The ancient mine was pitch-black and utterly desolate, without a single sound. Ye Fan stood there for a long while, his thoughts turning over many possibilities. In the end, he did not change his mind — he still chose to press forward.
He advanced alone, neither hurrying nor dawdling, carefully observing everything around him. However, the engravings on the rock walls had ceased; everything from before had come to an end.
Having already traveled more than thirty li, the soil beneath his feet suddenly turned soft. When he stepped on it, his feet sank in completely — the ground was an ashen-grey color.
At first, Ye Fan paid it no mind, but after walking several hundred zhang further, he felt an increasingly bone-piercing cold. The yin energy here was exceedingly heavy, like a north wind carrying snow lashing against his body.
When he stepped on a hard object and heard the sound of it cracking beneath him, Ye Fan instantly understood what kind of place he had arrived at.
The ashen-grey color on the ground was not ordinary soil — it was bone ash, with incompletely dissolved dry bones still mixed within. The yin energy was emanating from these bone ashes.
He was a cultivator and was not afraid, yet he could not help but contemplate just how many human bones it would have taken to accumulate into this much ash. He quickly thought of the peerless divine ore buried within this dragon vein — when it emerged into the world, skeletons had piled like mountains and blood had flowed like rivers. Could it have been caused by that terrifying creature from tens of thousands of years ago? Those ore-miners of old had found their eternal rest here…
He walked on for a great distance, yet the ashen-grey bone ash showed no sign of ending, having accumulated in a thick layer throughout the ancient mine.
Crack!
After walking several hundred more meters, the bone ash finally disappeared, replaced by dry bones — dense and scattered everywhere, long since rotted away, crumbling to dust at the lightest step. Under the force of time’s passage, nothing could endure forever.
Upon reaching this place, the ancient mine had become like an ice cellar. The frigid air scraped against exposed skin like a blade.
“No wonder the demon bats dwelled here. Just as the ancient texts recorded, they favor dwelling at the edges of places of great malevolence.”
Ye Fan heightened his vigilance. He had no desire to lose his life inexplicably inside the ancient mine before he had even entered the Purple Mountain.
Wooooo…
An eerie wind howled. Among the piles of dry bones, vague and indistinct ghostly shadows began to appear — very faint and translucent.
“Are there truly such things?” Ye Fan thought in surprise.
He raised the stone knife in his hand and walked forward with unwavering resolve. This ancient blade, two chi in length, seemed to genuinely possess the power to ward off evil — the shadowy figures scattered and retreated one after another.
Clank, clank, clank!
From ahead, amidst the pile of dry bones, came the sound of rattling iron chains. Ye Fan’s heart tightened — he sensed a cold and murderous energy.
He pressed himself against the mine wall and advanced without a sound, his entire aura concealed by the stone garment, not a trace leaking out.
Just over a hundred zhang ahead, on the rock wall of the mine shaft, was a pitch-black deep hole. The rattling of iron chains was coming from within.
That hole was extraordinarily deep. The bone-piercing cold emanating from it condensed into a tangible substance that seeped outward — upon contact with skin, it stung like needle pricks.
Ye Fan hastily lowered the visor on his stone helmet, covering both his eyes and face.
From deep within the black hole came a barely audible roaring sound, accompanied by the rattling of iron chains — as though some fierce creature was shackled inside.
It was clearly visible that among the piles of dry bones, many ghostly shadows were being shattered by that roaring sound, dissolving into yin energy and being swallowed into the black hole.
“What is this thing?!” Ye Fan furrowed his brows. Whatever it was, it was no benign creature — likely some supremely fearsome beast.
After all, tens of thousands of years ago, countless ore-miners and cultivators had died here, their blood spilled in great quantities. After so many years had passed, it would be perfectly normal for malevolent spirits to have been born from such carnage.
“No matter what it is, as long as it doesn’t block my path forward.” He made a quiet assessment and determined that the fierce creature would not break free. He carefully skirted around it and continued deeper into the mine shaft.
“Perhaps this stone garment truly has some peculiar property — foul and impure things cannot cling to the body.”
After traveling a great distance further, the dry bones finally disappeared. The ancient mine became very dry, with nothing remaining.
Ye Fan estimated the distance — he had already gone about thirty-five li deep. He was likely not far from the Purple Mountain now.
After advancing another four or five li, light appeared ahead — flickering and wavering, soft and gentle.
This greatly startled Ye Fan. He had just passed through the piles of dry bones, and by his reckoning, he should have entered a place of great malevolence by now, with increasing danger at every turn.
Yet just several li away, a rich and vigorous spiritual energy surged toward him, filling him with wave after wave of peaceful serenity.
“I’ve just emerged from a pile of corpses, and yet a pure land appears?”
The cry of an immortal crane came from ahead — this was no illusion, for he could already see it with his own eyes.
After pressing forward several more li, a world of radiance materialized before him. The ancient mine was no longer dark. Soft, flowing light pervaded everything — a scene of complete harmony and sanctity.
“This is the aura of ore!”
Though all was luminous, he could not see very far — mist drifted and swirled, obscuring his line of sight.
Ye Fan stared in a slight daze. The mist had been formed from dissolved ore — it was a dense and vigorous life essence.
“Spiritual ore energy overflows on all sides. There must be a large quantity of ore here…” Ye Fan searched, yet found nothing.
Ore energy drifted and shimmered, glowing with radiant color. An immortal crane spread its wings and glided past, seemingly unaware of his presence, soaring freely through the ancient mine.
“This is…” Ye Fan was quite astonished.
Aooo— Then he spotted an earth dragon — lizard body, armored in Dragon Scales — crawling past not far away, its massive frame looking tremendously heavy.
Then a flock of flame-red birds flew past, their wings beating vigorously, causing the air to surge and churn violently.
“How can there be living creatures here?”
Wearing the stone garment, these creatures could not sense his presence. He stood in place looking somewhat dazed and bewildered.
By Ye Fan’s understanding, this should have been a dead and desolate place — nothing could possibly be here. Yet what lay before him now was something he could not comprehend.
“Ore energy… formed from dissolved ore!” Ye Fan’s heart suddenly lurched. “Such creatures absolutely could not exist down here beneath the earth.”
“There is divine ore here!” He recalled the legends he had heard at the stone village. After certain divine ores seeped outward, they could take shape and form all manner of inexplicable creatures, rampaging and roaring in the surrounding area.
His heart immediately surged with excitement. If he could find a divine ore, that would be an extraordinary windfall! Sacred grounds competed fiercely over such treasures — even to the point of abandoning all pretense of civility.
Ye Fan gripped his stone knife, holding it before him, and searched through the misty spiritual energy.
Crack!
A sound of bone splitting came from beneath his feet. He furrowed his brows — in such a place of harmony and sanctity, there were still many white bones.
“Hmm, this is…” Ye Fan was greatly startled. These bones could not have been left behind tens of thousands of years ago — they were all very hard and still bore a lustrous sheen.
He crouched down amid the mist and examined them carefully. He found over a dozen remains in succession. Some of the skeletons were thousands of years old, while others appeared to be no more than several centuries recent.
“It seems that over the years, people have wandered into this place from time to time…” Ye Fan felt a chill in his heart. All of these people had died here. This apparently harmonious land was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Immortal cranes, earth dragons, flocks of flame-red birds, and other creatures circled and ran about everywhere.
In addition, Ye Fan discovered numerous enormous deep pits, all filled with fossilized skeletons — remnants of various strange creatures from the primordial age.
He felt this place was exceedingly strange. Moving slowly forward through the ancient mine, after advancing more than a li, he finally reached the place where the spiritual energy was densest.
Here, he also sensed a terrifying killing intent — his very soul trembled with it.
Just ahead were two bottomless pits. From one, spiritual energy surged skyward in a continuous torrent. From the other, murderous energy erupted — more fearsome than the sharpest sword radiance, enough to make one’s soul shudder.
The two lay very close to each other, and in their surrounding area, all was utterly silent.
“Yin-Yang Eyes!”
Ye Fan was truly astonished. These two black pits bore a striking resemblance to the yin-yang eyes within a taiji diagram. If one were to draw a circle around them, it would be a perfect natural taiji diagram.
In truth, that was precisely how they operated. The pit that spewed spiritual energy was surrounded entirely by fossilized bones, emanating a dense and grim murderous energy. While the pit that discharged murderous energy was surrounded by glittering radiance, with ore stones strewn all about.
Embracing yin while bearing yang, embracing yang while bearing yin — this was a completely natural taiji diagram, not carved by human hands. It was the great power of nature itself.
“It contains the divine power of the Dao!”
Ye Fan’s heart shook. No wonder the Zhang Family’s ore-reading master had repeatedly emphasized that the great forces of this place must not be disturbed — could not be disturbed. From small signs one perceives great truths; from a single spot of pattern one knows the full leopard; from a single eave’s icicle one knows the cold of winter.
He had not yet entered the Purple Mountain, yet had already encountered terrain such as this. One could well imagine the terrors within.
This was indeed a natural taiji diagram — the flowing interplay between spiritual energy and murderous energy cut across the path ahead.
Before the natural taiji diagram, Ye Fan saw many dry bones. He had no choice but to crouch down and examine them carefully — if the Zhang Family ancestor had died here, then there was no need for him to press further.
There were over twenty sets of dry bones in total. Judging by their bone density, they had existed anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of years, and all had been pierced through by sword energy.
Ye Fan picked up one of the bones and threw it toward the natural taiji diagram.
Swoosh!
The flowing spiritual and murderous energy generated tens of thousands of sword radiances in an instant — the bone was reduced to ash and smoke on the spot.
He channeled his divine power and attempted to break through the surrounding mine walls to find another way around, but the divine formation seemed to have a spirit of its own. Sword energy criss-crossed and slashed directly toward him.
The supreme power formed by nature chilled Ye Fan to the bone. With such a divine formation blocking the way, how was one to pass? It was truly invincible.
Ye Fan carefully examined the white bones on the ground. All of these individuals appeared to have been formidable cultivators, yet not one had managed to break through — all had been pierced and slain on this spot.
One set of bones even shimmered with silver light. The bone composition was extraordinarily special — clearly the remains of a supreme expert — yet even that person had not escaped the fate of death.
Ye Fan searched carefully and found numerous shattered weapons. Before one slender and graceful skeleton, he found a jade pendant engraved with the characters for “Jade Pool.”
His heart stirred. He searched carefully, but unfortunately found no other belongings — and certainly nothing resembling the Jade Pool cultivation method he needed.
“How to get past?” By Ye Fan’s reckoning, the Zhang Family ancestor who had come here a thousand years ago had not possessed a particularly high cultivation level, and could not have gone very far.
“Did he perish here, or did he make it through to the other side?”
Ye Fan paced back and forth outside the taiji diagram. He brought out the Myriad Source Cauldron, gritted his teeth, and prepared to test whether the cauldron could withstand such sword energy.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Suddenly, he noticed an unusual phenomenon — at times, the taiji diagram was completely shrouded in murderous energy, while at other times it was entirely covered in spiritual energy.
It was not always a flow of yin and yang intermingled. Occasionally, isolated yin or isolated yang would arise, making it a single polarity. In this state, the sword energy became even more fearsome, and those terrifying fluctuations sent repeated chills through Ye Fan’s heart.
Yet in that moment, he noticed something peculiar: whenever isolated yang arose — that is, when the divine ore pit erupted on its own — the stone garment and stone knife on his body would begin to glow.