Shrouded Sky

Surrounding Clear Wind Town were towering mountains, ancient trees, and dense primeval forests. The deep mountains teemed with strange beasts, and ordinary people dared not venture into them.

After spending some time living in Clear Wind Town, Ye Fan finally learned that this endless mountain range marked the outer boundary of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Realm.

The State of Yan stretched 2,000 miles from north to south and 3,000 miles from east to west. The Forbidden Realm lay at the kingdom's center, surrounded and encircled by endless mountains. This primeval area spanned over 800 miles in diameter.

The six sacred cultivation paradises, including Desolate Spirit Grotto-Heaven Heaven, Red Mist Grotto-Heaven, and Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven, were all distributed around the outer perimeter of this vast primeval region.

At this moment, Ye Fan plunged deep into the mountains, racing through the forest, desperate to escape into the Forbidden Realm. He felt a grave threat to his life and wanted to get as far from the small town as possible.

"I hope this feeling is just paranoia..." After running for over an hour and crossing countless mountains, he finally paused, panting in a rugged terrain.

Suddenly, the roar of a desolate beast split the air, deafening, like thunder cracking through the heavens.

"It came from the direction of Clear Wind Town…" Ye Fan leapt up a cliff like a mountain ape, pushed aside thick vines, and slipped into a hidden stone cave. He held his breath and suppressed his life force to its absolute minimum, making his body cold and lifeless, like a piece of dead wood.

Before long, he saw, through the vines, a beast covered in green scales soaring through the sky, carrying a Jiang Clan soldier.

"They really came after me..." Ye Fan's pupils contracted sharply. A chill crept over him. He had seen with his own eyes how terrifying the Jiang soldiers were, if they found him, he would surely die.

Moments later, the soldier on the flying beast returned, circling between distant peaks and around the area.

"He's locked onto this region. Did he find me?" Ye Fan's body went cold. He felt death was near.

Rage welled up in his heart, the soldier was clearly after the treasure on him. If discovered, there would be no chance of survival. But he dared not move. He suppressed even the smallest motion, lowering his life force to near-death. Like a piece of driftwood, he remained hidden.

It wasn't until two full hours later that the green-scaled beast finally flew away and disappeared beyond the horizon. Still, Ye Fan didn't move. Only after complete darkness fell did he quietly climb out of the stone cave and quickly head toward another mountain range.

"Jiang Clan..." Ye Fan gritted his teeth.

That night, he didn't light a fire. He only picked a few wild fruits to eat, then hid in a thick thorn bush.

All night, the mountains echoed with the howls of unknown beasts. The air was heavy with gloom, trees swayed like ghosts dancing in the night, and the stars and moon were faint and veiled.

Suddenly, the howls stopped. The forest fell into eerie silence. Ye Fan's heart clenched, his body went still and lifeless again.

At some point, a beast appeared in the sky, carrying a person. Even the creatures below sensed danger and quieted.

Not until the latter half of the night did the soldier leave. Ye Fan was drenched in cold sweat. This couldn't continue. Sooner or later, he would be found.

"If I confront him directly, I'll die. How do I shake him off…" Ye Fan was out of options, his only choice was to keep running.

Over the next two days, he darted and hid through the mountain ranges. He narrowly escaped discovery several times, brushing shoulders with death again and again.

On the third day, the crisis peaked. The soldier seemed to sense he might be hiding nearby and attacked viciously, unleashing a sentient weapon that slashed through multiple cliffs, shattered swaths of forest, and devastated large areas of undergrowth, leaving the land bare and exposed.

Ye Fan was hiding in a swamp nearby, completely still, his body coated in mud and rotting leaves. He held his breath, waiting for the soldier to leave.

But even the swamp wasn't spared. The sentient weapon, like a bolt of blue lightning, tore through the mire. Deep trenches were carved into the marsh, splitting it wide open.

"Pshhh!"

The blue light slashed by just one meter away, cleaving through the muck. Though it didn't strike Ye Fan directly, a small arc of blue energy grazed his abdomen. A sharp pain ripped through him, but he held perfectly still. Had he not possessed an incredibly strong body, that slash would have cut a lesser cultivator in half.

Half an hour later, silence finally returned. Gritting his teeth, Ye Fan dragged himself out of the swamp. His abdomen was gushing blood, dyeing the muddy water crimson.

"Jiang Yichen, I swear I'll kill you one day. Even your Clan won't protect you forever!"

Ye Fan felt dizzy from blood loss. His abdomen was nearly sliced open. If not for the mud sealing the wound and his complete stillness, he would've bled out already.

He rushed to a mountain spring to wash the wound, stripped off his mud-soaked clothes, tore the cleanest inner garments into strips, and wrapped the gash. But the injury was too severe. He could see his intestines through the wound, and the bleeding wouldn't stop.

Weakened, hands soaked in blood, he used every last shred of clean cloth to pack the wound. Still, the blood kept flowing, dyeing his lower body red, and his skin turned ghostly pale.

He pressed hard on the wound with both hands. Blood seeped through his fingers. Biting his lips, he fought to stay conscious. He silently activated the Dao Scripture, gathering life force throughout his body to stabilize the injury.

"The Way of Heaven diminishes the excessive to nourish the deficient…"

Just as he was about to pass out, a voice echoed in the depths of his sea of consciousness. Hundreds of ancient characters flowed like a stream through his mind. His scattered thoughts gradually reformed.

Ye Fan calmed down, his awareness returning. At the same time, the Dao Scripture continued running silently. Vital energy surged to the wound. Finally, strands of blue light leaked from the gaping cut, the lethal energy was forced out, and with the flow of life force, the bleeding finally stopped.

Still weak, Ye Fan gritted his teeth and stood up, staggering toward the forest. He had to find a hidden place to recover, his injuries were too severe to flee anymore.

Initially, Ye Fan had hoped to escape into the Forbidden Realm. Only that terrifying place might deter the soldier from chasing further. But now he had no strength left. After some thought, he turned back.

Eventually, he stopped at a rubble-strewn area previously ravaged by the soldier and hid between two stone peaks.

Since this area had already been searched, Ye Fan guessed the soldier wouldn't return soon, it would be a blind spot, temporarily safe.

Ye Fan neither ate nor drank for two full days, lying between the stone peaks. Only then did his injuries finally stabilize, though he was still in no shape for vigorous movement.

During those two days, the soldier continued to circle above the deep mountains, destroying forests and reducing entire ranges to rubble.

That night, Ye Fan crawled out of his hiding place, picked more wild fruits, and moved to a new spot, another area that had just been devastated by the soldier. Trees had fallen, rocks shattered, and the land lay in ruin.

"I'll just follow you. Wherever you've searched, I'll hide," Ye Fan muttered.

In such peril, with death always a breath away, Ye Fan had no choice but to be methodical and cautious, hiding in the soldier's blind spots.

And so, five or six days passed. Only then did he begin to recover. The ordeal was pure torment, starvation, pain, and exhaustion left him visibly thinner.

"If not for my body's strength being far beyond the average cultivator's, that blue light would've killed me for sure." Staring into the sky, Ye Fan muttered, "I have to survive this. I won't die here."

"Jiang Clan…" he repeated bitterly.

Right now, he didn't have the strength to fight back. His only option might be to risk everything by entering the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Realm. Only there could he possibly lose the soldier.

Once his condition had improved, Ye Fan started making a detour toward the forbidden zone.

"I've consumed sacred fruit before. Maybe I can resist the curse. For me, entering this death zone might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"