Chapter Seventeen: Life and Death

  "Do you see what's going on?" Pang Bo asked, wanting to get to the bottom of the danger. He was usually careless, but at critical moments he was always very calm.

  "I didn't see anything, but I felt a terrible aura enveloping my entire body, and then the bronze bell suddenly started shaking. At this moment, Wang Ziwu was surrounded by golden light, but still had lingering fear."

  After hearing these words, everyone who had gained something in the Great Thunder Sound Temple tightly grasped the broken Buddhist utensils in their hands. These things have now been proven to be truly extraordinary and must be objects possessed by gods!

  The battered copper bell stopped vibrating, the lingering sound of the bell gradually subsided, and the golden divine flame that burned on Wang Zijin's body disappeared, as if the golden light returned to the inside of the copper bell.

  "Let's go, let's hurry and leave this ruins!" Ye Fan held the bronze ancient lamp, sprinkling out dots of divine light, leading the way towards the Five-Colored Altar.

  Everyone followed closely behind, and there must be something terrible in this vast ruins of the Heavenly Palace. The longer they stayed, the more dangerous it would be.

  "Ah……" Another miserable cry came, and when approaching the edge of the ruins, a male classmate fell to the ground with his head thrown back. In the center of his forehead was a blood hole as thick as a finger, with fresh blood flowing out. It was still the same way of death! He died with his eyes wide open, and the terrified expression before his death was frozen there.

  At this moment, many people are terrified, another classmate suddenly died, watching with open eyes, but unable to stop it, and even didn't know what thing took his life.

  It's easy to talk about life and death, but experiencing it firsthand is unbearably bitter. A close classmate who couldn't even say a final farewell just died inexplicably, making it hard for people to accept. Many female classmates were on the verge of collapse, sobbing quietly; this was a scene that had never been seen before.

  "Go!"

  The crowd didn't stop and couldn't stop, rushing towards the Five-Colored Altar. They finally escaped from that ruin, but two lives were forever left there, never to be seen again.

  Ran far away, turned back to look, those broken walls and ruins like ferocious demons, in the night sky, made people's hearts throb.

  But before everyone could catch their breath, three consecutive cries of despair rang out almost simultaneously. Two male classmates and one female classmate fell heavily to the ground one after another, with wounds still on their foreheads. The three identical bloody holes were so shocking!

  Fresh blood stained the ground, and three former classmates and friends died tragically, their eyes bulging out in terror.

  In a brief moment, five people have lost their lives, which makes everyone feel sad and chilled to the bone, with goosebumps on their scalp. Perhaps the next one will be themselves, no one can confirm when life will end.

  "Waaaahhh..." A female classmate almost collapsed, bursting into tears and wailing: "The dead people didn't find any objects in the temple, that unknown devil is nearby, if we don't have a sacred object left by the gods on us, we'll die sooner or later..."

  It is a fact that the five dead people in the temple were all unharmed, while Prince Wen, who was also attacked, was safe and sound because of that broken copper bell.

  "Help us..." Those who didn't find any objects in the temple were terrified, and those who had gained something begged to be saved with a tone close to pleading. But at this critical moment of life and death, who would give up their only lifesaving Buddhist object?

  Some people didn't even stop or turn back, they rushed towards the five-colored altar in big strides. The friendship between classmates is precious, but when facing life and death choices, many people chose to be indifferent to each other in order to protect themselves.

  The relationship between people, the contradictions of human nature, facing a difficult test for the first time.

  "Oh, please... help me..." The girl, on the verge of collapse, ran and cried at the same time, her face covered with tears and rain, extremely pitiful. Both of her shoes had fallen off, but she still seemed dazed and unaware, her heart now completely filled with fear.

  Yue Fan shouted loudly: "The objects found in the temple, we can share with others."

  Pang Bo has always been with Ye Fan, and upon hearing this, he stood by his side and shouted loudly: "That's right, we can jointly own an artifact found in the ancient temple of two or three people."

  Many people looked on with hesitation, and someone spoke up: "What if these broken objects don't have such a great effect? If they can only protect one person, won't the original owner also fall into mortal danger..."

  As soon as these words came out, they immediately shook people again, and even two of them started to speed up, rushing forward without looking back.

  "Thank you, Ye Fan..." The classmate who had run away with her shoes off, her face covered in tears and looking pitiful, stumbled to Ye Fan's side, her face filled with an expression of utmost gratitude mixed with the falling tears, evoking sympathy from others.

  She stretched out her right hand trembling, but when she was still a foot away from the ancient lamp, her expression suddenly froze, and then her eyes went dull, and she fell heavily to the ground.

  The change was so sudden, Ye Fan stared blankly as her eyes lost their luster, that delicate and pitiful beautiful face with tear stains, the smile of gratitude that had just emerged forever frozen there, making people feel a pang in their hearts.

  Ye Fan really wanted to help her up, but in the end he just stretched out his hand and then withdrew it. This poor female classmate had a hole pierced through the back of her head, this time not on her forehead. In her jet-black long hair, fresh blood flowed out, only one step away, but she still died right before Ye Fan's eyes.

  That frozen smile pierced Ye Fan's eyes, he slowly backed away, leaving the body that was gradually growing cold.

  "What exactly is it?" That's everyone's question.

  Death is so close, the crowd becomes even more frightened, and soon three or four people gather around Ye Fan and Pang Bo. They hastily reach out to grab the ancient lamp and bronze plaque, in a manner that is almost like fighting over them, wanting to possess them for themselves.

  "What are you going to do?" Pang Bo's eyes widened at that moment, and he shouted loudly: "We are saving you, holding these things together with you, not giving the bronze plaque and ancient lamp to you, abandoning our own lives!"

  He was physically imposing, with a large build. When he glared at them in anger, his intimidating presence was naturally awe-inspiring. The few people immediately stopped in their tracks and cautiously approached him, placing their hands on the bronze plaque and ancient lamp.

  There is no time to linger, and everyone rushes forward quickly. However, at this moment, an uneasy mood spreads, with some people's eyes burning with a desire to seize the Buddhist artifacts. Those who possess the broken Buddhist artifacts are filled with vigilance and regret for sharing them with others.

  "We come from the same place, we are four loads of classmates, don't let your second half life be ashamed and regretful for your choice today!" Ye Fan shouted loudly, even more stunning than Pang Bo, instantly calming down many people.

  Boom

  At this moment, Liu Yunzhi's body suddenly burst out with hundreds and thousands of lightning bolts, his electric aura dancing wildly, as if he were a god of thunder descending upon the world!

  Lightning enveloped his body, and the surrounding area was illuminated by a brilliant light. The golden club in his hand shone brightly, and everything was derived from that broken half of the precious club.

  Liu Yunzhi was like wearing a suit woven from lightning, emitting an aura of unparalleled sharpness and majesty, with electric sparks swirling around him, just like a Thunder God.

  "Just now, I was attacked by that inexplicable thing." He only had this one sentence, and then he didn't say anything more. His sharp eyes inadvertently swept over Ye Fan's place, but when he saw the bronze ancient lamp, those two fierce glints quickly disappeared.

  It wasn't until a moment later that the electric sparks on Liu Yunzhi's body gradually dissipated, and the golden Vajra pestle in his hand became dull and colorless again.

  Divine scepter in hand!

  The mighty power of this treasure club is evident to all, and it sends shivers down people's spines.

  Everyone remained silent all the way until they arrived at the Five-Colored Altar, fortunately without any more deaths occurring, which slightly relieved everyone.

  The nine huge dragon corpses on the five-colored altar and that bronze ancient coffin were still lying there quietly, still so shocking.

  "That is..."

  As they arrived in front of the altar, everyone was shocked. The five-colored altar glowed with a hazy light, and faint rays of light were gathering from all directions, pouring into the stone base below.

  The halo in the sky gradually dissipated and disappeared, it turned out that it was because of the Five-Colored Altar, as if accumulating some kind of mysterious energy.

  Everyone was first surprised, and then showed a joyful color, because the five-color altar was shining, just like on Mount Tai at that time, it is very likely to be an omen of opening the ancient starry road. However, this time the energy provider is not "Stone Book Jade Volume", but a huge and hazy light cover.

  Rumbling sound

  The hazy light in the sky was dissipating, and the storm outside was rumbling like thunder, as if the entire earth was shaking.

  The lights dimmed, and everyone boarded the five-colored altar, gazing at everything with bated breath.

  The terrifying existence of something unknown in the dark, like a shadow, entwined in everyone's heart. Although it has temporarily disappeared, as long as we don't leave this place, it remains an enormous threat. Everyone is eager to escape Mars.

  It lasted for a full half hour, the dim light cover constantly compressing, finally barely covering the five-color altar, with a diameter that had shrunk from over a thousand meters to less than two hundred meters, almost pressing down to the ground. All mysterious energy was absorbed by the five-color altar.

  Pang Bo lowered his voice and whispered to Ye Fan's ear: "Liu Yunzhi's gaze has swept over us several times unintentionally, this guy is very cunning and deep, we need to be careful." He was rough but had a keen sense of awareness, noticing this situation.

  "Don't worry, I know!" Ye Fan turned his head towards Liu Yunzhi, revealing a warm smile.

  Liu Yunzhi was very calm and nodded kindly, without showing any abnormalities. Next to him were two others, one of whom was the male classmate who had just taken refuge under Ye Fan's bronze ancient lamp and arrived safely here not long ago.

  This made Pang Bo very dissatisfied, and he said in a low voice: "This ungrateful thing, when we were in school, would follow Liu Yunzhi around every day. Now that we have protected his life, he has gone to join forces with Liu Yunzhi again."

  Half a minute later, the dim light outside was gradually shrinking and was about to press down on the Five-Colored Altar. The terrifying storm from the outside world could be clearly sensed.

  "The howling" wind sounded like a mournful cry, the sand and gravel hitting the canopy with a deafening crash, some dust even blew in, it can be imagined that the canopy was already very fragile and would disappear completely at any moment.

  The crowd gasped in shock and retreated backward, fearing that if they fell off the altar, they would be swept away by the storm and blown high into the sky.

  At this time, the male classmate who was said by Pong Bo to be ungrateful and unfilial slowly moved over from Liu Yunzhi's place, suddenly grabbed towards Ye Fan's hand holding the bronze ancient lamp with one hand, and pushed Ye Fan hard with the other hand, trying to snatch the bronze ancient lamp while pushing him out of the Five-Colored Altar.