The sky turned black as ink. Stars and moon vanished. It was as if the world had fallen into eternal darkness. Everything around the Taichu Ancient Mine was desolate and still.

An ineffable oppression, a boundless dread, a suffocating terror — it was as though countless black mountains were descending, pressing down deep into the hearts of those present.

“What is happening?” The four were alarmed, their hearts sinking, completely unable to understand what had occurred.

“What has happened to the Taichu Ancient Mine? We’re not going to die, are we?!” Chen Huaiyuan’s voice trembled.

Li Desheng was also shaking. His Yin-Dark Eye blossomed with a ghostly glow as he stared wide-eyed in the direction of the Taichu Ancient Mine.

“What do you see?” Ye Fan pressed him urgently.

“What’s happening over there?” Old Knife asked hurriedly as well.

“I can see nothing — it is black to the very bones over there, consuming everything. My eye…” Li Desheng suddenly let out a sharp cry and collapsed backward, a thin trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his eye.

This sudden turn made the other three feel as if cold water had been poured down their spines. They quickly helped him up.

“What happened to you?” Ye Fan asked.

The corner of Li Desheng’s left eye had cracked open, a thin thread of blood running from it. The Yin-Dark Eye was blank and hollow, visibly swollen. Fortunately, the pupil itself was undamaged — only the white of the eye had been injured.

“That pain is killing me!” He wept, tears and mucus flowing freely, channeling his divine power into his Yin-Dark Eye to restore it. It took a long while before he recovered.

“What happened?” Old Knife pressed.

“A black hole — a monstrous black hole — as if it could swallow the sky…” Li Desheng was terrified to his core. His Yin-Dark Eye had nearly been shattered.

“Whoosh!”

After a brief interval, the starlight and moonlight returned to the sky — suddenly and jarringly.

The soft radiance was like smoke and mist, extraordinarily sacred, bringing a sense of light and warmth that swept away the barrenness of moments before.

The blood-colored earth appeared plain and muted. Gravel, boulders, and low hills were all draped in a thin gauze, like a pale and tranquil landscape painting.

“That terrified me — what just happened?” Chen Huaiyuan patted his chest.

With light restored, everything of moments ago seemed as though it had never been. The starlight gathered again into flowing water, streaming toward the Taichu Ancient Mine.

But the monstrous black hole that had devoured everything was gone — there was no difference from before.

“It truly felt like an illusion,” Ye Fan said with a sigh.

But before long, another dull rumble sounded — “Boom!” — and all the sacred light was drained away again.

In every direction, there was nothing but darkness. One could not make out the person standing opposite. The Taichu Ancient Mine, in particular, seemed to become an abyss, darker than everywhere else.

“Why has it gone dark again?”

“Of course — we’re approaching midnight now. The legends say exactly this: the Taichu Ancient Mine devours the essence of heaven and earth, drawing in everything!” Old Knife’s heart clenched with alarm. “We must leave immediately. If we delay any longer, we may not be able to leave at all.”

“Move!” Ye Fan said sharply. He had already gotten a rough sense of the situation here. He led the three of them outward.

Of course, “heading out” meant weaving left and right, constantly shifting direction — not moving in a straight line.

Ye Fan calculated continuously as he went, following the teachings of the Source Heaven Scripture, watching even where each footfall landed with care. The three behind him advanced by stepping into his footprints.

It was a twisting, roundabout journey — not quite “three steps forward, two steps back,” but close, veering left and right in an unpredictable dance.

Occasionally Ye Fan would stop and crouch to run calculations on the ground, carefully estimating and comparing the surrounding terrain before choosing the direction to advance.

“Excavation Lord, please make sure to bring us out,” Chen Huaiyuan muttered as he walked. “I have always admired remarkable people like yourself. I too always wanted to enter this profession — it’s just a shame I’ve only learned the surface of it.”

“Step aside and stop causing trouble,” Old Knife said, pulling him out of Ye Fan’s path, afraid he’d disturb Ye Fan’s concentration.

After a quarter hour, Ye Fan had led them back to the starting point — eighty or ninety li from the Taichu Ancient Mine.

Throughout the journey, intermittent rumbling erupted from behind them. A massive black void swallowed the essence of heaven and earth like a whale drinking in the ocean, as though some primordial beast had opened its sky-devouring maw.

Several times, Ye Fan was affected. Whenever the heavens and earth plunged into absolute darkness, he had no choice but to stop and calmly run his calculations anew.

Stop and go, stop and go — it felt as though they had traveled a thousand li in total — until at last they broke free of that strange territory and emerged one hundred and fifty li out.

“We’re finally out!”

All four let out a long breath. Ye Fan most of all — he felt drained, as though his vitality had been emptied. All that calculation had left him mentally exhausted.

He took out the jade pure-water flask and poured what little remained of the divine spring water into his mouth. He recovered swiftly.

Had he never studied the Source Heaven Scripture, Ye Fan felt certain he would have been sealed in there forever — escape would have been virtually impossible.

“Excavation Lord, when we get back I’ll personally commission a longevity memorial arch in your honor — I promise,” Chen Huaiyuan said, looking deeply grateful.

“Don’t dream yet. We’ve only gotten slightly further from the sacred mine — we’re still inside the Taichu Forbidden Zone. There are still formations like ‘True Dragon Coughing Blood’ around. We could lose our lives at any moment,” Old Knife doused him with cold water.

Ye Fan also exhaled. The Taichu Forbidden Zone was extremely dangerous. Terrain formations like the “Fire Dragon Veins” and the “Dragon’s Blood” were surely not limited to those they’d already encountered — one misstep could plunge them into a dead end.

The moonlight was peaceful. The four moved slowly, carefully, fearful of stumbling into a fatal zone.

“What did the bodies you saw at the Taichu Ancient Mine look like?” Ye Fan asked Li Desheng.

“Were they human?” Old Knife also pressed.

“All humanoid — but whether they were actually human bodies is hard to say. They were too far away. My Yin-Dark Eye could only make out their general outlines. There were men and women. Their clothing looked very ancient,” Li Desheng said, still visibly shaken.

“Perhaps among them are the corpses of ancient Holy Masters and Imperial Masters. Or perhaps they were entities that originally existed within the Taichu Ancient Mine itself…” Old Knife murmured.

“Fortunately, we saw no living beings.” Ye Fan felt some relief. The legends surrounding the Taichu Ancient Mine were numerous, each more horrifying than the last.

“Living beings that have survived in there since ancient times… just how few of those could there be…” Old Knife murmured.

“I wonder if those three beings who looked like divine gods from before are still nearby…” Li Desheng whispered.

Strictly speaking, it was precisely because of those three beings enveloped in halos of light that they had fled, nearly becoming trapped at the Taichu Ancient Mine.

“Let’s hope we never meet them again,” Chen Huaiyuan muttered.

“You two crow-mouths — can you please keep your lips sealed!” Old Knife’s eyes flew open, and he glared at them, deeply averse to such talk.

“Oh no.” Ye Fan looked toward the distant horizon, and his heart sank immediately.

Those two crow-mouths had actually spoken it into existence.

Though it was past midnight, the night was not dark — the bright moon hung high, and the boundless crimson earth was wrapped in a soft haze.

On the horizon, three figures had appeared, looking toward them. Each was surrounded by a halo of light, three figures standing there like divine beings.

The central figure was plain and hazy, giving an impression of unreality.

The figure on the left was wrapped in divine radiance, blazing and dazzling — like the sun itself — as though the sun god had descended to the mortal world.

The figure on the right, white robes dancing alongside flowing dark hair, was like the Moonlit Immortal Lady descended to the dust of the world, glittering with crystalline light.

“Three Forbidden Beings…”

“They truly want to drive us into the Taichu Ancient Mine!”

Chen Huaiyuan and Li Desheng, who had only just calmed down, began trembling again. Both desperately wanted to turn and run — but their legs refused to cooperate, shaking uncontrollably, leaving them rooted to the spot.

Ye Fan and Old Knife wanted to flee — but the Taichu Ancient Mine lay behind them, which made turning their backs deeply unwise.

But then something surprising and baffling happened. The three divine-like figures on the horizon suddenly turned and sprinted away — as if avoiding vipers and scorpions, as if confronting terrible ghosts. They fled at an incomprehensible speed.

Old Knife stood there with his jaw hanging open, utterly perplexed.

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan stared in stupefaction, stammering incoherently.

“Forbidden beings… afraid of us? How… how is that possible?”

“The divine beings… are running away. Am… am I seeing this correctly?!”

Though the distance was great and only blurred outlines were visible, Ye Fan felt a flash of recognition — and in an instant, understanding lit up within him.

“Oh, damn it all!”

He broke into a long stride and sprinted after them.

“He dares to chase down what exists alive in the Taichu Forbidden Zone?!” Chen Huaiyuan was stupefied.

“He’s lost his mind — truly lost it! The Excavation Lord has gone mad! He’s actually chasing three divine beings!” Li Desheng also cried out.

Old Knife stood still for a moment — and then suddenly leapt up. “Chase them! Those aren’t divine beings from the Taichu Ancient Mine — they’re people, just like us!”

“What? They’re people?!” Chen Huaiyuan’s courage surged back in an instant. He broke into a stream of furious curses. “Son of a — it was those three who scared us half to death and sent us running around like madmen, nearly got us killed in the Taichu Ancient Mine, and they’re human too?!”

Li Desheng also added his curses: “You rotten good-for-nothings — you nearly killed us and you’re human too?! I’ll— @#¥¥…”

It quickly occurred to them both: when the four of them had first spotted the three figures from the high ground, they had retreated to lower ground, where those three were no longer visible — and only then had they started fleeing. Which meant the other three had most likely also chosen to flee at that same moment. The elevated ground had simply blocked their view of each other.

Ye Fan was at the front. Old Knife was second. Chen Huaiyuan and Li Desheng brought up the rear. All four pursued relentlessly.

What was remarkable was that none of them shouted. All four pursued in complete silence.

The three figures ahead were extraordinarily fast and elusive — but they could not run freely at full power. They dared not go all out, afraid of accidentally stumbling into a deadly zone. Because of this, they could not shake off the four pursuers behind them.

Though he could only see blurred outlines, Ye Fan was almost certain now — those three were the Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool, Yao Xi, and the Holy Son Yao Guang.

He had known for some time that these three successors of the Holy Lands had come to the outer edges of the Taichu Ancient Mine to oversee the transport of stone materials — but he had never imagined that they, too, would end up lost in this place.

“These three nearly got us killed in the Taichu Ancient Mine. We’d be doing ourselves a disservice not to scare them half to death in return!” Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan both fumed through clenched teeth.

Ye Fan demonstrated his sentiment through action — pursuing the three Holy Land successors until they fled in utter disarray, not daring to pause for even a moment.

The venerable Holy Son and Holy Maidens — who always carried themselves with composed dignity — were now fleeing in absolute chaos, mistaking the people behind them for forbidden entities from within the mine.

“Something about them really does feel like humans, not mysterious beings.”

“True — their sleeves are billowing, and the one in front looks like a Daoist. And somehow they look familiar.”

“Most likely they are human. If they were terrifying beings, they would have already caught us.”

The Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool, Yao Xi, and Holy Son Yao Guang were, after all, extraordinary individuals. Even trapped in the Taichu Forbidden Zone, they did not descend into pure panic. They quickly made a judgment call — and then all three halted.

“Infinite Heavenly Venerable — could it be that some old acquaintances are before us?” Ye Fan saw them stop. He burst forward and called out, his Daoist salutation ringing through the air. It would be too awkward to remain completely silent.

It was not long before both groups converged.

The silver moon hung high. Its clear, soft light illuminated everything. Now that they stood face to face, each could see the other clearly.

Holy Son Yao Guang’s very hair glimmered with golden light, his entire body radiant. Although he bore no anger, the serene smile of former days was gone from his face, replaced by a faint furrow of the brow.

Yao Xi, in robes as white as snow, like an immortal untouched by the mortal world, arched her delicate brows slightly. “Daoist,” she said, “to think we would meet you here. You truly live up to your reputation as the martial uncle of Daoist Duan De.”

Daoist Duan De was known to many as an unscrupulous and morally deficient Daoist. Yao Xi’s phrasing was tactful but pointed. Being chased through the Taichu Forbidden Zone like this — anyone would have difficulty being pleased about it — but her composure held, and she chose not to express it openly.

“Infinite Heavenly Venerable.” Ye Fan recited the Daoist salutation. “This was entirely a misunderstanding.”

The Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool said nothing for a moment, then quietly asked, “Daoist, how did you end up here?”

“It’s a long story…”

Just then, Chen Huaiyuan and Li Desheng caught up. “Who are you people?! You nearly got us killed in the Taichu Ancient Mine!”

The two launched immediately into a barrage of complaints, leaving Holy Son Yao Guang, Yao Xi, and the Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool without a word to say in their defense.

After hearing those two out, the three realized that both groups had mutually terrified each other — it truly had been a “misunderstanding.”

Once the ill feelings were cleared away, Yao Xi said with a hint of grievance: “Daoist, you are quite comparable to that unscrupulous Daoist — you clearly recognized us, yet said nothing and just kept chasing us from behind.”

Holy Son Yao Guang also said, “Brother Daoist, that joke went a bit too far.”

The Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool’s voice rang like heavenly music: “Daoist, you nearly chased us into a deadly zone.”

“It was entirely a misunderstanding,” Ye Fan deflected and changed the subject. “How is it that you also ended up lost in the Taichu Forbidden Zone?”

“We were originally on the outer edges of the Taichu Forbidden Zone…”

According to the three’s account, their ordeal was nearly identical to Ye Fan’s group. A black windstorm had arisen outside the Life-Forbidden Zone, causing many casualties, and the three of them had been swept inside the Taichu Forbidden Zone.

Upon learning that the three were successors of the Holy Lands, Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan dared not make any more noise. Old Knife, as always, remained entirely composed.

Once they understood each other’s reasons for being here, all seven felt a wave of shared exasperation — every one of them had been swept in by that same black windstorm.

“Daoist, the lengths you go to just to observe the Taichu Ancient Mine from a distance…” Holy Son Yao Guang shook his head.

Having now pooled their experiences within the Forbidden Zone, the three Holy Land successors were quite astonished. They had not expected Ye Fan to be so formidable — to have broken through a situation that should have meant certain death.

“I feel that if we cross the blood-colored plain ahead of us, we should be able to leave the Forbidden Zone,” Old Knife said.

Ye Fan and the three Holy Land successors all nodded. They had the same feeling.

The seven set off together. After traveling over sixty li, they came upon a pine forest stretching across their path.

Bright moonlight shining between the pines, a clear spring trickling over stones — this was the true sight before them.

The pines swayed gently. A spring murmured. The moonlight shimmered in the stream, filling the air with a serene clarity.

The Taichu Ancient Mine was a Life-Forbidden Zone, where nothing should grow — how could a place like this exist here?

The group was bewildered, deeply surprised and astonished.

“Something in there is glowing…” Holy Son Yao Guang’s gaze was deep and penetrating, as though it could pierce through the entire pine forest.

The spring water rippled softly over the smooth blue stones, pure and bright as white silk. The seven entered the forest — and indeed found light flickering and flashing within. Something was glowing there.

“This is… a skeleton!”

Everyone was startled. Beneath an ancient pine stood a set of gleaming-white bones, translucent and shimmering with a jade-like luster, radiating light in the moonlight.

“The person who owned this body must have cultivated to an astonishing degree in life. Even after so many years, the bones are still this lustrous and pure — it’s beyond imagination.”

“There’s a jade pendant here,” Yao Xi said, discovering a piece of warm jade in the stream, carved in the shape of a dragon and shimmering with a treasure’s luster.

“This belonged to an Imperial Master of the Great Xia!” the Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool exclaimed in astonishment.

Such a jade pendant could only be carried by an Imperial Master of the Great Xia — it was a symbol of status and identity.

Everyone was equally stunned. The Great Xia Dynasty had endured for over a hundred thousand years — and yet one of its cultivation-shaking Imperial Masters had died here.

“And so the stories prove true — the Taichu Ancient Mine has claimed Holy Masters and Imperial Masters alike,” Holy Son Yao Guang reflected. He could not help but wonder, in silence, whether he himself would one day end up here.

“He died here without even entering the Taichu Ancient Mine. There must be some unfathomable danger in this place. We should leave immediately!” Yao Xi’s flawless features rippled with unease, her beautiful eyes sweeping toward the depths of the pine forest.

Everyone felt a chill settle over them. An Imperial Master of an immortal dynasty whose cultivation shook heaven and earth — and even he had perished here. This place was not as peaceful as it appeared.

“Leave — now!” Ye Fan had just remembered something. He was the first to retreat.

By now, the group regarded him as their “Excavation Lord.” Seeing him react like this made their alarm even sharper, and all of them immediately spread their feet and retreated.

“Daoist, is there something wrong here? Have you perceived something?” the Holy Maiden of Yaocha Pool asked softly, her jade-like form carrying a faint, ethereal fragrance.

“This place should not have a pine forest or a clear spring — by all rights, it should be desolate and lifeless. When something reaches an extreme, it must turn back to the opposite…” Ye Fan’s unease rose inside him. The Source Heaven Scripture contained a warning: “When the extreme manifests and the opposite begins, retreat at once.”

And that warning was not addressed to ordinary people — it was addressed to Source Heaven Masters.

The latter half of the Source Heaven Scripture had mentioned this kind of terrain — landscapes that defied natural logic, that should not exist at all. Beneath such places, something incomprehensible must lie buried, and even a Source Heaven Master must withdraw and retreat.

Ye Fan’s heart was hammering. This was a ground formation capable of slaying a Source Heaven Master — a cursed earth he could not possibly calculate through with his current level.

“To think I would actually encounter this ‘extreme-reversal’ terrain in my lifetime — and it appears in the comparatively later portion of the Source Heaven Scripture’s back half…” he murmured inwardly. There was no way he could break through this now.

Not even the founding ancestor of the Zhang Family — a Source Heaven Master reborn — would have been guaranteed to break it.

Ye Fan’s back was drenched in cold sweat. Step by step he retreated. The fabric of his shirt at his back was soaked through. Everyone felt his tension, and all of them held their breath and followed him back.

They exited the pine forest — and still nothing terrible occurred. The spring tinkled on, clear and pleasant, threading through the trees, utterly peaceful.

An Imperial Master whose cultivation shook the world had died here — how could there be no danger? It was absolutely cursed earth, stained with blood.

And yet the group had retreated several hundred zhang out, and still nothing appeared.

“Swish!”

Ye Fan burst into extreme speed, leaving behind only a flickering afterimage, and in the blink of an eye was gone. Retreating slowly was no solution.

“Everyone — we rely on our own luck from here! If we survive, meet fifty li out!”

That the “Excavation Lord” who had led them out of the Taichu Ancient Mine would react this way — the terror it inspired in the remaining six was visceral. With the sound of broken air trailing behind him, they each deployed their own abilities and fled with everything they had.

Ye Fan fled for his life, cold air rising from his back. The Taichu Forbidden Zone was too terrifying — deadly formations in every direction. He felt this place was no less lethal than the ancient mine itself.