Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, Samadhi True Fire

"Among mountains, none is greater; among histories, none is older. It truly was majestic and magnificent."

Standing atop Mount Tai, Xiao Yan looked down, and an inexplicable surge of bold ambition rose in his chest.

To stand atop the highest peak and see all other mountains reduced to insignificance—nothing more than that.

Ever since arriving in the world of Shrouding the Heavens, he had inexplicably wanted to fight people.

To contend for the Great Dao, to stand alone through all eternity.

"Hey, Old Xiao, why does it feel like there are fewer people on the mountain today?"

Ye Fan, standing beside him, felt much the same. He draped one arm over Xiao Yan's shoulder and the other over Pang Bo's, sighing with emotion.

After Xiao Yan and Ye Fan had picked up Pang Bo, they could clearly tell that there were far fewer casual tourists today than expected. Though crowds still filled the place, it did not feel so packed that people were shoulder to shoulder and unable to move.

"I watched the stars last night and saw a bloody disaster here today, so I made a few suggestions and had the visitor flow restricted."

Xiao Yan turned and smiled.

He had not spent the last two days doing nothing. If he remembered correctly, quite a few people had died when Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin descended in the original story.

Sitting by with a clear conscience and watching those people die was not his style.

He had sent an anonymous suggestion to the relevant departments, warning them about things like crowd stampedes.

Things had gone remarkably smoothly. There really were fewer people on Mount Tai than before.

"Why aren't you with your classmates? Are they still coming?" Xiao Yan glanced at Li Xiaoman, the foreigner beside her, and Liu Yunzhi, who was clearly up to no good, then raised his brows suggestively.

The two of them had gone together to pick up the arriving Pang Bo. Compared to Ye Fan's classmates, Xiao Yan had a much better impression of Pang Bo.

"...Heh, only a few of them are close to me." Ye Fan smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, I told them there were too many people and it would be crowded, but they still insisted on coming to Mount Tai."

"You should've told them that Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin would fall from the sky today, the heavens would collapse, the earth would split, and blood would flow like rivers."

"Heh, then why don't you use that excuse when you make suggestions to the tourism bureau and get them to reduce the crowds even more?" Ye Fan rolled his eyes.

Although, based on what he knew of Xiao Yan, he somehow felt that Xiao Yan was not lying, believing such an obvious excuse to reduce the number of climbers would be even more ridiculous than believing Xiao Yan was Qin Shi Huang.

"Then there's nothing I can do." Xiao Yan shrugged.

Just as he was about to say something else, a tiny black dot suddenly lit up in the sky.

Accompanied by bursts of wind and thunder, it rapidly grew larger at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It was as though nine black rivers were falling from the heavens.

Ye Fan's eyes instantly widened, and he could not help blurting out a curse. "So that joke you told me was fucking real?"

"Fuck!" Pang Bo stood dumbfounded.

Chaos erupted among the crowd.

Looking at the enormous object in the sky, cries of alarm rang out without end.

Though it was still far away, Xiao Yan could see it with perfect clarity.

Those nine rivers were clearly nine black dragons.

Like an inverted heavenly river, they dragged a massive bronze coffin down toward Mount Tai.

After a brief silence, Mount Tai erupted into chaos. Everyone fled in panic, rushing in every direction to avoid the approaching dragon corpses.

It was a shocking sight. Beneath the blood-red setting sun, Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin descended upon Mount Tai!

Terrified screams and helpless cries filled the air as people scattered in all directions.

Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin did not fall especially quickly, but when it descended, it still shook the summit of Mount Tai violently.

Yet in the instant before it landed, Xiao Yan moved!

"Evacuate everyone! If you don't want to die, run!" Empowered by artifacts, Xiao Yan's voice, mixed with Dou Qi and spiritual power, boomed beside everyone's ears like a great bell.

With one motion, he pulled Pang Bo and Ye Fan behind him. He flung two bead bracelets from his waist, and they hovered above their heads. In an instant, red light blazed, forming a shield seemingly made of flames around them.

Then Xiao Yan's expression turned grave. Golden light flickered in his eyes, his aura surged wildly, and four explosive booms burst forth from within his body.

Opening Gate, Rest Gate, Life Gate, Injury Gate.

His essence, energy, and spirit were enhanced in every aspect, while his recovery speed greatly increased as well.

Ignoring the two men, who were already completely stunned, Xiao Yan stepped forward. Streams of light shot from his hand toward the sky.

As Dou Qi and spiritual power poured into them madly, one barrier after another unfolded in the air.

Those translucent barriers not only carried an upward repulsive force, but also a faint sealing power.

He did not seek to stop Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin—only to slow it down somewhat.

Cracking sounds rang out one after another. With almost no delay, barrier after barrier shattered.

But Xiao Yan did not care in the slightest. Two days had been enough for him to accomplish far too much.

Those low-grade artifacts had been disposable to begin with.

Although Xiao Yan did not consider himself a good person, and would only do what he believed was right without caring about worldly judgment,

at this moment, more than anything else, he wanted to contend with the heavens. Those who were destined to die or be injured—he, Xiao Yan, would protect them!

He formed a hand seal, and the various artifacts seemed to ignite like hidden backup energy reserves. At the cost of burning themselves up, they unleashed even greater resistance.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The descending speed visibly slowed. More than half the Dou Qi within Xiao Yan had been depleted. After catching his breath, he turned his head and immediately began cursing.

"Fuck, what time do you think this is? Why are there still people standing there?"

Some even had the leisure to pull out their phones and take pictures.

Seeing that everyone with eyes had run away while some people still stood there without fleeing,

there was only one thing to say: good advice could not save someone determined to die.

He shouted one final warning. When he saw that some still refused to leave, Xiao Yan immediately curled his lip, clenched his five fingers, and detonated every artifact in the sky. Then he activated Suction Palm, pulling Ye Fan and Pang Bo over and shielding everyone in front of him.

Rumble...

After a brief delay, Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin crashed down.

Dust flew everywhere, and shattered rocks scattered through the air.

Deep fissures were smashed into the earth.

Several terrified roars mixed with curses directed at Xiao Yan rang out, but those grating sounds did not last long. In the next instant, flesh and blood flew everywhere.

"People like that were babied too much by their parents." Xiao Yan curled his lip.

"Fuck, Old Xiao, you're incredible! In every possible way!" After his brief shock, Ye Fan stared wide-eyed as he looked Xiao Yan up and down.

Noticing Xiao Yan's expression, Ye Fan immediately shook his head and sighed. "Old Xiao, they're only picking on you because you're educated."

Ye Fan reached out and poked the artifact protecting him. Light continuously flickered in his eyes. There really were supernatural powers on Earth.

"You did everything you could. Thank you, Brother Xiao, for saving my life." After briefly steadying his emotions, Pang Bo clasped his hands toward Xiao Yan, his eyes full of sincerity.

"We're brothers. No need to be polite." Xiao Yan smiled.

He had saved those who should be saved and had not saved those who should not be saved. A perfect ending!

Contentedly, Xiao Yan looked around, then gazed down the mountain once more. His state of mind was entirely different now, his thoughts exceptionally clear, and he threw back his head with an especially bright and hearty laugh.

"Jie jie jie jie—"

With his Dao heart flowing freely, his three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit became highly concentrated, and a flame unexpectedly ignited within his body.

The supreme technique of the Wuhou Sect—Samadhi True Fire!