Everything had happened far too suddenly — what lay before them surpassed all imagination!
“This…” — no one could believe it.
Yet the nine Dragon Corpses and the bronze coffin lay right there before them, an iron-hard reality in plain sight!
All of this violated common sense in the most severe way, overturning people’s understanding of the world. The thoughts of every person present had been dealt a violent blow.
In the midst of the chaos that had just erupted, Ye Fan and his companions had not fled in a panic. They stayed together as a group, and by the time the Jade Emperor Summit had grown calm, though everyone had been knocked to the ground, there were no serious casualties — only a few people had bruised their arms.
At this moment, every face among them was etched with shock. The unbelievable scene before them would be burned into their memories for the rest of their lives!
The nine enormous Dragon Corpses lay quietly in front of them, and the massive bronze coffin dealt an enormous blow to the senses. All of it was too astonishing, too mysterious.
No one could find words to speak. Their hearts surged and churned within them, their faces written over with expressions of shock, dread, terror, and fright, impossible to calm.
Only after a very long time did Lin Jia finally murmur: “We should hurry down the mountain.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, feeling they should leave immediately. No one wished to linger a moment longer. The atmosphere at the Jade Emperor Summit at this moment sent a chill through the heart — why had nine Dragon Corpses come pulling a great bronze coffin? Why had they descended upon Mount Tai? Even with the reality laid out before their eyes, it was difficult to accept. Their hearts were gripped by profound unease.
Beneath the blood-red setting sun, the Jade Emperor Summit was a scene of devastation. The area around the Ancient Bronze Coffin bore the worst damage — it had been hammered into a massive crater, and the great cracks radiating outward from it were fully one or two meters wide, spreading in all directions like a spider’s web.
One of the cracks, shaped like a winding centipede, extended right to the feet of Ye Fan and his companions. Fortunately, the end of the crack was by now less than a palm’s width, and had not caused a collapse or pit.
Just as the group was preparing to leave, Li Xiaoman pointed ahead and said: “What is that?”
Beneath the split earth, half a jade plate was exposed, catching a glint of reflected light in the setting sun.
Though their hearts held some measure of fear, they stepped forward a few paces nonetheless, and saw that beneath the one-meter-wide crack, a corner of a circular altar had emerged. A cracked half of the jade plate lay displayed upon it, shaped like a jade book.
“How can this be — could something be buried beneath?”
The circular altar was not large — ancient and simple, constructed from five varieties of unusual earth, saturated with the breath of long ages, with no telling how many years it had stood there.
“Look, there’s more ahead!” Wang Ziwen, who stood at the front, wore an expression of astonishment as he pointed forward to an even wider crack.
Beneath the crack — nearly two meters wide — there was another five-colored earthen altar. The circular platform had already been split open by the impact, and a jade slab sealed within it had been exposed. Carved across it were numerous complex characters and symbols that no one present could identify.
In that instant, everyone’s expression changed to one of shock, and they simultaneously thought of the word “Feng Shan.” This was very likely an ancient altar used in the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven!
A five-colored circular altar sealed with jade books — this bore a close resemblance to what was recorded in Baihu Tongyi written by Ban Gu during the Eastern Han dynasty, which stated: “Some say the Feng sealing uses gold clay with silver cord; others say stone clay with gold cord — the seals of state.”
And the Shiji — Records of the Feng Shan Ceremonies by the Grand Historian Sima Qian of the Western Han also noted “flying essence ascending with gold clay and stone inscriptions.”
In the space of just a brief moment, everyone discovered with astonishment that beneath each and every crack around them, there were five-colored altars of this kind — not a few in number, but dozens of them.
Each five-colored earthen altar was ancient and weathered, carved with the marks of countless ages — one look made it plain they had stood there for untold years. The five-colored earthen altars were sealed either with jade plates or stone slabs, all bearing engraved, hard-to-decipher ancient symbols and characters.
Everyone was deeply astonished. They sensed vaguely that these altars might somehow be connected to the Dragon Corpses and the bronze coffin.
Ye Fan enjoyed reading ancient texts of the “Strange Records” variety and knew considerably more about the Feng Shan ceremonies than the others. His heart was truly shaken to its core — could it truly be that the Three Sovereigns, the Five Emperors, and the seventy-two kings of high antiquity had genuinely performed the Feng Shan here?
Perhaps the legends were true — otherwise, why would there be so many five-colored circular altars? Judging by the characters upon them, most appeared to be oracle bone script, which seemed to confirm this inference.
The group ought to have retreated at once, but they had been drawn in without realizing it, and had now circled more than halfway around the bronze coffin — awed by the nine enormous Dragon Corpses, overwhelmed by the Ancient Bronze Coffin that stretched twenty meters long, and astonished by the five-colored sacred altars buried beneath the ground.
“There doesn’t seem to be any danger — but these Dragon Corpses…”
After circling more than halfway around, their inner fear had somewhat diminished, but they still felt unsettled and decided they had to descend the mountain as soon as possible.
“Look — there is an enormous altar inside the central crater!”
The Ancient Bronze Coffin had hammered a vast, deep pit into the ground. The group had now circled to the other side of the great bronze coffin, and looking downward, every face once again wore an expression of astonishment.
At the bottom of the pit stood a colossal altar — not built of earth, but constructed entirely from five varieties of enormous colored stones, steadily bearing the twenty-meter-long Ancient Bronze Coffin with not a single crack or fracture anywhere.
This massive five-colored stone altar was clearly unlike all the other earthen altars. Positioned at the central location of the Jade Emperor Summit, it was grand and imposing, far greater in scale than those earthen platforms.
The bronze coffin had come crashing down from the heavens with inconceivable force — yet had failed to leave even the faintest crack upon it, not the slightest sign of damage. It was difficult to imagine what manner of extraordinary stone had been used to construct it.
Upon this great five-colored sacred altar, in addition to the Ancient Bronze Coffin, there were also numerous jade blocks and stone slabs piled up, all saturated with the air of ancient ages.
Both the jade blocks and the stone slabs were carved with extremely mystical ancient characters — even more primitive than the oracle bone script seen on the five-colored earthen altars. These were mysterious symbols resembling divine script or pictographic drawings.
Arranged in a neat, orderly row upon this massive five-colored stone altar was a great collection of such jade blocks and stone slabs, all undamaged by the bronze coffin’s impact — a puzzling and astonishing sight.
“Let us leave this place at once,” said Ye Fan and Zhou Yi simultaneously, urging everyone forward.
Everyone nodded in agreement. This was truly not a place to linger. However many secrets lay hidden here, they were not something the group could explore at present. The nine enormous Dragon Corpses beside them were deeply unsettling, and the massive Ancient Bronze Coffin filled every heart with dread.
Just as the group was about to turn and leave, a female student let out a cry of alarm — a large stone beneath her foot broke away and tumbled into the great pit, and she herself lost her footing and began to fall downward.
“Watch out!” A male student with quick eyes and quick hands grabbed hold of her, while several other students nearby also reached out to help pull her back up.
The large stone that had been kicked loose tumbled into the pit with a rumbling crash, and then landed with a heavy thud against the five-colored altar.
The massive stone altar immediately began to emit a hazy luminescence of five colors. Every person present felt a great force envelop their bodies — their legs were like iron shackled with lead, unable to move a single step.
“BOOM!”
The five-colored stone altar shook without ceasing, causing the very Jade Emperor Summit to tremble in response. Everyone standing at the edge of the great pit felt the world spinning around them, and yet they could not move a step — all of them were sent tumbling and rolling down into the crater.
The whole group fell upon the five-colored stone altar, and every heart was gripped with terror!