The Death Qi in his bloodline gradually subsided, and the Sea of Bitterness slowly calmed as well.
Ji Hao slowly opened his eyes. A streak of Divine Light flashed, making his glass-like eyes even deeper.
He rose from the boundless Void, his blood surging through his body with the roar of a vast ocean.
"Finally suppressed it. That wasn't easy. Good thing I took the Bodhi Seed beforehand. Otherwise, I'd have been too embarrassed to snatch it from Ye Fan. After all, in terms of seniority, he calls me Ancestor."
Yes, too embarrassed—not because he was afraid of some brother-obsessed maniac!
As if sensing something, Ji Hao raised his head.
The Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes erupted with dazzling Divine Light, piercing through the Void to behold the scene outside.
The Void itself aided him, allowing Ji Hao to see farther.
Within the boundless Void, Ji Hao was like a fish in water. With a single thought, he could command the power of the Void and use it to kill enemies. Unless one was a Dragon Transformation Realm expert, no one could contend with him.
In the original story, Ye Fan casually got groups of Dragon Transformation Realm cultivators killed. But in the Big Dipper, Dragon Transformation Realm cultivators were all sect elders. In some lesser Holy Lands, they could even be called Tai Shang Elders, standing at the upper levels of the cultivation world and ruling over lands spanning hundreds of millions of miles.
"Om, ma, ni, ba, mi, hum..."
A vast Buddhist chant resounded through the Firmament, shaking the heavens. Heaven and Earth, in all six directions, trembled!
"The Six-Syllable True Words!" Ji Hao looked toward the Great Leiyin Temple in the present world.
Bathed in Buddha's light, the compassionate, solemn, profound, and mysterious Zen chant was incomparably vast, cleansing away filth and washing away mortal dust.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, Nine Secrets: Shu circulated once more, attempting to deduce the Six-Syllable True Words. Legend had it that the complete Six-Syllable True Words could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Nine Secrets.
He just did not know whether it rivaled the complete Nine Secrets or merely one of them. Still, since such a legend existed, it could at least contend with one of the Nine Secrets.
Moreover, judging by its lineage, the Buddhist Sect could very well be traced back to the Ancient Immortal era, a legacy left behind by some Immortal Monk King.
It was perfectly normal for it to rival the Nine Secrets.
Ji Hao closed his eyes and sensed the unique Dao rhythm of the Six-Syllable True Words, feeling the rhythm of Heaven and Earth. It was as though he had stepped into ancient Years. The Sea of Bitterness was boundless, while the spiritual radiance of his Divine Soul grew ever more brilliant. A thread of pure Buddha's light was born.
Within the boundless Void, a halo emerged behind Ji Hao's Physical Body.
Extremely pure Buddha's light was born from behind him.
The Buddhist Sect had always excelled at conversion. In the past, Great Emperor Amitabha had been an oddity upon the Emperor Road. During the struggle for the Emperor Road, he had not killed a single person, even fearing that sweeping the ground might harm the lives of ants.
He pitied the hardships of all living beings and simply converted every opponent on the Emperor Road, turning them into protectors of the Buddhist Sect.
As the Buddhist Sect's supreme Supernatural Power, the Six-Syllable True Words naturally possessed the ability to convert others. Ji Hao opened his Divine Soul and carefully experienced it, allowing the Buddhist chant to invade him. Naturally, that was dangerous.
For all he knew, when he woke up, he might have cast aside the four worldly attachments and entered the Buddhist path. Ji Hao had not guarded against it, thinking that if ordinary people like Ye Fan and the others were fine, how could a Dao Palace cultivator like himself have any problems? But Ji Hao had forgotten that the higher one's cultivation, the stronger the influence of certain things. It truly was impossible to guard against everything.
On the other side, after the Great Leiyin Temple turned to dust, Ye Fan and the others ran toward the Bronze Ancient Coffin.
Behind them was a Category 18 Martian sandstorm. Even the empty earth shook, as though thousands of troops and horses were charging across it, or as though raging ocean waves were surging.
Before they had run very far, a female classmate suddenly collapsed and died for no apparent reason. Everyone was horrified when they saw a terrifying bloody hole appear in her forehead.
Before they had time to grieve, they found several more people falling one after another, each with a bloody hole emerging on their forehead. It was incomparably bizarre. Terrified, the group hurriedly tried to get away from that place.
Within the red storm behind them, pairs of scarlet eyes opened. Little crocodile gods crawled out one after another, opening their bloody maws and pouncing toward the group.
"Dong..." Suddenly, a melodious bell rang out, vast and solemn, like great bells reverberating.
An incomparably brilliant golden light surged from Wang Ziwen. His entire body was enveloped in dazzling golden radiance, as though he had donned a thick suit of golden battle armor. It was extremely resplendent, like golden Divine Fire burning.
At the same time, Buddhist treasures erupted with dazzling Divine Light on their own—golden Thunder and flames.
One after another, they seemed to become Super Saiyans.
At Ye Fan's urging, three or four people shared a single Buddhist treasure. Though there was some friction along the way, it was fortunately resolved.
They hurried toward the Bronze Ancient Coffin, every one of them using all the strength they had.
Everyone remained silent along the way. At last, they reached the Five-Colored Altar. Fortunately, no more deaths occurred, allowing everyone to breathe a small sigh of relief.
The nine enormous dragon corpses and the Bronze Ancient Coffin lay silently atop the Five-Colored Altar, still just as shocking.
"That is..."
When they arrived before the Altar, everyone was startled. The Five-Colored Altar glowed hazily, with faint specks of light gathering from every direction and sinking beneath the stone base.
The light barrier covering the sky gradually dissolved and slowly vanished. It turned out to be because of the Five-Colored Altar, which seemed to be accumulating some kind of mysterious energy.
A bloodcurdling roar came from the direction of the Great Leiyin Temple, as though an ancient Primordial World behemoth had shattered the earth, broken free from its seal, and roared until mountains and rivers shook and stars and moon trembled. It sent a shiver rising from the depths of everyone's souls.
Yet everything immediately fell completely silent again. The terrifying roar subsided, leaving only the rumbling of the sandstorm outside the Five-Colored Altar.
"What was that?"
"Are there other living creatures on Mars?"
"Legend says that Buddha suppressed many demons and monsters. Perhaps the sealed place is near the Great Leiyin Temple."
At that moment, rustling sounds arose. Outside the light barrier, densely packed ferocious creatures resembling crocodiles appeared, numbering in the hundreds and thousands.
Ye Fan and the others watched the crocodile horde rolling like ocean waves and swallowed with difficulty.
"We're probably going to stay here forever!" Zhou Yi said despairingly.
At that critical moment, a figure emerged from the Void.
"Heroes always make their entrance at the critical moment!" Ji Hao crushed pieces of Source with a backhanded grip. A great amount of Source Qi poured out and drifted toward the Five-Colored Altar at once.
Boom!
After absorbing the Source Qi, the Five-Colored Altar shook. Its energy was rapidly replenished, and ancient Runes in five colors appeared in the sky, shining like stars. The Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram was about to emerge—a sign that the Starry Sky Ancient Road was opening.
At the same time, a terrifying tremor came from the ruins of the Great Leiyin Temple over a thousand meters away. Those lantern-like blood-red eyes rose several meters higher. After thousands of Years, Crocodile Ancestor had finally broken free of Shakyamuni's restraints and burst out from beneath the ground.
Escape from here. Escape from Mars! That was what everyone thought. They watched the gradually brightening Tai Chi Eight Trigrams Diagram and prayed that the Starry Sky Ancient Road would open soon. Even drifting forever through the desolate universe would be more reassuring than remaining here.
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