Ye Fan’s speed could not be called slow — it was near-unrivaled within the Dao Palace Secret Realm, almost as if he could compress the earth beneath his feet. Once he opened his stride, it felt like time was flowing past him and space itself was shifting.

In the blink of an eye, he had covered several li — yet when he lifted his gaze to look ahead, his body turned ice-cold. Bright moonlight shining between pines, a clear spring trickling over stones — a scene of muted, peaceful beauty. It was right in front of him. He had not escaped. He was about to charge right back into the pine forest.

“How can this be?” He jolted to a halt. Ahead, the air was serene: thin mist rose gently among the pines, soft and pristine.

The pine forest should be behind him. How had it appeared in front?

He turned to look back. The six figures of the others were nowhere to be seen — behind him was nothing but emptiness, a vast expanse of red earth stretching into the distance.

“Why is this happening?”

The “extreme-reversal” terrain was capable of killing even an Imperial Master of the Great Xia, and Ye Fan had no way of breaking it. His heart was pounding. He turned and sprinted in a different direction once more.

“Flash!”

Heaven and earth seemed to pivot. The world turned.

Ahead, a stream murmured and the pine forest stood like a painting — a place worthy of immortal retreat.

That same tranquil scene blocked his path again, as though he himself were the one rushing toward it, walking willingly into it.

“Why does this pine forest move?” A chill ran through Ye Fan. He had not sensed any fluctuation in the field force — everything was as still as water.

“Why does this keep happening?” He turned in yet another direction. He had barely gone any distance before he encountered the same sight once more.

Serene and refined — the pine forest, as though it had always been there in front of him, blocking his way, as if he were someone seeking the tranquil wilderness of his own free will, stepping toward it.

Ye Fan stopped. He ran through his reasoning in silence, applying everything he knew to analyze this abnormality — but after a long while, he could find neither a cause nor a solution.

This place was not merely the work of a field force. This pine forest seemed genuinely capable of moving.

By this point, Ye Fan had begun to distrust his own senses. He closed his eyes, released his divine consciousness, and probed all four directions — and the result was still the same. Nothing had changed.

“It seems I’m trapped here. I cannot escape.” He did not know whether the others were in the same predicament.

Standing no more than a hundred zhang from the pine forest and the spring, Ye Fan could not pretend he felt no tension. This was a matter of life and death — no one could remain calm in such circumstances.

“What now?” He had no desire to die in the full bloom of his youth. He produced the cauldron forged from primordial mother energy and suspended it above his head, where threads of profound yellow energy descended like curtains. Then he took out the Lihuo Divine Furnace and held it in his palm, ready to unleash it at any moment.

It was the middle of the night. All sounds had stilled. Save for the soft murmuring of the spring, there was nothing — a stillness of rare peace.

Ye Fan stood there for the better part of an hour, and still nothing happened.

“Where have those others gone? Why hasn’t a sound come from them? Have they all broken free?” Ye Fan was puzzled. Standing here was no solution. In the end, he took out the Source Heaven Scripture and prepared to study under pressure.

The wondrous book shimmered with silver light, heavy in the hand, and in the moonlight it was extraordinarily luminous. The characters “Source Heaven Scripture” on its cover gleamed brightly.

He opened it and turned directly to the latter half, finding the pages about “extreme-reversal” terrain, searching for a method to break through it.

After studying for a long while, Ye Fan’s cold sweat began to fall. This was nearly impossible to solve. The scripture’s guidance was to retreat swiftly — but here he was, trapped, with no way to retreat.

“The Terrain Observation Technique…” He sighed. He had simply not comprehended it deeply enough. If he had mastered the “Terrain Observation Technique” to a higher level, he could have foreseen danger and avoided it — he would never have placed himself in this predicament.

There was no point in saying that now. In such a short time, his achievements were already remarkable. He could not expect to fully comprehend the heavenly scripture all at once.

After reading and pondering it repeatedly, Ye Fan found one or two approaches worth trying — but both involved extraordinarily deep source techniques that he was entirely incapable of executing. And even if he could execute them, success was not guaranteed: the chances stood at only fifty percent.

“Truly worthy of being called cursed earth capable of slaying a Source Heaven Master…” He was close to despair.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, both of Ye Fan’s ears rang as though a great hammer had struck him. Blood simultaneously ran from both his ears and nose. His body was hurled away like a scarecrow.

“Bang!”

He crashed to the ground, his entire body aching. His precious physical form, formidable as it was, had nearly shattered.

“What attacked me?” Ye Fan was horrified. The cauldron above him rapidly expanded, enveloping him. The Lihuo Divine Furnace in his hand blazed skyward, burning fiercely in front of him.

All around was silence. Nothing was visible. He had no idea what had attacked him.

“Boom!”

It came again.

His ears rang. His vision blurred. His divine consciousness felt as though it were being stabbed with needles. His senses were nearly overwhelmed. A nameless force struck at his body.

“Thud!”

This time, he was not hit. The cauldron forged from primordial mother energy drew him inside it. Threads of profound yellow energy descended, and the cauldron rang with a heavy impact.

At the same time, the lid of the Lihuo Divine Furnace flew open, fire blazing in all directions, flames sweeping across the sky.

“Damn it all!” Ye Fan was furious. He had suffered greatly, and still had no idea what had attacked him.

Inside the cauldron forged from primordial mother energy, he checked his own condition and was deeply shaken. All seven orifices were bleeding. His bones had nearly cracked. His skin was covered in bloody lines.

And he was Ye Fan — for anyone else, even a cultivator of the third secret realm, such an attack would have meant total annihilation of body and soul. The power behind it was terrifying. His physical body surpassed sacred weapons — blades could not cut him — and yet even he had nearly been shattered. One could imagine just how devastating the force was.

“Boom!”

Another vibrating sound came. This time, Ye Fan was inside the cauldron and did not suffer as badly as before. Now he could clearly see: it was a strange ripple of light, oscillating outward. Outwardly, it appeared gentle — but its power was staggering, and it made even his palms break into cold sweat.

“Clang!”

A gentle ripple of light pulsed outward, like a single ring on a calm water’s surface — utterly soft in appearance. Yet when it struck the Lihuo Divine Furnace, a deep indentation appeared on its surface.

In the past, he had pushed the Battle Saint Technique with his full strength and barely managed to press a handprint into that furnace. This single ripple of light had caved in a large section of it — that was truly astonishing. No wonder it had nearly shattered his physical body. If a few more of these struck him, he would certainly be reduced to nothing.

The ripples of light were emanating from within the pine forest, undulating outward continuously — extraordinarily gentle in appearance in the moonlight, yet this was the nature of the cursed earth, and its terrifying qualities had begun to reveal themselves.

“Swish!”

Ye Fan drew the Lihuo Divine Furnace back into the cauldron. In a few short moments, it had already accumulated four or five deep grooves, as if lashed by the whip of a heavenly emperor.

Fortunately, that furnace was extraordinarily mysterious, and nearly indestructible. In a short period of time, it had already slowly swelled back into shape, clear as crystal, rapidly repairing itself.

“This furnace has the power of the undying…” Ye Fan’s eyes gleamed brightly — but this was not the moment for distraction. The danger outside remained unresolved, and he would surely perish here.

What slightly reassured him was that the cauldron forged from primordial mother energy, though it had not developed spiritual awareness and possessed no special abilities, was unparalleled in sheer resilience. The ripples struck it and produced ringing metallic sounds — yet they left no marks on its surface. Threads of profound yellow energy descended from within it, and in fact crushed one of the light waves.

Ye Fan drove the precious cauldron and burst through the air. He was unwilling to give up — he tried once more.

But the result remained unchanged. What was worse, it provoked even more light waves. They filled the sky above, like a rain of light in every color of the spectrum, pressing down to envelop him.

“Clang,” “Clang”…

The sounds pierced metal and cracked stone, ringing against the ears. The cauldron of primordial mother energy was battered in every direction.

“Hiss!”

Suddenly, the light waves ceased. A black line seeped out of the forest, drifting lightly through the air — and yet it filled Ye Fan with profound dread.

That black line had actually cut open the void. The hair on his body stood on end. An attack like that — he feared even his cauldron might not withstand it.

“Extreme reversal — just as described. Apparently peaceful, but this terrifying,” he thought.

“Clang!”

The cauldron of primordial mother energy shuddered violently. It did not crack — but Ye Fan inside it felt deeply wretched. The tremendous force had rattled him from head to toe with pain.

But what made his scalp tighten was this: the pine forest, bathed in silver moonlight, began to pour out countless black lines, drifting toward him.

Ye Fan drove the cauldron in flight. This many black lines — the cauldron of primordial mother energy could not withstand them all. And even if it did not shatter, the concussive force alone would shake him to death.

“Truly: no road to heaven, no door into the earth!” He fell to despair. The pine forest was peaceful and pristine — much like a fairy woodland, yet far more terrifying than any ghost-forest. No matter where he fled, it pivoted and turned to face him. Whichever direction he charged, it stood there waiting, as though he were rushing into it himself.

At this moment, Ye Fan noticed that the black lines were everywhere in the air above — dense and innumerable — but the low ground near the base of the pine forest contained none of them. The area there was hazy and obscured.

“Never mind — if I’m going to die, so be it!” He gritted his teeth, drove the precious cauldron, pressed low to the ground, and charged straight into the pine forest.

According to the Source Heaven Scripture, once the “extreme-reversal” terrain activated, entering it meant very little chance of escape. But Ye Fan had no choice. Not entering meant immediate death.

In the sky above, those black lines danced like demonic hands — and then, after a short while, they vanished. The forest became utterly still. Ye Fan waited inside the cauldron for a long time and saw no change.

“Could it be that I’m truly going to be imprisoned here forever?” He stepped out of the cauldron and stood on the ground, running his hand over the surface of the Source Heaven Scripture.

Suddenly, the Source Heaven Scripture fluttered open on its own, emitting beams of auspicious radiance.

“This is…”

Auspicious light also flickered from within the pine forest. Ye Fan’s expression shifted. He held the Source Heaven Scripture and walked toward the light.

He was profoundly astonished. On the ground, he could see “source-heaven inscription patterns” — the unique runic script found only in the Source Heaven Scripture. They glowed on the ground, glittering with light, as though drawn to the scripture by mutual attraction.

Ye Fan walked over. The first source-heaven inscription pattern was deep and intricate — he could make nothing of it at all. Over a hundred symbols composed a hexagram pattern.

All of them were carved onto source stones, buried underground, yet now they flowed with radiance, shining forth.

Ahead, auspicious light flickered in multiple places, pointing toward the deepest part of the pine forest like so many guiding lanterns.

“Why is this here? Could a Source Heaven Master have come to this place in the past?” Ye Fan’s heart immediately quickened. He had been on the verge of despair — but now a thread of hope had appeared.

He held the scripture and walked, moving at a measured pace, observing carefully, advancing toward the innermost depths of the pine forest.

Suddenly, his expression tightened. His heart was struck with a shock beyond words.

Not far ahead was an ancient structure — old and dilapidated, but still standing, set amid the shadows.

It was a shrine.

In the ore region of the Yao Guang Holy Land, when the dark iron pyramid had been excavated, a vision had briefly appeared of the ancient earth — lush and teeming — and within it, various races and various kinds of shrines.

What stood before him now was unmistakably a shrine from the ancient era. Countless ages had passed, and though it was worn and crumbling, it had not fallen.

Ye Fan was shaken. No wonder this place was extraordinary. It had clearly been a sacred site of great importance in the ancient era.

The “extreme-reversal” terrain was likely only a surface manifestation. In all probability, other elements were present as well.

Ye Fan did not approach it. The source-heaven inscription patterns on the ground did not point toward it — they pointed forward. He continued on.

Throughout this stretch, he encountered dozens of runic inscriptions, each more arcane and inscrutable than the last. Not a single one was comprehensible to him. Some were shaped like true dragons, winding and sinuous. Others resembled the form of an ancient tortoise — still and solemn, yet with a living quality. Still others were star maps, corresponding to the constellations overhead.

This was a Source Heaven Map!

These were inscription patterns laid down by someone who had reached the highest achievements recorded in the Source Heaven Scripture!

Without question, only a Source Heaven Master could have done this. No one else possessed such craft.

In the depths of the pine forest, moonlight fell like white feathers in great drifting sheets. A stream murmured. A stone pavilion stood quietly ahead.

The pavilion was ancient and resonant with antiquity, built entirely from source stones, carved with the weathering of untold years.

Each of its four pillars bore many old characters. Ye Fan read only the first stone pillar — and was immediately transfixed.

“Holy Masters fell. Imperial Masters perished. Divine Kings were lost…”

Ye Fan could not help but feel shaken. This place truly surpassed all imagination. He examined the record carefully. This was a Source Heaven Master’s personal journal.