Chapter 928: Yinghuo Demon Sea Eye
Mars, anciently known as Yinghuo, was entirely reddish-brown in color, mainly due to abundant hematite. As early as twenty years ago, before Ye Fan had even left Earth, he had seen some related reports—this was a barren, lifeless dead star.
Yet before him now stretched a vast expanse of black water, with towering waves and the roar of a tsunami crashing against the very heavens. It was a horrifying scene, utterly unbelievable and impossible to comprehend. Yinghuo Ancient Star should have had water in the past, but it had supposedly dried up countless tens of thousands of years ago.
Ye Fan stared in shock. A black wave surged right up to him, nearly engulfing him. The salty, fishy water was no illusion—this was real! He soared into the air, dazed and almost petrified. Where had the water come from? What had happened? Was the lost mythical era about to reappear?
He was extremely vigilant, staring at those ghost ships. Though they were far away, he could already sense a chilling, sinister aura.
The black ocean quickly submerged this place. As far as the eye could see, there were only black waves, crashing against the sky and rolling up a thousand layers of foam—magnificent and vast. It all happened too fast. In the blink of an eye, the barren land vanished, and an endless expanse of water became the only sight. Even the Five-Colored Altar and the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Monastery were submerged.
"Is this still Yinghuo Ancient Star?" Ye Fan muttered to himself. This defied all understanding.
In the distance, several ghost ships sailed steadily atop the waves, never capsizing. Green ghost fires flickered faintly, making them all the more eerie. Moreover, a thick, heavy fog spread across the entire sea, blurring every scene and making it hard to see clearly.
In such a short time, the environment had completely changed. If Ye Fan were to land on Yinghuo Ancient Star now, he would surely fail to recognize it and would likely mistake it for some unknown star region.
The fog was thick, and the few ghost ships became increasingly hazy. If not for the jumping green ghost lights, they would have been completely invisible, vanishing into the black ocean.
His previous understanding was overturned. Ye Fan pondered seriously, staring fixedly at those ghost ships. If he wanted to understand the situation, everything would have to start with them.
He stepped onto the water and moved forward quickly, leaving a trail of ripples behind him. His long robe fluttered, and his hair flew in the wind as he approached a slightly smaller ghost ship.
It was ancient in style, long and large enough to hold several hundred people without issue. The pitch-black hull was wreathed in ribbon-like mist, exuding a bone-chilling, gloomy aura.
This sea area became deathly still. Even the great waves ceased to surge. A silence like death reigned, with not a single sound.
Having cultivated until now, Ye Fan had fought no fewer than a thousand battles. He was fully experienced in facing enemies and naturally feared nothing. One could even say his skill made him bold. He landed on the ship.
The fog grew thicker, even affecting his Heavenly Eye. This was a misty sea imbued with Dao principles!
Ye Fan, with the Primordial Qi Cauldron above his head and the God-Slaying Whip in hand, walked forward on the ancient ship, searching in the darkness. The ship was empty, with only a bronze lamp hanging at the bow, its ghostly flame flickering.
He walked toward the cabin and was startled. Something tripped his foot. Looking down, he saw a corpse that had been dead for who knows how many years.
Going deeper, he found corpse after corpse, all clad in armor. The iron garments were nearly rotted. He lightly touched one with the God-Slaying Whip, and with a clatter, rusted iron pieces fell to the ground. The flesh had turned to ash, and a white skeleton scattered on the floor.
"What era are these people from? Are they the original inhabitants of Yinghuo Ancient Star? Where does this black ocean usually hide?" Ye Fan wondered in astonishment.
Soon, he reached the deepest part of the cabin. There was a blood pool built from ink jade. The blood inside had long dried up, and several humanoid creatures were wrapped in hardened blood clots.
Suddenly, a change occurred. A hand grabbed Ye Fan's ankle from behind with tremendous force, nearly pulling him off balance.
A corpse had revived! It was immensely strong. When it failed to pull him down, it leaped up like a monkey and lunged at his neck with both hands.
It was like a corpse rising from the dead—a vivid scene of a vengeful ghost strangling someone. Even Ye Fan, seasoned in battle, was startled. His hair stood on end. He quickly retreated, then swung the God-Slaying Whip forward.
"Boom!"
His strength was immense. Even a Dao-Severing King struck by this would be annihilated in both body and soul. Few in the world could match his physical power.
"Clatter, crash!"
The rusted iron armor shattered on the spot, and the bones turned to powder. This bizarre corpse was smashed to pieces and could no longer cause trouble.
"Bang!"
In the dried blood pool, the five ancient corpses wrapped in hardened blood clots all broke free. They let out piercing howls, leaped high, and pounced on Ye Fan.
Ye Fan spread the five fingers of his left hand, and five dragon-shaped beams of light shot out, piercing forward. This level of lethality was enough to kill a Sect Leader on the spot.
However, with five soft sounds, the five blood corpses were pierced through but still charged forward, unaffected.
Ye Fan's heart tightened. These corpses must have been extremely powerful in life, definitely having severed the Dao. Now, only by completely destroying them could he end their painful nightmare.
"Boom!"
He gently shook the cauldron. Strands of Mother Qi descended, each as heavy as a mountain, instantly grinding the ancient corpses into powder, turning them into ashes of calamity.
"This place is really strange. These things, left behind who knows how many tens of thousands of years ago, haven't decayed and can still attack..." Ye Fan marveled.
"Woo... woo..."
Suddenly, a mournful wailing like crying sounded, exceptionally terrifying in this silent black dead sea, making one's scalp tingle.
Ye Fan immediately rushed out of the cabin and onto the deck, staring at the source of the sound. It was the bronze ghost lamp hanging at the bow. He punched it, and with a "puff," the ghost fire went out, and the ancient lamp turned to slag.
But the wailing had already spread across the black ocean. Its sound was especially far-reaching. The nearby ghost ships quickly approached, with several corpses standing on their decks, looking extremely eerie.
"Just a few ancient corpses. They haven't become anything significant. Nothing to fear." Ye Fan sneered. He executed the Six Paths Reincarnation Fist. His golden fists instantly stirred up towering waves. Boundless golden light surged, turning these ghost ships into powder, including the ancient corpses.
The sea calmed down. Everything was silent. Even the waves subsided. The entire ocean was deathly still, without a sound.
Yet Ye Fan felt uneasy. An ominous aura was spreading, as if something was about to happen.
Sure enough, before long, the atmosphere grew even more oppressive and suffocating. Nine enormous black ancient ships suddenly appeared, each as tall as a mountain!
They made no sound, appearing abruptly like nine islands, full of a sense of pressure. They were shrouded in thick fog, with only the ghost lamps at their bows flickering with dim light.
Dead silence reigned, until the great ships arrived before him. A piercing scream first broke the stillness, followed by a scene that made one's scalp crawl.
The nine black ships erupted in chaos. Countless ghost claws waved, nearly boiling over. Ghostly energy surged to the heavens, the noise deafening, and the eerie ghost cries pierced the soul.
Then, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, crackling sounds filled the air as tens of thousands of ghost corpses jumped from the ships, charging toward Ye Fan. Many plunged into the black sea and swam over, their ghost claws covering the water's surface.
This scene was enough to make one's hair stand on end!
Unheard of, unseen before, this bizarre spectacle made Ye Fan's heart pound violently. He didn't understand why such a horrifying thing was happening.
"Boom!"
Powerful ghost corpses flew directly at him, spewing black clouds as if they could swallow heaven and earth. Their ghostly bodies were enormous, all clad in rusted iron armor.
Ye Fan was in big trouble, engulfed by a sea of ghosts. His golden fists shattered everything in their path, but among them were powerful ghost creatures with bronze tendons and iron bones—definitely Half-Saints in life.
"Here... I understand!"
Looking at their armor and the endless sea of ghosts, Ye Fan realized these must be the ancient soldiers he had seen on the Five-Colored Altar. They had turned into this after death.
He figured that on Yinghuo Ancient Star, there must be a place of extreme yin, burying countless spirits. Their bodies had been preserved until now. Whenever the mysterious black sea surged, they could follow and cause chaos.
Ye Fan fought, trapped in a predicament. The ghost corpses were too numerous. There were vengeful spirits that had been Half-Saints. Though they had lost their former Dao power, they were still terrifyingly formidable.
Just as he was about to sacrifice the Nine-Colored Flame, a blinding golden light suddenly appeared from the end of the sea. It scattered the endless yin fog and approached rapidly.
This was a dazzling great ship, radiating boundless divine radiance, illuminating the entire world. It dispelled the thick fog and emitted a deafening Buddhist chant, endless and resounding through the sky.
It was as if Mount Sumeru had arrived, with all the Buddhas chanting in unison. The sounds turned into runes, soaring into the sky to suppress these ghost corpses. Divine radiance surged forward.
Buddhist light shone everywhere. Many ghost corpses shattered and vanished into smoke. More retreated into the nine black ghost ships, which now faced off against the dazzling ship.
Ye Fan was astonished. This divine Buddhist arrival had instantly turned the tide, forcing many ghost creatures to retreat. But what was this sacred ship all about?
Suddenly, he froze. On that seemingly sacred, dazzling ship, there were no living people. Hundreds of Arhats with golden bodies had long since passed away, their skin and bones, their lives extinguished. All the Buddhist chants came from the residual thoughts and Dharma bodies they had left behind.
A ship full of dead monks!
Ye Fan counted carefully. There were exactly five hundred old monks, each one skin and bones. Yet there was no deathly aura. Their skin was golden, wreathed in divine light and inscribed with runes.
Could these be five hundred Golden Body Arhats? He drew in a sharp breath!
The dazzling ship carried five hundred Golden Body Arhats, naturally restraining ghost creatures. The Buddhist chants never ceased, resounding through the clouds. The nine black ghost ships wailed mournfully and quickly fled into the depths of the black sea.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, great waves surged, crashing against the shore. The monstrous waves stretched for thousands of miles, as if they would split the sky. Both the ghost ships and the Buddhist ship were out of control, pulled by a tremendous force toward the north.
At the same time, Ye Fan noticed that the black ocean was receding. The tsunami rolled back, retreating toward the North Pole of Yinghuo at an incredible speed.
"What's going on?" Ye Fan didn't understand. Many places were once again revealing land. He gave chase.
At the North Pole of Yinghuo Ancient Star, a massive sea eye appeared. The entire surging ocean flowed into it. The nine ghost ships and the golden Buddhist ship were also spinning around.
This sea eye was enormous, possessing a demonic nature. It could even swallow heaven and earth. The space around it twisted, causing the void to continuously collapse! It was terrifyingly boundless.
Ye Fan's expression changed immediately. This was probably the greatest secret of Yinghuo Ancient Star. The ocean that was thought to have evaporated was here!
"Roar..."
A great roar split the heavens and shattered the earth, coming from the depths of that demon sea eye. If Ye Fan weren't a Sacred Body, he would have exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
"Brat, you ruined my great plan! The millennium-opening demon sea eye immortal burial ground has closed like this. Eating your flesh and drinking your blood won't quell my immense hatred!"
A vast surge of blood energy instantly flooded heaven and earth, as if the entire universe would explode. Demonic aura towered to the sky. This was absolutely an ancient demon saint!