Three Captures and Three Releases of the Nether Emperor

Ye Fan's teeth itched with hatred. He wanted to curse, but since Duan De's cultivation was higher than his, he could only ask for it back tactfully.

"That is not right. Little friend, do you still not understand?" Duan De beamed smugly, brazen and looking every bit like a charlatan. "It was precisely because our first meeting forged a good karmic bond that we had this second reunion. That led me here to subdue this bead transformed from a demon and help you evade a calamity. This is the good fruit borne from the good karma you forged."

"Damn..." Ye Fan truly had the urge to beat him up. His fists had clenched. They had truly clenched.

"Boundless... Heavenly Venerable. Little friend, if fate permits, we shall meet again. This humble Daoist is off!" The fat Daoist twisted his rear, rode a divine rainbow into the sky, and vanished with a whoosh.

"You dead fat bastard, I curse you to fall to your death halfway through your flight!" Ye Fan cursed loudly. Yet before he could finish, a fat figure fell from the sky, smashing out a huge crater and sending dust flying everywhere.

Looking at the fat Daoist in the pit, Ye Fan wore a strange expression and touched his mouth. Could it be that, besides the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, he had awakened some kind of crow's-mouth physique?

"Hahaha..."

As Ye Fan wondered, a clear and familiar laugh rang out.

Lin Xian descended and crouched beside the pit, smiling as he said, "Fellow Daoist Duan De, the world is full of unexpected reunions. You did not expect this, did you? We meet again."

"Bastard!" Duan De could not help cursing. This guy was really targeting him alone.

"Fellow Daoist, this time, it is no longer the price of a sentient weapon." Lin Xian smiled. "You just insulted me. You will have to pay extra."

Duan De's face immediately turned livid, as though he had swallowed a dead child. He wanted to resist, but after glancing at Lin Xian's Divine Bridge cultivation, he ultimately chose to submit. As he handed over the sentient weapon, he also gave him a small Source Stone.

"So this is Source..." Lin Xian held the stone brimming with vital essence, feeling slightly excited. At last, he had touched the currency of the cultivation world.

According to ancient records, during the era when heaven and earth joined their energies to give birth to all things, chaos had been hazy and spiritual energy dense. Many spiritual objects could absorb the Source essence of heaven and earth, forming amber-like crystals that sealed immense vitality within them.

Those preserved until the present day were called "Source," and they were extraordinarily precious to cultivators.

The most precious kind of Source was called Divine Origin. Divine Origin could not only be used for cultivation, but was also an excellent means of sealing cultivators away and resisting the erosion of time.

Many cultivators would seal themselves within Divine Origin in their later years, locking away their blood and halting their lifespan. They would sleep through countless ages until their sects or clans faced a great crisis in later generations. Then these powerful beings from ancient times would emerge and sweep aside every danger.

This was the foundation spoken of by sacred lands and aristocratic families: figures of the Saint Realm who could awaken at any time.

The Source Duan De had taken out was not Divine Origin, but to Sea of Bitterness cultivators, it was still exceedingly precious.

Lin Xian had a Mortal Body. Unlike the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, which required a hundred times the resources for every breakthrough and started at hundreds or even thousands of catties of Source, if he got a few more Source stones like the one in Duan De's hand, he would be confident of advancing toward the Other Shore realm.

Looking at Duan De in the pit, Lin Xian smiled. "Fellow Daoist, your cultivation is still too low. If you keep such precious weapons and Source, I fear they may bring about your death."

Duan De was nearly driven mad with rage. What Lin Xian said was indeed reasonable, but the problem was, those were supposed to be his lines!

Whenever Duan De robbed other cultivators in the past, he would also leave them with words like that.

A habitual bandit. He was absolutely a habitual bandit!

"The purification of calamity is complete. This venerable one takes his leave!" Lin Xian shouted, transforming into a streak of light and vanishing.

Ye Fan watched Lin Xian's departing figure, feeling that this cultivator looked inexplicably familiar, but he could not recall where he had seen him.

When had he ever known a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old youth with such profound cultivation?

Ye Fan sank into thought.

Before he could think for long, there came a sharp whoosh.

From the distant sky, a streak of purple radiance shot over. It was actually three sentient weapons.

At that moment, not only the seasoned Duan De, but even Ye Fan, who had only recently entered the cultivation world, instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

"There is something wrong here!"

Duan De wore a contemplative look, then reached without hesitation for the purple ring embedded in the stone wall.

"Daoist, that is mine!" Ye Fan finally could not endure it any longer. After one thing followed another, even the most honest person would lose his temper.

"What yours, what mine? Little friend, I felt an instant kinship with you." Duan De laughed heartily, throwing an arm around Ye Fan's shoulder as he teased, "Why not become sworn brothers? From now on, your treasures will be my treasures, while my treasures will still be my treasures."

"Fellow Daoist Duan De, that makes perfect sense!"

That familiar voice rang out again. Lin Xian had returned, smiling as he said, "Long ago, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei slew a rooster, worshipped Guan Gong, and became sworn brothers in the Peach Garden."

"Now that the three of us have met, this too would make for a fine tale."

"Guan Gong, Peach Garden..." Ye Fan's expression immediately changed. That was a tale from Starry Sky's Other Shore. How could this person know it?

Unless this person, like him, came from Earth.

"Y-you are... Master Lin?"

After scrutinizing him for a long while, Ye Fan finally discerned a trace of his former appearance. Looking at the youth who appeared to be fourteen or fifteen, he asked tentatively, "Did you eat the fruit as well?"

"Fellow Daoist Ye, it has been a long time. You have grown younger and younger." Lin Xian sighed and nodded. "My experience was similar to yours."

"So that is it." Understanding appeared in Ye Fan's eyes. The Desolate Antiquity Forbidden Zone possessed the power of time, which aged people. Only those who had eaten the sacred fruit and drunk Divine Spring could escape disaster and regain their youth.

Seeing Lin Xian again, faced with this Master Lin whose entire being was shrouded in mystery, Ye Fan had countless questions he wanted to ask.

Before he could open his mouth, Duan De became filled with righteous indignation and cursed, "So you two are in this together!"

"This brat was bait you placed here. Damn it, I never thought this humble Daoist, who spent his days hunting geese, would have his eyes pecked out by one."

A honey trap!

In Duan De's eyes, this was an utterly blatant honey trap.

Even though Ye Fan was innocent, he had no way to explain himself now.

Lin Xian, on the other hand, smiled as he watched Duan De's protests only make the misunderstanding worse. Meaningfully, he said, "So, Fellow Daoist Duan De, have you decided? This time, the price is double."

Duan De looked at Lin Xian, then at Ye Fan, and gritted his teeth. "There are always greater heavens beyond heaven and greater people beyond people. This time, this humble Daoist admits defeat!"

"Three pieces of Source." Lin Xian opened his mouth like a lion. "And that sentient weapon."

"Three pieces of Source?!" Duan De let out a pig-slaughtering shriek. "Was it not just one piece before? Three pieces? You are asking for my life!"

"You do not understand, Fellow Daoist. Among us Daoists, the number three is held in the highest regard."

With his hands behind his back, Lin Xian sighed. "Today, I have captured and released Fellow Daoist three times. If Fellow Daoist gives me three more Source Stones, it will make for a fine tale when it spreads in the future."

"Truly, boundless... Heavenly Venerable!"

I stayed up late to write a chapter. Please vote!!!