Stealing Heavenly Secrets

Yet his heart felt not a trace of fear.

By all logic, after cultivating the Breathing Method, his spiritual perception had grown extremely sharp. If this place truly were a perilous forbidden zone capable of threatening his life, he should have sensed it long ago.

But instead of fear, his heart felt as if some great fortune awaited him here.

It was just like back then, when he and Li Zhi went looking for those tomb raiders—a similar sense of elation had stirred within him.

Later, he had experienced several more instances of Heart's Blood stirring, and almost every time, it had accurately foretold fortune or calamity.

The most striking example was after climbing Mount Tai, when his Heart's Blood suddenly surged, and he felt as if he were about to ascend and become an immortal.

What followed had indeed confirmed that feeling.

After sweeping the distracting thoughts from his mind, Ye Fan said to Lin Jia, "I'll go see if Pang Bo found a water source."

Lin Jia nodded. "Then I'll look around elsewhere too."

Meanwhile, Li Zhi, having crossed a mountain, finally no longer felt that sensation of being watched.

Stopping on a small hillside, he pulled the Hundred Herbs Diagram out of his Snakeskin Bag.

He pricked his finger and let the blood drip onto the diagram, shouting, "Diagram Senior, Herb Diagram Elder, Hundred Herbs Diagram Master, this is an emergency! Give me some response, quick!"

Seeing no reaction from the Hundred Herbs Diagram scroll, Li Zhi muttered quietly, "Diagram Senior, if you don't respond to me, I'll have to leave you here."

"Buzz!" The Hundred Herbs Diagram suddenly trembled, as if it had taken fright.

Seeing this, Li Zhi immediately cupped the Hundred Herbs Diagram and said, "Diagram Senior, give me the Ginseng Fruit quickly, or we'll both be done for here."

Then he unrolled the Hundred Herbs Diagram scroll directly.

Moments later, he saw a ripple appear where the Ginseng Fruit was depicted in the diagram.

Li Zhi smoothly reached his hand in and yanked the Ginseng Fruit straight off the tree.

With a whoosh, the Hundred Herbs Diagram rolled itself up and fell completely still.

Li Zhi didn't bother to examine the Ginseng Fruit for any abnormalities; he just shoved the fist-sized fruit into his mouth.

Without even chewing, he swallowed it whole.

Then he felt a warm current surge through his limbs and bones.

But the warmth quickly faded.

There was no sign of indigestion from the medicine's potency being too strong.

Li Zhi's eyes lit up. He thought, "Just as I suspected."

He stuffed the Hundred Herbs Diagram back into the Snakeskin Bag and charged toward the edge of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone.

Crossing hill after hill, Li Zhi looked up and caught a glimpse of a Heavenly Palace in the distance.

He shook his head to himself and pressed on, head down.

He carried many treasures on him. If that Weiwei with her Fairy Spirit Eyes spotted them, whether those treasures would still belong to him was anyone's guess.

Finally, before dark, Li Zhi crested a mountain and spotted a Saber-Toothed Tiger returning from a hunt.

He immediately realized he had finally left the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone.

The Saber-Toothed Tiger, a full five meters long, bared its fangs at Li Zhi and roared, "Growl!"

It seemed to be warning him.

Without a word, Li Zhi drew his Luoyang Shovel and charged at the Saber-Toothed Tiger.

With five thousand jin of strength in one arm, Li Zhi had no fear of this mere five-meter-long Saber-Toothed Tiger.

Coupled with the razor-sharp Luoyang Shovel in his hand.

One charge, and the strong met head-on.

The Saber-Toothed Tiger pounced straight at Li Zhi.

Li Zhi gripped the Luoyang Shovel with both hands and thrust it simply at the tiger mid-leap.

In a flash of lightning, the Luoyang Shovel pierced straight through the Saber-Toothed Tiger's chest.

Just one move.

Life and death were decided.

Then Li Zhi kicked the Saber-Toothed Tiger aside, pulled out the Luoyang Shovel, and sat down on the ground, panting heavily.

Though it had been only a single move, it had consumed nearly all his essence, energy, and spirit.

When masters clash, life and death are often decided in a single move. That was the fist-fighting principle taught by the master who passed down Xingyi Quan to Li Zhi.

Fear not an enemy who knows a thousand techniques; fear an enemy who has practiced one technique a thousand times.

That was another truth the Xingyi master had taught them about practicing fist.

To truly achieve something on the martial path, refining one fist technique is enough.

And the move he had just used against the Saber-Toothed Tiger came from the essence of the Tiger Pounce in the Xingyi Twelve Forms Fist.

There was no denying it—Li Zhi, with a magic weapon in hand, had the upper hand.

If he had been unarmed, Li Zhi would likely be the one lying on the ground right now.

After sitting and resting for a while, Li Zhi felt his body begin to heat up.

Then he dashed toward the nearby saber-toothed tiger's den.

After one shovel strike killed the cub inside, he sat cross-legged in the tiger's lair, steadying his mind and enduring the agonizing pain of flesh and blood burning away.

At the edge of the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone, the primeval forest lay utterly silent under the moonlit night.

There was no roar of beasts, no chirping of birds or insects, not even the rustle of wind or shifting shadows—everything was perfectly still.

So still it made one's heart uneasy, so still it made one's mind wander involuntarily, as if within this lush, vibrant mountain forest lay an ultimate, hidden deadness.

"Oww—"

"Ahh—"

"Woo—"

A series of howls, as if rising from the Nine Abysses of hell, suddenly added a strange vitality to the tranquil landscape.

The fear in people's hearts involuntarily shifted into curiosity about who was wailing.

Who was it that cried out in agony?

As if pierced through the heart by a Flying Sword, as if enduring the soul-searing torment of being fried in a cauldron of oil, it seemed more like a cry of defiance and anguish from one unable to bear the torture.

Low, Filled with extreme pain, the roars spread through the forests for dozens of miles around.

Even the fierce beasts that usually roamed the edges of the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone retreated to their dens to hide.

As if they had heard this soul-wrenching cry of suffering more than once before.

Under the moon, the howling once again stirred the terrifying memories etched deep into their bloodlines.

Inside the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone, Ye Fan and the others, who had been about to rest, were jolted awake by the soul-piercing roar.

"What's that sound?"

"Sounds like someone screaming in pain."

"Do you think it could be Li Zhi, the one who left on his own, running into big trouble?"

"I hope not. That Li Zhi is terrifyingly strong, and he's a tomb robber too. If even he's in danger, then once we get out, we probably won't be safe either."

Under the moonlight, Ye Fan's classmates gathered in small groups, whispering about the distant roars.

After experiencing the terror of the Crocodile Ancestor's emergence on the Ancient Scarlet Planet, hearing this level of screaming didn't seem to frighten them much.

Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others also huddled together, discussing the source of the sound.

Everyone debated what kind of world they had arrived in.

Why did the beautiful, picturesque mountains that looked like a painting by day send out such terrifying roars shortly after nightfall?

Was this world not the paradise of immortals they had hoped for?

But rather a land of rampaging Beasts, widespread calamity, and a sinful realm filled with blood and chaos?

After eating the Saint Fruit and drinking the Divine Spring Water, Ye Fan's hearing and sight had sharpened significantly, leaving his classmates far behind.

Clearing his mind and listening intently for a moment, he said to those around him, "It doesn't sound like a beast's roar. More like the howling of some great imprisoned fiend going mad in the night."

Everyone stared at Ye Fan curiously, wondering how he had come to such a wild conclusion.

Pang Bo's eyes went wide. "Ye Zi, don't scare us. Sure, we might have ended up in a world where Deities live, but that doesn't mean we can just assume that's the sound of some Imprisoned demon. We can't be that unlucky—first the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport on Mount Tai, then the Crocodile Ancestor on Mars, and now we have to deal with some terrifying great fiend here?"

Zhang Ziling also asked, "Ye Fan, what's your basis for that judgment?"

Ye Fan glanced around and said, "Don't you think the surrounding forest is too quiet? We walked from day to night, and aside from seeing a Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird in the distant sky, we haven't encountered a single animal nearby—not even an insect. We haven't heard a single bird or bug chirp all night. And why is this place called the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone?"

Liu Yiyi, who had eaten two Saint Fruits during the day, now seemed completely different from the timid, cowardly girl she had been inside the Bronze Giant Coffin. She had regained some of her former poise. After thinking for a moment, she said, "You mean this Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone might be a place where evil fiends are imprisoned, which is why only plants grow here, but no living creatures exist?"