The Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram in the sky finally took complete form. With the Source contributed by Ji Hao and the boost from the Yin-Yang Life-and-Death Diagram just now, the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram charged rapidly. The symbols at all eight trigram positions shone at once, radiating dazzling light as the Starry Sky Gate reappeared.
"Boom!"
With a dull tremor, the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram opened completely like a gateway, revealing a mysterious, enormous passage leading who knew where. Its depths were pitch-black.
The nine enormous dragon corpses, which had originally lain still and silent, suddenly began to tremble.
Though the dragons that had stood alongside gods had become cold corpses, they still could not be profaned. A powerful Dragon Qi spread forth, and every divine crocodile present trembled in fear, prostrating themselves on the ground. Their bodies shook like sieves, utterly cowed.
"Roar!"
Thousands of years of imprisonment had nearly driven him mad. His Sacred Blood boiled, Divine Power surged, and his vast demonic aura soared straight into the clouds.
Ji Hao took a deep breath, preparing to use a blood sacrifice on the Xuanyuan Sword and fully revive this Quasi-Emperor Weapon that had once been bathed in Supreme Being blood.
During the Primordial Era, it had not only been the Flame Emperor and Yellow Emperor whose emperor corpses underwent spirit awakening. There had also been the warlord Chiyou, another being whose emperor corpse had awakened. He had once been known as the Jiu Li Great Emperor.
Yet after reviving once more, he had fought Yellow Emperor in a battle that shook the heavens. He had even once overwhelmed Yellow Emperor due to the latter's physical condition. In the end, during the battle of Zhuolu, Flame Emperor and Yellow Emperor joined forces to defeat Chiyou, dismembering him and destroying his Great Emperor body.
The Xuanyuan Sword had thus been bathed in Supreme Being blood. Its power surpassed that of ordinary Quasi-Emperor Weapons and was second only to an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon.
Threads of Extreme Dao aura awakened upon the golden Xuanyuan Sword. The images carved upon its blade illuminated all directions: the Sun, Moon, and Stars, mountains and rivers, plants and trees.
The atmosphere instantly froze to the extreme. Most of Ye Fan's group had already entered the Bronze Ancient Coffin to take shelter. Only Ye Fan and Pang Bo remained on the Five-Colored Altar, awaiting the final outcome.
This was not merely a battle between Ji Hao and Crocodile Ancestor. It concerned every one of their hopes of survival.
"Get lost!"
Just as tension reached its peak, a Daoist shout came from the Void, intimidating Crocodile Ancestor.
"Rumble!"
With just one shout, its momentum was incomparably majestic, as though it could shatter the Heavens and Myriad Realms with a single cry and rebuild Heaven and Earth. It was terrifying beyond measure.
"Roar..."
Crocodile Ancestor roared again, but this time it was a cry of pain. A Quasi-Emperor's Daoist shout had nearly shattered his Divine Soul.
A Quasi-Emperor might carry the word "quasi," but he was still an emperor. During the Ancient Chaos Era, beings like this had another title: Supreme Beings!
From the perspective of the life level, Quasi-Emperors were practically not even the same species as other Living Beings. They had undergone a world-shaking transformation.
Drops of Sacred Blood fell from Crocodile Ancestor's mouth, crushing mountain after mountain and splitting the earth apart. His skull cracked open, revealing a brilliant Divine Light. That was his Immortal Platform, the spiritual radiance of his Divine Soul.
Crocodile Ancestor retreated in terror. Though he was enraged, when faced with the crisis of life and death, he obediently backed down. Otherwise, Shakyamuni would never have been able to seal him away.
"Go do what you wish to do. You are destined to soar into the Nine Heavens. For now, these old bones of ours can still hold things up. Perhaps the future will require you to quell it." A gentle voice reached Ji Hao's ears.
"I understand!" Ji Hao said resolutely. He knew very well what he would have to face: the Dark Turmoil more than two hundred years in the future. He did not want things to unfold as they had in the original story, with Yellow Emperor and Flame Emperor sacrificing themselves to summon back Void Emperor and Great Emperor Hengyu. This world needed a Variable, and he was the greatest Variable!
Ji Hao turned toward Crocodile Ancestor, his expression exceedingly punchable. "Are you looking to die? I told you I had people backing me up, but you didn't believe me. Sigh, those who bring ruin upon themselves cannot be saved!"
Crocodile Ancestor watched Ji Hao with extreme vigilance. He did not even dare circulate his power to heal his own injuries. He knew very well what sort of person he was facing.
A being suspected to be a Quasi-Emperor.
Ji Hao shrugged. "Forget it, I'm not talking to you anymore. My ride's about to depart again. Bye-bye!"
With that, he walked toward the Five-Colored Altar.
"Let's go!"
He made a beckoning gesture at Ye Fan and Pang Bo, then put away the Xuanyuan Sword and carried it on his back. Mars was not safe, after all. Not only did it contain the Eighteen Levels of Hell sealed by Shakyamuni, it also had the Great Completion Holy Body's Divine Remnant!
That thing was incredibly sneaky. Who knew, it might already be hiding inside the Bronze Ancient Coffin, preparing to launch a surprise attack.
After his battle with Crocodile Ancestor, Ji Hao thoroughly understood his own weakness. Because of his physical condition, to be honest, Ji Hao had never fought from childhood to adulthood. He had only cultivated under Yellow Emperor's guidance or battled Yellow Emperor with Divine Sense to temper himself.
Now that he had reemerged without the Xuanyuan Sword in hand, he truly did not feel very secure.
"Clang!"
The coffin lid closed. Everyone was now inside the Bronze Coffin, and only some time after it had shut did they hear Crocodile Ancestor's earth-shaking, unwilling roar.
"What are you yelling for? You're making a racket! Keep yapping, and I'll have my grandfather stew you and turn you into braised crocodile!"
With someone backing him up, Ji Hao immediately stopped acting timid and struck back hard.
"Thank you, little brother!" Ye Fan took a deep breath and said gratefully.
"No need to be polite. We're all family here!" Ji Hao said after glancing around the Bronze Ancient Coffin.
"Crack!"
The Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram unfolded once more, and Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin took flight.
The Bronze Ancient Coffin shook violently. Everyone braced themselves against the walls and crouched in a corner, weeping silently. Ye Fan had no time to grieve. He looked toward Ji Hao, his attention fixed on the divine sword strapped to Ji Hao's back.
"One side is carved with the Sun, Moon, and Stars; the other with mountains, rivers, plants, and trees. One side of the hilt bears the arts of farming and animal husbandry, while the other bears strategies for unifying the four seas."
"That is the Xuanyuan Sword," Ye Fan murmured to himself.
Suddenly, Ji Hao, who had been searching around, felt a change in his expression. He discovered something unusual that sent a chill through his body. His gaze swept over the surroundings, deep and unfathomable. Even he did not notice the faint mist beginning to spread around him.
"What is that?!"
A figure with disheveled hair flickered indistinctly among the crowd, occasionally appearing on the walls of the Bronze Coffin.
"The Great Completion Holy Body's Divine Remnant. He really did enter the Bronze Ancient Coffin!" Ji Hao muttered.
Ji Hao's gaze grew solemn. He knew this was the Divine Remnant that had escaped from the Ancient Temple together with Crocodile Ancestor. Amitabha Buddha had captured this Divine Remnant in the past. Out of respect for his achievements, Amitabha Buddha could not bear to kill him and instead suppressed him on Mars.
Had the Xuanyuan Sword on Ji Hao's back not been emitting a faint glow to intimidate him, who knew what this Divine Remnant might have done!
Ji Hao had no means to deal with the Divine Remnant for the moment. He could only rely on the Xuanyuan Sword to intimidate him.
Seeing that the Great Completion Holy Body's Divine Remnant no longer moved, Ji Hao stopped paying attention to him and walked over to the Small Bronze Coffin in the center.
"Several hundred ancient characters left behind by Huangtian Emperor," Ji Hao said eagerly as he stared at the Small Bronze Coffin.
"Here I come!"
This was absolutely the strongest inheritance in the world of Shrouding the Heavens. They were Scriptures left behind by an Immortal Emperor. Though the original story explained that they were a method for repairing the Immortal Domain, Ji Hao was certain they were far more than that.