Shrouding the Heavens

However this seemingly worthless bow had caused the air to tremble, as though an invisible force had spread in all directions from it, the disciples of the Star Peak were shivering, their faces a pasty white.

The few elders of the Star Peak descended as they paid their respects to Li Ruyu within the dilapidated pavilion before one of them spoke up: “Congratulations senior brother, desolate peak will once again regain its former glory.”Li Ruyu walked out as he returned the greetings before speaking: “Why do you say that?”

The desolate bow has reappeared, the legacy should reappear soon, with it being one of the nine mysterious techniques, the other main peaks will surely pale in comparison, the desolate peak will definitely regain its former glory.”

Li Ru Yu shook his head: “The desolate bow is something that I simply happened to acquire, it does not mean that the legacy will show itself once more.”

“Where did senior brother Li acquire the desolate bow”The few elders of the Star Peak had expressions of shock.

“Within a badger cave halfway up the mountain, it was used by the nest of badgers as firewood.””

Hearing these words, everyone was speechless, the desolate bow was something unique, a precious treasure of the mountain was actually used by wild badgers as firewood, this was really flabbergasting.

“The ancient bow has reappeared, the rise of the desolate peak is imminent, it will surely rise back to the heavens.”One of the elders of the Star Peak spoke up.

“If the desolate peak wishes to regain its past glory, how could that be an easy affair? The legacy has declined for five hundred years, there are almost no disciples and the entire mountain is barren, wanting to re-establish it is a problem within a problem, extremely difficult.” Li Ru Yu sighed.

An elder of the Star Peak calmly swept his gaze at Ye Fan: “This should be a decent celestial sprout.”

Ye Fan’s heart was racing, these elders were definitely not ordinary, he was afraid to have exposed anything, earlier he had used the might of the bow to scare the ten odd disciples of the Star Peak, it was a mystery what the elders were thinking, if they were unsatisfied with him, that would be a huge problem.

At this moment, he had already kept the ancient bow, dispersing the frightening pressure as the squawking of crows could be heard once more, rushing forth from near him and entering the not too distant forest.

Thereafter, the few elders of the Star Peak bid their farewells as they prepared to leave. Li Ruyu hollered to them: “The desolate peak will re-establish itself, junior brothers please pass this message on to the master of the Star Peak, also, please control your disciples, the desolate peak is still a main peak after all, they should not barge in as they please.” The elders of the Star Peak halted for a moment as they heard these words before one of them replied: “I will pass the message.”

It was only when they had left the desolate peak did the elders begin to whisper and discuss: “Why did the desolate bow appear?”

“It seems that our senior brother Li isn’t as simple as he seems, we have been underestimating him, thinking that his aptitude is low and would not be able to achieve any success. Who knew that after protecting the desolate peak alone for so many years, he has already become unfathomable.”

“The desolate peak is simply too strange, many things cannot be measured by common logic, Li Ruyu wouldn’t become the second peerless exponent of the desolate peak, right?”

They recalled the past of the desolate peak, there was once a predecessor with an exceptional aptitude, before the appearance of the legacy, he had already acquired cultivation techniques before previously, eventually becoming comparable to exponents of the ancient past, his power was phenomenal.

“The desolate peak has withstood the withering of time, it’s glory is merely hidden, I feel that it will soon rise up from the ashes once again.” An older elder amongst them spoke up.

“Even if the desolate peak regains its past glory and flourishes, so what? The Star Peak is still the foundation of the Tai Xuan sect, as one of the most powerful legacies, half the sect’s leading members come from our vein.”

At this moment, Ye Fan felt lucky that he had merely roasted a wild rabbit and not hunted the crows, he was unsure what would have happened if he had attempted to do so.

The gloomy ancient bow had several obvious worm holes on it, Ye Fan could not see anything special about it, if it was a precious treasure how could worms be able to create holes in it?

Li Ruyu stood before the Nine Steps of Heaven, taking the desolate bow from Ye Fan as he gently caressed it before placing it atop the jade steps.

The nine coloured jade steps seemed to have ripples of water across them as they submerged the desolate bow, thereafter a fire actually sprang onto the ancient bow causing it to burn.

“Senior, what are you doing?!” Ye Fan was alarmed.

“It’s rumoured that the mountain contains the scripture while the bow is the foundation, this bow is like a key for the desolate peak, it is possible that the legacy may appear.”

Ye Fan continued to stare at the blazing bow: “This is a precious treasure, what if it is destroyed?”

“It won’t be destroyed, it will only be absorbed into the desolate peak, it’s mighty power will then see the light. When the mountain and bow merged as one, it can pierce the heavens.” Li Ruyu sighed: “The legacy hasn’t appeared in so long, I’m not sure if this will be able to start it.”

The fire continued to blaze as the desolate bow slowly submerged into the nine steps, completely disappearing as everything became calm once again. Ye Fan could sense a faint change.

This very peak seemed to be even more understated, simple without any uniqueness, as though it had become smaller by several hundred metres, not even reaching two thousand six hundred metres, the surrounding peaks were clearly taller than it.

“If I die sitting here, you should leave.” Li Ruyu said these words before sitting before the Nine Steps to Heaven, like an ancient piece of wood that did not move.

“Senior Li…….” Ye Fan was stunned and wanted to persuade but he could not get the words out of his mouth.

Finally, he walked to the side before looking through the yellowed book which the elder had passed to him, there were a few cultivation techniques recorded within together with insights and experiences.

Ye Fan was swiftly immersed within, he was not lacking in cultivation techniques, the Dao Scripture was the strongest heart sutra within the Wheel and Sea realm, he had always been feeling his way but lacked proper experience without anyone to guide him, this yellowed book was akin to adding claws and fangs to a tiger for him. He was absorbed in it for the entire night, seemingly dazed as many questions within his heart were absolved.

Within Ye Fan’s body, a divine vein was spreading, like a bridge that was expanding forward, moving straight across the sky above the golden sea of bitterness, the surrounding area became filled with mist. The divine bridge had actually lengthened significantly in a single night, after absolving the mysteries within his heart, there was a clear gain, if he was able to completely traverse past the sea of bitterness to reach the other side, he would then have reached the Other Shore realm.

“Caw caw caw!”

In the following days, Ye Fan felt low-spirited, a few crows continued to circle above his head, painting a very inauspicious picture. It was rumoured that if the spirits borne from the ancient bow were shot, they would be able to pierce through the heavens, sweeping through everything before them.

Ye Fan speculated that these spirits were artifacts within that had borne divinities, he did not know what tier these artifacts were but it was definitely a terrifying level.

As for the nine arrows, they were merely additions and nothing too spectacular, the crux was the ancient box and nine spirits, combined together, they were exceptionally frightening.

Over the past few days, the disciples of the Star Peak did not barge into the desolate peak but many of them were unsatisfied as they frequently patrolled the surroundings.

Ye Fan did not bother about them, within this period he had been continually searching, he felt that such a superpower, even though it was not at the level of the Ji Family or Twinkling Brilliance Sacred Ground, it was sufficient to overcome half the Eastern Badlands.

Half a month later, Li Ruyu awoke as he continually muttered: “Great achievement that seems flawed, great fullness that seems empty, great intelligence that seems foolish……”

Ye Fan swiftly moved forward to pay his respects to the elder before asking: “Elder have you made any gains?”

“The desolate peak should be like this, it doesn’t need mist or vibrant colours to swirl about, I think I have discovered the reason.” Li Ruyu seemed as though he had been enlightened of something as he continued: “The mountain as a scripture, the mysterious technique legacy requires one to have the right frame of mind, only when the two are one will one be able to imprint the celestial technique.”

The old man’s life was no longer in danger, he had not died while in a seated posture, causing Ye Fan’s restless heart to calm down, he could now focus on matters within the sect. In this half month, there were often disciples of the Star Peak appearing in the vicinity, as though they were waiting for him to leave the mountain.

“The few of you are so annoying, moving to and fro each day, are you planning to steal something?”

Below the desolate peak, the disciples of the Star Peak coldly smiled: “The competition between all the main peaks will be beginning soon, it will likely be held two months later, hopefully you won’t be absent then.”

“What’s that got to do with me, I didn’t say I would participate, you guys can go ahead and fight, I’ll be there to watch.” Ye Fan sat atop the desolate peak as he smiled at the people below.

“Since you’ve joined the desolate peak and become its only disciple, even if you don’t wish to participate it isn’t possible, at that time I’ll see if you’re still smiling.”

The disciples of the Star Peak had lost out too much to Ye Fan, they felt enmity towards him and it could be imagined what they would do once the competition began.

“There’s actually such a thing, I give up!” Ye Fan did not feel the slightest shame.

“Where did this fellow come from, why is his skin so thick, he can even say such words?” The few people below the mountain were speechless.

“It’s a pity that one has to fight at least ten rounds before having the right to give up……” Someone shook his head with an expression filled with schadenfraude: “At that time, there will be many people to look after you, slowly enjoy it.”

“Is is it competition between people of the same realm or a battle of any realm?” Ye Fan asked.

“You think you’ve got a divine body? You’re actually talking about a battle of any realm?……” The disciples of the Star Peak below had expressions ridicule.

“In that case, why don’t we first practice a few rounds as cultivators of the same realm?” Ye Fan laughed: “I welcome all cultivators of the Wheel and Sea realm to practice.”

Below the mountain, these disciples of the Star Peak were mostly at the Spring of Life stage, they were merely here to look for a chance to deal with Ye Fan, they exchanged glances as they heard these words.

The few cultivators of the Spring of Life stage had expressions of friendliness as they moved forward: “We are all cultivators of the Wheel and Sea realm, let’s practice together.”

An hour later, news reached the Star Peak, ten odd disciples had been hit in the face till black and blue, and were detained at the desolate peak as they repaired the mountain path there.

Several disciples were alarmed as a few people immediately flew towards the desolate peak, some people even wanted to forcefully barge in but were stopped by the people beside them as they descended before the sect gate.

“If you bet you must be prepared to lose, this isn’t me forcing you……” Ye Fan stood atop the mountain as he shouted: “Do the few of you also wish to help in rebuilding the desolate peak? ”

“Where did this little lad come from, how could he be so eccentric, he even dares to detain the disciples of our Star Peak.”

“You don’t know, half a month earlier , he severely injured several people of our Star Peak, thereafter he used a demonic bow to threaten ten odd disciples of our Star Peak causing even the elders to be sprung into action.”

“Before the main competition, the desolate peak will be holding a small competition, welcoming all cultivators of the Sea of Bitterness realm to practice.” Ye Fan had a face of innocence as he continued to shout: “However, you have to come one at a time.”

Atop the mountain, the ten odd disciples of the Star Peak who had been detained began to curse in their hearts, this hooligan had began to ‘fish’ again.

However, no one moved forward, with a clear example of what would happen right before them, these people knew that Ye Fan definitely had some tricks, likely some ancient treasure like the desolate bow.

Disciples of the Star Peak continued to fly over, wishing to see what sort of person would actually dare to detain disciples of the Star Peak, amongst the group was a white clothed lady, her expression stilled for a moment as she felt the incredulity of the situation, this was Li Xiaoman. At this moment Ye Fan did not pay any attention to her, he was swiftly moving up the mountain, he had detected some abnormalities.

The bodhi seed within his bosom was lightly trembling and was slightly warm, a strange feeling was filling up his mind.

“Could this be a sign that the mysterious technique will appear soon?!” Ye Fan’s speed had reached a limit as he swiftly rushed to the apex.

At the apex of the desolate peak, an area of emptiness appeared. It was extremely tranquil, the vegetation was thriving at one moment and withering at another. The lush glistening leaves wilted and grew again constantly.

The Nine Steps to Heaven was covered in haze. Unexpectedly, a bejeweled jade palace started to emerged out of the void in the air. Li Ruyu seemed as though he had become a statue, sitting there as he stared at the Nine Steps to Heaven.