The mist had grown even denser. Even as cultivators, their vision could not extend beyond a hundred meters, and the mist-threads were laced wwith a strange power. The boundless earth had been completely swallowed by darkness.

“Young man, do you have any plan? Can you truly lead us out of here?”

“Daoist, we’re all counting on you. If we make it out alive, I’ll erect a longevity tablet in your honor.”

Trapped within the Taichu Forbidden Zone, no one could remain calm. Everyone crowded anxiously around Ye Fan.

“Do any of you have source stones? I need them to alter the lay of the land and rivers,” Ye Fan asked the other five.

Old Knife said nothing. He directly handed over more than a dozen pouches — each holding fifty jin of source stones — the very payment he had collected from the others.

Seeing him do so, the other four also opened their purses and pooled together another three-hundred-odd jin. None of them were ordinary people; otherwise, they would never have spent fifty jin of source stones to enter the Taichu Ancient Mine.

“Is that enough?” Old Knife asked.

Ye Fan took out five hundred jin of his own and said, “Barely.”

“Don’t strain yourself — we have more.” Hearing this, the others pooled another three-hundred-odd jin. After that, they were truly empty-handed.

Ye Fan produced one hundred and eight large banners and carefully carved inscriptions onto them, etching row after row of mysterious patterns as described in the Source Heaven Scripture.

His plan was to attack in place of defending — to stabilize the earth’s veins, lock down the divine source, and forcibly carve open a path.

Of course, he understood that, with his current strength, it was utterly impossible to truly suppress a divine source. Unless he could fully comprehend the Source Heaven Scripture, he was still far from that level.

However, altering the terrain within a small area — that he was perhaps twenty percent confident he could manage. He intended to “startle the snake by beating the grass,” driving away the spiritually awakened evil source.

An hour later, Ye Fan finished carving all one hundred and eight banners. He then whispered careful instructions to the group: “Stay by my side. Do not stray under any circumstances.”

Hearing this warning, the other four were extremely tense — all except Old Knife.

“Bang!”

Ye Fan drove one banner into the ground. Using his finger as a blade, he carved a star map around the pole, then embedded over ten jin of source stones at its center.

“Does this actually work?” one of the others doubted, seeing nothing remarkable.

“Look — the mist-threads around the banner are noticeably thinner,” another observed carefully, sensing the change.

Everyone’s face lit up with hope.

Ye Fan moved swiftly. He dared not waste time, fearing accidents. In short order, he had planted more than ten banners, which billowed in the misty air.

The surrounding area immediately became clearer. The mist had been driven back, and objects were no longer obscured.

“Hiss!”

Not far away, light blossomed. The star map beneath one banner shone brilliantly in the night, striking and impossible to miss.

“Terrible — something is pulling out the banners!” someone cried out.

“Crack!”

One banner snapped in two. A hazy silhouette flew past like the wind, twisting and breaking the pole.

“Crack!”

In the distance, a second banner was struck down and toppled to the ground. Only the briefest flash of a beast-furred shadow was visible before it vanished.

“What do we do? We set them up, and it immediately destroys them,” Old Knife said, furrowing his brow.

“This is bad — very bad.” Ye Fan’s heart sank. He had sensed it from the start: this creature had remarkable origins. Now he was even more certain. This was a spirit-beast guarding the divine source.

“What do we do?” the others asked.

“Whatever you do, do not harm it,” Ye Fan solemnly warned. This was merely the outermost spirit-beast. According to the Source Heaven Scripture, this was the lowest-ranking of all guardian creatures.

There must be something sealed within this divine source!

Most likely, something terrifyingly alive was imprisoned inside — otherwise, a powerful spirit-beast would not serve as guardian to such a sovereign entity.

In ordinary times, the more powerful spirit-beasts lay dormant, leaving only the weakest one to guard the source. If this one were harmed, it would certainly rouse something far more terrifying — something utterly beyond their ability to handle.

“A divine source with a living entity sealed inside — this must be a prized specimen among divine sources. Are we truly approaching the Taichu Ancient Mine?” Ye Fan muttered uncertainly to himself.

He was genuinely troubled. This divine source had spirit-beast guardians, which made his “startle the snake” strategy impossible. To say nothing of whatever was sealed within the source — even if a single powerful guardian burst out, they would all be annihilated.

“What would a Source Heaven Master do in a situation like this?” Ye Fan pondered silently, thinking it over.

After a quarter hour, Ye Fan planted all the banners at a single location. He engraved an enormous star map and embedded over a thousand jin of source stones into it.

“Everyone — we only have one chance!” Ye Fan transmitted his voice: “In a moment, the terrain here will tremble. The mist will shatter open for an instant, but that window will be brief. If we cannot escape in time, death is certain.”

He spoke the truth. In a moment, an earthquake would strike — and it would likely rouse some far more powerful spirit-beasts. If they could not break through, they would be permanently sealed here.

“Everyone prepare yourselves — I am about to act.” Ye Fan cast the final hundred jin of source stones toward the center of the star map, embedding them all at once.

In an instant, radiance surged into the sky, tearing through the dark mist. The light of countless stars rained down from above.

The ground shook violently. Over a hundred banners blazed like torches. The thousand jin of source stones on the ground transformed into boundless vital energy and split the earth asunder.

The star map carved on the ground corresponded to the celestial constellations overhead, drawing down fragments of stellar power. The earth churned with fierce tremors.

“Go!”

Ye Fan was the first to burst forward. Old Knife followed immediately at his heels, fleeing desperately toward the distance.

Behind them came low rumbling sounds, as though something was awakening.

Screams rang out. Blood rained through the air. But none of them looked back — they pressed forward with every ounce of strength they possessed.

Before long, Ye Fan and Old Knife had broken through. Two more followed right after them, tumbling out. Not daring to pause for even a moment, they sprinted directly toward the “Fire Dragon Burial Ground.” Behind them, the mist churned and surged, and that entire region was sealed off once more.

Only when they neared the Fire Dragon Burial Ground did the four survivors finally exhale. That place was far too eerie. Even from a distance, they could see clouds and mist roiling and churning, shrouding everything, letting through not a single ray of light.

Outside, the moonlight was bright, stars filled the sky, and the night felt like still water.

“Fortunate that the ‘Dragon’s Blood’ is here — otherwise, this would have been an even worse situation,” Ye Fan said as they stood beside the crimson-hued small lake, noting that no creatures had pursued them.

“Whatever is sealed within that divine source must be terrifying beyond imagination.” Ye Fan rubbed his chin, becoming further convinced that even if one day he became a Source Heaven Master, this place could very well cost him his life.

“When I am powerful enough someday — when I’ve fully comprehended the Source Heaven Scripture — I swear I will dig you out!” Ye Fan stared at the sea of mist.

In just a matter of hours, he had already encountered three divine sources. The Taichu Forbidden Zone was truly mysterious. He could not fathom why it should be this way.

“Let’s go — let’s leave here quickly. Even though there are no living creatures here, the Dragon Ravine and that blood lake are still enough to make one’s skin crawl,” one of the surviving cultivators suggested.

Ye Fan nodded. Even though it was not currently the moment between day and night, lingering before the “Fire Dragon Burial Ground” and the “Dragon’s Blood” was still dangerous.

They detoured for dozens of li, giving the misty region a wide berth, concealing their presence, deeply afraid of drawing great disaster upon themselves.

The bright moon hung high. Its pure white radiance was spread across the red earth like wisps of thin smoke, drifting and swirling.

The scene was extraordinarily serene and tranquil — nothing like a terrifying forbidden zone at all. It felt more like a peaceful moonlit night made for a pleasant stroll.

“Can we truly get out alive? Judging by our direction, it seems we’re heading outward — yet why do I keep feeling as if we’re drawing closer and closer to the Taichu Ancient Mine, step by step?”

“I have that same uneasy feeling.”

Two of the four voiced this thought aloud.

Ye Fan was also filled with doubt. “It seems as though some nameless force is creating an illusion in our minds.”

Old Knife was also uncertain. “Could it be that the power within the ancient mine is calling to us, drawing us down the wrong path…”

Unable to find the way back, the four climbed a high point and gazed into the distance.

“We’re finished… none of us will make it out alive!”

“My God — humanoid beings… Forbidden Divine Beings!”

Two of the cultivators were shaking so hard their teeth chattered. Their arms pointed in the same direction, trembling uncontrollably.

Ye Fan and Old Knife heard this and turned to look ahead. They, too, were immediately petrified.

It was impossible to say exactly how far away they were, but three figures stood on the horizon. Though distant, their blurred silhouettes were still visible.

The moonlight lay like water. The boundless earth was utterly still. The figures on the horizon were hazy and ethereal, almost dreamlike.

It was clear that the three figures had also noticed the four of them.

One of the figures radiated brilliant, blazing light from every inch of their body — dazzling and awe-inspiring. Standing on the horizon, they resembled a golden sun, or a divine being descended to the mortal world.

Another figure was tall and slender, draped in robes as white as snow, with long hair dancing in the wind — like an immortal from the ninth heaven, emanating a radiant and crystalline quality.

As for the figure in the middle, they appeared plain and indistinct, hazy and unreal, giving everyone a profoundly illusory impression.

Three such silhouettes standing in this life-forbidden zone — the more they resembled divine beings, the more hair-raising the sensation became.

“I’ve walked the night roads my whole life, and tonight I’ve finally met a ghost,” Old Knife lamented. He had traveled along the outskirts of the Taichu Ancient Mine for decades, always surviving by narrow margins — but right now, he felt the odds were stacked heavily against them.

The distance was simply too vast to make out any details. Yet those halos of light around the figures, divine-like in nature, said everything that needed to be said.

Ye Fan’s heart was pounding too. “Run!”

The other two were nearly in tears, their knees knocking. The legends surrounding the Taichu Ancient Mine were too numerous — and facing a situation like this, they believed there was no way out.

“Humanoid beings… like divine gods…”

“We must have reached the central area of the Taichu Ancient Mine!”

Ye Fan was the first to act. He descended from the high ground. Once the three figures were no longer in sight, he crouched low and sprinted with everything he had.

Old Knife, though he looked aged, was remarkably agile. He was barely slower than Ye Fan, also taking to his heels at full speed.

The two behind them trembled from head to toe, stumbling and crawling as they gave chase — fleeing for their lives.

Ye Fan ran for several dozen li in one breath before finally stopping. Old Knife was not far behind, halting at the same spot. They waited a long time before the other two came stumbling after them.

Those two were shaking like sieves. They simply plopped down on the ground — not from exhaustion, but from pure terror.

“Forbidden beings… we actually encountered something like that…” The two of them were barely coherent, their entire bodies soaked through with cold sweat.

“But they didn’t come to take our lives — why is that?” Old Knife wondered aloud.

All four were puzzled. In this place, encountering a being as powerful as a god was tantamount to a death sentence — not even the great Holy Masters could escape unscathed.

“The important thing is that we’re still alive — we should leave as quickly as possible,” Ye Fan urged.

The direction they had just come from was absolutely off-limits now. The four steadied themselves, chose a different direction, and set off in search of a way out.

After roughly an hour of walking, they all felt something was wrong.

“We’re approaching the Taichu Ancient Mine!” Ye Fan and Old Knife spoke simultaneously.

Oppression, dread, sorrow, grief… all of these surged toward them from the direction ahead — a kind of emotion that threatened to overwhelm all rational control.

They activated their divine eyes and gazed into the distance. There, at the far edge of the earth, endless starlight rained down like flowing water, cascading to the ground.

The vast expanse of starlight gathered into a river of white, flowing into the ends of heaven and earth. The mysterious emanations were coming from precisely there.

It must be the Taichu Ancient Mine. All four reached the same conclusion simultaneously. Their hearts hammered in their chests. They were probably less than a hundred li away.

Since ancient times, the Holy Masters of the Eastern Desolation and the Imperial Masters of the Central Province — whoever entered, not a single one had ever come back alive.

“Those three who looked like divine beings just now — they didn’t strike us down. Could it be they were herding us toward the Taichu Ancient Mine?”