Shrouded Sky

Chapter 185 - Imperial Jade

Ye Fan and Er Lengzi returned to the stone village. In the days that followed, Ye Fan earnestly learned the art of Source Detection from the village elders. At the same time, he was actively preparing, determined to gather all possible information about Purple Mountain before attempting to enter it.

“You’ve been asking so much, don’t tell me you’re still planning to enter Purple Mountain?” Over the past few days, Ye Fan had been inquiring about Purple Mountain, causing Fifth Master Zhang to frown. “You really shouldn’t take the risk, or you’ll only lose your life.”

“Don’t you want to retrieve the Celestial Source Tome?” Ye Fan asked with a smile.

“Of course, I don’t want the legacy left by our ancestors to be lost,” Fifth Master Zhang replied. “But what can we do? A thousand years ago, one of our ancestors ignored the warnings and used the book to break into Purple Mountain. He never returned, and the book was lost.” According to Zhang Wu, the Celestial Source Tome was a divine item that could be used as a weapon.

“If you tell me about the past events, I might be able to retrieve the Celestial Source Tome,” Ye Fan suggested.

Fifth Master Zhang shook his head. “You’ve done great things for our stone village, and I don’t want you to throw your life away.”

“I have ways to protect myself. You can rest assured,” Ye Fan insisted.

No matter how Ye Fan persuaded him, Zhang Wu firmly opposed the idea of him taking such a risk.

Five days later, Ye Fan arrived at an ancient mine more than a hundred miles from the stone village. This was where Big Beard Chen and his group had found an ancient jade piece related to Purple Mountain, so Ye Fan naturally came to investigate.

The area was desolate, devoid of human presence. The ancient mine exuded an eerie, ghostly aura, abandoned for countless years, with a moldy stench emanating from within. It was a massive mine shaft, resembling a giant pit. The underground was pitch black, its depths invisible, making anyone standing there feel uneasy. “This place isn’t haunted, is it?” Ye Fan muttered.

The mine was eerily silent, with no sound at all. Ye Fan descended a full thousand meters before reaching the bottom. He couldn’t help but be amazed, this was a colossal vein, a rare find. In its heyday, it must have yielded vast amounts of source material. Unfortunately, it was now a relic of the ancient past, with no rare treasures left behind.

Crunch.

A sound came from underfoot as Ye Fan stepped on a pile of dry bones. These likely belonged to someone who had died within the last century, not a remnant from ancient times. The massive ancient mine was filled with marks of knives and axes, left by those who had toiled here long ago, a testament to the blood and tears of past source miners.

“Whoever left that ancient jade here must have been someone extraordinary. It couldn’t have appeared here by chance,” Ye Fan reasoned. He soon reached the spot where the jade was found, but there was nothing remarkable about it. After searching for an hour, he pressed on, determined to explore the deepest parts of the mine.

After walking five kilometers underground, he still hadn’t reached the end. The mine seemed to stretch into the netherworld, dark and silent. Another three kilometers later, Ye Fan sucked in a cold breath. An eight-kilometer-long ancient mine, and still no end? This was unheard of.

Ordinary mines were only a few hundred meters deep. This one was unimaginably vast. Ye Fan began to suspect it wasn’t a single source vein but rather multiple mines that had been connected. Yet, why was there only one entrance?

“If this is one massive source vein, it might be a legendary dragon vein…” Ye Fan’s heart stirred. Such a place could have birthed Godsources.

Clearly, many had visited this place in the Desolate Era, leaving behind numerous traces. After traveling a full ten thousand meters, Ye Fan finally reached the end, where he heard the sound of rushing water.

There was no path forward, only a vertical shaft descending deeper, from which the sound of water echoed. Peering down, Ye Fan felt the underground river was chillingly cold, like a dull blade scraping against his skin.

“Something’s off,” he murmured.

After a moment’s thought, he jumped in with a splash, diving into the underground river. The water was bone-piercingly cold. Even with his godpower protecting him, he felt the chill. He traveled about ten miles before the riverbanks began to show no more signs of mining. Ye Fan gritted his teeth and pressed on, noticing something unusual: the river flowed in a straight line, unchanging. After another twenty miles, it remained the same. In total, he followed the river for forty to fifty miles before stopping.

At that moment, he sensed immense danger. Ahead, a massive funnel-like black hole appeared, swallowing the entire underground river as if it could never be filled. For some reason, standing there, Ye Fan felt a shiver run down his spine. The enormous black hole seemed capable of devouring his very soul, filling him with dread.

“This isn’t a good place. I came to investigate the ancient jade and prepare for Purple Mountain. There’s no need to risk my life here,” Ye Fan decided. Unwilling to venture into the ominous black hole, he retraced his steps along the river until he was back in the ancient mine. Only then did he let out a long breath.

“Huh?” Suddenly, Ye Fan was struck by a realization.

“Could it be…?” he muttered to himself.

He quickly rushed out of the ten-thousand-meter-long, thousand-meter-deep mine, emerging on the surface. After determining the direction of the underground river, he ran across the ground. When he reached the point corresponding to the river’s end, dozens of miles away, he was stunned.

Before him lay a barren mountain range stretching across the blood-red earth, blocking his path like a coiling dragon, winding and towering. Centered around Purple Mountain, there were nine such peaks in total, and this was one of them.

“What a grand undertaking!” Ye Fan exclaimed. An area spanning dozens, even nearly a hundred miles, was all connected to Purple Mountain. He had flown into the sky multiple times to observe, noting that one end of each of the nine peaks pointed toward Purple Mountain in a highly regular pattern.

After some thought, Ye Fan returned to the stone village. He sketched a map of Purple Mountain and the nine peaks on cowhide, scaled proportionally, and presented it to Fifth Master Zhang, asking, “Is there any significance to this kind of terrain?”

Though Zhang Wu lived here, as a mortal, he couldn’t see the full picture from high above as Ye Fan could. Upon seeing the clear map, he stood up in shock. “This… you actually figured it out.”

“So you know about this?” Ye Fan asked.

“My ancestors recognized Purple Mountain’s extraordinariness because of these nine peaks,” Zhang Wu said, spreading out the cowhide. “Look, what does this resemble?”

“I can’t tell what it looks like, only that it’s very symmetrical, with one end of each peak pointing toward Purple Mountain at the center,” Ye Fan replied.

“This is the pattern of nine dragon veins guarding a single pearl!” Zhang Wu declared.

Ye Fan was momentarily speechless. The nine peaks didn’t resemble dragons, and Purple Mountain, sharp and upright like a great iron sword, hardly looked like a pearl.

“You haven’t studied the Celestial Source Tome, so you wouldn’t think in these terms. But this is indeed a dragon vein pattern, Nine Dragons Guarding A Pearl!” Zhang Wu insisted.

“What’s the significance of this?” Ye Fan asked.

“It’s profoundly significant. The Celestial Source Tome has detailed records, though I only know the basics. Such a ‘grand formation’ is infinitely mysterious.”

Ye Fan was moved. “What does it mean?”

“My ancestors once said that nine dragons guarding a pearl encompasses the ultimate mysteries of heaven and earth’s transformations.”

“What kind of mysteries?” Ye Fan pressed.

“Not even powerful cultivators can withstand such a ‘grand formation.’ My ancestors only said one thing: none but an ancient Grand Emperor could manipulate such a formation.”

Ye Fan’s curiosity was piqued. “Did your ancestor, the Celestial Source Master, say anything more detailed?”

“No. But one thing is certain: it was because he glimpsed the secrets of Purple Mountain that he was so shocked he retreated and didn’t even dare let the fairies of Jade Pool assist him.”

Ye Fan was stunned. “This…”

“Other ancestors of my Zhang Clan who studied the Celestial Source Tome couldn’t fully comprehend it. They only deduced that this place hides a monumental secret.”

Ye Fan’s desire to uncover the truth grew stronger. “Did they find no clues at all, not even a hint of the secret?”

“Many ancestors agreed that all of this points to that ancient Grand Emperor. He likely set up something terrifying here.”

“What did he use this ‘grand formation’ to create?” Ye Fan mused. “The Desolate Era, as cultivators call it, was ten thousand years ago. What use would a Grand Emperor from over a hundred thousand years ago have for this? It doesn’t make sense for someone long gone to dust to do this.”

“Perhaps it was for his descendants…” Zhang Wu shook his head. “Only by fully mastering the Celestial Source Tome can one understand what that Grand Emperor was trying to achieve.”

Ye Fan’s mind churned. There were living beings in Purple Mountain, ancient races from before the Desolate Era. He couldn’t fathom the Grand Emperor’s motives. “I just saw an ancient mine pointing toward one of the peaks. It was completely hollowed out, like a source dragon vein. Could it have produced Godsources?”

“In fact, the ancient mine leads directly to that peak. All nine peaks have been hollowed out beneath,” Zhang Wu revealed.

Ye Fan was astonished. “What an immense project!”

“The methods of an ancient Grand Emperor are unimaginable. He could certainly accomplish this.”

“So this was done by that Grand Emperor, not by later miners?” Ye Fan asked.

Zhang Wu explained, “Some of my ancestors speculated that each of the nine dragon veins once held peerless Godsources, but they were all excavated and gathered in the dragon pearl.”

“Why would that be?” Ye Fan asked, startled.

“Those who studied the Celestial Source Tome believed it was to drive this ‘grand formation.’ By gathering the essence of the nine dragon veins into the pearl, the nine dragons guard it, truly emphasizing the pearl’s significance.”

Everything converged in the pearl. The Grand Emperor’s scheme revolved around Purple Mountain, with the nine peaks serving as mere “leaves.”

Ye Fan exclaimed, “I really want to know what a Grand Emperor from over a hundred thousand years ago was trying to do!”

Since ancient times, the Eastern Wilderness had produced only a handful of Grand Emperors. They could forge Paragon Artifacts and create the most profound ancient scriptures, their methods defying the heavens. For a Grand Emperor to go to such lengths, what could his purpose have been?

Time passed quickly, and two months flew by. Ye Fan had learned the basics of the Celestial Source Tome. He had prepared thoroughly, gathering enough information, even pinpointing the exact route his ancestor from the Zhang Clan had taken to enter Purple Mountain. Now, he decided to act and venture into Purple Mountain to retrieve the Celestial Source Tome.

Purple Mountain held endless secrets, and the Celestial Source Tome possessed boundless allure. If he could obtain and master it, he would unravel everything.

“I must become a Celestial Source Master. I have to take this gamble, or my path of cultivation will soon reach its end,” Ye Fan resolved. He made up his mind to enter Purple Mountain immediately!