Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 58: Golden Book sways the Sea of Bitterness

Ye Fan’s heart began to beat faster due to his agitation, he immediately thought of the Dao Scripture, the Ling Xu sect leader as well as the few great demons were engaged in a life and death battle and the main reason for their conflict was the Dao Scripture as well as the most valuable treasure from the eastern badlands.

This golden paper was certainly not ordinary, as though the essence of a rainbow had coalesced to form it, bright and resplendent, dazzling to the point where one could not keep their eyes open. It was heavy when held and seemed many times heavier than gold.

“It’s only a single piece of paper yet there seem to be over ten thousand words…..” Ye Fan squinted as he carefully perused the golden paper. Even with his careful scrutiny he could barely see blurry outlines as the words were simply too tiny. Both sides of the paper were filled with words, numerous and densely packed and every word seemed to be a star as they released a dazzling divine glow.

Ye Fan could not not maintain his composure, if his guess was correct this was certainly the Dao Scripture and was something that he had been pining for. He did not expect to obtain it in this way and he had a feeling of surreality. Tightly pinching the paper within his fingers, he gradually calmed down after a long period of time had passed. At this moment, he thought of Pang Bo and his face covered in a greenish aura. He sent those corpses flying over and was looking here as though he had some deeper intentions.

“Could it be that he purposefully sent it over here?” Ye Fan suddenly realised. However, the unknown entity that was possessing Pang Bo could not possibly be so nice as to allow him to obtain his heart’s desire.

“It’s…… Pang Bo!” Ye Fan quickly thought of a possibility.

Pang Bo was clearly struggling for control of his body and it may have been that he managed to wrest back control of his body for a brief period of time. Ye Fan immediately dismissed this thought with a shake of his head, the likelihood of this occurring was extremely low and at best Pang Bo would only be able to interfere with the unknown entity’s actions, it was unlikely that he would ever gain the upper hand.

“In those life and death struggles, any disturbance could create a life threatening situation……” Ye Fan continued to contemplate. He felt that it was more likely that the unknown entity had come to a compromise with Pang Bo and they had made an agreement to smuggle the golden Dao Scripture out without anyone noticing.

The more Ye Fan contemplated the more he felt that this was a possibility. Pang Bo had granted his heart’s desire and sent the Dao Scripture over, he muttered: “Please let Pang Bo make it out here in one piece……”

Thinking back to the demonic writing that had appeared on Pang Bo’s face, Ye Fan felt gloomy as that unknown entity was likely from the demon race and in contrast to those great demons, it was not interested in the human race’s Dao Scripture and was probably contesting for the inheritance of the demon emperor.

Ye Fan calmed his nerves as he carefully inspected the other corpses but found nothing else. The golden paper had only one page, bright, resplendent and heavy as though he were lugging a treasury around. This gave him an immense pressure as this single-paged golden book was clearly more valuable than any hidden treasury.

Ye Fan wanted to at least gain a small insight into the page as he focused, connecting with his golden sea of bitterness and maximising his visual power to try and see what was written on the golden book. Wisps of gold flowed from his sea of bitterness and gathered at his eyes, making his eyes seem to flash with a golden light.

“Wheel and Sea Volume!”

In the beginning of the golden book, there were three ancient characters that were slightly bigger and could be seen like three bright and round moons being suspended there, their moonlight dazzled with splendor. Looking further down, the words were much smaller and he could barely make out the form of the words, causing one to feel an intense pain in both eyes. The ancient words released a divine glow and were like golden needles piercing out, the more one wanted to see clearly the harder it was and his eyes were stinging to the point of swelling, unbearably painful.

It was only a short period of time but Ye Fan’s eyes were already red, strained as tears formed involuntarily. He hurriedly looked away as the golden lights flashing within his pupils receded, after a short while his vision became normal. He felt stupefied, looking normally one could not clearly see the ancient words but it would not be stinging to the eyes. When he gathered the divine energy to his eyes and could barely make out the words, he almost injured his eyes, making him flabbergasted.

“This page of the Dao Scripture is certainly extraordinary……”

Ye Fan did not give up and after resting for awhile he focused again, connecting with his sea of bitterness as he once again maximised his visual power. This time, he attempted to see the last few words on the other side rather than the beginning few.

“End of Wheel and Sea Volume!”

The last four ancient characters on the flip side were akin to the first three characters as they were clearly much larger and easier to be seen, like a moon above the sea, it’s glow spilling out.

Similarly, besides these four words, the words on the other side were similarly hard to make out because each ancient character was like a sun, blinding to the eye and the streaks of divine glow were like golden needles flying out, piercing to one’s pupils, burning and difficult to bear.

Ye Fan once again hastily looked off to the side, his heart was palpitating as he could confirm that this golden book was clearly the most important introductory volume of the Dao Scripture!

The Wheel and Sea indicated were clearly the wheel of life as well as the sea of bitterness, where the spring of divine energy originated and was the foundations of any cultivator. It was no wonder that the Ling Xu sect leader said that this was the most important volume of the Dao Scripture, it was the introductory chapter of the immortal canon and the foundations of an impossibly tall skyscraper.

Elder Wu Qing Feng had once mentioned that a cultivator only needed to cultivate their wheel of life and sea of bitterness to their limits and they would be able to benefit from it for the rest of their lives becoming a truly peerless expert. the importance of the Wheel and Sea volume could thus be imagined.

The Ling Xu sanctuary had the introductory section of this first volume and it could only be considered an incomplete piece within an incomplete piece, the amount it detailed was not even ten percent and could only help celestial sprouts that had just joined to connect with their sea of bitterness without any techniques to follow through. This was actually a point that Ye Fan felt deeply regretful. At this moment, having obtained the full Wheel and Sea volume of the Dao Scripture, he was elated and knew that he would benefit from this for the rest of his life. This was a complete volume that one could continually use to cultivate down the road of cultivation.

Ye Fan carefully kept the golden book, he knew that the news of him obtaining the book could never be leaked otherwise he would be certainly be hunted down. Even if it were the Ling Xu sect leader who had obtained it, it was likely that he would have to request backing from one of the Sacred Grounds otherwise the sect would face potential disaster. This volume of the Dao Scripture could be considered a priceless treasure but it was also a volcano that could erupt at any moment, something that brought with it such immense benefits also bore equal amounts of danger in keeping it.

It was a godsend that he had obtained the golden book and Ye Fan had no reason to remain any longer. He did not have the strength to compete for anything and retreating out was the best option.

He hastily rushed down the mountain, utilising the mystical arts recorded within the Dao Scripture, golden wisps of light were emitted from his sea of bitterness flowing throughout his body, nourishing his blood and bone causing his speed to increase several times.

At this moment, Ye Fan felt a strange change as though the golden page stored within his bosom was trembling. Initially, he did not really care about it but he suddenly felt his body go ice-cold as the golden page seemed to come into contact with his skin.

“What’s going on? I didn’t place the golden chest near my skin……” He hurriedly stopped to check and what left Ye Fan shocked was that the golden page that was stored within his bosom had disappeared.

“How could this be?!” Ye Fan found the truth before his eyes difficult to believe. Even if it were the Ling Xu sect leader who came it would be difficult to retrieve it without him noticing, how could it suddenly disappear?

At the same time, he felt that the qi essence of life in his body was flaring up, the mystical arts recorded within the Dao Scripture began to uncontrollably circulate causing the golden glow of his sea of bitterness to expand.

“Ai!”

Ye Fan was stunned, he felt that his sea of bitterness was very strange as though there were something additional within it as he hurriedly inspected. The scene before him left him speechless, within that soybean sized golden sea of bitterness, there was actually a single-paged golden book!

The golden page had become smaller and stunningly entered into his golden sea of bitterness. This made Ye Fan dazed for almost half a day before he came to his senses as he struggled to understand what was going on.

The mystical arts within the Dao Scripture finally stopped circulating and everything became calm once again. However, Ye Fan’s golden sea of bitterness had an additional mini golden book and no matter how hard he tried, he had no way to interact with it and bring it back out.

Ye Fan was in a stupor and he continued contemplating for a long time, he did not understand why this was happening. He only felt a small relief that the golden sea of bitterness did not have any discomfort.

Upon calming down, he decided to resume his retreat.

“Boom!’

Suddenly, a violent sound was transmitted from behind him and in the distance the ancient palace seemed to be shaking as it shot forth countless streaks of multicoloured sunlight, causing the surrounding extraordinary birds and beasts as well as Ling Xu elders flying into the air.

“No, I cannot leave!” Ye Fan was simply too concerned about Pang Bo and although he knew that remaining here was useless he could not leave with a peace of mind without confirming Pang Bo’s safety first.

Ye Fan was not rash in his decision and he chose a mountain peak that was even further away to watch the scene unfold.

“Chi Chi Chi”

In the distant horizon, a sound of the sky being traversed could be heard as streaks of mystical rainbows flew in this direction, there were several tens of them.

“Kaboom!”

Thereafter, it seemed as though an army with thousands of man and horses were galloping, behind the tens of mystical rainbows came the roars of several beasts as a fog roiled on and the clouds shrouded the sky. Tens of beasts rode on clouds and fog to chase and on each of their backs was a cultivator. Although they were traversing through the sky, sounds of thunder continually resounded as though a ten thousand strong army were attacking.

Those ferocious beasts were all unique types whose roots stemmed from ancient times, covered in dense scales and unbelievably fierce. The cultivator that was sitting atop one of the ferocious beasts situated in the centre carried a big banner and it fluttered in the wind, its might overpowering. There were four words written on it: Twinkling Brilliance Sacred Ground!*

[T/N: 摇光 also known as the Twinkling Brilliance, the 7th star in the Ursa Major/Big Dipper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Ursae_Majoris]