Chapter 20: Crocodile Ancestor
From the direction of the Great Thunderclap Monastery came a hair-raising roar, as if an ancient primordial beast had split the earth, breaking free from its seal, shaking mountains and rivers, unsettling the stars and moon, sending a tremor that came from the depths of the soul.
But then everything fell completely silent again. The terrifying roar subsided, leaving only the rumbling sounds of the sandstorm outside the Five-Colored Altar.
"What was that?"
"Are there other living things on Mars?"
"Legend says the Buddha suppressed many demons and monsters. Perhaps the sealed place is near the Great Thunderclap Monastery."
They had only exchanged a few words, yet everyone felt their hearts pound with fear. As modern city dwellers, they had never believed in such legends. Having experienced so many unbelievable things today, and now connecting them to even more terrifying tales, waves of shock surged through everyone's hearts.
If their guesses proved true, their situation would be extremely dire. The Great Thunderclap Monastery had turned to ashes. There was no longer a Buddha there, no longer any deities. If they had to face those mythical demons and monsters alone, the outcome was easy to imagine.
"Today, our minds have been constantly bombarded. It's hard to bear..."
"The demons and monsters from myths and stories might actually appear before us alive!"
Thinking of all the possibilities, a chill ran through everyone's hearts, their bodies turning cold.
Endless possibilities, an unknown fate—fear and worry gripped them!
And right now, a cold corpse lay before their eyes, blood staining the ground, a faint smell of blood lingering in the air. It reminded them that the situation was already very bad. Something unknown had appeared again, snatching a fresh life right before their eyes.
"Tsk."
A strange sound came from the head of the corpse, immediately putting many on edge.
"Smack, smack."
It sounded like eating and chewing, extremely unsettling, especially since it was a human head. An unknown creature seemed to be feeding inside it, making many people's hair stand on end.
"Crunch, crunch."
The sound of bones being ground came, as if sharp teeth were cutting through the skull. The atmosphere grew tense and oppressive.
No one spoke anymore. The Five-Colored Altar fell silent. Many barely dared to breathe. It was so quiet that a chilling, horrifying aura filled the air.
It was an ordeal. The sounds of eating and the crunching of skull bones intertwined like a hellish horror symphony, torturing everyone's minds.
Many girls covered their mouths, wanting to cry but not daring to make a sound. This kind of scene nearly broke them.
Of course, not everyone was afraid. Those holding relics of the deities had some confidence. Pang Bo, always bold and fierce, felt stifled by the situation. He dragged the bronze plaque of the Great Thunderclap Monastery forward, ready to smash the head open.
Ye Fan stopped him. "Don't act rashly."
"Pfft."
At that moment, a spurt of blood and a white liquid burst from the bloody hole in the forehead of the corpse lying in the pool of blood. Many felt nauseated—it was brain matter.
Then, from the bloody hole in the head, a black, cone-shaped head emerged. It was small and sharp, covered in scales.
"What is that thing?"
Everyone involuntarily stepped back. Even Ye Fan and Pang Bo retreated a few steps.
It was a strange creature shaped like a crocodile, crawling out of the bloody hole in the corpse. Its body was not only stained with blood but also with white brain matter, making one's scalp tingle just looking at it.
It was no more than ten centimeters long, as thick as a finger. It resembled a snake but wasn't one. It looked like a crocodile but had no legs, its belly bare. Its entire body was covered in black scales, dark and gloomy, like an evil thing from the underworld.
Blood and brain matter clung to its black scales, shocking to the eye, making many feel extremely uncomfortable, a cold fear rising within them.
After crawling out of the bloody hole, this unknown creature perched on the corpse's head. Its tiny eyes emitted a piercingly cold glare as it stared silently at everyone, as if it were a highly intelligent life form rather than a low-level one.
Seven classmates, four years of study together, several fresh lives—gone forever, devoured by such an ugly creature.
Its gaze was venomous, like a vengeful spirit coldly scanning everyone. It didn't look at them as equals but as if sizing up its own food.
"You little three-inch runt, not even as long as a rat, and you killed seven of my classmates? I'll smash you to death!" Pang Bo lifted the bronze plaque of the Great Thunderclap Monastery and swung it fiercely, aiming straight at the cold-blooded unknown creature.
Thunder rumbled, light shot into the sky. The bronze plaque blazed with countless rays, lightning surging forward, crisscrossing into a net covering heaven and earth.
"Swoosh."
But this unknown creature was extremely fast. Seeming to know the danger, it turned into a streak of black light and shot up, dodging the brilliant radiance.
Ye Fan stepped forward with the ancient bronze lamp. He blew hard on the wick, and a blazing divine flame spewed out, surging forward.
The fierce creature, no thicker than a finger and only ten centimeters long, let out a piercing shriek. Its volume was shocking, like a vengeful spirit howling, making ears ring and sending chills down spines.
It was hard to imagine how such a small, scaly body could produce such a huge and terrifying sound.
The flame from Ye Fan's lamp shot out three meters, but it didn't truly engulf the unknown creature. It only slightly grazed its tail, instantly causing its scales to fall off and half of its charred tail to break off.
It glared venomously at Ye Fan, showing expression like a human, ferocious beyond measure. It opened its mouth, revealing gleaming, snow-white sharp teeth, and hissed at Ye Fan in a low, continuous growl.
"What the hell is this thing?" Many classmates behind were terrified. Even those holding divine relics dared not step forward.
"You little three-inch runt, with such a vicious look, I'll smash you to pieces." Pang Bo showed no fear, bold and fierce. He swung the bronze plaque and charged forward. "You killed seven of my classmates, and now I've only broken off your rotten tail. Go to hell!"
Pang Bo's entire body was shrouded in the blinding light from the bronze plaque, like an enraged war god, imposing and threatening. The plaque vibrated, Buddhist sounds shaking the heavens, rumbling loudly.
Meanwhile, Ye Fan blocked the other side of the creature, which now had only half its body. The flame from the divine lamp shot out like an angry dragon, the scorching heat making the air feel as if it were burning.
Behind them, Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, and others also rushed forward, raising the divine relics they had obtained, striking at the ferocious crocodile-like creature.
Despite being surrounded and chased, this creature was too fast, like a black lightning bolt, constantly darting across the Five-Colored Altar. It was hard for them to touch it.
Piercing shrieks rang out. The ferocious and terrifying creature, being chased and beaten, seemed filled with venom and rage. Its cries were unceasing, like the wailing of a ghost from the deepest hell.
"Crack."
Sounds of piercing through the light barrier came. Several more ugly crocodile-like creatures, all no more than ten centimeters long, identical to the first, broke through the light shield outside the Five-Colored Altar and crawled in. Their eyes were as cold as evil spirits, staring at everyone with deep, irreconcilable hatred.
"How are there so many?"
"What kind of creature is this? Is Mars their lair?"
A sense of helplessness washed over everyone. They were not deities and didn't know how to use the artifacts in their hands. They could only rely on the light emitted by the Buddhist relics to block the killing intent. Now, with so many ferocious creatures appearing, they couldn't possibly eliminate them all.
Then came a rustling sound. Outside the light barrier, densely packed, there were over a hundred of these crocodile-like monsters.
Behind Ye Fan and the others, those who hadn't acted and were weaker in courage began to tremble. If so many monsters charged in together, even with the divine relics, they might not be able to hold them off!
"Pang Bo, stop chasing. Let's gather together," Ye Fan called out to Pang Bo.
With so many ferocious creatures appearing now, they couldn't kill them all. The best strategy at the moment was to defend. They just had to wait until the Five-Colored Altar accumulated enough energy to open the ancient star path.
"Roar..."
Suddenly, another soul-shaking roar came from the direction of the Great Thunderclap Monastery!
With that spine-chilling howl, even the sandstorm outside seemed to freeze instantly, because there was no other sound in heaven and earth except for that rolling, surging beastly roar.
The ground trembled continuously. The Five-Colored Altar shook. The storm outside was completely suppressed.
"The Great Thunderclap Monastery... is the lair of these monsters!" someone said, trembling.
Everyone looked outside the light barrier. More and more terrifying creatures were gathering, clearly coming from the direction of the Great Thunderclap Monastery. The ground was covered in black scales, densely packed, numbering in the tens of thousands.
"Boom."
Suddenly, the ground shook violently. Then, from a kilometer away, an extremely fierce aura surged forth, reaching up to the sky and down to the underworld, stirring the entire space!
Even though the sandstorm blocked their view, everyone still saw two lantern-like, terrifying eyes appearing at the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Monastery, piercing through the dark space.
It was like a volcanic eruption. Rocks flew through the air, many as large as houses, crashing heavily near the Five-Colored Altar, the noise shaking heaven and earth.
"The foundation of the Great Thunderclap Monastery... has collapsed. Something terrible is coming out from underground!"
If that were the case, even with the few sacred relics left by the deities in their hands, they would likely be useless.
"I think I know what these crocodile-like monsters are..." a female classmate said, her voice trembling.
In the Tibetan region, Buddhism is most revered, with almost everyone believing in it. This female classmate had been to Tibet before, visiting major Buddhist sites like the Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple. She had once heard an old Tibetan local tell some legends.
It was said that beneath the Buddha's dwelling, the Great Thunderclap Monastery, there was no pure land or good place, but rather many world-suppressing demons were sealed. The first layer suppressed the Crocodile Ancestor, an ancient divine crocodile with boundless magical power, eventually subdued by the Buddha.
"You mean, beneath the Buddhist holy land of the Great Thunderclap Monastery, many world-suppressing demons are sealed?"
"That old Tibetan Buddhist believer did say that."
Hearing all this, everyone felt a chill run through their bodies. If it were true, then the Crocodile Ancestor must be breaking free at the Great Thunderclap Monastery, and these ugly monsters were its descendants.
Ye Fan frowned. "I once read some records in an ancient miscellany..."
That miscellany described a kind of "crocodile" without limbs or claws, with a body as hard as diamond, capable of flying through the sky and burrowing into the ground, easily piercing flesh and blood. It was called a divine crocodile.
Zhou Yi nodded. "I've seen similar ancient texts..."
According to Buddhist records, the ancestor of the divine crocodiles was suppressed by the Buddha, and since then, its descendants never appeared in the world.
Everyone felt a sense of unreality. These legends were once just stories they listened to, but now they were about to witness them firsthand, leaving them both shocked and terrified.
"That old Tibetan said the Crocodile Ancestor was suppressed in the first layer beneath the Great Thunderclap Monastery. Does that mean there's a second layer, a third layer..." a female classmate asked, trembling.
No one answered. If the Crocodile Ancestor were truly breaking free now, it would be enough to wipe them all out.
Rustling sounds came. Tens of thousands of small crocodiles appeared outside the Five-Colored Altar, trying to squeeze in.
"Boom."
Suddenly, the Five-Colored Altar shook. Ancient runes of five colors appeared in the sky, shining like stars. The Taiji Bagua diagram was about to emerge—a sign that the ancient star path was about to open.
But at the same time, a terrifying tremor came from the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Monastery a thousand meters away. The blood-red eyes, like lanterns, rose several meters higher. Clearly, it was breaking free from the underground palace, emerging from the surface.
Escape from here! Escape from Mars! That was everyone's thought. Many were praying, hoping the ancient star path would open quickly. Even if they drifted forever in the desolate universe, it would be more reassuring than staying here.