Chapter 154

Ye Fan stood up abruptly, rising to his full height. At this moment, a heavy and dignified aura emanated from him, and the outward pressure of his breath shook the entire cavern violently, causing massive cracks to fracture through the stone.

"I've finally broken through to the Life Spring realm!"

Transforming into a bolt of golden lightning, he rushed out of the cave dwelling, and then a brilliant, blazing rainbow of divine light enveloped him, lifting him slowly into mid-air.

At this moment, right at the very center of Ye Fan's bitter sea, a spring had emerged, establishing a connection with the Wheel of Life. The divine spring was bubbling upward, wreathed in hazy, colorful mist.

With a boundless field of view and gazing into the far distance, this was an unprecedented sensation. Ascending into the firmament by virtue of his own power and looking down upon the world where he had once lived filled him with a sense of awe.

The magnificent mountains and rivers, the vast and boundless earth—everything was laid out before his eyes, broadening his mind and inspiring grand ambitions. The heaven and earth, all living things, every blade of grass and tree were taken into his heart, involuntarily stirring a heroic ambition capable of swallowing mountains and rivers.

"So this is the Life Spring realm? I can feel such formidable power..." Ye Fan stood high in the air, his flesh and blood flawless and immaculate, his entire body crystalline and shimmering with a faint luster, resembling a exquisite work of art. It gave him the sensation of having been reborn.

From this point on, he finally understood just how vast the gap between different realms truly was. His physical shell was pristine and near perfect. If he were to encounter a cultivator still in the bitter sea realm, he felt that with a mere wave of his hand he could reduce them to ashes. This was not blind confidence, but the genuine presence of an endlessly regenerating, overwhelming power within his body.

Ye Fan rode the rainbow, traversing the heavens and the earth. The brilliant streak of light pierced the sky, one moment resembling a comet crashing into the earth, and the next like the rising moon over the sea, or a azure dragon ascending into the firmament.

It wasn't until half an hour later that he finally calmed down completely. Standing atop the mountain peak, letting the gentle breeze brush against his face and his raven-black hair dance softly, his eyes shone brightly like twin stars.

From start to finish, Lin An had followed calmly and effortlessly behind Ye Fan.

"I never expected that even after breaking through to the Life Spring realm, it would still be impossible for me to see through the Realm Master's true depth!" Ye Fan stopped, turned to look at Lin An, and said with a helpless smile.

"If I didn't have some tricks up my sleeve, how could I have possibly outmaneuvered Elder Han?" Lin An chuckled.

Suddenly, Ye Fan made a move toward Lin An, eager to test just how large the gap between them truly was.

Very quickly, Ye Fan discovered that Lin An was like a bottomless abyss. For a full hour or two, he failed to gain even the slightest upper hand, and instead ended up being casually beaten by Lin An until he had panda-like dark circles around his eyes.

"No more, no more! It seems I shouldn't have underestimated you!"

Ye Fan hurriedly called a halt, looking toward Lin An and begging for mercy.

Lin An smiled and stopped right away.

"What should we do next?" Ye Fan asked.

"Don't worry, I will naturally lead you to a wonderful place. Along the way, I will explain everything properly," Lin An said with quiet confidence.

***

Ye Fan nodded and followed closely behind Lin An, moving rapidly in a specific direction.

According to what Lin An had said, they would soon rendezvous with Pang Bo, and there was even a great stroke of fortune awaiting the two of them.

Neither Ye Fan nor Pang Bo harbored much doubt regarding Lin An's words, because ever since they had met him, everything he predicted had ultimately come to pass.

Sometimes, Ye Fan even suspected that Lin An must have read a script in advance, knowing every single detail with absolute clarity.

Whatever was supposed to happen and at what time it would occur transpired with almost no deviation at all.

Two days later, Ye Fan and Lin An arrived together at a ruined expanse of land.

As soon as they arrived, Ye Fan spotted a few disciples of the Lingxu Paradise, who appeared to be searching for certain spiritual herbs in the area.

Of course, the reason they had arrived here so quickly was largely thanks to Pang Bo's guidance.

"Little Ye! Lin An! Did you guys really succeed?" Upon spotting the two of them, Pang Bo quickly broke away from his group and rushed over to their side.

"That's right! As of now, I have officially stepped into the Life Spring realm!" Ye Fan said with a smile.

Pang Bo's eyes held nothing but pure joy. He was well aware of the dire predicament of the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body. Since Ye Fan could cultivate after all, it meant that he would certainly not end up like an ordinary mortal, living out a mediocre life of obscurity.

"What should we do next?"

After chatting for a brief moment, Pang Bo hastily asked.

Lin An remained silent, gesturing for the two of them to follow him.

The trio pressed forward for another few miles, unconsciously arriving at a desolate and ruined region. Not a single blade of grass grew here; it was entirely scorched earth, littered only with fractured foundations and shattered rubble, with nothing else in sight.

Amidst the night, this place exuded a mysterious and eerie aura, with faint wisps of black mist lingering about.

"Thousands and tens of thousands of years have passed, yet not even a single plant grows in these ruins. It's truly bizarre, a completely barren wasteland where even birds refuse to drop their dung," Pang Bo muttered with some discontent. At that moment, he felt somewhat hungry and thirsty, but couldn't even pluck any wild fruit to appease his hunger.

No sooner had those words left his mouth than a tremendous force suddenly slammed into his body. Staggering, he tumbled head over heels and fell headfirst into the darkness with a dull thump. Ye Fan was dumbfounded, barely believing his eyes. Pang Bo leaped up instantly with a start, looked back, and felt his scalp tingle as he rapidly retreated.

Right ahead of them, a cold corpse lay quietly stretched out on the ground, its aged skin tightly wrapped over bone like withered firewood—it was a veritable dried corpse.

"What... what is going on? Where did this dried corpse come from?" Pang Bo felt a creeping chill. To be inexplicably struck by a desiccated corpse would unnerve anyone.

***

Ye Fan was equally startled and suspicious; he hadn't seen how the corpse had appeared in the first place. They scanned their surroundings repeatedly. This scorched ruin was completely open and desolate, containing nothing besides the rubble on the ground. Yet the more barren it was, the more deeply unsettling it felt. This was an ancient land abandoned for endless years, and perhaps unclean entities truly lingered here.

If Lin An hadn't assured them beforehand that this place was entirely safe, the two of them would likely have turned tail and bolted away instantly.

"Why is it so eerie? It's getting colder and colder..." Pang Bo felt his heart fail him as a chill spread through his entire body. "Just where did this corpse drop from..."

"Thud!"

At that exact moment, Pang Bo was knocked flat onto the ground once more. Scrambling back to his feet in a flurry, he found yet another dried corpse lying right beside him.

"Who... who lacks public morals so much as to discard corpses all over the place?" This joke was not funny at all. Both of them felt a creeping coldness give them goosebumps as they swept their gazes frantically around the surroundings.

The two withered corpses lay flat on the ground, tattered remnants of clothing clinging to them that turned to powder at the slightest touch. There was no telling how many years they had existed.

"What on earth are you? Show yourself!"

"Thud!"

Another corpse materialized out of thin air, knocking Pang Bo tumbling away.

"Damn it all! Do you think I, Pang Bo, am easy to bully?!" Pang Bo felt both terrified and deeply aggrieved; Ye Fan was standing right beside him, yet hadn't been struck even once.

"What kind of ghost is this? Get out here right now!" Ye Fan shouted in a low voice.

"Boom!"

The ancient ruins suddenly experienced a massive tremor, which forcefully threw Ye Fan flying backward, while Pang Bo was sent tumbling away in a wretched and ungainly fashion.

"Thud," "Thud," "Thud"...

This time, it wasn't just Pang Bo; even Ye Fan was struck repeatedly. Corpse after ancient corpse plummeted from the sky, knocking the two of them head over heels. If they had been mere flesh and blood mortals, their bones would have been shattered into a thousand pieces by now. It was only because their physiques far surpassed ordinary people that they managed to avoid serious danger.

Dozens of corpses now littered the ground. The atmosphere here was chilling, filled with a ghostly yin energy as biting as an ice cellar. Both of them felt their hair stand on end, completely at a loss as to why all of this was happening.