Shrouded Sky

Chapter 108 - Heavenly Jade Saintess

The woman had bright eyes and white teeth, as flawless as lotus emerging from clear water, peerlessly beautiful. Standing at the edge of the cliff, one step more would send her falling into the endless abyss. Her white robes fluttered in the wind like a celestial goddess from the moon, detached from the mortal world.

Ye Fan couldn’t find a single flaw in her. Her beauty didn’t seem real, it was surreal, otherworldly, as if nature had concentrated all its brilliance into her. She was pure, ethereal, icy-skinned and jade-boned, virtually perfect.

Among all the women Ye Fan had ever seen, only one could compare in sheer appearance: the flawless woman he once encountered at the Demon Emperor's tomb.

“How could such a stunning woman appear in a place like this?” Ye Fan felt a strong sense of danger and instinctively took a few steps back. Though his Primeval Desolate Sacred Physique was aging, the woman ahead remained completely unaffected by the forbidden zone, showing no signs of decay. That alone made her incredibly mysterious and terrifying.

“Why are you standing there? Go pick the divine medicine!” Jiang Hanzhong bellowed from below. The three below could see Ye Fan at the summit's edge but could not see the woman near the cliff.

On the cliff, dark energy surged. The woman, like a figure from a painting, moved gracefully toward Ye Fan, her steps like blooming lotus petals.

“Not good!” Ye Fan felt his aging accelerate. A mysterious force approached. He quickly retreated.

This woman was absolutely not normal, she was terrifying. She carried a power unique to the ancient abyss, and even Ye Fan found it hard to withstand. Were it not for the golden sea of bitterness (his spiritual reservoir) still raging inside him, he would’ve already turned to dust.

“Could she be… the legendary Desolation?” Ye Fan was shocked. He had long heard that something unknown, either a being or a force, dwelt in the depths of the ancient abyss, called Desolation.

He immediately started retreating, planning to let Jiang Hanzhong and the others deal with this woman.

“Why are you coming back?” Jiang Hanzhong scolded. “Wait… why is there another woman?” Ji Yunfeng’s face changed as he spotted the white-robed figure and instantly felt his life force fading faster.

“That’s…” Elder Xu Daoling of Radiant Light Sacred Ground turned pale with shock, stumbled back several steps, and was visibly terrified.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Hanzhong and Ji Yunfeng were alarmed too and quickly followed him back.

“What is it? Who is that woman?” they asked.

“Incredible… I can’t believe it…” Xu Daoling said, face as white as a sheet. “I once saw her portrait…”

“Was it special?” Ji Yunfeng asked in a low voice. “She is indeed shockingly beautiful. I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman.”

“That portrait is six thousand years old!”

Both Jiang Hanzhong and Ji Yunfeng gasped. A person from six thousand years ago? That was staggering, even their powerful clans couldn’t trace anyone that ancient still alive.

“She’s not alive!” Xu Daoling said, trembling.

“What?!” the other two changed color instantly. A thought struck them.

“Six thousand years ago, she was known as the supreme saintess of Eastern Wilderness. Pure and flawless. Several legendary figures once followed her.”

As Xu Daoling spoke, Ji Yunfeng and Jiang Hanzhong pieced it together.

“She belonged to the sect that was wiped out here six thousand years ago?” they asked.

“Yes. She was the Heavenly Jade Saintess!” Xu Daoling felt overwhelmed. He never expected to encounter a figure from ancient history.

Back then, the sect destroyed here was named Heavenly Jade Sacred Ground, just like Radiant Light, named after one of the Big Dipper stars.

“Our Radiant Light Sacred Ground once had a great figure who mourned her deeply. Her portrait was preserved in our ancient vault.”

Ye Fan, with his divine spring still active and senses sharp, heard everything. He was stunned to learn that this perfect woman was the number one Saintess of the Eastern Wilderness, from the now-vanished sect, senior sister to the mad old man.

That madman had once stared into the forbidden zone for a whole night. If he saw this Saintess’s immortal body still intact, what would he think?

“She died six thousand years ago and has reappeared. There’s only one explanation, she’s become a Desolation Slave,” Jiang Hanzhong said.

In the distant past, several peerless cultivators entered the abyss in old age, only to become Desolation Slaves in the end.

“Only truly extraordinary figures become Desolation Slaves. Though she died long ago, she’s still terrifying,” Ji Yunfeng said grimly. “Should we retreat? I feel like my life could end at any moment. Her aura is thick with Desolation.”

“I’m afraid… it’s too late,” Xu Daoling replied, drenched in sweat.

That peerless beauty floated down silently like a ghost, passed Ye Fan, and drifted toward the three elders.

Ye Fan cursed to himself. He might die here. Looking back, he realized that their first trip to the summit had been miraculously smooth, they picked the divine medicine easily.

“I get it now. That first time, the nine dragon corpses and the bronze coffin had landed here, suppressing the abyss’s Desolation, which scared the slaves into hiding.”

“Let’s go all out!” Jiang Hanzhong acted, raising his brocade box. A bronze mirror shot from his body, its back engraved with a bagua diagram, its face shining like the full moon. A beam of light as thick as a house blasted toward the Heavenly Jade Saintess.

The whole summit quaked. The beam fell like a galaxy from the heavens, terrifying beyond words.

Ye Fan was shaken. Jiang Hanzhong’s power was beyond comprehension, like a boundless ocean. This level was far beyond his own. If that beam hit him, he would be instantly obliterated.

“This must be beyond the Other Shore Realm,” he thought. He knew the body had other secret realms beyond the Oceanic Wheel Stage.

Whoosh!

To everyone’s shock, the beam that could outshine sun and moon vanished like smoke before it reached the Saintess, leaving her completely unharmed.

Clang!

The bronze mirror fell to the ground. Jiang Hanzhong’s face turned white; he nearly collapsed. His divine source was depleted.

Whoosh! Ji Yunfeng acted next, holding the black stone. A Heaven-Net Umbrella flew from him, covering the sky and crashing toward the Saintess. A raging storm swept over, dimming the sun and moon.

Bang!

The woman merely extended a finger. The massive umbrella was pierced instantly, dimmed, and fell. Ji Yunfeng turned deathly pale, slumped to the ground.

“Xu, quickly use your forbidden artifact!” he shouted. “Didn’t you say it contains your supreme elder’s power?”

Xu Daoling revealed a green jade leaf, glowing brilliantly with intricate Dao markings. Holding it, he released dazzling divine radiance that became a sea of green light, engulfing the summit and the Saintess.

The energy was vast, like stars falling from the sky. The mountain trembled. For half a quarter hour, the light persisted before finally fading.

Ye Fan gasped in shock.

The Heavenly Jade Saintess hadn’t moved an inch. Her white robes hadn’t even fluttered. She was terrifying to the extreme.

The three elders, pale and weary, exchanged glances. In unison, they activated their forbidden artifacts, unleashing their strongest techniques. Godpower surged skyward, drowning the Saintess.

But when the light faded, she was still standing, completely unharmed.

Crack!

The artifacts of Ji Yunfeng and Xu Daoling shattered. They had aged decades in moments. Their life force was nearly gone.

Jiang Hanzhong, also severely aged, held the cracked brocade box and gritted his teeth. “We’ll use it now!”

The box shattered, revealing a palm-sized ancient tower. Though dull in color, its pressure was overwhelming, greater than everything so far. It seemed like a world, capable of holding all creation.

“This is…!” Xu Daoling’s dim eyes lit up. “The Jiang Clan’s imitation of the Eastern Wilderness’s supreme treasure, the Desolate Tower?!”

“That’s impossible. The real Desolate Tower is unique. This is just a defective copy,” Jiang Hanzhong said.

The imitation tower flew up on its own, expanded, and pressed toward the Heavenly Jade Saintess.

“She’s retreating!” Ji Yunfeng gasped. But the tower followed and finally suppressed her beneath it.

Boom! The summit shook. The imitation tower shrank again.

“Good!” Xu Daoling cried. “Even the copy is terrifying! It can suppress enemies on its own, even in the forbidden zone!”

Ye Fan was stunned. These ancient clans were terrifying, they even had imitation Desolate Towers capable of suppressing such horror.

“Quick, we must leave! The tower only lasts one strike. It’ll soon shatter!” Jiang Hanzhong shouted.

“It really is… a defective copy,” Ji Yunfeng sighed.

“What are you waiting for? Go harvest the divine medicine and meet us below!”

“Screw you, did you really think you controlled me?” Ye Fan sneered.

“You…” All three elders turned pale. The puppet mark had failed.

Boom! The tower shattered. The Heavenly Jade Saintess, weakened, appeared again.

“We’re done…” Jiang Hanzhong laughed bitterly.

In the next instant, his body dried up and turned to dust. Ji Yunfeng and Xu Daoling followed, like they had lived 10,000 years in a moment.

At the mountain’s base, all the aged soldiers and weakened beasts dried up as well, leaving only skeletons.

Ye Fan was deeply shaken. His body rapidly aged. The golden sea inside him roared, his divine spring overflowed with life force, keeping him alive.

“Is this ancient forbidden land going to be my grave?” he thought, weak and fading.

He rushed toward the summit, only divine medicine and the spring could save him.

Just as he reached the top, the Saintess blocked his path. Her white robes fluttered. Her eyes were pure and lifelike.

“So this is how terrifying the forbidden ancient really is. We survived last time purely by luck…” Ye Fan wanted to summon his cauldron, but lacked the power. He gritted his teeth and summoned his golden book instead, slashing it toward her.

Clang! She gently flicked a finger, and the book fell. But the golden pages attracted her attention, she picked it up.

Then, she silently appeared beside Ye Fan. Her presence icy and overwhelming. She reached out, her slender hand aiming at Ye Fan’s golden sea.

“You…” Ye Fan stepped back but couldn’t escape. That flawless hand entered his body.

He aged rapidly, becoming skin and bones, almost a skeleton. But then the copper shard in his golden sea shimmered.

The Saintess screamed in agony. She was struck like lightning, dropped the golden book, and was thrown backward, falling into the abyss.

“A fake tower couldn’t suppress you, but my copper shard is like the real thing,” Ye Fan said, smiling bitterly. His life force was nearly gone. He staggered forward.

In a blur, he smelled a rich fragrance. Several strange little trees stood ahead. A spring gurgled.

He fell in with a splash.