Chapter 184 Heavenly Source Master (2/2)
Stone flew everywhere, and he quickly cut through dozens of meters from the summit before already actually finding a Source vein.
He began to excavate through it, finding over a kilogram of Sources. This area truly did have high grade Sources.
“That old man’s gaze truly saw the truth!” Ye Fan was somewhat amazed.
The sound of horses rang out as Fifth Grandpa Zhang and the other ten young men returned. They had heard the activity from behind them.
Seeing the stone mountain’s summit split open and a teenaged youth standing there, everyone was shocked.
The white-haired Fifth Grandpa Zhang jumped off his horse and bowed. “This little brother, no, this little immortal, senior respectfully greets you.”
The other young men also hurriedly jumped off their horses and bowed when they saw this.
“Sir, there’s no need for you to do this,” said Ye Fan, smiling.
Among the ten people was an eighteen-year old man who was the most clever, and seeing Fifth Grandpa Zhang act like this, he immediately understood and kowtowed, saying, “Little immortal, please save us! Help us please! We won’t be able to survive.”
The others all comprehended and kowtowed, saying, “Bandit Chen Da wants to kill everyone in our village. Little immortal, please save us.”
A rather stupid young man kowtowed even harder, his forehead even bleeding as he said, “Little brother, save us. My older sister has already been taken by them, and her future will be terrible. And now for Sources, they actually want to kill our entire village’s people…” His bitter tears began to flow.
Fifth Daoist Zhang kneeled down, his white-haired head smashing into the ground as he lamented, “Little immortal, please save us. We really will not be able to live. In such a short time, there’s no way we can collect three kilograms of Sources. Those brutes have threatened us that if we don’t have enough, they’ll kill all the men in our village, and capture all the women.”
Ye Fan didn’t want to cause trouble, but the thing he hated to see the most was the weak being bullied. This was his innate nature that he couldn’t ignore.
“Senior, please rise.” He descended to the ground and lifted up this old man whose forehead was now bleeding and asked, “What kind of group are those people?”
“They’re roving bandits who will commit any crime imaginable. They aren’t as famous as the Thirteen Great Bandits, so they specialize in tormenting the weak.”
“There are actually many roving bandits like this, but ones as cruel as them are rather few.”
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The group of people began to describe the whole sequence of events.
These roving bandits didn’t have a set headquarters. They fought all over the place for Sources, frequently killing people, humiliating young women, and committing all sorts of atrocities.
According to their descriptions, these roving bandits had a Divine Bridge realm cultivator. Although the village had people who cultivated, they were unable to resist the bandit leader.
Ye Fan pondered over this. These bandits went all over the place fighting, so they definitely had Sources. He could probably beat these bandits and take the loot.
“Senior, let me ask, are roving bandits like this common?”
“Very common. They’re like ants. When one batch goes, another one comes. Everywhere in the northern region is the same, and it’s very chaotic.” Fifth Grandpa Zhang shook his head.
This was also why a remote village would have cultivators. Without the power to guard them, their situation would definitely turn bleak.
Ye Fan’s eyes were bright as he thought about how his difficult problem could now be resolved. He nodded and said, “Fifth Grandpa Daoist, I’ll return back with you.”
“Many thanks, little immortal!” These people were all very moved and once more bowed.
“No need to be like this, no need!” Ye Fan hastily stopped them.
Along the way, Ye Fan consulted with Fifth Grandpa Zhang on why he could see that the stone mountain had Sources.
“That stone mountain had a thick grandness. Its peak had scales, its sides had stone vines curled around, and other than this…” Fifth Grandpa Daoist said a bunch of things. In the end, he added, “There are all kinds of indicators on the outside that there was a stone with a Source inside.”
Ye Fan was speechless. To think that searching for Sources was so complicated. According to what the old man had said, even the movements of the celestial sky, the changes in the color of soil, and various factors all had to be taken into consideration.
“It’s so complicated…” Ye Fan was very amazed.
“This is just the more obvious methods.” Fifth Grandpa Zhang shook his head, saying, “Searching for Sources is truly an endlessly profound art. You must examine the appearance of the mountains and plains, learn the paths of the earth’s underground veins, and sometimes even the stars in the sky have an impact…”
Ye Fan couldn’t help being startled. To think that finding Sources had so many principles to it, it truly was profound and broad.
“Is everything you’re saying actually true?”
“Of course it’s true. Fifth Grandpa Daoist is the most famous Source Master within this region.”
“Fifth Grandpa Zhang is very accurate when looking for Sources and is rarely ever wrong.”
Fifth Grandpa Zhang shook his head and said, “I’ve only learnt a tiny bit of what the ancestors have passed down. This kind of knowledge has almost completely died out.”
“His ancestors were Heavenly Source Masters capable of finding the Sources’ dragon veins, capable of determining the position of peerless Divine Sources and not letting them get away,” said the rather dumb person.
“Heavenly Source Master… capable of finding peerless Divine Sources?” Ye Fan was incomparably amazed.
“Divine Sources are alive. They are found within Source dragon veins, and even if ordinary people happen to find them, they won’t be able to capture them,” added a middle-aged man.
Fifth Grandpa Daoist shook his head, saying, “According to what my ancestors said, rather than saying Divine Sources are alive, it’s that the life forms sealed within them are still alive.”
“What?!” Ye Fan was even more shocked now. A mortal actually had such an understanding of Divine Sources!
“According to my ancestors’ conjectures, those lifeforms are all extremely tyrannical. Even powerful cultivators of this age might not be their match.” Fifth Grandpa Daoist didn’t hold anything back and told him everything he knew. “My ancestors once personally saw an ancient person walk out from a peak Divine Source. With a mournful howl, a mountain range was completely shattered.”
Ye Fan’s heart shook as he let his imagination run wild. The northern region was truly too mysterious. This huge land had far too many strange things occur in the past. Although the earth was completely barren and without any life, the things of the past hadn’t been finished and were still sealed here.
“How much understanding did your ancestors have of ancient lifeforms?” asked Ye Fan.
“Not much,” Fifth Grandpa Daoist shook his head. “According to what my ancestors left behind, those mysterious life forms are taboo existences within the northern region. It’s best not to talk about them too much, otherwise some bad things might happen…”
“If your ancestors were Heavenly Source Masters, their status must have not been ordinary. For them to know such secrets…”
“Heavenly Source Masters is just a title. In the distant past of the northern region, there were only a few. Now there are almost none.” The middle-aged man seemed to be somewhat sorrowful.
Ye Fan sucked in a cold gasp of air. He didn’t have much understanding of the northern region, but it appeared Heavenly Source Masters were definitely not as simple as ordinary mortals.
“In the northern region is an immortal land called the Jade Lake. They even once invited Fifth Grandpa Zhang’s ancestors to be a guest there,” said the rather stupid fellow.
“What?!” Ye Fan was truly shocked.
He was invited to the Jade Lake Sacred Land? If so, Heavenly Source Masters were definitely sacred figures that had far surpassed mortals. To be able to find dragon veins and determine the location of Divine Sources, they were probably unimaginable existences.
“Afterwards, did the Jade Lake’s people come back to your village?” asked Ye Fan.
“They came back once five hundred years ago, but unfortunately the Heavenly Source Book had already been over a thousand years ago. The descendants after that only learned some superficial knowledge, and so they weren’t able to help them.” Fifth Grandpa Zhang shook his head.
“Looks like your ancestors must have been extraordinary people. Did they leave behind an era of peace for your village?” Ye Fan felt that Heavenly Source Masters were transcendent sacred figures what were hard to measure, so he purposely asked this.
“Ah…” Fifth Grandpa Daoist sighed, saying, “Heavenly Source Masters know too many secrets about Sources, and will definitely attract some inauspicious matters…”