Shrouding the Heavens

“You’ve sent out ten great disciples to take care of me, swift and decisive. Naturally I won’t be able to bear with this and have come knocking to kill you!” Ye Fan’s entire body was shrouded in a golden glow, the divine splendor was dazzling and he seemed as though he had worn a golden divine armour, his manner was extremely imposing. “Do you really believe that you will be able to kill me and leave the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary alive?” Han Yishui’s countenance was grim as he continued: “Killing you won’t be too difficult, as simple as brushing away my clothes, it won’t cause any ripples at all.” Ye Fan calmly replied.

Han Yishui felt both anger and fear, this was not only a confident performance by Ye Fan, it was also a type of insult as he coldly spoke: “So young yet so frightening, if you were to be allowed to grow, how could this small land hold you. Today I will exterminate you, forcing you down into the depths of hell.”

Ye Fan had a faint smile on his face as he spoke: “You wish to kill me? Stop dreaming, I understand your intentions, you’re actually trying to delay time. It’s a pity that I won’t give you such a chance, it will be impossible for you to flee from the hands of death today.”

Han Yishui’s expression changed, the other party came personally to kill him, such decisiveness and calm made his heart feel cold. He immediately decided not to fight as he retreated, swiftly rushing as he attempted to flee. “Han Yishui, you leave me so disappointed……” Ye Fan became a streak of golden light as he appeared in front of Han Yishui, blocking his path.

Han Yishui would never have guessed that a youth who seemed to be merely fourteen years of age with such a delicate face would actually be so frightening, having a speed which was actually much faster than himself. “The venerated elder and others will be arriving soon, you won’t have any chance.” Han Yishui’s expression was filled with killing intent, he wanted to pressure Ye Fan in order to create a chance to flee.

Ye Fan had a youthful radiant smile on his face as he continued: “Han Yishui, first you attempted to delay time then you attempted to loudly transmit your voice, do you really believe that I haven’t noticed?”

“So what if you’ve noticed?”

“Since I dared to come kill you, how could I be so careless? Before entering the valley, I’ve already carved several Dao Inscriptions, from the outside, everything is calm and peaceful within, without any abnormalities, you’ve simply wasted your efforts.”

“You’re so young, how could you possibly understand how to utilise Dao Inscriptions? I don’t believe you.” Han Yishui had an unsure expression on his face.

“Thinking about it, I really need to thank that vicious little brother of yours, he not only gave me all his precious herbs which he had toiled to obtain for half his life, he also left two rolls of beast skin which had Dao Inscriptions within, although I am still unable to understand them, copying them is still within my means.”

“My little brother has disappeared for three years already……. It was you who killed him?” Han Yishui’s brows lifted as a frightening cold light seemed to shine from his eyes.

“He wanted to refine me into a medicine but was really unfortunate resulting in himself being used, you brothers can finally reunite.”

“Little bastard, do you really believe that you can agitate me in this manner? I won’t let you be successful.”

Ye Fan’s smile disappeared as he spoke coldly: “Let me send you on your way.” His fist flew forward as the air seemed to tremble, the surrounding vital energy in the air dissipated as the golden fist descended like a mountain, giving one an immense pressure.

“Chi!”

Elder Han first sent out a silver ruler which swiftly became bigger and bigger till it could encompass the lands, flashing with a pristine white glow like a silver dragon that was rushing forth, striking directly towards Ye Fan’s head.

“Dang!”

Ye Fan’s golden fist heavily smashed onto the silver ruler as a crisp cracking noise rang out, a silver glow scattered out in all directions as the silver lustre of the ruler immediately dimmed before disintegrating with a ‘Bang!’.

Han Yishui’s eyes narrowed, he simply could not believe his eyes, the other party had smashed his powerful artifact, this was merely a fist yet it seemed as strong as a divine weapon.

Ye Fan was like a forceful gale as he rushed forward, the golden flames were like a tide that was crashing down, the golden fist became larger and larger as a tyrannical force smashed down, causing the air to violently tremble.

Han Yishui’s expression drastically changed, he would never have expected that a cultivator at this level would actually use their physical body to fight, forcefully blocking a spiritual artifact, especially when the cultivator was so young, this made him tremendously shocked.

“Qiang!”

Before him, a green light flashed as a jade green shield emerged, expanding with the wind as it swiftly became five metres tall, flashing with a golden metallic lustre, seeming to be extremely sturdy as it shielded him.

“Boom!”

The jade green shield was a precious treasure, however, it simply could not fend off Ye Fan, the golden fist seemed devilish, containing an unending amount of force as it immediately smashed the shield into pieces.

The powerful force could not be stopped as the golden energy flowed like an unceasing river, Han Yishui was knocked aside as traces of blood could be seen on his mouth, his face was filled with shock, this was merely the wind from a fist, if it had been an actual blow, he simply could not imagine the outcome.

Han Yishui seemed to fly as he retreated, the glow within his body was shrouding him, as an artificer, he did not lack artifacts as nine jet black bone spears flew through the air, frighteningly black mist swirled and it seemed like a demon with nine sharp claws were rushing forward.

Ye Fan stood at his original position as he wielded his golden fist, a strong collision caused the space to distort, creating thunderous noises.

A extremely terrifying thing happened, the black mist was actually dispersed by the golden fist, a bright Yin and Yang appeared and 9 bone spears shattered, reduced to fine powder. The dust floated freely in the air and fell gently, clearly the spears were thoroughly crushed.

“This……” Han Yishui was speechless, this was simply too extraordinary, such a strong physical body was simply impossible to find within the Yan State, the body alone was a spiritual treasure, greater than any artifact.

“If you still have any treasures, please send them flying forth, I wish to test the limits of my physical body.”

“You…….” Han Yishui was enraged and alarmed, the other party simply did not put him in any regard and actually treated him as a testing object. A purple light flashed as a large net appeared within his hand as he tossed it, the net swiftly flew towards Ye Fan as the purple eight trigrams diagram on it flashed.

This caused Ye Fan to frown as he felt a tremendous divine energy fluctuation, he did not dare to be careless as the sea within his body began to howl, divine energy surged throughout his body.

“Boom!”

Ye Fan wielded his fists as the golden divine fire blazed, divine energy surged like the ocean several times stronger than previously, the golden fists were unstoppable as they tore apart the large purple net, causing it to disappear in a ball of light.

Han Yishui’s countenance was pale, this was simply too great a mental blow for him, he simply could not imagine how a person’s physical body could be so strong, this simply defied all logic.

“Little bastard, you’ve really surpassed all my expectations……” At this moment, a shiny silver gourd appeared within Han Yishui’s hands, flashing with a brilliance as he took off the cover of the gourd: “It’s time to end this!”

The silver gourd flew forward as it swiftly became larger, becoming as large as a small mountain, the mouth of the gourd emitted a swirling mist as the body of the gourd released a brilliant light, seeming like a silver mountain that was flying through the air. Ye Fan could feel a tremendous energy pulling at him causing his feet to lift off the ground as he flew towards the silver gourd, it was like a whirlpool that was sucking all the spiritual qi in the air, sucking everything in sight.

“This is an artifact which I have used half my life to forge, I don’t believe your physical body will be able to defend against this, it will capture you and turn you into bloody paste, this is revenge for my disciple!”

“You can try!” Ye Fan suddenly became a mystical rainbow as he rushed to the mouth of the silver gourd, his fist flew forward as a dazzling brilliance exploded out, the golden fist seemed to be indestructible as it immediately smashed apart the silver gourd.

“Boom!”

Ye Fan’s physical body was glowing as though it were forged from divine metal, able to overcome any obstacle, the golden fist exploded forth as it blew the silver gourd apart. “You! Impossible!” Han Yishui’s face was pale without any colour as he witnessed everything before him.

“I don’t have time to delay with you, Han Yishui, let me send you on your way!”

“I’m an elder of the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary, if you kill me, you will be chased to the ends of the earth and death will be inevitable!”

Ye Fan had a faint smile on his face as he returned Han Yishui’s words: “I’m merely an ordinary mortal, you actually sent ten great disciples to deal with me, although i will be hunted by others, you cannot escape death.”

“You!” Han Yishui’s expression changed, he knew that his chances were grim and this youth was simply too decisive, he actually dared to come before him to kill him and would certainly not be merciful.

“You wish to kill me, how could I possibly leave a threat behind, be a good person in your next life.” Ye Fan pounced forward, Han Yishui sent eight artifacts flying out in his anxiety in an attempt to block Ye Fan, however, the golden fish continued to grow bigger in front of his eyes.

“Bang!”

Han Yishui’s body was blown apart as blood splattered through the air, his life had ended in this moment.

Ye Fan descended to the ground as his imposing presence gradually dissipated, his physical body which had been dazzling gradually became normal. He searched through the valley once but failed to find anything of value.

A while later, he walked out of the valley with an innocent expression on his face, a smile could be seen on his face as he calmly walked out from the sect gate.

Not long after leaving the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary, Ye Fan could feel a frightening energy fluctuation surging from behind him, this was definitely a cultivator who was past the Spiritual Bridge realm.

He was not reckless enough to fight against a venerated elder of the Other Shore realm or even past the Other Shore realm, the differences between realms was simply too immense and difficult to overcome, he did not look back as he swiftly left.

Ye Fan had an extraordinary golden sea of bitterness, at this moment the sea was howling within his body as lightning flashed, he was covered in a vast golden body of water and lightning, exceptionally dazzling as he disappeared in the blink of an eye past the horizon.

Half a month later, Ye Fan appeared within the Wei State, this area was separated from the Yan State by five other states, there was a hundred thousand and seven miles between the two areas and no one had followed.

From north to south, the Wei State was five thousand miles and from east to west, it was six thousand miles long. Its territory was several times larger than the Yan State but compared to the Eastern Badlands, it was still considered a needle in the ocean.

When asking for directions to the Jade Lake Sacred Ground and getting the answer, Ye Fan felt stunned, the distance was simply much further than his imagination and an ordinary mortal would simply be unable to reach that region, even a cultivator who rode on a mystical rainbow would require several years of time before reaching.

He helplessly sighed as he massaged his temples while muttering: “This world is simply inconceivable, how could there be such a vast territory, this simply defies all logic.”

If one rode on a mystical rainbow to travel, they simply could not cultivate. This would be an extravagant waste of time, Ye Fan simply could not afford to do so.

He continued to question and eventually learnt about another method, using the most profound of Dao Inscriptions to gather heavenly energy, seizing a piece of heaven and earth to open a door to traverse time and space, several of the larger sects could achieve this.

However, in order to traverse past more than half the Eastern Badlands, there were only two families within this region that had such capabilities. The Ji family which was twenty thousand Li in the west or the Alkaid Sacred Ground which was thirty thousand Li to the East, their backgrounds were deep and could definitely make it happen.

Opening a door to traverse through time and space, the further the distance the greater the amount of energy required. It was simply impossible for these two families to do so for the convenience of a cultivator at the Spiritual Bridge realm, this made him feel a splitting headache.

The only fortunate thing was that he still had time and was not in a hurry for the mysterious ‘Dao Palace’ cultivation methods, Ye Fan planned to stay within the Wei State for a period of time and think of other methods to traverse through time and space.

The Xiao City was bustling, filled with carts, horses and people that were endlessly moving. Ye Fan was living within this city and lived amidst the bustle, each day he would continue to cultivate while occasionally heading out of the city to enter the deep mountains to exercise. While cultivating each day, Ye Fan was also pondering on how to become even stronger.

His bones were pristine like jade, as sturdy as divine metal, his five organs and six viscera were without any impurities like a divine artifact, his skin was glistening, with a sheen that seemed to glow, extremely tough, this was a powerful advantage.

Ye Fan was pondering how to increase this advantage, the raw power from his physical body back at the Ling Xu Immortal Sanctuary made him feel a primitive kind of wild battle power, he felt that if he was able to combine the usage of his physical body together with divine arts or artifacts, it would surely increase his power by bounds.

“I’ve ingested divine medicines, exchanged my bones and shed my mortal skin twice, my physical body is extremely powerful and I should continue to mold it…….” He thought back to the various fist techniques in his old town, he had previously practiced a few and wanted to use these to continue molding his physical body, however, he felt that these ordinary methods simply could not compare to the methods of cultivating immortals.

The hustle and bustle of Xiao City compared to the calm and serenity within the deep mountains created a stark contrast, a month had passed yet Ye Fan had not come up with a method to traverse time and space, however, he gained many insights as he finally thought of Tai Chi. “Tai Chi moves and creates Yang, the extremity of movements yet calm, calm yet creates Yin, the extremity of calmness returns back to movement. Movement and calmness, mutually revolving around each other, separating the Yin and Yang, the two energies amalgamate and form all living things…”

“That’s right, I can cultivate Tai Chi!” He was not really planning on cultivating Tai Chi but rather wanted to base his training on the understandings of ancient people towards Tai Chi which was recorded within ancient texts to train his mortal shell. “Tai Chi is a manifestation of the Dao, if I were to practice this art, I would not merely be practicing a form of martial technique and be able to compare to the profundities of cultivators mystical arts.

Although he had read several ancient texts concerning Tai Chi, it was extremely profound and wanting to create a martial technique out of it would be supremely difficult and require painstaking amounts of time. “If I’m successful, it would likely not be any inferior to the mysterious ancient inscriptions, this is after all ancient China’s heritage.”

Ye Fan did not wish to give up on the cultivation methods of this world, he would actually work even harder to cultivate as the cultivation methods were a more wholesome forging of the entire body. Forging the mortal shell would only increase one’s combat power and he needed time to slowly explore, this would definitely be a long and tiring process.