Shrouded Sky

Chapter 352 - Reunion

“This is the Divine Treasure left behind by the Celestial Source Master?”

Tu Fei was astonished. He never imagined that the ordinary-looking stone mill and grinding base on the ground would have such an incredible origin.

This was not just a treasure, it could only be described as a Divine Treasure!

The big black dog sprawled shamelessly on the ground, pressing a paw against a pile of stone tools, refusing to move no matter what.

Ye Fan threatened, “Get out of the way. I encountered a King Stone in the Celestial City. There might be one here too. If something strange is cut out, you’ll be the first to die.”

“King Stone? I’ve seen kings among the Primordial Races. What’s a King Stone to me?” the black dog said dismissively.

“You’re full of shit!” Tu Fei scoffed.

But Ye Fan’s eyes flickered. He knew this dog had definitely come from Purple Mountain, and he had already guessed part of its origin.

Thinking of how all the great sects of the Eastern Wilderness and the Middle Continent’s major orthodoxies were about to launch their largest assault yet, with Paragon Artifacts aimed at Purple Mountain, Ye Fan asked, “Black Emperor, are you sure Purple Mountain is unharmed?”

“Relax. No one can take anything from there. Even if they manage to enter, I guarantee they’ll come out battered and humiliated.”

“God-King Jiang Taixu is in Purple Mountain. Do you think he can be saved?” Ye Fan pressed further, for this was what he cared about most.

“How should I know? I’ve never gone inside. Hurry up and cut the stones.” The black dog dodged the question, clearly unwilling to say more.

Finally, Ye Fan carried dozens of stone tools into the house and set them beside the furnace to examine.

Fifth Master Zhang was uneasy as he watched. Wang Shu and Er Lengzi were both so excited they rubbed their hands together, eager to help.

Ye Fan activated his Celestial Source Perception, two purple beams shot from his eyes as he examined each stone one by one.

These stones looked ordinary on the surface, but under the Celestial Source Perception, each one revealed something extraordinary.

“Stone material from the Primordial Mine!”

Ye Fan was shocked. To the naked eye, these stones looked common, but under divine sense, they radiated an intense aura of the Primordial Era.

He checked two stones and found nothing, but when he lifted the third grinding base, light flashed in his eyes. “There’s Godsource inside!”

The big black dog immediately grew restless. “Let me see!”

“If I give it to you, it’s like throwing a meat bun to a dog, gone forever.”

“Kid, you sure know how to insult someone!” the dog barked angrily.

“Am I wrong?” Ye Fan chuckled. “Fine, you can look, but don’t even think about touching the other stones.”

“Alright, deal.” The dog agreed instantly and shoved Er Lengzi. “Disciple, help me cut it open.”

It had once “taught” Wang Shu and Er Lengzi some cultivation tricks and now shamelessly ordered them around.

Crack!

Er Lengzi was a straightforward man. With a single slap, he shattered the stone instead of carefully cutting it open.

The black dog’s mouth twisted in pain, and it howled, “Careful! There’s Godsource in there! If you damage it, I’ll throw you into the Primordial Mine!”

It hurriedly pawed through the debris, searching.

A streak of blazing divine light shot out, dazzling and sacred, but the black dog looked utterly displeased.

“Damn it! This Godsource is tiny, smaller than a chicken’s ballsack!”

It was just a single Godsource bead. Though precious, it was hardly impressive compared to the fist-sized Godsource chunks they had seen before.

Suddenly, the black dog froze. It picked up the bead and then clawed out a tuft of red hair from the rubble, bright, almost bloody in color, radiating a strange, sorrowful aura that sent chills down their spines.

Fifth Master Zhang paled. He staggered backward several steps and nearly fell.

Wang Shu and Er Lengzi rushed to steady him. “Elder Zhang, what’s wrong?”

Ye Fan was alarmed as well. He stepped forward and helped the old man up. “Are you alright, Elder?”

At the same time, he took the tuft of red hair from the dog’s paw, and immediately frowned.

“How could something like this be inside a stone?”

He remembered hearing tales from stonecutters, of Source Spirits, Source Ghosts, and Source Demons that sometimes left traces within rarest stones.

“Don’t cut any more! You mustn’t touch such things!” Elder Zhang’s voice trembled, his face deathly pale.

“What’s going on, Elder?” Tu Fei asked.

“Wait here,” Fifth Master Zhang said shakily. “I’ll fetch something my ancestors left behind to compare.”

Supported by Wang Shu and Er Lengzi, he disappeared into the back room.

A long time passed before he returned, holding a jade box, clearly ancient, its color dulled with age.

“What’s that?” Tu Fei asked.

With a grave expression, Fifth Master Zhang opened the box. Inside were several tufts of red hair, disturbing to look at, almost glowing faintly through the grime.

They looked almost identical to the hair that had been cut from the stone, only darker with age, as if soaked in dried blood.

“These…” Tu Fei looked bewildered.

“These were left behind the night my ancestor, the Celestial Source Master, disappeared.” Fifth Master Zhang’s voice shook.

Ye Fan had heard some of the Celestial Source Master’s story. His later years were ominous. He often saw inexplicable things that no one else could see.

The night he vanished, a red-hair whirlwind raged outside, and some terrifying creature howled through the night.

The sound was shrill and mournful, echoing for miles. People and animals alike were stricken with fear.

That night, a four-year-old child from the Zhang Clan, who had been with the Celestial Source Master, was struck dumb with terror and only recovered half a year later.

According to the boy, he had seen his ancestor’s hand covered in red hair. He also saw humanoid figures moving outside the window. When he turned back, the Celestial Source Master was gone, forever.

“So creepy?” Tu Fei gasped.

He knew how powerful the Celestial Source Master had been, a man who reached the pinnacle of Source Dao, touching upon the Great Dao itself. Even the Supreme Giants could do nothing against him.

Yet his end had been so dreadful. What in the world had happened?

The black dog’s eyes flickered, deep in thought. After a long silence, it murmured, “So even the Celestial Source Master’s later years were cursed…”

Ye Fan crouched down and began reconstructing the shattered stone. To his shock, the interior was hollow, large enough to have held a head-sized Godsource.

“It was eaten, something devoured the Godsource without breaking the stone skin!”

Everyone was stunned by the revelation.

“I knew it! How could something left by the Celestial Source Master be ordinary? But something terrifying destroyed it.” Wang Shu clenched his fists angrily.

Ye Fan’s face was grave. He said nothing but smashed open two more stones he had thought were empty.

One grinding base was indeed hollow, but the second stone revealed a stone fruit at its center.

“This…”

Clearly, all of its essence had been drained before turning to stone.

“What kind of fruit is this? Definitely no ordinary thing. Too bad its vitality was stolen.”

Everyone realized how serious this was, the treasures the Celestial Source Master had left had been preemptively plundered.

“Child, stop cutting. These stones are tainted with demonic energy. I fear you might suffer the same fate as our ancestor,” Elder Zhang warned, his face pale.

“It’s fine. Whatever happened must have been tens of thousands of years ago. Even if something did exist, it’s long gone.” Ye Fan shook his head.

“You don’t understand,” the old man said, voice trembling. “I fear this aura could cling to you, and bring disaster, just as it did to my ancestor…”

“What exactly happened to the Celestial Source Masters?” Tu Fei murmured. “Did they transform into something… or provoke some unholy existence? What was their final fate?”

“I'm not afraid,” Ye Fan said. “I’ll find out someday, whatever horror it is.”

No sooner had he spoken than a chill wind swept through the room. The tufts of red hair trembled, then flew toward him as though drawn by a sinister power.

Even the black dog’s eyes widened in alarm.

“No way! It’s already coming for you?!” Tu Fei shouted.

Fifth Master Zhang’s lips quivered. “The fate of our ancestor… Is it happening again?”

Ye Fan’s body erupted in blazing divine light, he was like a living immortal furnace, radiant and unshakable. His blood energy roared like the sea, like a true dragon awakening.

The red hairs disintegrated into ash, falling lifeless to the ground. Ye Fan stood untouched, calm and spotless.

“I don’t believe in curses,” he said coldly. “If there is such a thing, I’ll see it for myself.”

He had felt a strange force trying to invade his body, but the power of the Primeval Desolate Sacred Physique repelled and refined it completely.

“Stand back,” Ye Fan said. “There may still be strange power in these stones, but it can’t harm me.”

He cut several more millstones. All were empty.

“How could the Celestial Source Master’s Divine Treasure be like this? These stones aren’t drained, they’re just hollow!” Tu Fei muttered in confusion.

Fifth Master Zhang said, “Not all these stones were ours. Let me pick out the ones that belonged to my family.”

He selected about a dozen, stone bases, locks, and platforms, all household items.

Ye Fan cut open the rest first; they were all empty. Those came from other families in the village.

Crack!

He then cut four of Fifth Master Zhang’s family stones. Each time, his heart trembled. They had all once contained rare treasures, but every one of them had been drained.

One stone platform had a hollow cavity the size of a washbasin, with a trace of Godsource dust remaining.

“Heavens! A Godsource chunk that big could have shaken the world! What kind of monster stole it?!” Tu Fei cried.

The black dog’s eyes bulged, and it howled, “There’s no justice! I want to bite someone’s ass!”

“The same kind of red hair remains again,” Ye Fan said gravely.

Another stone held a fossilized plant.

Even Ye Fan couldn’t stay calm, this was likely a Primordial Godly Medicine. The Celestial Source Master’s treasure held no common things.

“Damn it, a Godly Medicine!” the black dog wailed, its copper-bell eyes nearly popping out. “Once, a Grand Emperor used such a herb to refine an immortal elixir, and brought a dead friend back to life!”

The black dog went berserk, leaping and howling, circling the stones in anguish.

“Damn it… a Godly-fucking-Medicine!” it cried.

When Ye Fan cut the next stone, he too nearly swore aloud.

“This… this is an Earth Life Fruit turned to stone!”

Inside was a bowl-sized stone orb, resembling both a Ginseng Fruit and a Dragon Pearl, the legendary Earth Life Fruit, also called the False Dragon Pearl.

“What?! A Life Fruit? That’s on par with a Godly Medicine!” the black dog barked hysterically.

Tu Fei was equally stunned and sorrowful. “The Celestial Source Master really was defying heaven itself, every random stone he left contained something beyond imagination. But damn it, something got to them first!”

Fifth Master Zhang, Wang Shu, and Er Lengzi couldn’t grasp the full significance, but they could tell from Ye Fan’s expression that these were priceless treasures.

Both the Primordial Godly Medicine and Earth Life Fruit were things Ye Fan desperately sought, each could save Little Tingting’s life. But they were drained, leaving him deeply disappointed.

The Celestial Source Master’s Divine Treasure turned out to be an empty illusion, a loss beyond words.

The fourth stone contained a fossilized small tree. Everyone was numb now, but they all knew, it, too, had once been an unimaginable treasure.

“My royal heart is bleeding!” the black dog moaned.

For such a greedy beast, this was no exaggeration.

“Is there no justice left in heaven?! The Celestial Source Master’s Divine Treasure, robbed by what kind of monster?!” Tu Fei shouted in frustration.

If these treasures had been intact, they would have shocked the world. Even the Sacred Lords and the Imperial Lords of Middle Continent would have bowed to obtain them.

Throughout history, countless aged masters and monarchs had scoured the wilderness, longing for even one Primordial Godly Medicine to extend their lives, but none had ever succeeded.

Yet the Celestial Source Master’s legacy contained several! The thought was enough to make anyone tremble.

One after another, Ye Fan cut through the stones. Each one revealed another ruined miracle. None of them could stay calm.

“If all these things had survived,” Ye Fan said at last, his voice low, “even heaven itself might not have allowed it. Every one of them could defy fate.”

If he had actually obtained them all, he realized, it would have felt unreal, too much like a dream.

“I believe it now,” the black dog growled. “There really is some damned power up there, jealous of heaven’s treasures!”

Everyone sighed.

Suddenly, Fifth Master Zhang spoke up. “Didn’t you cut out a Ginseng Fruit last time? Maybe there’s something else left, perhaps not all were destroyed.”

There were still eight stones that truly came from the Zhang Clan, the Celestial Source Master’s lineage.

“Cut them all open,” the black dog urged eagerly. “I have a feeling there’s still something left, maybe even another Primordial Godly Medicine!”

The others nodded. Hope flared once more as Ye Fan prepared to strike again.