# Chapter 29: Rage
"You really are a horse that doesn't know its face is long, an ox that doesn't know its horns are crooked—I've never seen anyone as thick-skinned as you." Pang Bo pushed aside his hand, cast him a sidelong glance, and put away the three fragrant fruits.
"How can you talk like that?" Li Changqing's face couldn't maintain its composure. He darkened his expression and said, "We're classmates, all of us who came to this strange world together. We should be helping each other. Everyone is hungry now. If you found something to eat, you should share it with everyone. Are you going to hog it all for yourself?"
"Pah, you still have the nerve to say something like that?" Pang Bo sneered coldly. "Who was it that secretly ate chocolate in the bronze coffin back then? At that time, why didn't you think of the word 'everyone'? Now you're putting on this righteous act. Don't make me sick. Seeing you disgusts me even more than seeing those divine crocodile reptiles. Go stand over there. I can't be bothered with you!"
Li Changqing's face turned pale green from being choked off. He couldn't possibly admit it and argued a few sentences, but they were weak and powerless.
Although Pang Bo spoke bluntly and fiercely, it didn't mean his thinking wasn't meticulous. He naturally understood Li Changqing's intention—if he could get some food, that was good; if not, it would isolate Pang Bo and Ye Fan. After all, there were many people present. If they didn't share with these people, those individuals would certainly harbor some resentment.
"My apologies to everyone. Too many monks, too little gruel. We only picked five fruits in total, really not enough to go around. Yiyi's constitution is too frail, so giving her two—I think no one has any objections, right?" Pang Bo didn't even look at the crowd as he distributed the fruits himself. "Zhang Ziling, here's one for you." He tossed one over, then continued, "These five fruits were picked by me and Ye Fan. At the very least, we should reward ourselves a bit, don't you think?"
Pang Bo stuffed the fourth fruit directly into Ye Fan's mouth. As for the fifth shiny fruit, he bit off more than half of it in one go.
And just like that, the five fruits were divided. Liu Yiyi looked a bit uneasy and said, "I... I can eat just half. You should share the rest with everyone." She tried to return the bright red fruit, but Ye Fan pushed it back and said, "Don't worry. The vegetation here is lush. We'll definitely find plenty of wild fruits."
Pang Bo also glared at her, urging her to eat quickly and not to refuse. He knew that this kind of fruit was extraordinary. After eating it, one felt incredibly energetic, completely refreshed, and there were probably other unknown benefits as well.
"But..." Liu Yiyi felt a bit embarrassed and looked around at the people nearby.
"Yiyi, you're too kind. That won't do," Pang Bo said in a low voice. "Quite a few of them have chocolate in their pockets, but none of them took it out to share with everyone."
Seeing Ye Fan nod at her as well, Liu Yiyi finally stopped refusing.
"I still have some chocolate here. Let's share it among everyone." At this moment, Liu Yunzhi suddenly stepped forward and handed out several packs of chocolate for everyone to divide.
"Damn it!" Pang Bo was furious on the spot. This was a blatant slap in the face. He was so angry his teeth itched, but he could only endure this invisible slap. Even if he jumped out, there was nothing he could say.
"Now that's what I call loyalty, Yunzhi!" Li Changqing peeled open a piece of chocolate, stuffed it into his mouth, and said this while eating. At the same time, he didn't forget to glance at Pang Bo and Ye Fan.
"Shared hardship reveals true character..." The female classmate who had been following Liu Yunzhi all along also said this with pointed meaning.
This made Pang Bo's expression even uglier. He cursed under his breath, "Inside and outside the circle, why didn't he take it out earlier? Now that the mountains are full of plants and we can definitely find wild fruits, chocolate isn't that useful anymore. Only now does he put on this act. I curse his ancestors' spirit tablets."
"A long journey tests a horse's strength, and time reveals a person's heart. When we get to the outside world, Yunzhi, I'll follow you," Li Changqing deliberately put on this expression, then sighed, "Ah!" Not forgetting to sweep his gaze over Pang Bo and Ye Fan a few more times.
Being lightly slapped by Liu Yunzhi like this, and then sarcastically attacked by the man and woman beside him, Pang Bo was so angry he wished he could grab him and beat him up. But under everyone's watchful eyes, he could only endure it.
Everyone gazed at the distant mountain shapes and terrain, determined a direction, and believed that following this path would allow them to leave this mountainous area in the shortest time and reach a place with human habitation.
Without wasting too much time, everyone descended along the mountain slope and then entered the forest, moving forward cautiously. Each person held a wooden stick in hand, guarding against wild beast attacks, since the divine relics were practically useless now.
But after walking for most of the day, they hadn't seen a single large beast, not even a ground rat, let alone any birds.
"This really is a forbidden zone. Even birds don't shit here..." Li Changqing muttered to himself.
Pang Bo taunted, "You should be grateful. If we ran into a large beast, you'd be praying to escape to a place where even bird feathers don't fall."
The mountainous terrain was lush with vegetation. Everyone picked many wild fruits, temporarily alleviating the food problem. But even as dusk approached, they still hadn't emerged from the forest. The endless mountains seemed to have no end—crossing one mountain only revealed another.
"Could we have taken the wrong direction? Are we heading deeper into the mountains?" someone doubted. But in the end, everyone decided to continue forward.
Darkness had already fallen, and everyone had to stop in the forest, deciding to continue the next day.
It was an unsettling night. At midnight, everyone heard a hair-raising roar, shrill and enormous, accompanied by the clanking of iron chains. It made everyone feel cold from head to toe.
In this gloomy forest, it was truly terrifying, like a chained vengeful spirit struggling. The sound made people's hearts tremble.
"It sounds like... it's coming from the abyss of the Ancient Forbidden Land." Many people trembled with fear, looking toward the distant huge abyss surrounded by nine mountains.
Deep in the night, tree shadows swayed. Ancient trees and wolf-infested forests trembled in the wind, like ghostly figures flickering in and out of sight.
The roaring grew even louder, shaking the entire mountainous region until it trembled lightly. The nearby trees and forests kept swaying, and many leaves rustled down.
A gloomy chill spread from the abyss of the Ancient Forbidden Land, terrifying everyone. Knowing they were already far from there and could still feel this terrifying aura was truly frightening.
"Clang," "Clang"...
The loud crashing sounds traveled especially far in the night, as if some enormous creature was hammering metal, causing the forest to tremble along with it.
Everyone's faces changed simultaneously, involuntarily thinking of one thing.
"The nine huge dragon corpses and the ancient bronze coffin fell into the abyss..."
"Could it be..."
This dull, powerful impact sounded like someone was smashing the giant bronze coffin, making everyone feel an icy chill, the hairs on their bodies standing on end.
"What... is that?!"
Many people were shocked to the extreme, and also terrified to the extreme. The ancient bronze coffin was mysterious and unfathomable. Even now, no one understood it. What kind of thing was smashing it? After all, that giant coffin had easily absorbed all the divine power from the divine relics in everyone's hands.
"Ancient Forbidden Land... does it mean it's been a forbidden land since ancient times?"
"Since ancient times, no one has dared to set foot here..."
"Clang," "Clang"...
The huge sounds were deafening. The violent smashing sounds, the bronze coffin's trembling sounds shook heaven and earth. The ground quaked, the surrounding trees and forests kept swaying, leaves falling in profusion.
The roaring was filled with anger, growing more shrill and terrifying. It was hard to imagine what was in the abyss.
"We should be grateful. If it weren't for the nine dragon corpses and the giant bronze coffin falling into the abyss, attracting that thing's attention, it might have rushed out at night. If that happened, none of us would survive..."
This was very likely the truth. After all, this place was called the Ancient Forbidden Land. Even birds and beasts dared not stop here. One could imagine the terror of this place—it was definitely a death zone, with some terrible thing existing here.
"Something that has existed since ancient times... truly... makes one's hair stand on end, unimaginable!"
"It seems it can't do anything to that mysterious bronze coffin for now. Fortunately, that's the case."
It was a sleepless night. Many people couldn't fall asleep again.
"Boom"
Suddenly, a violent explosion. In the distant mountainous region, the abyss suddenly experienced a fierce earthquake, spewing out endless black mist, completely obscuring the sky there. All stars and moonlight disappeared, exceptionally oppressive.
"Rumble"
Suddenly, all the black mist was sucked back into the abyss in an instant. The stars in the sky instantly shone out again, but everyone saw an extremely shocking scene.
There was a blurry black shadow—impossible to tell if it was human or beast—wielding thick iron chains hundreds of feet long, roaring up at the sky with ferocious might shaking the world! Being able to see it clearly from such a distance, one could imagine how thick those iron chains were. The roaring was deafening, nearly shaking the people in the forest unconscious. The rolling sound waves made their eardrums ache.
That thing was bound by huge iron chains, wearing shackles, yet it danced between heaven and earth, iron chains spanning the sky! Its ferocious might overshadowed the world. As if gathering strength, it let out a shrill roar and then suddenly dove back into the abyss.
"Clang," "Clang"...
The sound of the bronze coffin being smashed rang out again.
"Do you think it's trying to open that coffin within the coffin?"
"It should be that way. After all, the outer coffin is already open. There's no reason for it to smash it for no reason."
Everyone's hearts were both shocked and terrified. It wasn't until the latter part of the night that the abyss quieted down, with no more sounds coming out. Everyone drowsily fell asleep.
The next day, the sun was already high in the sky before everyone woke up one after another. They washed up by a stream, picked some wild fruits to eat, and then continued on their way.
They walked for a full two or three hours without stopping. They were eager to leave this place. The Ancient Forbidden Land was truly unsettling. They had to get out of this area before nightfall.
At noon, the scorching sun hung directly overhead. Fortunately, the trees provided shade. When they climbed a high mountain, someone heard the roar of beasts in the distance.
"We're close. We should be able to walk out of this forbidden zone before dark."
"Hey, look over there at that high mountain. Are those buildings?" Prince Wang Wen suddenly pointed ahead. It was a very tall mountain, still very far from where they were, separated by several peaks. But those smaller peaks couldn't block it.
"They really are buildings! They seem to stretch continuously!"
Everyone immediately showed expressions of surprise and joy. They could definitely reach there before dark.
"Hey, it looks like there are even immortal cranes dancing there. Could this be an immortal land? Are there immortals there..." Some people's imaginations ran wild, instantly thinking of legendary immortals.
Everyone couldn't help but quicken their pace forward. On the road, in groups of three or pairs of two, many people were already whispering, discussing splitting up to develop once they entered inhabited areas.
At this time, Ye Fan noticed that Liu Yiyi looked wronged and unhappy. He asked, "Yiyi, what's wrong?"
"Wang Yan took my prayer beads to look at and won't give them back..." Liu Yiyi was a bit wronged and also a bit angry.
"Her? It must be Liu Yunzhi's doing again!" Pang Bo was furious on the spot. Wang Yan was the female classmate who stuck with Liu Yunzhi, always targeting Ye Fan and Pang Bo.
Hearing this, Ye Fan didn't say much. He strode forward, blocked Liu Yunzhi, Wang Yan, and Li Changqing, and extended his hand, saying, "Hand it over!"
"What are you talking about?" Li Changqing asked without backing down.
"Less nonsense. Hand over the prayer beads!" Ye Fan wasn't without a temper; he had just been restraining himself. Once angered, he was very frightening.
"Oh, you mean this matter." Wang Yan explained, "I was just playing with it. Later, I really liked it, so I exchanged it with Yiyi for my copper bell."
Ye Fan turned back to look at Liu Yiyi. By this time, others had also stopped and turned to look.
"I... I didn't exchange with her. She took the prayer beads and... forced the copper bell into my hand." Liu Yiyi was very wronged. Under everyone's gaze, she looked uneasy and pitiful.
"Yiyi, you can't say that. You clearly agreed to the exchange," Wang Yan said.
"Hand it over! I don't want to say any more nonsense." At this moment, Ye Fan swept his gaze over Liu Yunzhi, Wang Yan, and Li Changqing, saying, "I've run out of patience. We're about to escape danger. Don't bring misfortune upon yourselves!"