142: Set out to explore the secrets and show your talents

The faint glow of dawn barely tore through the heavy leaden clouds above the desolate mountain range.

The wind whimpered like the whispers of ghosts, stirring up the sand on the ground and lashing at the withered, grotesque rocks.

Lin Fan and Su Meier appeared on a barren mountain ridge.

They had already left their temporary sanctuary in the valley and were heading towards the "Ancient Barren Domain," a more ancient and desolate area marked on the map.

Su Meier silently followed half a step behind Lin Fan.

Her gaze barely left Lin Fan's back.

That back was tall and steady, as if it could support this bleak world.

But now, whenever she saw that back, a sharp, indescribable pang, in addition to reliance and admiration, filled Su Meier's heart.

Lin Fan's understated words from last night now weighed heavily on her heart like an invisible mountain.

“I’ve died many times.”

“I’m used to it.”

She couldn't imagine what kind of repeated, Soul-tearing pain could make a person speak of "death" so casually.

She suddenly felt that all her previous understanding of him was so superficial.

His seemingly fear-of-death "cowardice," his "courting death" in the face of powerful enemies—behind it lay a lonely and tragic truth that she couldn't touch.

He wasn't a god, nor was he a born Prodigy.

He was just an ordinary person who had struggled to crawl out of the abyss of countless deaths, all by himself.

This realization made her heart clench in pain.

She watched the corner of his clothes flutter in the wind and suddenly felt an urge to rush forward and hug him tightly from behind.

But in the end, she only quietly clenched her fists, firmly suppressing the surging emotions.

She couldn't add any more burden to him.

She wanted to become stronger.

Strong enough that one day she could truly stand by his side, instead of always hiding behind him.

Lin Fan seemed oblivious to the burning gaze filled with complex emotions behind him.

He was fully focused on feeling the changes in his body.

After advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage and initially fusing with the Soul-Devouring Dao Body, the entire world felt different in his perception.

In the air, there was no longer just thin Spiritual Qi.

He could "see" faint traces of Law Qi, remnants of some powerful being that died countless ages ago, escaping from the weathered rocks.

He could "smell" the most primitive Soul energy, accumulated from the decay of countless plants, buried deep within the dry earth beneath his feet.

These things were useless, even "Impurities" that any normal Cultivator would need to avoid.

But for Lin Fan now,

the entire world had become a Soul feast that he could enjoy at any time.

His footsteps suddenly stopped.

He bent down and picked up a seemingly unremarkable, petrified black tree root from a pile of rubble.

The root, about the thickness of an arm, was covered in holes eroded by time and showed no Spiritual Qi fluctuations, just like an ordinary stone.

Su Meier looked at him with some confusion.

Lin Fan didn't explain.

He simply held the petrified tree root in his palm.

The next moment,

his Soul-Devouring Dao Body silently began to circulate.

An invisible force, carrying an extreme sense of devouring, instantly enveloped the tree root.

"Crack..."

A faint crisp sound.

The hard-as-iron petrified tree root actually began to develop fine cracks on its surface.

Then, under Su Meier's shocked gaze, the entire root, like a sand sculpture weathered by the wind, rapidly and silently turned into a handful of fine black powder, sifting through Lin Fan's fingers.

Nothing was left.

No.

One thing remained.

A wisp of grayish airflow, thinner than a strand of hair and almost invisible to the naked eye, was forcefully stripped by Lin Fan from the pile of powder.

That wisp of airflow exuded an ancient and wild Law aura.

Lin Fan opened his mouth and gently inhaled.

The gray airflow obediently entered his mouth, eventually converging into his Dantian Purple Mansion, and was completely absorbed by the Immortal Grade Nascent Soul.

Lin Fan closed his eyes, savoring it.

His Divine Soul had grown a tiny bit stronger.

Although minuscule, his comprehension of the Laws of heaven and earth became a bit clearer.

"So that's how it is."

He opened his eyes, a satisfied curve on his lips.

The Soul-Devouring Dao Body could not only devour Souls but also directly extract the most fundamental Law fragments from these ancient relics containing Law remnants, using them to nourish his Nascent Soul and enhance his understanding of the Great Dao.

This was simply a Heaven-Defying shortcut tailor-made for him.

"Let's go, it seems we have guests ahead."

Lin Fan brushed the dust from his hands and said in a calm tone.

Su Meier was startled and followed his gaze into the distance.

In the far horizon, several streaks of light, carrying undisguised arrogance and malice, were rapidly flying towards their direction.

The Qi of those streaks of light was mixed, full of blood and Evil Qi, clearly not good people.

A moment later,

five Loose Cultivators, dressed in various clothes and looking menacing, surrounded Lin Fan and Su Meier.

Leading them was a one-eyed big man with a hideous centipede scar on his face.

His cultivation was at the Late Golden Core Stage, the highest among the five.

His single eye brazenly scanned Su Meier's curvaceous body, filled with lust and greed.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I never thought I'd encounter such a stunning beauty in this godforsaken place."

The one-eyed big man stuck out his tongue, licked his chapped lips, and laughed hoarsely.

"Boss, what about that kid next to her?"

A skinny man with a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks asked with a sinister smile.

"Kill the man, keep the woman."

The one-eyed big man's tone was casual, as if he were discussing a trivial matter.

"Kid, consider yourself unlucky."

"Leave your Storage Pouch and this little beauty, and I, your master, might consider leaving you a complete corpse."

His gaze finally shifted from Su Meier to Lin Fan's face, carrying a condescending, cat-and-mouse cruelty.

Su Meier's pretty face instantly frosted over.

She took a step forward, shielding Lin Fan, and nine fluffy fox tails quietly emerged behind her, a cold aura beginning to emanate.

However, a warm hand gently pressed on her shoulder.

Lin Fan slowly walked out from behind her.

His face even held a gentle, harmless smile.

"Fellow Daoists, let's talk this over."

"Fighting and killing only spoils the mood."

Seeing Lin Fan's "weak" demeanor, the one-eyed big man's disdain grew even stronger.

"What? Scared?"

"Too late to be scared now!"

"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll break your limbs first, and let you watch with your own eyes how we brothers 'cherish' your little beauty, hahahaha!"

He let out a wild and vulgar laugh.

The other four Loose Cultivators also joined in with strange laughs, their gazes towards Su Meier becoming increasingly indecent.

Su Meier's body trembled slightly with anger.

Lin Fan's smile, however, remained unchanged.

He merely nodded gently and said to the one-eyed big man in a very serious tone,

"Oh, so that's how it is."

"Thank you for telling me your intentions."

"I was originally going to give you a quick end."

"Now, it seems unnecessary."

His voice was very soft.

So soft it sounded like he was just chatting with a friend.

But the moment that voice reached the ears of the five Loose Cultivators, the smiles on their faces suddenly froze.

An indescribable, extreme chill, originating from the deepest part of their Souls, swept through their entire bodies without warning.

The world before their eyes changed.

The sky turned blood-red.

The earth cracked open with bottomless abysses, from which countless pale, decaying arms stretched out, grabbing at their ankles.

Their deepest fears were infinitely magnified.

The innocent child they had personally tortured to death was staring at them with hollow eyes, full of venomous resentment.

The Mortal woman they had humiliated to death transformed into a disheveled vengeful ghost, shrieking as she lunged at them.

"Ah—!"

"Ghosts! There are ghosts!"

"Don't come near! Don't come near!"

The skinny man with the pointed mouth and monkey cheeks was the first to break down.

He clutched his head, let out a desperate scream, and rolled wildly on the ground, scratching his face until it was bloody and mangled with his fingernails.

Then came the second, the third... all five Golden Core Stage Loose Cultivators, at this moment, seemed to have fallen into the most terrifying nightmare.

Their Dao Hearts collapsed, their minds became disoriented, and they attacked each other and mutilated their own bodies.

The entire process was utterly bizarre.

From beginning to end, Lin Fan just stood there quietly, without moving a single finger.

He merely, with his Nascent Soul Stage Divine Soul fused with the Soul-Devouring Dao Body, gently "looked" at them.

That was all.

Su Meier stared blankly at the bizarre scene unfolding before her.

She had even halfway drawn her sword, ready to fight to the death.

But the battle had ended before she could even react.

No.

This couldn't even be called a battle.

It was more like a one-sided, silent, Divine Soul-level... massacre.

She watched those Loose Cultivators, who had been so arrogant a second ago, now wailing, rolling, and fighting each other like mad dogs on the ground.

A chill ran down her spine, straight to her crown.

She knew Lin Fan was strong.

But she had never imagined he was strong to such an unbelievable extent.

This was no longer a power suppression.

This was an absolute, dimensionality-reducing attack on the level of life itself.

After the shock, what surged into her heart was an unprecedented, extreme sense of security.

The man beside her was so powerful, so reliable.

As long as he was there, it seemed no danger in this world could harm her.

She looked at Lin Fan's back.

That back grew taller and more mysterious in her eyes.

The admiration in her eyes, imperceptibly, had taken on a hint of almost fanatical worship.

She secretly made up her mind.

No matter what, she would definitely catch up to his footsteps.

Even if it was just to always be able to see his back, that would be enough.

Lin Fan seemed to find them too noisy.

He casually waved his hand.

A gentle yet irresistible gust of wind swept over the bodies of the five Loose Cultivators.

Their screams abruptly stopped.

Their bodies, like ignited paper, rapidly turned into ashes and dissipated in the wind.

Only five Storage Pouches clinked as they fell to the ground.

Lin Fan slowly walked forward, picked up the five Storage Pouches one by one, and probed them with his Divine Sense, beginning to tally the spoils.

His movements were practiced, his expression natural.

As if he had truly just casually swatted a few annoying flies.

"Nothing good, a bunch of paupers."

Lin Fan curled his lips and dumped out the contents of the Storage Pouches.

Mostly low-quality Medicinal Pills and a few blood-stained, damaged Magical Artifacts.

Su Meier looked at his matter-of-fact expression and couldn't help but let out a giggle.

The tense and murderous atmosphere instantly vanished.

She walked over to Lin Fan and helped him sort through the spoils.

Just then,

Lin Fan's movements suddenly paused.

His gaze fell on a palm-sized, broken jade pendant that had rolled out of a Storage Pouch.

The jade pendant was dark and covered in cracks, with dried, dark red bloodstains on it.

It looked like a worthless piece of junk.

But Lin Fan felt a trace of ancient and desolate Qi from it, originating from the same source as the petrified tree root he had found earlier.

He picked up the jade pendant and slowly probed it with his Divine Sense.

Buzz—

A roar, as if from eons ago, exploded in his Sea of Consciousness.

Some blurry, fragmented ancient characters, and some discontinuous images, flooded his mind.

...Ancient battlefield... Demon blood contamination... Land where Immortals fell...

...The Era Calamity is approaching... Seek... the Eye of Chaos...

The information was chaotic.

But Lin Fan still caught a few key phrases from it.

He raised his head and looked towards the deepest part of the Ancient Barren Domain.

There, an ancient battlefield, forgotten by the world, seemed to exist.

There, perhaps, lay hidden more truth about the "Era Calamity."

And also, more powerful Opportunities.

Of course.

It would also inevitably be filled with deadly dangers far beyond his imagination.

It might even involve the legendary level of "Immortals."

Lin Fan's lips slowly curved into an arc.

In that arc, there was solemnity.

But even more, there was an uncontrollable... excitement, as if meeting a worthy opponent.