The moonlight lay like water. The earth was empty and desolate, utterly still.

The red gravel underfoot, the boulders several hundred zhang away, the rocky hills farther beyond — all of it was veiled in a moon-haze as thin as smoke, hazy and indistinct.

Yet Ye Fan, Old Knife, and the other two carried none of that stillness in their hearts. They were now unmistakably close to the Taichu Ancient Mine. Standing on the crimson sand and stone, their hearts were nearly leaping out of their throats.

The two cultivators — Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan — trembled uncontrollably, barely able to stay on their feet, their hearts filled with dread.

The Taichu Ancient Mine was one of the Seven Great Life-Forbidden Zones of the Eastern Desolation. Its fearsome reputation had spread throughout the world, and since ancient times, it had been the site of countless terrible events.

“Is there anyone who can save us? I truly don’t want to die!”

“How do we escape from here? Old Knife, do you have any ideas? Daoist, can you find a way out?”

Their voices quavered, near despair, their faces white as paper.

They were already less than a hundred li from the Taichu Ancient Mine. At this range, the chances of survival were bleak.

“What are you panicking for? We haven’t entered the sacred mine itself — aren’t we still eight or ninety li away? If we retreat now, there’s still time,” Old Knife said sharply.

“But isn’t it said that encountering Taichu means certain death? We’ve nearly reached it — is there any hope left?” The two clung to him like drowning men clutching driftwood, tense and desperate, staring at Old Knife.

“That applies to those who actually drew close to the Taichu Ancient Mine. We’re still far enough away — there’s still a chance to escape!” Old Knife didn’t want to waste more words. He turned and sprinted. This place could not be lingered in — not even for a moment — or they would all perish.

Ye Fan also turned and ran, chasing after Old Knife. He felt profoundly unlucky lately — all he had wanted was to observe the Taichu Ancient Mine from a distance, and instead that black whirlwind had swept him right into it.

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan, faces drained of color, gave chase behind him. The two of them had completely lost their heads, stripped of all independent judgment, and could only passively follow Ye Fan and Old Knife.

The four ran fifty li in one burst before finally stopping to catch their breath — but they immediately changed color again.

“Something is wrong — how can we still see the Taichu Ancient Mine?” Old Knife exclaimed in a low voice.

Ye Fan also felt something was off. He activated his divine eyes and looked.

At the far edge of heaven and earth, starlight flowed like water, a vast white expanse descending toward the ground, converging upon a single point.

Without question, that was the Taichu Ancient Mine — and the distance between them and it was still only eight or ninety li.

Unease, dread, fury, grief — all manner of emotions rolled toward them from the distance, nearly infecting them, exactly as before.

“How is this possible? We clearly escaped fifty li — why hasn’t the distance changed?”

Li Desheng’s and Chen Huaiyuan’s faces turned green on the spot. Every inch of their bodies, save for their eyeballs, seemed to be trembling.

“We were clearly running in the opposite direction… so why does it feel as though we’ve been circling around it?”

The result was deeply unsettling. All four felt utterly unmoored.

“We’re still alive, aren’t we? Keep running!” Old Knife’s voice was low and steady. He gripped his dry tobacco pipe and strode forward with swift steps, disappearing several hundred meters away in the blink of an eye.

By this point, Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan were literally stumbling and crawling, their legs completely unreliable, tripping and falling several times before managing to run at all.

They could not be blamed for their cowardice. Since ancient times, any number of Holy Masters had met their end here — measured against that, the two of them were simply out of their depth.

Ye Fan too had a sinking feeling. This situation bore some resemblance to descriptions in the latter half of the Source Heaven Scripture — but that portion was far too profound for him to fully digest at his current level.

After fleeing another fifty li, the group barely stopped before discovering it was the same as before — they still had not escaped, still orbiting the Taichu Ancient Mine rather than moving away from it.

“I can’t make sense of it,” Old Knife said blankly. While running, he had felt himself moving away from the Taichu Ancient Mine — but the moment he stopped, he realized he had merely been circling, not retreating.

He crouched on the ground, took out his dry tobacco pipe, and began puffing at it steadily, his brows deeply knitted.

“Old Knife, how can you still have the heart to smoke at a time like this?” Li Desheng cried pitifully.

“Think of something!” Chen Huaiyuan said anxiously, collapsing onto the ground, gasping in great mouthfuls of air.

Ye Fan could now confirm it — this had to be the kind of situation described in the latter half of the Source Heaven Scripture. The divine source had generated a “field force” that distorted space and interfered with time.

This was the most terrifying kind of situation. It was not deliberately created but had grown naturally from the divine source — which meant it was tantamount to altering the very “rules” and “order” of this region of heaven and earth.

For now, their situation was still bearable — they had not stumbled into genuinely dangerous territory. Otherwise, if they accidentally triggered unknown laws of heaven and earth, the consequences could be utterly devastating.

“Daoist, have you noticed something? Does it show on your face?” Li Desheng looked at him hopefully.

Chen Huaiyuan also leaned close. “Young man, if you can find a way to lead us out, I will reward you handsomely!”

“I have only grasped a fragment of this — this place is far too complex for me to fully comprehend,” Ye Fan replied honestly.

The field force distorting this region of heaven and earth had arisen because there was more than one divine source here, and their energies were interacting and self-generating. That much he could perceive.

But if other factors were at play, the situation became unpredictable — only a true Source Heaven Master could possibly untangle it.

“The Taichu Ancient Mine contains divine sources within its depths. Most likely, they have already developed spiritual awareness by now,” Old Knife said with a sigh.

“In that case, things are even more complicated. They could generate lethal formations on their own, with unpredictable and terrifying consequences.” Ye Fan frowned.

And the worse problem was that all of this was surface-level speculation. No one truly knew what lay within that place.

“We keep moving and see whether we can find a way out,” Ye Fan said, rising to his feet. He wanted to survey this entire region thoroughly.

And so the four set off at a sprint once more.

An hour later, Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan were nearly foaming at the mouth, sprawled on the ground, having lost count of how many “fifty li” they had run without gaining any distance.

“How can this be happening…” The two gasped and wheezed, half-collapsed from exhaustion.

“I wonder if the divine source here has a living entity sealed within,” Old Knife murmured to himself in a voice barely audible.

Ye Fan said nothing. The probability was high — and whatever race or being was sealed within must be extraordinarily formidable, adding yet another unknown variable to the situation.

“I’ve heard people say that a Holy Spirit was born within the ancient mine — even a Great Holy Master of the Eastern Desolation entering would be destroyed.”

“There’s another theory: that an immortal clan exists within.”

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan also sat on the ground and voiced these rumors. Having run for so long, they were both drenched in sweat and had grown somewhat less frantic with terror.

These were all surface-level stories. The true secrets were unknown to anyone.

All of these legends could be regarded as mere “preludes.” According to the latter portions of the Source Heaven Scripture, they could give rise to horrors ten times more terrifying by extrapolation.

Ye Fan had only studied a small fraction of the Source Heaven Scripture’s later sections, yet what he had seen with his own eyes had already filled him with boundless awe of the Taichu Ancient Mine.

And he had only glimpsed the “prelude.” The true depths of its secrets were still beyond his sight.

By his estimation, even one who had fully comprehended the Source Heaven Scripture might not be able to understand the Taichu Ancient Mine’s “main text.”

This place was likely far more terrible than anyone imagined. In all probability, it concealed a secret that could shake the heavens.

Otherwise — why would even a true Source Heaven Master not dare to enter? The founding ancestor of the Zhang Family, counted among the most remarkable figures in history, had ultimately never dared enter the Taichu Ancient Mine in his entire lifetime, regarding it as his greatest unfulfilled regret.

“Could it be we’re truly going to die here?” Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan looked miserable. Seeing that Ye Fan was silent, they assumed there was no solution.

“Not necessarily death.” Ye Fan stood up. “In another few dozen li, we will have nearly circled the ancient mine once. That should be enough to get a sense of the situation.”

What he feared was the Taichu Ancient Mine itself — but he had not approached it. With eight or ninety li still between them, he felt it was possible a way out could be found, a method of breaking through.

After all, they were on the outer edges — not in the true core.

After running another twenty-odd li, they did indeed return to the starting point.

“Daoist, one look at you and I can tell you’re an ‘Excavation Lord’ — a rare talent in this craft. You must find us a way!”

Ye Fan couldn’t help but be amused at Chen Huaiyuan’s words. The so-called “Excavation Lord” — or “Juye” — was another name for a disciple of a Source Heaven Master.

People in this profession spent their years digging through mountains and tunneling underground, never seeing daylight, and those who excavated source veins were mockingly called “Lords of the Dig.”

“Daoist, Excavation Lord — have you worked out a way for us to escape?” Li Desheng asked anxiously.

“There is a way — but it involves risk.”

“What kind of risk?” Old Knife asked, pulling a puff from his pipe.

“This time, we need to advance several li toward the Taichu Ancient Mine. We need a clearer reading of the ‘field force’ in this area before we can find a path and escape our predicament,” Ye Fan said calmly.

“Excavation Lord, have you lost your mind?!” Chen Huaiyuan immediately leapt to his feet, agitated beyond measure. “Who in their right mind walks toward the Taichu Ancient Mine voluntarily? Even those Holy Masters only gambled with their lives when they were at the very end of their lifespan!”

Ye Fan was crouching on the ground, drawing diagrams and running calculations. Without looking up, he said, “Only by probing it in this way — repeatedly and from different angles — can we map out the situation and find the way through.”

“Very well — let’s do it,” Old Knife said decisively, taking one deep pull of his pipe and tapping the bowl against the ground. He rose to his feet.

“To be safe, we advance only five li — no deeper,” Ye Fan said, taking the lead and walking forward.

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan wore expressions of misery. They had no desire to go — but they dared not stay behind alone. At this point, they had no choice but to pin all their hopes on this Excavation Lord.

After advancing five li and coming to a stop, they were struck with shock. The earth seemed to lurch and recede behind them in an instant.

“This is…” Even Old Knife was startled, the hairs on his arms standing on end.

They had walked only five li — yet when they stopped, they had been transported twenty li inward. The starlight converging on the Taichu Ancient Mine was visible ahead like a vast white waterfall hanging before them.

“Daoist, you’re trying to get us killed!” Chen Huaiyuan cried out in alarm.

“It’s alright — we return the way we came,” Ye Fan said, though he too was shaken. The “laws” and “order” of this place were severely distorted.

It was easy to enter and hard to leave. Over a short stretch of twenty li, the four of them spent a full hour — not moving in a straight line back, but winding and circling endlessly.

If Ye Fan had not carved specific inscription marks along the path beforehand, drawn from the Source Heaven Scripture, they would never have found their way out.

The marks left by Old Knife and the others had all been erased — they vanished inexplicably. Only the source-heaven inscription patterns Ye Fan had laid still lingered faintly.

“I feel as though we weren’t walking a straight line at all, but kept veering left and right, tracing all sorts of curves before finally getting out,” Old Knife said, perplexed.

“That’s the effect of the field force naturally generated by the divine source. Fortunately, we’re only on the outer edge — the changes here aren’t too deeply complex. We’re relatively fortunate,” Ye Fan replied.

“Can we escape?” Li Desheng asked urgently.

“I need to probe from several more directions. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee anything.”

“More probing?!” Chen Huaiyuan said, stricken with anxiety.

“Do you have a better idea?” Old Knife shot him a sideways look.

In the next hour, Ye Fan probed several more times. The last attempt was the most dangerous — they were suddenly drawn thirty li inward, and even Old Knife’s face went pale.

Now, they were less than fifty or sixty li from the Taichu Ancient Mine. The vast silver rivers of starlight pouring down from above were clearly visible, flooding the horizon in a vast, white brilliance.

The pure white radiance utterly submerged that place, rendering it soft and almost sacred.

“What is that?!” Ye Fan exclaimed in shock.

The Taichu Ancient Mine lay underground and could not be seen directly — but everything in the sky above it was visible. Dazzling objects were surging up from the ancient mine, rising and sinking, bobbing in the air.

Starlight gathered into rivers, cascading down like waterfalls from above — yet those objects were even more brilliantly radiant, ascending into the sky one moment and plunging back underground the next.

“They might be divine sources!” Old Knife narrowed his eyes, sharpening his gaze to twin points of keen light.

“Divine sources?!” Ye Fan was stunned. Without being enclosed in a stone skin, absorbing the light of stars — could those sources have achieved sentience? And there was clearly more than one — four or five luminous points were rising and sinking, and that was only what he could see.

“I can see bodies…” Li Desheng’s lips trembled, his face turning ashen.

“What? Where?” Ye Fan was startled.

“Right there in the sky above the Taichu Ancient Mine — rising and sinking, disappearing underground one moment, lifting into the starlight the next.” Li Desheng trembled.

“Nonsense!” Old Knife snapped. “The Taichu Ancient Mine is sealed off by mysterious forces — even I can barely see anything. I can only make out a few points of light. How could you see bodies?”

“My left eye… I was born with a Yin-Dark Eye. Sometimes I can perceive things others cannot.” Li Desheng was utterly overcome with dread.

“A Yin-Dark Eye in the left eye…” Old Knife was stunned.

Ye Fan was also inwardly shaken. He had heard of such pupils. Cultivating them after birth was nearly impossible — they were innate, capable of seeing through the Yin-Dark realm.

“Quickly — tell us everything you see!” Ye Fan and Old Knife pressed him simultaneously.

“Those bodies keep rising upward, entering the starlight, then slowly descending again, sinking back into the earth. There are many of them.” Li Desheng spoke as though in a trance, his face devoid of any color.

He couldn’t see much else — not even the divine sources — as his cultivation was too low, and his left eye could only occasionally pierce the Yin-Dark veil.

Based on what he described, Ye Fan and Old Knife could already piece together the scene sixty li away.

The Taichu Ancient Mine — within the silver waterfall pouring down from the sky — body after body bathing in the sacred light of the stars, rising and sinking endlessly.

Just imagining that scene made their hearts pound with violent horror. What on earth was happening there?

Moreover, other luminous points and unknown objects were also rising and descending, faintly visible.

“No wonder even Zhang Family’s founding ancestor — a Source Heaven Master reborn — never dared enter the Taichu Ancient Mine…” Ye Fan murmured to himself. This place was too mysterious.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, an enormous suction force erupted from the direction of the Taichu Ancient Mine. In an instant, every trace of starlight in the sky was drained away. The heavens turned pitch-black, so dark that one could not see one’s hand before one’s face.

The ground below seemed to become a massive black void, capable of devouring everything.