“Ziyang Cave Heaven…” Only now did he finally understand — his encounter with Li Xiaoman and the others had not been a coincidence. Their sect was right nearby.

Ye Fan turned at once and made to leave. He had no wish to become entangled with the sect where Li Xiaoman resided. Earlier that day they had met, and Li Xiaoman had been unruffled and unshaken — that calm was almost cold. Though she had tried to give him money, the whole thing carried a sense of condescension, as though she were bestowing charity from on high.

“‘Live as a decent ordinary person, don’t take the wrong path’ — am I really so beneath contempt in her eyes…”

He laughed at himself, feeling neither grief nor resentment. He let it drift past like a light breeze. Everything would leave no trace. Ye Fan felt that if they were to meet again someday, a smile and a nod would be enough — no need to linger on anything. Sometimes a quiet passing in the night might be the better choice.

Ye Fan had already walked dozens of meters away when he suddenly stopped again. He had been turning over and over in his mind the question of how to shake off the Jiang Family knights’ pursuit, and at this moment he suddenly wondered: might he be able to use Ziyang Cave Heaven to break free of this perilous situation?

At present, his strength was insufficient — a direct confrontation was utterly out of the question. All he could do for now was think his way through it. He murmured to himself: “I’ve never been able to shake them off, and there must be a reason. No matter how powerful a person is, they couldn’t possibly possess such sharp spiritual perception as to track me continuously…”

Ye Fan reasoned that Ziyang Cave Heaven, being one of the six blessed sanctuaries of Yan Kingdom, would surely have Dao Markings carved into the mountains and rivers of the surrounding terrain, gathering mysterious power and making this place a self-contained world unto itself. If he ventured deep inside, perhaps it could sever his connection with the outside.

“Yes — I can make use of this place!”

After thinking it through carefully, Ye Fan headed deeper into the mountain range.

“What rich and dense spiritual energy — worthy of a blessed sanctuary indeed.”

By now the sky had nearly darkened, yet one could still see strands of violet qi coiling among the mountain peaks. Ziyang Cave Heaven lived up to its name — the region was awash with surging violet mist, and from time to time a blazing ray of yang light would slice across the sky.

Even in the outer regions, the extraordinary quality of the place was unmistakable. The peaks were verdant and green, clear springs burbled, the vegetation was lush, and many trees and plants seemed to have developed a touch of sentience — their leaves shimmering with faint points of light.

Ye Fan came to the front of Ziyang Cave Heaven and observed carefully to see if he could slip inside undetected, but found it extremely difficult. Not only were there guards patrolling the mountain gate, but fierce beasts stood watch as well.

Two beasts, their bodies covered in bumps and protrusions, resembled giant crocodiles yet bore a pair of fleshy wings each. They lay there like two small mountains, the bowl-sized jade-green eyes opening and closing to reveal flashes of light within.

“Hm — those young people over there are kneeling. What is this about?”

Ye Fan noticed with surprise that a few youths around sixteen or seventeen years of age were kneeling before the gate, refusing to rise.

A patrolling cultivator passed by that spot and said: “You should leave. Your aptitude is far too ordinary. No amount of effort will make up for it.”

“Immortal Master, please give us another chance.”

The cultivator sighed: “You’ve been kneeling for several days. I’m not without compassion, but your aptitude is truly too mediocre. You genuinely cannot pass the evaluation. Please, go back down the mountain.”

“Immortal Master — we ask for nothing else. We only beg for one last chance.” The young men knelt without rising, pleading desperately.

“Very well. I’ll give you one more chance. In half a month there will be a new round of disciple selection. Whether you can make use of this opportunity to be accepted again is entirely up to yourselves.”

“Thank you, Immortal Master!” The youths kowtowed together in a bow of deep gratitude.

Hearing all this, Ye Fan stepped forward with broad strides.

“Who goes there?” The cultivator turned around.

“Immortal Master, I’ve come to take a disciple under a master.” Ye Fan called out loudly.

“The selection isn’t for another half a month. You’ve come too early.”

“My home is very far away. I walked all the way here on foot — it took me half a year. I feared I would be too late, and I beg the Immortal Master’s mercy.”

Ye Fan had been observing for some time and felt this cultivator was not particularly hard-hearted — most likely he could be persuaded.

“This is against the rules.”

Ye Fan’s face was a picture of sincerity as he described how he had scraped together travel money — even begging — crossing mountains and valleys, covering several thousand li on foot for over half a year before finally finding this place with great difficulty.

This so-called Immortal Master was not very old — he appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight — and his heart was indeed soft. Seeing Ye Fan’s tattered clothing and dirt-smeared face, he sighed at last and nodded: “You can go in with them.”

Ye Fan thanked him eagerly and entered Ziyang Cave Heaven together with those young men. Every sacred peak was shrouded in violet qi, hazy and indistinct. Halls and palaces sat atop the mountain summits, ethereal and dreamlike, carrying the full atmosphere of an immortal realm.

“The spiritual energy of Ziyang Cave Heaven is even richer than that of Lingxu Cave Heaven…”

Ye Fan murmured inwardly, nodding in quiet acknowledgment. This place was truly extraordinary.

Venturing deeper into the sacred mountains, the vegetation was abundant and spirit medicines were plentiful. A clear and refreshing air drifted toward them. This was an exceedingly beautiful and tranquil blessed sanctuary.

Ye Fan and the young men were settled in an area near a grove of bamboo. Several wooden huts stood there — quarters reserved specifically for servants and odd-job workers. Disciples in cultivation rarely visited this part of the grounds.

After reaching this place, Ye Fan gradually felt himself settle. If the Jiang Family could still find him here, then he had no choice but to fight to the death — there were no other options.

“Most likely there is something on my body that allows them to sense and track me.”

Ye Fan first ruled out the green copper piece. That mysterious supreme treasure — even in former times many cultivators had held it in their hands without being able to identify it, let alone now that it lay dormant within his golden Bitter Sea.

Was it the Dao Scripture? That seemed unlikely as well. As long as he did not activate the mystical technique, his golden Bitter Sea remained completely still — sealed and silent as divine iron, not a ripple upon it. Others would find it difficult to sense.

“Could it be that this piece of ‘Source’ is leaking my whereabouts? That shouldn’t be the case either.”

Ye Fan pondered and pondered but could find no answer. He murmured to himself: “I’ll set it aside for now — the priority is to refine and absorb this piece of ‘Source’ first.”

In the days that followed, the bamboo grove was utterly peaceful, with no outsiders coming to disturb it — a very fitting place for cultivation. The Jiang Family’s powerful knights did not come searching here.

Ye Fan began refining the “Source.” Each time, he held it tightly in his palm and melted it with painstaking care, dissolving only a tiny amount each day. He was afraid that if he proceeded too forcefully, the enormous life essence contained within the “Source” would all burst forth at once, triggering a surge of source energy that others might detect.

On the sixth day, with the bright full moon hanging high overhead, Ye Fan had refined another small amount of “Source” when suddenly his golden Bitter Sea let out surging waves of roaring sound — an awe-inspiring commotion. He halted immediately and hid the “Source” away.

“What a nuisance…”

His special constitution left him somewhat helpless. He had thought he could keep it under control, yet at the moment of breakthrough it still produced a terrifying sound. The manifestation within the Bitter Sea was truly too dramatic. If anyone noticed, it would certainly cause a great stir.

“It seems this ‘Source’ cannot be fully refined here. I’ll have to wait until I’ve left this place to continue.”

Yet the gains were not small. His golden Bitter Sea had expanded another measure. Eight additional “divine markings” now appeared within it, coiling above the Bitter Sea’s surface. Ye Fan smelted these into the “divine iron lump” he had collected earlier, hammering it into the green copper piece repeatedly, etching Dao Markings into it over and over again.

The next day, the silence was broken. Several young cultivators came to this area and discovered Ye Fan.

“It’s you… that little beggar!”

Several of them wore expressions of utter astonishment — these were the very disciples of Ziyang Cave Heaven he had encountered just a few days ago, though Li Xiaoman was not among them.

The day before, Ye Fan had caused quite a commotion. Some cultivators had come to investigate, but had found nothing in the night. These few had come out of curiosity in the early morning to have a look.

“How did you get into our Ziyang Cave Heaven? Did you come here looking for Junior Sister Li?” They were all deeply surprised to find Ye Fan here.

“Your sect’s head happened to run into me and said my talent was extraordinary — insisted on taking me as a disciple…” Ye Fan made up a story on the spot.

None of them believed a word. Their expressions all turned unfriendly. One of the young women said coldly: “Little beggar, your cheek is really something!”

Just then, a middle-aged man appeared in the bamboo grove. He walked several circles around the area, then came to a stop and said: “I sense the presence of a ‘Source’ here.”

“Greetings, Grand Uncle Master!” The young disciples bowed hastily.

Ye Fan’s heart lurched at once. This person’s spiritual perception was terrifyingly keen. He had sealed the Source away, yet it had still been sensed.

“No need for formalities.” This middle-aged man’s complexion was ruddy, his hair jet-black — yet his eyes carried a deep and weary weariness entirely at odds with his outward appearance.

“This person’s true age must be well past seventy or eighty years…” Ye Fan made a private conjecture, sensing that this was a formidable powerhouse.

“On your person…” He fixed his gaze on Ye Fan.

“Greetings, Senior.” Ye Fan gave a respectful bow.

“You are not a disciple of our Ziyang Cave Heaven?”

“I am not.”

The middle-aged man appeared to move without moving — in an instant he stood before Ye Fan, as though he had crossed the space between them in a single step, and clasped Ye Fan’s wrist.

“Senior, you are…” Ye Fan was greatly startled, thinking the man meant to attack him.

“Your constitution…” The middle-aged man showed a look of surprise, then shook his head and sighed. Clearly a man of vast experience and knowledge, he had formed his judgment in a single instant.

At that very moment, Ye Fan’s heart was pounding with anxiety. Fortunately, his Bitter Sea was perfectly still — darkness had sealed the golden Bitter Sea, as though it had become a desolate and lifeless place. When the middle-aged man’s perception reached that point, he discovered nothing unusual.

This filled Ye Fan with astonishment. Even with a powerhouse of this caliber personally probing him, his deliberate concealment had held firm.

“Do you have a piece of ‘Source’ on your person?” the middle-aged man asked.

Seeing there was no hiding it, Ye Fan produced the small wooden box: “I’m not sure whether this is a ‘Source’ — it’s an heirloom passed down in my family.”

The middle-aged man opened the wooden box and glanced inside: “Indeed, it is a Source. Not entirely pure, but remarkable enough. Would you be willing to part with it?”

“That…”

“You cannot cultivate. This piece of ‘Source’ is of no use to you. Rest assured — I would not let you come off poorly. If you are willing to exchange it, the wealth it brings you will last ten lifetimes.”

“But… I have no wish to exchange it…” Ye Fan made a show of reluctance. Entering Lingxu Cave Heaven had temporarily allowed him to evade the Jiang Family knights, but now it had inadvertently exposed the “Source.” He felt frustrated, yet there was nothing he could do.

“You truly don’t wish to exchange?” the middle-aged man asked, his expression calm and composed — not in the least using his power to pressure.

“I…”

“Very well. If that is so, I will not force you. A single piece of Source is of no great consequence to me.” With that, he turned and walked away, and within a mere few paces had vanished completely from everyone’s sight.

A chill ran through Ye Fan. This man was absolutely a formidable expert.

“Little beggar — to think you actually had a ‘Source’ on you. Even a small, impure piece of Source is more precious than spirit medicines.”

The several young men and women all wore expressions of undisguised surprise. The last thing they had expected was that Ye Fan had a spiritual object on him, and some could not help but harbor covetous intentions.

“Little beggar, you really don’t know how to seize an opportunity. Do you know who that man was? He is the second-most-powerful master of Ziyang Cave Heaven — having cultivated for only a little over a hundred years, he surpasses even several of our founding ancestors. If you had given him the ‘Source’ just now, forging a favorable connection with someone of that standing would have brought boundless benefit…”

The several young men and women offered various terms of exchange in hopes of obtaining the “Source.” Ye Fan would not agree to any of them.

Only after they had all departed did Ye Fan murmur to himself: “Though I’ve temporarily evaded the Jiang Family knights, I’ve exposed the ‘Source.’ I wonder whether trouble will come of it.”

Half an hour later, Li Xiaoman appeared in the bamboo grove, accompanied by the several young men and women who had just left.

Li Xiaoman did not ask Ye Fan why he had appeared here. She spoke in a calm, even tone: “Ye Fan, since you cannot cultivate, possessing this piece of ‘Source’ is of no use to you. Would you not consider exchanging it for ten lifetimes of prosperity…”

Ye Fan shook his head directly: “I won’t exchange it!”