Chapter 75 Body like a Bottomless Pit
After eating dinner, Ye Fan continued to peruse the Dao Scripture. He spent the entire evening in a mysterious condition. The emptiness above his golden Sea of Bitterness was now filled with flickering stars, a misty primal chaos of constant changes.
He only awoke from this strange condition the next morning. He wasn’t tired at all; the Life Qi that flowed out from his Sea of Bitterness caused him to feel his spirit cleansed.
“Breakfast, big brother.” Little Tingting bounced lively as she called out to him to eat, her face covered with a happy smile. Although her patched and worn out clothes didn’t match her personality, that didn’t stop her bright child-like face’s distinctive joy.
Ye Fan sighed. Children were after all children. Yesterday’s pain and severe sadness she felt were all washed away with just a night’s rest and completely forgotten.
“Is Tingting very happy now?” asked Ye Fan smiling.
“Uh-huh!” Tingting nodded, saying, “Now that there’s food, grandpa can eat as much as he wants and there’s even a lot left for me. Tingting is definitely very happy!”
Ye Fan started; so people’s happiness could actually be so simple. Just eating a full meal caused little Tingting to be so satisfied. For those scheming people fighting over money and status, this kind of situation was far from enough to satisfy them. Or maybe it was precisely because of this kind of simple happiness that a pure and honest beauty could be born.
Seeing her rosy little face filled with bright smiles, Ye Fan was deeply influenced, dotingly patting her head before pulling her with him outside the room.
Around the room, the yellow-faced middle-aged man from the Li family once more turned. Seeing that the small restaurant closed, he forcefully kicked it and cursed, “Open up, uncle has come to eat.”
Within the small restaurant, Tingting immediately became nervous, her eyes filled with fear and she tightly hugged the old man. Uncle Jiang gently patted her back, quietly comforting her.
Ye Fan heard those vulgar abuses from within the room and gradually began to crown, her eyes becoming colder.
“Fine, if old man Jiang doesn’t want to work, just wait to starve to death. I’ll see what you can do now that you’re already in your seventies!”
The people outside continued to curse for a while. They smashed the two flowerpots outside into pieces and used daggers to mess up the carvings on the door before taking their leave.
“Grandpa…” Only a while later did little Tingting timidly ask, “Will those bad people come back tomorrow?”
“Tingting, don’t worry, grandpa won’t let them hurt you.” The old man continued to console her.
Tingting quietly said, “Those bad people do bad things every day. Why hasn’t a good person come to punish them?”
Ye Fan realized that it truly was children’s words that were the truest. Unfortunately, evil was everywhere, but it couldn’t all be taken care of by people.
“Don’t worry Tingting, they probably won’t come back tomorrow.” Ye Fan squatted down and smiled at her. “Come, let’s go eat. I’ll make you some tasty food for lunch.”
“Big brother knows how to cook?” Little Tingting’s eyes were filled with a disbelieving expression.
“Don’t underestimate me! Today I’ll show off for you and make you something you definitely haven’t had before.”
The little girl blinked in disbelief, saying, “I don’t believe you. Grandpa knows how to cook everything! When we still had our big restaurant, grandpa would make me all kinds of tasty good every day.”
“Have you eaten sweet and sour pork chops?” Although this was a very common dish within his home, Ye Fan trusted that it shouldn’t have appeared in this place.
As expected, Tingting revealed a puzzled expression, saying, “Sweet? How could pork chops be sweet?” Even the old man beside her was also staring in confusion.
In the end, all Ye Fan could do was actually show them. His cooking skills were definitely terrible, but once the old man learned what he was trying to do, he did it himself, and a perfectly completed sweet and sour deer ‘pork’ chops were served onto the table. Little Tingting was full of smiles as she ate this sweet dish.
Ye Fan very much enjoyed this kind of harmonious and merry mood. It gave him a sense of family, vaguely giving him a feeling of having people he could trust.
After eating lunch, the old man let little Tingting take a nap. He brewed a pot of tea and brought it to the very clean square table, asking Ye Fan, “Child, are you about to do something…you must not be impulsive…”
Ye Fan smiled, saying, “Uncle doesn’t need to worry. There won’t be any problems. Actually, anyone could be a bad person, it’s just a question of whether they want to be or not.”
“What are you planning on doing?”
“If you think about it, hurting people isn’t hard. I have a hundred ways to deal with them. However, there’s no need to handle it like that. I’ll use the simplest method to deal with them. I’ll just cause them to be too busy to come back and bother you. Later once it’s easier, I’ll properly take care of them.
Ye Fan left the small town that afternoon. He didn’t wish to make a huge scheme against the Li family, all he wanted was for those cultivators to come back.
He had already learned that the Li family would go to the county town to buy food and goods. They had practically monopolized half the small town’s business, and tomorrow was precisely the day to make the big purchase from the other town. That yellow-faced middle-aged man was someone who managed affairs in the Li family, and it was normally him who handled this matter.
The county town was around forty kilometers away from the small town. It was much more busy than this small town, and there tens of thousands of people living there. Stores on both sides of the streets yelled out their prices continuously. This distance might be far for ordinary people, but to Ye Fan it was nothing more than a light two-hour stroll. He arrived and killed some animals in the mountains, selling them and buying a couple candies and snacks for little Tingting as well as a couple small clothes and shoes. Only then did he buy the things that he needed to handle the situation tomorrow.
Only when the sky darkened did he return. The main reason he had gone out today was to check out the path between the small town and the county town, in order to find which places were emptier and secluded.
Ye Fan returned when the lamps were already lit. Seeing that he had returned completely fine, the old man finally calmed down. Little Tingting was very happy and excited, receiving the pretty little clothes. Her face was filled with smiles as she opened those candies and snacks. She first stuffed the candies into Ye Fan and the old man’s mouths before happily eating them herself.
“Why aren’t you wearing the clothes Tingting?” asked Ye Fan.
“I want to wait till later. Tingting’s clothes right now are still wearable.” She carefully wrapped up the new clothes.
Seeing the old worn out clothes which were covered with patches and tears, Ye Fan sighed with sorrow. Children from poor families truly did cause people to feel sour within their hearts. So small yet she was so intelligent, her inadvertent words truly caused people some pain.
“Don’t worry, Tingting will have new clothes to wear every day in the future. Hurry and go wear them.” Tingting was such an adorable child and Uncle Jiang was such a kindhearted old man. If they were to continue being bullied, even Heaven would not forgive it.
Ye Fan continued to study the Dao Scripture this night. He found that when he held the Bodhi seed within his hand, his heart would feel particularly empty and his understanding of the Dao Scripture clearly deepened.
“It really does deserve to be called the tree of enlightenment…”
The next day’s afternoon, Ye Fan left the small town, pa.s.sing through the mountain forests, and quickly arrived at the path to the county road. There was a small mountain pa.s.s that had to be taken to pa.s.s across a small canyon.
Ye Fan quickly climbed on top the cliff. He put on black clothing and covered up his face. Wearing a pair of stilts, he disguised himself an as adult. He then took out the barrels of oil he had prepared yesterday and opened them, waiting for the Li family’s procurement team to return.
When the sky was starting to darken, a rolling sound came from the mountain pa.s.s. Over ten large carriages were all filled with goods, from clothes to daily food, anything that one could think of was here.
Ye Fan stood up, throwing each of the barrels of oil downwards. With a slam, all of the large carriages were stained with oil, immediately causing a frenetic ruckus.
“It’s oil, someone’s trying to burn our carriages!” The Li family’s people shouted in panic and ran away. There was also a group of people who went out to search for the person who wanted to set them on fire. At this time, there was finally someone who noticed Ye Fan standing above them. All they could see was that he was tall and wearing black clothes. The burning torch within his hand was thrown down.
Puff, pupupu, pffftt…
A raging fire immediately ignited, and the carriages were all turned into ash in an instant. The ocean of flames was impossible to extinguish.
“Who are you?! You dare have the impertinence to set our Li family’s goods on fire, do you not fear being killed by cultivators?” yelled the yellow-faced middle-aged man. Having this many goods destroyed, he could already imagine the terrifying scene he would return to.
BANG.
A barrel of oil was thrown and almost smashed into his head. Quite a bit of oil splashed onto his clothes, and then a small trace of flames fell down, immediately causing this yellow-faced middle-aged man to scream as his whole body was lit with flames, trying to run to a distant mountain stream.
Ye Fan swept his gaze over all of this before hiding himself, quickly taking off the stilts and black clothing. Packing this all up, he quickly left.
During this night, the quiet little town was completely shaken. The Li family’s loss was completely disastrous. Over ten carriages filled with goods were all burnt to nothing, and there were also seven or eight people who were burnt.
The small town was frenzied throughout the entire night. The Li family’s people seemed to become mad, going from house to house searching for clues. This was an immense loss for them, infuriating them.
Only late at night did the small town once more become peaceful. The Li family’s people felt that there was no one who had the courage and skill to do such a thing, so they surmised that their opponent was further away. The Li family became extremely nervous and ordered people to go to the Hazy Light Paradise to pa.s.s this news on.
This night, Ye Fan stealthily departed from the small restaurant and arrived within the depths of the mountains. He had to increase his strength as fast as possible. He didn’t know how deep he had entered the mountains, but he finally found a cave. Ye Fan sealed himself within the stone cave and took out all the various spiritual medicines he had found. The Jade Serpent Orchid was sparkling like suet jade, gently overflowing with a fragrance that refreshed the mind. The ancient tree’s essence that had been left behind, the golden rhizome, was gloriously dazzling.
Ye Fan’s hand cupped the Bodhi seed as he meditated, attempting to comprehend the Dao Scripture. Only when he felt his Sea of Bitterness was trembling and thought it was possible to advance did he swallow the Jade Serpent Orchid. An hour later, although the cave had been blocked by a huge boulder, the sound of ocean waves and golden lights still pa.s.sed through. The sound of tsunami waves rumbling lasted till past midnight before it once more became tranquil.
Ye Fan examined the interior of his body and found that his golden Sea of Bitterness had grown over twice its previous size. He moved the huge boulder and rushed out of the cave. His body felt light, and his power and speed had once more increased by quite a bit. He was like a puff of smoke as he quickly rushed around the mountain forest.
He then returned to the cave, once more sealing himself inside with the stone boulder. Without the slightest hesitation, he swallowed the ancient tree’s leftover essence, the golden rhizome, once more holding the Bodhi seed and attempting to comprehend the Dao Scripture. Half a night later, the cave once more exploded with deafening sounds. The boulder that was sealing the cave shattered into pieces that flew out.
Both like a volcano erupting, yet also like the stars of the Ninth Heaven’s Milky Way flowing out, the inside of the cave became piercingly bright, and rumbling of a tsunami was like thunderbolts shaking the heavens. Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness became a golden ocean surging towards the sky.
This continued for over two hours, and only then did the shocking sounds and divine light slowly fade away. Ye fan quickly rushed out, and the cave he was in quickly collapsed. The only reason it hadn’t collapsed before was because the golden light was holding it up.
By this time it was already close to dawn and the mountain forest was especially dark. Ye Fan felt as if his whole body was filled with vitality, and a vigorous Qi was circulating within him.
The golden Sea of Bitterness had been established to the point it was as large as a pigeon’s egg, several times larger than its previous soybean size. He was very started, as most of this was all from that ancient tree’s leftover essence within the golden rhizome. It was truly rare, containing over ten times as much Life Qi as the Jade Serpent Orchid.
Ye Fan found it difficult to remain calm, as he found that his physique was like a bottomless pit. It didn’t care at all about how violent the medicinal strength was. As long as there was enough Life Qi, he could continuously establish his Sea of Bitterness.
“Don’t tell me that the curse of the Ancient Desolation Sacred Body didn’t actually happen to me? Or is this the curse, that every single advancement requires an ocean’s worth of Life Q? If so, then the further I go on the path the narrower it will become. The later stages of establis.h.i.+ng my Sea of Bitterness will be extremely difficult…”
If an ordinary person were to absorb this much Life Qi, it most likely would have long since overwhelmed their Sea of Bitterness, causing their bodies to shatter. “Ordinary people require a long time to absorb this Life Qi. After absorbing it all, their Sea of Bitterness should be larger than mine…” ye Fan pondered upon this. Cultivating like this was truly extravagant and squandering. “Was it a waste? I don’t feel like it was...”
Because at this time he sensed that his Sea of Bitterness had become much more condensed. Although it was only as large as a pigeon egg, it contained nineteen Divine Symbols and an extremely vigorous vitality.
“For other people, while their Sea of Bitterness was such a size, they most likely wouldn’t even be able to form a single Divine Symbol. But my golden Sea of Bitterness long since accomplished this.” Ye Fan didn’t felt like this had been extravagant and wasteful. On the contrarily, he felt that it had been a great success, as his golden Sea of Bitterness was definitely extraordinary.
Chi, chi, chi…
Ye Fan gently flicked his ten fingers, and immediately over ten Divine Symbols shot out. They seemed like resplendent swords, penetrating through the stone hillside in front of him.
At the same size, my Sea of Bitterness contains many times more divine energy than other people"s, Ye Fan’s thoughts went back and forth.
“However, if I wish to successively cultivate with such a physique, I need the support of an enormous amount of Life Qi.” He couldn’t help but frown when he thought of this problem.
“But it’s not just limited to spiritual medicines. If I could find a ‘Source’ that Elder Wu Qingfeng told us about, the treasure that could condense Spiritual Qi, I should be able to have a breakthrough.”
According to the ancient texts, at the time when heaven and earth merged with Qi tp gave birth to all living things, within that hazy primal chaos, spiritual Qi was extremely dense. Many spiritual items were able to absorb heaven and earth’s Qi and form an amber-like crystal which had an enormous amount of Life Qi sealed within it.
In the present day, those were called Sources. They were extremely precious to cultivators. Some top grade Sources were absolutely invaluable.
From the time when life came into existence to the time of the Ancient Desolation, heaven and earth’s Qi had gradually thinned, and spiritual objects found it difficult to form a Source.
But in those final golden ages, life had been flouris.h.i.+ng, many people had become extremely powerful, and spiritual medicines were numerous. Thus, many rare Sources were formed. Later generations found that some amber-like crystal had sealed a living creature. Such a Divine Source was able to offer an inexhaustible Life Qi.
“That era truly makes people yearn for it…”