Chapter 931: Rushing Toward Earth

The ancient sage was a man of few words, remaining silent from beginning to end, except when eating crocodile meat. Ye Fan had many questions for him, but the old man seemed to believe silence was golden.

With a "whoosh," a dark wave surged from the Eye of the Demonic Sea. The archaic sage washed the divine crocodile skin, which seemed forged from black gold. Each movement produced a clanging sound, as dao patterns interwove, divine radiance burst forth, and auspicious energy steamed.

This was a divine material, coveted even by sages. It had absorbed the essence of a demon saint, rendering it impervious to blades and fire—a rarity in the world!

The divine skin, with its black metallic sheen, exuded various streams of dao light. Naturally attuned to the Grand Dao, it was already a treasure even before being refined. It shimmered with a cold metallic luster, making it unapproachable due to its potent saintly aura.

A being of this caliber could kill a Great Power with just a single drop of blood, let alone such a large piece of its hide!

Ye Fan's eyes gleamed with desire, and his mouth nearly watered. Among the divine crocodile species, their hide was the most precious; if fashioned into armor, it would be truly extraordinary.

Especially the Ancestor Crocodile, an ancient divine beast revered as a demon saint, whose hide had long possessed indestructible divinity.

Unfortunately, the old sage paid him no mind. He cast aside his own tattered animal hide and wrapped the divine crocodile skin around his waist. He then activated a terrifying vital essence to refine it, transforming it into a primitive animal garment in the blink of an eye, though it clearly served only to cover his body.

What a waste of a heavenly treasure!

Ye Fan truly wanted it, but since the archaic sage had already wrapped it around himself, Ye Fan felt too embarrassed to ask for it, as it was, after all, the sage's hunt.

Afterwards, the wild old man began to extract sinews and bones, truly without hesitation, refining all the valuable components.

He cleaned them with water drawn from the Eye of the Demonic Sea, then used the Ancestor Crocodile's divine sinew as a waistband, tying it around his waist—a luxury so extreme it would make one's hair stand on end.

Ye Fan gazed longingly at the colossal light bone. It was a treasure bone, entirely white, shimmering with a sacred glow, more brilliant than the stars in the sky.

Its quality was beyond description, rare throughout the heavens, capable of being refined into a legendary saintly weapon. Yet, the wild old man had no intention of deep refining it; he simply placed his own white bone staff directly on top of it.

A dazzling light erupted, forcing Ye Fan to retreat. The energy fluctuations were too intense, unbearable even for his Human Saint Body, causing the Grand Dao to rumble and shatter the very cosmos.

The enormous piece of crocodile bone lost its luster, its divine brilliance vanished, and then it violently shattered, completely destroyed. The terrifying ancient divine crocodile skeleton was reduced to dust, its divinity gone.

On the old sage's bone staff, a new rune appeared, resembling both a dragon and a crocodile. It could be said that all the essence of the divine bone had been refined into the bone weapon.

Ye Fan carefully examined the lustrous bone staff, noticing many imprints of strange birds and savage beasts. He couldn't help but gasp; were all these patterns imprinted in the same manner as just now?

If so, the value of this bone staff would be inestimable!

Ye Fan watched intently. The old sage was truly thorough, refining everything, leaving not even a sliver of bone.

Sensing his gaze, the wild old man turned, then extended a large hand to cleave the mountain of meat into two parts, sending one piece over. It weighed over a hundred thousand jin.

Ye Fan quickly retreated. For someone of his level, a sage truly stood high above the clouds, as powerful as a deity.

A single drop of blood or a piece of bone could slay a Great Power. Such a large block of divine meat, imbued with terrifying laws, was undoubtedly a formidable weapon.

The old sage seemed to realize this. After some thought, he once again conjured dao fire and began to barbecue the meat, dividing it into hundreds of thousands of pieces. A fragrant aroma emanated from the flames.

Furthermore, during this process, the wild old man, using immense magical power, extracted streams of divine crocodile essence blood, transforming them into a crimson flow, which steamed with a misty aura.

Ye Fan was startled by such essence blood; each stream possessed terrifying destructive power. If released, even a King who had severed the dao would surely suffer a bitter end.

The old sage was actually refining medicine in a very primitive manner, directly extracting the essence from the demon saint's vital blood. Whether it was from the flesh or the blood that had previously spilled onto the earth, it flowed like rivers into his hand.

He could contain a mountain in a mustard seed!

The blood, like a small lake, gathered in the old sage's palm. After countless refinements, all killing intent was dissolved, all laws were diminished, leaving only the brilliance of divinity.

Finally, with a great roar, large quantities of impure blood cascaded like a waterfall from the old sage's palm, a vast expanse, resembling a sea of blood pouring into the Eye of the Demonic Sea.

From his palm, crimson mists surged upwards, entwined with auspicious energy, leaving only six lychee-sized scarlet pills, glistening as if about to drip, as translucent as red agate.

The old sage handed four of them to Ye Fan. A fragrant aroma wafted towards him, making him feel as though he could ascend to immortality, his pores opening, as if bathed in immortal light.

Ye Fan knew that such treasure pills were impossible to find elsewhere, and only the old sage could defy the heavens to refine them. He truly didn't know what miraculous effects they possessed, so he carefully stored them in a jade jar.

By this time, the hundred thousand jin of divine crocodile meat was fully roasted, its inherent killing intent and laws completely purified. The old sage handed it over. Ye Fan felt as if he were dreaming; this was a demon saint, now his food. News of such a potent supplement would surely shock people to death!

He had many questions to ask, but the old sage remained largely silent, uttering almost nothing. He walked two circles around the Eye of the Demonic Sea, then gazed blankly at the sky, lost in thought.

Seeing him like this, Ye Fan found it difficult to disturb him. The other party seemed to be pondering significant matters.

At midday, the old sage finally moved. He approached Ye Fan to borrow his cauldron, then used dao fire to boil the divine crocodile's heart, liver, and other organs into a pot of soup, inviting Ye Fan to drink with him.

Ye Fan was somewhat stunned. It was a pity that a generation's ancient divine crocodile had met such a fate after death, truly becoming a delicious broth, not a bit wasted.

The old sage truly knew how to enjoy himself. If word got out about what he was eating, it would undoubtedly shock countless cultivators and terrify sect masters and Great Powers.

His cauldron had become a veritable soup pot, which was quite unconventional. The Mother Qi of All Things flowed within, accompanied by the fragrant steam of the divine soup. Anyone else seeing it would surely be dumbfounded.

Should it be called extremely luxurious, or simply extraordinary? Likely, any cultivator who saw it would be speechless.

Ye Fan persisted, nagging the old sage incessantly, hoping to communicate with him. However, the other party remained as taciturn as ever, speaking almost nothing, only occasionally gazing blankly at the sky.

Finally, Ye Fan, resigned, brought up his greatest concern: if night fell, this being would surely transform from a deity into a demon, uncontrollable by anyone in the world, which would be a great disaster!

Ye Fan pointed to the blazing sun in the sky, suggesting that the old sage could fly towards it. By staying within a suitable distance, it would always be daytime, which might gradually dissipate his demonic nature.

The old sage shook his head, lost in silent contemplation. He had largely ignored Ye Fan, clearly engrossed in his own problems, worrying that he might go mad and embark on a killing spree after sunset.

Ye Fan immediately understood: the so-called transformation from deity by day to demon by night was not related to light, but rather to the sage's inherent divine and demonic natures. The time spent as a deity and as a demon should be equal, but it had been mistakenly attributed to the alternation of day and night.

"I'm leaving," the old sage stood up, finally uttering a sentence.

"Where are you going, Senior?" Ye Fan pressed, communicating naturally with his divine sense, as the archaic language differed from the present one.

"Into the desolate depths of the universe, into the inaccessible darkness..." the old sage murmured.

Ye Fan knew this meant he was exiling himself forever. Fearing he might accidentally harm others, he willingly plunged into the depths of a barren starfield, to walk alone until he became a cold corpse in the vastness of space.

A metallic clang reverberated. All the fragments of the crimson divine chain that had previously broken apart flew back. The old sage, using immense magical power, reforged them, melting them into a new, more robust divine chain. He carved runes onto it, then used it to seal himself.

"Senior, are you..."

"I'm wearing my own shackles. They will break if my life is in danger, but otherwise, they will suppress my demonic nature."

Ye Fan sighed softly, unsure if he would ever see the ancient sage again after this farewell. The archaic sage was truly too powerful; to avoid causing a massacre, he chose to exile himself and grow old alone in a foreign land.

"Perhaps I will find a way, a fusion of Lunar and Solar..." the old sage murmured to himself.

Ye Fan's heart stirred. He quickly drew a Taiji diagram and handed it to the old sage, also imparting some principles of Taiji transformation.

"The different cultivation methods you practice in your several major secret realms make it difficult to fully integrate them. This is a significant hidden danger. If I were to teach you the Lunar and Solar methods, it would harm you."

Before departing, the old sage issued a warning. Then, holding his large bone staff, he pierced through the void, broke free of the world's restraints, entered the starfield, and vanished.

Ye Fan stared blankly, gazing at the sky. It took him a long time to regain his composure, and he let out a soft sigh. He wondered if he would ever see this unparalleled powerhouse again in his lifetime, hoping he would not perish in the depths of the universe.

He lingered on the ancient planet Mars for half a day, searching meticulously, but found no more ruins; everything had been swallowed into the Eye of the Demonic Sea.

However, he made other discoveries, finding the wreckage of some satellites and space probes, both recent and ancient.

"Voyager 48, Chang'e 19..."

Ye Fan observed carefully that these spacecraft were severely damaged, mainly from several major spacefaring nations. He surmised that on this sealed ancient planet, anything sent would inevitably crash.

After a final glance at the ancient planet Mars, Ye Fan decided to set off for his homeland, as he truly had no time to waste.

Although this journey across the starfield did not take him directly back to Earth, the ancient planet Mars was not very far from his destination. This was relative to the Big Dipper starfield; in terms of actual distance, it would still be astonishingly vast.

The ancient planet Mars is closest to Earth during its opposition, at 55 million kilometers, and farthest during its conjunction with the sun, at about 400 million kilometers.

It is worth noting that even though the ancient planet Mars belongs to the Solar System and is a neighboring planet to Earth, it still maintains such an astronomical distance, compelling one to lament the insignificance of humanity.

Ye Fan set off, continuously ascending, quickly breaking through Mars' thin atmosphere, and eventually escaping its gravity. He then summoned the Black Jade Platform and began the repetitive and arduous process of traversing space.

Relying on his own flight to return would likely exhaust all his divine power and take unknown months, or even years, if there were any deviations.

He continuously corrected his coordinates, traversing towards the homeland where he was born and raised. After discarding an unknown number of Black Jade Platforms, he finally clearly saw the watery blue star.

Tears nearly welled in Ye Fan's eyes. How many years had it been since he left home? He felt a sense of trepidation upon nearing his homeland, fearing that something bad might have happened during his long absence.

In the past, he had never been this nervous, even during various life-and-death battles. But now, he was agitated and trembling.

"Earth, I'm back..."

Ye Fan's eyes were brimming with tears as he continuously pressed forward, his heart filled with extreme excitement. After more than twenty years since departing on the Nine Dragons Coffin Pull, he was now returning through his own efforts, and he couldn't help but tremble.

Wishing everyone a happy Lantern Festival, filled with reunion and joy.