Yinghuo

Chapter 22: Yinghuo

Just then, the Bronze Coffin suddenly shook violently. No one could keep their footing, and quite a few people were thrown straight to the ground.

"What's happening? What happened?" Everyone was filled with uncertainty and fear.

Some of the female students were even on the verge of tears, clutching tightly at the people beside them.

"Have the rescuers arrived? Are they trying to save us?"

Amid their worry and terror, the Bronze Coffin shook even more violently. No one could remain standing; nearly everyone fell to the ground, pressed against the icy Bronze Coffin.

Boom!

With the final violent tremor, they could clearly feel the enormous Bronze Coffin collide heavily with something.

We've finally reached the first stop, Yinghuo! Zhou Tong felt a surge of delight. There was still a priceless treasure here.

The Bodhi Seed!

I can't touch the opportunities connected to Ye Fan and the Ruthless Great Emperor. But anything unrelated to the Ruthless Great Emperor—I'll gladly take it! Zhou Tong silently thought.

Soon, the Bronze Coffin settled down.

"Light, there's light!"

"We can get out! Someone must have come to save us!"

"The huge Bronze Coffin has tipped over, and the lid has tilted open a crack. We're finally out of danger!"

Countless students were overjoyed and quickly crawled outside.

But once everyone had emerged, they all froze.

As far as the eye could see, there was only desolation. The reddish-brown earth was cold and lifeless, while the sky was dim and heavy with deathly stillness.

This was definitely not Mount Tai, nor was it anywhere they knew.

"Where... is this?" The speaker's voice trembled.

"Could the rescuers have dumped us in some uninhabited region? Did they think we were infected with something?" Another person spoke, his voice shaking as well.

"Where have we ended up? I want to go home..." Someone else spoke, their voice carrying a hint of tears.

Ye Fan quietly watched it all. Suddenly, he thought of Zhou Tong and instinctively glanced in his direction. The moment he did, he stood there dumbstruck.

Zhou Tong made no preparatory movement at all. He merely seemed to press lightly with his foot, and his entire body shot up like a cannonball, directly "jumping" onto a massive boulder more than twenty meters tall nearby.

"Damn! How did Little Tyrant turn into Superman?" Pang Bo, standing beside Ye Fan, cried out.

He had followed Ye Fan's gaze and witnessed Zhou Tong's astonishing leap onto the boulder.

At Pang Bo's shout, everyone immediately looked toward the boulder. Zhou Tong was somehow already standing atop it, looking around in every direction.

The boulder was a full twenty meters high. They had only just come out—even a professional climbing team could not have scaled it in such a short time.

"Little Tyrant, how did you get up there?" Zhou Yi shouted.

"Zhou Tong, what did you see up there? Where is this? Is anyone nearby?" Wang Ziwen immediately asked as well.

Only then did Zhou Tong turn around and look down at his many classmates. "This is no longer Earth. It's very dangerous, so all of you stay here and don't go anywhere. Remember, don't stray too far from the coffin. If you run into danger, even I won't be able to save you!"

They had been classmates for many years, so Zhou Tong warned them out of a desire to save whoever he could. Of course, if they insisted on courting death, there was nothing he could do.

"Zhou Tong, what did you see?"

"Little Tyrant, what exactly is out there?"

The moment Zhou Tong said there was danger, everyone was terrified and began asking questions.

Facing their questions, Zhou Tong said nothing more. He merely shook his head, then leaped straight down from the boulder and ran toward Great Thunder Sound Temple.

He knew there were several ungrateful wretches among these classmates, so to avoid exposing himself if possible, he did not fly and simply ran instead.

"He..."

Seeing Zhou Tong's actions, the others opened their mouths as if to say something, but could not get the words out.

He had jumped directly from a height of over twenty meters, and that running speed was clearly not something a human should possess!

"Ye Fan, what exactly has Zhou Tong been doing these past three years? Among all our classmates, only you kept in touch with him. You must know something, right?" Frightened by Zhou Tong's actions, Wang Ziwen immediately turned to Ye Fan and asked.

"I don't know much either," Ye Fan said calmly. "Over the past three years, he was the only one who could find me—I could never find him. But according to him, he spent those three years... cultivating immortality!"

"Cultivating... immortality!?"

"No way, immortals really exist?"

"Of course they do! Even dragons have appeared. Isn't it normal for immortals to exist too?"

The moment the words "cultivating immortality" were spoken, the group of students erupted. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that they were in danger and instead began discussing it with great interest.

"Hmph, Ye Fan, since you're so close to Zhou Tong, don't tell me you've cultivated too?" Liu Yunzhi, who had always been at odds with Ye Fan, was so jealous that his eyes turned red as he directly picked a fight with him.

Ye Fan glanced at Liu Yunzhi and said blandly, "Whether I cultivate immortality or not is none of your business. If you want to learn, wait until Zhou Tong comes back and ask him yourself to take you as his disciple."

"Haha, Little Tyrant told me that to become a disciple, you have to kowtow nine times and serve your master tea. Only once the master drinks the tea does it count as a successful apprenticeship. After entering the sect, you also have to carry water and chop firewood every day for a year before you can officially be taught cultivation techniques! Liu Yunzhi, could you endure that?" Pang Bo laughed and teased.

"Pang Bo, you..." Liu Yunzhi wanted to say more, but before he could finish—

A vast Buddhist chant resounded through the heavens, shaking the firmament. Heaven and earth, in all directions, trembled!

"Om, ma, ni, ba, mi, hum..."

The Buddhist Six-Character Mantra rang out at once. The compassionate, solemn, profound, and mysterious chant was incomparably vast, cleansing away filth and washing clean the Mortal Realm. For a moment, everyone stood stunned.

But soon, when the chant faded, someone noticed something strange.

It was a dim ball of light, emanating faint Buddhist chants as it rapidly rushed toward them.

"What is that?" someone cried out.

But before his voice had even faded, that ball of Buddha Light had already rushed to their side.

The light dispersed, revealing Zhou Tong.

But Zhou Tong now looked completely different from when he had left.

Half a Vajra Pestle was tucked into the belt at his left side. A broken Jade Ruyi and a damaged Precept Ruler hung from the belt at his right, while a Fish Drum was tucked behind his waist. He held a shattered Bronze Bell in his left hand and an Incense Burner in his right. A Wooden Fish was tucked in his arms, and he carried a huge plaque across his back.

"Damn, Little Tyrant, what did you go do?" Pang Bo stared wide-eyed at Zhou Tong as he ran back.

Zhou Tong glanced at him, then directly threw the plaque from his back over to him. He stuffed the Bronze Bell into Ye Fan's hands, the Incense Burner into Wang Ziwen's, and handed the Wooden Fish to Zhou Yi...

As he distributed the objects, he said, "Quick, get into the Bronze Coffin immediately. Danger is about to descend. People are going to die. If you don't want to die, get inside now."

With that, Zhou Tong ignored the others. After distributing the items, he took a single stride and leaped straight into the Bronze Coffin.