Ch. 17 - Life & Death

"Did you see what it was?" Pang Bo asked, wanting to figure out the source of the danger. Although he was usually carefree, he was always steady in critical moments.

"I didn't see anything, just felt a terrifying aura enveloping me, and then this bronze bell suddenly began to vibrate." At this moment, Wang Ziwen was still shrouded in golden light, but he remained deeply shaken.

Hearing this, everyone who had retrieved a relic from the Grand Thunderclap Temple gripped their broken Buddhist artifacts tightly, these items were now clearly proven to be extraordinary, surely once held by gods!

The broken bronze bell stopped vibrating, the resonant chime gradually faded, and the golden divine flames on Wang Ziwen disappeared. The brilliance, like a golden battle robe, returned into the bronze bell.

"Let's go! We need to get out of these ruins!" Ye Fan held the ancient bronze lamp, scattering divine light, and led the charge toward the five-colored altar.

Everyone followed closely behind. There was definitely something terrifying in these vast ruins of the heavenly palace, every extra second spent here brought more danger.

“Ah…” A scream rang out again. As they neared the edge of the ruins, a male classmate suddenly fell to the ground, facing the sky. There was a finger-sized bloody hole in the center of his forehead, with blood pouring out, it was the same cause of death again! He died with his eyes wide open, a look of horror frozen on his face.

At that moment, many people were overcome with fear. Another classmate had suddenly died before their eyes, yet they were powerless to stop it. They didn't even know what had killed him.

It’s easy to talk about life and death, but to experience it firsthand was a bitter reality. Close classmates dying suddenly without even a chance for last words was deeply painful and hard to accept. Several female classmates nearly broke down, sobbing softly, they had never witnessed anything like this before.

"Go!"

No one stopped, nor could they afford to. They rushed toward the five-colored altar. They finally escaped the ruins, but two lives were forever lost there, never to be seen again.

They ran far away and looked back. The broken walls and shattered stones looked like ferocious demons, their outlines blurry under the night sky, chilling to the heart.

But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, three screams rang out almost simultaneously. Two male classmates and one female classmate fell heavily to the ground, all with the same wounds to the forehead. The sight of three identical bloody holes was shocking!

Blood stained the ground, three former classmates and friends were dead. Their eyes bulged, and their expressions were frozen in terror.

In just moments, five people had died. As the others grieved, they also felt a creeping cold throughout their bodies. Their scalps tingled. Maybe the next one would be them, no one could say when their life might end.

"Uuuuh..." A female classmate nearly lost it, crying aloud, saying, "The ones who died didn’t find any artifacts in the temple! That unknown demon is nearby, without a divine relic left behind by the gods, we’re all going to die!"

This was a fact. The five who died had found nothing in the temple. Wang Ziwen had also been attacked, but was spared only because of the broken bronze bell.

"Help us..." Those who hadn’t found any artifacts in the temple were gripped with terror. They ran up to those who had, pleading in near-begging tones for protection. But at a moment of life and death, who would hand over their only lifesaving relic?

Some people didn’t stop, didn’t even look back, and ran straight toward the five-colored altar. Friendship was precious, yes, but when it came to survival, many chose cold indifference to protect themselves.

For the first time, human relationships and the contradictions of human nature faced a real, brutal test.

"Please… save me!" That nearly-collapsed girl ran while crying. Her face was streaked with tears, full of fear and helplessness. She looked pitiful. She had lost both shoes, but still kept running blindly. Fear had overtaken her completely.

Ye Fan shouted loudly, "The artifacts we found in the temple can be shared with others!"

Pang Bo, always side by side with Ye Fan, stood beside him and echoed, "That’s right, we can share these artifacts among two or three people."

Many looked over, but with hesitant expressions. Someone said, "What if these broken artifacts don’t work that well? What if they can only protect one person? Wouldn’t that put the original owner in danger too..."

As soon as those words were spoken, doubt spread again. Two people even sped up and charged forward without a second glance.

“Thank you, Ye Fan…” That barefoot, tear-streaked, pitiful girl stumbled toward Ye Fan, gratitude glowing in her eyes, tears falling. It stirred sympathy.

She reached out her trembling right hand, but just a foot from the ancient lamp, her expression froze. Her eyes went lifeless, and she collapsed heavily to the ground.

The change was so sudden. Ye Fan watched as the light faded from her eyes. That tear-stained, beautiful face still held a grateful smile, frozen forever. It was heart-wrenching.

Ye Fan wanted to help her up but only extended his hand halfway before pulling it back. The poor girl had a wound at the back of her head, not the forehead this time. Blood was flowing from her black hair. She was just one step away, yet died right before Ye Fan’s eyes.

That frozen smile stung Ye Fan’s heart. He slowly backed away from the gradually cooling corpse.

“What on earth is that thing?” That was the question on everyone’s mind.

Death was so close now, and fear escalated. Three or four people quickly crowded around Ye Fan and Pang Bo. They desperately reached for the bronze lamp and copper plaque, nearly fighting over them.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pang Bo glared at them and barked, "We’re saving you, letting you share these items. We're not giving them up and throwing away our own lives!"

Pang Bo was tall and strong. When he got angry, his intimidating presence was overwhelming. Those few people immediately stopped, awkwardly stepping forward and placing their hands on the copper plaque and ancient lamp.

There was no time to argue or delay. Everyone ran quickly, but unease was spreading. Some people's eyes glinted, they wanted to steal the relics. Meanwhile, those holding relics grew wary and regretted sharing them.

“We’re from the same place, we’ve studied together for four years, don’t do something today you’ll regret for the rest of your life!” Ye Fan shouted powerfully. His voice had even more force than Pang Bo’s, and it immediately made many people settle down.

“Boom!”

At that moment, Liu Yunzhi, up ahead, suddenly burst into a storm of lightning. Bolts flashed in all directions, he looked like a thunder god descending to Earth!

Electric arcs covered his whole body, illuminating the surroundings with intense light. In his hand, the vajra shone brilliantly, all of this power came from the half-broken relic.

Liu Yunzhi looked like he wore battle armor made of lightning, emanating an overwhelming aura. Lightning crackled around him, he resembled a true war god of thunder.

“I was just attacked by that unknown thing,” he said simply, and said nothing more. His sharp gaze swept toward Ye Fan’s direction, but when it met the ancient bronze lamp, the killing intent vanished.

After a few more moments, the lightning around Liu Yunzhi faded, and the vajra in his hand dimmed again.

A relic once held by a deity!

Everyone had seen the power of that vajra firsthand and was deeply shaken.

The group marched forward in silence until they finally reached the five-colored altar. Fortunately, no more deaths occurred, and everyone finally breathed a small sigh of relief.

The nine giant dragon corpses and the bronze coffin still lay silently on the altar, just as shocking as ever.

"That is…"

Everyone was stunned. On the altar, a hazy glow shimmered. From all directions, faint lights gathered and merged into the stone base.

The fading dome of light in the sky was gradually dissolving, it was because of the five-colored altar, which seemed to be accumulating some mysterious energy.

At first, everyone was surprised. Then they rejoiced. The altar was glowing, just like when they were at Mount Tai. It was likely a sign the star road would soon open. But this time, the energy didn’t come from the “stone book or jade tome”, it came from the enormous hazy dome.

“Rumble rumble rumble…”

The fading dome in the sky dissolved while the thunderous storm outside roared. The entire land seemed to shake.

As the dome dimmed, everyone climbed onto the five-colored altar, anxiously watching everything.

The terrifying unknown presence still loomed like a shadow in their minds. It hadn’t appeared again, but as long as they remained here, the threat remained. Everyone desperately wanted to escape Mars.

For a full half hour, the dim dome kept shrinking. Eventually, it only just covered the five-colored altar. Its diameter had shrunk from over a kilometer to less than 200 meters, nearly pressing down onto the ground. All the mysterious energy had been absorbed by the altar.

Pang Bo leaned toward Ye Fan and whispered, “Liu Yunzhi glanced over here more than once. That guy’s full of schemes, we need to watch him.” Despite his rough appearance, Pang Bo had a sharp eye and noticed it.

“Don’t worry, I know.” Ye Fan turned and smiled warmly at Liu Yunzhi.

Liu Yunzhi nodded calmly and kindly, showing no unusual expression. Beside him were two others, one of whom had earlier clung to Ye Fan’s bronze lamp for safety, and now had cozied up to Liu Yunzhi.

Pang Bo was annoyed and muttered, “Ungrateful bastard… back in school, he always followed Liu Yunzhi around. Just now, we saved his life, and now he runs off to join Liu Yunzhi again.”

Half a moment later, the fading dome continued shrinking, it was now pressing directly down onto the altar. The terrifying force of the outside storm could clearly be felt.

“Wooooh…” The wind howled like ghosts wailing, sand and stones battered the light dome, producing thunderous roars. Some sand even began to seep in, the dome was clearly fragile and could disappear at any moment.

Everyone grew alarmed and stepped back. If they fell off the altar, the storm might immediately sweep them into the sky.

At this moment, the male student whom Pang Bo had just called ungrateful slowly moved away from Liu Yunzhi. Suddenly, he grabbed for the ancient bronze lamp in Ye Fan’s hand with one hand, while using the other to push Ye Fan hard, attempting to snatch the lamp and knock him off the five-colored altar!

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