Everyone huddled together in fear, but their terror did not lessen in the slightest.
"Don't come any closer!"
Just as Ji Hao began reminiscing about his daily life, the others inside the Bronze Coffin were already wailing miserably.
"Why is there no signal here? I want to call the police! There's a monster here!"
"Stop shouting. The Mount Tai base stations were probably damaged. None of us have a signal. There may be something inside the Bronze Coffin that blocks signals as well."
"Everyone, don't panic. Something like this happened on Mount Tai, so the whole country will surely know about it soon. The entire world may even be shaken. There's no way there won't be any news. We just need to wait for rescue."
The one speaking was Zhou Yi. He was remarkably composed, and his calm words instantly quieted some of them down. Everyone felt somewhat reassured, though several female classmates were still secretly covering their faces and sobbing.
"But the question is, can we hold on until the rescue team arrives? This guy isn't going to eat us, is he?"
Pang Bo spoke gloomily.
After hearing that, everyone fell silent for a moment before screams rang through the Bronze Coffin.
"Everyone, gather together. I heard monsters are afraid of yang energy," Lin Jia said, gathering her courage.
Everyone agreed with the suggestion and hurriedly crowded together. Under the faint light of their phones, they gathered in a cluster, their frightened faces dimly illuminated.
Inside the Bronze Coffin, Ji Hao stood near its edge while Ye Fan and his classmates huddled together. At this point, no one had the mind to wonder why Pang Bo, who should not have been here, had appeared inside the Bronze Coffin.
At that moment, Ji Hao, who had still been pondering his Golden Finger, suddenly snapped back to his senses. Everyone screamed again.
Seeing them like this, the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward into a mischievous smile.
Ji Hao casually pulled out a high-powered flashlight and instantly lit up the dark Bronze Coffin clearly.
In an instant, even the atmosphere became less bizarre. Now that it was much brighter, the crowd gathered together stared wide-eyed at one another, awkwardly realizing that some of them were almost pressed face-to-face.
The previously incomparably bizarre atmosphere vanished without a trace in that instant.
"I already told you I'm not some monster. Why won't you believe me?" Ji Hao sighed helplessly. "What happened to trust between people? You've disappointed me too much."
Ye Fan wore a strange expression as he looked at Ji Hao's disgusted face, as though his expression were saying that the kid had grown up crooked.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness he isn't a monster."
"I told you, how could this little brother be a monster?" Ye Fan said, also letting out a breath.
He then looked at Ji Hao oddly. Coming to Mount Tai for a trip, yet carrying such a huge flashlight—was he here for sightseeing or prospecting?
Seemingly sensing everyone's gazes, Ji Hao smiled with interest. "As a tourist waiting for a ride, isn't it perfectly normal to carry a flashlight?"
Everyone suddenly understood. No wonder he was in such a state. Still, the brighter interior did make them feel much more at ease. After all, darkness was the most likely thing to inspire fear of the unknown.
"You scared me to death. It's all because you people kept talking about monsters," Pang Bo said with relief, patting his chest with an arm as thick as an ordinary person's thigh.
"By the way, what ride are you waiting for? You waited all the way to Mount Tai?" Pang Bo asked carelessly.
"I'm waiting for Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin! I've been waiting for quite some time," Ji Hao said with interest.
"Oh, Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin! Brother, how long have you been waiting here... N-Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin...?" Pang Bo abruptly stopped as though his words had caught in his throat.
The air suddenly fell silent.
Only Ji Hao's voice continued echoing through the Bronze Coffin. "Not long. Only five thousand years!"
Inside the ancient Bronze Coffin, one could have heard a needle drop.
Ji Hao dimmed the flashlight and held it beneath his chin. In the dark space, his pale and handsome face looked especially terrifying.
"Sigh, I've been waiting here for five thousand years. I'm so hungry from waiting. I haven't eaten anything in ages." Ji Hao even rubbed his stomach solemnly as he spoke.
"Ahhhhh!"
The people opposite Ji Hao clung to one another and screamed.
"Hehehe!" Ji Hao watched them with delight.
"Jingwei, Jingwei." Jingwei cried out dissatisfiedly from Ji Hao's shoulder and scratched his cheek with her little claws.
"Alright, I'm not joking with you anymore. I'm actually a cultivator. I know a little divination and calculated it," Ji Hao said nonchalantly.
Most of the people present could not come into contact with something on the level of Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin. Besides, they knew absolutely nothing about the cultivation world. They were a bunch of complete novices, so he could tell them whatever he wanted.
"You brat, you tricked us!" Liu Yunzhi said furiously. He had only caught Ji Hao's first few sentences and had not heard anything after that.
"Yeah, so what if I tricked you?" Ji Hao said, clapping his hands.
"Ye Fan, move aside," Ji Hao said, pointing at Ye Fan.
"What is it?" Ye Fan asked, his mind full of question marks. He had yet to recover from the fright. Though he was quite brave, the emotional ups and downs had been far too thrilling.
"There's no harm in getting up. Move aside for now. I have something to say to them," Ji Hao said seriously.
"Ye!" Pang Bo said worriedly.
"It's fine. I believe he won't hurt me." With that, Ye Fan walked to one side.
"Mm, good!" Ji Hao nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Now I can say it. Everyone here is trash in my eyes, understand?"
A tremendous pressure erupted from Ji Hao's body. The rushing sound of blood flowing echoed out—it was the majesty belonging to the bloodline of an Emperor.
Clang!
Suddenly, everyone seemed to feel the bronze Coffin Chamber tremble, as though it had fallen, only for its force to be dissolved by an invisible power before it landed steadily.
Ji Hao no longer paid attention to this bunch of extras.
(Pang Bo: I'm not an extra!)
Have we arrived at Yinghuo Ancient Star?
Ji Hao frowned. Yinghuo was no simple place. It was a dangerous region that suppressed peerless Demonic Creatures. Even the Immortal Emperor had been undergoing Nirvana here all along. Even with his Golden Finger, he had to act with extreme caution.
"Has the rescue team come to save us?"
"Oh my God, thank God!"
Everyone was overjoyed. A few people even began to cry, because they saw the coffin lid opening and light shining in from outside, allowing them to see hope.
At that moment, everyone felt as though they too had become light.
Everyone rushed out of the Coffin Chamber, scrambling and crawling as they fled.
But the sight before them left them stunned. The towering, majestic Mount Tai had vanished. The ground was like crimson blood, dark and deep, while huge rocks stood like tombstones, looking incomparably bizarre.
Everyone followed the source of the light and discovered a massive rock ahead, carved with bold and vigorous characters.
"This seems to be bronze inscription script. The first character is Ying."
Zhou Yi spoke.
"It's Yinghuo, which is Mars!"