Chapter 8 Ancient Path of the Starry Sky
Everyone collapsed on top of the five-colored altar, knocking down a pile of jade pieces and stone tablets. With a thunderous crashing noise, the altar became a mess.
The ancient bronze coffin lay beside them. On top of it were quite a few traces of rust, but there was no way for the rust to hide the bronze carvings. They all appeared to be ancient gods, and moreover they unexpectedly all had tear stains.
The coffin was now so close to them that they could touch it just by reaching out with their hands. This terrified everyone to the point that cold sweat was running down their backs.
This altar which had experienced countless years was apparently built in ancient times for heavenly sacrifices. In ancient times, could those ancient emperors really summon these things?
Suddenly, everyone felt a desolate and ancient aura moving, causing their hearts to beat madly.
At this moment, the nine dragon corpses and bronze coffin were all lying in front of them. Did the five-colored altar really call them here?
According to legend, even before the Qin and Han emperors, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors as well as 72 Kings had all once held the Heaven Bestowal ritual. Apparently, they all received something?
The five-colored light radiated out. The five-colored altar’s jade pieces and stone slabs suddenly became sparkling and translucent. The ancient characters carved into them began to flicker and light up. The entire enormous alter began to radiate gentle rays of light.
Ka-cha, ka-cha.
Shattering sounds could be heard and cracks appeared on the jade pieces and stone slabs. Light rushed out of them, and the carved ancient words on them seemed to possess a life as they rushed out, floating in the air.
Chi chi chi.
More and more words began to glow and float up into midair. Soon after, all the jade pieces and stone slabs shattered and disappeared into the wind. All the words that had been carved into them now bound themselves onto the ancient bronze coffin.
On the ancient bronze coffin and in the surrounding hole, more than a thousand ancient words were pulsing. The characters appeared just like they had been made from molten iron, possessing a metallic luster and realism.
Ka-cha ka-cha.
A shattering sound once more rang out. The nearby small five-colored earthen jars also had shimmering ancient characters appear and float in midair.
The bronze coffin and its surroundings appeared to have stars swaying around them. Under the blood-red glow of the setting sun, it appeared exceptionally mysterious.
There were still a few people on Jade Emperor Peak who hadn’t run down the mountain in the previous chaos. But when they saw Ye Fan and the others had fallen into the huge hole and saw the extremely strange sight around them, they all became terrified and immediately began a free-for-all attempt to race down the mountain.
In this craziness, quite a few people fell. Cries of pain and for help unceasingly sounded.
Moreover, at this time, the flickering ancient characters that were hovering in midair slowly began to merge together, forming eight giant trigrams. A stunning and mysterious force seemed to come out of them.
This was a completely shocking scene. Those ancient characters and symbols that possessed an unfathomable force condensed together, and actually formed a huge eight trigram diagram. It enshrouded the ancient bronze coffin and the nine dragon corpses from above. It seemed to be made of metal, like it had been refined and created from metal essence.
“I want to leave this place!” Some of the people in the huge pit began sobbing.
“My body won’t move…” None of them could move at all. Their hearts were filled with fear, yet they still couldn’t do anything to change their situation.
“That’s…”
At this moment, a Yin-Yang symbol appeared in the center of the eight trigram diagram hanging in midair, and two Yin-Yang fish were revolving around each other inside it.
Even now, with all the newly developed technology, the ancient Taiji eight trigram diagram’s[i] profound and abstruse mysteries had yet to be unlocked. There was once someone who used the eight trigram and information on celestial bodies in order to create astronomy. Using formulas, he calculated the orbit and speeds of celestial bodies. And in the modern era, the creator of the binary system in computers had also once studied the Taiji eight trigram diagram. Using his enlightenment from the diagram, he managed to succeed in one attempt.
The Taiji eight trigram diagram was still a fascinating riddle to people. Just what could it be used for, how was it made, what was its purpose? Even today, people only had guesses from folklore and nothing definite.
At this moment, Ye Fan and the others saw the Taiji eight trigram diagram hovering in mid-air. But none of them knew about one its most important uses; it could actually manipulate space-time.
Within the huge Taiji eight trigram diagram’s surrounding, space warped and light became blurry. The symbols on the trigram lit up in succession: Heaven, Earth, Wind, Swamp, Mountain, Thunder, Fire, Water, appearing like some sort of mysterious and ancient code as they flickered.
The Yin-Yang fish that were in the center of the Yin-Yang symbol became like two portals. Trembling, a small crack gradually appeared, seeming to connect to a distant and unknown part of the starry sky.
The light unceasingly flickered. The trigram’s eight different symbols flickered at indefinite intervals, and in the end, following a complicated sequence, they finally all lit up at the same time, emitting dazzling light.
BANG!
Vibrating deeply, the Taiji eight trigram diagram’s two Yin-Yang fish gradually parted. Inside the space, flashes of starlight could occasionally be seen, opening up an ancient path to the starry sky.
In the end, the Yin-Yang fish ended up acting like a portal as they completely split apart, revealing a mysterious and large, pitch-black channel leading to an unknown destination.
At this moment, on the summit of Mt. Tai, the nine huge dragon corpses unexpectedly began to shake, and at the same time, the bronze coffin also emitted a fierce clanging noise that shook the ground.
Ye Fan and the others were in reach of the bronze coffin, so quite a few people screamed in alarm. There were even many female classmates who began to wail.
“What do we do?”
“Save me…”
In this kind of situation, everyone felt completely helpless. Many female classmates continued to loudly wail.
At the same time, there were also some people with strong willpower who were bewildered, but still observing the situation. They noticed that the huge, ancient bronze coffin’s lid was unexpectedly shaking, and had actually moved from its original position. A small slit was revealed, and a weird air filled the pit.
Clang…
The bronze coffin once again shook, and the coffin lid was completely opened. An indescribable formless strength surrounded everyone, dragging them forwards. In a split second, everyone felt dizzy as the world spun around them, and seeing the darkness before, everyone realized they were being thrown into the bronze coffin.
“AHH!!!”
“SAVE ME!”
Bang!
The nine titanic dragon corpses that were hanging off the cliff vibrated. At the same time, the ancient bronze coffin’s lid also emitted a loud sound before once again completely closing.
Immediately after, the nine dragon corpses soared into the sky. Although they still obviously didn’t have the slightest sign of life, they still gradually pulled the huge bronze coffin towards the black and mysterious space channel constructed by the Taiji eight trigram diagram.
Bang!
All of Mt. Tai violently shook, as if the dome of the heavens was about to collapse. A five-colored spiritual light rose into the sky from Jade Emperor Peak, linking up heaven and earth.
Soon after, the light faded away in the blood-colored sky. Mt. Tai’s summit once again regained its calm, and the Taiji eight trigram diagram that had been suspended in the air closed up, before also slowly fading away.
The nine dragons pulling the coffin all disappeared without a trace!
The five-colored altar’s jade pieces and stone tablets also vanished into dust. A light breeze blew by, scattering the specks.
Everything that had occurred under this blood-red sunset would create huge waves. It would spread throughout the entire world, and Mt. Tai would become a region that received the whole world’s attention. But all of this no longer had anything to do with Ye Fan and the others.
It was completely dark inside the ancient bronze coffin. Dense, icy-cold chilliness pervaded throughout. Some female classmates collapsed due to fear and helplessness. But none of them dared to scream and wail; they were oppressed to the point that they only quietly whimpered.
“What do we do, who can save us?”
“Are we really inside the bronze coffin?”
“Why did it have to be like this, is there any way for us to get out?”
People continuously tried using their cell phones, but they simply were unable to connect to the outside world, causing everyone to be even more terrified.
“Don’t be scared, everyone. Although we temporarily cannot acquire a connection to the outside world, what happened at Mt. Tai is something that will attract global attention. There will definitely be people to come save us at the first moment possible.” Zhou Yi appeared exceptionally calm. His words did manage to calm down everyone’s fears.
“Zhou Yi is right, everyone should just stay calm. Don’t panic. Just believe that you will be safe.” Wang Ziwen’s voice was also very calm. His words managed to stabilize the moods of everyone present.
“That’s right, everyone must not panic. We’re already in this situation, so being fearful will do us no good. The most important thing is for us to think of a way out of this.” Although Lin Jia was a woman, her current display appeared very easy and she didn’t lose her head out of fear.
Ye Fan didn’t say anything, merely quietly sitting on the ground. The black and mysterious channel that the Taiji eight trigram diagram had created would occasionally reappear before his eyes. At this moment, were they really still on Jade Emperor Peak? An uneasy connection appeared within his heart.
Relying on the faint light provided by the cell phones, it was possible to see everyone’s fearful faces. Quite a few of those faces were pale and wan, so much so that some people were shivering with cold.
Not far away was Li Xiaoman, sitting on the ground with her arms wrapped around both her knees. Although her face was somewhat pale, her expression still appeared calm. Beside her was that American called Kade. The two of them began to whisper English to each other back and forth.
Liu Yunzhi’s hands were clenched tightly, so tightly that his joints appeared white. It appeared as if he was quite nervous on the inside, but he didn’t let his fear appear on his face.
In reality, everyone was all very worried. After all, they were trapped inside an ancient bronze coffin.
“Did everyone fall into the bronze coffin? We should do a count to make sure.”
“1, 2, 3… 28, 29, 30!” When the number reached 30, the classmate who was in charge of the counting’s voice immediately shook. “What… how can there be 30 people?”
Their entire class was only 33 people. At the very beginning, three of those classmates were studying abroad, and five other classmates were busy due to some other reasons.
And at the time they went to Mt. Tai, those three classmates who were studying abroad had arrived, and one of the other five classmates also managed to make it, so in total there were only 28 of them! If you were to add Li Xiaoman’s American classmate Kade, then there should have been 29 of them.
How could there be 30 people at this moment? In this gloomy, cold darkness inside the ancient coffin, everyone felt their hair stand on end, and a cold chill ran up their backs.
[i] The eight trigrams is also known as the Bagua. It is used to represent the different elements of the world (乾、坤、巽、兑、艮、震、离、坎).
Translator notes:
Some of the trigrams have multiple meanings, but I only used the most popular one (for example, 巽 (xun) means both wood and wind). If you watched Naruto, this is what Neji used for his palm attack.
Kade’s name is written in chinese phonetics. Occasionally, he says one or two words in English (when shocked, not during regular conversation).