Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Empress's Strictest Master

Afterward, they carefully searched both the ruins and the surrounding areas, yet found nothing.

"We were still a step too late."

The Xiaoyao Dao Body frowned.

"Why does it feel like that scoundrel can grasp our movements in advance? Every time, he manages to survive a desperate situation..."

"Heh, he may be able to lead you around by the nose, Daoist friend, but he may not be able to guess how I have arranged things."

Beside him, Undying Daoist's expression gradually calmed.

"Oh?"

Hearing this, the Xiaoyao Dao Body remained unconvinced.

The next instant, Undying Daoist smiled at him. His figure transformed into tiny motes of Primordial Spirit light and scattered throughout heaven and earth.

Seeing this, the Xiaoyao Dao Body fell silent.

Even after those motes of light had completely vanished, he remained where he was for a while, a barely perceptible trace of wariness flashing through his eyes.

"A divine-sense incarnation of a Faith Body? How far has your true body progressed by now? Becoming immortal? No... impossible..."

After thinking it over, he still shook his head.

Many people in this world, including numerous Restricted-Area Supremes, believed that the Undying Heavenly Emperor had died long ago. Yet he was one of the few who dared to conclude that the other party was still alive.

It was precisely for this reason that the other party had offered him, who had tested him before, another explanation.

"Did he truly cut himself down with a single stroke... Why can't I bring myself to believe it..."

The Xiaoyao Dao Body narrowed his eyes, then gazed toward the Central Plains.

"Your Faith Body has been stationed in the Human Emperor Hall ever since that day half a year ago? That person may not necessarily deliver himself to your doorstep..."

At the very least, this time, both he and the other party had "appeared" outside the Drill Tower, yet that person had not taken the bait and headed to the Central Plains.

Otherwise, all that would have awaited him there would be a net cast over heaven and earth, followed by a thunderous strike.

In their plan, the bait in the Central Plains and the bait within the Drill Tower were linked together, one ring after another.

Yet they had never expected that not only would the other party take one bait without suffering any loss, but he also seemed utterly uninterested in the Central Plains, which appeared to have been lured into exposing its weakness.

With such methods of concealment and infiltration, he had actually chosen not to pay it a visit?

"He is far more cautious than he was in the Primordial Era..."

At last, he took a step and headed southwest.

He did not return to the restricted area, nor did he go to the Southern Region.

Yet by a strange coincidence, the place where he appeared once more was less than six thousand miles from the secret location Tan Lin had chosen to hide the treasure.

"This..."

The sudden development without warning gave Tan Lin, who was maintaining Inverted All-Causes Vision, quite a fright. He had nearly thought the Soul Pearl had malfunctioned.

Fortunately, he quickly realized that the other party did not seem to be coming for him, and his mind gradually settled.

But because of this, it was no longer convenient for him to hide the treasure now.

"How about... pulling off something big again?"

Tan Lin examined the several new Causal Lines connected to the Soul Pearl's barrier and pondered slightly.

These lines were likewise incomparably mixed. The Anchor Points at their ends were clearly in Undying Mountain, generated by the commotion just now.

Such lines could also produce Causal Points, but they needed time to settle. After refinement by the Soul Pearl, roughly three Causal Points could match one "firefly" generated by an unstained Causal Line.

But if such Causal Lines thickened later on, or if their status was high enough, then the total number of Causal Points eventually produced would still be quite considerable.

At least over the past half year, the channels through which fireflies formed within his Deep Crimson Light Point had not consisted solely of the line connected to his young disciple, Li Qingjue.

The lines connected to Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable, the Undying Heavenly Emperor, and even the Human Emperor Hall had also made enormous contributions.

During just that brief period of upheaval in the restricted area, quite a few branch lines had emerged from several mixed main lines. After settling for some time, they would give him a small recovery.

Tan Lin did not need to think too hard about those branch lines. Eight times out of ten, they belonged to servants under those Supremes, as well as their "clansmen" who had endured to this day.

Besides that, when he had devoured essence in the Central Region and reshaped his body earlier, he had also drawn in some mixed, thin lines from the Demon Race.

These lines were numerous, but they were too thin, their status was low, and they were mixed lines. They were not worth mentioning for now. Moreover, after enough time passed, those people would not know the source of the disaster and could not sustain them, so the lines would break.

"Why hasn't this Xiaoyao Dao Body moved yet? Is he going to keep wearing me down here?"

Watching as the Anchor Point of the branch line on his Causal Line with Xiaoyao Heavenly Venerable remained motionless, Tan Lin frowned slightly.

The fireflies in his Deep Crimson Light Point did not grow on trees!

This operation had kept All Causes Barrier and Inverted All-Causes Vision active simultaneously, already draining his second Deep Crimson Light Point into an empty shell. Continuing to waste time like this without any gain made his heart ache for no reason.

"The Drill Tower in the Southern Region is unsuitable for returning to for now, and I cannot go to the Central Plains either. That old undying Xiaoyao's Dao Body is in the Central Region, and he might be waiting to ambush me... Perhaps I can go to the Northern Region and stir up some trouble there..."

Looking at the distribution of Anchor Points at the ends of the Causal Lines, Tan Lin's thoughts stirred.

"Yes, I'll go there..."

No sooner thought than done. Opportunities vanished in an instant.

Whoosh...

The next moment.

The remnant Primordial Spirit light that had gathered once more in the depths of his damaged soul burst forth, and he sped directly toward the Northern Region.

After moving far from the Xiaoyao Dao Body's location, he activated the Soul Pearl, allowing crimson-gray mist to spread briefly. Then he tore open a corner of space, crossed the realm barrier, and vanished from the Central Region of the Eastern Wasteland in an instant.

A few breaths later.

Northern Region, the wondrous terrain of Nine Dragons Embracing the Pearl—Ancient Emperor Mountain.

This place differed from the dead silence and darkness of Undying Mountain.

Ancient Emperor Mountain was entirely purplish-brown. The whole mountain was a single entity, its interior filled with the Undying Heavenly Emperor's Heaven-Suppressing Runes.

The mountain's surface was bare, without even a trace of soil or vegetation. By now, it had long lost the magnificent spectacle of ten thousand races paying homage during the era of the Primordial Heavenly Emperor.

Especially near the end of the Primordial Era, the Fighting Saint Emperor, who had sought to become a War Immortal in a single lifetime, was allegedly ambushed by the Undying Heavenly Emperor in his later years.

After suffering a grave loss of vitality, the former changed his earlier attitude of reverence toward the Undying Heavenly Emperor and even personally smashed several of the latter's training grounds.

The outermost layer of the mountain still bore marks of destruction left by sabers, spears, swords, halberds, arts, and divine abilities from endless ages ago.

Of course, whether these marks had truly been created near the end of the Primordial Era, and whether they had truly come from the Fighting Saint Emperor's hand, could no longer be verified after hundreds of thousands of years.

At this moment, several thousand miles southeast of Ancient Emperor Mountain.

Concealed beneath crimson-gray mist, Tan Lin's damaged Primordial Spirit silently infiltrated an underground mine.

He knew that if he wanted to enter Ancient Emperor Mountain without triggering those Heaven-Suppressing Runes, the only route was through the nine underground Dragon Veins.

Otherwise, he could only withdraw All Causes Barrier, reveal his identity, and wait for the Undying Heavenly Emperor's remaining subordinates in the small world within the mountain to awaken from Divine Source—or for Undying Daoist to return from the Central Plains and throw wide the "convenient gate" to "invite" him inside.

Rustle... rustle...

The mine was littered with corpses and piled high with white bones.

A strange aura hung in the air. From time to time, Yin Bats and other ferocious beasts that dwelled in dark underground places darted out.

Tan Lin traveled another two thousand miles through the mine within this Dragon Vein before reaching its end. He was still roughly a thousand miles away from directly beneath Ancient Emperor Mountain.

This mine had undoubtedly been left behind by some source seekers, but they had encountered some unknown, terrifying danger along the way. By the time they had explored the ruins to this point, they had given up.

This was unlike the later generations, when someone had opened a path straight into the small world of Ancient Emperor Mountain.

At this time, the Great Emperor had not yet been born, and the Undying Heavenly Emperor's training ground here had not yet been plundered.

The Source Heavenly Master lineage was also far from being passed down on Big Dipper. Its "first generation" would not appear until at least more than a hundred thousand years before Ye Fan's birth, when he would obtain a damaged copy of the Source Emperor Scripture from some ruin.

However, although the Source Heavenly Master inheritance had yet to appear, there was no shortage of Source Arts families on Big Dipper at present.

Cultivators' thirst for source had created this profession. Source seekers had existed since ancient times.

Yet among those who attained the Dao through Source Arts, the Source Emperor was the first throughout all ages.

Over endless years, although no one had obtained the Source Emperor's inheritance, some had continued to explore this path and eventually gained their own insights. They then passed their experience down to their bloodline descendants, giving rise to families devoted to studying Source Arts.

Yet born in this Ancient Era, with Dark Turmoil erupting frequently, very few supreme traditions had endured into later generations. Those families naturally suffered repeated calamities and breaks in inheritance.

Even so, in later generations, someone would rely on his own explorations to become a Source King in the path of Source Arts, second only to a Source Heavenly Master. He would leave behind an inheritance, becoming the Source King Lineage of the Post-Ancient Era.

"Looks like I'll have to make the road ahead myself..."

The mine tunnel ended before him, yet Tan Lin was not surprised. His damaged soul wore a calm expression.

In his first lifetime after coming to this world, he had studied Source Arts.

Otherwise, how could he have continually found great medicines with merely Immortal Third Realm cultivation amid the Primordial Era, where powerful races were everywhere, and lived for five or six thousand years?

In his second and third lifetimes, he had also used it as a supplementary path to refine his cultivation.

The exotic variant of Nine Nether Soul-Returning Grass he had obtained in his third lifetime had been extracted from a stone. With it, he had successfully cultivated both Lunar and Solar.

After three lifetimes of accumulation, even though he had not paid too much attention to it in the latter two, his attainments in Source Arts had still reached a level unmatched by anyone openly known in this era.

With the Soul Pearl's power, he bypassed layer after layer of restrictions and arrived at a secret realm deep within the mountain's belly.

Whoosh!

Before the broken path, Tan Lin's Primordial Spirit light suddenly blazed. Invisible divine power connected with the earth veins, while the Soul Pearl's dual-state enhancement prevented him from touching the great underground terror. He advanced almost without obstruction.

Before long.

Using Source Arts and the Soul Pearl, he silently shifted into the secret realm within Ancient Emperor Mountain.

There were countless palaces here, not a speck of dust upon them. Nor were there any inscriptions or marks before the jade steps.

No outsider had visited this place yet.

"I came here to take some divine liquid from the Undying Divine Phoenix Medicine, make a little noise, and collect some interest. That should be enough..."

As the thought passed through his mind, Tan Lin silently climbed the steps. Before his eyes lay a place faintly suffused with vast holiness, while hazy immortal qi swirled through the secret realm.

As he continued deeper, the immortal mist grew denser. Spiritual springs tinkled, making the place seem like an immortal realm on earth.

Ancient coffins lay in the corners, while chunks of Divine Source emitted resplendent immortal radiance in five colors.

Restrictions filled the surroundings along the way, and Heaven-Suppressing Runes flickered into view from time to time, but he evaded them all skillfully.

At last, he reached the depths of the secret realm.

Beside an incongruous stone chamber stood an Immortal Pool suffused with seven-colored rosy light.

And at the instant he infiltrated this place, his gaze involuntarily froze.

Within the Immortal Pool, an incomparably beautiful immortal figure stood with her back to him, bathing in rosy light and divine spring water.

The Heavenly Emperor Dao Brother Truly Has Good Fortune (3K)

Splash...

Within the spring pool was an extraordinarily beautiful woman.

At this moment, she bathed in the waters of the divine spring, part of her jade-like body submerged beneath the water. Mist filled the surroundings, and her faintly visible figure was so graceful that words could not describe it.

Within the hazy water vapor.

The woman's skin was white and lustrous as snow. Reflected by the rippling spring water, it glowed with a warm sheen like jade.

Her raven hair, cascading like a waterfall, had been soaked by the spring water and clung wetly to her smooth back. Though it concealed most of her alluring beauty, it made her even more indescribably seductive.

Drip!

In such a scene, droplets clinging to her hair occasionally slid along those perfect curves before falling into the pool, sending rings of ripples across the surface.

Though only her back was visible, the nobility, purity, and faint charm hidden in her every movement were enough to eclipse the immortal radiance of this secret realm.

She seemed to be heaven and earth's favored daughter, gathering all elegance within herself and leaving countless men captivated.

"What is going on? Wasn't this woman sealed in Divine Source by the Undying Heavenly Emperor long ago..."