"Buddha Jewel?"
Ji Ziyue chuckled, her laughter carrying a hint of disdain and amusement. "I suppose so."
"They're all just broken and dilapidated things. The real treasures were taken away long ago. What's left are just scraps, or... 'seeds' deliberately left behind by someone."
"Seed?"
Ye Fan keenly grasped the key words.
Ji Ziyue blinked mysteriously and didn't answer. She walked to the tall Buddha statue, looked up at the mottled face, and sighed softly.
"But then again, it's quite a stroke of luck that you found these things. Even though they're all junk, they're good for self-defense, after all..."
She paused, listened intently, and her expression suddenly changed slightly.
Almost simultaneously, Ye Fan also sensed it.
The ground is shaking.
No, it wasn't just the ground that was shaking; the entire space was vibrating.
The tremor was extremely slight, as if it came from the deepest depths, but Ye Fan's keen senses told him that it was not an illusion.
"What's going on?" someone asked in a panic.
"Sh--"
Ji Ziyue raised a finger to her lips, her expression unusually serious.
She listened intently, her delicate brows furrowing slightly, as if trying to discern something.
The tremors became increasingly noticeable, and dust began to fall from the temple roof.
Then, a muffled whistling sound came from afar, like the roar of some giant beast, or the wrath of heaven and earth.
"Not good."
Ji Ziyue's expression changed. "It's Earth Vein Storm, why at this time..."
Before she could finish speaking, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from outside the temple; it was the sound of a gale tearing through the air.
Through the dilapidated doors and windows, everyone saw that the sky outside was rapidly darkening—not the darkness of nightfall, but a sandstorm that blotted out the sun, with countless grains of sand being Shrouding the Heavens up by the gale!
The dark red sky turned dark brown, and visibility dropped sharply.
The wind howled louder and louder, like the wailing of a thousand vengeful ghosts, crashing against the ancient temple.
The walls were shaking, the tiles were swaying, and the entire Great Thunderclap Temple seemed on the verge of disintegrating in this terrifying storm.
"Quickly! Get out of here!"
Ji Ziyue turned around and said urgently, a look of anxiety appearing on her face for the first time, "This dilapidated temple can't withstand the impact of the Earth Vein Storm!"
"But outside..."
A girl pointed at the terrifying sandstorm outside the door, her face deathly pale.
"We'll die outside, and we'll die here too!" Ji Ziyue said sternly, "This temple has some kind of protective barrier, but it's already dilapidated. If the storm hits head-on, we'll all be buried here!"
She looked at Ye Fan: "Take them towards the direction of the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin! That's the only relatively safe place!"
"Why?"
While gathering everyone together, Ye Fan pressed for answers.
"Because there are remnants of the Five-Colored Altar's array patterns! Go quickly!"
Ji Ziyue practically screamed as she pushed open the temple door.
"Boom--"
The moment the door opened, a violent sandstorm rushed in like a tidal wave, stinging people's faces.
Visibility was less than ten meters, and all that could be seen was endless yellow sand, which almost completely obscured the dark red sky.
"Walk!"
Ye Fan gritted his teeth and charged into the storm first.
He knew this was the only option.
Pang Bo followed closely behind, then the others.
Driven by their survival instinct, even in fear, they had no choice but to rush into this apocalyptic scene.
The storm's power far exceeded expectations. The gale whipped up not fine sand, but a sandstorm mixed with gravel, which lashed the panel like a knife.
Ye Fan could only keep his body low to the ground and squint to determine his direction—fortunately, the bronze coffin was so large that its outline could be vaguely seen even in the sandstorm.
"Keep up! Don't fall behind!"
He turned and shouted, but his voice was almost inaudible in the howling wind.
The crowd struggled to move forward in the sandstorm, each step incredibly difficult.
Someone fell down and was helped up by those around them; someone was hit by rubble and cried out in pain.
Fear was spreading, but the will to survive sustained them.
Ji Ziyue did not follow.
She stood before the temple gate, her purple robes fluttering in the fierce wind, yet strangely, a faint purple light surrounded her, keeping the sand and dust at bay.
She watched Ye Fan and the others struggling forward, a complex expression flashing in her eyes, before turning around and looking into the depths of the Great Thunderclap Temple.
"Grandpa, what's going on now?"
She muttered to herself, then shook her head. In a flash, she transformed into a streak of purple light, piercing through the sandstorm at incredible speed and heading towards the Five-Colored Altar.
It took Ye Fan and the others almost ten minutes to cover the distance that should have taken only two or three minutes. When the massive outline of the bronze coffin became clearer and clearer in the sandstorm, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
But then they saw something even more shocking.
On the Five-Colored Altar, before the giant bronze coffin, a figure sat quietly cross-legged.
It's Lin Hao.
That mysterious young man I had just met briefly.
At this moment, he sat casually cross-legged in front of the Bronze Coffin, his eyes slightly closed, his expression calm, as if he were in deep meditation.
What's terrifying is that—within a radius of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) around him, all is calm and still.
It wasn't the calm that comes with a decrease in sandstorms, but a complete stillness.
The sandstorm and howling winds, when they approached within three zhang of him, seemed to have hit an invisible wall and vanished instantly.
The sand settled, the gale subsided, and an absolute, spherical realm of tranquility was formed.
Within this area, the air is clear and the ground is clean, a stark contrast to the apocalyptic scene outside.
Lin Hao sat in the center of this "absolutely calm" place, his clothes perfectly still and his hair perfectly straight, as if he were sitting in his own quiet room.
Ye Fan and the others rushed to the edge of the altar and stepped into that tranquil realm, their legs gave way and they collapsed to the ground.
The howling wind outside instantly turned into a muffled rumble, as if heard through thick glass.
"He... he..." Pang Bo pointed at Lin Hao, unable to utter a complete sentence.
The others stared in disbelief at the scene, as if witnessing a miracle.
At that moment, a purple light flashed, and Ji Ziyue's figure appeared on the altar.
She glanced at Lin Hao, then at the group of people sprawled on the ground, looking utterly disheveled, and scoffed, "Consider yourselves lucky."
Then she walked over to Lin Hao and complained in a low voice, "Grandpa, you seem so relaxed, while I was almost dragged to my death by those 'kids'."
Lin Hao slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes were as deep as the night sky, calm and undisturbed.
He glanced at Ji Ziyue, then swept his gaze over Ye Fan and the others. His eyes lingered briefly on the bronze mirror in Ye Fan's hand before moving away.
The time is not right.
He uttered four words softly, his voice not loud, yet strangely piercing through the roar of the storm, clearly reaching everyone's ears.
"When will it be calculated?" Ji Ziyue pouted, then her eyes lit up, "Could it be...?"
She didn't finish speaking, but Lin Hao nodded slightly.
Ye Fan struggled to his feet. Although his whole body ached, he remained polite and bowed deeply to Lin Hao: "Thank you for your protection, senior."