People who frequented the Illusory Feast Hall and the Drunken Immortal Pavilion all tended to be figures of some standing — even important personages appeared there from time to time, such as elders and senior elders of various major factions.
The dispute in the violet tower naturally drew the attention of others. Not only did Yao Yue Kong and An Miaoyi arrive, but several elder-generation figures also turned their eyes toward the scene.
The Prince of Great Xia came forward, laughing heartily. “Little Brother Gu, it’s been over a month — every time I passed through the stone yards, I kept thinking how much better it would be if you were here.”
Ye Fan smiled and rose to his feet. He filled a cup to the brim and, ignoring Li Yishui and the several source arts clan disciples nearby, personally offered the cup to Xia Yiming.
Li Heishui also rose, signaled the Illusory Feast Hall’s people to bring fresh wine and dishes, and called out to Yao Yue Kong and the others to take their seats — treating the source arts clan members as though they were simply not there.
“Hmph!” One of them let out a deep, heavy cold snort. His expression iced over in an instant.
Senior Elder Li Yishui of the Palace of Illusory Annihilation paced forward and said, “This old man has no desire to use his seniority to bully the young. But you two young ones have shown me not the slightest respect. Today, I shall manage you on behalf of your elders.”
Beside him, several disciples from the source arts ancient clans all smiled coldly, positioning themselves to watch Ye Fan and Li Heishui get thoroughly put in their place.
“Old codger, who do you think you are? Thinking you can suppress whoever you want — do you take yourself for a Holy Lord, or the Divine King of the Eastern Wasteland?” Li Heishui was utterly unperturbed.
Beside Li Yishui, one of his disciples lashed out sharply, “You have no idea what’s coming for you!”
There were things Li Yishui could not appropriately say himself — after all, he was a senior elder of a major faction. His disciples, on the other hand, had no such reservations, and shouted their rebukes aloud.
Li Yishui’s complexion darkened. He approached in cold silence, fixing his gaze on Ye Fan and Li Heishui, as if he might strike at any moment.
The Prince of Great Xia, dignified and composed, rose to his feet. “Elder, even if these two were in the wrong, surely it hasn’t come to the point of needing to suppress them with force, has it?”
Yao Yue Kong also set down his cup and stood. “Old man, this is the Illusory Feast Hall — no brawling is permitted here.”
“They showed disrespect to Elder Li first. Even if he strikes to teach them a lesson, it’s understandable,” one disciple of the source arts clans spoke up in support.
Ye Fan said nothing more. He raised a hand and beckoned to one of the young women standing not far off. “Please show these people out.”
“You—”
The several young people from the source arts clans and Li Yishui — their expressions shifted through various stages before settling. To be swept out the door like this was something none of them had ever encountered.
“Please leave, honored guests — the Illusory Feast Hall truly does have such a rule: guests must not disturb one another.” The young women stepped forward, carefully and politely explaining.
“Hmph!”
Li Yishui flicked his sleeve with a dark expression and turned to leave. He was seething with the urge to smack both Ye Fan and Li Heishui flat — but he had to endure it. The powers behind the Illusory Feast Hall were not to be trifled with; the Great Xia Imperial Clan alone was one of them.
“Ha ha ha ha…” Li Heishui laughed uproariously, thoroughly satisfied.
The source arts clan disciples all went pale in the face, not saying another word, and turned to leave in anger.
“If you want to challenge me in source arts, have a million catties of pure source ready first. Otherwise, don’t go around making all that noise.” Ye Fan’s words reached them through a directed transmission.
“Fine. Fine. Fine!” The source arts clan disciples sneered coldly as they glanced back, said nothing more, and stormed away in fury.
“Satisfying — let’s toast!” Li Heishui raised his cup, calling on everyone to drink together.
In the violet tower, everyone present was of no ordinary standing, none of them afraid of Li Yishui and his crowd — so no one had held back or minced words. They clinked cups and drank beautiful wine freely.
“Don’t be angry, little one.” Beside them, the white-robed little nun was gently soothing the little golden sprite. The small thing was staring daggers at Ye Fan.
“Little one, you still haven’t let it go? It was just a piece of divine source.” Ye Fan smiled and reached out to grab it.
“Whoosh!”
The little golden sprite instantly dodged behind the white-robed little nun, clutching a lock of her silken hair, peeking out at Ye Fan, its large eyes bright and lively — but with a decidedly shifty, sneaky look.
Everyone burst into laughter at the sight. An Miaoyi was especially envious, saying repeatedly how adorable the little thing was and that she wanted to hold it in her arms.
“When I came back I saw the Divine Silkworm outside the city — how did that happen?” Ye Fan asked with a smile.
“That little one — it spends more than half the day running around in all directions. I genuinely worry it’ll be caught by someone.” The little nun gently tapped the Divine Silkworm on the forehead. “Little one, you need to behave — no more mischief.”
When the banquet was nearing its end, a stunning piece of news arrived from the green tower: there would be a great source arts showdown with Ye Fan — and the wager was one million five hundred thousand catties of pure source.
A full five hundred thousand catties more than before.
From the green tower emerged a group of people. They looked long and hard in the direction of this tower, then several elderly men, accompanied by a group of young people, turned and departed.
Ye Fan watched the silhouettes of those elderly men, his brow furrowing. Those aged eyes of theirs appeared bleary and dim, yet within them, a divine radiance burned — and their fingertips had turned a faint gold through and through.
“How does it look?” Li Heishui asked.
Ye Fan said, “Trouble has gotten bigger. Those elders possess exquisite source arts mastery. Their Source Heavenly Treasure Wheel must have long since reached a consummate state — and it’s very possible they have also cultivated spirit eyes.”
“Then what do we do? Can you handle them?” Li Heishui furrowed his brow.
“I can only hope they haven’t cultivated heaven eyes,” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
They also departed the Illusory Feast Hall and bid farewell to the Prince of Great Xia, Yao Yue Kong, and the others. They crossed paths with Li Yishui again on the way out — but he did not strike.
“This Divine City is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Young people would do well to keep a lower profile — otherwise, you won’t even know when some unseen hand crushes you with a single finger.”
Having delivered those words, he mounted a cloud and departed with a cold smile.
“That old codger is absolutely no pushover. He’s not making a move now — he’s definitely hatching some scheme. Who knows when he’ll come for us.”
“What worries me more is that the holy lands are growing restless. This time I want to gamble for tens of millions of catties of source — when that happens, it’ll definitely make people associate me with a Source Sky Master.”
“Let’s go back and think things through carefully, set up contingency plans. This time, it’s destined to cause world-shaking waves.”
News spread: elder-generation figures from the source arts ancient clans were coming out of seclusion, to face the youthful source arts prodigy Gu Feng in a great showdown — with a wager of one million five hundred thousand catties of source. The Divine City was shaken.
The moment this news got out, the entire city erupted in an uproar. It was a truly world-shaking gamble — a scale of audacity not seen in thousands of years. Just imagining the numbers was enough to make one draw a sharp, cold breath.
The news spread in the shortest possible time, not merely confined to the Divine City — every major faction across the Northern Region was stirred, and even the various holy lands could not remain unmoved.
Without question, this world-shaking source arts showdown would take place in one of the holy lands’ stone yards — and for the stone yards themselves, this was simply the worst possible news imaginable.
To force Ye Fan out, the young people from the source arts ancient clans had been making declarations for an entire month that they would crush the source arts prodigy Gu Feng underfoot.
Now, the great source arts showdown was finally to begin. Everyone had a premonition that this would shake all beneath the heavens. Many people carried a feeling that this time, very likely, something extraordinary would be cut out.
After all, the last time had produced the Divine Silkworm — a defiance-of-heaven creature of the most extraordinary kind. Now that elder-generation source arts masters were personally coming, it was certain to be even more spectacular and turbulent than before.
The people of the various great stone yards all started looking somewhat queasy. They knew perfectly well that whichever stone yard was chosen would be the unlucky one, and they all privately cursed their misfortune, hoping these two groups would run into some accident and ideally be driven right out of the Divine City.
Otherwise, for them, this would absolutely be a “catastrophe.” In their eyes, Gu Feng and the source arts masters were “locusts” — the most unwelcome people imaginable.
After returning to his dwelling, Ye Fan immediately took out that purple stone gallbladder. He had originally planned to use it when cultivating heaven eyes in the future — but looking at the situation now, there was simply no time to wait.
Stone gallbladders could be sought again. But this time, he absolutely could not lose.
If he did not push his Source Heavenly Divine Perception to a higher level, he was very likely to be devoured by those old men. After all, he had cultivated source arts for far too short a time — those people had been immersed in it for the better part of their entire lives.
The stone gallbladder was brought out, wreathed in violet light. The room filled with crystalline radiance. Li Heishui stood guard beside him, keeping watch.
The moment the purple stone gallbladder was split open, the entire room was suffused with fragrance, penetrating all the way to one’s very bones. Even Li Heishui could not help but mutter to himself, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of saliva.
The purple liquid seeped out like streams of violet mist, its fragrance intoxicating. Ye Fan carefully squeezed it out and let the crystalline drops flow into both his eyes — and for a moment he felt a wave of cool refreshment.
But in the next quarter-hour, everything he felt changed dramatically. He experienced wave after wave of searing pain, as if fire were burning inside him, needles stabbing his eyes, tears flowing without end.
“Little Ye, are you alright?” Li Heishui tensed with worry.
“It’s fine — this is a necessary part of the process!”
Ye Fan endured the stabbing pain and wiped away his tears. He squeezed every last drop of liquid from inside the stone gallbladder and let it all flow into his eyes. Then he closed them, quietly began to circulate his source arts, and started to temper his own eyes.
At this moment, his eyelids had turned violet — nearly transparent, glittering and crystalline — a very peculiar sight.
“Hiss!”
Suddenly, the sound of something slicing through the air rang out. A golden thread shot into the room at extreme speed, rushing straight toward Ye Fan.
Li Heishui bellowed, but was a beat too slow — he could not keep up with the golden thread’s speed. He could only watch helplessly as it snatched the shell of the stone gallbladder right out of Ye Fan’s hand.
“It’s the Divine Silkworm!”
Li Heishui was both shocked and furious. He reached forward to grab it — but he didn’t even manage to catch its afterimage. With a whoosh, it was gone.
“Don’t chase it. The gallbladder shell is useless.” Ye Fan shook his head, stopping him.
“That little thief is too fast.” Li Heishui pushed the door open and saw that the little golden creature had not gone far.
It stood there, golden and glittering all over, clutching the gallbladder shell on top of the courtyard wall, twisting back and forth, making faces at him and Ye Fan, occasionally doing a few somersaults and sticking its tiny behind toward them with a wiggle.
Seeing all of this, Ye Fan could not help but smile. “This little thing really is quite something.”
Li Heishui laughed and cursed. “This little rascal is deliberately trying to get a rise out of us.”
The Divine Silkworm’s large eyes were bright and vivid. Seeing that neither of the two was angry or giving chase, it stopped its antics. Clutching the gallbladder shell, it took a deep, satisfied sniff of the fragrant scent — its expression melting into a look of bliss — then sank its teeth in.
But in the very next instant, its delighted expression froze solid. With a smack, it dropped the gallbladder shell to the ground. Its little face puckered with bitterness beyond description, and it changed color entirely.
The little golden sprite spit and spat repeatedly, hopping around in a frenzy on top of the courtyard wall, its golden lips having turned purple from the bitterness. Then it collapsed there, retching helplessly.
“Ha ha ha ha…”
“You actually tried eating a gall. Don’t you know that anything called a gall is bitter?”
Ye Fan and Li Heishui roared with laughter.
The Divine Silkworm was livid with indignation. It extended one little claw and pointed at Ye Fan and Li Heishui in speechless accusation, its large eyes brimming with tears — then it swayed from side to side, and toppled over on top of the wall, completely undone by the poison.
“Fallen, have you — and now where will you run?!” Li Heishui laughed uproariously and charged over.
Startled, the Divine Silkworm scrambled up, straining to keep its wits about it, and launched itself skyward. Though it wobbled like a drunk, it had not slowed at all — and in the blink of an eye, it vanished from sight.
An hour later, Ye Fan stopped circulating his source arts and opened his eyes. Two streaks of violet light flashed and were gone — his gaze deep and vast as a starry sky.
“How is it? Did it work?” Li Heishui asked.
“You have such a wild fashion sense — wearing patterned undergarments.” Ye Fan burst out laughing.
“Damn it all — you’ve turned yourself into a pair of X-ray eyes, and you’re not afraid of getting a stye?!” Li Heishui cursed, his old face going slightly red as he half-turned his body away.
Ye Fan’s mind was clear, his gaze sharp and bright — his Source Heavenly Divine Perception had risen by a considerable degree. Though he had not cultivated true heaven eyes, his sight had reached a breathtaking level: he could nearly see through the things behind walls.
He pushed the door open and looked out into the distant sky. Even a mosquito in the farthest reaches of the horizon was captured by his gaze — a qualitative transformation.
“I’ve completely seen through you, Little Ye — you were born to be a peeping thief! When you next run into An Miaoyi, the Great Xia Princess, and the holy maidens of the various holy lands, what will they ever do about you — and what will the others do? Those thieving eyes of yours will definitely go straight.”
“Am I really such an impure-minded person?” Ye Fan smiled.
“You’re as pure as a peeping thief!” Li Heishui said with unmistakable envy. “I’ve finally figured it out — the source sky master of the past must have loved frequenting the holy lands’ stone yards not for the stone gambling at all, but absolutely for the holy maidens. This whole trade definitely has its traditions!”
“The source arts showdown is in three days — let’s go have a look at the various stone yards now.” Ye Fan said.
“I despise you, Little Ye — you’ve barely developed your peeping eyes and you’re already itching to go ogle the holy maidens?!” Li Heishui cursed. “Watch out — stare too much and you’ll get a stye.”
“This is just advance preparation for the stone gambling. Today I’m only looking around — not making any moves.”
“Right, sure! Drop the sanctimonious act. You definitely want to go look at the holy maidens.” Li Heishui pursed his lips.
……
Ye Fan and Li Heishui first headed toward the Ji Family stone yard, hoping to try and locate the mysterious Stone King.
Along the way, they heard a great deal of news about the Purple Mountain. The great holy lands and the hundred schools of the Central Continent were about to make their move — and a raging storm was coming to that place.
Before they had even come close to the Ji Family stone yard, they spotted several familiar figures. Young people from the source arts clans had arrived at the same place — among them were Wu Ziming, Li Chongtian, and Tuoba Chang.
Clearly, they shared the same purpose as Ye Fan — selecting a stone yard, trying to determine which venue was most suitable.
“Those two scoundrels really won’t stop coming after us!” Li Heishui said bluntly, in plain hearing, staring right at Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian.
“You—” The two were enraged.
“Is that not right? First you brought in Tuoba Chang, and now through Tuoba Chang you’ve gathered all these monsters and freaks — am I wrong?” Li Heishui said with a cold smile.
“I’m not arguing with you right now. This time I refuse to believe — you won’t be able to overturn this,” Li Chongtian said with venom.
“This time I am personally going to watch you two get crushed to dust underfoot in source arts by the elders!” Wu Ziming ground his teeth.
“Last time you threw out all those tough words too — and what happened was that you handed us source for free. This time I’m looking forward to you being publicly generous all over again,” Li Heishui laughed loudly.
The young people from the source arts clans all sneered coldly. One of them said, “This time we’re afraid you two might even end up losing your lives.”
“Are you trying to resort to violence? Kill us?” Li Heishui was entirely unafraid.
“Ignorant fools — a source arts contest can carry the stakes of life and death too. You don’t even know that? In the process of selecting stones, you might very well drop dead on the spot. We weren’t making empty talk when we said we’d crush you underfoot in source arts. Whether you can stay alive, well — that depends on how capable you are. Don’t be on your knees begging us for your lives when the time comes.”
The source arts clan members smiled coldly, finished their taunts, and strode on ahead.
“A stone-selecting contest can actually determine life and death?” Li Heishui asked Ye Fan.
“It can,” Ye Fan nodded, a trace of gravity appearing in his expression.
By then, they had come before the Ji Family stone yard. Ye Fan spotted two familiar figures — a young man and a young woman. The man was imposing in bearing, the woman strikingly beautiful.
The young man stood like a divine being — black hair cascading like a waterfall, with a radiance surrounding his body — as if born a divine king gazing down upon the ten thousand zhang of mortal existence, carrying an aura of singular, sovereign dominance. It was Ji Haoyue.
Beside him, a young woman dressed in flowing violet robes stood gracefully. When she smiled, her bright, clever eyes would curve into crescent moons, dimples would appear on her face, and her little tiger-fang teeth would glisten crystalline bright. It was Ji Ziyue.