Chapter Seventy-Nine: Carving Taoist Patterns

  "Where did the herb-picking man who first discovered 'Yuan' in the deep mountain cave go?" Ye Fan asked.

  According to ancient records, one "source place" can usually produce several pieces of "source", or even more. If the ancient cave is found, there may be other discoveries.

  Mr. Jiang sighed and said, "He returned to the town and sold that 'source' to the Li family. He disappeared in just one day, and many people speculated that the Li family was unwilling to pay, and secretly did something harmful."

  Ye Fan suddenly understood that the Li family must have killed him to silence him, as "yuan" was extremely important to the cultivators and they wouldn't let this person spread rumors everywhere.

  "It seems like a bit of trouble..."

  "Big brother, what's wrong? Tingting will help you." Little Tingting tilted her head, blinking her bright big eyes, and said innocently.

  Ye Fan smiled and scratched her small nose, saying: "Ting Ting is really well-behaved..."

  After finishing breakfast, Ye Fan walked out of the small restaurant and circled around the Li family's house from a distance. Inside, there were broken walls and ruins, with nearly thirty or forty houses burned down.

  Just then, a loud beast roar came from outside the town, and soon dust flew everywhere. A tall steed rushed into the town, its body resembling a horse but covered in green scales, moving extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye it arrived at the gate of Li's house.

  "Dragon Scale Horse!" Ye Fan was shocked in his heart, he knew that this strange beast had a body covered with green scales, its shape similar to a horse, its strength boundless, when running it was many times faster than an ordinary horse, traveling 4-5 thousand miles a day without any problem, not knowing fatigue, no need to stop along the way.

  Ordinary people find it difficult to possess such a strange beast, even the cultivators of the Bitter Sea Realm have difficulty subduing it. The Dragon Scale Horse is extraordinary in strength and usually only the cultivators of the Life Spring Realm can tame it and bestow it upon their junior disciples who are not yet able to ride the Divine Rainbow.

  The dragon scales horse's green scales shone brightly, shaking its head and tail, neighing loudly towards the sky. It was indeed a divine steed. On the saddle sat a young man of twenty-five or six years old, with a pale complexion, thin lips, and eyes that were somewhat cold and gloomy.

  The Li family was suddenly startled, the gate was opened, and someone shouted loudly as they ran inside to deliver the message: "Young Master is back..."

  Ye Fan felt relieved in his heart and thought that Li Jia, this cultivator, was probably just a cultivator of the Mortal Realm, otherwise he would have flown back directly on the divine rainbow.

  "I've decided on this 'source'!"

  It's not the time to take action yet, and soon after Ye Fan entered the depths of the mountain, this time he introspected the golden book in the sea of bitterness, and found that the opening words were even more blurred, as if they would really disappear completely.

  "Why is it like this......" Ye Fan was always pondering this question, muttering to himself: "Fortunately, I have already completely grasped the disappearing part."

  He then continued to ponder the Tao Te Ching, each time with a different feeling, and only stopped after a long time to start tempering himself in the bitter sea of "Tripod".

  Nineteen "Divine Patterns" were smelted together, like a lump of divine iron, shining brightly. No matter how many times Ye Fan hammered and refined it, he found it difficult to turn it into a tripod.

  During this time, Ye Fan had tried to cast a flying sword. Although it didn't quite succeed, it roughly took the shape of a sword embryo. If he continued to hammer away at it slowly, he would eventually succeed one day.

  "Why is it so difficult for Ding to offer sacrifices?"

  Ye Fan took the golden sword embryo and re-melted it, starting to cast the tripod again. However, with each attempt, he failed once more, only managing to hammer it into a lump, unable to shape it, not even able to refine the rough embryo.

  "If things go on like this, when can we cast a tripod full of Taoist rhyme? If we waste our years in vain, it's really like pouring water into a bamboo basket."

  The process of refining the tripod not only mobilizes the essence of life, but also requires a high concentration of spirit, and finally Ye Fan's mind is exhausted, and he has to stop.

  In the vast ocean of bitterness, that bean-sized "divine iron lump" shines with a brilliant light, forged through a hundred refinings.

  "This piece of 'divine iron' is already considered a half-ruined 'instrument', I don't know if it can control a weapon like the Qingmu Bao Yin."

  Ye Fan was disappointed, he didn't have any treasures and didn't know if he could try to "refine" something now. Suddenly, he saw the golden book squeezed by the green bronze at the edge of the bitter sea, his heart moved, and he said: "Try refining it."

  A bean-sized "Divine Iron Nugget" quickly sank into the sea of bitterness, instantly merging with the Golden Book. As Ye Fan's mind stirred, a fierce golden light burst out of his body, like a flash of lightning cutting through the air.

  A dazzling light flashed by, and several ancient trees and two huge boulders failed to block it. Ye Fan walked forward, gave a gentle push, and an ancient tree that pierced the sky suddenly fell down, with an extremely smooth cut. When the golden light flashed by just now, the giant tree didn't move at all, but it had already been severed.

  Ye Fan was shocked in his heart, and several ancient trees were all like this. Those two huge stones, with a push of the hand, also split into two halves instantly, having been cut flat long ago.

  The golden book flew out for tens of meters, like a shining golden sun suspended in mid-air. As Ye Fan's mind stirred, the golden light flashed and instantly flew back, returning to his Sutra Sea.

  "It's really sharp..." Ye Fan was extremely surprised, he just tried it out with an attitude, didn't expect to actually send the Golden Book flying out, and its sharpness was unmatched.

  "This golden paper not only records the 'Taoist scriptures', can it also be used as a weapon?" With this thought, he began to try again, and the golden light flashed like a rainbow, constantly slashing through the void.

  Ye Fan found that he could only throw the Golden Book out for a dozen or so meters, beyond this range, he had difficulty controlling it.

  "The Taoist scripture is one of the most mysterious ancient scriptures in the Eastern Wilderness, this page of golden paper must be extraordinary, I also have a weapon now, sharp as a whip, it will definitely be extremely sharp when facing enemies." Ye Fan's breath gradually became full.

  "Not even a sheet of paper can withstand it, let alone that green copper, it must be a real weapon, I wonder what its power is like..." Thinking of this, Ye Fan's heart was unable to calm down, his inner vision was a bitter sea, and he wanted to control the green copper.

  However, in the midst of the golden bitter sea, that piece of green bronze was quietly still, like a boulder standing there.

  "I feel like I'm pushing a giant mountain." Ye Fan was drenched in sweat, exhausted and unable to budge the green copper even slightly. The central bitter sea was shrouded in an aura of ancient simplicity and vicissitudes, accompanied by a kind of overwhelming pressure.

  "No wonder the Tao Te Ching has been pushed to the edge, this piece of green bronze is too mysterious and extraordinary, like facing the vast ocean and the ancient starry sky, boundless and overwhelming, with a pressure as heavy as the sky."

  The green bronze is far from complete, it's like a piece of some broken object, all the fragments are like this, you can imagine how terrifying the intact object would be.

  "It's impossible to estimate, and it can't be imagined at all!" Ye Fan was filled with shock in his heart, the more he thought about it, the more frightening and surprising it became, and he muttered to himself: "What does the complete body look like..."

  At this moment, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he saw the "Tao pattern" on the green bronze, with an inexplicable Tao rhyme.

  "I'll copy its 'Taoist pattern' first, for I am unable to shake the green bronze!"

  The mysterious green bronze surface does not have "Dao patterns", only at the broken mouth, densely packed, complex and intricate, profound and unpredictable, can't be understood by people, but has a natural feeling of Taoism, heaven and earth return to one, making people deeply moved.

  Ye Fan had not yet reached the state where he could refine the "Dao pattern", what he wanted to do was to repeatedly smelt and cast the unforgeable "divine iron lump" at the green copper fracture, copying down all the mysterious "Dao patterns".

  "These dense and mysterious moles must have a great origin, it's very likely to be the legendary innate 'texture', one of a kind."

  Ye Fan rested for a moment before starting to smelt the "Divine Iron Nugget", melting it down and attaching it to the green copper, constantly hammering away at it just like an ordinary person would when forging iron. He repeatedly hammered at it, densely imprinting many patterns on its surface.

  He continued to refine and engrave, until a feeling emerged that this piece of "divine iron lump" seemed to have gradually added a mysterious charm. However, when he carefully sensed it, he found that it was still ordinary, with no changes at all, and the so-called Tao rhyme did not exist.

  "Is it an illusion?" Ye Fan muttered to himself.

  In the following days, he continued to melt that piece of "divine iron nugget", repeatedly refining it, and engraved the Taoist patterns on the green copper inside and out, which can be described as being refined a thousand times.

  "It seems more concise than before, whether it's an illusion or not. The Taoist patterns engraved on the green bronze are definitely beneficial and have no drawbacks."

  Finally, Ye Fan began to re-cast the "Ding", wanting to see if the "Divine Iron Lump" had really changed after being inscribed with the Taoist pattern.

  Above his troubled sea, that piece of "divine iron nugget" kept changing shape, its edges gradually becoming rounded, its luster subdued a lot, with a more solid feeling.

  In the end, although not even a rough embryo was refined, Ye Fan still felt very invigorated. He sensed something unusual and during the refining process of the "Divine Iron Lump", he found a mysterious feeling.

  "The Tao on the bronze vessel is indeed mysterious, and from now on, it will be necessary to repeat the refining and engraving every day, and it's only a matter of time before the 'Ding' is successfully cast."