears on Ting Ting’s face as he said: “Ting Ting don’t cry, with me around I won’t let you feel wronged again.”

“Big brother……” Ting Ting’s eyes were red again as her long eyelashes trembled and tears began to fall, she looked down at her patched shoes and softly said: “But…… those bad people will still come and they will continue to bully us.”

“Don’t be afraid, big brother won’t let those bad people bully Ting Ting anymore.” Ye Fan rubbed her head in sympathy, such a sensible and cute young girl was bullied in such a manner, this really made one’s heart feel angst.

“Child, don’t be reckless.” The old man had experienced the hardships of life and felt Ye Fan’s anger. He was afraid that this youth would do something to make matters worst and drag him in as well: “We can’t afford to offend them, the Li family have cultivators among them and aren’t people we can offend.”

The old man then sighed: “I’m already so old and really quite unwilling to leave this town, I’ve already lived here for tens of years and the older one gets, the more he reminisces the past, it’s really difficult to cut all ties with this place. However, it seems that I’ve really got no choice but to leave, for Ting Ting I’ve decided to leave everything here behind. Even if I have to become a beggar and leave my hometown, I won’t continue to stay here any longer.”

“Grandpa……” Two lines of tears could be seen on Ting Ting’s face.

“Ting Ting, be good, don’t cry. Old uncle don’t talk about leaving this town anymore.” Ye Fan consoled Ting Ting while speaking to the old man: “You don’t have to worry, I won’t make matters worse. Close this small store for now and let me think of a solution. If there really isn’t any other way, I’ll leave with the two of you.”

Ye Fan knew deep down that many unfortunate things occurred to normal humans. The deepest kind of pain would be for one to be forced out of their hometown in their later years, the old man had also lost his son and under the current circumstances it seemed that he would be forced to leave this small town. The bitterness in his heart could only be imagined and he simply did not wish for this young and old duo to continue in their misfortune.

“Tell me precisely what backing does the Li family have?”

“Child, what are you planning to do? We’ll pack up tomorrow to leave this place and never return, we cannot offend them no matter what.”

“I’m not the rash kind of person, don’t worry.”

Finally, after Ye Fan’s constant cajoling, the old man finally answered his queries.

The Li family was the most outstanding great family within this small town, it was rumoured that their family had three to four people who were cultivating outside. Cultivators were a mystery to normal people and on a normal day they would not meet them, hence most people in the town were very afraid of the Li family.

Ye Fan felt as though there were some things which the old man had not mentioned. For example, the Jiang family seemed to have been doing quite well and had a restaurant within the town, what happened? Also, why did his son suddenly pass away? All these were not mentioned.

“Ting Ting, help to wash this towel in hot water.” The old man managed to get Ting Ting away before he continued: “Child, I understand that you aren’t a normal kid, so young and yet you are able to kill a buck, you probably know how to cultivate right. However, I advise you not to go and offend the Li family……”

The old man continued to talk, his son and daughter-in-law were both cultivators and had been viewed very highly within a sect, even the Li family within the town had formed good relations with them unwilling to easily cause any strife between the families.

“Yan Xia Immortal Sanctuary……” Ye Fan was startled, the sect that the old man’s son belonged to was actually one of the six within the Yan state, it was only two hundred over miles from this small town.

The few people from the Li family were also cultivating within the Yan Xia immortal sanctuary, one of which went into the sect at almost the same time as the son of the old man but was actually left far behind.

“The kid from the Li family was scheming and dishonourable, he did many evil things and my kid was simply too righteous, he could not bear to act and created a great enmity……”

Ting Ting’s father had an extraordinary aptitude and was viewed highly within the Yan Xia immortal sanctuary, he was not afraid of the Li family kid who entered the sect at the same time. However, no one knows what may come and there was a misfortune, two years ago Ting Ting’s parents were out picking spiritual medicines and unfortunately died to the claws of a Lightning Bird.

When Ting Ting’s parents passed away, the people of the Li family had no further concerns and immediately snatched this old man’s restaurant, thereafter took away my inn and forced the two of us into this situation but still did not relent.

At this moment, Ting Ting had returned from washing the towel in hot water and her face was like a pale jade statue, resembling a porcelain doll. However she said something that did not seem like something someone her age would say: “Why is it that in this world, good people are always bullied while bad people seem to live long lives……”

Hearing her young and tender voice together with her hurtful expression, Ye Fan and the old man glanced at each other but did not know what to say to console her.

“There are still good people in this world, Ting Ting has only seen one side of it, everything will become better in the future……” Ye Fan did not want her young heart to have such emotions from a young age.

“That’s right, your big brother is a good person and will surely help us. Ting Ting and him will surely live a full life.” The old man had a kind smile as he continued: “Today I’ll cook buck meat for Ting Ting to eat.”

The old man followed Ye Fan’s suggestions and closed the small store, in the afternoon the three had a bountiful feast and Ting Ting’s little face was rosy as she finally had a big smile on it.

In the afternoon, Ye Fan walked about in the small town and understood the Li family’s property holdings as well as where the old man’s snatched inn and restaurant were. Thereafter he found out many other information from other people.

The did not want to act rashly as he deeply feared that he would implicate the old man and Ting Ting. When one was trying to help someone but ended up hurting them, that would be the most sad and foolish thing.

“The Li family have several people cultivating within the Yan Xia immortal sanctuary……” Ye Fan did not have confidence, he had after all only just started cultivating. This was not the most troubling, the most problematic thing was that the Li family had a person who was cultivating in a supreme sect and seemed to be extraordinary.

“It seems that this Li family really isn’t something to be trifled with, it seems I’ll have to come up with other ideas.” This made Ye Fan even more firm in his belief of a cultivators path, he had to become stronger otherwise he would be helpless in all matters. He wanted to help old uncle Jiang and Ting Ting get some revenge but found it hard to proceed.

“The bastard who acted earlier, I won’t let him go no matter what.” Ye Fan was not urgent to act, he knew that being rash would only complicate matters. He calmly went back to the small store and sat in his room, he had a golden book and a mysterious aurichalcite but he had not inspected them carefully before. He now wanted to begin by trying to read the golden book.

He began to circulate the mystical arts recorded within the Dao Scripture and started to look within, the soybean sized golden sea of bitterness was like a divine moon within the darkness, the aurichalcite which emanated an ancient and powerful aura was situated in the centre of the golden sea of bitterness, motionless and stable like a rock, absolutely silent.

The single paged golden book was squeezed to the side of the sea of bitterness, it’s glow was swirling as it flashed with a divine splendour. The dense and numerous little words on it were like stars that shot forth golden lights, sacred and faintly discernible. This single paged golden book seemed to want to return to the centre but regardless of how the divine aura shot forth thousands of streams that were dazzling like the rainbow, it could not affect the aurichalcite in the slightest and could only float by the side of the sea of bitterness.

Ye Fan’s attention was totally absorbed by the golden book within his sea of bitterness but he met the same problems he faced previously, the dazzling words on the golden book seemed to shoot forth golden needles of light that made his mind hurt, making him unable to see the words clearly.

“Why is it like that? Is there no way to cultivate the mystical arts recorded within this single paged golden book?” Ye Fan frowned, this felt like acquiring a mountain of treasure but being unable to access any of it, even a single copper coin could not be grasped.

Suddenly, Ye Fan seemed to remember something as he scooped something out of his bosom.

A dull Bodhi seed was in his hand, as big as a walnut with naturally occurring wrinkles on it that formed the picture of a Buddha.

A naturally occurring portrait of Buddha, entirely formed of nature, dull, simple, natural and exuded faint vibes of Zen .

“The Bodhi tree can help a person to find their path, I will borrow this Bodhi seed to try!” Ye Fan had received a mysterious ancient scripture from the bronze coffin due to this Bodhi seed and with no other means to read the mystical arts recorded within the golden book, he thought of using this mystical Bodhi seed to try.

The Bodhi tree had another name, the tree of wisdom, tree of comprehension, tree of thought. It was rumoured to be able to open up the divinity within a person, allowing them to comprehend themselves.

When Ye Fan grasped the Bodhi seed and began to circulate the mystical arts recorded within the Dao Scripture, wisps of golden light came from his sea of bitterness and gathered towards the Bodhi seed.

At this moment, unsure if it was a misconception or if the Bodhi seed really had a use, he felt that his heart was empty and very calm. He began to inspect within his sea of bitterness and looked at the single paged golden book.

“It really is effective……” Ye Fan was amazed, the Bodhi seed enabled his heart to be completely empty, without any ripples within his mind allowing him to easily look past the golden glow and clearly see the ancient words written on the golden page. The golden lights that seemed like golden needles that pierced the eye immediately became gentle and no longer hurt his eyes.

“I’ve opened up a treasure trove!” Even with the Bodhi seed in hand, Ye Fan found it difficult to remain calm and was very excited, he had managed to fully unlock the ‘Wheel and Sea Volume’ of the Dao Scripture.

Ancient words became divine radiance that continually imprinted themselves onto his mind, like stars in the galaxy that were flashing.