Yinghuo's Shocking Transformation, Exploring the Ruins

The moment everyone stepped out of the Bronze Coffin and saw the scene before them, they froze as if struck by a paralysis spell, standing there like clay statues.

As far as the eye could see, the land was stained by endless blood, a horrifying expanse of reddish-brown. It was cold, barren, and utterly silent.

The surroundings were desolate and empty, devoid of all life. Scattered boulders lay across the ground like solemn tombstones, silently recounting this land's unknown past.

"Where exactly is this? Are we really no longer on Mount Tai?"

"Where have we come to? I want to go home..."

Some of the female students could no longer bear the fear in their hearts and began to sob. Their tearful voices sounded especially mournful amid the silent wasteland.

"We... really are lost. I'm afraid we'll never find our way back."

Another female student broke down in tears, her body swaying. If not for someone beside her supporting her in time, she would have collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, everyone's faces were pale as paper. Amid the atmosphere of despair, terrifying possibilities involuntarily rose in their minds. The unfamiliar scene before them felt like another world.

Though no one wanted to face that cruel reality, the vanished Mount Tai and the dead desert hammered at their hearts like heavy blows, leaving them silent.

"Everyone, don't panic, and don't be afraid. There'll always be a solution!"

At the critical moment, Ye Fan shouted, trying to steady everyone's emotions as they teetered on the verge of collapse.

Lin Yu knew clearly that they had already arrived at Mars. This was where the Great Thunderclap Temple, built by Shakyamuni to suppress the Demonic Creatures of the Eighteen Levels of Hell, stood. It was also the brutal battlefield of ancient supreme beings, where even the Undying Heavenly Sovereign had once undergone Nirvana Rebirth. Danger lurked everywhere.

Although he had great confidence in the inherited Divine Elephant's Prison Technique and believed its power was no weaker than that of legendary experts, he had yet to truly embark on the path of cultivation. He still had to proceed with utmost caution.

"Everyone, search around first and see if we can find any clues," Lin Yu said calmly.

At that moment, the enormous Bronze Coffin lay tilted atop the altar. A massive boulder stood quietly beside it, while faint points of light shimmered in the distant sky. In this dim world, those weak glimmers were like a barely perceptible thread of hope.

"Praise... merciful God, I... I see light!"

A foreigner shouted excitedly in halting Chinese.

Then, he impatiently turned around, waved his arm hard behind him, and yelled at Li Xiaoman among the crowd.

"I see... light!"

After shouting, he quickly climbed down from the boulder and ran toward Li Xiaoman.

Before long, many people climbed onto the boulder and looked into the distance. The faint light flickered in the darkness like tiny fireflies, stubbornly piercing the dim space as it slowly came into view.

Though that source of light was not bright, it lit a fire in the hearts of those on the brink of despair. Many of the female students immediately cried out in delight.

Though the faint glow ahead remained shrouded in layers of the unknown, it seemed to possess an invisible magic that drew everyone forward.

It was human nature to instinctively fear darkness while yearning for light.

"Please don't let us down."

"I really hope a miracle happens."

"I think we should explore that patch of light together."

"I agree. It's safer if we stick together."

After some discussion, everyone finally decided to head toward the light as a group.

As the group passed the boulder they had climbed earlier to look into the distance, Liu Yunzhi suddenly cried out, "There are words carved on that boulder!"

Everyone hurried over and circled around to the side of the boulder facing the light. There, they saw two enormous ancient characters carved into it. Each character was five or six meters tall, their strokes vigorous and majestic, like furious dragons winding through the air.

They had been carved by ancient people long ago. More complex than modern writing, they had endured through the ages. Everyone stared at the characters, most of them frowning deeply, unable to recognize them.

"This seems to be Bronze Inscription Script. The first character should be 'Ying,'" Zhou Yi said after studying it for a long while. He frowned slightly and muttered, "What kind of mysterious place have we come to...?"

"That's right, it is Bronze Inscription Script. These two characters are 'Yinghuo.'"

After examining them carefully, Ye Fan casually spoke the two characters. Though he appeared calm on the surface, their meaning was like a bomb exploding in his heart, stirring up towering waves.

Yinghuo? How could it be Yinghuo? Ye Fan could hardly believe his own judgment. He instinctively looked up at the sky, but the heavens were dim, and the few stars had yet to fully emerge.

"Yinghuo? What does that mean?"

"Is Yinghuo a place?"

Many people looked utterly bewildered, having no idea what the two characters meant.

When Zhou Yi heard the name "Yinghuo," his heart shook violently and his face instantly turned pale. He muttered, "Flickering firelight, chaotic and bewildering. Could it be that we really... can never return?"

"What does that even mean? Where exactly are we?" Everyone was filled with alarm and pressed anxiously for an answer.

The moment Wang Ziwen heard "Yinghuo," he understood its meaning and quickly explained to everyone.

"This place is probably no longer Earth. Flickering like fire, it was called Yinghuo in ancient times. Ancient people called Mars Yinghuo."

In ancient times, people had already noticed Mars. It possessed a distinctive red color and varied greatly in brightness. From afar, it flickered like fire.

Its path through the sky was also complex, sometimes moving from west to east and sometimes from east to west, impossible to predict. Thus came the saying, "Flickering firelight, chaotic and bewildering," and the ancients called it Yinghuo.

"Oh my God!"

After Kade, standing beside Li Xiaoman, finally understood the Chinese meaning of "Yinghuo," he was so shocked that he did not know what to do. He grabbed handfuls of reddish-brown soil to examine closely, then struck the rocks hard to inspect their geology, crying out again and again.

"How is this possible?" Many people stood dumbfounded, their minds blank, completely unable to accept such an absurd reality.

"The reddish-brown land beneath our feet is... Mars? We really aren't on Earth anymore?!"

Anyone who heard such a conclusion would be left staring blankly, feeling that none of it made any sense.

After all, just half an hour ago, they had still been atop Mount Tai, enjoying the joy of reaching its summit. Yet in the blink of an eye, they had somehow found themselves standing on this distant ancient planet, Yinghuo. It was simply unbelievable.

Lin Jia was tall and graceful, with a seductive figure. At that moment, her beautiful face had also turned slightly pale. Her phoenix eyes swept lightly over the crowd as she said, "Right now, we've only seen this stone inscription. We can't be completely certain that we're truly on the planet Yinghuo."

"But Mars is said to have a dry surface covered everywhere in red soil and gravel. Isn't that exactly what we're seeing?"

A female student spoke in a trembling voice, her tone full of fear and helplessness.

"If we really are standing on Mars, I don't think we can survive here at all. There isn't enough oxygen, and the temperature isn't suitable..."

Though Li Xiaoman's face was equally pale, she still forced herself to say this. Her words gave many people a faint glimmer of hope.

Everyone hesitated before the boulder for a long while before finally moving toward the faint light in the distance.

They had thought it was close at hand, but after walking more than five hundred meters, they still had not arrived. It seemed they would have to walk just as far again.

Along the way, everyone was lost in their own thoughts and rarely spoke. The atmosphere was heavy and oppressive, and each person feared that this final hope would be like a bubble, ready to burst at the slightest touch.

"Since Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin brought us here, there might be another way out. Keep your spirits up, everyone. If we can find ruins left behind by ancient people, perhaps we can find a new path to survival."

Lin Yu encouraged everyone as he walked.

During the exploration, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others remained calm throughout. They had long since become certain that they were no longer on Earth and had prepared themselves to face anything.

The group continued onward, and sure enough, a stretch of Heavenly Palace Ruins appeared ahead. Some roof tiles had not yet completely decayed. This discovery instantly ignited everyone's spirits, and they became wildly excited.

"If there are tiles, then there must have been buildings. It seems this land is not home to only a Five-Colored Altar. Maybe people really did live here."

"We're saved!"

"We can definitely escape this danger!"

With these new discoveries, the pessimism that had shrouded everyone's hearts immediately faded considerably.

However, just then, "Ah..."

A female student suddenly let out a piercing scream. Her voice carried especially far through the night sky, tearing through the already tense atmosphere.

"What happened?"

"A skull, a human skull!" The female student's face drained of color. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she staggered backward.

Everyone looked in the direction she pointed. In the gravel not far from the collapsed pavilion, half of a snow-white skull was plainly exposed. It was clearly something the female student had stepped on by accident. No wonder she had been terrified.