Chapter 16: Descending Like a Deity
Besides the Vajra Pestle, several others found damaged incense burners, warning rulers, bronze bells, fish drums, and other items.
Among them was that female classmate whom Ye Fan had sympathized with, the one who looked haggard at the class reunion—she found a peculiar object. It was a complete string of prayer beads, only six beads in total, crystal-clear and lustrous, pale golden in color, as transparent as glass, each bead the size of a dragon’s eye.
“Could those be made from relics?” someone beside her said, uncertain and startled.
These six beads were all pale golden crystals, very much like magnificent gemstones, easily reminding people of the relics left behind after ancient Buddhas had passed into nirvana. After all, this was an object from the Great Thunderclap Monastery; its material could not be simple.
This string of prayer beads was extraordinary. That female classmate had inadvertently found it beneath that stone Buddha’s head. Even a heavy tank would be swept up into the sky!
In just an instant, the starry moonlit sky vanished completely. Endless reddish-brown sand dust entirely covered the heavens, and a great storm sweeping across the entire planet Mars had begun.
“No, there’s no storm here…”
Just moments ago, many had been terrified, believing a catastrophic disaster was upon them. But now, everyone realized that while the storm raged furiously in the distance, it was calm and still right before them.
With the Five-Colored Altar and the Great Thunderclap Monastery as the axis, a hazy circular shield over a thousand meters in diameter formed, covering the sky above this area, isolating it from the outside world.
Li Xiaoman’s words had come true. This was indeed a small patch of pure land, sealed off from the storm by supernatural forces, indirectly proving that deities might exist—this could be a place sheltered by the gods.
“No! That hazy shield is fading—it’s about to disappear!” a female classmate looking up at the sky said, her face turning deathly pale.
The dim shield in the sky was slowly dissolving; it would likely vanish completely before long. Seeing this, everyone’s expression changed. Death was so close that no one could remain calm.
“What do we do… Are we… really going to die here?” Some people’s voices trembled.
“I don’t want to die…” A few female classmates began to cry.
“If the shield disappears, we’ll be crushed by the super storm!” Even the male classmates were filled with fear. This only patch of pure land on Mars would cease to exist, leaving no room for survival.
“Rumble…”
The storm roared like muffled thunder, the entire earth seemed to tremble with it. The world was hazy, filled with flying sand everywhere, and fear spread among the crowd.
Ye Fan’s gaze remained clear. Looking at the overwhelming sandstorm, he spoke calmly: “Perhaps there is only one way out now.”
“We can escape? Tell us how!”
“This pure land will be gone—where else can we survive?!”
At this critical moment of life and death, everyone was extremely anxious, and many had lost their composure.
“Follow the path the deities once walked, and leave this uninhabitable environment,” Ye Fan said.
Some immediately understood Ye Fan’s idea, but many were still confused.
“That’s right. This might be the only way out,” Zhou Yi nodded in agreement.
According to Ye Fan’s speculation, in the distant past, deities had opened a stellar ancient path, allowing travel from Earth to Yinghuo. But this might not be the final destination.
There was also a Five-Colored Altar on Mars, likely connecting to even more distant starry skies. This was the road the deities had once walked. Now that they were forced into a desperate situation, only by continuing along this ancient path and leaving Mars could they have any hope of survival.
At that moment, everyone understood and rushed quickly toward the Five-Colored Altar.
Although it was only a thousand meters away, everyone felt as if they were separated by an ocean. This distance was a matter of life and death. If the shield in the sky shattered before they reached the Five-Colored Altar, everyone would surely die.
The vast ruins of the heavenly palace were covered in rubble—a difficult path to traverse. Because they were moving too quickly, some twisted their ankles here, but they dared not stop. Enduring the pain, they hurried forward, unwilling to fall behind.
Even if they safely reached the Five-Colored Altar, whether they could activate the stellar ancient path was still unknown. This was a huge shadow hanging over everyone’s hearts. After all, everything on Mount Tai had been passive. But now, there was no choice. That was their only lifeline. For the moment, they had to get there first and then figure things out.
“Ah…” A female classmate, running through the ruins, suddenly let out a scream. With a “thud,” she fell into the dust and did not move again.
Her face was filled with terror. On her forehead was a thumb-sized bloody hole, with blood gushing out. Before her death, she seemed to have seen something extremely horrifying.
“What happened?!” Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, their hearts filled with fear. A living life had suddenly died like this. Just moments ago, she had been with everyone, but now she was gone forever—so sudden and strange.
“Don’t get near her!” Ye Fan stopped two male classmates who wanted to approach the body. He remembered the snow-white skull he had seen on the way here, also with a finger-sized bone hole in the center of its forehead. The same method of death. A bad premonition arose in his heart.
“We have desecrated the Great Thunderclap Monastery… Could it be… the deities are punishing us?” a female classmate said, her voice trembling, her heart filled with fear.
“Even if gods exist, the Buddha is merciful,” Zhou Yi interrupted her words to prevent the spread of terror. “We have no way to take her with us now. We can only let her rest here. We must hurry back to the Five-Colored Altar.”
No one hesitated. At this moment of life and death, they could no longer afford to care about the female classmate’s corpse.
“Dong…” Suddenly, the sound of a bell rang out, melodious, vast, and solemn, like a great bronze bell vibrating.
Extremely dazzling golden light surged up from Wang Ziwen. His entire body was enveloped in brilliant golden radiance, as if he had put on a thick suit of golden battle armor, extremely dazzling, like golden divine fire burning.
In Wang Ziwen’s hand, that broken bronze bell was gently trembling. The grand sound came from it, and the brilliant golden light also originated from it.
“What happened?” Liu Yunzhi, who was closest to him, asked very nervously.
“Something just attacked me…” Wang Ziwen was usually gentle and refined, but now, shrouded in golden divine flame, wearing what seemed like golden battle armor, he looked imposing, almost like a deity descending to the mortal world.
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