Chapter 1125: God Mineral

Dazzling, crystal-clear light poured down like liquid. After it spilled, skeletal creatures shrieked in agony. The ghostly flames in their skulls extinguished, turning into wisps of smoke, and their bone bodies shattered inch by inch, becoming white powder.

What is this? Its aura is peaceful and sacred, capable of purifying this world!

Ye Fan was astonished. Beside him, ghosts without physical bodies melted away quickly like ice and snow, vanishing into thin air.

Deep within the forbidden zone, the roars grew increasingly terrifying. Streams of dark light emanated, like a black sun rising, casting rays of demonic light.

"So powerful!" Ye Fan retreated, teleporting thousands of miles away. He sensed a dangerous aura, vast enough to cover the sky and earth, approaching. If he hadn't retreated, he would have been like a small boat in a raging sea, liable to capsize at any moment.

Cracking sounds filled the air. The world itself became unstable. Even after retreating thousands of miles, the bone mountains were collapsing, and the scattered bones on the ground were turning into dust, becoming pristine white bone powder.

"Saint-level power!" Ye Fan's expression changed. He hadn't expected to encounter an ancient saint-level being in the first battle of the trial grounds. It was clear how terrifying the path ahead would be.

Countless withered bones covered the land, like endless white snow, vast and boundless, stretching as far as the eye could see, extending to the horizon where heaven and earth met.

And precisely at that edge, a black sun slowly rose from the sea of bones. It was immeasurably vast, filling the sky, with billions of dark light rays intertwining into black chains of divine order, piercing through the void.

An ancient saint-level black sun!

Ye Fan opened his Heavenly Eye and observed carefully, wanting to see through its true nature. This black sun was comparable to a massive black mountain, confronting the brilliant immortal light in the sky.

The two were incompatible, inherently clashing. Light scattered chaotically, and laws intertwined, constantly annihilating each other. One was full of vitality, while the other inherently contained destructive power.

"Buzz." More immortal light poured down, tearing apart the leaden clouds and bringing light to this dark world, making it less dim.

Violent explosions erupted. Countless bone mountains burst open, bone fragments scattered everywhere, and skeletal beings wailed, struggled, and scattered in all directions.

"You sprinkle your so-called 'exploration seeds' in my death realm, conducting your experiments, yet you relentlessly slaughter my people. You will all die!"

A majestic voice emanated from the black sun. Its divine laws influenced the leaden clouds, causing them to boil and transform into death qi, engulfing the immortal light and re-shrouding the sky.

"Buzz!" A bone blade, brilliant as moonlight, shot up from the black sun, soaring beyond the sky and striking at the mysterious sacred light.

"Rumble!" The leaden clouds tore open, and an expanse of grand dao divine marks descended. The invader's laws were incredibly powerful, filled with sacred energy, repeatedly clashing with the bone blade.

Ancient saint-level! Ye Fan could be sure. Both sides were ancient saint-level figures, with heaven-shaking abilities. He was grateful he had retreated far enough; otherwise, he would have been reduced to dust.

"This is a dangerous world. No wonder past sages never returned. From ancient times until now, only three to five people have survived. The rest, including the Sacred Body, bled to death in the outer regions!"

His expression was solemn. This was just the beginning. He had already encountered such terrifying saint-level existences at the very first stop. The dangers and terrors of the subsequent trial grounds were imaginable.

A powerful life form resided within the black sun. It extended strands of dark light from its gaps, like tentacles, continuously clashing with the immortal light in the sky.

Death qi boiled. The black sun split into pieces, and from within, a mysterious ancient beast burst forth. More precisely, it was a skeletal being that had grown flesh and blood, appearing quite extraordinary.

On its back were bone spikes soaring into the sky. They were snow-white and sharp, capable of tearing apart the universe with a slight tremor, and each one was hundreds of feet long.

This was an otherworldly beast never before seen. It was massive and agile, with a body like a tiger or leopard, crocodile-like scales, divine deer antlers, eagle-like talons, and a scorpion tail, barbed and pointing skyward.

Aside from the snow-white, crystalline bone spikes on its back, sharp enough to tear apart the heavens, the rest of its body was like purple jade, glistening and brilliant. It appeared incredibly majestic, with sacred radiance swirling around it.

"Life from death!" Ye Fan was horrified, feeling an immense death qi. Every casual movement of this otherworldly beast released terrifying death qi from its body, shaking the entire world to the brink of collapse.

The giant beast, thousands of feet tall, roared wildly, shattering the dark clouds and revealing the scene in the firmament. Besides the sun, moon, and stars, there was a war chariot, as if a divine king were touring the lower realm.

"Boom!" Massive lightning, imbued with chaotic energy, struck down, hitting the beast. Thousands of saint-level dao marks sought to purify this world into a place full of vitality.

The immortal light from a moment ago had emanated from this ancient war chariot, casting rays of brilliance that permeated the realm of death.

"Who is in this war chariot?" Ye Fan wondered.

Having embarked on the path of the strongest trial, he finally saw some living beings, but each one was incredibly peculiar. This was a saint-level confrontation; he dared not approach.

"Roar..." The beast roared, battling the entity in the war chariot in the outer heavens, making the entire death realm tremble. The leaden clouds were ripped apart, and various lights poured down.

"You merely rely on your war chariot, repeatedly trespassing upon my realm. This time, I won't let you escape."

"Master of the Death Realm, I do not wish to offend," divine thoughts emanated from the war chariot. "The 'exploration seeds' were cast to detect a mineral we require. If you permit it, I will leave immediately after gathering it and never return."

Ye Fan was surprised inwardly, examining the colossal metal war chariot, thousands of feet long. He felt a profound grandeur. How valuable could something an ancient saint wanted to collect be?

"How dare you try to steal the divine materials belonging to my death realm? Don't dream about it!" The divine consciousness fluctuations from the beast were like shaking star fields, vast and boundless.

"These minerals are useless to you. I can exchange them with you," the fluctuations from within the metal warship continued. "I'll give you immeasurable corpses and death qi, allowing you to achieve breakthroughs in the future."

Ye Fan found it strange. Mining minerals? He thought of the Eternal Kingdom, whose people journeyed through space to refine the strongest evolution fluid, and extracting divine fluid was the highest goal for many throughout their lives.

But this metal war chariot looked very different from a flying saucer. Could it also be a product of combined technology and traces of the Grand Dao?

"No need!" The beast refused. The dozens of colossal bone spikes on its back all shot skyward, transforming into divine bone spears, piercing through the universe and lunging towards the massive metal warship. At the same time, it lunged forward itself, its antlers radiating five-colored divine light, turning the firmament into a black hole.

A great battle erupted. The two ancient saint-level beings surged into the outer regions, vanishing into the boundless cosmos to engage in a life-or-death showdown.

Ye Fan flashed, transforming into a streak of aurora, diving into the deepest part of the bone sea. He discovered one grand tomb after another, all constructed from bone fragments.

There were no less than dozens of them, and within each bone tomb lay a peculiar skeletal remnant, chillingly eerie and permeated with death qi!

These were left behind by the successive masters of the death realm after their demise. Most were shattered bones, having lost their luster, as their essence had been absorbed by subsequent inheritors.

Deep within the bone sea, the death qi was far more potent than anywhere else. It was the place where successive Lords of Death cultivated in seclusion and underwent closed-door training, referred to as the forbidden zone. Other skeletal beings dared not approach; only those who broke through to the saint realm dared to challenge it.

"Nothing of value here," Ye Fan murmured to himself. This was a world of death; it couldn't grow supreme herbs or nurture immortal elixirs, only bones and ghosts.

He looked up at the sky. The two ancient saint-level beings had battled into the outer heavens. The leaden clouds once again enveloped the world, making everything dim.

"This ancient planet doesn't seem very large. I can try to find that so-called rare mineral!"

Before this, he used the secret technique given to him by the old mansion master of Qishi Mansion. Chanting incantations, he sensed the fluctuations of an ancient secret formation. He discovered the formation gate deep underground, far from the forbidden zone. It was a self-proclaimed small world containing a small five-colored altar flow. Not even ancient saints could discover or enter it; only those who understood the array patterns could get in.

Ye Fan felt relieved; the ancient formation was still there. If the array platform had been destroyed, he would have had to repair it himself, which would have been a troublesome part of the trial.

Although the old saint of Qishi Mansion said that there would certainly be broken points on the path ahead that he would need to connect himself, he certainly didn't want to encounter such a difficult situation just half a year into his journey.

Ye Fan remembered where the extensive immortal light had just fallen. He quickly appeared in that area because those were "exploration seeds," likely very close to the rare mineral.

"Hmm, strange fluctuations!"

Sure enough, after he arrived in this area, faint, imperceptible fluctuations emanated from beneath the ground where the immortal light had fallen. Only someone with a physical body comparable to a saint, like him, could acutely perceive the subtle movements beneath his feet.

"Thump!" Ye Fan's entire body radiated golden light, transforming him into a golden war god. His powerful physical body effortlessly broke through, penetrating thousands of miles underground, reaching the core.

Apart from the magma, there was also an eerie and terrifying aura, as if he had reached the source of death, making his body feel on the verge of shattering and causing his hair to stand on end.

"What is that?"

Magma bubbled and flowed, intensely hot. An ordinary person would surely turn to ash here, but he remained unharmed.

In the magma, there was a millstone-sized stone, already cracked. Inside, it contained black liquid, as if black jade had melted. Dark light flowed, with specks of brilliance.

"This... an utterly terrifying death aura!"

Every wisp of aura emanating from there was deadly strong. Ye Fan was sure that an ordinary cultivator would be reduced to bones if they took even one breath, as it devoured life force.

"Is this the mineral that ancient saint was looking for? What is its purpose? Can it be refined into a supreme treasure, or perhaps extracted into a precious liquid?" Ye Fan murmured to himself.

He dared not get too close. This substance devoured life force. The transformation of this entire ancient planet into a desolate death zone was likely related to it.

Although this stone was only millstone-sized, Ye Fan felt as if he were facing a vast ocean of death. The black liquid contained within it made one's mind feel on the verge of collapse.

"This is definitely extraordinary. I'll put it away for now and study it in detail later."

Ye Fan took out a precious bottle, which was a king-level weapon. However, as soon as he put the millstone-sized stone into it, the jade bottle emitted a crisp cracking sound, and numerous cracks appeared.

"What kind of liquid is this, that it can destroy a king-tier divine weapon?!" He was greatly alarmed.

He showed an expression of disbelief. Then he took out a blood-red gourd. This was a half-saint level weapon, spoils of war he had taken from an ancient clan expert.

"Crack!" The same sound came again. The blood-red gourd also shattered, unable to contain the millstone-sized stone. The black liquid contained within, though glistening and crystalline, was horrifying to behold.

"This is outrageous! What kind of mineral is this? Is it as heavy as a hundred thousand mountains? Or is it inherently capable of destroying precious treasures?"

Ye Fan increasingly felt that this mysterious black liquid was extraordinary. He dared not touch it with his hand. He summoned the Mother Qi Cauldron of All Things and placed it inside.

This time, it went smoothly; there was no resistance, and the cauldron remained intact.

"I can't stay here long. Who knows what consequences taking this mineral will bring..."

After Ye Fan emerged from underground, he immediately entered the ancient secret formation, then ascended the five-colored altar and vanished.

Half a quarter-hour later, the battle in the outer heavens extended to the ground. The colossal metal war chariot and the thousands-of-feet-tall beast flashed in and out of sight, clashing fiercely within the leaden clouds.

Immortal light occasionally poured down. The war chariot's master was still surveying for the rare mineral.

However, the master of the death realm cried out first, saying, "Hmm, no, it's gone! The death qi concentration has dropped significantly. You stole the divine artifact!"

The master of the metal war chariot was also surprised, saying, "What's going on? The mineral truly vanished. It's no longer on this ancient planet. Master of the Death Realm, where did you hide it?"

"Nonsense! Everything here is mine. The innate divine artifact of this ancient planet disappeared; it must be your doing. Give me your life, and return my divine treasure!"

"Who stole the mineral? Everything on this entire ancient planet combined isn't as valuable as it is. Why did it disappear? I searched for over a thousand years to find it here. I must find it!"

The eyes of the two ancient saint-level beings turned red, and they fought desperately. At the same time, powerful divine senses swept across the eight directions, searching for suspicious traces.