Chapter 192: Ancient Creatures

This creature, covered in shimmering silver scales, lay motionless. It was over two meters long, with bulging, powerful-looking skin. "It's dead," Ye Fan exhaled in relief.

Using his stone knife, he turned it over so its face was upwards. Its features resembled those of a human, and had it not been for the fine scales, this creature could have been described as a handsome man.

There was certainly more than one such creature in the Purple Mountain. This was because the invisible malevolence gathering around him took the same form, indicating that at least one more was still alive.

Ye Fan discovered a broken stone tablet pressed beneath the silver creature. Piecing the fragments together, he could only make out the words "Trespassers Die." The rest was illegible.

A sense of alarm rose within him. This was human writing, and the archaic creature had died because of it. What had it disturbed? Was it this source stone before him?

Upon careful observation, he could see that the six-armed creature had indeed struggled and retreated from the source stone, ultimately dying there. "Source stones can be fatal..."

The source energy flowed, creating an atmosphere of peace. Ye Fan stood up, examining the massive source stone before him. It was two meters high and likely weighed several thousand pounds.

Although this source stone shimmered with various colors, it was not a divine source. It was merely a high-purity treasure source, but its sheer size was extremely rare. "Wait, my stone armor is glowing strangely..." As he approached the source stone, his armor and other stone artifacts on him began to flicker continuously.

Ye Fan walked around the source stone, discovering numerous cracks from which specks of light, mysterious like tiny stars, emanated. "There are fragments of divine source inside..." He brought his stone knife closer, and it immediately glowed with auspicious colors, like a rare treasure blade. "Indeed, someone sealed fragments of divine source within this massive source stone."

He was surprised, and carefully observed the woman encased within the source. She looked peaceful, as if in an eternal slumber.

Ye Fan sighed. This had to be a corpse, long devoid of life. Despite its lifelike appearance, it couldn't hide the truth that life had departed. The woman was exquisitely beautiful, truly captivating. Alas, that was all in the past; time had taken everything.

Suddenly, Ye Fan noticed a jade pendant also sealed within the source, half-hidden by her flowing skirt, easily missed if one wasn't paying close attention.

"Do archaic creatures... also like such jade ornaments?" He frowned. All signs pointed to this being a human.

Suddenly, a chill went down Ye Fan's spine. Among the scattered fragments of divine source, he saw something else: several strands of red hair. "Red hair..." A shiver ran through him.

On the night the Zhang family's first ancestor disappeared, a red-haired whirlwind swept across the blood-soaked land, and unknown creatures roared throughout the night, refusing to leave for a long time. "The child who accompanied the Source Master was terrified into idiocy; he had seen the ancestor's hand covered in red hair..."

Thinking of this, Ye Fan shivered. Upon entering the Purple Mountain, he had seen inscriptions left by powerful individuals, and very few of them belonged to women. "Could this be... the corpse of Yaochi Saintess Yang Yi from ten thousand years ago?"

Ye Fan did not act rashly. He stepped back a few paces and carefully searched the ancient mine for clues. Soon, he found some writing on the mine wall: "Zhang Jiye offers respects." "A thousand years ago, that ancestor of the Zhang family came here!"

Ye Fan's heart brightened; he felt that the "Source Heavenly Book" might not be far away. All the archaic creatures had died here. Ye Fan left the source stone undisturbed, many thoughts swirling in his mind. "The fate of a Source Master..." Thinking of this sent a chill down his spine. "If I become a Source Master, will misfortune also befall me in my later years?" Ye Fan walked a long distance, this shadow still lingering in his mind.

The demonic summons, at times weak, at times strong, continued. Ye Fan advanced more than ten miles within the Purple Mountain and finally made a significant discovery. He saw a broken stone pendant, identical to the one he carried.

At the same time, light flowed around Ye Fan, his stone knife gleamed, and his star compass shone brightly. Silently, a procession of figures and horses emerged from an abandoned mine, perfectly orderly and unruffled. Ye Fan's scalp immediately prickled. These were "Yin people" and "Yin horses," cold and eerie, as if they had walked out of the underworld. "So many of these things have actually formed..."

Like ghosts, they swiftly converged, silently encircling him. Everyone had deathly pale faces, devoid of blood or life force, only a strange energy flowing through them.

Ever since he began cultivating, Ye Fan had seriously pondered the so-called "ghosts," believing them to be transient "field energies" that linger after death and would naturally dissipate over time. "Hundreds of thousands of years ago, too many people died here, so there are probably many of these things..." Ye Fan wasn't worried. He didn't fear such entities; as long as they weren't archaic creatures, everything was manageable. With a "poof," he wielded his stone knife, and the encircling Yin people and Yin horses quickly dispersed. The stone skin of the divine source indeed naturally countered evil.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoed, particularly soul-stirring in the desolate Purple Mountain, making anyone feel a chill run through their body.

Not far away, a ghostly shadow charged forward: a disheveled woman in white clothes, heading directly for Ye Fan.

"Clang!" The woman instantly knocked aside the stone knife with immense force, as if she were forged from molten iron.

"She is..." He was surprised to find that the woman's shadowy form was extremely solid, like a physical entity.

"How can Purple Mountain have everything..." This woman had been nurtured by the Yin energy within the Purple Mountain and had attained a certain level of power.

"Whoosh!" Ye Fan summoned a five-colored flame from his cauldron and sent it forth, causing her to shriek in agony as she instantly turned to ashes.

He strode forward, entering the abandoned mine. A bone-chilling coldness washed over him; it was an ice cellar, filled with solid ice. "Senior Zhang Jiye, you didn't die here, did you?"

Soon after Ye Fan entered, his scalp tingled. This mine shaft connected to a Yin vein, and in its deepest part, he saw countless Yin people and Yin horses, writhing.

There were no bones, so Zhang Jiye had not died here. Ye Fan immediately summoned his cauldron, unleashing five-colored cloud flames that incinerated all the Yin people and Yin horses.

These Yin entities were clearly not fully formed, having existed for a limited time. However, he felt uneasy, knowing that many people had died here hundreds of thousands of years ago, and there were likely fully-formed Yin entities deep within the Purple Mountain.

With this thought, he sensed impending trouble. Besides the archaic creatures, there might be other spectral beings. Ye Fan advanced another ten miles or so and saw a broken stone knife and a shattered star compass. "Senior Zhang Jiye, your cultivation wasn't high, how did you manage to get this far..." he wondered to himself.

Suddenly, the Green Lotus in Ye Fan's Sea of Wheels trembled slightly, raising a curtain of green light around his body. "What's in here?" Suddenly, he felt something behind him and spun around sharply.

In an ancient mine shaft tens of meters away, a colossal creature was staring coldly at him.

Its lower body was serpent-like, as thick as a water vat and dozens of meters long. Its upper body resembled a human, covered in half-foot-long black beast fur, with long arms and black fur on its palms. "Can you... understand me?" Ye Fan asked cautiously.

"Boom!" The unknown creature suddenly charged forward, its two arms like pincers, clamping down on Ye Fan's throat with astonishing force, as if a mountain was crushing him.

Ye Fan dodged aside. His stone knife struck, sending sparks flying as if it had hit iron or rock. In the distance, a fierce wind stirred, and a shrill, prolonged cry echoed.

A strange bird charged over, featherless and covered in scales. Unfortunately, its body was too massive to fly, so it could only run on the ground. Its enormous, ten-meter-long body crashed through the cavern, leaving a rumbling sound. "Damn it, an archaic creature!"

Ye Fan had seen fossils of this creature in the mine. It didn't attack the snake-haired monster; instead, the two creatures joined forces and pursued him. "They were agitated after all!"

Powerful killing intent, surging like a tide, relentlessly pursued him. The ferocity of their power was astonishing. "Fortunately... they're not purely humanoid creatures."

Ye Fan felt their killing intent, and through it, he understood a truth. Archaic creatures that were disturbed and emerged would not live long. Once out of the source, they would quickly decay. If the source cracked open, even if they tried to hide back inside, it would be useless. "It seems only creatures accidentally sealed during the initial formation of the source can survive until now."

These two monsters, like malevolent gods, surged with overwhelming killing intent, eager to pounce on Ye Fan and tear him apart.

However, there were too many rock caves within Purple Mountain, some extremely narrow, making it difficult for them to pass through and severely slowing their pursuit. "Boom!"

An overwhelming force slammed into Ye Fan. This power was outrageously strong, capable of splitting mountains and rivers.

The immense, unparalleled power sent the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron flying, crashing through more than a dozen ancient mine tunnels, whose walls crumbled like tofu. "Aooooh..."

That prolonged roar was terrifying, causing Ye Fan's skin to prickle, even while inside the cauldron.

This monster was truly too powerful; that terrifying strike was simply unstoppable. If not for the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron, he would have been utterly shattered. "Finally, I've witnessed the terror of an archaic creature..." Ye Fan navigated forward, controlling the cauldron.

He realized he was approaching the center of Purple Mountain, and the demonic summons grew increasingly intense. "Bang!"

The silver creature caught up, unleashing a devastating blow from a distance. The Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron hummed loudly, again smashing through more than a dozen ancient mine tunnels.

At this moment, Purple Mountain was no longer calm. Several more shrill cries emanated, even more terrifying than those of the six-armed creature. Even hidden within the cauldron, Ye Fan's soul felt as if it might shatter, which startled him. "How can they be so powerful..."

Simultaneously, deep within Purple Mountain, the demonic summons intensified tenfold. Even inside the cauldron, Ye Fan involuntarily yearned to rush in that direction. "How can this be!"

A suppressive aura permeated the air, and the summoning power grew several times stronger. By now, Ye Fan found it irresistible; he couldn't control his own body and wished to answer the call. "Dong!"

Suddenly, a deep, resonant bell toll rang out, like divine music from the heavens, instantly calming the restless Purple Mountain. "Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Great Emperor suppressed the creatures in the peerless divine source, he brought forth his ultimate weapon: a grand bell as tall as the sky..."

Ye Fan moved at the sound of the bell, rushing forward like a flash of lightning. To his surprise, the archaic creatures behind him stopped, not pursuing him further. "Whoosh!"

Ye Fan rushed into a vast, empty cavern, resembling a grand hall. It was here that the bell's sound faded.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed an empty hall, but so enormous it was indistinguishable from a vast public square. "A skeleton..." He first discovered a human skeleton, and beside it, a silver scroll shimmered with a faint, eerie glow.