Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
The sounds of air being split apart were unceasing, and streaks of divine radiance shot toward the shattered stone mountain from all directions — like a meteor shower blazing across the sky.
Just moments ago, the Cornucopia had made a brief, stunning appearance. Though it had since departed, the boundless brilliance it had triggered had drawn all the nearby sentient weapons toward it.
“What fortune, what fortune!” The rotund Daoist grinned from ear to ear, dropped Ye Fan, and with remarkable agility shot into the sky — charging straight into that rain of light.
Simultaneously, divine rainbow streaks blazed from every direction, and all the cultivators in this area came rushing over, heading for the rain of light formed by the convergence of sentient weapons.
“Ah—!”
Yet this was no feast. The sentient weapons were flying at tremendous speed, ferociously lethal — they pierced through a dozen or so people on the spot and continued past, leaving behind only a field of blood and over a dozen corpses.
The rotund Daoist came scrambling back with a series of pained yells, dodging and leaping desperately. A golden short sword was embedded in his rear end, and in his hands he clutched a vivid blood-red shield.
Though he was wincing and baring his teeth, there were no actual wounds on his body. After pulling the golden short sword out of his rear, no blood flowed, and he carried on as if nothing had happened: “When a sentient weapon refuses to stop on its own, it’s really quite difficult to intercept.”
Relatively speaking, he had been fortunate. The majority of those who had charged in just now had been pierced straight through — many dying tragic deaths.
With a whoosh, the rotund Daoist went charging off again, and the other cultivators rode their divine rainbow streaks in hot pursuit, unwilling to give up the chance to seize spiritual treasures.
At that moment, quite a few more streaks of light came shooting toward this area. Some landed directly on nearby mountain peaks, and a fair number of radiant streaks fell at Ye Fan’s location as well. Yet once he caught a clear look at what these things were, he immediately lost all interest — most were rubble that had gone flying when the Demon Emperor’s burial mound shattered.
Quite a few cultivators came rushing over, searching across the mountain peaks and repeatedly glancing at Ye Fan.
Clang!
At that moment, another object dropped from the sky, landing directly on the ground. Ye Fan had barely picked it up before several cultivators surrounded him. This made him feel quite frustrated — there was no way to gain anything today. Even if he were lucky enough to get a hundred sentient weapons, he would have no hope of keeping them.
“If any of you want it, go ahead and take it.” He tossed what was in his hand directly onto the ground.
“Who wants a piece of green scrap metal!”
“And here I thought it was some treasure — nothing but a useless scrap of copper.”
The several cultivators said as much, but still picked it up and examined it carefully. After confirming it was just a scrap of copper, they tossed it back to Ye Fan.
“Might as well keep it yourself.”
“Whose child is this — running around everywhere at such a young age. Truly has a death wish.”
The cultivators departed disappointed, heading for the other mountain peaks.
Ye Fan picked up that palm-sized copper plate from the ground, weighed it a few times, and found it remarkably heavy — as though it were a fragment that had crumbled off some vessel.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Another dozen or so cultivators descended, first conducting a thorough search across this mountain peak, then took the scrap copper from Ye Fan’s hand, probed it with their divine sense, and ultimately tossed it back to him before breaking away through the air. And so it went — in total, over a dozen successive batches of cultivators appeared on this mountain peak, and nearly every one of them examined the scrap copper in Ye Fan’s hand before finally returning it. Ye Fan was truly at a loss for words. These people had practically dug three feet into the ground, yet even examined the green copper in his hands this meticulously — as though wanting to find every last thing. His chances of obtaining a single sentient weapon today were harder than ascending to heaven.
At last, the rotund Daoist flew back with his wide grin, evidently pleased with his gains.
“Hmm, kid — what are you hiding? Hold on, don’t run — let this Dao master take a look. Could it be another demon has latched onto you? I’ll subdue it for you.”
“This time there’s no way I’m giving you the treasure.” Ye Fan pretended to tuck the scrap copper away into his breast.
Upon hearing this, the rotund Daoist’s face immediately lit up with delight: “It seems this poor Daoist is truly fated with little friend — the fourth chance to vanquish demons and dispel evil has arrived.”
“Drop it! If you want this treasure, you’ll have to trade something for it.” Ye Fan held out a hand. Though he thought this rotund Daoist was truly unscrupulous and detestable, he didn’t strike him as someone who would resort to outright murder on the spot. So he wasn’t particularly afraid of him.
“We have met time and again, which proves our fated bond is real. How about this — I shall give you a legendary supreme treasure.” Saying this, the rotund Daoist reached into his breast.
“Who said anything about a fated bond with you — the best outcome would be to never meet again in this entire lifetime.” When Ye Fan saw what the rotund Daoist handed over, he grew even more indignant. The jade pendant was utterly dull, without a trace of luster. Calling it jade was a kindness — it was no different from a broken stone, and worst of all, a corner was chipped off.
Ye Fan was on the verge of throwing it away, but the rotund Daoist stopped him. He shoved it forcibly into Ye Fan’s breast pocket: “Keep it — this is a fine thing. It might just save your life one day.” With that said, the rotund Daoist smoothly reclaimed the scrap copper.
“Boundless your— this is what you call a treasure? It’s nothing but a lump of worn copper!” The rotund Daoist cast Ye Fan a sideways glance, but showed not the slightest carelessness. He turned it over and over, examining it seriously and meticulously, for a full quarter of an hour — and in the end even extended his divine sense to study it again and again.
Clang!
At last, the rotund Daoist dropped the copper block on the ground, a face full of disappointment: “Seems I was overthinking it. You’d best keep this treasure for yourself.”
Ye Fan was utterly contemptuous of this unscrupulous Daoist. He had never seen someone this greedy — scrutinizing even a piece of rusty copper for this long.
“Brilliant jade obscured by dust, unrecognized by the eye — well, since that’s how it is, I’ll keep it for myself.” Ye Fan casually grabbed the copper plate. So many cultivators had examined the scrap copper repeatedly, and he truly didn’t believe it was any kind of treasure — he had only said what he said to needle the unscrupulous Daoist.
At this moment he had no desire to linger in this wasteland any further and wanted to leave.
The unscrupulous Daoist made no move to stop him, muttering all the while: “Where is the Eastern Desolation human clan’s supreme treasure…” He strolled back and forth across the mountain with his hands clasped behind his back.
Before long, Ye Fan had traveled far from that area. No cultivators were visible around him. He began to circulate the profound techniques recorded in the Scripture of the Dao, charging swiftly out of the wasteland.
The golden sea of bitterness within him sent out streams of golden silk, flowing through every part of his body, nourishing his flesh, organs, and bones, filling him with a sense of power throughout — and his running speed grew faster and faster.
“Hm?!”
At that moment, Ye Fan was greatly startled. Looking down, he found that the scrap copper had undergone a peculiar change — much of the rust had fallen away, and it had somehow become antique and grand in bearing.
That was right — at a rough glance it still appeared quite ordinary, like a shard broken off from some vessel. But look more carefully, and one could feel an indescribable quality flowing through it at this moment — a sense of endless antiquity, profundity, and impressive bearing that defied description.
Ye Fan circulated the profound techniques of the Scripture of the Dao, shooting threads of golden silk from his fingertips toward the copper plate. Yet no matter how much golden power he poured from his golden sea of bitterness into it, the green copper showed not the slightest change — remaining antique, silent, and still.
This thing seems unusual…
Ye Fan tucked the green copper into his breast pocket and stopped investigating it, resuming his run. The golden sea of bitterness within him continued to pour out golden silk, providing him a ceaseless supply of vital energy, making his running speed grow faster and faster.
Hiss!
All at once, Ye Fan jolted. He felt a sudden chill below his navel, followed by the sensation of something extra within his sea of bitterness. He hastily stopped, and the green copper in his breast had vanished. He thought of something in an instant, and quickly turned his perception inward.
This… The green copper had appeared within his sea of bitterness, resting there still and motionless — like an eternal boulder, steady and imposing.
His golden sea of bitterness, the size of a soybean, hung like a gleaming bright moon in the darkness. Inside it, besides a single extremely minute golden scroll, there was now an additional piece of antique green copper. It occupied the center, having pushed the golden scroll off to one side.
Though the golden page radiated streams of divine radiance, glittering with light as brilliant as the stars, it could not move the green copper even the slightest fraction — and could only be squeezed to the margins of the golden sea of bitterness.
What on earth is this green copper… Ye Fan’s heart was filled with profound shock. As he peered intently into the golden sea of bitterness, he found that upon the antique green copper, countless mysterious Dao-runes had appeared.