Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Cover the Heavens Section 37

Just like those Nine Heavens Deity Coffins exiled across the universe, this was something all powerhouses steered clear of.

But Crocodile Ancestor, that iron-headed fool, seemed completely unaware of this taboo.

Sure enough, the moment Crocodile Ancestor grabbed the Bronze Giant Coffin with his demonic aura-shrouded hand, he met his doom.

His saintly body was instantly broken, saint blood flowing from his palm like a small river and falling onto the Five-Colored Altar. It didn't even manifest the usual phenomena of saint blood—only a faint crimson radiance bloomed before dimming, as if the boundless divine energy within the saint blood had been devoured entirely by the Five-Colored Altar in an instant.

Crocodile Ancestor seemed to have lost his wits, not even noticing this.

Instead, he let out a cold laugh, as if picking a fight with someone unseen, and appeared at the edge of the Bronze Giant Coffin.

Then, a scene that left Li Zhi dumbfounded unfolded.

The Buddhist artifacts in Ye Fan and the others' hands seemed to awaken on their own, gathering an overwhelming divine power that sent Crocodile Ancestor flying.

There was no way those broken weapons could have done that.

Someone must have intervened from the shadows.

Li Zhi instantly thought of the quasi-emperors living in seclusion on Earth. Whether it was Shakyamuni striking from afar or Laozi doing the same, he couldn't tell.

At this distance between Earth and Mars, to those high-level quasi-emperors, it was no different from happening right before their eyes.

The Nine Dragons Coffin Transport descending on Earth—Li Zhi believed that if they were on Earth, they wouldn't have missed it.

But they all knew the grave karma tied to the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport and chose not to interfere.

And who knows, maybe they even sensed Ruthless Great Emperor's aura from the coffin.

As Li Zhi drifted into thought, The Bronze Lamp, Great Thunderclap Temple Plaque, Alms Bowl, Vajra Scepter, Wooden Fish Drum, and all the other Buddhist artifacts in Ye Fan and the others' hands burst forth with ten thousand rays of light, soaring into the sky on their own and gathering an unmatched divine power to suppress Crocodile Ancestor.

Crocodile Ancestor seemed to sense something, letting out an eerily sinister laugh before shaking his body slightly, releasing a surging Demonic Flame.

"Boom!"

The massive collision shook the entire space, causing it to tremble.

Some lower-quality Buddhist artifacts shattered instantly, releasing boundless divine energy that was absorbed by the Five-Colored Altar below.

Crocodile Ancestor tried to block the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport from departing, only to be sent flying by a Dragon Tail Sweep.

During this, another scene left Li Zhi speechless.

Ye Fan and the others actually ran out of the Bronze Giant Coffin to retrieve those dimmed Buddhist artifacts.

Ye Fan even took off his shirt to collect a bundle of Little Crocodile corpses—wasn't he afraid those little crocodiles weren't fully dead and would strike them hard?

When they returned to the ancient coffin, Crocodile Ancestor, who had been sent flying by the Dragon Tail Sweep, charged back in, reaching for the Small Coffin inside.

Seeing this, Li Zhi was utterly speechless.

No wonder Crocodile Ancestor would end up as roasted meat in the future.

With that kind of insight, wanting to reach a higher level? Dream on.

Sure enough, Crocodile Ancestor's demonic power seemed to trigger the divine energy Ruthless Great Emperor had left in the coffin. The carvings of Ancient Ancestors and Deities, as well as the Primordial Ferocious Beasts on the bronze-rusted coffin walls, all began to emit a hazy glow.

A grand Sacrificial Sound rang out instantly.

Crocodile Ancestor finally snapped back to his senses, a flicker of fear crossing his face, and he fled immediately.

Even in the void, the sound of footsteps—"thud, thud, thud"—lingered.

Then, with a loud "bang," the Bronze Giant Coffin sealed shut.

The nine massive Dragon Corpses slowly lifted the Bronze Giant Coffin into the air. The saint-level seal Crocodile Ancestor had placed on the Starry Sky Gate tore like paper, and the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport surged through the Starry Sky Gate, vanishing from sight.

Seeing the bronze coffin close, Li Zhi finally let out a long sigh of relief.

That reckless Crocodile Ancestor had finally come to his senses at the last moment.

Otherwise, if he failed to take the coffin and lashed out in fury, who knows how many times they'd have been wiped out.

If someone hadn't secretly protected them, the mere aura Crocodile Ancestor emitted could have crushed them.

Relying on those artifacts to fight Crocodile Ancestor? Dream on.

Did they really think a Saint was made of paper?

Thankfully, they had made it through the most dangerous part of the journey without incident.

Maybe it was ignorance that bred fearlessness—Ye Fan and his classmates didn't find anything particularly astonishing.

But Li Zhi, who understood Crocodile Ancestor's strength, had been enduring torment.

As the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport set sail again, silence fell within the coffin once more.

No one knew how much time passed before those who had been mentally exhausted finally regained some spirit.

Some began to cry quietly, some trembled in place, and others sighed to themselves.

Of course, there were definitely those secretly scheming—now that myths had descended, what could they gain from it?

Another five or six hours passed, and it seemed they had all dozed off.

Finally, someone spoke again, "What kind of place will we reach?"

"Will we reach the Abode of the Gods?"

The sights they had witnessed earlier left them utterly shaken and stunned.

The atmosphere inside the coffin soon turned relaxed and lively, with some even starting to dream of glorious futures as gods and ancestors.

Before long, they noticed another corpse among them.

The dead man was the male classmate who had tried to ambush Ye Fan on the altar.

Naturally, Ye Fan became the prime suspect.

Liu Yunzhi even pointed at Ye Fan, accusing him of murder.

Ye Fan found himself trapped in an awkward position, unable to clear his name, and could only seek his classmates' trust.

Another test of human nature had arrived.

In the end, Ye Fan gained the support of six classmates, including Pang Bo, Liu Yiyi, and Zhang Ziling.

"Crunch, crunch." Just as the two sides were on the verge of a standoff, the sound of someone eating fruit came from across the way.

"A ghost!" a female classmate suddenly shouted.

"Who's there? Come out!" Liu Yunzhi roared instantly.

"Go on, don't mind me. I won't interrupt you," Li Zhi said in the tone of a bystander enjoying the drama.

"Crunch, crunch." But in that tense atmosphere, the sound of him biting into an apple was downright infuriating.

"Brother Li, you're okay?" Ye Fan seemed to just remember Li Zhi.

The battle earlier had been so fierce, and he hadn't seen Li Zhi anywhere. He'd assumed Li Zhi had been killed by the Crocodile Ancestor.

As Li Zhi, still munching on his fruit, emerged from the darkness to join them, he said, "I have to admire your luck. You dared to fight a Great Yao at the Ancient Saint Realm and only lost this many people. Your fortune is so strong, it's rarely seen in this world."

"What do you mean by that? We were all fighting for our lives, and you're here making snide remarks," Zhou Yi said.

"Don't act so noble. I warned you—hide and you'd survive. But you wouldn't listen, and a few more people died for nothing. You've got no one to blame but yourselves," Li Zhi said indifferently.

If they had hidden inside the Bronze Giant Coffin earlier, maybe those people wouldn't have had to die.

Of course, that was just Li Zhi's wishful thinking. They had no idea what the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport meant, so they naturally wouldn't think hiding in a coffin was safe.

Seeing them fall silent, Li Zhi pointed at the dead classmate and said, "If you don't hurry up and kill the little crocodile inside his body, I reckon more people will die next."

Ye Fan quickly acted, finding the little crocodile inside the body.

In the end, Little Crocodile was smashed into a pulp by Pang Bo using the Great Thunderclap Temple plaque.

At least, that's what Ye Fan and the others saw.

But what Li Zhi saw was different. The man had indeed died from a crushed throat.

The little crocodile entered his body afterward.

And though that little crocodile was moving, Li Zhi couldn't tell if it was alive or dead.

In Li Zhi's view, it was still Ye Fan's fault.

There hadn't been any little crocodiles in the coffin originally. For some reason, Ye Fan had brought back a big bundle of little crocodile corpses from outside.

Was he planning to eat them as food?

Wasn't he afraid some of those corpses might contain little crocodiles playing dead?

All Li Zhi could say was, bold and reckless.

After the "Ye Fan murder case" was neatly resolved, the atmosphere grew heavy again.

Ye Fan felt a faint disappointment toward his classmates.

He led Pang Bo, Liu Yiyi, Zhang Ziling, and the other three who had trusted him toward the spot where Li Zhi had been.

When they saw the pile of fruit in the corner, they all looked stunned.

Ye Fan asked, "Brother Li, where did you get all this fruit?"

Li Zhi said, "Picked it on Mount Tai. I was planning to bring it back for your sister-in-law, Ji Zu, and Xian'er to eat. But I ran into this big opportunity with the Nine Dragons Coffin Transport instead. Guess they're out of luck."