Once everything had settled and Elder Han was completely dealt with, Ye Fan calmed down and sat in the stone chair, beginning to carefully consider his next steps.
The Jiang Clan soldier was still hunting him, and without enough strength, he had no way to resist. He couldn't afford to show his face openly. The best option now was to hide away and focus on improving his cultivation.
Without question, this cave mansion built within the mountain was an excellent place to hide. Elder Han had mentioned before that the rocks were engraved with many Dao Runes, outsiders wouldn't be able to sense or discover the location.
"Alright, I'll cultivate here."
Having made his decision, Ye Fan began cleaning the stone chamber. He first placed Elder Han's corpse into the alchemical cauldron and sealed the lid on top.
"You've spent your life refining pills. Let this cauldron be your coffin, and rest eternally in your own lair."
This cave mansion was vast, almost like a labyrinth. Ye Fan carefully marked the paths as he went, hauling the cauldron to the deepest part of the mountain, where he sealed it inside a stone chamber.
Returning to the main hall, Ye Fan continued tidying up. He returned the medicine cabinets to their original places and carefully put the dozen rare spirit herbs back inside, this storage area was ideal for preserving them.
Aside from the cabinets, the large stone chamber also housed a dozen bronze cauldrons, several stone tables, and a few stone chairs. On one table lay two ancient books made from beast hide. Judging by their age, they were at least several hundred years old.
Clearly, Elder Han had studied them frequently. Both the stone chair and tabletop had been worn smooth. One of the books was opened, with Elder Han's own handwritten notes scribbled across it.
"Huh?"
Ye Fan raised an eyebrow in surprise. The beast-hide book only contained a few pages, etched with strange patterns and barely any actual writing. They looked like indecipherable scrawls, completely unreadable. If not for Elder Han's notes, Ye Fan wouldn't have made any sense of it.
"These are… Dao Runes!" he thought in shock. Though it was only a few pages, they recorded precious knowledge on Dao Runes.
It was said that Dao Runes were the crystallization of ancient sages' insights into the natural laws of the universe, etched down after deep enlightenment. Some had survived and been passed down through the ages.
In essence, Dao Runes were the visual expression of the ancients' enlightenment. The more powerful a cultivator was, the more obsessed they became with studying these.
Ye Fan examined them closely. From the few decipherable words, he understood this was merely a basic Dao Rune manual.
Yet even a basic text had forced Elder Han to fill it with dense notes, many of which showed signs of confusion and struggle.
"Dao Runes really are profound. Even someone like Elder Han barely scratched the surface…" Ye Fan thought. It was likely the formations surrounding this cave were based on this very manual.
"Even if I can't understand it fully, I'd better study his notes carefully. Otherwise, I might not even find my way out."
Ye Fan opened the second beast-hide book. It was also only a few pages thick, a slim volume containing several ancient alchemical formulas. If successfully refined, these pills could greatly benefit a cultivator.
Unfortunately, Ye Fan's understanding of herbs was shallow. Even if the herbs were placed before him, he might not recognize them, let alone refine them.
The beast-hide book clearly recorded that if one could find a sacred medicine capable of reshaping the body, they could refine a miraculous elixir that not only extended life but massively boosted cultivation, beneficial to any realm.
"No wonder that old bastard had to capture me…"
Soon after, Ye Fan discovered a mountain spring inside the cave, as well as Elder Han's stockpile of food. With that, all his worries vanished, he could cultivate in peace.
In the days that followed, he studied Elder Han's annotations on the Dao Rune manual. Eventually, he deciphered enough to find his way in and out of the cave.
From then on, Ye Fan kept to himself. He occasionally ventured out to gather berries and wild vegetables, but spent most of his time cultivating and studying the Dao Scripture.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.
Ye Fan had consumed all the rare spirit herbs. His golden Bitter Sea had expanded to half the size of a fist, brilliant and dazzling, overflowing with life force.
At its center, mist surged upward like war smoke, no longer drifting gently, it now erupted as though a volcano was spewing upward from the sea's core!
His golden Bitter Sea could no longer remain calm, it surged endlessly, seemingly about to connect with the Life Wheel and unleash a divine spring.
Whenever Ye Fan entered a meditative state, the sound of crashing waves would echo from his Bitter Sea. Faint ocean sounds would reach the outside world as his entire body radiated sacred light.
At times, the Bitter Sea would give rise to strange visions. The center spewed violently like a seafloor volcano, even sending out flashes of lightning.
When he activated the secret technique from the Dao Scripture, his body would be enveloped in overwhelming vitality. His golden Bitter Sea shone like the sun, pouring energy throughout his limbs and bones. His physical body grew incomparably powerful, far stronger than before.
"The Life Spring realm really is hard to break into…" Ye Fan sighed. He had attempted the breakthrough five times, but failed each time.
Over this past year, he had diligently studied the Dao Scripture and honed his weapon. That lump of divine iron, after repeated smelting and inscribing of Dao Runes, had begun to take on an ancient and natural aura.
Enough time had passed that Ye Fan believed the Jiang Clan soldier must have left. It was unlikely he was still hunting him.
One day, Ye Fan left the cave and tested his godpower in the wilderness. Waves crashed in his Bitter Sea, and a radiant god light burst from his body, lifting him three feet off the ground as he soared forward.
Plop!
Unfortunately, he only managed to fly a little over thirty meters before falling.
"If I don't reach the Life Spring realm, sustained flight is impossible. I need a continuous source of godpower to truly soar."
Though he couldn't fly high yet, short-distance flight was still novel to Ye Fan. He practiced it often and discovered he could now travel over a hundred meters. Compared to running, this was much faster, he could skim the treetops like a breeze.
Still below the Life Spring realm, Ye Fan didn't want to leave the cave for long. He felt too weak to survive out in the world. Moreover, the mountain's Hellfire was excellent for cultivation. Its spiritual energy wasn't dense, but it flowed endlessly.
"I should return to Violet Sun Grotto-Heaven and retrieve the Source…"
Despite feeling unready to travel far, Ye Fan eventually left the cave. His body was like a bottomless pit, needing a massive amount of spiritual energy to accelerate his cultivation.
Along the way, he subtly inquired and learned that the Jiang Clan soldier had indeed left. He no longer posed a threat, and the State of Yan was now at peace.
When Ye Fan arrived at the mountain range where Violet Sun Grotto-Heaven was located, he was extra cautious to avoid encountering any disciples. Soon, he reached a river, dove in, and half an hour later emerged from the water holding a shimmering Source stone.
"Thankfully, it's still here…"
He had been nervous on the way, worried someone else might have found and taken it.
Fortunately, this was a secluded place. Unless one of Violet Sun Grotto-Heaven's top experts passed through, it was unlikely anyone would sense the Source's presence.
Not wanting to linger, Ye Fan retraced his path.
"That's her…" Ye Fan suddenly froze. He saw a group of young figures, and among them, one was Li Xiaoman.
He didn't pause and quickly fled into the mountains.
Half a month later, inside the cave mansion Elder Han had carved out, a rumbling boom echoed, followed by the roar of crashing waves and deafening thunder.
Boom!
At that moment, a powerful aura exploded outward. The entire cave shook. Ye Fan's body surged with energy as golden divine flames burned around him.
His eyes blazed like lightning, glowing vividly inside the chamber.
Ye Fan rose to his feet. His entire demeanor changed, he radiated a profound and heavy pressure. The force emanating from his body cracked the stone walls, creating massive fissures.
"I've finally broken into the Life Spring Realm!"
He shot out of the cave like a golden bolt of lightning. A blazing divine rainbow enveloped him as he slowly rose into the sky.
Now, at the very center of Ye Fan's Bitter Sea, a spring had emerged, connected to the Life Wheel, gushing divine water, shrouded in rainbow mist.