Chapter 164: Storm (Part 1)

Chapter 165: The Storm (Part One)

The sky above was a vast expanse of azure, deep and distant. Ye Fan could discern nothing and could not make any predictions.

Within the Sea of Bitterness, a green lotus stood alone, vibrant with life, as if giving birth to a vivid world. Around it, chaotic mist swirled, mysterious and indistinct.

At this moment, Ye Fan calmed down, his mind clear and ethereal, and observed carefully. The lotus had just emerged from the water, bearing only three emerald leaves. It possessed a natural Daoist quality, as if interpreting the very beginning of heaven and earth: the Dao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things.

"Something formless yet complete, born before heaven and earth, the ancestor of all things, appearing before the Emperor." Ye Fan recalled these lines from ancient texts.

The green lotus merged with the Wheel of the Sea, exuding a peculiar divine charm, like an unfathomable abyss of Dao, still and serene, seemingly capable of eternal existence.

Ye Fan traversed the Sea of Bitterness and reached the other shore. His Wheel of the Sea had begun its preliminary evolution, profound and mysterious, difficult to articulate.

The cauldron, less than an inch tall, floated and sank beneath the sky and above the green lotus, growing increasingly magnificent.

Ye Fan's heart stirred. As a cultivator who had reached the Other Shore realm, his strength had significantly increased. He immediately attempted to summon the cauldron.

"Whoosh!" The cauldron appeared outside his body, silent and still, suspended before him. He still felt a mountain-like pressure, but this time, he could activate it.

"Bang!" Without any dazzling light, the cauldron flew directly to a nearby spot. When it touched a giant rock over ten meters high, dust and ash filled the air, and the boulder silently disintegrated.

With a gentle tremor, the surrounding stone forest suffered the same fate. All the large rocks shattered into dust, showcasing the cauldron's immense power!

However, Ye Fan's body also trembled. Even without developing Dao patterns, this cauldron was like a bottomless pit; his powerful physique had nearly one-third of its energy drained.

This meant he could only summon it three times for now. The cauldron was powerful but not easily controlled, leaving him both pleased and frowning.

Ye Fan activated it again, and the cauldron expanded to one meter high. This was the limit of his control; any larger, and he would be unable to bear it.

The cauldron hung in the sky like a bottomless pit, seemingly capable of devouring the heavens. The stone forest ahead, with its rocks resembling reclining cattle and green bamboo shoots, was all drawn in and disappeared into the cauldron.

Ye Fan retrieved the cauldron and peered inside. He saw it filled with rocks. With a gentle shake, everything inside instantly turned to powder. Slowly, the cauldron inverted, and the dust drifted away, leaving it spotless and clean as new.

Although his divine power was almost depleted, he was extremely satisfied. He truly liked this cauldron; its might was indeed formidable. Without a ripple or divine glow, the cauldron silently vanished, returning to his Wheel of the Sea.

Now that the cauldron was forged and he had reached the Other Shore realm, his confidence grew. After cultivating here for several months, he was eager to know what was happening outside.

"I wonder if the Ji family has left..." After restoring his divine power, Ye Fan stepped out.

Outside the Fire Domain, the ground was cracked, and vast, scorched earth stretched endlessly, a barren wasteland. More than half a year had passed, and the Ji family disciples had long since departed.

"This is good too. They think I've been annihilated. I'll give them a surprise when the time comes!"

Ye Fan returned to the Fire Domain, preparing to draw upon the Five-Colored Cloud Flame from the seventh layer to temper his cauldron, making it even more refined.

The Five-Colored Cloud Flame was even hotter than the purple energy. Just approaching it, even before entering, waves of scorching heat emanated, making Ye Fan's heart tremble. This was with the protection of the Bodhi Seed; without it, he likely wouldn't even be able to get close.

"Can I control such a powerful flame?" He felt uncertain.

He carefully drew in a wisp of the five-colored mist, and immediately, a sizzling sound erupted, burning a cluster of his divine power completely away.

Ye Fan gasped. This flame was too powerful; it could burn powerful cultivators alive, as evidenced by the humanoid ashes on the ground. He had no good method to safely draw it into his Wheel of the Sea to temper the cauldron.

Over the next few days, he kept experimenting, aiming for a cautious approach rather than acting rashly.

Suddenly, he heard some strange sounds coming from outside the domain. If not for his powerful divine sense, he wouldn't have detected them at all.

"Has someone come?" Ye Fan stealthily moved outwards.

In the Fourth Layer of the Fire Domain, black netherflames flickered. A middle-aged man sat motionless on a large rock. Above his head, a half-human-tall ancient pagoda floated and sank.

Flames, shimmering with dark light, continuously gathered towards the pagoda, making it emit clanging sounds. The ancient pagoda was slowly deforming.

"Why is he forging an artifact outside his body, seemingly not valuing his weapon much, yet he's come all the way to the Fire Domain?" Ye Fan was somewhat puzzled.

Just then, his expression changed. He was not unfamiliar with that pagoda; he had seen it before!

It was a five-layered ancient pagoda, entirely silver-white. Although somewhat bright, it bore traces of age, giving it an ancient, profound feel.

"The middle-aged man in linen!"

Ye Fan immediately thought of the group who had pursued him and Ji Ziyue. Among them, a middle-aged cultivator wearing linen robes held a five-layered ancient pagoda and had nearly killed him.

Now, this man was dressed in black, sitting quietly, but the silver pagoda above his head was constantly deforming. He intended to melt it down and re-forge it.

"A five-layered ancient pagoda counts as a powerful weapon, yet he intends to melt it down..."

When a wisp of profound yellow energy surged from within the pagoda, Ye Fan became even more certain that it was indeed the man in linen. Even though he hadn't seen his face that day, this pagoda was unmistakable.

"He's afraid the Ji family will trace clues, so he wants to erase the last traces!" Ye Fan desperately wanted to uncover the identity of this person; such a hidden enemy made him uneasy.

"It seems he doesn't care much for this weapon. Perhaps, as Ji Ziyue said, this person is a controlled puppet."

Ye Fan observed carefully and indeed felt that this person was somewhat rigid, sitting there like a block of wood.

"I must capture him and figure all this out!"

He pondered for a moment, sensing that this person was very powerful, definitely surpassing him in cultivation realm, at least a cultivator of the Dao Palace realm.

"I need to be absolutely certain. Otherwise, if I can't kill him and expose myself, that would be a huge disaster."

Ye Fan silently returned to the Sixth Layer of the Fire Domain, summoned his cauldron, and allowed it to absorb a large amount of purple flames like a whale drinking or a cow gulping. Then he quickly sat in meditation to rapidly restore his divine power.

Half an hour later, he returned to the Fourth Layer Netherflame area and waited silently.

Two hours later, the black-clad man had completely melted the silver pagoda, reshaping it, slowly transforming it into a silver bell. Just at the critical moment, as the silver bell was about to take form, Ye Fan finally made his move.

At this moment, the black-clad man's concentration was absolute, his entire mind immersed in the silver bell, performing the final tempering.

The cauldron, silent and unnoticed, drew closer, then forcefully overturned. A vast torrent of purple flames descended, burning fiercely!

Such temperatures could burn even powerful cultivators to death, let alone those of other realms.

However, unexpectedly, this person was incredibly cautious. He had actually engraved Dao patterns around him, which flared up with light, blocking the purple flames.

Even the treasures of renowned cultivators could not withstand the purple flames and would shatter piece by piece. Although there were Dao patterns here, they could not fully block the flames. Their only effect was to buy time for the man, who moved sideways with ghost-like speed.

"Whoosh!" Ye Fan was already prepared. The Golden Book, which had been waiting for a long time, was summoned and met him perfectly.

"Puff!" A flash of blood, and the black-clad man suffered a heavy blow! His body immediately stiffened. At the same time, the purple flames descended. Even with his speed, he was still grazed, and half of his body instantly ignited, his entire left side turning into ashes on the spot.

"Hum!" The sky trembled slightly. The cauldron transformed to one meter tall, as if possessing heaven-devouring power, instantly absorbing the middle-aged man, whose body was half-destroyed, and sealing him inside.

Only then did Ye Fan let out a long breath, take out the Jade Purifying Bottle, quickly drink a mouthful of divine spring water, instantly restoring his divine power, and then look into the cauldron.

The black-clad man, his body half-destroyed, trembled repeatedly, struggled to sit up, and looked up. The moment he saw Ye Fan, he immediately showed surprise, saying, "It's you... you're still alive!"

Ye Fan's heart stirred. The man's startled cry suggested he was very familiar with Ye Fan, more than just having pursued him. Ye Fan immediately smiled and asked, "What is your true origin?"

"I really didn't expect your life to be so resilient..." The black-clad man sighed, then suddenly looked up, a ray of light shooting from his glabella, attempting to rush out of the cauldron. However, it failed; he could not escape the cauldron.

"As expected, he's just a walking corpse, merely controlled by someone else." Ye Fan extended his divine sense, preparing to restrain him.

However, the black-clad man was very decisive. The ray of light, like a bursting firework, shattered on its own, leaving behind specks of light that ultimately dispersed within the cauldron.

Ye Fan's expression changed, but it was too late to stop it. He searched the spot carefully; the black-clad man's body was empty. Besides the silver bell completely burned to ashes by the purple fire, nothing was left behind.

He threw the half-destroyed body into the netherflames, where it instantly turned to ashes. He murmured to himself, "Who was it? Seems like someone I know."

Ye Fan dealt with the traces at the scene, then retreated into the Fifth Layer of Golden Flames to hide, waiting quietly to observe if anyone would appear.

Three days later, a tall old man finally appeared there. He observed the pile of ashes for a moment and murmured, "He actually died here..."

"Who is this old man? I've never seen him before," Ye Fan wondered secretly.

"Whoosh!" With a flash of light and shadow, the old man rushed out of the Fire Domain and quickly vanished into the distance.

Two days later, Ye Fan entered the Seventh Layer of the Fire Domain. Even with the Bodhi Seed protecting him, he felt waves of scorching pain. The temperature of the Five-Colored Cloud Flame was unimaginable.

The divine power painstakingly cultivated by practitioners could be directly ignited and could not resist. This five-colored flame seemed to possess a demonic quality, capable of devouring anything.

Although Ye Fan successfully entered, he didn't know how to introduce the flames into his body; the Five-Colored Cloud Flame was too terrifying.

A few days later, human shouts and beast roars filled the air, as if a thousand armies and ten thousand horses were galloping. The earth trembled with a thunderous roar as countless strange beasts charged towards the Fire Domain.

Among them, some powerful savage beasts could roar so loudly that their sound carried for dozens of miles. Ye Fan's divine sense was incredibly keen, and he was immediately alerted.

He quickly observed, then showed a look of surprise, saying, "The Ji family has arrived!"

Just outside the Fire Domain, there were at least a hundred savage beasts, each extraordinarily magnificent, arriving through the air with a rumbling sound that shook both the earth and sky. All the riders wore black iron armor, emanating an aura of killing intent.

A large banner flapped in the wind, emblazoned with the character 'Ji'.

Ye Fan saw Ji Hui, Ji Biyue, and several renowned cultivators. Additionally, there was a carriage, pulled by nine divine beasts, suspended outside the Fire Domain.

The divine beasts roared, shaking the heavens. Each was as massive as an elephant, with dense scales, exuding a powerful oppressive aura. The carriage glittered, radiating auspicious light, clearly indicating the arrival of an important figure from the Ji family.

"They can't be here for me, can they? It's been half a year... What are they here for?" Ye Fan was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

An old man stepped out of the carriage. Ji Hui quickly went forward, showing great respect, and helped him dismount.

"Damn it!" Ye Fan dared not peek any further and immediately retreated deep into the Fire Domain to hide.