In the afterglow of the setting sun, a crazy old man in tattered clothes lay on a large bluestone, two lines of tears streaming from the corners of his eyes, looking at the blood-red setting sun in the sky with longing and sadness.
Not far away, Ye Fan stood there in astonishment.
After being stunned for a while, Ye Fan whispered: "Senior, what should we do?"
Li Yun smiled and said, "Go ahead and try to make contact. Don't worry, he can't hurt you because I'm here."
After getting Li Yun's promise, Ye Fan calmed down and walked forward cautiously.
The old madman noticed Ye Fan's presence, looked up at him, and then turned his gaze to the setting sun.
"That year... the setting sun was like blood, Tianxuan was stained with blood... all things withered, Tianxuan fell..."
The old madman stared at the sunset, crying and muttering to himself.
Ye Fan didn't hear it clearly, but he could still understand the general meaning.
He tried to comfort the old madman with a few words, but the old madman turned a deaf ear to him.
Until the sunset completely sank into the horizon, the old madman sat up suddenly, two dazzling rays of light instantly burst out of his eyes, the sadness on his old face disappeared, and the whole person was like a sharp blade out of its sheath, revealing its edge.
There was total silence on the mountains; all the birds and beasts were trembling with fear.
Ye Fan also sensed a powerful oppressive force. If his body had not been refined by the Demon Emperor's blood and sweat, he would have been crushed to the point of having his bones broken by this terrifying aura.
Then, in Ye Fan's astonished eyes, the old madman grabbed his arm and looked at him deeply.
"You have... their scent..."
Ye Fan came back to his senses with a start and quickly called Li Yun's name in his heart.
The next second, a powerful aura as hot as the scorching sun burst out from Ye Fan's body.
The collision of the two powerful auras actually startled the old madman. He suddenly let go of Ye Fan's arm, and with mysterious steps, he closed the distance of hundreds of meters in an instant.
"Fellow Daoist, please stay..."
A long and leisurely voice came from Ye Fan's body.
The old madman frowned tightly and looked towards the location of Ye Fan’s sea of suffering with a serious look.
Then, under Ye Fan's nervous gaze, Li Yun's divine consciousness came out of his body and began to communicate with the old madman hundreds of meters away.
Not long after, the two seemed to have reached some agreement. Li Yun's spiritual thoughts retracted into Ye Fan's sea of suffering, and the old madman once again used a similar method of shrinking the earth into an inch and instantly came in front of Ye Fan.
The old madman waved his hand, and Ye Fan's body suddenly glowed with brilliant light.
In an instant, an extremely realistic virtual image appeared above the mountains.
That was the scene Ye Fan had seen in the ancient forbidden land. It included the once peerless Saint Tianxuan, the piles of bones scattered across the mountains, and the past scenes of mountains of corpses and seas of blood...
Seeing this scene, the old madman acted like crazy, crying and laughing.
Not long after, he let out a low roar, stood with his head held high, and waved his hands in the air. He actually used the void as a picture, engraved the rhyme of Tao, and carved the entire virtual picture into a brilliant immortal word!
Ye Fan was shocked and couldn't help asking, "What is he doing?"
"He is facing the calamity." Li Yun said softly, "After he survives this calamity, his cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds."
Ye Fan listened thoughtfully, and then continued to ask: "Senior, what did you say to him just now?"
Li Yun smiled and said, "Nothing, just a deal."
Ye Fan subconsciously asked: "What deal?"
Li Yun said meaningfully: "You will know it soon!"
Sure enough, before he finished speaking, the old madman stopped moving.
He turned the huge pattern in the sky into an imprint and stored it in his mind. Then his expression changed for a long time before he finally calmed down. His eyes, which originally contained many complex emotions, became extremely clear.
He looked at Ye Fan silently, then suddenly raised his hand and clapped it, leaving a mysterious pattern on the large bluestone.
Ye Fan looked carefully and found that the pattern was difficult to understand, but it seemed familiar and looked very familiar.
"…It's the old madman's mysterious footwork!"
"No, according to what the senior said, this should be a fragment of the Xing character secret path map!"
Ye Fan's eyes were bright, and he immediately concentrated all his energy and began to memorize the pattern.
Li Yun sent a message of thanks to the old madman, and immediately began to memorize the mysterious Taoist patterns on the pattern.
The old madman looked at Ye Fan deeply, then stood up and walked towards the depths of the mountains.
Not long after, several shocked and angry shouts came from the mountains about ten miles ahead.
Then several figures rose into the sky, emitting rays of light, as if they were fighting with people.
It was at this time that Ye Fan finally memorized all the patterns on the large bluestone.
He raised his head, his eyes shining with divine light, and looked ahead towards the place where the loud noise came from.
"…Senior, what's going on?"
"Nothing." Li Yun said lightly, "That place is the location of the 'Domain Gate', an important place of Taixuan Sect. The old madman wanted to use the Domain Gate of Taixuan Sect to leave here, but his method of borrowing was a bit direct, so he had some minor conflicts with the Taixuan Sect elders who were guarding the Domain Gate."
"…A minor conflict?"
Ye Fan looked ahead speechlessly.
With his eyesight, he could see several Taixuan Sect elders with powerful auras being knocked unconscious by the old madman's sleeve and falling to the ground one after another.
There is no doubt that the strength of these elders is beyond his reach at the moment.
But in front of the old madman, their strength is no different from that of ants.
Comparing in the same direction, Li Yun, who could be treated seriously by the old madman, must have been an amazingly powerful man when he was alive, right?
Ye Fan thought secretly in his heart.
Then, Ye Fan pondered and said, "Senior, people from the Ji family and the Yaoguang Holy Land have come, and I have already obtained the Jie character secret of Zhuofeng. Should I leave now?"
"...You want to cross the domain gate with the old madman?"
"Um."
Ye Fan nodded solemnly.
The so-called domain gate can be understood as a teleportation array in the world of immortal cultivation. As long as enough source is provided and the Dao pattern is activated, it can cross the void and move hundreds of thousands or even millions of kilometers in an instant.
The Big Dipper star region is vast, and the Eastern Wilderness alone is boundless.
The area where Taixuan Sect, Ji Family, and Yaoguang Holy Land are located belongs to the southern part of East Wilderness. As long as he leaves here through the domain gate, it will be difficult for the other party to find him in the vast East Wilderness.
"It's a good idea, but I advise you not to go with the old lunatic."
"Why?"
"...You'll know when you see it."
Li Yun made a perfunctory remark because he had forgotten the specific details of the original plot. He only remembered that the old madman seemed to have failed to cross the void and then fainted on Zhuofeng Mountain.
Hearing Li Yun's words, Ye Fan nodded and gave up the idea of leaving now.
He turned and walked down the mountain. On the way, he recalled the word "Xian" carved by the old madman, and couldn't help but whispered: "Senior, do you think there are really immortals in this world?"
"Haha, kid, that depends on your understanding of the word 'immortal'!"
Li Yun said leisurely: "Every world has a different understanding of immortals."
"Some worlds believe that immortality is immortality. If one can live as long as the sky and be as old as the earth, then he is a true immortal."
"Some worlds believe that immortals are mountains in human form. Those who can cultivate to become as powerful as a mountain are true immortals."
"There are also some worlds that are blessed with abundant lifespans, but people are determined to fight to the death for resources. In such a world, the so-called immortals are nothing more than people who are a little more powerful!"
"The immortal world there is full of intrigue and undercurrents, just like the human world. I call it the underworld of immortal cultivation..."
Ye Fan couldn't help but say: "Isn't this the world I live in?"
Li Yun smiled and said, "Haha, there are still some differences. At least in that world, the life span of people of the same realm is much longer than in your world."
Ye Fan nodded thoughtfully, then hesitated for a moment and asked cautiously, "What about you?"
"……I?"
Li Yun was slightly startled, and then he said thoughtfully: "From the perspective of immortality, I am indeed an immortal. It should not be a problem for me to live for at least several million years. But in terms of strength, there is still some gap between me and the immortals in your world."
"So, you are really an immortal from outside the domain?"
"...Boy, you have too many questions."
Hearing Li Yun's words, Ye Fan chuckled and changed the subject: "Senior, how old are you this year?"
Li Yun asked in confusion: "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"
Ye Fan smiled and said, "Nothing, I just feel that calling you senior all the time is a bit strange..."
Li Yun raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm definitely older than you, is there any need to say that?"
"That's right." Ye Fan nodded with a smile and asked tentatively, "Then I will call you Brother Li?"
Li Yun said nonchalantly: "It's up to you. I've almost woken up this time. It's time for me to get some sleep. Call me if you need anything."
After saying this, Li Yun's mind became silent.
Ye Fan called out a few times tentatively in his heart, but found no response, so he sighed, took a step forward and walked down the mountain.
…
…
The subsequent plot was just as Li Yun had expected. The old madman fell unconscious on Zhuofeng Mountain. Countless big figures from the Ji family and Yaoguang Holy Land rushed there, wanting to communicate with the old madman, but they could not get any results.
At the same time, the younger generations of the Ji family and the Yaoguang Holy Land gathered together.
As a disciple of Zhuofeng who had previously performed brilliantly, Ye Fan had to show up in front of many young geniuses.
Here, Ye Fan met Hua Yunfei, the number one young man of Taixuanmen Xingfeng, his old classmate and ex-girlfriend Li Xiaoman who came to the Beidou star field with him, and Ji Haoyue, the divine body of the Ji family.
Ji Haoyue's divine body reacted to Ye Fan's ancient holy body, and couldn't help but test it with the Bitter Sea Vision 'A Bright Moon Rising from the Sea'.
Fortunately, Ye Fan's ancient holy body could restrain all strange phenomena. He didn't even disturb Li Yun who was sleeping in the sea of suffering, and he easily endured it.
Seeing this scene, everyone was shocked. Many major forces did not recognize Ye Fan's identity. They only thought that he had a mysterious physique comparable to a divine body, so they all extended olive branches to Ye Fan.
Ye Fan found out that he was being targeted and thought something was not good, so he decided to leave Taixuan Sect that night.
He first found Ji Ziyue, and gave her a few strands of Xuanhuang Essence in the other's astonished gaze. Then he touched her head and told her to practice well and surpass her brother Ji Haoyue in the future.
Ji Ziyue noticed Ye Fan's intention to leave and was reluctant to try to keep him.
But Ye Fan was unmoved. He used the incomplete secret of the character "Xing" to easily shake off Ji Ziyue and ran to Zhuofeng to see Li Ruoyu for the last time.
Li Ruoyu saw through Ye Fan's intention at a glance, but he did not stop him. Instead, he supported Ye Fan's decision.
Ye Fan felt grateful and left a bottle of the magic spring for his short-lived master, then turned and left.