Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 165 Tempest, Part One

The sky was a blue-green that stretched forever into the distance. Ye Fan was unable to see anything else through it.

Within his Sea of Bitterness, a green lotus was growing alone, filled with vigorous life force that seemed as if it could form its own world. Primal chaos lingered around it, mysterious and hazy.

At this time, Ye Fan had calmed himself down and he carefully examined it. Just as he sank beneath the water, he saw three green leaves with a natural feeling of the Dao. The Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all living things.

“In this chaos, first heaven and earth forms, the ancestor of all living things, the first emperor.” Ye Fan thought of a line from an ancient text.

This green lotus and his Wheel and Sea had a kind of strange divine charm. It was like an unfathomably deep pool of the Dao. It was extremely tranquil, appearing as if it might exist forever without dying.

Now that Ye Fan had crossed over his Sea of Bitterness and stepped into Paramita, his Wheel and Sea had begun to evolve, becoming extremely mysterious.

The small cauldron was below the dome of the sky and above the green lotus. It floated grandly.

Now that he was a Paramita realm cultivator, his strength had been promoted to a new level, and he could now test his cauldron with his new strength.

The cauldron appeared outside his body, floating silently. He still felt as if it were as heavy as a huge mountain, but this time he was able to move it more easily.

BANG!

The cauldron did not shine brightly. It flew not that far away, and when it touched a huge boulder, dust filled the air as the boulder was silently destroyed.

With just a gentle tremble, the stone forest as well, the surrounding huge stones all collapsed into dust. The cauldron’s might revealed itself!

But Ye Fan’s body also shook. This cauldron hadn’t even given rise to Dao Glyphs, but it was already a bottomless pit of energy. Even someone as powerful as him ended up using a third of his power.

In other words, he could currently only use it three times. This cauldron’s power was too great. He was unable to control it easily. This caused both delight and concern.

Under Ye Fan’s urging, the cauldron grew to the size of a meter. This was already the limit of his control. He was unable to make it increase in size any more.

As the cauldron hung in the sky, it appeared like a bottomless pit, capable of swallowing even the sky. The surrounding stone forest was all sucked into the cauldron.

Ye Fan recalled the cauldron and looked inside. He saw the various boulders, and with a gentle vibration, everything turned into powder. The dust flew out, leaving the inside pure and clean.

Although his divine energy had been almost completely exhausted, he was still very satisfied. This kind of might was incredible. Without the slightest fluctuation or divine light, the cauldron silently disappeared back into his Wheel and Sea.

With the cauldron now successfully forged and having reached the Paramita realm, Ye Fan was much more confident in himself. Having already cultivated for several months here, he wanted to know what the situation was outside.

“I wonder if the Ji Family’s people have left yet…” Ye Fan recovered his divine sense and walked out.

------

Outside the Flame Region, the ground was crack and scorched. It was a barren desert as far as the eye could see. The Ji Family’s disciples had already left, as already half a year had passed.

“This is good, I guess. Since they think I’ve already been burned to ashes, I’ll be able to give them a nice surprise when the time comes!”

Ye Fan once more returned to the Flame Region, this time preparing to enter the seventh level’s five-colored mist flames. He could use it to further refine his cauldron.

The five-colored mist flames were even hotter than the purple Qi. Even as he approached, he could already feel the heat increasing, causing Ye Fan’s heart to shiver. This was after he was holding the Bodhi seed. If he didn’t have it, he wouldn’t be able to endure it at all.

“Can I even use this kind of powerful flame?”

He carefully absorbed a strand of the five-colored mist. With a hissing sound, the divine energy that he had used to wrap it completely burned away.

This kind of flame was too powerful and even capable of burning powerful people. That was proved by the human-shaped ashes on the ground. He didn’t have any good method of absorbing it into his Wheel and Sea to further refine his cauldron.

Over the next few days, he continuously tested it out, trying to find a good way to handle it.

Suddenly, he heard a strange noise from outside this region. If it weren’t for his divine sense being so powerful, he wouldn’t have been able to sense it.

“Did someone else come in?” Ye Fan stealthily hid himself and moved away.

In the seventh level of the Flame Region with the black underworld flames, a middle-aged man was motionlessly sitting on a huge boulder. A one meter-tall ancient pagoda hung over his head.

The black flames were constantly collecting around his pagoda, raising rumbling sounds from it as it slowly changed.

“Why is he refining it outside his body? But if he didn’t care about it, why would he come to the Flame Region?” Ye Fan didn’t understand.

Just at this moment, his expression changed. He had seen that pagoda before!

The five level silver ancient pagoda wasn’t very bright, but he could see old-fashioned marks that gave people an ancient feeling.

“The hemp-clothed man!”

Ye Fan immediately thought of the people that had chased Ji Ziyue and him. Amongst them was a hemp-robed man who had almost killed them with his five-level ancient pagoda.

At this time, he was wearing black clothes. As for that silver pagoda over his head, it was constantly changing shape. He wanted to reforge it.

“A five-level ancient pagoda can already count as an extremely powerful weapon. But he actually wants to melt it…”

When a strand of Xuanhuan rushed out of the pagoda, Ye Fan was even more sure it was the hemp-clothed man. Although he hadn’t seen his face back then, this pagoda was definitely the same.

“He should be afraid of the Ji Family pursuing him, so he wants to erase his tracks!” Ye Fan wished he could find out this person’s background. The hidden enemies caused him to feel uneasy.

“It looks like he doesn’t really care about this weapon. Maybe it really is as Ji Ziyue said, and he’s being controlled as a puppet.”

Ye Fan carefully observed him and saw this person truly was somewhat stiff. He seemed just like a piece of wood as he sat there.

“I could capture him and figure everything out!”

He carefully thought about it. This person was very strong, and his realm was definitely above Ye Fan’s. At the very least, he was a Dao Palace realm cultivator.

“I have to be absolutely sure. Otherwise if I am unable to kill him, I’ll have revealed my existence. That would be an absolute disaster.”

Ye Fan silently returned to the sixth ring. He took out his cauldron and let it absorb a huge amount of the purple flames. He then hurriedly sat and recovered his divine energy.

Half an hour later, he once more silently returned to the fourth level.

Four hours later, the black-clothed man had almost completely melted the silver pagoda and began to slowly refine it into a silver bell. At the most critical time, when the silver bell was about to take shape, Ye Fan took action.

At this time, the black-clothed man’s attention was completely focused on the silver bell as it underwent its final refinement.

The cauldron silently advanced. It violently turned, and the huge amount of purples flames blazed as they filled this world!

This temperature was something that could burn even powerful figures, let alone him.

However, he hadn’t expected the man to have cautiously carved Dao Glyphs onto the ground around him. Their light flared and blocked the purple flames.

Even an Elder’s precious treasure was unable to bear the purple flames and shattered. These Dao Glyphs were also unable to block them. But they did give him some time, and he quickly moved to the side.

Ye Fan was already prepared and sent the golden tome to slash against him.

Blood flashed as the black-clothed man was severely wounded! At the same time, the purple flames descended down. The temporary stiffening from his wound caused half his body to immediately be burned, the left side of his body turning to ashes.

The sky trembled as the cauldron became a meter tall, and a huge absorptive force sucked the half-burned man and sealed him inside.

Only now did Ye Fan sigh in relief. He took out the pure jade bottle and quickly drank a gulp of the divine spring water, recovering his divine energy before also going into the cauldron.

Half of the black-clothed man’s body was destroyed and he trembled and struggled repeatedly. The instant he saw Ye Fan, his expression immediately changed. “You… you’re still alive!”

Ye Fan was startled. From his surprised cry, it seemed that this man seemed to be familiar with him. It didn’t seem as simple as just having chased him for a while. He immediately smiled and said, “What is your background?”

“I really never thought you would live…” He sighed and suddenly raised his head. A light shot out of his forehead, trying to rush out of the cauldron, but he failed from the very start, unable to escape this cauldron.

“He really is just a puppet being controlled by someone else.” Ye Fan extended his divine sense to completely control him.

However, the black-clothed man was very decisive, and that ray of light exploded like fireworks, voluntarily dying into specks of light that dissipated.

Ye Fan’s expression changed, but it was already too late to stop this. He carefully probed the dead body, but he found that it was completely empty. Other than the completely burned silver bell, nothing else was left.

He threw this half-destroyed body back into the underworld flames, causing it to immediately turn to ashes. “Who was he…he seemed familiar.”

After Ye Fan erased all the tracks here, he retreated back into the fifth level of golden flames to hide for a while. He quietly waited, wanting to see if someone else would come.

---

Three days later, a tall old man appeared. The instant he saw that pile of ashes, he muttered to himself, “So he really did die here…”

“Who is this damned old man? I’ve never seen him before...”

Whoosh...

Light flashed and that old man charged out of the Flame Region, quickly disappearing into the distance.

------

Two days later, Ye Fan approached the seventh layer with the Bodhi seed in his hand. Despite the seed, he still felt a burning sensation. The five-colored mist flames’ temperature was simply unimaginable.

The divine energy that cultivators bitterly cultivated could be directly burned by it, and there was no way to stop it. This kind of five-colored flame seemed to have a devilish nature, as if it could engulf anything.

Ye Fan did manage to enter it, but he was unable to draw the flame into his body, as it was simply too terrifying.

---

Several days later, the sound of people shouting and beasts roaring rang out. The land trembled as countless beasts charged towards the Flame Region.

Amongst them were a couple powerful beasts whose roars could ring out for dozens of kilometers.

Ye Fan’s divine sense was very sharp. He hurriedly examined them and was shocked. “The Ji Family has come!”

Hundreds of beasts were now outside the Flame Region, each of them not ordinary. As they came closer, rumbling rang through the sky, and even the land and sky were shaking. All of the knights were wearing black armor and filled with sinister killing intent.

A banner was blowing in the wind. On top of it was the word “Ji.”

Ye Fan saw Ji Hui and Ji Biyue, as well as several Elders. There was also a carriage that was being pulled with nine divine Tiger Dragons across the sky.

The divine Tiger Dragon’s roar shook the heavens. Each was as large as an elephant and covered by dense scales, and a powerful pressure came from them. The carriage shone brightly. It was clear that an important member of the Ji Family had come.

“It shouldn’t be for me, right? Over half a year has passed…why would they come?”

An old man walked out of the carriage. Ji Hui hastily advanced and very differentially helped him down.

“Damn!”

Ye Fan no longer continued to spy on them and directly hid himself in the depths of the Flame Region.