Shrouded Sky

"Where is the alchemist who first discovered the 'Source' in that ancient mountain cave?" Ye Fan asked.

Ancient texts recorded that a "Source site" typically yielded several "Sources," and possibly more. If he could locate that cave, there might be other hidden treasures.

Grandpa Jiang sighed and said, "After returning to the town, that alchemist sold the 'Source' to the Li Clan. But the next day, he vanished. Many suspect the Li Clan didn't want to pay and secretly did something unforgivable."

Ye Fan instantly understood, clearly, the Li Clan had silenced the man. A "Source" was extremely valuable to cultivators. There was no way they'd let someone go around talking about it.

"Looks like this could get tricky…"

"If there's trouble, Big Brother, I'll help you!" Little Tingting tilted her head, blinking her bright eyes innocently.

Ye Fan smiled, gently flicking her delicate little nose. "You're such a sweet girl, Tingting…"

After breakfast, Ye Fan left the inn and circled the Li estate from a distance. The compound was filled with charred ruins, more than thirty buildings had been burned down.

Just then, beastly roars echoed from outside the town. Dust billowed as a massive mount charged in. It looked like a horse but was covered in green scales. It moved incredibly fast and reached the Li Clan gate in the blink of an eye.

"Dragonscale Horse!" Ye Fan was startled. He knew this exotic beast, its body was like a horse, but covered in green scales. It possessed immense strength and could travel four or five thousand miles in a single day without tiring or stopping.

Mortals could hardly possess such a beast, and even most Bitter Sea cultivators couldn't subdue it. Typically, cultivators of the Life Spring realm would tame one and gift it to juniors who had not yet learned to ride divine rainbows.

The Dragonscale Horse shimmered with emerald brilliance, tossing its head and tail, neighing at the sky with majestic presence. A young man sat upright in the saddle, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, pale-skinned, with thin lips and a cold, sharp gaze.

The Li Clan was instantly stirred. Their gates opened wide, someone shouting as they rushed inside: "The young master is back!"

Ye Fan relaxed. Judging by how he traveled, this Li Clan cultivator was probably only at the Bitter Sea realm. Otherwise, he would have flown back via divine rainbow.

"That Source, I'm taking it for sure."

Now wasn't the time to act. A while later, Ye Fan headed deep into the mountains. When he examined the golden book within his Bitter Sea, he found the opening characters were even more blurred, as though about to vanish entirely.

"Why is this happening…" Ye Fan pondered the problem. "Good thing I've already comprehended that part completely."

He continued studying the Dao Scripture, gaining new insights with each reading. After a long while, he stopped and began refining the cauldron above his Bitter Sea.

The nineteen godrunes had been fused together, resembling a lump of divine iron, radiant and gleaming. But no matter how much Ye Fan hammered it, he couldn't form it into a cauldron.

During this time, he had also tried forging a flying sword. Though it wasn't a perfect success, he managed to shape a rough sword embryo. If he kept refining it, he was confident he'd eventually complete it.

"Why is the cauldron so hard to forge?"

He melted down the golden sword embryo and tried again to forge the cauldron. But attempt after attempt failed. All he could produce was a lump of metal, never even forming a rough shape.

"At this rate, how many months, or years, will it take to forge a cauldron full of Dao Resonance? If all this effort is wasted, it'll be like drawing water with a sieve."

Forging a cauldron wasn't just about channeling life essence, it also demanded extreme focus of divine sense. Eventually, Ye Fan became mentally exhausted and had to stop.

Above his Bitter Sea, that bean-sized divine iron lump still glowed brilliantly, unyielding despite countless temperings.

"This lump of divine iron might be half-useless. I wonder if it can control a weapon like the Green Wood Seal."

Ye Fan was frustrated. He had no magical weapons to test with, and didn't even know if he could perform object manipulation yet. Then his eyes fell on the golden book, pressed against the edge of the Bitter Sea by the green bronze. His heart stirred.

"Let's try controlling this."

The divine iron lump quickly sank into the Bitter Sea and fused into the golden book. At Ye Fan's mental command, a searing beam of golden light shot out from his body like lightning across the sky.

The brilliant light streaked through the air, cutting through several ancient trees and two massive boulders without stopping. Ye Fan stepped forward and gently pushed a towering tree. It toppled instantly, the break was perfectly smooth. Though it hadn't moved when the light passed through, it had been cleanly severed.

Ye Fan was stunned. Every tree it touched was the same. As for the two giant rocks, he pushed them gently, and both split in half, already cut clean through.

The golden book had flown over ten meters away, hovering midair like a brilliant golden sun. At his command, it flashed and returned instantly to his Bitter Sea.

"So sharp…" Ye Fan was amazed. He had tried on a whim and never expected the golden book would really fly out, let alone wield such terrifying cutting power.

"This golden page not only holds the Dao Scripture… could it also be used as a weapon?" With this new idea, he kept testing. The golden light arced like a rainbow, slashing repeatedly through the air.

Ye Fan discovered he could only send the book out about ten meters, any farther, and he couldn't control it.

"The Dao Scripture is one of the Eastern Wasteland's most mysterious texts. This golden page must be extraordinary. Looks like I've got myself a weapon now, its strike is sharp as silk, perfect for battle." His confidence grew.

"If even a page is this powerful, then the green bronze must be even more terrifying. That's the true weapon… but what kind of power does it hold?" The thought stirred him deeply. He focused inward, attempting to control the green bronze.

But at the center of his golden Bitter Sea, the green bronze remained still and silent, like an immovable boulder.

"It's like trying to push a mountain…" Ye Fan was drenched in sweat, completely exhausted, unable to budge it even slightly. The center of the Bitter Sea radiated a vast, ancient aura, a tremendous pressure.

"No wonder it forced the Dao Scripture to the edges. This green bronze is unbelievably mysterious, just being near it feels like standing before an endless ocean or the stars of the ancient past. Boundless, unfathomable, its pressure is like heaven itself."

The green bronze wasn't even whole, it was clearly a fragment broken off from some larger artifact. If a piece held such power, the complete object must be beyond imagination.

"Impossible to estimate. Totally unfathomable!" Ye Fan was shaken to the core. The more he thought, the more awed he became. "What does the full artifact look like…?"

Just then, his eyes lit up. He noticed Dao Runes etched into the green bronze, lines filled with indescribable resonance.

"If I can't move the green bronze, I'll copy its Dao Runes!"

The green bronze surface was mostly smooth, but at its fractured edge, dense Dao Runes were etched, complex, profound, and impossible to fully comprehend. Yet they radiated a sense of natural Dao, of unity between heaven and earth, stirring the soul.

Ye Fan wasn't yet at the level to understand these Runes, but he aimed to copy them. He took the divine iron lump that refused to become a cauldron and began melting it repeatedly at the bronze's edge, burning the Runes into it.

"These intricate and mysterious Dao Runes must be unimaginably ancient, perhaps naturally formed and one-of-a-kind."

After a short rest, Ye Fan began. He melted the divine iron lump again and again, attaching it to the green bronze, hammering it like a mortal blacksmith, branding layer after layer of Runes into it.

He continued this forging and inscription process until he began sensing a faint change in the iron, it seemed to gain a subtle new aura. But when he tried to carefully sense it, it still felt ordinary, unchanged.

"Was it just an illusion?" Ye Fan muttered.

Over the following days, he kept melting and refining the divine iron, inscribing the Dao Runes over and over, inside and out, tempering it a thousand times.

"It does seem more condensed than before. Illusion or not, copying these Dao Runes from the green bronze can only help, not harm."

Finally, Ye Fan tried forging the cauldron again to see if the Runeed divine iron had truly changed.

Above his Bitter Sea, the divine iron began to shift, its sharp edges smoothing, its shine growing subdued. It felt heavier, denser.

Though he still hadn't formed even a crude prototype, Ye Fan was excited. He sensed something unusual. During this process, he had tapped into a mystical rhythm.

"The Dao Runes on the green bronze really are extraordinary. From now on, I'll inscribe them daily. Creating a true cauldron won't be out of reach."