That divine ape sat with its eyes closed, thunder-god mouth, golden fur gleaming brilliantly, cross-legged on a cushion, utterly motionless, truly as if cast from gold.
It really was the Six-Eared Macaque. This left Ye Fan dumbstruck — it resembled the Sacred Prince so closely, virtually identical, and if not for the six ears, he would certainly have mistaken them for the same being.
“How eerie!”
How had it gotten in there? Ye Fan’s heart churned, unable to settle — this was simply too astonishing. This was the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring eye, and this monkey had somehow managed the defiance-of-heaven feat of dwelling here!
This was not something any ordinary divine being could accomplish — it defied all reason. With the Numinous Treasure Formation Diagram and the four slaying swords combined, who could withstand their edge? Even bearing an emperor’s weapon, one could not break through!
“Could it be that, like me, it too obtained one of the ancient artifacts and scriptures Lingbao Tianzun left behind in the world?” Ye Fan murmured to himself.
The stone mirror platform turned — it was not stationary, but drifted and sank within the Life Spring, ancient and natural. It flashed past, and the monkey’s figure vanished as well.
Ye Fan shifted his position, but no matter how he adjusted the angle, he could no longer see it clearly — a stretch of chaotic runes flickered, nearly sealing off the mirror platform entirely.
“Is he alive, or did he pass away sitting there?” Ye Fan couldn’t be certain. That figure, still as a clay or wooden statue, like a stone carving, hadn’t stirred at all — and the distance was too great to judge.
The Six-Eared Macaque — a race that defied heaven itself, one that had vanished perhaps hundreds of thousands of years ago. To see one today left Ye Fan feeling it was almost beyond belief.
To encounter such a being in this place gave him a bad premonition — this was a race capable of tearing through the heavens themselves, and if it truly still lived and emerged, it would surely spell a great killing calamity.
Ye Fan observed carefully. Though the mirror platform was blurred, he could still make out some details — the cave dwelling it had manifested was magnificent and grand, possessing something of an immortal air, with wisps of immortal energy seeping out.
This didn’t look like a structure that had originally existed within the Life Spring, but rather something moved in by later hands, because only the four immortal swords were qualified to have been born and nurtured here — no other treasure should have been able to take up residence in the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring.
Looking closer, Ye Fan indeed found something unusual — that cave dwelling looked as though it had been severed from some immortal mountain and relocated here; there were fracture marks upon it.
“Remarkable — it seems that Six-Eared Macaque truly moved its cave dwelling here, treating this place as an immortal treasure ground upon which to cultivate the Dao.”
At that moment, the chaotic runes dimmed, and the cave dwelling finally became somewhat clearer. Ye Fan hurriedly opened his Origin Heaven Eye to observe closely.
“Huh, Dao talismans, divine script, and… scriptures too…”
On the inner walls of that cave dwelling, in places he could just make out, densely packed ancient inscriptions were carved, ancient traces weathered, brimming with the atmosphere of ages past.
Ye Fan’s eyes narrowed. He recognized some of the text — it belonged to the Scripture of Human Salvation, imbued with an eerie and immense power, and there were other scriptures as well, though he could only glimpse fragments here and there.
“This doesn’t look like an outsider’s residence — it looks more like it belongs to Lingbao Tianzun himself.” Ye Fan’s eyes shone strangely.
After a moment’s thought, he pieced together a rough picture: the Six-Eared Macaque had come by some great fortune and obtained one of Lingbao Tianzun’s cave dwellings, moving the entire structure here.
Without question, this practice ground was no ordinary thing — otherwise how could it have peacefully settled within the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring, causing the four slaying swords to sense a familiar aura from it?
“He must have passed away sitting there.” After his observations, Ye Fan reached this conclusion. In these recent years the Sea of Bitterness had been anything but calm, and yet no one had ever seen the Six-Eared Macaque emerge — he suspected it was likely a corpse.
He drew closer to the stone mirror platform, hoping to confirm through it whether that cave dwelling could be entered — if so, perhaps great fortune awaited within.
But the instant he approached, he heard a faint trembling sound. Chaotic runes flickered across the stone mirror platform, mysterious and unfathomable, and the cave dwelling grew even more blurred.
Moreover, the killing intent from the four ancient swords below intensified — though they did not resonate audibly, it was still enough to strike fear into the heart, clearly signaling that killing intent was rushing toward him.
Had he not possessed the Human-Body Ghost-Face Lamp, he likely would have been torn to pieces. These slaying swords truly were mysterious and terrifying — the slightest provocation could cause rivers of blood and mountains of corpses.
“Even with Lingbao Tianzun’s own bronze lamp, it’s no use — there’s no way to get close. It seems that cave dwelling really is extraordinarily significant, recognized by the four swords, valued even above the ancient lamp.”
At this point, Ye Fan finally got a clear look at the four slaying swords. Upon their dark-red blades were scenes of immortal-slaying, a man standing in disdain over all under heaven, gazing down upon the gods with contempt.
Could this be Lingbao Tianzun himself? Ye Fan’s spirit trembled. No two of the four slaying swords bore the same engraved image — one depicted the slaying of immortals, another the destruction of the universe in a sea of blood, and yet another showed ten thousand spirits laid low as corpses.
A tragic aura blanketed everything; each slaying sword seemed to have devoured the blood of a hundred million living beings. Though they lay perfectly still, sunk there unmoving, they exuded an aura as though the great universe itself might collapse and shatter.
The four swords represented destruction!
Moreover, Ye Fan realized they were a single whole — containing only one divine spirit, divided among the four blades. Strictly speaking, this was but a single emperor’s weapon; only united could it become invincible under heaven. Once separated, its power would likely diminish greatly.
However, there was no one in this world who could separate them. The moment the formation diagram appeared, it was as if an ancient Great Emperor himself had been revived to personally command these slaying swords.
“Whoever possesses the four swords along with the formation diagram might truly become invincible across heaven and earth — but they are impossible to take into hand.” Ye Fan frowned.
He chanted the Scripture of Human Salvation, holding the Human-Body Ghost-Face Lamp, sitting cross-legged within the Life Spring, emptying his mind and spirit, attempting to communicate with the four slaying swords, hoping to earn their recognition.
But alas, the four swords were as deep and unfathomable as an abyssal sea. The bloody scenes of immortal-slaying upon them seemed to replay as if real, transforming into a pressure of Dao-marks that forced Ye Fan to retreat.
“No good, the killing intent of these four immortal swords is too fierce. No one in the present world can control them — one would need the formation diagram to claim them.” Ye Fan sighed inwardly and abandoned the risk.
He avoided the four swords and dove downward instead. Below, he believed, should be the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Wheel of Life, glimmering faintly, its surface covered in countless cracks beyond counting, impossible to approach, exuding an immense oppressive might.
Ye Fan was truly astonished. For every year that passed, another crack would appear upon the Wheel of Life, like the growth rings of a tree. After such an immensely long span of time, how could it still be glowing, not yet shattered entirely?
A chill ran through him. Lingbao Tianzun had left behind the Scripture of Human Salvation because he had foreseen something — likely needing to suppress some corpse calamity, and he must surely have been a master of that path. And now, his Wheel Sea still had not completely collapsed, which felt deeply wrong.
“Let’s hope the greatest corpse calamity isn’t himself…” Ye Fan’s expression grew uncertain.
Having searched through ancient texts extensively, according to what the various Great Sages said, once Lingbao Tianzun forged the emperor’s weapon and united it with the formation diagram, he should have ascended to immortality — yet the result clearly hadn’t been so.
Ye Fan felt certain that Lingbao Tianzun had lived far more than a single lifetime — the traces upon that Wheel Sea far exceeded ten or twenty thousand years, nothing like an ancient Celestial Venerable of “brief” lifespan.
Unable to approach any further, he had no choice but to retreat, searching the rest of the Life Spring, but finding nothing else.
The strangest thing of all remained that cave dwelling, once home to a Six-Eared Macaque — now he could not enter it, leaving him at a loss.
Ye Fan gathered a cauldron’s worth of the Life Spring’s divine liquid, then burst out of the water with a splash, scanning in all directions. Seeing no one nearby, he traveled instantly across a thousand miles to another stretch of the Sea of Bitterness.
“Where are Pang Bo, Long Ma, and the others?” Ye Fan wondered, puzzled — it had only been a short while since they’d separated, yet the whole group was nowhere to be found.
There were traces of disturbance left here. He sensed carefully, then his eyes flew open in anger, shooting two beams of cold light. “It’s the Golden Toad, the Grey Flood Dragon, and the Heavenly Dog again — this is too much!”
It had to be said, these three ancient beast venerables had very keen senses. They had detected that his group carried treasures on them, and had taken to watching them as closely as they did the Four Golden Snake Lords, refusing to let up.
Especially the time Pang Bo had been studying the Demon Emperor Ruler, and they had noticed a stir of energy from it, arousing their suspicion — since then they had pursued them relentlessly across the region, determined to seize the treasure.
The immortal ruler had shattered into five pieces, the divine spirit within it destroyed, leaving only instinct behind. Now, though two of the fragments had come into Pang Bo’s possession, he could not use them freely, or he risked harming both others and himself.
Half an hour later, Ye Fan found them — everyone covered in blood, Pang Bo’s white bone exposed on one side of his body, having nearly perished.
The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon had only two tails left, its body nearly split open, dripping with blood. Long Ma, the Golden Lion, and the others were in no better shape, all having suffered heavy blows.
“After we spotted the Grey Flood Dragon and the other beast venerables, we immediately crossed the void, only to be ambushed by the Heaven-Swallowing Beast, the Gold-Eating Beast, and the Four Golden Snake Lords.” Pang Bo said.
Others had trouble opening a domain gate within the sea region, but they were not so constrained, because they possessed the Void Emperor’s chessboard formation pattern. Ye Fan had studied it carefully, gaining much insight from the Black Emperor’s handwritten notes, and had prepared several such gates.
The moment Pang Bo and the others entered, the Heaven-Swallowing Beast and the others had secretly sabotaged it — the domain gate exploded, nearly causing them to lose themselves in the dark void, their ancient vessel shattered outright.
“Our cultivation and mystic power are declining — without an ancient vessel, we can’t survive in the Sea of Bitterness!” Long Ma said, his face full of worry.
“BOOM!”
A great wave of disturbance rolled in — a Grey Flood Dragon over a hundred feet long and a mountain-sized Golden Toad appeared first, hunting them down once more.
“Grey loach, filthy toad, just you wait — sooner or later I’ll stew the both of you!” Long Ma cursed furiously.
Ye Fan stepped through the domain gate with them and vanished from that place; a Great Sage’s palm strike came crashing down, shattering the void.
In another stretch of the ocean, Ye Fan took out the cauldron, filled with crystalline liquid. After examining it carefully, he frowned. “Good thing I didn’t drink it earlier — it really does contain killing intent within. Fortunately it can be refined away.”
Wisps of black mist rose from it, giving off the ringing sound of sword-cries as the Life Spring liquid was purified. Ye Fan handed it to Pang Bo, Long Ma, and the others — the effect was instant, truly able to bring the dead back to life and flesh onto bare bone.
None of them even needed to circulate their breath — the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring directly restored their wounded bodies.
“This is truly a supreme elixir, of immeasurable value!” Both Pang Bo and the Twelve Saints marveled. Drinking that crystalline liquid, their cultivation and mystic power were restored, no longer suppressed by the Sea of Bitterness.
Only the ancient Great Emperor’s Life Spring could dissolve the yin-corrosion and Great Dao suppression within the Sea of Bitterness.
Naturally, the group grew excited, asking Ye Fan about the results of his expedition.
“What, there’s a Six-Eared Macaque?!” The Black Bear Saint was shaken to hear this.
Several hundred thousand years ago, one of his distant ancestors had encountered a Six-Eared Macaque, and despite being a Great Sage himself, had been slapped into paste by that monkey — its demonic might had been terrifying beyond measure.
Ye Fan listened as he told the tale in detail, and was startled to discover something.
That Six-Eared Macaque had apparently been in the process of moving house — a small monkey sat perched on its shoulder, and above its head hung a mountain-like enormous cave dwelling, headed for some unknown destination.
“My ancestor merely happened to be blocking his path through the starry void, and was slapped into paste by that god-mighty monkey…”
Ye Fan’s expression turned strange as he described the cave dwelling he had seen. The Black Bear Saint grew enormously excited, exclaiming furiously, “That’s identical to the cave dwelling described in our clan’s ancient texts!”
Everyone was astonished — what an extraordinary coincidence, that this god-mighty, world-conquering Six-Eared Macaque had moved house to this very place.
“Hundreds of thousands of years have passed. Even if he achieved great mastery of creation and became an emperor, he should be dead by now. All of you, come with me — let’s enter the Life Spring together to seclude ourselves in cultivation. That is an excellent place to practice.” Ye Fan said.
With the ghost lamp and the Scripture of Human Salvation, he could protect everyone as they entered together, cultivating within the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring — almost as good as cultivating in an immortal realm, the Dao ground that every cultivator dreamed of but could never hope to reach.
They no longer needed the ancient vessel — they went directly deep into the Life Spring. All around them the crystalline liquid, immortal mist billowing, divine rosy clouds streaming in every direction, occasionally a great Dao chant would sound, causing everyone’s Immortal Platform to resonate with the sound of the Dao.
They could not drink this divine liquid directly, but they could slowly refine it, absorbing it into their own bodies.
“This place really is suited for comprehending the Dao — I just wonder how long we’ll be able to stay here.” Pang Bo was astounded; here his forehead-bone glowed, the Azure Emperor’s ancient scripture circulating on its own, quite extraordinary — this was truly a place for attaining the Dao.
The ghost lamp spread a curtain of light, blocking killing intent from reaching their bodies, protecting each of them, the Scripture of Human Salvation chanting without cease, while below, the four dark-red slaying swords remained perfectly still.
“What a wonderful place — who would have thought… this humble one could refine divine liquid to my heart’s content right here!” Long Ma’s mood soared, he could hardly stop himself from roaring skyward.
For this was the Life Spring liquid left behind by the ancient Great Emperor, crystalline and dazzling — each drop a treasured elixir, able to bring the dead back to life and flesh onto bone, unmatched in all the world.
So much of it… simply unimaginable!
The only trouble was that the sword-energy contained within the divine liquid was too terrifying — it needed to be refined through countless tempering, or it might bring disaster upon them.
The Divine Bridge would not manifest, so there was no way to reach the other shore. Ye Fan planned to seclude himself here for a long period of cultivation. When he took out two objects, all Twelve Saints’ eyes lit up, their gazes burning with intense desire.
These were two seeds. One, no bigger than a walnut, was sealed within a Divine Source — a purple Qilin less than two inches long, lifelike and vivid, radiating a powerful life-force.
It possessed life — it was actually trembling, trying to break through the Divine Source and burst out, even attempting to flee.
This was naturally the Qilin Divine Medicine seed. For all these years Ye Fan had never had the chance to plant it, because the conditions required were far too demanding — and now the ancient Celestial Venerable’s Life Spring was simply the ideal soil for its growth.
Ye Fan laid down a formation array, worried it might truly try to flee — every immortal medicine was unique between heaven and earth, possessing spirit, able to commune with heaven and flee on its own.
The Qilin seed, which had slumbered for endless ages, truly revived in this place; people heard the sound of the Divine Source cracking apart. Then endless divine rosy clouds came streaming in as it independently drew in the essence from the crystalline divine liquid, warding off killing intent, and began to grow.
In just half a month, the Qilin seed had grown to the size of a fist, its roots thickening and lengthening, drawing in ever more of the Life Spring’s divine liquid, thriving well.
Everyone’s eyes burned even hotter!
At this moment, the other seed in Ye Fan’s hand also began to change — a Buddhist chant rang in everyone’s ears, and behind Ye Fan’s back, a Great Thunderclap Monastery emerged, magnificent and towering, radiating divine splendor.