# Chapter 1398: Nine Images
Nine dragons pulled an ancient bronze coffin, destination unknown, drifting through the cosmos for endless ages, sailing toward unknown distances.
It carried too many secrets. From ancient times to the present, none could pierce the fog, none could reveal its origins.
And now, to find its image carved on this Western Mountain stone tablet—how could this not shock people? Too sudden. Why had someone engraved it here?!
He wiped away the moss covering the carved images, brushed off impurities, revealing mottled ancient marks. Nine dragons stretched across like true dragons, vigorous and powerful, as if about to burst through the wall and ascend into the heavens. Behind them, cold iron chains connected to a giant bronze coffin, magnificent and grand.
"This... who carved this? What secrets lie here?!" Pang Bo's emotions surged violently.
The reason they had come to this shore of the starry sky, stepping onto the path of cultivation—everything was because of the Nine Dragons Coffin, which had brought them into a bizarre, vast, and magnificent cultivation world.
Without question, the Nine Dragons Coffin carried world-shaking secrets. It had existed since ancient times, drifting through the cosmos without being destroyed. What had been buried within, waiting for later generations to explore?
This place was special. Why did it bear this image? Ye Fan's mind was tranquil as he silently recited the hundreds of ancient characters he had obtained from this very ancient coffin.
"Oh, something's changing! Light patterns are flowing!" the Black Bear Saint exclaimed in surprise.
As Ye Fan silently chanted the scriptures from within the bronze coffin, ripples spread across this stone wall, like ripples on a lake, radiating outward layer by layer.
Ye Fan was startled. Just as when he had placed the palm-sized stone coffin before the nine-layered coffin wall carvings for comparison, the same change occurred—light undulated like water waves.
"It's moving! The nine dragons are ascending, pulling the ancient coffin toward the heavens!" the Scorpion Saint said with a look of shock, his eyes brilliant as he watched this scene.
On the stone wall, the Nine Dragons Coffin flew into the high heavens, truly moving. Faintly, even rumbling sounds could be heard, an imposing momentum pressing down. Wind and thunder roared.
"No, it's just the stone carving patterns transforming, not actually moving." Ye Fan opened his heavenly eye and discovered that some blurry stone carvings were manifesting. At first glance, it looked like they were moving.
This was a Dao mark, so realistic it could deceive even sages, making one's heart pound. They found this stone wall increasingly unfathomable.
After a moment, the ripples disappeared. Even as Ye Fan chanted scriptures, no further anomalies occurred on the stone wall. Everything calmed down. The wall carvings were ancient and natural.
By now, Pang Bo had already cleared the moss from the ninth carved image, revealing a pitted, uneven surface. Hundreds or thousands of crisscrossing scratch marks covered it.
"It's been destroyed. What was this last image?" Pang Bo muttered to himself, feeling it must have been crucial, even more mysterious, but it no longer existed.
The Dragon Horse stepped forward, trying forcefully to carve a mark on the stone wall, but found he couldn't budge it. This stone wall was as hard as a pillar supporting the heavens—not even a grain of sand could be chipped away.
Only the last image remained hidden, stirring their imaginations, filling their hearts with strange astonishment. They always felt they had missed some important great secret.
"The last four images, each more astonishing than the last. What profound meaning do you think they contain? The previous one was the Nine Dragons Coffin—could the ninth image hold the great secret of becoming an immortal?!" Pang Bo rubbed the surface with his hand. It was pitted and scarred; the truth had long been erased.
"Let me try." Ye Fan's expression was solemn. He placed great importance on these nine stone carvings. He sat cross-legged before the stone wall, his entire body glowing as he activated a secret technique.
On Earth, he had once obtained a volume of Vedic scriptures, which contained a marvelous technique for tracing origins, allowing one to trace back to the source and reproduce historical truth.
His forehead bone glowed, crystalline and translucent, like a divine mirror, shooting out a blazing light that fell upon the destroyed ninth carving. The area immediately shook violently.
The Heavenly Dao rumbled, wind and thunder raged. Faintly, ghosts wailed and spirits howled. The heavens and earth suddenly darkened, and illusory figures of divine and demonic corpses appeared.
They were greatly alarmed. What secret did this image hide, that it could cause heaven and earth to change color, producing such astonishing phenomena? It was truly terrifying and shocking.
Ye Fan was covered in sweat, his face pale as snow. His golden blood energy rapidly dimmed. The consumption was simply too great, but he could not break through the mist. Those divine and demonic illusory figures shook, the ghostly wailing and spirit howling grew clearer, almost pressing down upon him.
The Great Dao vibrated, heaven and earth rumbled. It was as if the secrets of gods and ghosts, the opportunity for immortality, were hidden within this damaged image, making one's hair stand on end.
In the end, Ye Fan failed. Cold sweat covered his body. Activating the ancient technique from the Vedic scriptures, he had never found it so difficult, and he gained nothing. He had a feeling that if he continued, he would likely encounter misfortune. This was utterly baffling.
"What kind of power is this?" Pang Bo, the Dragon Horse, the Black Bear Saint, and the others all trembled, their faces full of shock.
Ye Fan calmed down. The light emitted by this marvelous technique faded away, and the various phenomena in heaven and earth gradually disappeared. The divine and demonic corpses, the ghostly wailing and spirit howling—all vanished.
Heaven and earth returned to clarity. The terrifying scenes dimmed and dispersed, as if nothing had happened. Western Mountain was as before, unchanged.
"I think at least a Quasi-Emperor erased this. Otherwise, it couldn't be like this. After such a long time, it still puts immense pressure on me."
Ye Fan even believed that the destroyed ninth stone carving was still emitting a strange power, a shocking divine might. The earlier phenomena might not have been without its influence.
The first five wall images were about that old man—chopping firewood, feeding horses, and finally riding a dragon away, disappearing. The last four images had nothing to do with him. They weren't part of the same story, as if they had been added on.
"Did this old man leave them? What was his identity? The first four images were part of his past. What meaning do the last four images have?"
Several of them discussed but reached no conclusion, focusing their attention on the latter images.
Among them, the sixth image was the nine-layered coffin of the Mythical Era, the seventh was the Immortal Heavenly Blade and a stone-shelled divine egg, the eighth was the Nine Dragons Coffin, and the ninth had been destroyed.
These several images on the stone wall featured two ancient coffins, completely different from each other. They should not have buried the same person. By normal reasoning, the last four images were unrelated to each other, independent.
Just then, they all sensed something simultaneously. Their Immortal Platforms trembled, their forehead bones blazed with light, shining upon the stone wall. Lines of small characters appeared—ancient divine script.
"My heart holds some melancholy, my spirit nears twilight's sorrow. Knowing the immortal path is but illusion, I can only charge forward desperately."
This passage expressed a kind of helplessness, while also indicating that this person was unfathomably profound. At the very least, he should have been a Quasi-Emperor. Otherwise, how could he speak such words?
The stone wall glowed, and lines of ancient characters emerged, recording some past events. They were indeed left by that old man who chopped firewood. In the end, he rode a dragon away, only able to "charge forward desperately."
The last four images were not false. They were all things he had witnessed with his own eyes. He said they contained shocking great secrets, so he created these images to give later generations enlightenment, but he did not explain clearly.
However, there was no lack of warning within!
"Ye Zi, you should throw away that stone coffin you're carrying, bury it in the starry sky. Otherwise, I always feel that thing isn't right. Carrying it on you will cause big problems," Pang Bo said.
Ye Fan pondered, pointing to the very bottom of the stone wall. There was one last sentence there—a commentary. These last four images were all things he had seen on the immortal path.
Regarding the arrangement order of the images, it was based on the chronological order in which the old man had seen them. The order itself didn't represent anything. He only mentioned that the last image perhaps should not have appeared in this world. After much hesitation, he ultimately erased it.
Everyone drew in a cold breath. The stone coffin, the Immortal Heavenly Blade, and the Nine Dragons Coffin were all on the immortal path. Some of these things had already intersected with them. This seemed somewhat not right (bu dui jin).
Pang Bo stared at that Immortal Heavenly Blade, feeling a murderous aura that surged through the ages, as if it would split apart all the heavens and myriad domains, rushing at them through the stone wall, making their bodies feel like they would split apart.
"This famous blade that has moved ancient and modern times, and this egg—what's going on? What backup plan did the Immortal Emperor leave behind?!"
Ye Fan had slain the Celestial Prince, and now beneath this blade lay an egg. It felt eerie, stirring a vague unease in their hearts.
"There's a legend that the Immortal Emperor was a divine phoenix descended to the world. Even if not true, there's likely some hidden truth and secret. Is this egg him undergoing nirvana, or someone else?" Pang Bo voiced such a terrifying conjecture.
This made everyone's hearts tremble. They exchanged glances. Since it had made the old man who once wielded a woodcutter's knife keep his distance, this blade and egg were clearly deeply problematic.
These last few images were each independent, with no connection between them, but each was astonishing, inspiring fear.
In the following years, they remained on this ancient star, tempering themselves in this life-bearing ancient land under the suppression of the Great Dao, cultivating.
This stone wall became their training ground. They constantly deduced and silently studied. After Ye Fan observed the first five images, he began to set aside his dharma power, selectively forgetting.
"One day, this world will cease to exist. All Daos will become empty. Only my heart remains, only my body exists—this is the True One."
He did not use dharma power, did not employ Dao principles. He walked the bitter path through this world on foot.
Ye Fan chopped firewood, fed horses, walked across this star. He once served as a minor official in an ancient city, was a battle general at the frontier, and traveled with a group of scholars to famous mountains and great rivers.
Four years later, he returned to himself. Amid the thousand feet of red dust, all the myriad duties of the world, his body passed through alone. Though it could not be called great enlightenment, there was sedimentation and harvest.
"My Dao..." Over these years, he had constantly pondered his next cultivation path, wanting to create his own scriptures. Now his thoughts gradually matured.
On this day, the Western Mountain stone wall was crystalline, almost dripping with luster. When Ye Fan, Pang Bo, the Dragon Horse, the Black Bear Saint, and the others sat in meditation, their scriptures resonated, producing strange sounds, rumbling loudly.
Even the Great Dao of the heavens could not suppress it. Clearly, they had all made progress in these four years, achieving no small feats. Now they had torn open the restraints of heaven and earth, causing Dao sounds to rumble here.
"Oh, ancient characters have appeared on the stone wall again..." the Scorpion Saint exclaimed in surprise.
On the stone wall, the moss and such had long been removed. Now, nourished by Dao light, it was as translucent as a jade platform. Lines of ancient divine script emerged.
It was still left by that old man, describing a conjecture. The nine-layered coffin of the Mythical Era had fallen into the mortal world, perhaps for some reason, descending on its own into the earthly realm, to follow some path forward.
Moreover, he had carved an ancient map—one ancient star domain after another, marked with coordinates. These were the paths he had traveled. On this path, he had seen the Immortal Heavenly Blade, encountered the divine egg, come across the ancient divine coffin, and everything on the erased ninth stone carving...
"Let's go. Let's go see what's there!" They set out, once again stepping into the starry sky. (To be continued)