Chapter 208 — The Primordial Spiritual Ridge

My Dao to Eternity

Chapter 208 — The Primordial Spiritual Ridge

Li Fan's stance remained fixed.

Origin Drawing.

The sword left its sheath with his strike.

Silver light crossed the wet air. Sword Intent concentrated along the edge and cut through the two false leopards.

Their forms broke apart.

Silver mist scattered across the clearing.

The sword reached the third leopard an instant later.

The real beast sensed that its concealment had been exposed. Its body twisted in mid-air with extraordinary flexibility. Its tail snapped against the flat of the sword.

The impact rang through the clearing.

Li Fan's sword shifted several inches.

The leopard rolled across the wet earth and landed on its hind legs.

Its silver eyes fixed on him.

The beast's breathing remained controlled.

Li Fan advanced.

Origin Flow.

His feet crossed the wet ground in a continuous sequence.

The sword struck toward the leopard's eyes.

The beast raised a claw.

Li Fan changed the angle and cut toward its shoulder.

The leopard twisted.

The sword continued downward and swept toward its legs.

The leopard jumped.

Li Fan reversed the sword and struck upward.

Claws met steel.

Sparks scattered across the mist.

The leopard's forelimbs carried enough strength to meet his Returning Marrow physique directly. Li Fan's bones and muscles absorbed the force of each collision while his sword redirected the beast's claws.

The leopard gave ground.

Another exchange followed.

Li Fan cut toward its ribs.

The leopard blocked.

His wrist turned.

The sword passed beneath its claw and struck toward the abdomen.

The leopard twisted away.

Its hind claws scraped across the stone.

The beast understood that the direct exchange favored Li Fan.

Its pelt suddenly expanded.

The surrounding mist surged.

White vapor rushed across the clearing and swallowed both figures.

The leopard vanished.

False vibrations spread through the fog.

One pulse became ten.

Ten became dozens.

Li Fan stood in the center of the clearing.

His divine sense spread outward.

Every direction returned the same result.

False heartbeats.

False movements.

False spiritual fluctuations.

The leopard circled through the mist at high speed, using the Primordial Spiritual Ridge itself to conceal its position.

Li Fan listened.

The mist moved against the trees.

Moisture struck leaves.

The ground shifted beneath passing claws.

He raised his left hand.

"Using the terrain."

His voice remained calm behind the mask.

"Then I will simply rewrite it."

His fingers formed a hand seal.

His divine sense rose through the mist and reached the atmosphere above the ridge.

Origin Lightning.

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The clouds responded.

Scattered electrical force gathered from the surrounding atmosphere and stone.

The air sharpened.

A metallic smell filled the clearing.

Purple lightning formed above the ridge.

The bolt descended.

It struck the clearing.

The mist vanished across a hundred paces.

White vapor burned away beneath the lightning.

The forest became visible.

Every shadow disappeared beneath the sudden radiance.

The leopard appeared in the open.

Its silver fur was scorched.

The beast froze for a fraction of a breath.

Its concealment had been destroyed.

It gathered the remaining strength in its hind legs.

Then it attacked.

Its body spun through the air.

Poisoned claws extended.

Thirty feet separated it from Li Fan.

The beast crossed the distance rapidly.

Li Fan inhaled.

His qi moved through his meridians.

His divine sense compressed.

Sword Intent gathered along the sword.

Every force he could control converged at the sword's tip.

One Sword, One Origin.

The sword moved.

There was no spreading radiance.

No outward shockwave.

Only one direct strike.

The leopard reached him.

The sword entered its body.

The beast's momentum stopped.

A clean line divided its body.

Both halves fell onto opposite sides of Li Fan.

The peak Core Shattering spiritual pressure disappeared.

The green toxin surrounding its claws dispersed into the air.

Li Fan kept his sword raised.

Three breaths passed.

His divine sense examined the corpse.

No heartbeat remained.

He lowered the sword.

The Nine-Leaf Purple Ginseng stood in the center of the clearing.

Its nine violet leaves remained intact.

Li Fan cleaned the blood from his sword and returned it to its sheath.

He approached the ginseng and knelt.

His fingers worked through the soil around the roots.

He loosened the earth gradually, supporting the root system as he removed the plant.

The ten-thousand-year-old herb came free intact.

Li Fan placed it inside a lead-lined jade container from his storage ring and sealed the container.

He then examined the formation current beneath the clearing.

It remained stable.

The current continued deeper into the ridge.

Li Fan rose.

The mist had begun returning.

He adjusted his robe against the cold moisture and followed the formation line.

The current led underground on the seventeenth day.

It entered a narrow fissure in the mountain.

Li Fan descended.

The fissure widened gradually.

After most of an afternoon, it had become a proper tunnel.

The temperature dropped.

Water dripped from the stone ceiling.

The smell of wet rock grew stronger with every step.

The formation current remained beneath his feet.

At last, the tunnel opened into a vast cavern.

A soft glow filled the chamber.

At its center stood the source of that light.

A crystalline Spiritual Herb grew directly from the bedrock.

The crystal was roughly the size of an adult man's torso.

Milky-white earth-qi flowed within it.

Li Fan crouched beside the crystal.

His divine sense entered the surrounding stone.

He followed the earth-qi through the bedrock.

The formation line he had been following for more than two weeks entered the crystal directly.

More than a dozen other formation threads converged on the same location.

Li Fan examined the cavern ceiling.

The crystal's pulse traveled through the surrounding stone.

The entire cavern depended upon that structure.

Without the Spiritual Herb's stabilizing force, the weight of the rock above would eventually bring the ceiling down.

Li Fan extended his hand.

A voice came from one of the tunnels.

"Stand down, stranger."

Li Fan stopped.

Six figures entered the cavern.

Their movements were coordinated.

They maintained formation spacing without needing spoken commands.

Deep cerulean robes marked them as disciples of the Nine Rivers Sect.

Five stood at the peak of Core Condensation.

Their breathing was synchronized.

They spread around the cavern and formed a perimeter.

The sixth cultivator walked ahead of them.

He was tall and cold-featured.

A mid-grade spiritual saber rested across his back.

His aura carried the pressure of Early-Stage Core Shattering.

Li Fan's realm was higher by half a stage.

The man studied Li Fan's black robe and featureless mask.

"This Spiritual Herb belongs to the Nine Rivers Sect now."

His gaze moved to Li Fan's storage ring.

"Leave your storage rings and walk out. We will not ask twice."

Li Fan's hand remained away from his sword.

His divine sense swept across the six cultivators.

Their positions.

Their breathing.

Their qi circulation.

Their meridians.

Then he noticed something else.

A faint resonance ran through the silk lining of each cerulean robe.

Li Fan stored the detail in his mind.

"The wilderness belongs to those who find its treasures first."

His voice remained flat.

"I will give you one chance. Turn around, leave this cavern, and you may keep your lives."

The Nine Rivers Sect leader laughed.

"Arrogant scoundrel. Form the array."

The five disciples moved.

Their fingers formed identical hand seals.

Blue qi surged from their bodies and connected their positions.

A single circuit formed.

Spiritual water gathered from the humid cavern air.

The water condensed into a violent vortex.

Pressure struck the cavern walls.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Five weapons directed the current inward.

The space around Li Fan contracted.

The formation attempted to imprison him at its center.

The leader drew his saber.

"Now!"

He charged.

The saber swept through the water.

Blue light followed the weapon.

The leader changed the circulation of the formation during the strike.

The surrounding water-qi gathered around the saber.

The defensive vortex became an offensive force.

A thin strand of water-qi moved toward Li Fan's ankles.

It attempted to anchor his feet.

Li Fan moved.

His body disappeared from the center of the formation.

The saber struck the stone.

A deep trench opened across the cavern floor.

The leader's expression changed.

A cold pressure appeared behind his left shoulder.

"Too slow."

He twisted.

His saber began another transition.

Li Fan's sword had already left its sheath.

Sword Intent concentrated along the edge.

The surrounding water-qi separated beneath it.

A golden defensive talisman activated across the leader's chest.

A barrier of compressed water formed.

The talisman had been prepared to withstand an attack from an equal-ranked cultivator.

Li Fan's sword struck it.

The barrier lasted less than half a breath.

It shattered.

Golden fragments scattered across the cavern.

The sword continued through the broken barrier.

Cerulean silk split.

The sword passed through the leader's throat.

His body remained standing for an instant.

His head struck the stone floor.

The spiritual saber fell beside it.

Its spiritual radiance disappeared.

"Senior Brother!"

The five disciples' formation collapsed.

The water vortex lost its structure.

A flood crashed across the cavern floor.

Water covered their boots.

They stared at their fallen leader.

He had been an Early-Stage Core Shattering cultivator.

Li Fan had killed him with one strike.

"Run!"

"Find the Elders!"

The five disciples scattered.

Their formation dissolved completely.

They rushed toward different tunnels.

Li Fan's gaze sharpened.

If even one escaped, the Nine Rivers Sect would learn about the masked cultivator in this region.

He moved.

Origin Flow.

His sword became a continuous sequence of strikes.

His feet crossed the wet stone.

The first fleeing disciple covered ten paces.

Li Fan's sword entered his back and pierced his heart.

The disciple collapsed.

Li Fan turned before the body reached the ground.

His sword left his hand.

Object manipulation drove it forward.

The sword pierced the second disciple through the spine.

Li Fan caught the hilt as he closed the distance.

The third and fourth disciples reached the same narrow tunnel entrance.

They collided in their panic.

Li Fan's sword swept horizontally.

Their legs gave way.

Both fell onto the wet stone.

The fifth disciple continued toward the tunnel.

Li Fan turned toward him.