Whenever Ye Fan encountered the helpless — the old, the young, the sick, the disabled — a pang of bitterness would always well up in his heart. Yet the moment he laid eyes on those who bullied the weak and committed wicked deeds, he would become utterly merciless, his heart turning cold as ice. It seemed contradictory, yet it was simply the truth of his nature — an excess of compassion coexisting with cold ruthlessness, and he himself did not know which side he leaned toward more.
As it was now. He was absolutely without mercy, without the slightest pity, standing with one foot pressed down upon the face of the Li Family’s Seventh Young Master. His voice was frigid as he said: “If you don’t want to suffer, answer whatever I ask. Otherwise, you’ll understand the consequences.”
“You little brat…”
Thud!
Ye Fan sent him flying with a single kick. Every tooth in the Li Family’s Seventh Young Master’s mouth came loose. His fair and tender cheeks swelled up completely, blood gushing from his mouth and nose.
“Look at that smooth, delicate skin of yours — the spitting image of a eunuch. Not going to talk? Fine, I’ll make you one in truth.” Ye Fan once again brought forth the golden book, like a severed arc of rainbow light fixed in the darkness, its radiance brilliant and resplendent.
“You… you dare do what?” The Li Family’s Seventh Young Master was filled with absolute terror.
“Make you a eunuch!”
“No — I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!” The Li Family’s Seventh Young Master was so frightened his face contorted. For a man, this was a fate worse than death.
“What a spineless wretch.”
Ye Fan sat down on a nearby green boulder and listened quietly as the young man recounted the past. Sure enough, Tingting’s parents had been killed by several cultivators from the Li Family. At considerable cost, they had obtained a rare drug from other cultivators — one that could drive powerful wild beasts into a frenzied rampage. They had secretly administered it to Tingting’s parents, and when the two went out to gather spiritual herbs, they were torn to pieces by a terrifying lightning bird.
Of course, there were also a number of filthy dealings and shadowy schemes within the story, enough to make anyone’s blood boil upon hearing them. Ye Fan sighed and said: “Whether it’s the mortal world or the world of cultivators, there is no difference. Wherever there are people, there will be the tangled web of human nature and grudges. Not even cultivators are exempt from such common failings.”
Ye Fan reached into the man’s robes and retrieved a wooden box, then kicked him aside. By the light of the stars and the moon, he slowly opened the somewhat heavy sandalwood box.
Inside lay a pale yellow stone fragment, roughly the thickness of a thumb and one knuckle in length. Though it was a very small piece, it was surprisingly heavy in his hand, and Ye Fan felt from it a surge of vigorous, thriving vitality.
“According to ancient records, in the age when heaven and earth’s combined breath gave birth to all things, plants and trees flourished in abundance, living creatures were powerful, spiritual medicines were inexhaustible, and many ‘Origin Stones’ were formed — crystalline like amber, yet sealing within them vast amounts of life essence. Is this… an Origin Stone?”
Examining it repeatedly in the moonlight, Ye Fan discovered that the interior of this Origin Stone was filled with impurities — the crystalline portion occupied no more than one-third of its whole. This was somewhat disappointing; it was not a pure Origin Stone.
Even so, he was more than satisfied. Within this amber-like curious stone dwelled a supremely vigorous current of life essence, with something like flowing mist and rosy light swirling within.
“What a treasure. I wonder how far this will allow me to open up the Bitter Sea!”
“That’s mine…” Not far away, the Li Family’s Seventh Young Master groaned in a pool of blood, grinding his teeth, his eyes brimming with venomous hatred and fury.
“Wasn’t this Origin Stone discovered inside an ancient cave deep in the mountains? Is there truly only this one piece, with nothing else?”
Under Ye Fan’s relentless methods, the Li Family’s Seventh Young Master disclosed everything without the slightest concealment. Inside that ancient cave had been a cultivator who had passed away in seated meditation. The era was so distant that even the skeleton had crumbled to dust, leaving behind only this single Origin Stone.
“What a shame. I was hoping to collect several pieces.” Ye Fan felt even he was being a little greedy.
“I’ve told you everything — can’t you spare my life?” A flicker of desperate hope shone in the Seventh Young Master’s eyes. Of course he knew it was nothing more than wishful thinking; the other party would never let him go.
“When you plotted to murder Tingting’s parents, did you feel even a shred of compassion? When you bullied and oppressed an elderly man like Old Uncle Jiang and a helpless little girl like Tingting, did you ever think to leave them a way out?”
Ye Fan sent him flying with another kick and said: “I’ll give you one chance — end it yourself and spare yourself further suffering. I haven’t killed anyone yet, and I’d rather not have blood on my hands.”
“You… you haven’t killed anyone…” The Li Family’s Seventh Young Master trembled with rage, shouting: “You… you deserve to be struck by lightning!”
Ye Fan kicked him up against a boulder and said: “Smash your own head in. If you force me to act, I’ll castrate you first, and then take your life.”
At this moment, the Li Family’s Seventh Young Master was so mortified he was ready to go mad. What a wretched way to die — his killer didn’t even deign to raise a hand, demanding that he finish himself off.
“You little bastard, you absolute scoundrel! I… even as a ghost I won’t let you go!” The Seventh Young Master coughed up blood continuously in his fury.
Ye Fan sat on a nearby green boulder and said: “Enough useless words. Get on with it yourself — I have no patience.”
“You… I…” The Seventh Young Master was so stifled he could barely speak, and finally let out a great roar: “May you die a miserable death!”
Thud!
He slammed his own head against the boulder and died.
“You ran into it yourself — I never killed anyone,” Ye Fan said, standing up and beginning to erase all traces. It took a full hour to wipe everything clean, after which he made his way back toward the small town.
Though he appeared calm on the surface, his palms had long since broken into a sweat. This was the first time in his life he had killed an enemy. Even though the Seventh Young Master had been guilty of a multitude of crimes and deserved to die, Ye Fan still felt a degree of unease.
After seizing the Origin Stone, Ye Fan did not rush to cultivate. He knew full well that the Origin Stone contained an enormous reserve of life essence, and once broken open, it would release a surging tide of origin energy — one moment of carelessness and others might detect it. For now, caution in all things was paramount.
In the two days that followed, Qingfeng Town remained quiet. It was only on the third day, when two other cultivators from the Li Family returned from Yanxia Grotto-Heaven, that everything erupted into chaos, the turbulence spreading across the entire small town.
“The Li Family’s Seventh Young Master has gone missing.”
“How can a cultivator just vanish like that?”
“This is the Li Family’s retribution!”
“What retribution — it must have been the Wang Family. Other than the Li Family’s rivals, who would dare do such a thing? Who else would have the power?”
“Right. Word from the Li Family’s servants is that it was most likely that Origin Stone from a while back that brought this trouble.”
…
Even the ordinary residents of Qingfeng Town were talking like this, which showed just how massive the uproar had become. The Li Family, from top to bottom, was thoroughly enraged — and at the same time, somewhat afraid.
At first, Ye Fan paid it little mind. The two people who had returned to the Li Family had not yet reached the Life Spring realm and could not yet ride a rainbow arc through the air; they were not particularly fearsome. But before many days had passed, things took a turn he had not anticipated, as the disturbance gradually grew larger.
Yanxia Grotto-Heaven had actually sent people — several cultivators at the Life Spring realm arrived in person, had the Li Family lead the way, and went straight to the ancient cave where the Origin Stone had been discovered. Shortly afterward, cultivators from the Wang Family also invited their own sect members, who entered the deep mountains to search for that ancient cave. The two sides very nearly came to violent conflict.
“Has a vein of Origin Stones been discovered here?” On this very day, over a dozen mounted riders arrived in Qingfeng Town, all astride extraordinary savage beasts — each one covered in glistening scales and adorned with prominent horns.
The mount at the center was the most remarkable of all. Its entire body was draped in golden scales, a brilliant divine radiance wreathed around it, as though golden flames were burning upon it. In form it resembled a golden divine Houwu, yet its head bore two branching horns suffused with golden light — noble and imposing beyond measure. Its four hooves did not touch the ground; it hovered over three inches in the air, moving entirely through the void. One could only imagine the power and ferocity of such a beast.
Seated atop the golden divine Houwu was a young man of around twenty-four or twenty-five. He wore a white robe and looked refined and scholarly, a gentle smile on his face. He was exceedingly handsome, his eyes like still water with a subtle divine radiance flowing within them — one could truly call him a man of jade-like bearing.
Flanking him on either side were two more riders. To the left was a cyan-hued beast in form resembling a lion-tiger hybrid. Its long cyan fur was remarkably clean, as lustrous as jade, with shimmering radiance flowing through it. Upon its head grew a single jade horn that blazed with five-colored divine light. This five-colored beast, too, traveled through the void without touching the ground. Seated upon it was a young man of sixteen or seventeen, dressed in cyan robes, brimming with a heroic air, yet with an unmistakable undercurrent of arrogance — he seemed to hold everything in the town in contempt.
On the other side rode a beast of shimmering silver, shaped like a divine deer, its entire body blanketed in silver scales. At the center of its forehead grew a single vertical eye, and a sacred, luminous aura radiated from its whole form. It too glided through the air without touching the ground, utterly untainted. Seated upon it was a young woman of sixteen or seventeen — skin like congealed cream, eyes like misty autumn waters, lips a delicate red. She was quite beautiful, yet gave one an unapproachable feeling, carrying a faint air of pride.
The dozen or more beasts that followed behind the three were also each extraordinary — all remarkably rare breeds, some blanketed in glistening scales, others as lustrous as jade, each radiating various glows. The riders upon them ranged from their twenties to their forties; whether male or female, all carried a fierce killing air, and a powerful battle intent gathered around them.
In the distance, Ye Fan took in the whole scene and could not help but draw a sharp breath. Who on earth were these people? They were anything but ordinary!
Setting aside the three at the front, merely the dozen or so riders at their backs were no less formidable than the members of the ancient desolate clans and Sacred Grounds he had seen before the Demon Emperor’s burial mound — a powerful battle intent and killing aura swept over him head-on.
“Excuse me — is there anyone in this town by the surname Jiang?” At that moment, one of the riders stepped forward on orders to ask the townsfolk.
Ye Fan’s heart gave a sudden lurch. Why were they looking for someone surnamed Jiang?