Ye Fan held the ancient bronze lamp in his left hand, stepped back two paces to the side, and with his right hand grabbed that male classmate’s collar with a resounding grip — nearly lifting him off the ground.

Pang Bo, who had turned to see what was happening, was instantly furious. He roared: “You heartless, ungrateful animal! Have you forgotten who just shared the bronze lamp with you, sheltered you with their life, and safely brought you here?”

Pang Bo reached out with both large hands, seized that male classmate by the collar, and was about to fling him straight off the five-colored altar. In the current situation, his anger had gotten the better of him.

“Cough…” The male classmate’s face went pale. The moment Ye Fan seized him with one hand, he had begun struggling — but could not break free. Now, with Pang Bo also grabbing him by the throat, he was nearly blacking out.

The expressions of the people around them varied. Some had already been feeling unsettled in their hearts, but had not expected anyone to actually act — let alone that the target would be Ye Fan, who had shown him kindness.

“You ungrateful, wolf-hearted creature — have you no conscience? If not for Ye Fan saving you, you’d already be dead out there!” Pang Bo grew angrier the more he thought about it. He was a man of feeling; finding that tossing him off would not relieve his anger, he raised his right hand and delivered four or five resounding slaps across the face in quick succession.

A male classmate from behind stepped forward to intervene: “We’ve been classmates for four years — don’t do this, Pang Bo, let go!”

Pang Bo shot him a sideways glance: “You tell me to let go, so I let go? Did you not just see him try to kill Ye Fan? If not for Ye Fan’s quick reaction, he’d already have been pushed off the five-colored altar into the storm. How can we let a vicious wretch like that off?”

“We all come from the same place — right now we should be pulling together. Talk it out calmly. Let go of him first.” Another male classmate stepped forward to mediate.

Pang Bo saw clearly: this person was one of those who had just been standing with Liu Yinzhi. Though they had parted now, the two of them were certainly moving as one. Moreover, the male classmate he held in his hand had also been with them just now — and though there was no evidence they were co-conspirators, Pang Bo, regardless of evidence, had it fixed in his mind once he had made up his mind, and took note of him.

“Easy for you to say — if someone tried to kill you, could you stay calm? Or shall I push you off the five-colored altar and see?” Pang Bo grew angrier as he spoke, and delivered several more resounding slaps in rapid succession.

“Don’t let this come to bloodshed. Talk it out. Put him down first — we can discuss how to deal with him.” A female classmate also spoke up to back the others, and as she finished she glanced toward Liu Yinzhi.

Throughout this entire process, Liu Yinzhi remained perfectly composed — he neither stepped forward to intervene nor voiced any opinion, as though the matter had nothing to do with him, watching events unfold as a bystander.

Ye Fan took in everyone’s expressions. Seeing that there was no way to draw Liu Yinzhi out, he stopped Pang Bo and said: “Let go of him.”

“Yes, let go first.”

“Right, release him — there’s nothing among classmates that can’t be resolved. Don’t let things get too stiff.”

The two male classmates and the female classmate who had been mediating all spoke up one after another. At the same time, seeing that Ye Fan himself had spoken, the others followed along in urging it.

“Too stiff… do you think we haven’t already crossed that line?” Pang Bo glared at the male classmate who was moving in step with Liu Yinzhi and said: “He nearly killed Ye Fan, and you’re still making excuses for him like this.”

Still, Pang Bo did not push further. Seeing Ye Fan’s signal, he ultimately released his grip.

But what no one expected was this: Pang Bo had let go, yet Ye Fan had not released his own hold. With one hand gripping the other’s collar, Ye Fan nearly lifted him off the ground, strode several steps to the very edge of the five-colored altar, and appeared on the verge of throwing him off.

Everyone was stunned — no one had expected Ye Fan to do this. At the same time, they were astonished by the strength in Ye Fan’s grip. It brought to mind the nickname he had earned on the sports field back in their school days — the Barbarian. Though Ye Fan had a gentle appearance, he was physically extremely robust, with tremendous strength. As easily as one might pick up a chick, he hoisted that male classmate to the edge of the five-colored altar with just one hand.

“Before this, I saved your life. Why did you try to harm me?” Ye Fan had him pinned at the altar’s edge with one hand, able to push him off at any moment. He was less than half a foot from that hazy dome.

The male classmate was terrified to his core. He cried out: “Don’t push me — I was wolf-hearted, I had a moment of madness, I didn’t know any better. Please spare me, I’ll never dare do it again…”

Ye Fan smiled, revealing a full set of snow-white teeth — a bright, radiant smile. He said: “People always have a motive for what they do. You’re not going to tell me? I really would rather not see you swept up into the sky by the storm…” And with that, he pressed down with his one hand, pushing that classmate further toward the outside of the five-colored altar.

“Help me!” The male classmate was genuinely terrified now and screamed at the top of his lungs: “Let go of me — I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything…”

As a modern city dweller, he had never experienced anything like this. He broke down on the spot. Facing the storm right before his eyes, his face was ashen, drained of every drop of color.

“This isn’t right — Ye Fan, let go of him. Doing this is too dangerous.”

“Exactly — everything can be worked out peacefully. You can’t just disregard classmate bonds. It would be very bad if this actually ended in death.”

Once again it was the same few classmates speaking to stop him. They had slowly drawn closer.

“Clang!”

Pang Bo planted the bronze plaque of the Great Thunder Sound Temple — as tall as half a man — heavily on the ground and glared at them, instantly halting those few people in their tracks.

Ye Fan turned and smiled warmly at them: “It’s fine — he’s willing to tell me the reason, and I’m interested in hearing what I’ve done wrong. I won’t have any unpleasant falling-out with him. All of you, rest easy.”

When he turned his head back to face the male classmate pinned at the altar’s edge, his gaze immediately turned sharp. If the other refused to speak, he would push him off — that was the message Ye Fan conveyed with his eyes alone.

“I… I found nothing in the ancient temple, no sacred artifact of the gods. I felt endangered, so I… I had a moment of greed. I really am wolf-hearted!” As he said it, he began slapping himself across the face.

Ye Fan said nothing, and simply pushed him outward. Half of his body was suspended in the air, nearly touching that dim dome.

“No… help me!” The male classmate screamed in terror: “It was Li Changqing — Li Changqing is the one who put me up to it!”

Ye Fan pulled him back. As for this spineless “soft projectile,” Ye Fan paid him no mind at all. A person like this would never amount to anything and posed no real threat. If he had actually pushed him off the five-colored altar in front of everyone, the other classmates would likely form a very poor opinion of him — they had, after all, been classmates, and doing so would cost more than it was worth.

Ye Fan, completely naturally, took the bottle of mineral water from this classmate’s person. Then he patted the classmate’s shoulder and said: “We have been classmates for four years, and we’ve been caught up in the same disaster together. We should be pulling together and supporting each other.”

“Absolutely… absolutely!” Even after regaining his freedom, the male classmate’s body continued to tremble, and he backed away, quivering.

At this point, Pang Bo had long since reached the end of his patience. He hoisted the bronze plaque and charged straight at the classmate named Li Changqing, slamming it into him.

“Boom!”

Pang Bo was tall and powerfully built, with tremendous strength. The bronze plaque swung into him and knocked him flat on the ground on the spot.

“No wonder you kept trying to stop us — you were the one pulling the strings behind the scenes!” Pang Bo pressed the bronze plaque down onto him: “You even schemed against someone who’s been your classmate for four years — have you no humanity?” He was furious. Li Changqing was one of the two who had just been standing with Liu Yinzhi — and one of the people who had been constantly mediating just now.

Ye Fan walked over and, completely naturally, took the bottle of water from Li Changqing and handed it to Pang Bo.

Seeing him take a second bottle of water, complex expressions appeared on everyone’s faces. If they couldn’t quickly escape from Mars, in a few more hours water would become the most precious thing there was for any of them.

Ye Fan felt it was a pity — he had not managed to drag Liu Yinzhi into the open. Though he was almost certain it was Liu Yinzhi who had instigated all of this, there was no evidence, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to openly confront him in front of everyone right now.

Li Changqing held his tongue firmly. No matter how thoroughly Pang Bo dealt with him, he admitted nothing, only saying he had acted on impulse and shouldn’t have spoken carelessly, prompting that classmate to develop covetous desires and strike at Ye Fan.

Pang Bo very much wanted to throw him straight off the five-colored altar, but out of consideration for the feelings of the other classmates, he suppressed his fury and refrained. However, he felt that this seemingly amicable relationship could not last much longer. If another survival crisis arose, the bonds of old classmate friendship and matters of face would likely be torn to shreds — because even now, some people’s hearts were already restless.

Ye Fan was not angry. He gave Li Changqing a casual smile: “People are complicated sometimes. There are things you may do before you realize what you’re doing — but it’s best to have a sense of self-preservation, and not let yourself be used as someone else’s instrument.”

As he said this, he crouched down and calmly reached toward the object at Li Changqing’s waist — a damaged fish drum, the very ancient artifact Li Changqing had found in the Great Thunder Sound Temple.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Li Changqing struggled fiercely. When Pang Bo had been pummeling him, he hadn’t even changed color — but now he panicked, pressing hard against the fish drum at his waist. Yet his upper body was still pinned down by Pang Bo’s bronze plaque; he couldn’t get any leverage, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“Thud!”

Suddenly, the fish drum at Li Changqing’s waist let out a sound like a muffled thunderclap, and streaks of cyan light shot out like bolts of lightning racing through the sky.

Like the divine drum of the god of thunder, it hummed and vibrated, then released an even more tremendous muffled roar. Purple light coiled around it and instantly enveloped Li Changqing.

The radiance there was dazzling — like a great purple cocoon, emanating blinding divine light that lit up the entire five-colored altar.

The surrounding people were greatly startled. They felt their ears ringing and buzzing, and several people nearly lost their footing and fell.

At the same moment, the bronze plaque in Pang Bo’s hands erupted with ten thousand rays of light, accompanied by rolling thunder. The four characters of “Great Thunder Sound Temple” blazed with light surging to the heavens, and faint, ethereal Buddhist chanting arose.

The voice of Buddhist teaching, resounding like thunder!

The brilliant radiance bursting from the Great Thunder Sound Temple bronze plaque immediately suppressed that great purple cocoon, and the sound from the fish drum nearly vanished.

At the same time, the ancient bronze lamp in Ye Fan’s hand scattered soft points of radiance that instantly enveloped his entire body. A layer of pure divine light spread evenly across his surface — as though he had donned a sacred suit of armor.

The radiance was not blinding at all — very hazy and soft — yet it caused everyone to feel a sense of reverence, as though a god were standing there. That pure and holy radiance was truly like the divine robe of a god, making Ye Fan appear otherworldly, transcendent above the dust of the mortal world.

The fish drum was suppressed on the spot. The purple radiance faded inward; the great cocoon disappeared; the broken fish drum went dark and returned to its ordinary appearance. Ye Fan, calm and unhurried, extended his hand and took it — nothing could obstruct him. He was now like a living god: the ancient bronze lamp swayed and cast tiny specks of divine light, setting him off as increasingly transcendent and otherworldly.

Just at that moment, a female classmate not far from Liu Yinzhi — who had previously tried to stop both Ye Fan and Pang Bo — stepped forward holding a damaged bronze bell, and said: “Ye Fan, what you’re doing is going too far!”

Immediately after, another male classmate followed behind her, saying: “We should be getting along with one another, not standing in opposition like this. This matter should be put behind us — there’s no need to be so absolute about it.”

From the very beginning, these two had been speaking on behalf of Liu Yinzhi and Li Changqing; their position had long been clear. Their stepping forward now was obviously because they didn’t want Ye Fan to gain another divine artifact.

At this point, Liu Yinzhi — who had been keeping himself detached from everything — stepped forward, holding his sacred vajra staff, and said: “Ye Fan, what’s done is done. Even if what he did just now was wrong, you can’t punish him like this. Doing this is essentially stripping him of his life.”

To Ye Fan’s surprise, Zhou Yi — who had been maintaining neutrality and had not expressed any opinion throughout — walked over as well, cradling his purple-gold alms bowl in one hand, and advised: “Ye Fan, you shouldn’t take his fish drum. You already have the bronze lamp — one more artifact is of no use to you. But if he loses the fish drum, he may very well be killed by that terrifying unknown thing lurking in the shadows.”