Ye Fan sprinted at breakneck speed, leaping over mountains and ridges, nimble as a spirit ape and swift as a hunting leopard, the mountain terrain blurring behind him. Yet he could not completely shake off his pursuers — several silhouettes clung tightly to his trail. It was easy to imagine that those people were no weak cultivators; they were likely already late-stage practitioners within the Bitter Sea realm.
Suddenly, Ye Fan’s expression tensed. Ahead, a great canyon yawned open, and two figures emerged to block his path. Not only were there enemies at his back — two others had already circled around to cut him off.
At this moment, it was too late to turn and retreat. He stopped and said, “You two — just a short while ago we were chatting together. Why are you now blocking my way?”
Ahead, standing at the canyon’s exit, were a man and a woman, both appearing to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. The young woman wore a faint cold smile at the corner of her lips. “You were perfectly fine in the Purple Yang Grotto Heaven — why did you run away? Could it be that you’ve done something shameful?”
The young man stepped forward several large paces, fixing a sharp gaze on Ye Fan. “Could it be that you stole something? Why else would you be fleeing in such a frantic rush? True enough — a beggar’s thieving nature never changes. Even after arriving at our Purple Yang Grotto Heaven, you couldn’t keep your hands clean.”
“I suspect that piece of ‘source stone’ on you was also ill-gotten,” the young woman said, pressing closer. “It may well have been pilfered from our Purple Yang Grotto Heaven. How else could a little beggar like you possibly possess something so precious?”
Throughout this exchange, Ye Fan kept subtly shifting his position — moving naturally forward, giving no impression of intending to charge through. His expression was calm, yet inwardly he was laughing coldly. These two clearly wanted to seize his source stone, yet they still fabricated baseless charges against him.
“How can you slander me like this? This piece of ‘source stone’ is clearly a treasure passed down through my family — you cannot throw mud at me this way…” As he spoke, Ye Fan had already moved to within close range of the two.
At that very moment, those pursuing from behind saw the two parties close in on one another and shouted a warning: “Be careful!”
But it was too late. Ye Fan struck decisively, springing into the air. His movements were lightning-fast — his two hands shot out like thunderbolts, smashing the two figures’ skulls together. Both collapsed, knocked unconscious on the spot.
These two cultivators could never have imagined that an eleven or twelve-year-old beggar boy could possess such terrifying ability. Completely off-guard, they crumpled to the ground in the blink of an eye, senseless and unmoving.
Ye Fan had not used the golden scripture primarily because with two people blocking the way ahead, he had no certainty of killing them both in an instant. Furthermore, he wanted to create a false impression in the minds of those behind — making them believe he had relied on this kind of physical method to kill the first person, and that he knew nothing of cultivation techniques.
In this moment, Ye Fan pulled a short curved blade from the young woman’s person and made a show of raising it to slash the two — whereupon cries of alarm erupted from behind him.
Ye Fan did not bring the blade down. A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Hopefully that will mislead you.” He feigned a flustered, panicked appearance and continued fleeing forward.
Sure enough, from behind came sounds of fury, and someone said, “That little brat is cunning and has a powerful physique. Senior Brother Yang must have been killed by him in exactly this way inside the stone forest.”
“Thank heavens we followed closely. Otherwise, Senior Brother Wang and Junior Sister Zhang would have met with misfortune as well.”
……
Ye Fan muttered to himself, “If you can’t catch me, so be it. But if you’re truly determined to hound me to the death, you’ll get a surprise in the end.”
He lacked sufficient strength. If he revealed his true hand too soon, there was a real risk of being surrounded — the consequences would be dire. Now that he had successfully misled them, he had gained another layer of protection.
He ran on for another ten-odd li, and then three silhouettes finally closed in from all sides. The young woman in the center smiled coldly. “After all, you are not a disciple of Purple Yang Grotto Heaven. Although you run swiftly, you took many wrong turns and we’ve caught up with you at last.”
The other two male disciples wore thunderously dark expressions. One of them spoke in a glacial tone: “To think that Senior Brother Yang was killed by a little beggar — he fell for this brat’s treacherous scheme. Infuriating!”
“If we hadn’t arrived in time, Senior Brother Wang and Junior Sister Zhang would likely have suffered the same fate — ambushed by this little beggar,” the other male disciple said, his face equally ice-cold.
Ye Fan feigned terror, putting on the expression appropriate to an eleven or twelve-year-old boy, and stammered, “A few of you… this isn’t my fault. It was they who tried to kill me… and take my ‘source stone.’ I had no choice… I caught them off guard and knocked them out…”
The young woman in the center spoke with frosty coldness: “Senior Brother Yang was killed by you…”
“I… thought I had only knocked him unconscious. I never expected he hadn’t passed out — he fell to the ground and grabbed my leg. I… panicked, drew the blade, and accidentally… slashed his neck.” Ye Fan put on the fearful expression befitting a child.
“Accidentally?!” The young woman’s face turned sinister. Her fine features frosted over with killing intent. “Accidentally killing Senior Brother Yang — is that a joke, or a mockery?”
“There’s nothing more to say. Take the source stone and kill him — avenge Senior Brother Yang!”
“Killing him too quickly would be too easy for him…”
Both male disciples’ eyes flickered with cold light, brimming with murderous intent.
At this very moment, Ye Fan continued shifting his feet — seemingly trembling with fear, but in truth adjusting his position so that the two male disciples and himself formed a straight line, one behind the other.
Swoosh!
In that instant, a blazing golden light shot out from within Ye Fan’s body — like a golden bolt of lightning that made the sun in the sky seem to pale in comparison. The golden scripture blazed brilliantly, crossing the space in a flash.
Thump! Thump!
Two soft sounds rang out. The two men died with their eyes still wide open. Bisected at the waist one after the other, blood surged high into the air. Their upper halves tumbled to the ground, blood gushing ceaselessly; their lower halves stood rigid for a single moment before collapsing into the spreading pool of crimson.
“You—” The young woman was stunned, but her reactions were swift. In an instant she conjured a purple divine net, casting it down to envelop Ye Fan.
Clang! Clang!
The golden scripture blazed like a golden sun, as if wreathed in roaring golden flames. It charged directly into the purple net, and the two collided with a ringing clamor.
The purple divine net split apart inch by inch and fell to the ground. The golden scripture burst through and sliced around in a swift arc — thwack — followed by a soft thump, and the young woman’s head rolled away.
Ye Fan wiped away a cold sweat. Had he not hidden his true hand and successfully misled the others, it would most likely have been him lying in a pool of blood.
“You sought to kill me for the source stone. Your deaths leave no guilt upon my conscience.” He made quick work of the scene and then fled at full speed, not daring to delay even a moment.
He had barely run a hundred meters when shouts rang out behind him — there were more people, and they had nearly caught up. Ye Fan glanced back hastily, and his expression immediately stiffened — for he had spotted Li Xiaoman.
He could not quite describe what he felt. There had once been a bond between them, a relationship long since ended and faded into the past — yet seeing this scene was still more than he had anticipated.
He could face her with indifference. He could be as strangers with her. But this particular scene…
“Are they pursuing me to kill me — or did she follow to stop her senior brothers and sisters…? I hope it is the latter.” Ye Fan murmured to himself. Though those feelings had long since been laid to rest — incapable of stirring even the faintest ripple in him — if it were truly the former, it would be an ugly affair indeed.
Ye Fan ran through the mountain ranges as though over flat ground, at tremendous speed. Suddenly, a wave of deep bell tolling rang out from behind, echoing through the surrounding peaks.
“That is from Purple Yang Grotto Heaven…” As Ye Fan looked back, he saw every trailing silhouette halt at the sound of the bells, then turn and race back the way they had come.
“Bell tones that carry for dozens of li… they withdraw at the ringing of bells. Could it be that Purple Yang Grotto Heaven is summoning all its disciples back to the sect?” Ye Fan’s mind turned quickly. In an instant he hit upon a possibility — something unusual must have occurred at Purple Yang Grotto Heaven. The most likely explanation was that they had uncovered the identity of the Jiang Family knights.
“Not good!” He fled into the distance as fast as he could.
When he passed a river, he took out the source stone and dropped it to the riverbed.
“The second strongest master of Purple Yang Grotto Heaven can sense the aura of a source stone — surely other powerful figures can too. I cannot carry it on me any longer. I’ll come back for it later.” Ye Fan feared that the masters of Purple Yang Grotto Heaven might also give chase to aid the Jiang Family knights — that would spell serious trouble.
“I can’t flee toward the outer mountains. I need to think in reverse — to act contrary to their expectations.” Ye Fan turned and sprinted back the way he had come, then arrived at a great waterfall and plunged into it, pressing himself against the rock face, letting the rushing water pound his body without cease.
His cultivation, while not yet profound, was sufficient for him to hold his breath for extended periods. When truly on the verge of his limit, he could stick his head out for a breath of fresh air.
In this manner, Ye Fan hid for a full three days. During this time, people flew overhead, but none noticed the waterfall below. Afterward, he changed hiding spots several more times, remaining concealed deep in these mountains for fully half a month without being discovered.
On a certain night, Ye Fan quietly departed the mountain range where Purple Yang Grotto Heaven was situated and slipped out of the highlands.
Several days later, he appeared a thousand li away — thoroughly clear of that place.
Reflecting on his experiences in Purple Yang Grotto Heaven, the image that left the deepest impression on Ye Fan was Li Xiaoman’s detached expression — urging him not to harbor unrealistic ideas, to accept reality and be content as an ordinary mortal, all with an air of lofty superiority.
“I should have shaken off the Jiang Family knights by now. I need to find a place to cultivate in peace as soon as possible.”
Yet what Ye Fan had never in a million years expected was that, only three days later, as he stood gazing up at the sky in an ancient town, he spotted the Jiang Family knights once again.
“Truly tenacious — it seems the source stone is not the issue after all.” Ye Fan emptied out everything on his person. A white jade pendant — a gift from Elder Wu Qingfeng — should be above suspicion. Then there was a chipped jade piece, cracked and looking no better than a broken stone — given to him by that immoral Daoist, Duan De — which should also be fine.
He then pulled out a walnut-sized Bodhi Seed and murmured, “Could it be because of this?”
Discarding the Bodhi Seed would be a terrible waste, for it had the ability to aid in enlightenment along the Dao. Ye Fan had never treated it as a divine treasure but had always regarded it as a seed from the divine tree. Now, thinking carefully, he realized the problem might lie here.
“Perhaps what Jiang Yichen sensed as a precious treasure… is this Bodhi Seed…”
Shortly after, Ye Fan climbed to a restaurant, ordered some food, and prepared to eat.
“How truly does one encounter familiar faces everywhere in life…” Suddenly, a hoarse, aged voice sounded in Ye Fan’s ear. A gaunt, skeletal old man — white hair draped over his face — appeared before him like a ghost materializing out of thin air.
“Elder Han!” Ye Fan was so shocked he nearly upended the table. As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours — at this critical juncture, of all people to encounter, it was him.
“It seems we have quite the fate, you and I. I’ve been looking for you,” said Elder Han of the Nether Void Grotto Heaven, seating himself across the table.
“What business does Elder Han have with me?”
Elder Han looked like a piece of withered driftwood — flesh sunken and desiccated, only a layer of aged skin over bone — with white hair draping over his face. He was a deeply unsettling sight. He said in a cheerless tone, “I’ve been preparing an endless supply of spirit medicines for you, yet could not find you anywhere — and now here we are, reunited by chance.”
“Preparing many spirit medicines for me?”
“You are the primary ingredient. The other spirit medicines are supplementary.” Elder Han spoke with unhurried calm.
“Damn you, you old fossil!” Ye Fan slammed the table. There was no point in feigning patience any longer.