Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Cover the Heavens Section 34

Before Ye Fan could answer, Li Zhi shouted at the people who had already surrounded Small Coffin: "All of you, back off. Don't block my work."

"Friend, can you tell us what this is? And what about the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport outside?" Wang Ziwen was sharp—he could tell from Li Zhi's slightly impatient tone that their time with the bronze coffin might be limited.

"Heh! Want to know? Wait until you become an Emperor." Li Zhi chuckled, but his hands never stopped moving.

Spray water, apply paper, brush flat, make a rubbing—one fluid motion, smooth and swift, so fast that some movements were just blurs to their eyes.

"Friend, we're all stranded here. Why play riddles with us?" Someone in the crowd shouted at Li Zhi.

"Stranded? Who told you I'm stranded?" Li Zhi laughed outright.

They could see it now—Li Zhi definitely knew something they didn't, but had no intention of telling them.

That's just how people are. Facing the unknown brings fear, but once a secret is known, curiosity replaces most of that fear.

With just a few words, the fear that had gripped their hearts mostly dissolved.

"You're a grave robber, and you dare mock us? Aren't you afraid we'll turn you over to the police once we get out?" Someone in the crowd yelled at Li Zhi.

Smack! A crisp sound rang out in the dark coffin.

"Ah!" A pained scream followed, then the same voice roared: "You dared hit me with a tomato!"

"Insolent tongue. Deserves a hit." Li Zhi said coldly.

Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, Lin Jia, and Li Xiaoman, who had just seen Li Zhi move, stared wide-eyed.

Li Zhi's throwing speed was twice as fast as a professional baseball player's, and his aim was terrifyingly precise.

Without any visible aiming motion, he simply flicked his wrist, and a bright red fruit flew straight into that classmate's mouth.

For a moment, the atmosphere inside the coffin turned tense.

Low murmurs spread through the crowd—several people seemed to be discussing teaching Li Zhi a lesson.

Then Pang Bo spoke up: "Li Changqing, didn't your dad teach you? Food you can eat carelessly, but words you can't. Boss Li is who he is—you've got no business running your mouth."

Ye Fan looked at Li Zhi in surprise: "Brother Li, ten months apart, and your skills have soared."

Li Zhi said: "Stuck on Mount Tai this long, it's hard not to grow."

Ye Fan asked again: "Did you tell sister-in-law that you got free?"

Li Zhi replied: "Your sister-in-law already knows we've left Earth."

"Left Earth?" Ye Fan stared at Li Zhi in shock.

"Otherwise, you think we're still on Mount Tai?" Li Zhi said.

Just as Ye Fan was about to ask more, the bronze coffin suddenly let out a loud bang, as if it had hit something.

Everyone felt a dizzying spin, but before they could react, they were steady again.

Yet Li Zhi and Small Coffin, who had been surrounded in the center, had vanished without a trace. Some people's hearts began to race.

"Look, there's light over there." Li Xiaoman suddenly pointed in one direction.

Then, like a tide, they surged toward a beam of light appearing a dozen meters away.

As for the mysterious Li Zhi, they decided the farther they stayed from him, the better.

After the collision, The giant bronze coffin tipped over. The lid tilted open, letting light from outside pour in.

A crowd rushed forward excitedly, squeezing through the gap wide enough for two people to walk side by side, escaping the dark coffin.

Only Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Lin Jia didn't follow the crowd out.

Ye Fan, still holding the Rubbing Pad, didn't see Li Zhi and called out: "Brother Li?"

He desperately wanted to understand what Li Zhi meant by "left Earth."

"I'm up here." Li Zhi's voice came from midair not far away.

The bronze coffin's tumble had lodged Small Coffin, once lying in the center, into the wall.

And Li Zhi, who had been rubbing the coffin wall, now stood on it.

Then he jumped straight down from six or seven meters high, landing lightly in front of Ye Fan and the others.

His skill at absorbing the impact was masterful.

Even Ye Fan was impressed.

Since surpassing what was considered the limit of mortal strength, Ye Fan had practiced some martial arts.

He couldn't claim to leap three or four meters high, but jumping from six or seven meters without a heavy thud on landing—he still couldn't manage that.

Ye Fan said: "Brother Li, your skills have really improved."

"Your classmates are all out. Why haven't the three of you gone?" Li Zhi asked.

"What did you mean earlier when you said we've already left Earth?" Ye Fan pressed urgently.

"Go out and see for yourself." Li Zhi slung his climbing backpack over his shoulders.

Then the four of them followed the others out of the giant bronze coffin.

What met their eyes was a land that seemed to have been soaked in blood.

Everywhere they looked, there was only reddish-brown soil and rock, as if they had arrived at a post-apocalyptic Gobi desert.

The sky itself was a murky gray, like the doomsday battlefield of a nuclear war in some movie, forever shrouded by a thick layer of Gray Mist.

The stunned crowd didn't snap out of it until Li Zhi and his three companions walked up behind them.

This was definitely not the summit of Mount Tai—everyone in their hearts had reached that conclusion.

Ye Fan stared at the scene before him and asked, "Where exactly is this place?"

Li Zhi glanced at the gloomy sky and said in a deep voice, "A former life source. The Nine Dragons Coffin Transport has existed since ancient times, forever roaming through the cosmos, moving from one life source to another, never lingering too long in any one place."

Ye Fan fixed his gaze on Li Zhi and asked, "Brother Li, where did you learn all this?"

Li Zhi replied briefly, "Mount Tai."

Then he said to the three of them, "You can stick with your classmates. I have things to do, so I won't bother you."

With that, Li Zhi walked toward the nine True Dragons in front of the bronze coffin.

Though they were now Dragon Corpses without any life fluctuations, the Life Level of those nine True Dragons in life had surely far surpassed the mortal realm—perhaps even exceeding True Immortals to reach the level of Immortal King.

They might be the only undying immortal corpses Li Zhi could ever get close to in this universe.

Even if they were dead now.

Thinking back to when the Desolate Heaven Emperor created the Dragon Transformation Realm, he had once fused the nine snow-white dragon bones—the predecessors of these nine Dragon Corpses—into his own spine, comprehending the Nine Transformations of the True Dragon and perfecting the Dragon Transformation Realm.

Though Li Zhi didn't possess the terrifying insight of the Desolate Heaven Emperor, he knew that thoroughly observing these nine True Dragon corpses would greatly benefit his future cultivation in the Dragon Transformation Realm.

Rather than risking life and limb to explore the Great Thunderclap Temple alongside Ye Fan and the others, it was better to maximize the gains he could extract from the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport.

Seeing Li Zhi walk off alone, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and Lin Jia exchanged glances, unsure of what he was up to.

Lin Jia asked, "Ye Fan, your neighbor is really strange."

At that moment, Ye Fan had many questions he wanted to ask Li Zhi, but judging by his attitude, it seemed he had no intention of catching up for now.

So the three of them followed the other classmates onto the soil of the Ancient Scarlet Planet, embarking on a life-or-death journey to explore the Great Thunderclap Temple.

Li Zhi, meanwhile, followed the chains connecting the bronze coffin and made his way to the nine True Dragon corpses.

The hundred-meter-long Dragon Corpses were enormous; standing right next to them, he couldn't take them all in at once.

Li Zhi had to back up, running to a spot two hundred meters away, before he could fit their majestic forms into the frame of his phone's camera.

Then he switched angles several times, snapping photos of the Dragon Corpses.

Unfortunately, the phone he'd grabbed on a whim had a camera that was Not high in quality, unable to clearly capture every detail on the Dragon Corpses.

But after taking the pictures, he strained his eyes to observe the specific details on the Dragon Corpses, trying to etch their divine essence firmly into his memory.

After that, he even reached out to touch and feel the icy aura radiating from the Dragon Corpses.

The Dragon Head, dragon claws, dragon body, dragon tail, dragon scales—Li Zhi didn't let a single detail slip by.

It seemed he was overusing his brain, as white steam began to rise from the top of his head.

At the same time, the excessive consumption of his Spiritual Power gradually drained the color from his face.

"Bong!"

It wasn't until a deep, thunderous bell toll echoed from afar that Li Zhi snapped out of his state of mental overexertion.

He immediately grabbed three fruits from the Snakeskin Bag in his backpack, shoved them into his mouth, and swallowed them whole. After replenishing his fluids, he felt like he'd come back to life.

Returning to the side of the Five-Colored Altar, Li Zhi didn't step onto it directly. Instead, he circled around it, taking photos nonstop.

He also picked up some broken fragments from the edges and stuffed them into his bag.

At the same time, a bold idea surfaced in his mind.

Maybe he could use this Five-Colored Altar as a platform to perform Stealing Heavenly Secrets, directly sacrificing the Three Lives Bronze Coffin and reaping a tremendous fortune in return.