Shrouded Sky

Chapter 125 - Immortal Blood

This was undoubtedly a once peerless genius, tragically buried here, unknown to the world, dying in confusion. Countless cultivators across history likely shared the same fate: failing to achieve immortality, many powerful beings died in doubt and despondency.

Unable to find an exit, Ye Fan picked a direction and continued forward. Before long, he came across another skeleton lying face-up on the ground, jaw slightly parted, as if he had died in sorrow. There was blood writing nearby. Ye Fan crouched down to carefully identify it.

“Becoming immortal… hard! Hard! Hard!” Five simple characters, but they revealed the bitterness within. It seemed this person died in utter despair.

“There’s more!” The purple-robed girl’s wide eyes looked toward the snow-white arm beneath the bones.

Ye Fan gently pushed the skeletal arm aside, it crumbled into powder, and underneath were a few words: Heavenly Jade Yang Yizhen.

“What?!” The girl gasped, her pink lips parted in shock, face full of disbelief.

“Yang Yizhen of the Heavenly Jade Sacred Ground! He was a legendary figure recorded in the ancient history of the Eastern Wilderness! He dominated the land 105,000 years ago, virtually unmatched… to think he died here…”

Hearing this, Ye Fan was also deeply shaken. The Heavenly Jade Sacred Ground no longer existed, only that crazy old man remained.

This massive bronze palace really was a burial ground for unparalleled powerhouses. So many had come, chasing the hope of immortality, only to die here in obscurity.

The third skeleton drew another cry from the purple-robed girl. She was visibly disturbed, as the dark red bloodstains, though faint, still revealed the name of a famous Ji Clan ancestor.

“He lived 9,000 years ago. Our clan’s ancestral records mention him. His name is also recorded in the Eastern Wilderness’s ancient chronicles… I can’t believe…”

Ye Fan continued walking forward, finding more than thirty skeletons, some of them bore names, all of which belonged to legendary figures of ancient history.

The vast bronze hall stretched endlessly, empty and void. No exit could be found. The lake water hadn’t flowed in, this place seemed like a world of its own.

“Is becoming immortal really this hard…” Ye Fan was moved. Across all time, even the Eastern Wilderness’s strongest had seemingly failed to transcend.

“How did they all die here? If we die here, will even our bones remain?” the girl said gloomily. She had never imagined she’d see a day like this.

“We can’t let ourselves be trapped here…” Ye Fan thought silently, but so many heroes had perished here. How could he hope to escape?

Suddenly, the bronze palace shuddered, and an immense pressure fell, like a galaxy collapsing or a starfield withering. The oppressive force made it hard to breathe.

The hall became engulfed in roiling chaos, like mist, vast and indistinct, sweeping toward them like a tidal wave, unstoppable.

This was primordial power, like the dawn of the cosmos, the moment the heavens and earth first formed. Stars flashed, chaos exploded. If they were engulfed, they would surely die.

“I don’t want to die!” The girl whimpered, chanting names of legendary figures said to have become immortals, as if praying for salvation.

Ye Fan was chilled to his core. There was nothing he could do. He could not stop the power of chaos. In that moment, many memories flashed through his mind. In the blink of an eye, it felt like he’d lived a whole lifetime.

Then, Ye Fan’s Oceanic Wheel stirred, the green copper block, silent and unmoving for so long, trembled slightly. The encroaching chaos immediately paused.

He then felt the spring beneath the sea go empty. The ancient copper block rose from his Wheel Sea, appearing before him, dull, without radiance, without any energy fluctuation, utterly plain.

“What is that?” The girl’s eyes widened, her lashes trembling as she stared in disbelief.

Ye Fan was overwhelmed. The green copper block had never left his body like this before. It gently quivered in front of him, and then, everything fell calm.

The green copper block flashed and vanished, returning once more to Ye Fan’s inner spring. He was left deeply shaken. The girl kept asking questions, but Ye Fan gave no answer.

The hall was now completely still and quiet. Ye Fan and the girl suddenly realized they were no longer in the same place, and ahead of them, two doors had appeared.

Near the doors were over a dozen skeletons, each with crystal-clear bones, not turned to powder, testament to their exceptional power.

Ye Fan stepped forward and tapped one of them. It gave off a metallic clang, like gold and stone. These were not ordinary bones. Even time could not destroy them.

Some skeletons had blood inscriptions in front of them. One epitaph made Ye Fan pause:

“I have the heart of an immortal, long obscured by the dust of the world. When the dust clears, light shall shine, illuminating all beneath heaven.”

Such grand ambition, yet also helplessness and despair. This person had clearly reached unimaginable heights, yet even he had found immortality out of reach. His final words conveyed sorrow and regret.

“This person…” The girl’s voice trembled. “There are rumors he actually became an immortal… but he died here.”

A figure believed to have ascended to immortality had perished here. It made people question: does “immortality” even exist?

Ye Fan gazed at the skeletons, his heart full of emotion. He too began to doubt whether anyone in the Eastern Wilderness had truly become immortal.

Passing the remains, they came to the two doors. Ye Fan was shocked, the doors looked like the yin and yang fish of the Taiji diagram. The left door was a black yin fish. The right was a white yang fish. Both were shaped like crescent moons.

“These combine into the Taiji!” Ye Fan was astonished.

In Daoism, traditional Chinese medicine, and culture, the Taiji symbol is considered the first and ultimate diagram of ancient China, as mysterious as the tripod cauldron.

On the black yin fish door, a single ancient character was engraved with terrifying force:

“Death.” It exuded an ominous aura, like a curse, almost bloody in its energy.

On the white yang fish door, another single word was inscribed in powerful strokes:

“Life.” It radiated peace and harmony, completely opposite to the other door.

Behind them, only dim mist remained. Ahead, only these two paths remained. Both Ye Fan and the girl were unsettled.

“What’s there to think about? Of course we pick the door of Life. Who would choose death?” Ji Ziyue wrinkled her delicate nose, eyes narrowing into crescents. “Don’t you dare get stupid and walk into the Death door, I still want to become immortal!”

Ye Fan didn’t answer. He stared in deep thought. Then he said: “Taiji gives birth to yin and yang. Yang is life; yin is death.”

But he didn’t choose just yet. Something felt off.

“From yin comes yang. From yang comes yin. They reverse one another, life and death switch places,” he muttered.

He had read many ancient texts. Illusion and reality intertwined. Yin and yang gave birth to each other. There were countless interpretations.

At last, he pointed to the Death door. “That is the real path to life!”

“Are you serious?!” Ji Ziyue’s jaw dropped. “The Life door looks so peaceful, how can it not be the right choice?!”

“It’s precisely because it looks peaceful that it leads nowhere. The Death door hides a chance at survival.”

“You sure about this?” Ji Ziyue’s eyes widened.

“Don’t doom the future immortal Ji Ziyue. You’ll bring bad karma on yourself.”

Ye Fan hesitated. His decision was based solely on the Taiji diagram’s logic, but this wasn’t ancient China. His reasoning might not apply here.

“Well?” Ji Ziyue asked again. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

Thud! Ye Fan knocked her gently on the forehead. “Call me big brother. Don’t be disrespectful.”

Ji Ziyue’s eyes teared up. She gritted her perfect little teeth.

“Try that again, and future-immortal Ji Ziyue won’t be so nice!”

In the end, Ye Fan stepped through the Death door, decisively.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a tsunami-like roar erupted. Black light shot from the Death door, white light from the Life door.

Yin and yang collided, death and life clashed. Their opposing energies surged across the world, roaring like oceans and shaking the heavens.

Taiji was forming. Life and death were in direct opposition. Yin and yang swirled in chaotic mist. The collision was terrifying, it could birth creation, or annihilate all.

Just then, the green copper block trembled once more. It emerged, hovering before the doors. Though simple and dull, it stood like a mountain.

Instantly, the yin and yang energy dispersed.

“What the heck is that treasure?!” Ji Ziyue was stunned. Her jaw dropped, and her bright eyes flickered with wonder.

Ye Fan didn’t answer. When the chaos faded, the copper block returned to his body. He strode forward.

Beyond the Death door was no death, no killing aura, just a solitary, empty path stretching far into the distance.

Tap… tap… tap… Their footsteps echoed across the emptiness, like a road untouched for tens of thousands of years, deathly still.

“Where does this ancient path lead?” Ji Ziyue’s eyes curved like crescent moons. “Could the secret to immortality lie at its end?”

After half an hour, Ye Fan finally reached the end. In front of him, chaos swirled, and yin and yang energy danced. A vast bronze hall awaited, its floor gleaming with several radiant skeletons.

On the far wall, one massive character was etched:

Immortal (仙)

It pulsed with a strange, indescribable rhythm, written in blood, branded into the bronze wall. The blood was still fresh and glowing, not dried, radiant and dazzling, eerily demonic.

“Immortal” should be sacred… why was it written in blood?

Moreover, this blood was clearly extraordinary. All other powerful figures here had long turned to dust. Only a few had left behind bones.

But the blood forming the word “Immortal”, still bright red, still flowing, seemed to defy time itself.

“Could that be the blood of an… immortal?!”