Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 176 Traveling to the Northern Region

Ye Fan clearly heard cracking sounds from his bones and his body started to distort. He had received injuries that were so severe they were hard to imagine.

When he fell into the mountain stream, he entered a state of semi-consciousness.

Ye Fan drifted with the flow. The mountain stream passed through waterfalls and spring water, eventually arriving at a river. He was unable to move, simply drifting with the flow of the water.

This river wasn’t very fast. Half a day later he arrived at a field and was sucked into a larger torrential river.

Ye Fan occasionally awoke, but he didn’t have the slightest strength. In this large river he ebbed and flowed. He sensed that at least ten of his bones were broken.

His physical body was comparable to precious treasures, but it was still harmed to such an extent. Thus, it could be imagined how powerful that blow had been.

Ye Fan floated for three days before his mind gradually recovered. He immediately grimaced as he felt sharp pains all over his body.

At this time, the river had calmed down. Not far away was a pier with quite a few ships docked there, and a city on the riverside.

Bang.

He was smashed into the pier by the river. He then collided with a large ship, and was immediately noticed at that point.

“What the, it really is bad luck. For a dead corpse to knock into my boat, it’s bad luck for at least a year.” There were people cursing on top of the ship.

“He hasn’t died. He’s still breathing.”

“Bring him up.”

Some people went down into the water, bringing Ye Fan onto the ship.

“Is it an expert from the cultivation world?” The boat’s steersman shuddered. “Could it be he received grievous wounds and fell into the river?”

He reached out his hand towards Ye Fan Wheel and Sea, before quickly standing up and cursing, “It’s just a trash. There’s no divine energy fluctuations.”

The others also came up and observed Ye Fan. A discussion quickly began.

“His face has been disfigured and his mouth and eyes are weirdly slanted. One of his legs is long while the other is short and his body is weirdly deformed. I’ve never seen such an ugly person.”

“This ugly is holding female garments tightly. Could he have died for life?”

“These clothes really are pretty though. It’s kind of disgraceful for them to be in his hands.”

“Third senior Li, could it be you want them? Such an ugly person probably is only attracted to a woman just as bad. Be carefully not to have nightmares.”

The dock’s people were all continuously discussing him.

Ye Fan quickly understood that his body had received severe wounds from the void shattering and had become completely deformed. In order to recover, he’d need to once again reconnect his bones. Right now he probably did look extremely ugly.

How are we supposed to handle him? It looks like he can survive.”

“Throw him onto the pier and let it run its own course. That already counts as a good deed.”

The old steersman circled around Ye Fan and said, “We can’t save him for nothing. Isn’t the city’s ‘Cheerful Faction’ recruiting all sorts of people? We’ll sell him there. It can be considered helping him make a living.”

“What is the Cheerful Faction doing by searching for people?” asked the surrounding people.

“It’s said that it’s for a powerful existence. They’re recruiting people to go the northern region and excavate Sources.”

“Wow, the northern region. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to travel there in ten lifetimes. How is he supposed to get here?”

“Cultivators have immortal families with methods to traverse the void. We might not be able to go to such a place, but it isn’t difficult for them.”

Ye Fan originally wanted to stand up and walk away, but when he heard these words, his heart shook and he didn’t get up.

“Hey ugly, you’re ok with this right?” the steersman squatted and asked.

“No problem. Once I rest for a few times I’ll be fine.” Ye Fan naturally agreed.

Hearing this, the sold steersman was very satisfied and said, “Give him some food, and then we’ll send him to the Cheerful Faction.”

The Cheerful Faction was just a small sect that wasn’t even comparable to the Spirit Ruins Paradise. But in such a city it was considered a giant.

This region was close to the Flickering Light Sacred Land, and all the sects in this region were the Sacred Land’s subordinates. The Cheerful Faction’s position was far from high, and was the lowest level of a sect. it could only forever be controlled and appended to the Flickering Light Sacred Land.

---

“Why are you sending any kind of person here? We only want healthy laborers, and not a handicapped person like this.” The Cheerful Faction was very dissatisfied when they saw Ye Fan.

“His strength is very great, and he’s definitely not handicapped. If you don’t believe him, just try making him move a stone.” The steersman smiled apologetically.

Ye Fan obediently picked up a large stone and walked a couple steps before throwing it to the ground. Just like that, he was kept.

---

Five days later, the Cheerful Faction sent him and hundreds of other people to a sect called the Jade Void sect.

“Carefully inspect them! Don’t let cultivators muddle their way in. We’re bringing people to excavate Sources and not helping people traverse the void. If there are any problems, you won’t be able to take responsibility.”

The Jade Void people were also in service to the Flickering Light Sacred Land.

An old man with a jade needle let Ye Fan and the others walk up the mountain one by one. Rays of light were emitted from the needle, and explored the place where the Wheel and Sea was located.

“Excellent, there’s no divine energy.” That old man nodded his head in satisfaction.

But it wasn’t finished just like that. Over ten seniors then walked up and repeatedly and carefully examined over them a dozen times before letting the group pass.

They were picking people for the Flickering Light Sacred Land, so they naturally didn’t dare be careless.

---

Over this time, Ye Fan learned many pieces of news.

The northern region had many divine sources, enticing the Eastern Wastelands. Many powerful existences were unable to hold back and went to the northern region. Their delegates found the region of the divine sources mine.

Countless years ago, each of the Sacred Lands and Ancient Desolation Noble Families had entered the northern region, and they each had their own mining regions.

This time, the Great Primordial Mine was not peaceful. Other regions also had divine sources appear, causing them to attach greater importance to their claims.

Sources were extremely mysterious. They formed so long ago that they might even trace back to the creation of the world.

Cultivators found them difficult to find because each Source was wrapped in a strange stone skin that cultivators were unable to see through. This stone skin had to be removed in order to see if there was a Source inside.

It was just like jadeite on the other side of the starry sky. Jadeite was covered with an old skin. All kinds of instruments were unable to see through it. Only once it was cut open would one know whether there was green inside.

Moreover, when excavating sources, sometimes evil things occurred. All kinds of mysterious life forms that had been dormant for endless years would occasionally be unearthed, or there might be baleful air from before the Hadeon Eon.

Thus, cultivators would rarely personally mine Sources.

These ordinary people were being gathered knew that they were going to the northern region to mine Sources and that it wasn’t that safe, but they were unable to resist the lure of gold coins.

Ye Fan’s Wheel and Sea was currently sealed and his divine energy was gone. To continue staying in this region would only result in death, so he decided to take a risk and borrow this opportunity to go to the northern region.

At the current time, his whole body has many broken bones and even his cheek bones were deformed, along with with his chin. Thus he could be said to be completely disfigured. His left calf was broken in three spots, making it appear somewhat short. Many other places of his body were also like this, and his body could be said to be deformed.

His life force was too powerful. In just five or six days of recovery, his broken bones had already grown back properly.

However, he purposely didn’t connect them. In order to keep his identity hidden, he purposely left himself disfigured.

---

He stayed within the Jade Void sect for more then a week, and was repeatedly probed in order to be sure that were no slip-ups. Only then were Ye Fan and the others sent to the Flickering Light Sacred Land.

They flew a great distance before the Jade Void sect’s people descended from the clouds and brought the would-be miners in.

Ye Fan was extremely shocked. Right in front of him, clouds and light surged around huge mountains floating in the sky.

Each mountain was grand and majestic. Some of them were enveloped with clouds, some were enveloped by light. The area was filled with the aura of the beginning of the world.

“A bunch of country hicks who have never seen the world.” A young cultivator ridiculed them. Actually, even he was very shocked. “This is just a corner of the Flickering Light Sacred Land. Further in are even more mysterious and amazing sights. It’s said there are various temples from before the Ancient Desolation, as well as a divine city that floats in the clouds and never descends.”

These mortals had never seen such a scene. They were all dumbstruck, some of them crying out about how this was an immortal land. Some of them even directly kowtowed.

Light flashed in front and several members of the Flickering Light Sacred Land were coming over to them.

A middle-aged man was the leader of this group. Several young men followed behind him before descending down.

Ye Fan couldn’t possibly not be nervous. But he had to take this risk. There was no way for him to survive in the southern region.

Fortunately, within the Flickering Light Sacred Land, there was no one who could recognize him other than their Sacred Lady.

He sensed that there was no way it could be so coincidental as to meet the Flickering Light Sacred Lady here.

The Jade Void sect’s people hastily walked up differentially and bowed. That middle-aged man waved his hand and let them get up.

A dazzling light enveloped those hundreds of people. A marvelous energy fluctuation lasted for over fifteen minutes before the light faded.

The middle-aged man nodded and said, “There’s no problem. None of them have any divine energy.”

Hearing this, Ye Fan sighed in relief, but his heart sunk. The Immortal Sealing Powder truly was terrifying. It sealed his divine energy to the point where even powerful cultivators were unable to see through it. Would he ever be able to recover it?

The middle-aged man’s sleeve waved and immediately grew to an enormous size, enveloping those hundreds of people.

The mortals all shouted out in alarm. This kind of secret art caused them incomparable shock.

---

However, in just a short time, they once more saw the sun. They had arrived on one of the huge floating islands in the sky.

They were surrounding by hazy mists and clouds.

They could faintly see many large mountains in the distance. The peaks were all very beautiful and magnificent.

This is the Flickering Light Sacred Land. What I’ve seen is just a corner, but it’s so grand and amazing. No wonder it is called a Sacred Land. The Taixuan Sect is so large, but it still can’t compare, Ye Fan sighed emotionally.

He really wanted to know what was in the depths of the Flickering Light Sacred Land. What were the temples from the Ancient Desolation like? He also wanted to see that divine city that never descended to the ground.

However, his wish would not be fulfilled. Right now he was just a mortal about to be sent to mine Sources.

Suddenly, Ye Fan’s gaze condensed. A woman descended down upon this floating island. She was transcendent and familiar.

She was wearing blue clothes. She was like a pure white lotus with dew rolling off it, yet also like a fresh flower that grew alone upon the snowy mountain. She gave people a refreshing and natural feeling.

“Weiwei!”

Ye Fan was very startled to see his old friend.

Weiwei was originally at the Spirit Ruins Paradise. It was she who had brought Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others out of the Ancient Desolation Forbidden Land’s surrounding forests.

It was said her talent was very great and was rarely seen within a thousand years. The Spirit Ruins Paradise didn’t want to delay her progress, so they sent her to the Flickering Light Sacred Land.

He hadn’t expected to once more see her today. Ye Fan turned sideways, not wanting to be noticed.

“Senior sister Yao Xi has returned. She seems to have suffered a great loss outside. Her wounds are very deep…,” said one of the Flickering Light Sacred Land’s disciples.

“Senior sister Yao Xi is about to go the northern region soon” Weiwei gently opened her red lips and inadvertently shot a casual glance at Ye Fan before walking away.

In front of him it was completely misty. An immortal gate towered in front of them. All the mortals were passed through this land to undergo another inspection.

Other than the mortals, there were thousands of others waiting here. Everyone passed through one by one without any incidents occurring, allowing Ye Fan to sigh in relief.

There was a large pavilion at the center of the island made of black jade that shone brightly. A green-clothed old man stood there, along with a couple younger disciples.

“Respectful greetings, Grand Elder!” Weiwei and the others all bowed.

“I have something to do in the northern region. I’ll conveniently bring these people along,” the Elder said casually.

The green-clothed man waved his sleeve and collected these thousands of people inside. The black jade platforms’ light soared as the Domain Gate was opened. He stepped inside, and those few disciples followed with him.

Ye Fan sighed as he was collected within the Flickering Light Sacred Land Grand Elder’s sleeve. He was about to enter the northern region. At last, he was leaving the southern region!