Shrouded Sky

Chapter 346 - To Aid the God-King

The Celestial City stood majestic and awe-inspiring, like the residence of a god. Legend had it that it had fallen from the Immortal Realm itself.

As Ye Fan prepared to set out on his journey, he turned back to gaze at the Celestial City and felt a sense of grandeur and timelessness. It stretched for hundreds of miles, vast and boundless, having endured since the Desolate Era, yet still stood immortal.

“Take care.”

“Go safely.”

Ye Fan and Blackwater exchanged farewells. Then Ye Fan strode away, his figure gradually disappearing beyond the horizon.

Ahead, An Miaoyi was waiting for him. Her moon-white dress was cinched at the waist with a jade belt, accentuating her slender, graceful figure. She stood like an immortal flower, tall, elegant, and fragrant. The breeze lifted her flowing skirt, her dark hair fluttering as though she might ride the wind itself.

The two of them set off together, leaving the Celestial City behind. The ancient trees and vines grew sparser, the warmth of the oasis fading.

The tinkling of spirit springs became rarer, and the vegetation thinner. A chill drifted through the air, and the greenery gradually vanished.

“It’s already the season of snow,” An Miaoyi said softly.

Ahead lay a vast world of white, mountains and valleys blanketed in snow, the land glittering beneath the pale light.

The Celestial City was a place apart, its surrounding region ever warm and full of life, like an eternal spring. But beyond its reach, the true season revealed itself. Without realizing it, they had entered winter. Goose-feather snowflakes fell thick and heavy, and the northern winds howled.

The Northern Region was vast and bitterly cold. The wind whistled like ghosts through the mountains, sweeping up waves of snow.

“Brother Gu seems to have some prejudice against me, he’s been wary all along.”

An Miaoyi’s beauty was beyond question. Her delicate face was flawless, without a single imperfection.

“Fairy An overthinks things. How could I bear any prejudice against you? Your beauty eclipses all of the Eastern Wilderness, few men could resist your charm.” Ye Fan’s boots crunched through the snow as he spoke.

“Your words disagree with your heart, Brother Gu, you’re not being honest.” An Miaoyi’s skin glowed like crystal, fairer even than the snow around her. She moved with the grace of a fairy walking upon rippling waves.

Ye Fan indeed held his guard high. This woman of perfect grace leaving the Celestial City at this very moment, her timing was far too coincidental.

“Where is Fairy An heading?”

“I haven’t yet decided. If Brother Gu doesn’t mind, shall we travel together for a while?” Her eyes shimmered like flowing autumn water.

“To travel with Fairy An would be an honor. But I must apologise, I have some private matters to attend to this time.”

Her beauty was undeniable, but her motives were impure. At another time, he might have indulged in this “sugar-coated” company, but now was not a season for romance. The sacred lands and the sons of all great sects of the Middle Continent were preparing to attack the Purple Mountain. He had no time to waste.

An Miaoyi smiled softly, her expression enchanting. “Very well. Once we leave this region, we’ll go our separate ways.”

On the road, she subtly brought up the ghost-faced bronze artifact from before, hinting again at a half piece of a Paragon Artifact. Without doubt, it was a tempting lure.

As twilight fell, Ye Fan halted in the snow and suddenly turned. Yet he saw nothing.

A chill pricked his heart, he had clearly felt someone watching him. Was An Miaoyi working with another to ambush him?

“Miaoyi sensed it too,” she said calmly. “Someone is following us.”

Ye Fan said nothing more. He simply increased his pace, gliding over the snow like a fading shadow, leaving no trace behind.

The oasis surrounding the Celestial City was vast, stretching tens of thousands of miles with many towns scattered within. By nightfall, they stopped to rest in a small city.

The wind and snow lashed against the window, rattling it. Ye Fan lay on the bed, but before long he sensed something unusual. Between his fingers, he gently held the Dragon-Rune Black-Gold Paragon Sword.

An entire hour passed before he finally felt a living presence slip into his room, light as mist, utterly silent.

At once, his wariness eased, it was the small golden creature!

The little being crept in, having perfectly hidden its aura. Even divine sense could barely detect it. If Ye Fan hadn’t been so close, he might not have noticed it at all.

“This little thing isn’t just fast, it can even conceal itself like this?” He was impressed.

He also found it amusing, the tiny creature had such patience, waiting so long before sneaking in.

He didn’t need to guess why it was here, it had clearly followed him all the way, obsessed with the Godsource, hoping to steal it back.

Suddenly, the creature froze. Its big eyes blinked suspiciously as it spotted Ye Fan on the bed. Then, in an instant, it turned and bolted.

Ye Fan was astonished, its alertness was frighteningly sharp. He lunged to grab it.

Whoosh!

Golden light flared, and the little being shot straight through the window.

“Where do you think you are going?”

An Miaoyi’s voice came from outside. She had been waiting. With a graceful motion, her jade-white hand swept out, casting a shimmering light curtain to block the way.

But the golden creature twisted midair with impossible agility, turning into a streak of golden thread that shot up into the night sky and vanished.

“Little one, where are you?”

From the cold wind came the anxious voice of the Grand Xia Princess.

Ye Fan soared into the air and saw the Grand Xia prince and princess. They looked panicked, the God-Silkworm they’d rented for eighty thousand catties of source had escaped after only a few days.

“Brother Gu, did it come after you?” the prince asked, for he had followed Ye Fan’s trail and suspected the silkworm was drawn to him.

“I did see it, it fled in that direction. Fairy An just chased after it,” Ye Fan replied, pointing.

“Yes, that’s its aura!” the royal siblings exclaimed, hurrying off through the storm.

Ye Fan stroked his chin and laughed. “What an interesting little thing. Perhaps I can lure it back someday.”

He didn’t linger, this was the perfect chance to slip away from An Miaoyi. His figure soon vanished into the snowstorm.

According to those in the Celestial City, the sacred lands would need at least another month to prepare before wielding their Paragon Artifacts. Such things touched the deepest foundations of power and could not be brought forth lightly.

Ye Fan knew time was short. He meant to use it to break through his current realm.

And so, he vanished from sight for twenty full days. No one knew where he went, except one small golden creature.

It was a vast and endless wilderness, buried in falling snow. Mountains and valleys stretched white to the horizon, utterly lifeless.

Far from any oasis, this desolate land saw no travelers for decades, even centuries.

Yet for twenty days now, a sealed mountain range had blazed with bursts of divine light, especially in recent days, when sacred radiance had surged skyward.

This snowbound mountain was Ye Fan’s place of seclusion. He had sealed himself within the mountain’s heart, but the boundless aura of the Godsources he refined could not be contained.

Godsources and Exotic Sources were piled around him, not many in number, but each bursting with immense vitality. The energy overflowed endlessly.

Unbeknownst to Ye Fan, outside his barrier, the golden little creature had been clawing and pounding furiously for days, its cheeks puffed in frustration. Yet it could not break through.

Hundreds of mighty formation-flags surrounded the place, each one personally forged by the Black Emperor, inscribed with profound Dao Runes. The little golden creature could not pass.

In the final days, the aura became overwhelming, nearly liquefied.

Finally, the creature calmed down and began to greedily absorb the overflowing divine essence, utterly immersed in bliss.

Inside, Ye Fan sensed that more than half the energy was leaking away, but he couldn’t stop it.

He realized that much of the vast source he consumed wasn’t absorbed directly, but instead became a force that shattered a mysterious barrier within him.

The countless exotic sources he had gathered, equal to more than a million catties of pure source, were all refined, yet he still could not ascend to the fifth stage of the Dao Palace Realm.

Everything had gone just as he’d foreseen, it would take even more than the predicted million catties.

At last, gritting his teeth, he began refining a Godsource the size of a human head. Instantly, divine light filled the cavern, brilliance surging skyward.

The power of the Godsource was unstoppable, washing through his body, cleansing his very being until his flesh shone like crystal, radiant like that of a god.

Within his Dao Palace, his five divine organs resonated in unison. Celestial hymns rang out, voices beyond self, beyond time, reciting the grand truth of the Dao, stirring destiny itself, calling forth an eternal self.

A small bronze cauldron floated within the Dao Palace, rising and falling among the five organs, the Motherly Energy Cauldron.

Outside, the golden creature reveled in delight, bathed in the luminous essence that gushed forth. The Godsource energy washed over it like a sacred tide.

The amount of energy spilling out was staggering, most of it unabsorbed. It was a display of extreme extravagance.

The chanting within the mountain echoed for three full days. The overflowing vitality melted the snow, causing new grass to sprout, the mountains bursting into life once more.

The transformation left the golden creature gaping in astonishment, and spurred it to absorb even more greedily.

Then suddenly, a thunderous explosion!

On the twenty-fourth day, divine light speared the heavens, flinging the golden creature far away. It tumbled through the snow, landing in a heap.

When the last trace of divine essence faded, calm returned to the land. The air was filled with serenity, as though a god had descended to the mortal world.

Within the mountain, Ye Fan opened his eyes. His body gleamed like crystal, radiant as an immortal king.

As he slowly stood, clenching his fists, he felt as though he could seize the very heavens and earth.

A profound confidence surged through him.

He had broken through to the fifth stage of the Dao Palace Realm, not through the aid of any sacred land, but by his own strength alone.

Ye Fan’s heart was tranquil, his mind clear. He did not release his godpower; there was no need. He fully understood his own might.

At this moment, he possessed incomparable self-assurance.

His physical body finally revealed a trace of the Primeval Desolate Scared Physique’s true power, immensely strong and indestructible.

As he stepped out of seclusion, he smiled. He had sensed the presence of the golden creature outside.

“So it managed to find me after all.”

But the little being was as alert as ever. In an instant, it sensed danger and shot away as a streak of gold, vanishing into the sky.

“Even faster than the Ancient Leviathan Monarch,” Ye Fan murmured.

He didn’t pursue. Instead, he rubbed his chin and chuckled. “At this rate, the Grand Xia Dynasty’s eighty thousand catties of source might all go to waste.”

Standing atop the mountain peak, he took out a Black Jade Altar, a portable formation refined by the Black Emperor himself. With enough source energy, it could traverse the void over vast distances.

After consuming large amounts of source and more than a dozen of the jade platforms, Ye Fan finally arrived at the territory of the Jiang Clan.

“I wonder if I’ll have the chance to see little Tingting and Elder Jiang again…”

The Jiang Clan’s lands lay over two hundred thousand miles from the Celestial City, a mere stretch compared to the boundless Northern Region.

This sacred domain housed many kingdoms, and upon inquiry, Ye Fan learned that the Jiang Clan lived within a holy and pure sanctuary.

Storms were rising again. Calling for the winds of destiny, calling for the Four Pillars Realm.