The shaking stopped, and the mountain soon grew still, but Mount Tai had already descended into chaos. Many people fell as they fled, and the scene was utter pandemonium. Many had blood streaming from head wounds as they rushed down the mountain in terror.
"It's finally here!"
Su Yu spoke to himself, his gaze fixed on the Bronze Coffin.
In the eyes of these mortals, this was merely a spectacle. But in his eyes, the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin spanned the Perfect Era and the Shrouding the Heavens Era. These nine dragon corpses surpassed every living being in the entire Shrouding the Heavens Era and were remnants of the previous era. The patterns engraved on the massive Bronze Coffin were all immortal dao scriptures.
In the Primordial Era, the Corpse Immortal Emperor had obtained the smallest coffin from within it.
In the Immortal Ancient Era, Immortal King Wuzhong and the others had left the immortal souls of countless True Immortals from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths inside the ancient coffin to escape that world-ending calamity.
During the Chaotic Ancient Era, the emperor fire of the nameless Quasi-Immortal Emperor had also been left inside this Bronze Coffin.
Although he had prepared himself, the sight was still too shocking. It was the sign that heralded the opening of the golden age, a tangible depiction of the road to the heavens.
Nine enormous dragon corpses, each a hundred meters long, lay with most of their bodies stretched silently across the summit and the rest hanging down the cliff. Like a black Great Wall of steel, they were filled with an astonishing sense of power, an overwhelming sight.
Jade Emperor Peak on Mount Tai had been split open, and terrible fissures scored the ground.
The Bronze Coffin, nearly twenty meters long, was exceedingly ancient and unadorned. Faint ancient designs marked its surface, along with the heavy imprints of time, and it was suffused with an air of mystery.
All of this grossly defied common sense and overturned the understanding of mortals. Everyone's thoughts had been profoundly shaken.
When chaos had erupted earlier, Ye Fan and his companions had not fled in panic. They had gathered together until Jade Emperor Peak grew still.
Now, their faces were filled with shock. The inconceivable sight before them would remain with them for the rest of their lives!
The nine enormous dragon corpses lay silently before them, and the massive Bronze Coffin was a truly overwhelming sight. It was all too shocking and mysterious. Everyone was struck speechless by the scene.
Clicking his tongue, Zhou Yi said to Wang Ziwen, "You were saying how much you regretted missing yesterday's sea of clouds. Isn't this even more unbelievable?"
Wang Ziwen was dumbstruck too. Lin Jia said in a low voice, "We should hurry down the mountain. In these circumstances, we ought to move somewhere safe."
Ye Fan, meanwhile, was staring at Su Yu. He had heard Su Yu's words, and his eyes narrowed.
It's finally here? Who exactly is this person... and are those real dragons? There are actually dragons in this world. Though Ye Fan's mind was full of questions, he also prepared to descend the mountain with the others. A supernatural phenomenon like this was not something they could meddle with.
Suddenly, Li Xiaoman pointed ahead and said, "What's that?"
Half a piece of jade protruded from the split ground, reflecting a glint of the setting sun.
The Five-Colored Altar on Mount Tai. Was the divine dao space based on this before? Looking at the jade piece and golden cord, Su Yu had some conjectures about his narrow escape from death last time.
Chapter 12: Ascending the road to the heavens, traveling in song, shrouding the heavens with a flick of a finger
At the same time, the Five-Colored Altar began to erupt with astonishing fluctuations. Countless ancient characters shimmering with starlight danced wildly through the air, then slowly formed a massive set of trigrams that covered the entire sky. A mysterious force shook forth from it.
Those ancient characters and symbols possessed inconceivable power. Su Yu could see the power of laws surging within them, much like the fluctuations when he had crossed the star domain last time, though much weaker.
After coalescing, they manifested as a gigantic Eight Trigrams Diagram above the ancient Bronze Coffin and the nine dragon corpses. It had the weight and texture of metal, as though cast from metal essence refined a hundred times.
A gap appeared beneath the lid of the ancient Bronze Coffin. The Eight Trigrams Diagram in midair continued to evolve, and a taiji diagram emerged at its center. The yin and yang fish nestled together in the middle, divine power gathering within them. It was a summoning incantation.
Once Su Yu understood what the runes did, he paid no attention to the others. His body shone as he rose straight into the air and flew into the massive Bronze Coffin.
Rather than be dragged roughly into the massive Bronze Coffin by the summoning incantation, he might as well take the initiative.
Dignity was a must!
Ye Fan and his companions were destined to be unable to escape. The empress, or rather the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, had planned everything.
The group on Jade Emperor Peak was petrified. What had they just seen? That Daoist from earlier could actually fly! The dragon coffin had descended from the sky, and a divine being had appeared, completely shattering their view of the world.
"Did that Daoist just fly over there?"
"Heavens, how could such a thing happen?"
Kaide, who stood beside Li Xiaoman, cried out in shock, shouting over and over, "OH MY GOD! God, what happened?"
"Everyone, don't panic. We should get down the mountain right away..."
A clamor of voices filled the summit...
Su Yu paid Ye Fan no mind from inside the Bronze Coffin. Once the summoning rune activated, everyone would be brought into the ancient coffin. No one could escape.
Inside the massive Bronze Coffin, all he could see was darkness and deathly silence. Su Yu slowly walked through the darkness to its center, where another Bronze Coffin rested. Less than four meters long and two meters wide, it was ancient and dull, engraved with ancient images, covered in verdigris, and etched all over with the frost and wind of the years.
Su Yu took out a jade meditation cushion and sat down right beside the Three Lifetimes Bronze Coffin, gently stroking its surface. In the original story, after obtaining the Bodhi Seed, Ye Fan had acquired a passage of immortal script from this coffin.
Within it lay a vast world. Someone had once sought to develop an Immortal Domain in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, but had ultimately failed, and that unfinished creation lay inside this Bronze Coffin.
Suddenly, the massive Bronze Coffin shook, and a tremendous crash came from outside. Su Yu paid it no mind, but the silence within the coffin was soon broken.
"What do we do? Who can save us?"
"Are we really inside the Bronze Coffin now?"
"Why is this happening? Is there any way out?" Some cried out in fear, while others kept dialing on their phones, but there was no signal here.
"Everyone, there's no need to panic. Although there's no signal right now, after something like this, rescue will definitely arrive as soon as possible. Don't worry!" Zhou Yi was calm, and his words did indeed dispel some of the fear.
The light from dozens of phones dispelled the darkness at the bottom of the coffin, and everyone noticed the white-robed Daoist sitting in front of the smaller Bronze Coffin.
Su Yu summoned an ancient, broken pottery bowl from the Divine Spring. The Devouring Heaven Demon Lid inside it emitted rays of deep, mysterious black light that illuminated the entire massive Bronze Coffin.
His whole attention was now drawn to the divine patterns and ancient scriptures on the Three Lifetimes Bronze Coffin. But after briefly studying them, he gained nothing. He promptly took out the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, hoping that the coffin would react when stimulated by its supreme dao presence.
Unfortunately, he failed again. The Bronze Coffin remained where it lay, ancient and dull, just as it had for the past million years.
"What a pity. It seems I'll have to wait until we reach the Great Thunderclap Temple for another chance," Su Yu said with a sigh, shaking his head.
Everyone inside the massive Bronze Coffin recognized Su Yu as the man in ancient clothing with the extraordinary bearing from Mount Tai's summit, the Daoist who could fly. Su Yu did not speak to them, continuing instead to study the immortal script with the aid of the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid. Even if he could not comprehend it, forcibly memorizing the dao patterns and their lines would still be a considerable gain.
The sound of their discussions also grew quieter, although tension and unease could still be seen wherever one looked.
But after realizing that the Daoist before them was no mortal, everyone consciously lowered their voices. They were highly educated people, and knowing full well that he was no mortal, none dared provoke Su Yu.
They were especially afraid of that broken bowl. A single glance at it had left them trembling, their eyes stinging as though they had stared straight at the sun, making them even more fearful.
While counting heads, they found Pang Bo. After explaining why he had come to Mount Tai and earning everyone's trust, Pang Bo quietly walked over to Ye Fan and gave him a sidelong look.
"Yezi, do you think a rescue team will come for us?"
Ye Fan glanced at the strange Daoist, then replied quietly, "I don't know. At a time like this, we'd better wait patiently for rescue. Be careful."
Zhou Yi, Lin Jia, Wang Ziwen, and the others also came over to Ye Fan and began discussing Su Yu, who was beside the Bronze Coffin. They planned to send a representative to approach him.
In the end, Lin Jia stepped out of the crowd and walked toward the Bronze Coffin. She bowed to Su Yu, then asked quietly, "Senior, do you know what's going on?"
Su Yu opened his eyes and looked at her. This woman was indeed beautiful, a perfect fuckstand in the conventional sense.
In his previous life, he could never have gotten close to a woman like her in his small county town...
Su Yu's eyes flickered open and shut as he answered calmly, "The Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin is leaving Earth. It will eventually take us to the Big Dipper Star Domain, and the Big Dipper Star Domain... simply put, is what you would call the cultivation world."
Ye Fan's body jolted. At first, he had indeed doubted whether "cultivating immortality" was real, but after seeing so many strange sights, he had already accepted that it existed.
Su Yu's words caused another commotion among the group. Zhou Yi stepped forward and said, "Senior, could you send us back to Earth? We would be eternally grateful!" Su Yu glanced at him. In the original story, Zhou Yi would also become a Quasi-Emperor in the future.
Su Yu shook his head and said nothing more.
One could not speak of ice to a summer insect. He had no mind to play nursemaid, and few among these people had grateful hearts.
The only "extraordinary person" had fallen silent, so the others talked among themselves and ultimately decided to find a way out on their own. But the Bronze Coffin was seven or eight meters high, a height ordinary people could not possibly reach. After several attempts, they gave up on that option.
Just as everyone was hoping to escape as soon as possible, the Bronze Coffin suddenly shook violently. Everyone lost their footing and staggered, and quite a few fell straight to the ground.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Everyone was bewildered and frightened. Some of the female classmates were even close to tears, clutching tightly at the people beside them.
"Have the rescuers arrived? Are they getting us out?"
Amid their worry and terror, the Bronze Coffin shook even more violently. No one could stay on their feet; almost everyone fell to the floor and came into intimate contact with the cold bronze.
Looks like we've reached Mars...
Thinking of the Quasi-Emperor Forbidden Artifact and the Bodhi Immortal Tree, Su Yu's eyes shone as he waited eagerly for the Bronze Coffin to open.
Chapter 13: Baptizing Mother Ye and obtaining Sakyamuni's forbidden artifact
Earth.
By now, Ye Fan's parents had learned of the earthquake on Mount Tai. They had been calling Ye Fan's phone from home, but all they heard was a mechanical female voice repeating, "Sorry! The subscriber you dialed cannot be reached at the moment. Please try again later. Sorry! The subscriber you dialed can not be connected for the..."
Ye Fan's father hung up helplessly. At this moment, both of them were deeply worried about their son's safety.
Seeing his wife secretly shedding tears from excessive worry, Ye Fan's father could only comfort her. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to him. The government has already sent rescue teams over there..."
As he spoke, a white light emerged from his pocket and flew to the center of the room, transforming into a crystal-clear jade purification bottle. A purple light appeared inside the bottle, then gradually gathered into the vague figure of a person.
Su Yu looked at the somewhat frightened couple, thought for a moment, and transformed into an old man with the air and bearing of an immortal.
This would help greatly with "pyramid selling."
In his telling, he was a wandering immortal who had happened upon a fine piece of uncut jade while traveling on Mount Tai and had specially taken him to the Immortal Gate.
However, his disciple's mortal ties remained unsevered, and he was worried about his parents, so Su Yu had come to extend their lives...
"Immortal master, is what you say true? Xiaofan... Xiaofan is safe and sound..." Mother Ye said, tears streaming down her face as she looked utterly haggard.
He was her only flesh and blood in this life, and losing contact with him earlier had already left her sick with worry.
Su Yu nodded slightly. Looking at the beautiful woman, he sensed the Gate of Potential hidden within her body.
She was actually a cultivation seedling, and so was Ye Fan's father...
After thinking for a moment, he said in an ethereal tone, "There is no need to worry. I see that you have spirit veins in your body as well. A great fortune awaits you in the future."
Su Yu then shattered a portion of the variant source and refined it into each of their bodies.
Refining Ye Fan's father's body went well enough. But when he came to Mother Ye and looked at the beautiful woman, with her unworldly bearing and intellectual elegance, Su Yu's expression froze. He fell into recollection, then a smile appeared on his lips.
In his previous life, he had had an art teacher like her in high school. She had been very intellectual, someone he had admired in his youth.
The sight of jadeite brought fine jade to mind, and he could not help but sigh.
Su Yu let out a long sigh and began baptizing Mother Ye's body, a process that inevitably involved contact.
Feeling warmth spread through her body and a tingling sensation in every limb and bone, Mother Ye felt her bones soften and her meridians go numb, her body going limp. Yet, in another sense, it was also extremely pleasurable. Her face reddened slightly, and she felt that this was somewhat improper.
But looking at Su Yu, with his crane-white hair and youthful face, drifting like an otherworldly master, she reproached herself instead.