Chapter 8: The Ancient Road Under the Starry Sky

  The crowd fell on the five-colored altar, knocking over a pile of ancient books carved from jade blocks and stone tablets, making a loud crash, and the altar was in disarray.

  An ancient bronze coffin lay beside it, with a lot of copper rust on its surface, but still unable to cover up those blurry bronze carvings, which seemed to be the gods of ancient times, and surprisingly, they all had tear marks.

  So close at hand that one could reach out and touch it, making everyone's heart fill with fear, their backs all breaking out in a cold sweat.

  This five-colored altar that has gone through endless years was built by the ancient ancestors, used for worshiping heaven, could those ancient emperors really summon something back then?

  At this moment, everyone suddenly felt a bleak and distant aura circulating, causing their emotions to surge.

  At this moment, nine dragon corpses and copper coffins were laid out in front of them. Could it be that they were really summoned by the Five-Colored Altar?

  Legend has it that long before the Qin Emperor and Han Wu, the three ancient emperors, five emperors, and seventy-two kings of high antiquity all held grand ceremonies here to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth. What did they all invite?

  The five-colored light shone brightly, and the jade blocks and stone slabs on the five-colored altar suddenly became crystal clear. The ancient characters engraved on them all glowed with a soft light, and the entire super-large altar emitted a gentle glow.

  "Chirp chirp"

  A shattering sound echoed, and the piles of jade blocks and stone slabs suddenly cracked open, bursting forth with brilliant light. The ancient characters etched onto them seemed to have come to life, all rushing out and floating in mid-air.

  "Hehehe"

  More ancient characters shone with a brilliant light, floating in mid-air, and then those jade blocks and stone tablets were reduced to ashes in a gentle breeze, all the ancient characters engraved on the jade blocks and stone tablets broke free from their restraints.

  Above the bronze ancient coffin, around the giant pit, there are thousands of ancient characters shining, as if they were completely cast from molten iron, with a metallic luster and texture.

  "Cluck cluck"

  The shattered sound came again, and the small five-colored earth altars nearby also had ancient characters flashing out one by one, floating in mid-air.

  The bronze giant coffin was surrounded by what seemed like stars twinkling with a soft glow, and under the blood-red sunset, it looked even more mysterious.

  On the top of Jade Emperor, there were still some people who did not escape down the mountain in the great chaos not long ago. At this moment, they saw Ye Fan and others fall into the giant pit, and then saw such a strange scene, all terrified, rushing down the mountain in a hurry.

  In the chaos, someone fell down, and cries of pain and calls for help kept ringing out.

  At the same time, those ancient characters shining with light in mid-air gathered together and gradually formed a huge Bagua, emitting a mysterious power that shook everything.

  This is a stunning scene, with those ancient characters and symbols possessing incredible power, condensed together to form a massive Bagua diagram, looming over the bronze ancient coffin and nine dragon corpses, with a metallic texture and feel, as if cast from refined gold.

  "I want to get out of here!" someone wailed from the bottom of the giant pit.

  "My body can't move......" Everyone is hard to move, fearful in their hearts, but unable to change anything.

  "That is..."

  At this moment, a Tai Chi diagram reappeared in the center of the Bagua diagram floating in mid-air, with two Yin and Yang fish embracing each other.

  Even in today's technological era, the profound and mysterious meaning of the ancient Taiji Bagua diagram has not been deciphered. Some people have used the correspondence between celestial bodies and the positions of the eight trigrams to calculate the orbital speed of celestial bodies using astronomical parameters. The founder of modern computer binary code was also deeply inspired by observing the Taiji Bagua diagram, achieving success in one fell swoop.

  The ancient Tai Chi Bagua diagram is still an intriguing mystery to modern people, how it was created, what functions it has, and what purpose it was created for. Until now, there are only legends and uncertain guesses, but no conclusive evidence.

  At this moment, Ye Fan and others saw an unknown major role of the Taiji Bagua diagram, which was actually related to time and space.

  Around the huge Taiji Bagua diagram, space is distorted and light is dim. The eight trigrams corresponding to Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, and Kan emit light one after another, like a group of mysterious and ancient codes flashing.

  The two yin-yang fish in the Taiji diagram are like two strange gates, constantly trembling and slowly opening a slit, as if connecting to the distant and unknown starry sky.

  The light continued to shine, the eight trigrams' eight symbols flickered uncertainly, and after changing in a complex sequence multiple times, they finally all lit up simultaneously, emitting dazzling rays of light.

  Boom

  A dull vibration sounded, and the two yin-yang fish in the center of the Taiji Bagua diagram slowly opened up. During this process, starlight flickered inside from time to time, and even a starry ancient road was seen.

  Finally, the yin-yang fish really opened up like a gate, revealing a mysterious and huge passageway, which also didn't know where it was connected to, inside was dark and bottomless.

  At the same time, on the top of Mount Tai, the nine huge dragon corpses suddenly shook violently, and at this moment, the bronze coffin also made a loud "clang" sound, shaking violently.

  Ye Fan and others were just a short distance away, adjacent to the copper coffin. Many people shouted loudly in shock, and many female classmates burst into tears.

  "What should I do?"

  "Help..."

  Under these circumstances, everyone felt helpless and many female classmates burst into loud crying.

  At the same time, some resolute people were shocked and stared at the huge bronze ancient coffin. The lid of the coffin was shaking off its position, revealing a large gap, and a strange breath drifted down.

  Clang

  The copper coffin shook again, and the lid almost fell off. A mysterious, invisible force pulled everyone towards it. In the next instant, everyone felt dizzy, then blacked out, and they all entered the copper coffin.

  "Ah..."

  "Help!"

  Some people were on the verge of collapse, letting out terrified wails.

  Bang

  Nine massive dragon corpses hanging from the cliff shook violently, at the same time, the lid of the bronze ancient coffin let out a loud noise and then completely returned to its original closed position.

  Immediately afterwards, nine dragon corpses rose into the air like mountain ranges, still showing no signs of life, but slowly pulling the bronze coffin into the dark and mysterious passageway constructed by the Taiji Bagua diagram.

  Boom

  The entire Mount Tai was violently shaking, as if the sky was about to collapse. The Jade Emperor's Peak had a five-colored divine light that pierced through heaven and earth.

  Then, at the moment when the blood-colored sunset disappeared, the top of Mount Tai also dimmed in an instant. The huge Taiji Bagua diagram in the sky closed completely and slowly disappeared.

  Nine dragons pulling a coffin, lost their tracks!

  All jade blocks and stone slabs on the five-colored altar were reduced to ashes, a gust of wind blew by, and the ashes scattered with the wind.

  Everything that happened under the bloody sunset was destined to trigger a huge wave, spreading to every corner of the world. Mount Tai would inevitably become the focus of global attention, but all this had nothing to do with Ye Fan and others anymore.

  Inside the bronze ancient coffin, a piece of blackness was spreading, emitting an icy cold air. Some female classmates were on the verge of collapse, their hearts filled with helplessness and terror, but they dared not cry out loud, suppressing their emotions and voices, whimpering softly.

  "What should we do? Who can save us?"

  "Are we really inside the copper coffin now?"

  "Why is it like this? Is there any way out?"

  People keep dialing on their phones, but they just can't get through and can't contact the outside world, which makes people even more terrified.

  "Don't panic, everyone. Although we can't contact the outside world for now, the shocking event that happened on Mount Tai will surely be transmitted to the outside world in no time. I believe rescue personnel will arrive soon." Zhou Yi appeared very calm, and his words made people's fearful mood relax a bit.

  "What Zhou Yi said is right, everyone should not panic, we must remain calm and believe that everything will be alright." Wang Ziwens voice was also very calm, stabilizing the emotions of the people present.

  "It's okay, everyone, don't panic. What has happened has already happened, and being afraid now is useless. The important thing is to think of a way to escape." Lin Jia, although a woman, was very composed at this moment, without any signs of panic or fluster.

  Ye Fan didn't say a word, quietly sitting there. The dark and mysterious passage constructed from the Taiji Bagua diagram occasionally floated before his eyes. At this moment, was he still on the Jade Emperor Peak? A bad association arose in his heart.

  With the faint light of mobile phones, you can see one by one terrified face, many people's faces are pale, and some people are even trembling with fear.

  Li Xiaoman was sitting not far away, hugging her knees, although her face was a bit pale, but she looked very calm. Next to her was an American young man named Kade, and the two were constantly whispering in English.

  Liu Yunzhi's hands were clenched tightly, his fingers had turned white, obviously he was very nervous inside, but he didn't show any signs of fear.

  Actually, everyone present was very uneasy in their hearts, after all, they were in a closed bronze ancient coffin.

  "Has everyone fallen into the copper coffin? Let's confirm the number of people present."

  "One, two, three...... twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" When he counted to the thirtieth person, the classmate in charge of counting suddenly trembled with his voice and said, "How can there be... a thirtieth person?!"

  There are 33 classmates in total. At the beginning of the gathering, three people were studying abroad and could not attend, and another five people failed to arrive due to some special reasons.

  This time when I came to Mount Tai, the three overseas students had returned, but five other classmates were still unable to come. There were twenty-eight people who arrived at Mount Tai. If you add Li Xiaoman's American classmate Kade, it should be twenty-nine.

  At this moment, how could there be thirty people? In this gloomy and dark ancient coffin, at this instant, everyone felt a chill run down their spine, and their backs emitted a faint cold air.