Ch. 16 - Like A God Descending Unto The Mortal World

Besides the Vajra, several others found damaged artifacts like an incense burner, a ruler, a copper bell, and a wooden fish drum.

Among them, the female classmate whom Ye Fan once sympathized with, who looked worn out during the class reunion, found a particularly special artifact.

It was a complete string of prayer beads, with only six beads, crystal clear, pale gold in color, as transparent as crystal, each the size of a longan.

"Could these be made from relics of a Buddha?" someone nearby asked, shocked and unsure.

These six beads were pale golden crystals, resembling gorgeous gemstones, easily making people think of relics left behind after the passing of an ancient Buddha. After all, this was an item found in the Grand Thunderclap Temple; the material could not be ordinary.

This strand of prayer beads was quite unusual, it was discovered by the female classmate by chance, on the head of a stone Buddha statue. The six beads were strung together with a transparent thread, and each had a blurry human-shaped figure on it, each in a different pose.

This was the third intact artifact after Ye Fan’s bronze lamp and Zhou Yi’s alms bowl. Of course, the bronze lamp remained the most remarkable, as it was the only item untouched by dust, burning eternally, clearly extraordinary to anyone.

Several scorching gazes in the ancient temple occasionally glanced at the bronze lamp. Although Ye Fan sensed this, he made no reaction and remained calm.

The Buddha hall of the Grand Thunderclap Temple had been thoroughly searched, and there were no more artifacts. The group retreated outside.

Pang Bo was the most frustrated. Over a dozen people had found ancient artifacts, yet he, the first to enter the temple, had found nothing at all.

Standing in front of the temple, Pang Bo re-examined the ancient building. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he strode back inside. He brought a few large stones to use as steps, then took down the copper plaque inscribed with “Grand Thunderclap Temple,” stunning everyone present.

The others quickly realized, the copper plaque must be extraordinary. Though weathered and worn by time, not a speck of dust was on it; it was completely clean. Among all items in the temple, only the ancient bronze lamp was similarly pristine. Clearly, this plaque was not ordinary either.

“It’s really heavy…” Pang Bo dragged the copper plaque back. As soon as he left the temple, the entire structure began to tremble. The stone Buddha inside started to crack, making cracking sounds.

Then, the six-syllable mantra of Buddhism echoed out: “Om Mani Padme Hum…”

The grand Buddhist chant shook the heavens, trembling the skies and the universe!

The compassionate, solemn, profound, and mystical chanting resounded with overwhelming force, cleansing all filth and worldly dust. The area around the ancient temple was bathed in sacred and peaceful light.

This was definitely not an illusion. Not only Ye Fan and Pang Bo heard it, everyone else stood like statues, speechless in shock.

At the same time, all the Buddhist artifacts found in the temple, whether intact or damaged, began to glow with a soft light, illuminating brilliantly, stunning everyone.

But eventually, with a loud boom, the stone Buddha statue inside the temple shattered into dust, followed by the entire Grand Thunderclap Temple, which crumbled into powder with a mere breeze.

Puff!

At the same moment, the ancient Bodhi tree nearby also shattered, not into wood chips or broken branches, but into a sky full of ash that floated gently downward.

Next, the divine light from all the Buddhist artifacts dimmed again, returning to their ordinary, mundane appearance.

Everyone stood frozen, unable to understand why this happened. Was it because they took the Buddhist artifacts and removed the temple plaque?

Only a field of ash remained of the ancient temple. Ye Fan stared for a moment and said, “By taking the various Buddhist artifacts and the temple plaque, we may have stripped the already-abandoned Grand Thunderclap Temple of its remaining meaning to exist. That might be why it vanished with the wind.”

Zhou Yi, usually gentle and refined, was now very excited, his eyes glowing as he said, “I’m now more convinced that deities really do exist. Perhaps we can follow in their footsteps. Everything that happened today might be a great opportunity for us.”

Gods, Buddhas, Immortals, these once absurd legends no longer seemed ridiculous. The current reality suggested that many established beliefs could be overturned. Gods might not be entirely nonexistent.

“Following the path walked by the gods… sounds easy, but I see no hope,” Pang Bo glanced sideways at Zhou Yi and said, “Right now, survival is the most urgent. We’re in a barren wasteland, no villages ahead, no towns behind, no water, no food. In seven or eight more hours, the situation might become dire.”

“All signs suggest this planet is probably Mars. And we all know Mars is not habitable,” Li Xiaoman, beautiful and composed after all that had happened, continued calmly, “If gods really exist, maybe that explains everything. This may be a tiny sanctuary on Mars.”

Just as she finished speaking, the reddish-brown earth began to rumble. The empty ground shook like thousands of troops charging, or furious waves crashing.

“Sandstorm… a superstorm on Mars!” Cade, standing beside Li Xiaoman, shouted in broken Chinese, his expression changed dramatically.

Mars is shrouded in dust storms for a quarter of each year. On Earth, a typhoon’s wind speed might reach over 60 meters per second, but on Mars, windstorms can hit 180 meters per second, sweeping across the entire planet.

Not just people, even heavy tanks would be lifted into the sky!

In a single instant, the stars and moon disappeared. Reddish-brown dust clouds completely covered the sky, and a planet-wide sandstorm began.

“Something’s wrong. There’s no storm here…”

Just as panic set in, many thought disaster had struck, but then they realized that while a massive storm raged in the distance, the area near them was calm.

Centered on the five-colored altar and the Grand Thunderclap Temple, a hazy dome about a kilometer in diameter had formed, separating this region from the outside.

Li Xiaoman’s words proved true, this was indeed a small sanctuary. Some supernatural force had blocked the storm, indirectly proving that gods might exist. This could be a protected place of the divine.

“Not good, the hazy dome is dimming, it’s about to vanish!” a female classmate looking up turned pale.

The dim dome in the sky was dissolving, likely to disappear completely soon. Everyone’s expression changed. Death was so close that no one could stay calm.

“What do we do? Are we… really going to die here?” Some voices trembled.

“I don’t want to die…” several female classmates began crying.

“If the dome disappears, we’ll be crushed by the superstorm!” Even the male classmates felt fear. Without this last safe haven on Mars, there would be nowhere left to survive.

Rumble…

The storm roared like muffled thunder, shaking the entire land. The world became hazy and filled with sand, and fear spread among the group.

Ye Fan’s eyes remained calm as he looked toward the overwhelming sandstorm and said, “There may only be one path to survival now.”

“We can escape? Quick, what’s the way?!”

“This sanctuary is fading, where else can we live?!”

Facing life and death, everyone was desperate. Many had lost their composure.

“Follow the path once walked by the gods, and leave this uninhabitable land,” Ye Fan said.

Some immediately understood what he meant, though many were still confused.

“Yes, that may be the only way out.” Zhou Yi nodded in agreement.

According to Ye Fan’s theory, long ago, gods forged a path through the stars, traveling from Earth to Mars. But this might not have been their final destination.

There is also a five-colored altar on Mars, which may lead even farther into the stars. This was the path gods once walked. Now, with nowhere else to go, following this ancient route might be their only hope to escape Mars and survive.

Everyone finally understood and rushed toward the five-colored altar.

Though it was only a thousand meters away, it felt as far as an ocean. That short distance meant life or death. If the dome above broke before they reached the altar, everyone would die.

Amid the vast ruins of the heavenly palace, with debris everywhere, it was a tough journey. Some twisted their ankles from rushing but dared not stop, enduring the pain to keep moving, no one wanted to be left behind.

Even if they made it safely to the altar, whether the path to the stars could be opened was still unknown. It was a heavy shadow over everyone’s hearts. After all, everything at Mount Tai had been out of their control. But now there was no choice, the altar was their last hope. They had to get there first.

“Ah…” A female classmate suddenly screamed while running through the ruins. With a thud, she collapsed to the ground and didn’t move again.

Her face was full of terror, and there was a thumb-sized hole in the center of her forehead. Blood gushed out. Before she died, she seemed to have seen something truly horrifying.

“What happened?!” Everyone felt a chill, filled with fear. A living person was suddenly dead. She had just been with them, and now she was gone, so sudden, so strange.

“Don’t go near her!” Ye Fan stopped two male classmates from approaching the body. He remembered the snow-white skull they’d seen earlier, with the same kind of hole in the forehead. The identical cause of death made him uneasy.

“We desecrated the Grand Thunderclap Temple… Could this be the gods’ punishment?” a female classmate asked, her voice trembling with dread.

“Even if gods exist, Buddhas are compassionate,” Zhou Yi interrupted to stop the panic. “We have no way to bring her with us now. Let her rest here, we must get back to the five-colored altar immediately.”

No one hesitated. At this moment of life and death, no one could afford to linger over her body.

Dong…

Suddenly, a solemn bell rang out like a great chime.

A dazzling golden light surged from Wang Ziwen. His entire body was engulfed in radiant gold, as if clad in a thick golden battle armor, blindingly bright, like golden divine flames burning around him.

In Wang Ziwen’s hand, the damaged bronze bell gently trembled. The majestic sound came from it, and the brilliant golden light radiated from it too.

“What’s happening?” Liu Yunzhi, closest to him, asked nervously.

“Something just attacked me…” Wang Ziwen, usually gentle and refined, was now cloaked in divine golden flames, exuding great power, like a god descending to the world.

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