The dark clouds moved away and the stars twinkled in the sky as moonlight sprinkled down. It was very quiet on the hill as if nothing had happened.
Ye Fan arrived in front of the old tree step by step. This ancient pine tree was at least four thousand years old. Its trunk was hollow and its pine needles were sparse. It was on the verge of death.
At the base of the tree, there was a square bluestone that was no taller than 1.6 meters. It was the same length as the old Daoist. It was very flat and extraordinary.
"I come to sleep under this pine tree. There is no calendar day in the mountains, and I don't know the year … "
Ye Fan was in a daze. Was this old Daoist still alive? How many times had the human world changed? How old had he been to sigh like this?!
He walked to the back of the temple and arrived in front of the yellow grave. He used his Heaven Origin Divine Instinct to observe. At this moment, he shivered.
Under the yellow grave, the tattered Daoist robe was still there. The old wooden hairpin was still in its original position. It hadn't moved an inch.
"How could this be …" Ye Fan was a bit scared. The old Daoist had passed away a long time ago, so why did he see his figure just now?
It must have been an illusion. The dark clouds appeared and the old Daoist appeared. Then, he disappeared inexplicably. It was very real and those words were still echoing.
"It wasn't a remnant divine imprint because I heard a real voice." Ye Fan returned to the front of the temple and walked around on the hill. He was very puzzled.
The night was as calm as water. Apart from the occasional chirping of birds, there was no other sound. He couldn't feel the aura of a stranger, let alone the fluctuation of divine power.
His heart was full of questions, but he had no way to solve them. In the end, he could only continue to meditate. He believed that no matter how strong the expert was, he shouldn't have any evil intentions towards him.
Ye Fan secluded himself here for half a month. Every day, he would sit in front of the temple and silently comprehend the dao.
This was a pure land that had returned to simplicity. It was far away from the hustle and bustle, but there was no auspicious air lingering around it. Everything was natural like an elegant ink painting.
During the day, woodcutters would occasionally sing. Sometimes, hunters would chase some wild beasts from the depths of the mountains, their roars shaking the mountains. Ye Fan's heart was empty as he savored all of this.
Over the past few days, he had captured a strange type of dao mark. The short mountain contained a spirit. Even before he consumed the dragon marrow, he already had a mysterious feeling. His body and mind were both spiritual.
"A place of Dao Transformation is a divine land of the world. If a great sect were to find out about it, they would definitely immediately occupy it and set up a Heaven's Net Formation, making it a forbidden land that outsiders cannot set foot in."
Another late night arrived. Dark clouds rolled, almost pressing down on the mountain peak. It was so dark that one couldn't even see their own fingers. Not long after, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and heavy rain poured down.
The world was covered in a curtain of rain. Ye Fan stood in the Daoist temple and observed the world in the rain. Occasionally, lightning streaked across the dark night sky, but in an instant, he could see the bright Rain World.
Boom!
Lightning hacked about chaotically. In a split second, more than a hundred silver streaks appeared in the world, connecting the heavens and earth. Endless rain poured down, illuminating the mountains in the water.
But soon after, it sank into endless darkness again. The lightning disappeared, and only the pouring rain could be seen. Nothing else could be seen. In this terrifying night, he was alone, and there was an abnormal atmosphere.
Boom!
Another expanse of lightning. Hundreds and thousands of golden snakes danced about, causing the vast world to be blazing. In the distance, the mountain peaks could be seen clearly.
"That is …"
Ye Fan stood in front of the window, and his expression immediately changed. He saw the old Daoist again. He was still wearing that tattered Daoist robe, and there was a wooden hairpin in his hair bun.
At this moment, he sat cross-legged in the pouring rain in the night sky. He opened his mouth and inhaled. Thousands of streaks of lightning entered his mouth and disappeared.
Boom!
The heavy rain poured down like a waterfall. There was water everywhere in the world, and the lightning became even more intense. This time, tens of thousands of streaks of lightning descended into the world.
"So much lightning, it's comparable to a great heavenly tribulation …" Ye Fan said to himself.
However, what left him shocked was that the old Daoist was still in the same motion. He opened his mouth and inhaled, and the tens of thousands of streaks of lightning immediately disappeared, all of them rushing into his mouth.
"This is just too … freakish!"
Ye Fan's expression changed. He had experienced heavenly tribulation several times, and he could resist it without fear. However, he still had to pay the price. His flesh was often injured, but when had he ever been like the old Daoist, absorbing everything in one gulp?
This was like something out of a fantasy story. Not a single strand of lightning descended, all of it sucked into his body. It wasn't like a heavenly tribulation, but more like water.
Hong!
Endless lightning radiance descended, and the world became a vast expanse of whiteness. All types of lightning tribulation appeared. Earth, fire, wind, and water tribulations descended, and there were even streaks of primal chaos heavenly lightning.
Meanwhile, at the very top, there was even an ancient heavenly imperial court that appeared. A few human-shaped lightning figures appeared, interweaving together, hacking about in the heavens.
"Could it be that he can even swallow this type of great heavenly tribulation?" Ye Fan didn't believe it. The level of this type of tribulation already reached an unimaginable level.
He had previously seen a heavenly imperial court formed from lightning, human-shaped lightning radiance moving about, but he had never experienced it before. He deeply understood how terrifying it was, and if he was struck, he would definitely turn into ashes.
However, right now, that old Daoist was still the same as before, allowing the great rain to pour down and lightning to drown out the skies. He only opened his mouth and inhaled, sucking all of the lightning radiance into his mouth.
"This … is he still human?!"
All of the fine hairs on Ye Fan's body stood on end. When he faced tribulation to resist the heavenly tribulation, endless lightning radiance ultimately scattered between heaven and earth, yet this old man didn't let a single trace go, absorbing it all.
This left one horrified. It couldn't be calculated with the dao, without the slightest bit of reasoning. This was especially the case with the heavenly imperial court formed from lightning, as well as the streaks of human-shaped lightning radiance. They were as terrifying as terrifying could be, yet they were still devoured.
The old Daoist appeared in front of the shabby temple, his speed incomprehensible. Endless lightning radiance erupted from his mouth, turning into a pill, sliding into his stomach. His entire body shone brilliantly, and then it became dim and ordinary again.
Ye Fan was stupefied. This old Daoist was truly terrifying. Did he turn the lightning tribulation into a pill?
Between heaven and earth, the lightning disappeared, leaving only the torrential downpour. Curtains of rain fell from the pitch-black night sky, and the sound of water could be heard everywhere.
Ye Fan didn't move, quietly watching the old Daoist. He was afraid that if he made a sound, the old Daoist would suddenly disappear like last time.
"The vast sea becomes dust for tens of thousands of autumns, the dao becomes yellow hair, the worry of longevity, a dream lasts for thousands of years, the path of immortals is rugged, where do you travel …"
The old Daoist chanted softly, sitting cross-legged on the bluestone, not moving at all, merging into the night rain. There was no brilliance, and even more so no divine power. The raindrops scattered down on his body, yet they didn't wet his clothes.
This was definitely an expert. Ye Fan was shaken, feeling that he might have encountered a saint!
He originally thought that there was only one old lunatic in the present world who became a saint, but he never thought that the Central State also had one. His words were profound and unfathomable, his realm immeasurable.
"Senior …"
He walked into the heavy rain and called out softly in a pious and respectful manner. However, the old man didn't move at all, his eyes closed like a stone.
Ye Fan cautiously tried to sense the frail old Daoist sitting on the bluestone. He was very close, but he couldn't sense his existence.
"No, it's not a spiritual imprint, but it doesn't have a physical body either …" He was startled because the Divine Eye of Origin had opened at this time, and it was only an illusion.
Suddenly, the old man stood up and walked over. He was immediately startled, but he didn't move. If a saint wanted to take action, apart from the old lunatic, all the experts in the present world wouldn't be able to stop him.
"Swoosh!"
The old Daoist walked straight towards the Daoist temple and came into contact with him. They dispersed like air, rushing past each other, and then gradually disappeared.
"It's not a real person, he's still … dead after all." Ye Fan was dumbfounded.
After that, he carefully examined the small mountain in the heavy rain and found many magnetic rocks. This was an iron mine.
"Yes, I understand now …"
He thought of the reports he had seen on the other side of the starry sky. Figures appeared in ancient tombs and ancient soldiers were fighting in the great canyon. Everything seemed so real.
In fact, all these scenes were just reenactments of the past. The magnetic rocks in nature could play back these "past events" under certain conditions.
Ye Fan was incomparably regretful. He had actually missed an opportunity to meet an ancient saint. He had only arrived two years late, so he couldn't meet him. This person's cultivation had reached an inconceivable level.
Refining a heavenly tribulation into a pill was not even recorded in the ancient books. One could imagine how tyrannical this person was. That was a heavenly tribulation that interweaved with the Ancient Heaven. Its degree of terror was unimaginable!
"A saint has silently passed away here. No one knows, not even the five regions. Apart from the old lunatic, there's another saint in the Middle Continent …"
Ye Fan let out a long sigh. Perhaps this was a true expert who didn't have the so-called ambition to dominate the world. He had such unparalleled cultivation, yet no one knew that he had passed away in the wilderness.
"So this is the realm of a saint!"
Compared to him, the other cultivators were far inferior. This kind of person had long since become indifferent to the world of mortals. He didn't care about anything else and only had the heart to seek immortality.
After Ye Fan understood that this was an illusory image, he paid even more attention. If he could see the old daoist's various cultivation methods, it would definitely be a great opportunity.
Time passed quickly. Two months later, Ye Fan was quietly cultivating, silently comprehending the dao and refining the dragon marrow. He was on the verge of breaking through, and it was possible that the heavenly tribulation would be triggered soon.
However, during these few days, his heart couldn't calm down. This was because he saw a few more scenes and obtained a shocking piece of information.
When the old daoist muttered to himself, he mentioned the Nine Secrets. He came from an ancient family and grasped one secret!
Of course, it was just a few words and wasn't enough to prove it. Ye Fan had connected all kinds of clues together. This was the result of his conjecture and might not necessarily be true.
Even so, his heart was still shaken. The inheritance of the Nine Secrets was almost broken, and there were only three or four of them left in the world. Now that he had unexpectedly obtained a clue about one of the secrets in the Central Plains, it was of great importance.
"Cai Clan, there isn't such an ancient clan in the Central Plains …" Ye Fan muttered to himself. Before coming to the Central Plains, he had carefully studied the situation of the major powers, and there was no Cai Clan.
"Could it be a hidden aristocratic family?"
"Or could it be the Cai Clan that flourished 10,000 years ago, but suddenly declined and disappeared?"
During these few days, the sky was covered with thunder clouds. Ye Fan felt that it was possible that he would take that step.
On that very night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. He saw the old daoist's figure again, but he had only seen him five or six times. He paid extra attention to him.
"If only I could hear him recite a dao incantation or recite one of the Nine Secrets."
Ye Fan hoped, but he knew that it was almost impossible. After the old daoist passed away, he didn't leave behind a single word. This was enough to show his state of mind. He was far too aloof.
"There is nothing in the world that doesn't shed tears. Gains and losses, human emotions and life cannot be delayed. When I was drinking in the hall of my home, I looked back and saw that it has been 8,000 years … "
This time, the old daoist actually felt a sense of loss. He wasn't like he was in the past. He walked around the Daoist temple three times, then raised his eyes and looked towards the west. In the end, he came to the back of the Daoist temple.
"His tone … Why is it like this? Why does it sound like he is about to pass away?"
Ye Fan's heart trembled. This old daoist had lived for at least 8,000 years. He had left home for 8,000 years. This was a little scary!
He was definitely a saint, there was no doubt about it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have such a lifespan, and he was at the peak of existence.
The old daoist found an empty space behind the small Daoist temple and dug a hole. He was calm and natural as he walked in step by step. Just like that, he buried himself.
This happened to coincide with the original yellow grave. They were the same place.
"Coming without a trace, leaving without a trace, leaving at the same time as coming. There is no need to ask about the fleeting life, for this fleeting life is only a dream … "These were the last words of the old daoist. Just like that, he turned into Dao and disappeared between heaven and earth.
"This … is an ancient saint!" Ye Fan could only sigh.
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