Ye Fan and Pang Bo had overpowered Han Feiyu utterly, dropping jaws across the audience. In everyone’s eyes, these two boys of eleven or twelve were ferociously capable beyond all expectation — clearly without a divine power wellspring, they had beaten an elder’s grandson into a stupor, nearly crippling him. The many spectators were left completely agape.
“Those two are absolutely terrifying!”
“They can’t be more than eleven or twelve — how in the world do they have such strength?”
“Bare-handed combat, and they overpowered Han Feiyu — even sent the Azure Wood Seal bestowed by Elder Han flying. Truly unbelievable!”
The onlookers broke into a buzz of discussion.
By now, even the disciples under the other cliff faces — those who had joined earlier and whose cultivation ran deeper — had noticed what had happened over here. Upon learning that Han Feiyu, grandson of Elder Han, had been beaten senseless, an uproar spread through them all.
“Those two boys look quite refined and genteel. How can they be so fierce? You really can’t judge a book by its cover…”
Ye Fan and Pang Bo had kept a very low profile all along, but now they had become the focus of everyone’s attention. Disciples from under the other cliff faces, upon hearing what had happened, also pressed toward this spot — eager to see these two remarkable individuals.
“What — Pang Bo is an Immortal Seedling?”
When the crowd learned this news, astonishment swept through them. The disciples who had been initiated earlier understood clearly what being an Immortal Seedling meant — it was to become Spirit Void Cave Heaven’s inheritor and hope for the future; a figure who could potentially lead the sect to glory and prominence.
“An Immortal Seedling — no wonder he’s so extraordinarily powerful. He truly carries an exceptional gift.”
“Han Feiyu has really kicked an iron wall this time. Even if he wanted revenge later, he’d have no grounds to act on it. He’s just going to have to swallow this humiliation…”
Now, as everyone looked again at Pang Bo, their expressions were complex — they could not quite say what they felt. Many quickly made up their minds: they would befriend Pang Bo in the future.
Meanwhile, Ye Fan and Pang Bo were not idle in the slightest, and paid not the least bit of attention to the gaze of the crowd. They went about picking up the small jade vials from the ground one by one — a full thirty-some vials of Hundred Herb Fluid in total. The several youths who had first provoked the confrontation had been planted headfirst in the mud by Ye Fan and Pang Bo, but all the Hundred Herb Fluid they had seized from others had been left behind.
Newly initiated disciples could receive one vial of Hundred Herb Fluid only once every three months — that alone conveyed how precious it was. To now have more than thirty vials in hand at once sent a wave of envy through the onlookers.
“Those guys who developed divine rune patterns ought to have even better things on them…”
Ye Fan and Pang Bo were far from satisfied. They turned their eyes toward the several young men planted in the mud. Each of these men had cultivated a thread of divine power and nurtured a divine rune pattern within their Bitter Sea — their cultivation was a cut above that of ordinary disciples, and they were certain to be better “stocked.”
The two exchanged a glance, then began their “uprooting” — pulling the five young men out of the mud pond in turn, and going through their belongings one by one.
“How can each of them only have a few vials of Hundred Herb Fluid on them…”
Ye Fan and Pang Bo searched all five men from head to toe, and found that each one carried only five vials of Hundred Herb Fluid — fewer than what they had already collected. The look of dissatisfaction on the two of them left the watching crowd utterly speechless.
On this day every cliff face had distributed Hundred Herb Fluid, with the quantity varying according to cultivation level. Five vials per person for these young practitioners was already considered quite good.
Li Fei and Wang Jing had not yet left, and they watched everything unfold. The two of them looked at each other, genuinely at a loss for words — they had truly never encountered a pair of junior sect members quite like these.
By now, the several young men lay sprawled on the ground limp as wet clay, still without the strength to get up. Ye Fan and Pang Bo finished picking through them, exchanged a glance, and then quite unscrupulously tossed them back into the lotus pond — though this time without the headfirst planting, for fear of causing deaths over too long a period. They then pulled the original group of youths out as well and tossed them into the muddy water too.
Finally, Ye Fan and Pang Bo approached the Azure Wood Seal. They tried pushing it — it was far too heavy. Even if they could lift it, it was not something they could actually use in combat. They gave it a few kicks, then strode away.
The crowd stood in a collective daze. These two were absolutely like a swarm of locusts — in broad daylight, without so much as a quickened pulse or a guilty conscience, they stripped a whole group of people clean, and had even tried to haul off the Azure Wood Seal…
“Senior Brother Li Fei! Senior Sister Wang Jing — thank you!” Ye Fan and Pang Bo shouted their thanks from the distance after pushing through the crowd, then quickly departed.
Han Feiyu’s expression was ashen with fury, his heart seething. Not even bothering to retrieve the Azure Wood Seal, he headed directly toward a valley deep within Spirit Void Cave Heaven.
The valley was wide and spacious, medicinal fields everywhere, densely planted with rare and exotic flowers and herbs, the fragrance of medicine permeating the air, spiritual energy swirling in mists. The entire valley was filled with precious medicinal materials — no other vegetation at all — and the medicinal fragrance and plant essence emanating from all the spiritual herbs as they grew had made this place something very nearly like a spiritual valley.
Some medicine attendants along the path bowed in greeting toward Han Feiyu, but he ignored them all, dark-faced, and walked straight to a cave dwelling deep in the valley. Here the medicinal fragrance was even more concentrated. Arranged in a row before the cave entrance stood eighteen medicinal cauldrons, each half a person’s height — it was impossible to tell what metal they were forged from, but they had an ancient, weighty appearance.
“Feiyu, how did you end up looking like this?” A hoarse, aged voice spoke from deep within the cave dwelling. The person did not come out, yet seemed to perceive everything outside completely.
“Among those two — one of them is an Immortal Seedling…” Han Feiyu stood outside the cave entrance, teeth clenched, and gave his great-uncle a detailed account of what had transpired.
“Had I known sooner that these two consumed divine medicine, I would have needed only a little of their blood, and it would have been sufficient. It is a pity — by the time I received word, it was already too late. Now things are somewhat more troublesome.” With those words said, Elder Han inside the cave fell silent. A very long while passed before he spoke again: “That Immortal Seedling… do not go near him. As for the other one — wait and see.”
“What does Great-Uncle mean…” Two sharp points of light flashed in Han Feiyu’s eyes.
“What I mean is, do nothing for now. Just go and cultivate properly.” After saying this, no further sound came from within the cave. It fell completely silent.
“Understood!” Han Feiyu was deeply unwilling, but he did not dare disobey Elder Han. He bowed toward the cave entrance and then turned and departed.
Ye Fan and Pang Bo returned to their dwelling and began tallying their spoils. In total they had gathered sixty-six vials of Hundred Herb Fluid — nothing short of a windfall.
“Young Master Han really is a generous soul…” The two of them expressed this shared sentiment.
After the two of them had finished sorting through the small jade vials, they gradually settled back into calm. Though they had defeated Han Feiyu and his group today, a strong sense of crisis had taken root within them. Physical dominance alone — possessing the strength of a flood dragon and a great elephant — might allow them to reign supreme among ordinary people, but when facing those who had cultivated a thread of divine power and could wield mystical divine techniques, raw strength alone ultimately lacked variety and adaptability, and was difficult to match.
They had to cultivate harder now — open the Bitter Sea, attune to the Wheel of Life, let the divine spring flow. Only with the divine power wellspring at their command could they truly grow strong. That was the very foundation of what it meant to be a cultivator.
With this sense of crisis firmly planted within them, both of them felt an urgent desire to become stronger, and threw themselves into their cultivation with renewed determination. Over the following two days, Pang Bo drank six vials of Hundred Herb Fluid in succession, combining it with the mystical cultivation methods recorded in the Dao Scripture. His Bitter Sea finally expanded by another measure. But then, when he drank the seventh vial, he immediately sensed that something was wrong — the vital energy within his Bitter Sea surged about in chaos, and the pain was like needles stabbing him from within.
“Terrible — haste makes waste. The transmitting elder did warn us: disciples who have just begun their cultivation cannot withstand the impact of too much Hundred Herb Fluid. One vial every three months really does have reason behind it…” Pang Bo was drenched in cold sweat and suffered through it with grim determination.
“I’ll go get help.” Ye Fan moved to push the door open.
“No need — I can grit my teeth and get through it.” Pang Bo insisted, refusing to let anyone be called. He endured for the better part of a full day before the pain gradually faded, and then smiled bitterly: “I see. Food really must be eaten one bite at a time, and a road really must be walked one step at a time. Ordinary disciples get one vial every three months — and I, an Immortal Seedling, drank six or seven vials in two days. That’s already defying all convention.”
Then Pang Bo looked puzzled and said: “You also drank six or seven vials — how are you not in any pain at all? In fact, your spirit and vitality seem more full than ever. What’s going on? Is your Bitter Sea still completely still?”
Ye Fan shook his head. His Wheel of Life and Bitter Sea remained utterly motionless — not a ripple of any kind. The only benefit he had gotten from cultivating the Dao Scripture was that his spirit and vitality grew ever more abundant.
“Drinking six or seven vials with not a single adverse reaction — it seems you’re still well within your limit. Ye Fan, keep increasing the amount. Maybe something unusual will come of it.”
“That won’t do. With my constitution, drinking any amount of Hundred Herb Fluid is a waste. Better to save it for you to use for breakthroughs — to reach a higher realm sooner, with the divine spring flowing freely.”
“Don’t worry. Now that they’ve confirmed me as an Immortal Seedling, this kind of Hundred Herb Fluid will certainly never be in short supply going forward. Elder Wu Qingfeng has said more than once that a cultivator’s state of mind is very important. He clearly knows my potential, and yet he doesn’t want me to feel a sense of privilege — that’s exactly why he sent me to Spirit Void Cliff to learn the Dharma. That alone speaks for itself. The way things are now is surely meant to temper my disposition. I believe everything will change in time, and Hundred Herb Fluid will definitely not be scarce.”
Pang Bo made a great deal of sense, and Ye Fan pressed the matter no further. There was no need for ceremony or courtesy between the two of them. They began consuming the Hundred Herb Fluid in large quantities.
One vial. Two vials. Three vials…
Ye Fan silently circulated the mystical method recorded in the Dao Scripture. At this moment, he himself felt nothing out of the ordinary — yet a strange transformation was quietly beginning to unfold within his body…