Chapter 685: Ancient Ark

An ancient ship, its age unknown, dim, lusterless, and covered in rust stains, lay before him, approaching head-on, poised for an encounter.

However, it emitted a faint fluctuation remarkably similar to a life aura, which greatly astonished Ye Fan. How could there still be a living being after at least hundreds of thousands of years?

The Mother Qi of All Things descended, and he summoned his cauldron, suspending it above his head. It enveloped him completely, like a curtain of rain. Then, holding his black gourd, he faced the situation with solemnity.

The nine dragon corpses showed no reaction. The enormous bronze coffin continued to drift, silent and utterly unchanged.

In the dark and cold expanse ahead, the ancient purple-gold ship finally drew near, coming into view. It was about to pass him by. The ancient weapon scars on its surface spoke of an unknown past.

In the past, that battle must have taken place within a starfield, with at least ancient Saint-level figures participating; otherwise, they could not have reached the depths of the universe.

Ye Fan felt a surge of excitement. The previous owner of such an ancient ship must have been incredibly powerful, yet it had been reduced to this state. Perhaps it held an immense secret.

"It's about to pass," he mused. "That fluctuation is still there. Should I board it and take a look?"

No danger had arisen, and the fluctuation was not very strong, making him restless. He yearned to investigate.

In the vast and boundless heavens, as he traversed, it was difficult to find anything related to living civilizations. To encounter such a ship in the dark expanse of the universe was truly a miracle.

"Hundreds of thousands of years have passed," Ye Fan pondered seriously. "It's unlikely there are living beings, and it might not even be a life fluctuation..." He considered it carefully, deeming the possibility of life very low.

This ancient ship was worth boarding. It was highly likely to be an immense divine treasure involving ancient Saints; any artifact from it would be priceless!

Just as it was about to pass, Ye Fan acted. A divine chain shot from his palm, connecting to the massive and majestic ancient warship, drawing it to travel in sync with the dragon corpses.

Still, there was no reaction. No sounds, no calls, no disturbances came from the warship; it remained deathly silent.

Ye Fan did not board immediately. Instead, he waited a long time as the ship and the bronze coffin traveled side by side. Neither could be said to have altered the other's trajectory, for in the dark universe, there was no sense of direction.

Observing up close, the warship's immense size and antiquity became even more apparent. Ye Fan estimated that the cracks were hundreds of thousands of years old.

This purple-gold was extraordinary, forged into divine metal through countless refinements. It was utterly unlike anything he usually encountered, infused with divine power and etched with immortal array patterns. These were what allowed it to remain uncorrupted to this day.

"At the very least, this is how an ancient Saint would forge a sacred weapon to pass down through generations," he thought. "Even though it's almost destroyed."

The ship's hull was dilapidated, covered in sword slashes, spear holes, and countless other marks of damage. This was clearly the result of a great war in the depths of the universe. Just imagining it made one's heart race, and the ancient past filled him with longing.

Ye Fan attempted to extend his divine sense to probe, but to his surprise, the ancient ship could block his powerful divine consciousness, preventing him from peering through.

Another half hour passed. He became certain the danger was minimal, and only then did he board the ship, entering its dilapidated cabins to explore the ruins.

"The fluctuation is straight ahead!"

The ship's interior was vast and boundless, like an immense palace. It contained various halls and ancient secret chambers, stretching as far as the eye could see.

This didn't seem like a ship; it was more like an immortal dwelling, boundless and containing everything imaginable. He even saw a dried-up medicinal field.

Naturally, nothing grew there anymore; spiritual herbs and the like had all turned to ash. A divine pearl hung above the medicinal field, but it was also cracked, its spiritual energy nearly depleted.

Time was the most terrifying force; it could erase anything, and in the end, nothing could escape its reckoning.

The fluctuation, like a rippling wave, was directly ahead. Ye Fan's heart tightened. Holding his black gourd and with the Mother Qi Cauldron suspended above his head, he walked forward step by step.

A human skull, snow-white and translucent like the heavens' most perfect work of art, lay quietly in an ancient hall, motionless, emitting a soft glow.

The fluctuation was actually emanating from it, giving Ye Fan a false scare. It was not a living entity as he had thought.

How could this be...

However, he was immediately greatly astonished. This skull was very special; it emitted fluctuations of the Great Dao, naturally formed and inspiring closeness.

"A Saint's skull!" he exclaimed, astonished by this discovery.

No wonder after hundreds of thousands of years, the skull still emitted fluctuations and remained immortal. It was left behind by an ancient Saint who had merged with the Great Dao.

When merging with the Great Dao, one's body naturally melts, returning to the natural order of the Heavenly Dao. Only one or two of the toughest bones, those even the Dao found difficult to dissolve, would remain.

Such a skull, one could imagine its preciousness. It could certainly be forged into an invincible Saint weapon, possessing immortal divinity!

"This is a woman's skull..." Ye Fan murmured to himself.

A female ancient Saint. From the shape of the skull, one could reconstruct part of her appearance, revealing such divine elegance that she must have been a peerless beauty.

"There are words..."

In this ancient cabin, Ye Fan saw several lines of delicate script carved into the purple-bronze wall beside the skull. Like the skull, it condensed the rhythm of the Great Dao, for it came from the hand of a Saint.

"Ancient divine script!" Ye Fan was astonished. This ancient script was said to be the common language of ten thousand races before the Primordial Era; even humans used it.

He carefully deciphered it. Having once had two Primordial races translate the Sun True Scripture, he had learned some ancient characters and could recognize a portion of them.

After reading, he generally understood the meaning, and his heart was immensely shaken. It mentioned a person: Wushi.

"So, even in later generations, some humans still used the divine script."

In the vast, boundless, and eternally dark universe, the female Saint, a marvel of her era, had once met a supreme figure named Wushi and admired him deeply.

However, Emperor Wushi appeared like a fleeting flower, accompanied her for a time, imparted a section of cultivation scripture to her, and then vanished, rumored to have returned to his homeland.

Upon reading this, Ye Fan's shock was immense. So, there truly were other sources of life in this desolate universe; Ancient China and the Big Dipper Starfield were not the only ones.

Emperor Wushi had visited other ancient stars and even had an encounter with a woman. This greatly surprised Ye Fan; if the Black Emperor knew, he would surely howl to the heavens.

The female Saint entered the boundless starfield, hoping to find an opportunity to attain Dao and, even more, to see Wushi again. But in the vast universe, she did not know where her path lay.

In her understanding, the entire universe contained only a few sources of life. She tried her best to search, but ultimately it was hopeless.

After her cultivation reached its peak, she could not progress further to attain Dao, and eventually passed away in the starry sky, dying alone in old age.

"A remarkable woman who admired Wushi, she died like this in the starry sky."

"Emperor Wushi merged with the Dao in Purple Mountain. He probably never knew that a woman once pursued him like this. Otherwise, with his peerless magical power, he might have helped the female Saint attain Dao."

"Did Emperor Wushi truly die in the Ancient Emperor Mountain?"

Every time he thought of Wushi, he would recall the bell tolls from Purple Mountain, repelling four or five ultimate ancient imperial weapons. That was simply unimaginable.

"How many sources of life are there in this boundless universe?" Ye Fan read carefully, and then was shaken again. In the last section of the text, the female Saint mentioned the ancient starry sky road. Unfortunately, when she discovered the ancient path, she had little life left and could not pursue it.

The female Saint only saw the ancient ship before she merged with the Dao, but she couldn't explore it before she passed away. She was merely a latecomer.

This skull was a priceless divine artifact, but Ye Fan did not wish to desecrate it. If he could truly return to the Big Dipper Starfield one day, he might consider taking it to Purple Mountain.

Suddenly, as his hand approached the translucent skull, he felt an extreme, bone-chilling cold. Even with his powerful physique, he found it somewhat unbearable.

Clink!

The moment he picked up the skull, a jade pendant fell out. It was barely an inch long, shaped like a crescent moon, transparent and lustrous. Clearly, it had been the female Saint's cherished possession.

The bone-chilling cold emanated from it, capable of freezing a person's soul. If it hadn't been Ye Fan, another cultivator would likely have turned into an ice sculpture.

"Grand Yin Saint Power!"

Two rays of divine light shot from Ye Fan's eyes. Enduring the extreme cold, he held the jade pendant in his palm and carefully examined it. Only by cultivating the Grand Yin True Scripture could one refine such Saint Power.

"It's just a jade pendant; how can it emit Grand Yin Saint Power?"

He extended his divine sense, attempting to enter the jade pendant, but immediately, it felt like countless needles pricked him, and his head throbbed painfully. The Grand Yin Saint Power within the ancient jade was even more terrifying!

"Could the section of cultivation scripture Emperor Wushi gave her back then be inside this jade pendant?" He entertained such a bold thought.

Finally, Ye Fan put away both the skull and the jade pendant. He continued forward; the ancient cabin was boundless, with many areas still awaiting exploration.

Along the way, he saw scraps of bronze and rusted iron. Undoubtedly, countless years ago, these must have been divine weapons and ancient treasures.

The battle back then must have been fierce. The ancient cabin was filled with traces of destruction; there were no intact bones, only bone powder, and the devastation was widespread.

"Not human..."

Among the bone powder, Ye Fan also found fragmented scales and other remnants, as well as a few divine feathers buried among the bones. These indicated very powerful exotic races.

Soon after, he arrived at a magnificent divine hall. His eyes flickered as he finally saw a pile of humanoid bone powder, with a section of finger bone that remained intact, not dissolved.

"Hundreds of thousands of years, or even more, have passed, and a section of finger bone can still remain. This person must have been incredibly powerful in life."

Suddenly, Ye Fan was startled. Beneath the bone powder were characters, still divine script. He squatted down to observe carefully, and again saw the words "ancient starry sky road."

"I have discovered the ancient starry sky road, leading to..." The inscription stopped abruptly there; the person couldn't write any further. It seemed they had died from exhaustion.

"What a pity!" Ye Fan sighed softly.

Soon after, he finally approached the central area of the ancient ship. When he pushed open a purple-bronze door, he instantly encountered a mysterious, dust-covered forbidden area.

What greeted his eyes was a crystalline sight: dozens of large chunks of Divine Source, arranged in rows and columns, like coffins!

"Heavens, so many!"

Even with Ye Fan's extensive experience and knowledge, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Over forty large chunks of Divine Source, each two or three cubic meters in size, and each containing an ancient creature sealed within.

He was truly stunned. Even the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest contained far fewer. What kind of power was this? If they were all Primordial Kings, they would be enough to shock the past and present, sending shivers down one's spine!

"Wait!"

Ye Fan quickly noticed something unusual. So many Divine Source blocks were in the same cabin, yet there was no divine power fluctuation whatsoever. No dazzling radiance was emitted; instead, they appeared somewhat dim.

"This is... the essence of the Divine Source is completely exhausted, leaving only empty shells!"

This sight was even more terrifying. With the Divine Source exhausted, what kind of great calamity had the ancient creatures inside endured? How many years had they drifted in the universe?

"Are they all Primordial Kings? Are they all dead? Their flesh, bones, and accompanying weapons would all be priceless divine artifacts!"