Chapter 8: The Ancient Path of the Starry Sky

As the group fell onto the Five-Colored Altar, they knocked over a pile of ancient books carved from jade and stone tablets, creating a loud noise that left the altar in shambles.

An ancient bronze coffin lay nearby, covered in green rust but still revealing the blurred bronze carvings of ancient deities, each one seemingly shedding tears.

The proximity of the coffin, so close that one could reach out and touch it, filled everyone with a sense of fear, sending shivers down their spines.

This Five-Colored Altar, which had withstood countless years, was built by the ancient ancestors for celestial worship. Could it be that those ancient emperors really summoned something here?

Suddenly, everyone felt a distant and ancient aura flowing through the area, causing their hearts to stir.

At this moment, the nine dragon corpses and the bronze coffin lay before them. Could it be that they were truly guided here by the Five-Colored Altar?

Legend has it that even before the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Han Wu, the ancient Three Emperors, Five Emperors, and Seventy-Two Kings had all held grand ceremonies here, what had they been guided to?

The Five-Color Radiance shone brilliantly as the jade and stone tablets on the Five-Colored Altar suddenly became translucent, and the ancient characters engraved on them shone brightly, emitting a soft glow over the massive altar.

"Crack, crack"

The sound of shattering echoed as the pile of jade and stone tablets suddenly cracked, and then streams of light burst forth from them. The ancient characters on them seemed to come to life as they all rushed out, appearing in the void.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle"

More ancient characters sparkled and appeared in the air, and then, with a gust of wind, the jade and stone tablets disintegrated, releasing all the ancient characters that had been engraved on them from their bindings.

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

"Crack, crack."

The sound of shattering came again, and the small five-color earthen jars nearby also had ancient characters shimmering out, floating in the air.

Around the bronze giant coffin, it seemed like stars were swaying in radiance, appearing even more mysterious under the crimson sunset.

There were also other people on the top of Jade Emperor Peak who hadn't fled down the mountain during the recent chaos, but seeing Ye Fan and the others fall into the giant pit and witnessing such a strange scene, they were all panicked, scrambling to rush down the mountain.

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

At the same time, the ancient characters in the air coalesced together, gradually forming a huge bagua, emanating a mysterious power.

This was a stunning scene, the symbols and characters had an unbelievable power, coalescing into a massive bagua after being solidified, covering the bronze coffin and the nine dragon corpses above, with a metal-like solidity and texture, as if made from refined gold.

"I want to leave here!" Someone cried out in a sobbing voice from below the pit.

"Our bodies can't move..." Everyone was frightened, but couldn't change anything.

"That is..."

At this moment, a Tai Chi diagram appeared in the center of the bagua in the air, with two Yin-Yang fish nestled inside.

Even in this modern technological era, the profound meaning of the ancient Tai Chi bagua diagram remains uncracked. Someone once used astronomical parameters to calculate the orbital speed of celestial bodies based on the corresponding relationship between the stars and the bagua. And the founder of modern computer binary, also inspired by observing the Tai Chi bagua diagram, succeeded in a single stroke.

The ancient Tai Chi bagua diagram remains an intriguing puzzle for people today. How was it created, what are its functions, and what was it created for? There are only legends and uncertain conjectures, with no concrete evidence.

At this moment, Ye Fan and the others witnessed a major function of the Tai Chi bagua diagram that was unknown to the public, it was actually related to time and space.

Around that huge Tai Chi bagua diagram, space was distorted, light was hazy, and the eight trigrams symbols corresponding to Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, and Kan emitted light in turn, like a group of mysterious and ancient codes shimmering.

The two Yin-Yang fish in the Tai Chi diagram were like two strange portals, constantly trembling, slowly opening a crack, seemingly leading to the distant and unknown stars.

Radiance continued to shimmer, the eight symbols of the bagua were constantly changing in a complex order, and finally all lit up simultaneously, emitting a dazzling light.

"Boom"

With a deep vibration, the two yin-yang fish in the center of the Tai Chi diagram slowly opened, with occasional flashes of starlight and even a glimpse of a starry ancient road inside.

In the end, the yin-yang fish acted like a gateway, completely opening up a mysterious and huge passage, with no indication of where it leads to and completely dark inside.

At the same time, on the peak of Mount Tai, the nine huge dragon corpses trembled, and at this moment, the copper coffin even made a loud "clang" sound, violently shaking.

Leaf Fan and the others were within arm's reach, right next to the copper coffin. Many people were frightened and screaming, and many female students were crying.

"What should we do?"

"Help..."

In this situation, everyone felt helpless, and many female students cried out loudly.

At the same time, some strong-willed people were suspicious, staring at the huge bronze coffin. The coffin lid even shifted position while shaking, revealing a large gap, and a strange aura emanated from it.

"Bang"

The copper coffin shook again, and the lid almost fell off. An inexplicable force pulled towards everyone. In the next moment, everyone felt dizzy, and then everything went black as they were all pulled into the bronze coffin.

"Ah..."

"Help!"

Some people were almost on the verge of collapse, screaming in fear.

"Boom"

The nine huge dragon corpses hanging on the cliff shook, and at the same time, the coffin lid of the bronze coffin made a loud noise before finally closing again.

Immediately after, the nine mountain-like dragon corpses rose into the air. Although they still showed no signs of life, they slowly pulled the huge bronze coffin into the dark and mysterious passage constructed by the Tai Chi diagram.

"Boom"

The entire Mount Tai shook violently, as if the sky was about to collapse. The five-colored divine light pierced through the sky, reaching the highest point of the Jade Emperor Peak.

Later, in the moment when the bloody sunset disappeared, the top of Mount Tai also dimmed in an instant, and the huge Tai Chi Bagua diagram in the sky closed completely and slowly disappeared.

The Nine Dragons Coffin disappeared without a trace!

All the jade blocks and stone slabs on the Five-Color Altar turned to ashes, and a gust of wind blew, scattering the ashes.

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

Inside the bronze ancient coffin, it was pitch-black and filled with a chilling coldness. Some of the female students were on the verge of collapse, filled with helplessness and fear, but they dared not cry out loud, suppressing their emotions and voices, quietly whimpering.

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

"Are we really inside the copper coffin?"

"Why did this happen? Is there any way to get out?"

People constantly dialed their phones, but they couldn't get through and couldn't contact the outside world, which made them even more frightened.

"Don't be afraid, although we cannot contact the outside world for the time being, the shocking event that happened in Mount Tai will surely spread to the outside world as soon as possible. I believe that rescue personnel will arrive soon." Zhou Yi appeared very calm, and his words somewhat relaxed the fearful emotions of the crowd.

"Zhou Yi is right. Everyone, don't panic. We must remain calm and believe that everything will be fine." Wang Ziwen's voice was also very calm, and he spoke to stabilize the emotions of everyone present.

"Not bad, everyone don't panic, the situation has already happened, even if we are afraid, it is useless, the important thing is to find a way to escape." Although Lin Jia is a woman, her performance at this moment is very calm and she is not panicked.

Ye Fan remained silent, sitting quietly there. The dark and mysterious passage constructed by the Tai Chi Bagua diagram occasionally appeared in his mind. At this moment, are they still on the Jade Emperor Peak? He had a bad association in his heart.

With the dim light from the phone, one could see anxious faces. Many people had pale faces, and some even trembled with fear.

Li Xiaoman was not far away, sitting with her knees hugged, although her face was a little pale, she showed a calm demeanor. Next to her was a young American named Kaid, and the two of them kept whispering in English.

Liu Yunzhi's hands were tightly clenched, and his fingertips were a little white. Obviously, he was very nervous, but he did not show any fear.

In fact, everyone present was very uneasy in their hearts, after all, they were inside a closed bronze coffin.

"Have all the people fallen into the copper coffin? Let's make sure of the number of people present."

"One, two, three...twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" When it reached the thirtieth person, the student in charge of counting suddenly trembled and said, "How could there be...the thirtieth person?!"

There were a total of thirty-three students in the class, three of whom were studying abroad and could not participate, and another five were unable to attend due to special reasons.

And when they came to Mount Tai this time, the three foreign exchange students had returned, but the other five students were still unable to make it. There were a total of 28 people who arrived at Mount Tai, and if you added Li Xiaoman's American friend Kade, it should be 29 people.

At this moment, how could there be 30 people? In this cold and dark ancient coffin, at this moment, everyone felt a chill down their spine.