Chapter 951: Returning to the Sacred Sealing Place

Ye Fan stood on Eight Ridges Mountain, surveying the surroundings. He sighed, acknowledging that this was indeed a Dragon Mountain of ancient China, where even the ancient Red Pine Master (Chisongzi) was buried.

Eight mountain ranges stretched across the landscape, like dragons soaring and dancing, seemingly ready to leap into the heavens—majestic, mysterious, and awe-inspiring. He took one last look before departing, soon returning to his home in City B.

His parents were gone. Calming his mind, he realized his worldly pursuits were few. In quiet contemplation, cultivating the Dao became his sole goal.

In the past, achieving Dao-immortality was not his path; his arduous cultivation was merely a means to return, to cross to this end of the starry sky. Now, with his parents gone, all his efforts felt empty.

Ye Fan began to ponder his future. Eventually, his heart settled; achieving the Dao was his only choice. At this point, he had no other pursuits in this life.

Immortality—no one, past or present, could definitively say if it existed or not. Longevity, too, was elusive, with no concrete proof to date; even the Great Emperors of antiquity had perished. Yet, now this had become his pursuit.

"From now on, I will follow in the footsteps of the ancients, pursuing this path, unearthing ancient secrets, forging a new way for today. Achieving Dao-immortality is the ultimate goal of this life."

He was not a saint with the world in his heart, nor did he wish to be a ruthless overlord ruling over all beings. He was merely a man of flesh and blood, with no ambition to purify the world, and he had lost his former ambition.

He simply wanted to walk his own path, to pursue his own goal. Perhaps it was ephemeral, perhaps unattainable, perhaps it didn't even exist, but he just wanted to continue, step by step.

This was neither decadence nor self-exile; rather, it was simply cultivating himself. If anyone were to obstruct his path, he could be both divine and demonic, for everything now aligned with his current state of mind.

Ye Fan read Nanhua, observed the Yin Fu scriptures, perused the Wen Shi (Initial Text), and recited the Dong Xuan (Profound Cavern) scriptures. None of these contained explicit cultivation methods, yet their widespread presence allowed him to glimpse the distinct thoughts of past masters.

At his current stage, on the verge of "cutting the Dao"—with one foot already in—what he needed was not specific techniques but rather enlightenment in terms of realm.

These Daoist texts, circulated among the common people, offered no detailed methods but provided a broad direction. They were undoubtedly Dao treasures, perhaps even a form of inheritance.

Ye Fan calmly studied the texts, often feeling inspired and perceiving their profound depth. Many ancient cultivation scriptures were no longer extant, but their true essence had been passed down, contained within these very volumes.

During this period, Ye Fan also began seriously teaching Little Pine. He didn't raise its cultivation level; instead, he even suppressed it, ensuring every step was steady and its Dao foundation solid.

The small purple creature was afraid of lightning, a fear that seemed innate; otherwise, it wouldn't have suffered greatly and almost been killed before.

To help it overcome this fear, Ye Fan was extremely strict with it. He specifically took it to a secluded island and personally demonstrated, leading by example.

Originally, the sky was clear for thousands of miles, a flawless azure with not a single cloud.

But in the next moment, the vast ocean roared with towering waves, and dark clouds rolled in.

Ye Fan summoned immense bolts of lightning to demonstrate his methods, entering the thunderous storm to confront this terrifying ordeal.

He didn't actually need to summon a sea of electricity this way; he could have cleared the sky and brought down thunderbolts, but he feared attracting attention and causing unnecessary trouble. Hence, he conjured cloud layers as dark as the bottom of a wok.

"Rumble..."

Lightning flashed and thunder roared, followed by torrential rain. The scene was terrifying. Ye Fan bathed in the electric light, with silver serpents of lightning crisscrossing his body, while Little Pine watched from a distance in horror.

Soon after, however, Ye Fan pulled it into the sea of lightning, forcing it to confront the chaotic silver serpents with its own body. For Little Pine, this was an ordeal, its fear far outweighing any physical harm.

It whimpered repeatedly, continuously calling out to Ye Fan, but this time it received no protection and had to face it alone. It was a terrifying psychological journey.

Once, twice… dozens, even hundreds of times!

Little Pine was repeatedly struck until its fur was torn and flesh exposed, often fainting from terror. But each time, Ye Fan calmly told it that it was nothing and urged it to get up.

After enduring the tribulation of lightning, its fear turned to numbness. To avoid injury, it was forced to begin resisting, struggling amidst the electrical currents and fighting back with its Dao cultivation.

Slowly, it transformed. Eventually, it was no longer afraid, gradually calmed down, and could finally face the lightning tribulation with composure, completing a psychological metamorphosis.

"Our lineage fears the heavenly tribulation least. There's no need to be afraid of it; you will encounter it eventually, and each time will be a good opportunity to temper your body."

Ye Fan used his golden sacred blood to cleanse its flesh and bones, causing a significant change in its constitution. As for its Dao cultivation and overall power, these were not aided at all.

This period of arduous training concluded. Little Pine finally let out a long breath and looked at him pitifully. Ye Fan patted its head and took it back to City B.

Now, having returned to this world, he naturally hadn't forgotten the matter of the Nine Dragons pulling the Coffin. Everything had begun at Mount Tai, and he wanted to see for himself, to closely examine the various five-colored altars, large and small.

However, he heard from Xu Qiong that the incident had caused a huge sensation back then. An unknown number of military forces had been deployed to seal off Mount Tai for over a year, prohibiting anyone from approaching.

At the time, various parties exerted pressure, and many foreign organizations demanded entry into the Mount Tai area to participate in the investigation. Furthermore, it was said that dozens of Muslim elders had arrived, and the Roman Pope himself had traveled east with a large retinue.

Although many people claimed to have witnessed the Nine Dragons pulling the Coffin at Mount Tai that year, no related reports followed. Not even foreign media, known for their freedom of speech, mentioned a single word.

While rumors spread widely among the populace, major and minor news outlets, radio stations, and other media outlets remained silent, treating the matter with complete coldness. Over time, public attention waned.

Xu Qiong knew more due to her connection with Yang Xiao. Many things had been excavated from Mount Tai, and for some unknown reason, quite a few people had died there at the time.

"Those items were collected by the state, but they amounted to less than half of the total excavated."

Yang Xiao was quite young then, having graduated only a few years prior, and had only touched the periphery of the events. What happened over twenty years ago was now untraceable, classified as a state secret.

It was said that a large number of troops had been deployed that year, and despite their strict armed blockade, half of the cultural relics were still lost. Many items had been unearthed, but they had been plundered.

"What happened back then… it was truly bizarre," Yang Xiao said, even he, an atheist, felt a mix of shock and uncertainty when mentioning the past.

He hadn't been qualified to ascend Mount Tai at the time and didn't even know what had transpired there. His mentor, however, a renowned archaeological authority, had personally experienced it all.

"My teacher said that what he witnessed back then was utterly bizarre, as if legendary demons and monsters had appeared."

Unfortunately, the old professor had passed away from illness many years ago, so the true situation could no longer be verified or understood directly from him.

The old professor had mentioned only one thing: he saw a person with grey wings fly in from the west and land on Mount Tai, almost completely disregarding the presence of the military.

The archaeological community suffered heavy losses that time. A batch of extremely important items had been unearthed, including the foundation stone of the central main altar, which was inscribed with mysterious heavenly scriptures, but all were plundered.

If not for an old Daoist priest, who could barely walk, being invited later from one of the Daoist ancestral temples to oversee the site, very little of the unearthed items from Mount Tai would have remained. To have preserved almost half was truly a stroke of luck.

"These items are of great use to me. I must retrieve them all in the future. It seems I have work to do again," Ye Fan murmured to himself.

He wanted to ask who that old Daoist priest was and where he was now. Yang Xiao shook his head, admitting he didn't know much about it, only that the old Daoist seemed to have been on the verge of death at the time and passed away shortly after guarding Mount Tai.

As he finished speaking, his expression became somewhat strange, and he said, "My teacher mentioned that back then, some medical research institutions attempted to prolong the old Daoist priest's life. They failed, but during their examination, they unexpectedly discovered that he… might have lived for over two thousand years."

Ye Fan's expression instantly stiffened upon hearing this. A person two thousand years old… that was definitely a master, perhaps a famous figure in Daoist history who had lived all the way into the Age of Dharma Decline—truly astonishing.

Currently, Daoism has several ancestral temples. Dragon Tiger Mountain in Jiangxi is one, and the White Cloud Temple in City B is also among them, holding a renowned place in history.

Ye Fan was familiar with White Cloud Temple. Although Daoist priests still resided there, it had also become a famous tourist attraction, and he didn't quite believe that cultivators still existed there.

He possessed the divine ability of "shrinking the ground into an inch." As soon as he activated the "Movement" secret art, he quickly arrived at this Daoist ancestral temple. Upon approaching, he shook his head. Located within a bustling urban area, with the "ten thousand fathoms of red dust" assailing him, how could there still be Dao cultivators?

He extended his powerful divine sense, sweeping over every inch of land. His heart stirred when he sensed faint wisps of purple dragon qi beneath White Cloud Temple, connected to the earth's ley lines.

Unfortunately, it was ultimately too sparse. There hadn't been anyone with true Dao cultivation here for a long time. It seemed that practitioners of this lineage had long since departed, leaving behind only mundane disciples and an empty temple.

In former years, there was a reason this place served as a Daoist ancestral temple. City B was an ancient capital of six dynasties, with dragon veins beneath its ground, and this specific spot was nourished by earth essence, which could aid cultivation.

Yet now, the heavens and earth were parched, and spiritual energy was scarce. Even the faintest wisps of earth essence were insufficient to withstand the rolling "red dust" of the mundane world. What talk of cultivation or practicing the Dao? It could only be abandoned.

Ye Fan traveled south, journeying on foot, seeking out secluded places and famous scenic spots, passing through renowned mountains and great rivers. He wished to understand the current situation of cultivators but unfortunately encountered none.

Finally, he re-ascended Mount Tai, returning to the very place where the Nine Dragons pulling the Coffin had set sail.

No mountain greater, no history older!

Mount Tai was majestic and grand. In ancient times, it was regarded as the birthplace of the sun and the origin of all life, with its history traceable back to the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

Ye Fan ascended to the summit, where all other mountains seemed small. Standing there, he felt boundless emotion. Over twenty years had passed, and he was the only one who had returned alive.

He stood where the bronze coffin had once lain, silently sensing. Then, with a wave of his hand, he extracted half a piece of jade from underground. Besides this, there was nothing else; the state had excavated so thoroughly that nothing remained.

Suddenly, he heard hushed whispers. Had he not possessed a cultivator's divine perception, he wouldn't have heard them at all.

In the distance, several young people with extraordinary demeanors were conversing. They were somewhat different from ordinary people, possessing an ethereal, detached aura.

"The Scale Race lineage actually produced a Sky Demon. In this Age of Dharma Decline, it's hard to say if that's a blessing or a sorrow—quite incredible."

"Perhaps that race truly can flourish. Who knows, they might even produce a figure comparable to an ancient sect master, especially since various sects have left behind ancient treasures and elixirs. With dedicated cultivation, it's not impossible for them to achieve great brilliance."

Ye Fan listened intently, his heart stirred. He had finally found the contemporary cultivation sects. These individuals were of extraordinary background, disciples of major branches within Daoism, belonging to the Shangqing and Lingbao lineages.

"So what if it's the Age of Dharma Decline? Have you forgotten that over twenty years ago, on this very mountain, several confrontations between great cultivators occurred? Such individuals still exist."

"Oh, and have you heard? Not long ago, a great cultivator appeared in Jiujiang and taught a lesson to those from the Xia Dragon Sparrow branch."

These people were there to mourn the ancient ruins. Ye Fan listened closely and unexpectedly learned a great deal from their conversation.

"Thinking back to ancient times, how magnificent Mount Tai was, comparable to the peaks of Kunlun. But now, everything has changed."

"Let's not dwell on this. We should focus on our cultivation. The Assembly of Cultivators is about to begin, and we mustn't miss it. It's said that great cultivators might descend, perhaps even individuals who have emerged from Kunlun."