Shrouded Sky

Chapter 176 - Eight Gods Desolate Strength

Fourteen blood-colored banners shook, covering the sky and sun, like the beginning of heaven and earth, chaotic and hazy, completely shrouding the firmament. The two Supreme Elders of the Radiant Light Sacred Ground charged left and right, but could not break out of the blood-colored region.

The banners fluttered, each over a hundred meter tall. With every movement, countless sword lights burst forth, unbreakable, with an edge that overshadowed the sun.

"Jiang Yi, with your cultivation at this level, only godsources are useful to you. Raiding our Radiant Light source mines is entirely meaningless."

As one Supreme Elder of the Radiant Light Sacred Ground just finished speaking, a sharp sword light lit up the sky like lightning across the heavens, slicing off the corner of his sleeve. "You…" His expression turned grim.

"I can use sources to trade for what I need," Jiang Yi replied calmly, sitting atop the suanni lion, both hands slowly moving. The fourteen blood-colored banners surged like a flood, violently shaking and quickly shifting position.

Jiang Yi’s hands seemed to possess limitless godpower. Though moving slowly, they exuded terrifying pressure that struck fear into the heart. The banners trembled in unison with his movements.

Boom,

The void erupted violently, like a massive millstone rumbling across the sky. The two Supreme Elders’ expressions changed dramatically.

As powerful as they were, they were like duckweed in a raging sea, swaying in the sky, unable to stabilize.

The fourteen blood-colored banners shook violently, clanging with unmatched power, as if they could rip apart the heavens, vast and overwhelming.

"Desolate Strength!" the two Supreme Elders exclaimed in shock.

Jiang Yi’s hands moved even slower, but the energy they released became more terrifying.

Those hands were demonic. The firmament trembled because of him, the void continuously collapsing. Under this power, the fourteen banners appeared like fourteen blood gods with overwhelming might.

Boom,

One elder was struck by a banner, half of his clothes torn. His face turned pale as his body staggered.

"He’s actually cultivated the Jiang Clan’s Eight Gods Desolate Strength to this extent…"

This caught the two elders off guard.

Eight Gods Desolate Strength was a top-tier technique for controlling artifacts possessing demonic qualities. At its zenith, it was virtually unstoppable.

This supreme secret art was the pinnacle of the Jiang Clan’s ancient scriptures, just like the Void Palm of the Ji Clan.

Jiang Yi’s hands grew ever slower, eventually nearly stopping mid-air. But the terror only grew, as if eight gods were channeling their overwhelming strength through him.

This part of the sky felt like a swamp, or a field of baleful energy, causing the two elders’ movements to slow, as if being bound.

The banners blazed with blood flames, forcing the elders closer together. The space shrank.

Boom,

When Jiang Yi’s hands nearly stopped, he suddenly jolted them.

The space in front collapsed instantly. The banners trembled, Eight Gods Desolate Strength surged like ten thousand crashing waves, wild and unmatched, blasting the two elders away.

"You, "

Both elders coughed up blood, eyes wide with shock.

“Eight Gods Desolate Strength is truly terrifying. Worthy of being called a supreme scripture. But if this is all you have, you can’t kill us, you’ll have to leave your life behind!”

Their voices were low and cold, blood dripping from their mouths. They were shaken.

"Kill me? Come try!" Jiang Yi sat motionless atop the Suanni Lion, his hands starting to move again.

At the same time, the two elders each summoned artifacts, one a purple-gold gourd, the other a bronze bell, suspended above their heads, cascading rays of divine light like veils, shielding them.

The banners’ sword lights, though dazzling, couldn’t penetrate their protection now.

The battle among the three powerful beings caused the heavens to erupt like a galaxy pouring down. Radiant and destructive energy engulfed everything.

The ground was also affected, but one of the banners planted in the earth, a hundred meter tall, emitted blood-red light that protected thousands of mortals, none were harmed.

"Eight Gods Desolate Strength…" Ye Fan muttered, gazing skyward. He thought of records in the Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Feng and Shan:

“To enter the divine: First, the Lord of Sky, worshipped in unison with heaven. Second, the Lord of Earth, heaven favors yin, and is worshipped beneath great mountains, atop small hills, called ‘Ji’. Third, the God of War…”

Soon after, beasts roared. Dozens of riders arrived, Jiang Yi’s men, returning fully loaded with plundered source.

Boom,

Jiang Yi unleashed the Eight Gods Desolate Strength, striking the void with force, pushing the two elders back. "Go!"

He and the riders ascended skyward. Fourteen blood banners blocked the elders’ pursuit.

Four of the banners rose from the earth, one after another.

Eventually, all fourteen banners, glowing blood-red, pierced the sky and vanished.

The two elders gave chase, unwilling to let them go. At the same time, reinforcements from the Radiant Light Sacred Ground arrived.

The region around the Primordial Mine, within a hundred thousand miles, was divided among the Eastern Wilderness’ Sacred Grounds. The Radiant Light Sacred Ground had several Source Mines here, all heavily guarded.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yi was well prepared. One strike, then flight through a Domain Gate, vanishing without a trace.

The elders returned empty-handed, faces grim.

Ye Fan was secretly shocked. The Thirteen Warlords were too bold, even daring to rob a Sacred Ground.

In fact, each of the Thirteen Warlords had an extraordinary background, some were defectors from Sacred Grounds, others wandering powerhouses from the Heartlands, and some were fugitive overlords from the Northern Reaches.

The turmoil soon passed. Thousands of new mortals were divided among various mines in the region.

Though newly arrived, the place held little novelty, bleakness was its eternal theme. Low stone huts, reddish-brown earth and stone, rows of mines, lifeless, barren.

The source miners nearby wore blank expressions, mechanically working, hauling source from the mines like soulless husks.

Many newcomers shivered inwardly: Was this their future? Repetitive, lifeless labor, becoming walking corpses…

In three days, Ye Fan learned much.

Normally, source mining only required physical effort. But if monsters emerged in the mines, the danger became extreme, not even powerful cultivators could survive.

Few lived ten years here. Those who returned to the Southern Region with gold were rare.

Ye Fan frowned. The area was covered with seals, cut off from the outside. Only in special periods could people leave. Escaping would require careful planning.

He wasn’t anxious. This place was rich in source stones, if he could mine them, his cultivation would soar.

His only concern was… the Radiant Light Saintess. If Yao Xi came here, things would be bad.

Thinking of the undergarment in his possession, he chuckled.

Surely the lofty Saintess wouldn’t enter a dusty, lifeless mine, she must have other business.

Ye Fan then broke his own bones, enduring the pain to realign them. Many parts were deformed and needed fixing.

“Damn it, that hurts…” he muttered in the dead of night, sweating profusely as he reset his bones.

After several rounds of assignment reshuffling, those around him kept changing. He wasn’t afraid of drawing attention. For days, he smeared mud on his face to hide his features.

After a few more days and another reassignment, he was completely secure, his changing appearance wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

Eventually, he was placed in the Fifteenth Mining Zone. He spent these days learning about source mining and working above ground.

Source was precious and rare. Mining started by locating a source vein, each vein being its own mine.

Even in this region, source wasn’t endless. A small mine might yield just a few kilo of source; the poorest, only a few grams.

Large mines might yield over one tonne of source, an astounding amount, but extremely rare.

“No wonder that old hag Ji Hui thought a fist-sized source stone was enough to cover my debt to the Ji Clan.”

A fist-sized piece of source could boost a Celestial Bridge Stage cultivator by one stage. At that time, Ye Fan was exactly at that realm.

But with Ye Fan’s bottomless constitution, even that wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t a flaw, he needed more life essence, but his godpower was also far greater than others in the same realm.

He could continuously absorb source, without limit.

Ordinary Celestial Bridge cultivators needed time to absorb a source stone; they couldn’t just devour it. It took time to refine.

If a source mountain was placed in front of Ye Fan, he could devour it. Others could only drool.

Of course, relying on treasures only worked in early cultivation. After the Third Secret Realm of cultivation (beyond the Oceanic Wheel Realm and Dao Palace Realm), one had to comprehend the Grand Dao, there were no more shortcuts.

The Fifteenth Mining Zone was vast, filled with hard red stone, tough to dig.

More than ten mine shafts had been opened, but output was low, each yielding just about one kilo.

Though the source was limited, it was pure and clear, high quality.

Also, the zone was still new, there might be major veins buried deeper.

On the twentieth day, Ye Fan had learned enough and was finally assigned to his first trip underground.

"Immeasurable Heaven, Amitabha, let me mine well and refine it clean for you guys!"

Just then, screams came from outside the shaft.

Experienced miners scrambled upward in panic.

“Shit! My first day mining and I’m already facing monsters?!”

Ye Fan’s bones had fully healed, and his body was unmatched, fast like a monkey, he was the first to react.

"The mine next door is haunted!"

“There’s something unholy in that vein. Everyone who went in is dead. Even a powerful elder from Radiant Light didn’t make a sound, just died!”

From the nearby shaft came a demonic aura, something was about to burst forth.

Sensing this, Ye Fan fled at once. He had a bad feeling, he couldn’t stay here.

Near that shaft, corpses lay everywhere.

The Fifteenth Mining Zone was in total chaos. Miners were terrified.

After fleeing several miles away, Ye Fan finally stopped, watching from a distance.