Shrouding the Heavens

At this moment, Ye Fan was already calm without any ripples as he focused on cultivating, establishing his sea of bitterness.

The sound of waves continued, the howling sea shook the heavens, thunder roared and lightning flashed, the loud sounds reverberated throughout the stone room, Elder Han’s heart was filled with expectation, urgently wanting seven days to go by quickly.

The bronze medicinal cauldron was shrouded by the silver fire and continued to absorb the spiritual aspect of the flame, a pure glow was emitted and spread into the surroundings, causing the entire stone room to be misty.

This continued for four hours before the sound of waves gradually faded away, the roaring sounds of thunder also gradually dissipated and the inside of the bronze medicinal cauldron finally calmed down, only the silver flame continued to burn brightly.

Elder Han was not concerned, he had to smelt and refine for seven days and nights before opening the lid of the cauldron, the unique scene could not possibly go on for that long a period of time, his heart had long been set on the notion that this was an unparalleled pill because this was exactly the same as what was recorded in ancient texts.

In this manner, a day and night had passed. The medicinal cauldron maintained its calm and only the Demonfire continued to dance as the milky white glow continued to flicker.

Within the bronze medicinal cauldron, Ye Fan had entered into a state of emptiness, only now did he gradually come to his senses, his golden sea of bitterness had once again been established and grew larger, as large as the peeled skin of a lychee fruit, dazzling gold, as though the resplendent stars in the universe had been plucked and placed into his body.

There were twenty seven more divine symbols, each was like a divine metal chain or a streak of lightning, floating in the air above the sea of bitterness. The most unique change that had occurred was within his sea of bitterness, ripples could actually be seen within it and bubbles continued to be released, when they burst they would form a bright mist which shrouded above the golden sea of bitterness.

Ye Fan opened his eyes as he clearly felt the change within his sea of bitterness. There was a flourishing vitality within his body, divine lights seemed to shine forth from his eyes but he was not content with merely this as he stretched his hand to grab the fruit of the Green Jade Snow Lotus.

This green fruit which was the size of a chicken egg had a resplendent green glow that was shimmering around it, making one’s heart ache, as though it were molded from the essence of green jade, shimmering with a gentle light, sparkling and translucent as the green glow continued to flash.

The fruit of the Green Jade Snow Lotus was very rare and each fruit would grow on the top of snow mountains that were tens of thousands of metres high, only forming after not seeing the rays of sunlight for a thousand years and protected by several strong demonic monsters, it had taken Elder Han eight years of time to successful pick a single one.

Once the fruit entered his grasp, Ye Fan felt a piercing cold, the boiling medicinal fluid did not cause the fruit to dissolve and he felt as though he were biting an apple as he delicately began to taste. This time, Ye Fan was very careful and did not make a shred of noise, everything was done in absolute silence, a day and night had already passed and based on logic he should have already been cooked.

The taste of the fruit was sweet, fresh and tasty but was cold like ice, it caused Ye Fan’s body to involuntarily shiver as the vigorous qi essence of life swiftly spread to his four limbs and the hundreds of arteries and veins within his body.

Finally, streaks of green light shrouded Ye Fan, his skin was green and lush like a jadeite, flashing with a unique glow, causing the temperature within the medicinal cauldron to continually drop and the medicinal fluid no longer boiled.

An hour later, the sound of the howling sea once again emitted from within the bronze medicinal cauldron, the clamor was even louder this time, accompanied by thunder and lightning as the entire giant cauldron gently trembled.

The entire stone room was rumbling and elder Han felt as though he were facing a vast and boundless angry sea, his mood surged with the tide and muttered: “The unique scene appears once again, the precious pill will definitely form!”

Elder Han seemed to grow younger by over ten years in an instant, he had a wide carefree smile, his heart was filled with expectation and could not wait for seven days to immediately pass.

Tens of thousands of raging waves continually repeated, thunderous sounds abound, lightning streaked through the sky as thunder roared, causing the entire stone room to continually tremble.

“The day the pill forms is the day I make a breakthrough!” Elder Han was in high spirits, he was filled with a sense of accomplishment. He felt that once this unparalleled pill was within his grasp, he would be able to breakthrough the barrier he faced and going up several stages would not be an issue.

Within the bronze medicinal cauldron, sound shook the heavens and the unique scene was brilliant. Elder Han who was outside and could only hear the sounds found it difficult to keep calm as he continually walked around the cauldron, his excitement already reaching an extreme.

This time, the sounds of the howling sea and roaring thunder lasted for six hours before gradually calming down, the entire stone room slowly regained its calm.

“After the medicinal cauldron has been closed, it can only be opened seven days later…….” Elder Han felt regretful for being so cautious and not placing his other rare and precious medicinal medicines within, otherwise, maybe even more unique scenes would appear, the auspicious rainbow falling from the heavens mentioned in ancient texts might even become a reality.

Even so, Elder Han was still extremely confident. He believed that he had already grasped a huge opportunity and nothing could change this fact.

Another day and night passed as Ye Fan slowly opened his eyes, a divine glow seemed to be contained within them, his body was full of vitality and the wounds on his four limbs and chest had completely vanished without a single blemish remaining.

Changes had once again occurred to Ye Fan’s golden sea of bitterness, it had grown wider by an entire circle and in its centre, the ripples and undulations were more violent, bubbles were continually frothing like a spring and the bursting of them formed a coloured mist, thoroughly shrouding that area causing the sea of bitterness to seem even more mysterious.

At this moment, Ye Fan was like elder Han and his heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment, the emotions of the two could be said to be identical.

He could not possibly be satisfied with only this as he once again reached out and grabbed the Nine Leafed Phoenix Grass. It was extremely hot to the touch and allowed one to feel bursts of fluctuations of divine energy. According to legend, only soil that had been stained with the divine blood of a phoenix could grow such a divine grass, elder Han had spent over ten years to explore endless amounts of ancient lands before finding this single one, it was a priceless treasure!

The Nine Leafed Phoenix Grass was covered in a bright and dazzling glow like a cornelian, penetrating deeply into the heart and making one feel intoxicated.

Ye Fan placed it into his mouth and began to chew, this divine grass actually became a gorgeous scarlet mist that rushed into his body, shrouding his body in a red glow as though an extremely red fire was burning.

If it were the body of a normal person, they would have already become ash. However, Ye Fan’s physique was extremely unique and his sea of bitterness was like a bottomless pit without any boundaries, all the dazzling scarlet mist entered into the sea of bitterness and was finally completely absorbed.

In this moment, his flesh, blood, organs and bones were sparkling and translucent, free from dust or dirt, like a beautiful piece of art, splendid and dazzling, his skin seemed to flash with a translucent glow and energy of life seemed to be continually circulating.

When the sound of the howling sea and roaring thunder occurred once again, elder Han was startled as he stood up and began to walk around the bronze medicinal cauldron again: “This Han has indeed been shown concern by the heavens……”

When Ye Fan came to his senses again, he noticed that his golden sea of bitterness had grown by another full circle but did not grow by a lot. When one cultivated further it would become harder and the quality of the three spiritual medicines did not differ by much, the first one ingested had still yielded the greatest results.

After absorbing the three precious spiritual medicines, a startling transformation had occurred within Ye Fan’s sea of bitterness. At its very centre, a coloured mist was hanging in the air as countless divine symbols swirled, the sea of bitterness was like an active volcano as bubbles continued to froth, continually releasing lights from within the sea.

Ye Fan was clear at what was happening and did not feel perplexed.

Cultivators at the Sea of Bitterness realm needed to go through several stages. Initially, only small amounts of qi essence of life would swirl above the sea of bitterness, over time, the essence would grow and congeal to form divine symbols which were like divine metal chains floating above the sea of bitterness.

As the sea of bitterness continued to establish and one’s cultivation continued to grow deeper, bubbles would form, bursting to form clouds. In the end, the bubbles would froth like an active volcano, clouds would continually rise, dazzling and resplendent.

When the day came and the ‘volcano’ within the sea of bitterness thoroughly came alive, the dazzling clouds would gradually become fluid, at that moment one could try to break into the Spring of Life realm, if one was successful, a gurgling divine spring would form at the mouth of the ‘volcano’.

Cultivators at the Sea of Bitterness realm would need to go through these three stages before attacking the Spring of Life realm. Ye Fan had already experienced two of these stages, the centre of his golden sea of bitterness was flaring up as qi gushed out. A splendid and magnificent scene, it was like a volcano coming to life, constantly erupting, simply brilliant

“If I were able to absorb all the ten odd precious spiritual medicines of Elder Han and find a place to cultivate in silence, carefully meditating on the Dao Scripture, I might actually be able to attack the Spring of Life realm in one or two years……” Ye Fan mumbled in his heart as he felt a sense of anticipation well up within him.

However, he would first have to overcome the dangerous situation before him, preserving his life otherwise everything would be for naught.

After completely absorbing the three precious spiritual medicines, Ye Fan did not move recklessly but rather sat there silently as he waited for a chance. Three days had already passed and the lid would only be opened in four more days.

There was half a cauldron of medicinal fluid which could be used to form the hundred plants extract, although it could not be compared to the precious spiritual medicines, it still contained large amounts of the qi essence of life. It was still early and Ye Fan would not let it go as he silently cultivated, streaks of essence continued to be absorbed into his body.

Two days later, Elder Han felt that something was strange. No unique scenes appeared again and the medicinal scent inside the bronze cauldron actually became more and more faint, in the end no smell was emitted from the cauldron.

“What’s going on……” He was feeling doubtful but seemed to have thought of something as he muttered: “Could it be that the precious pill has become the basic form and all the essence has been stored within?”

“That’s right, this must be the case! According to legend, once the unparalleled pill forms, all the essence will be stored within causing all the fragrance to disappear, not wasting a single drop of medicinal effectiveness.” Elder Han was extremely agitated: “I can now be sure that I’ve refined a precious pill mentioned in the legends!”

Over the past two days, Ye Fan had absorbed all the essence contained within the medicinal fluid. Within his sea of bitterness, qi continued to gush, red clouds were ascending like a volcano coming to life. It was on the verge of erupting as multicoloured rays of the sun shone, the spiritual qi was thick and dense resulting in a rainbow misty fog.

Measuring the time, there were two more days before the opening of the cauldron and Ye Fan was extremely cool as he quietly waited for his chance. He began to refine the spiritual aspect of the Demonfire as silver light continually flowed into his body.

Time passed by quickly as two days flew by swiftly, Elder Han was cackling loudly like a owl wailing as he prepared to open the lid of the cauldron to retrieve the ‘precious pill’.

“Little bastard, you can only blame yourself for eating the divine fruit and drinking from the divine spring of legends. Find a good backing in your next life, this life you were meant to be absorbed by me.”