Two other youths looked vaguely familiar. They were none other than Ye Fan and his companion.
There was also a middle-aged man, who was Zhang Ziling, while Liu Yiyi had not changed at all.
They were helping their aged, decrepit classmates toward the distance. A few people seemed to be missing.
Clearly, after such an unexpected disaster-waking up to find themselves suddenly old and frail-everyone was filled with unease and dared not linger any longer.
Even if they were somewhat worried, they could no longer spare the time to look for their mysteriously vanished classmate.
Ye Fan and the others?
He had been about to run out.
But then he looked at his own body, glowing all over.
After weighing it carefully, Jin Taiyi decisively abandoned the idea.
If he remembered correctly, the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land lay in the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland, within a country called the Yan Kingdom.
Moreover, the six great Grotto-Heavens within the Yan Kingdom all belonged to an undying power like the Yaoguang Holy Land.
Not only did he now possess a sun body and the text of the Sun True Scripture within him, but he had also come from beyond the stars. More importantly, he harbored the enormous secret of being a transmigrator.
If those great powers discovered him...
Their experts might very well search his soul, then devour him until not even a scrap remained.
In particular, the Ruthless One's Lineage lurked within the Yaoguang Holy Land, wielding the Heaven-Swallowing Devil Art, a cultivation technique capable of devouring others' origins to strengthen its practitioners.
If the Yaoguang Holy Land really discovered him, he probably would not even know how he died.
Besides, as a descendant of the Sun Saint Emperor, he possessed a sun body rarely seen throughout the ages.
The Sun True Scripture had manifested of its own accord within his sea of consciousness. Ranked alongside the Taiyin True Scripture as one of humanity's two mother scriptures, it was no inferior to any Great Emperor's ancient scripture.
He already had a scripture to cultivate.
After waking, Taiyi clearly remembered an inconceivable Golden Little Man in his mind, guiding him in cultivation.
He had allowed Taiyi to comprehend those profound, unfathomable passages clearly, and had even taught him how to sense his Wheel of Life and open his Bitter Sea, enabling him to begin cultivation entirely on his own.
With those nine Sun Divine Fruits laying his foundation, he had undergone an inconceivable transformation, shedding old age and returning to childhood.
Now indistinguishable from a nine-year-old boy, he had been reborn from the bones up, his sinews transformed and marrow cleansed. His Bitter Sea had already been activated as well.
As long as he settled down to cultivate the Sun True Scripture that had manifested spontaneously in his mind, even without the resources of those small sects, his sun body-a special physique rarely seen across the ages-would most likely allow him to open his Bitter Sea and embark on the path of cultivation very soon.
There was no need whatsoever to join those insignificant little sects.
At that thought...
Taiyi did not hesitate.
He immediately changed direction and strode swiftly into the distance.
Soon, he left the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land and decisively plunged into the deserted mountains and ancient forests.
That's...
Suddenly...
He pushed aside a patch of bushes.
His steps halted, and his eyes lit up.
A huge cave stood before him.
It was actually a natural hollow formed by the tangled roots of a giant tree more than seven or eight meters in diameter, which had been dead for who knew how many years.
Could that be some kind of spirit medicine?
Inside the tree hollow, several meters wide...
An unfamiliar, peculiar plant grew there, glowing softly and giving off a fragrant medicinal scent.
Taiyi carefully examined his surroundings. Fortunately, no Demon Beast was guarding it.
But judging by the enormous claw marks, huge droppings, and other traces nearby, it almost certainly belonged to something.
He had no idea whether its guardian had been frightened into fleeing by the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin or by some existence within the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
Either way, he had reaped a free windfall.
Without worrying about anything else, he ran straight over.
He unceremoniously uprooted the spirit medicine and stowed it in his backpack.
Not daring to linger, he headed straight into the depths of the forest on the outskirts of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
Chapter 3: Opening the Bitter Sea, a World-Shaking Manifestation
Time passed.
The sun sank in the west, and dusk descended.
Within the mountains and ancient forests on the outskirts of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land...
Taiyi pressed ever deeper, his movements nimble and strong.
Along the way, he came across several more stalks of spirit medicine, though he had no idea what varieties they were or how old they might be.
Strangely, the Demon Beasts that should have been guarding them had all vanished without a trace. He did not know whether they had been frightened away by the earlier disturbance within the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
He uprooted the spirit medicines one after another.
And stowed them in his backpack.
There's a cave...
As evening approached...
After making his way around the thorn bushes and ancient vines, Taiyi finally found a cave.
Holding the Vajra Pestle, which still contained a trace of divine power, he remained vigilant and cautiously prepared to explore inside, hoping to find somewhere to settle down.
"Roar..."
Without the slightest warning...
An enormous dark shape lunged out to kill him.
It was a brown bear five or six meters tall.
"What?!" Taiyi's expression changed, and every hair on his body stood on end.
Without thinking, he swung the Vajra Pestle clenched in his hand with all his might.
Boom...
The damaged Vajra Pestle shone.
A trace of terrifying divine might blasted outward, accompanied by his surging, monstrous strength.
The enormous brown bear howled as its massive body was sent flying backward.
It collapsed there like a heap of mud.
Its life had been extinguished.
Looking at the Vajra Pestle, which had lost its final trace of divinity and become an ordinary bronze object, Taiyi winced, his face full of regret.
But the sight of the dead brown bear also made him sigh in relief.
"Perfect. I probably won't have to worry about food for the next ten days or half a month!" After being transformed by the nine Sun Sacred Fruits, he looked only eight or nine years old, but possessed boundless strength.
He dragged the giant bear's corpse into the cave.
Exploring farther inside, he found that it was quite spacious, extending at least several dozen meters inward like a tunnel.
After confirming there was no danger, he spent two or three hours tearing off the bear's hide and dismembering it through sheer brute strength.
"Good thing I brought a lighter!"
Soon, Taiyi gathered a large quantity of firewood.
He built a fire inside the cave.
And roasted the bear meat over it.
"I can't let that Divine Crocodile Meat go to waste either!"
Something occurred to him.
He took out the Divine Crocodiles' corpses as well.
And roasted them one by one.
Sizzle... sizzle...
Before long...
The aroma of meat wafted through the cave.
It was enough to make anyone's mouth water.
And leave them drooling.
Crunch...
As for those roasted Divine Crocodiles...
Taiyi could not be bothered with niceties.
He ate them in single, satisfyingly crunchy bites, then grabbed a roasted piece of bear leg and tore into it.
Washing it down with the Divine Spring water filling his mineral water bottle, he feasted to his heart's content, savoring every mouthful.
Although the lack of seasoning left the flavor a little wanting, the meat's aroma far exceeded his expectations.
Clearly, not only the Divine Crocodile corpses but even the brown bear had been no ordinary animals. The bear might well have been some kind of low-level Demon Beast.
Before long...
He had eaten and drunk his fill.
His entire body felt wonderfully at ease, brimming with the vigor of a dragon and the vitality of a tiger.
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