Shrouding the Heavens - Chapter 222

The moonlight was like water, and the earth was silent, a scene of tranquility.

The red gravel underfoot, the large stone a few hundred feet away, and the stone mountain further away were all shrouded in moonlight like thin smoke, hazy and indistinct.

However, Ye Fan and the other three with Old Blade didn’t share this tranquility of mind. They were undoubtedly close to the Great Primordial Mine, standing on the blood-colored sandy ground, their hearts nearly leaping from their throats.

Two cultivators named Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan were trembling violently, almost unable to stand, their hearts filled with fear.

The Great Primordial Mine, one of the Eastern Wastelands’ seven areas forbidden to life, infamous across the world, had been the site of numerous terrifying incidents since ancient times.

"Who can save us? I really don’t want to die!"

"How can we escape from here? Old Blade, do you have a way? Daoist, can you find a way out?"

Their voices trembled, nearly despairing, their faces as pale as paper.

They were less than a hundred miles from the Great Primordial Mine. Reaching this vicinity likely boded ill rather than well.

"Why panic? We’re not inside the Divine Mine yet. Isn’t there still eighty or ninety miles to go? Leave quickly, there’s still time," Old Blade snapped.

"Isn’t it said that whoever encounters Taichu will perish? We’ve nearly seen it. Is there still a way out?" The two, as if clutching at straws, looked nervously and hopefully at Old Blade.

"That’s because they got too close to the Great Primordial Mine. We’re still far enough away to have a chance to escape!" Old Blade did not want to say much more, turning around and sprinting away. This desolate land was no place to linger for long; otherwise, they definitely wouldn’t survive.

Ye Fan also turned and followed, running after Old Blade. He felt truly unlucky lately, having just intended to observe Taichu from afar, not wanting to be swept in by a black whirlwind.

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan, faces pale, chased from behind. The two had already lost their wits, passively following Old Blade and Ye Fan.

Ye Fan and the other three with Old Blade ran fifty miles in one breath before stopping to take a long gulp of air, but immediately their expressions changed again.

"Something’s not right. Why can we still see the Great Primordial Mine!" Old Blade whispered in shock.

Ye Fan also sensed that something was amiss. He activated his Divine Eyes and peered ahead.

At the end of the world, starlight fell like water, a vast expanse of white, cascading towards the ground and converging onto one place.

Without a doubt, that was the Great Primordial Mine, still only eighty or ninety miles away from them!

Feelings of unease, terror, anger, and grief surged from afar, almost infecting them, just as they had a short while ago.

"How can this be? We’ve clearly escaped fifty miles. Why hasn’t the distance changed?"

Li Desheng’s and Chen Huaiyuan’s faces turned green at that moment; their entire bodies, except for their eyeballs, trembled.

"We’ve clearly been escaping in the opposite direction. How come it feels like we’re circling around it?"

This outcome was unsettling, leaving all four with a sinking feeling of dread.

"Aren’t we still alive? Keep escaping!" Old Blade’s voice was low. Grabbing his dry tobacco pipe, he sprinted forward briskly, covering several hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

By now, Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan were practically scrambling along the ground, their legs and feet unsteady. They fell several times before managing to run on.

It wasn’t their fault for being timid. Since ancient times, countless Peacock Kings had perished here. Compared to them, the two of them were insignificant.

Ye Fan was also uneasy. The current situation seemed somewhat like what was recorded in the latter part of the Heavenly Source Book, but that portion was too profound, still beyond his ability to comprehend.

After running another fifty miles, they stopped again, finding the situation unchanged: they were still circling the Great Primordial Mine.

"It’s unbelievable. I can’t figure it out!" Old Blade was slightly dumbfounded. When running, he felt he was moving away from the Great Primordial Mine, but upon stopping, he realized they were merely circling it, not departing.

He squatted down, pulled out his pipe, and smoked, his brows deeply furrowed.

"Old Blade, you still have the presence of mind to smoke?" Li Desheng wailed.

"Quick, think of something!" Chen Huaiyuan pleaded anxiously, panting heavily as he sat on the ground.

Ye Fan could now confirm it. This was definitely the situation described in the latter part of the Heavenly Source Book, where Divine Sources created a "field energy" that twisted space and disrupted time. This situation was the most terrifying. It wasn’t deliberately caused but was naturally generated by the Divine Sources, practically altering the fundamental "rules" and "Order" of this world. Currently, their situation wasn’t too dire yet; they hadn’t reached a truly dangerous area. Otherwise, if they triggered unknown Heaven and Earth Laws, the consequences could be destructive.

"Daoist, have you figured something out?" Li Desheng looked hopefully at him.

Chen Huaiyuan also came over, saying, "Young man, if you can find a way to lead us out, I will reward you greatly!"

"I can only see a faint clue. This place is too complicated..." Ye Fan spoke the truth.

He could tell the field energy disturbing this world existed because there was more than one Divine Source, their individual Sources interacting and naturally generating it. However, if there were other factors involved, it would be unpredictable unless a Heavenly Source Master came personally.

"The Great Primordial Mine is imbued with Divine Sources. Most likely, they have already achieved Spirit Communication," Old Blade sighed beside them.

"If that’s the case, it’s even more troublesome. It could self-evolve into a killing formation, leading to unimaginably terrifying consequences," Ye Fan frowned.

The worst part was, these were just surface speculations. No one knew what truly lay within.

"Let’s keep moving and see if we can find a way out," Ye Fan said, standing up. He wanted to take some measurements of this region.

Thus, the four of them began sprinting again.

「An hour later.」

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan were nearly foaming at the mouth. They collapsed on the ground, having no idea how many "fifty-mile" stretches they had run, yet they still couldn’t escape.

"How can this be..." The two panted heavily, nearly overcome with exhaustion.

"Could the Divine Sources here be sealing living creatures?" Old Blade muttered inaudibly to himself.

Ye Fan was silent. The probability was high, and any sealed race must be extraordinarily powerful, adding another variable to this place.

"I’ve heard that the ancient mine breeds Holy Spirits. Even a Great Success Eastern Wastelands Divine King would perish upon entering."

"There’s also a theory that an Immortal Clan resides inside."

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan, sitting on the ground, chimed in. After running for so long, drenched in sweat, they weren’t as frightened anymore.

These statements were superficial. The true secrets remained unknown to anyone.

All these legends could indeed be seen as a "prologue." According to the latter part of the Heavenly Source Book, they could give rise to speculations ten times more terrifying. Ye Fan had only studied a small portion of the latter part of the Heavenly Source Book. Combined with what he was witnessing now, he developed an endless awe for the Great Primordial Mine. Just glimpsing the "prologue" was this overwhelming. The actual core of the mystery was not yet understood. According to his conjecture, even fully comprehending the Heavenly Source Book might not be enough to understand the true "text" of the Great Primordial Mine. This place is likely far more frightening than imagined, most probably harboring earth-shattering secrets. Otherwise, why wouldn’t even a true Heavenly Source Master dare to enter? The Zhang family’s progenitor, regarded as a legendary figure of his generation, was helpless. Throughout his life, he never dared to enter the Great Primordial Mine, viewing it as the greatest regret of his life.

"Are we really going to die here?" Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan looked grim. Seeing Ye Fan silent, they thought there was no hope left.

"Not necessarily die." Ye Fan stood up and said, "In just a few dozen more miles, we will have circled the ancient mine completely. We should be able to gather some information then."

What he feared was the Great Primordial Mine itself. However, he hadn’t actually approached it, still being eighty to ninety miles away. He thought perhaps there was a chance to find a way out, a method to overcome this. After all, this was the periphery, not the real core area.

They ran for another twenty-odd miles and indeed returned to their starting point, arriving back where they began.

"Daoist, I can tell at a glance you’re a real ’Lord’ of this trade, an exceptional figure! You must come up with a solution!"

Ye Fan was dumbfounded. ’Lord’? Chen Huaiyuan had unknowingly used a term that, in their circles, was a common pun, a homophone for ’Excavator’—a nickname for disciples of Heavenly Source Masters. People in this profession excavated mountains and dug holes all their lives, dwelling beneath the earth, never seeing the light of day. Those who excavated Source Veins were jokingly called ’Excavators.’

"Daoist, Excavator, have you figured out a way to escape?" Li Desheng also asked nervously.

"There is a way, but we need to take a risk."

"What kind of risk?" Old Blade asked, taking a puff of his dry tobacco pipe.

"This time, we need to advance a few miles towards the Great Primordial Mine. We need to better understand the ’field energy’ here to find a path to escape," Ye Fan stated calmly.

"Excavator, are you crazy?!" Chen Huaiyuan immediately leaped up, extremely agitated. "Who willingly walks into the Great Primordial Mine to die? Even those Peacock Kings only take such a desperate risk in their old age when their lifespan is nearly exhausted!"

Ye Fan was drawing and calculating on the ground, not even raising his head. "Only through such constant surveying can we understand the conditions and find a way to survive."

"Alright, let’s do it!" Old Blade took a fierce drag from his pipe, tapped the bowl against the ground, and stood up.

"To be cautious, we will only advance five miles. Let’s not go too deep," Ye Fan said, taking the lead.

Li Desheng and Chen Huaiyuan had mournful looks on their faces. They were very reluctant but dared not stay behind alone. By now, they could only rely on this ’Excavator.’

After advancing five miles, when they stopped, they were shocked to discover the ground suddenly receded behind them with a SWOOSH.

"What is this...?" Even Old Blade jumped in surprise, his hair standing on end.

They had clearly walked only five miles, but upon stopping, they found they had somehow advanced twenty miles. The starlight from the Great Primordial Mine became visible, like a vast white waterfall barring their way forward.

"Daoist, you’re going to get us killed..." Chen Huaiyuan exclaimed in terror.

"No worries. We’ll retrace our steps." Ye Fan was also surprised. The "Law" and "Order" here were intensely distorted.

Entering was easy, but exiting was difficult. The mere twenty miles took the four of them a whole hour. Instead of walking back, they kept going in circles.

If Ye Fan hadn’t previously etched special Source Heaven Pattern markings on the path according to the Heavenly Source Book, they wouldn’t have been able to find their way out.

The marks Old Blade and the others had left were all erased, mysteriously vanishing. Only the Source Heaven Patterns left by Ye Fan remained partially intact.

"Why do I feel like we’re not walking in a straight line at all, but turning left and right, winding through many curves to get out?" Old Blade was puzzled.

"It’s due to the field energy naturally generated by the Divine Sources. Thankfully, we’re only at the periphery, so no overly complex changes have occurred here. We’ve been relatively lucky," Ye Fan replied.

"Can we escape?" Li Desheng asked urgently.

"We need to test from several more directions a few more times. Otherwise, I’m not confident."

"Test again?!" Chen Huaiyuan tensed up.

"Do you have a better idea?" Old Blade shot him a glare.

「In the next hour,」 Ye Fan conducted several more tests. The final one was the most dangerous; they suddenly found themselves having advanced thirty miles, and even Old Blade’s face turned pale.

At this moment, they were less than fifty or sixty miles from the Great Primordial Mine. They could clearly see the silver river of starlight flowing down from the sky.

A pure white brilliance completely submerged that place, appearing soft yet sacred.

"What is that?!" Ye Fan was astonished.

The Great Primordial Mine was underground and thus invisible, but the scene in the sky above it was clear. Some dazzling things rushed out from the ancient mine, bobbing up and down.

The starlight filling the sky formed a river, like a waterfall cascading downwards. Yet those objects were even more dazzling, sometimes rising into the sky, sometimes sinking back into the earth.

"Could those be Divine Sources!" Old Blade squinted, his eyes emitting two sharp beams of light.

"Divine Sources?!" Ye Fan was shocked. They weren’t covered by stone skin and were consuming starlight. Could those Sources have gained sentience? There was more than just one; he saw four or five points of light rising and falling, and that was only what he could perceive.

"I see corpses..." Li Desheng’s lips trembled, his face turning ashen.

"What? Where?" Ye Fan was startled.

"In the sky above the Great Primordial Mine! They’re rising and falling, sometimes disappearing into the ground, sometimes rising into the starlight!" Li Desheng trembled.

"Nonsense!" Old Blade scolded. "The Great Primordial Mine is shielded by a mysterious strange power. Even I can’t see clearly, only some points of light. How could you see anything?"

"My left eye... It’s a natural Nether Eye. I can occasionally see some... special things," Li Desheng said, now extremely frightened.

"A Nether Eye in his left eye..." Old Blade was shocked.

Ye Fan was also shaken to his core. He had heard of such eyes. They were nearly impossible to cultivate after birth, being an innate ability, and could see into the netherworld.

"Quick, what else did you see?!" Ye Fan and Old Blade urged simultaneously.

"Those corpses... they keep rising, entering the starlight, then slowly descend, sinking into the earth. There are quite a few of them," Li Desheng murmured, almost as if in a trance, his face devoid of any color.

He couldn’t see anything else, not even the Divine Sources. His cultivation base wasn’t high enough, and his left eye could only occasionally glimpse into the netherworld.

Based on his description, Ye Fan and Old Blade could already imagine the scene nearly sixty miles away.

In the sky above the Great Primordial Mine, within the silver waterfall of starlight descending from above, numerous corpses were bathing in the sacred radiance, rising and falling.

Just imagining this scene sent shivers down their spines. What on earth was happening here?!

Additionally, there were points of light and other indistinct objects also ascending and descending, faintly visible.

Ye Fan mused silently, No wonder even the Zhang family’s extraordinary Heavenly Source Master dared not enter the Great Primordial Mine... This place is too mysterious.

BUZZ.

Suddenly, an immense suction force emanated from the Great Primordial Mine. The starlight in the sky was instantly drained away, leaving the entire sky pitch black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

The ground itself seemed to have become a gigantic black hole, capable of swallowing everything.