Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 448: Chapter 453 Cultivating the Great Emperor

SWOOSH.

Two old men with disheveled hair vanished in a flash, appearing in the distant sky, narrowly dodging the remaining two slashes of the Demon Emperor Nine Slashes. Their bodies were covered in blood, and they looked at Ye Fan and Pang Bo with shock and uncertainty.

The All Secret and the Demon Emperor Nine Slashes were divine arts that shook both ancient and modern times, leaving the two elders deeply shocked and fearful. They were several Realms higher than Ye Fan and Pang Bo, yet they were still wounded. This should have been impossible! For a King of the younger generation to attempt Reverse Immortal Slaying, they would need to manifest a Variation.

“Yin Yang Unity, invincible under the heavens…” the old woman muttered. Suddenly, as if realizing something, her eyes widened, and she said in a trembling voice, “It couldn’t be one of the Nine Secret Arts!”

“Could it be that kind of secret art…” The wizened old man, whose arms reached past his knees and possessed astonishing Combat Power, had eyes that lit up like golden lamps.

Countless eons ago, their ancestors had attained the status of ancient Sages. With their Yin Yang Unity, they were invincible in the Central States. However, when they ventured into the Eastern Wastelands, they were defeated by a Sage who possessed a legacy of the Nine Secret Arts.

The old woman and the wizened old man, who resembled a large macaque, sneered coldly at Ye Fan. “We know what Holy Technique you’re using, but you can’t continuously display it. You need to constantly trigger it. With our Yin Yang Unity, we will slowly grind you down and kill you!”

“And you…” They looked towards Pang Bo. “To have mastered the supreme sacred technique of the demon clan, it must be the earth-shattering Demon Emperor Nine Slashes!”

The two elders’ white hair was stained with blood, their expressions sinister and menacing. Despite suffering heavy blows, the earlier shattering of their Yin Yang Diagram had dispersed most of the force for them.

BOOM!

Once again, their arms connected. They separately summoned the Yin Diagram and the Yang Diagram. When combined, they emanated the Qi Mechanism of the Great Dao as they pressed forward, radiating murderous intent.

“What a pity. There is no trace of Yang within your Yin, nor a hint of Yin within your Yang. Although they are combined, they haven’t truly formed Taiji. You’re lacking the two Yin Yang Eyes,” Pang Bo sneered.

He and Ye Fan retreated together. Their opponents’ Yin Yang Unity effectively quadrupled or quintupled their Combat Power, and they didn’t want to clash head-on.

The two elders pursued relentlessly. The sacred body was rumored to hold great secrets, and Pang Bo also possessed a Supreme inheritance. This made their eyes turn red with greed. They had already intended to kill the pair, but now, with the high possibility of obtaining peerless ancient scriptures, they certainly wouldn’t let them go.

BOOM!

Ye Fan triggered the All Secret again. His body blazed with golden light, like a deity, as he began to counter-hunt them. Pang Bo also unleashed the Demon Emperor Nine Slashes.

The old woman and the wizened old man used their Yin Yang Diagram to tear open space and flee swiftly. They didn’t dare to face the brunt of the attack, knowing the power of the All Secret. Only when its effects dissipated would they turn back to resume their assault.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate. Whenever Ye Fan triggered the All Secret, the two elders would fall back, only to be counter-hunted by Ye Fan and Pang Bo. The roles of hunter and hunted reversed repeatedly.

It had to be said, these two elders were terrifying. They were inherently powerful, possessed incredibly rich combat experience, and were exceedingly difficult to deal with.

“Alright, it’s done!” At this moment, Tu Fei and Li Heishui shouted.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo laughed in unison and retreated quickly; the Black Emperor had already rushed over to lead the way for them.

“Oh no!” the two elders cried, but it was already too late.

BOOM!

A boundless black mist surged forth, suffused with endless killing intent. Heaven and earth were sealed, and they were trapped in the void by large black flags. This had been secretly arranged earlier when Ye Fan had communicated with the Black Emperor via voice transmission, instructing it to have Tu Fei and the others lay the trap.

The Black Emperor was an all-around talent in Array Patterns, a true master-level expert. With the assistance of Ye Huiling, Tu Fei, and Li Heishui, it had laid down a super Array Pattern without anyone noticing, sealing off a vast area.

Not a single expert from the Yin Yang Sect managed to escape; all of them were trapped inside.

“You juniors…” The old woman and the wizened old man were shocked and enraged, yet they couldn’t break out.

“Can you separate them?” Ye Fan asked the Black Emperor in a low voice.

“That’s easy.” The Black Emperor was full of confidence. Dozens of large flags fluttered, shifting from their original positions and dividing the region into two separate spaces.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo exchanged a glance, each seeking out an opponent to engage in battle once more. They didn’t want to rely solely on the Array Patterns, unsure how long it would take to ‘refine’ the two elders using only them, and they didn’t wish to wait.

This time, Ye Fan could fight his opponent even without using the All Secret. He still targeted the old woman.

Pang Bo confronted the wizened old man. However, he didn’t enter deep into the array, attacking only from outside the Array Patterns. As long as he had boundless magical power, the Demon Emperor Nine Slashes was infinitely terrifying. He began to whittle down the wizened old man as if slicing a radish.

“You whelp, if you have the guts, come in here! What kind of skill is it to scheme against me like this!?” the old man, resembling a large macaque, roared furiously.

“The highest form of warfare is to attack strategy itself! You old fool, you deserve to be whittled down! Weren’t you going to drink Ye Fan’s blood? I think it’s better if you bleed out first!” Pang Bo took great pleasure in relentlessly whittling him down with the Demon Emperor Nine Slashes.

By the time Ye Fan finished off the old woman, Pang Bo had whittled the wizened old man down to a ‘dried radish,’ completely ending the battle. Even Li Heishui and Tu Fei were left somewhat dumbstruck by the sight.

I’m just using him as a live target… Pang Bo shook his head.

Cleaning up the battlefield was troublesome. The Array Patterns had trapped many people, and it was impossible to exterminate them all. Ye Fan couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he searched their divine sense, erased the relevant memories, leaving their minds blank, and then set them all free.

The remaining children posed a problem. Ye Fan had a headache dealing with more than thirty of them. All were exceptionally talented, and he didn’t know where to send them.

“Why don’t we just establish our own sect? These are all immortal sprouts, little geniuses!” Li Heishui suggested.

Everyone was quite surprised. These children indeed possessed very rare talent. They truly didn’t know how the Yin Yang Sect had managed to find them all.

“We need to leave this place quickly.” Ye Fan’s anger had subsided, and he no longer wished to seek trouble with the Yin Yang Sect’s sacred lady. This place was a secret ground of a Great Sect; they couldn’t afford to linger. If some major figure appeared, it would be a disaster.

“Big Brother, do you really know pitiful little girl?” the pitiful little girl asked, blinking her large eyes.

“Of course, I do.” Ye Fan gently tweaked her nose.

They traveled with a large group of young children, which was quite inconvenient. Fortunately, Ye Huiling was there. She had an ethereal, fairy-like quality, beautiful and clever, and was very liked by children. Otherwise, with a large group of children wailing, Ye Fan, Li Heishui, and the others would have been at their wits’ end, staring helplessly.

They arrived at a small town. The first thing Ye Fan did was take the pitiful little girl to buy new clothes. The clothes she wore were too tattered, and her small shoes even had holes where her toes poked through. A three-year-old child might not be aware of such things, but it made others feel quite distressed.

“Can we eat first?” the pitiful little girl asked softly, her head lowered, looking somewhat timid.

After losing the Seven-Colored Little Stone, she was like a normal child; she would feel terribly uncomfortable if she didn’t eat. In that secret place of the Yin Yang Sect, her circumstances had been very poor. She often went hungry, and her little face was very gaunt.

“Alright, I’ll take you to eat something first,” Ye Fan said softly.

“Really?” The pitiful little girl had forgotten Ye Fan. Recently, she had always been treated harshly by people. Although the person before her was very kind, the little girl still felt a little apprehensive, hence her timid demeanor.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I want…” The pitiful little girl tilted her head, thought for a moment, and then said in her innocent, childish voice, “I want to eat spiritual medicine porridge. When I was very, very hungry, so hungry I was about to fall asleep, a big sister secretly gave me some. It was very delicious.”

Ye Fan’s heart ached with a sour feeling. It was obvious that when the little girl said ‘about to fall asleep,’ she meant she was on the verge of fainting from hunger.

The Black Emperor had plundered the entire Spirit Medicine Library from the Yin Yang Sect’s secret ground, so there was naturally no shortage of spiritual medicines. Ye Fan prepared a small bowl for her and let her eat it slowly.

Afterward, he changed her into a bright new set of clothes. The pitiful little girl instantly transformed into a delicately beautiful porcelain doll, exquisitely carved from powder and jade, truly evoking affection. Even Li Heishui and Tu Fei couldn’t resist coming over to pat her head and try to make her laugh.

Ye Fan took out a lustrous piece of Jade and pressed it to the pitiful little girl’s brow. It contained memories from Yan’s capital, memories he had specifically preserved, precisely to prevent the little girl from forgetting the past.

“Big Brother, it’s you! I remember now…” The pitiful little girl was overjoyed and thrilled. After receiving this fragment of memory, she was no longer as timid and apprehensive as before, because now she knew who Ye Fan was.

Then, Ye Fan took out the Seven-Colored Little Stone and placed it in her palm.

“Pitiful little girl already gave this colored stone to Big Brother. I can’t take it back,” the little girl shook her head, looking very serious.

“This stone cannot be given to anyone. Otherwise, pitiful little girl will get sick. You must keep it safe and not lose it.” Ye Fan made the Seven-Colored Little Stone into a small pendant and hung it around her rosy neck.

He had searched the innkeeper’s memories: if anything happened to the little stone, the pitiful little girl would fall gravely ill. The most serious time, she had almost died. It absolutely couldn’t be lost.

Pang Bo, Li Heishui, and Tu Fei also grew very fond of the pitiful little girl. They found her very well-behaved and adorable, someone who naturally evoked tender affection.

“The pitiful little girl is like a little porcelain doll, but it’s not really suitable for her to be around us. We often face life-or-death battles. What are your plans for her?” Pang Bo asked.

“Earlier, I planned to send her to Zhuo Peak of the Taixuan Sect to be Zhang Wenchang’s daughter. However, I’ve forced Hua Yunfei of that sect into a situation where he is now an enemy of the entire world, so she can’t go there now.”

“Pitiful little girl doesn’t want to go anywhere else…” the little girl said, terrified. Although she was playing with some young children in the distance, her spiritual perception was very sharp and had heard their conversation.

Ye Huiling chuckled, squatted down, and playfully tweaked her delicate little nose. “From now on, you’ll stay with Big Sister. We’ll go to the Central States, and you can be a truly carefree little princess there.”

“Pitiful little girl doesn’t want to be separated from Big Brother…” The little girl hung her head, her spirits low.

Hearing these words, Ye Fan smiled and said, “Don’t worry, how could I leave you behind?” He quickly signaled Pang Bo not to say anything more.

The pitiful little girl suddenly became very happy, her big eyes lit up with a pure smile.

“You must keep her by your side; don’t send her anywhere else,” the Black Emperor suddenly interjected. Ever since seeing the little girl, it had been pondering something, lost in thought.

“Did you figure something out?” Ye Fan’s heart stirred. Pang Bo, Li Heishui, and Tu Fei also looked over.

The Black Emperor immediately coughed dryly and muttered, “This Emperor saw nothing.” Then, it trotted over to the little girl’s side, tempting her, “Little darling, do you want to become my disciple?”

“Why become a disciple?” the pitiful little girl asked naively.

“Become my disciple! I’ll give you spiritual medicine porridge to eat every day and teach you a Supreme Ultimate Skill that rivals, or even surpasses, the one created by that ruthless person in her later years!” The Black Emperor coaxed, like a sly wolf trying to trick a lamb.

It was clear to Ye Fan, Tu Fei, Pang Bo, and Li Heishui that the Black Emperor must have figured something out. That damned dog usually snatched any treasure it saw; this was the first time in its life it wanted to snatch a person.

“From now on, none of you need to worry about her. I’ll take care of her,” the Black Emperor declared, taking full responsibility. It stared at the pitiful little girl as if it had discovered a Supreme Treasure, practically drooling.

“Damned dog, if you dare to eat this child, I’ll skin you alive!” Ye Fan shouted.

“Damn it, what are you thinking?! This Emperor intends to cultivate a future Great Emperor! Just you wait and see!” The Black Emperor became increasingly excited as it spoke.

“Damned dog, what exactly did you figure out?” Tu Fei asked.

“Pitiful little girl is a Great Emperor? No, a future Great Emperor?” Li Heishui was also puzzled.

“Pitiful little girl… a Great Emperor?!” Not far away, Ye Huiling, who was playing with the group of children, also looked over in surprise. “Such an adorable little thing, she’s so tiny! Can one already tell she’s capable of becoming a Great Emperor?”

The Black Emperor didn’t answer any of these questions. It arrogantly turned its head away. Then, its face wreathed in smiles, it once again began to coax the pitiful little girl.

“How about I take you to the Undying Mountain to pick tea leaves to eat?”

“Or I could take you to the Immortal Tomb to find Supreme Treasures. Want to go?”

…

“How could she understand any of that when you talk to pitiful little girl like that?!” Ye Fan chided.

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand,” the Black Emperor muttered. Then, its face wreathed in smiles again, it doted on the pitiful little girl, clearly very invested.

“What a cute doggy!” the pitiful little girl said happily, her voice innocent and pure.

The Black Emperor was instantly petrified. It was the first time in its entire life anyone had called it ‘cute,’ and it was a little girl, no less! It felt an urge to ram its head into the ground.

HAHAHA… Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others all laughed heartily.