Chapter 1395: Nine Diagrams

Nine dragons pulled a bronze coffin, its origin unknown, its destination unknown. For endless ages, it had floated through the cosmos, sailing towards the distant unknown.

It carried too many secrets. From ancient times until now, no one had been able to pierce the veil and uncover its origins.

Yet, its image was now seen on these West Mountain carvings. This was astonishing and utterly unexpected. Why would someone have carved it here?!

Wiping away the moss and impurities from the carvings with their hands, they revealed ancient, mottled marks. Nine dragons stretched across the stone, vigorous and powerful, appearing as if they might break through the wall and ascend to the heavens. Behind them, cold iron chains connected to a massive, grand, and magnificent bronze coffin.

“This is… who carved this? What secrets are hidden here?!” Pang Bo’s emotions were highly agitated.

The reason they had reached this side of the starry sky and embarked on the path of cultivation was entirely due to the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin, which had brought them into a bizarre, vast, and magnificent cultivation world.

Undoubtedly, the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin held an astonishing secret. It had existed since ancient times, floating indestructible in the cosmos, burying something that awaited discovery by future generations.

This place was very special because it bore this pattern. Ye Fan’s mind and body were serene as he silently recited hundreds of ancient characters that he had obtained from that very ancient coffin.

“Huh, something’s happening, light patterns are flowing!” exclaimed the Black Bear Saint.

As Ye Fan silently recited the scriptures from the bronze coffin, the stone wall emitted waves of light, spreading out like ripples on a lake.

Ye Fan was surprised. It was the same change that occurred when he placed the palm-sized stone coffin in front of the carvings of the Nine-layered Coffin; light shimmered like rippling water.

“It’s moving! The nine dragons are ascending, pulling the ancient coffin towards the sky!” The Scorpion Saint exclaimed, his eyes shining with astonishment as he watched the scene.

On the stone wall, the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin did indeed seem to move as it ascended high into the sky. Faint rumbling sounds could even be heard, the momentum imposing, accompanied by strong winds and thunder.

“No, it’s just the carved pattern transforming, it’s not actually moving,” Ye Fan corrected, opening his Celestial Eye. He saw that some indistinct carvings were manifesting, making it appear as if the image itself was moving at first glance.

This was a Dao mark that mimicked reality so perfectly it could deceive even Saints, which was startling. It made them feel even more that this stone wall was profound and unfathomable.

After a moment, the ripples disappeared. Even as Ye Fan continued to recite the scriptures, no further abnormalities occurred on the stone wall. Everything became calm, and the ancient carvings returned to their pristine state.

By this time, Pang Bo had already removed the moss from the ninth carving, revealing a pitted area with countless crisscrossing scratches.

“It’s been destroyed. What was this last carving?” Pang Bo muttered to himself, thinking it must have been crucial and even more mysterious, yet it no longer existed.

The Dragon Horse stepped forward and tried to carve marks onto the stone wall with force, wanting to leave an imprint. However, it found the wall unyielding. The stone wall was as solid as a pillar supporting the heavens; it was impossible to destroy it, let alone chip off a single grain of sand.

Only the last carving remained obscured, leading to endless speculation and a strange sense of wonder. They felt as though they had missed some vital secret.

“The last four carvings are more astonishing than the last. What profound mysteries do you think they contain? The previous one was the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin. Could the ninth carving be the great secret of becoming an immortal?!” Pang Bo rubbed his hand over the pitted surface, the truth long since erased.

“Let me try,” Ye Fan said with a solemn expression, greatly valuing these nine carvings. He sat cross-legged before the stone wall, his body glowing, and began to activate a secret art.

On Earth, he had once acquired a volume of Vedic scriptures that contained a miraculous technique for tracing origins, allowing historical truths to resurface.

His forehead bone glowed, crystalline and translucent like a divine mirror, emitting a blazing beam of light that landed on the destroyed ninth carving. The area immediately vibrated violently.

The Heavenly Dao rumbled, winds and thunder roared, and faintly, wails of ghosts and howls of gods could be heard. The world suddenly plunged into darkness, and phantom images of divine and demonic corpses began to appear.

They were terrified. What kind of secret did this carving hide that it could change the very heavens and earth, creating such astonishing anomalies? It was truly terrifying and shocking.

Ye Fan was drenched in sweat, his face pale white. His golden vital energy rapidly dimmed; the consumption was too immense. Yet, he couldn’t break through the mist. The phantom figures of gods and demons trembled, and the wails and howls grew clearer, almost upon him, threatening to press down on him.

The Great Dao vibrated, and the universe rumbled, as if secrets of gods and ghosts, or opportunities for immortality, were hidden within that fragmented carving, causing shivers down their spines.

Ultimately, Ye Fan failed. He was drenched in cold sweat. This was the first time he had exerted himself so much using the ancient art from the Vedic scriptures, and he had gained nothing. He had a feeling that if he continued, he would likely encounter misfortune. All of this felt incredible.

“What kind of power is this?” Pang Bo, the Dragon Horse, and the Black Bear Saint were all greatly shaken, their faces filled with astonishment.

Ye Fan calmed down. The light emitted by the miraculous technique receded, and the various anomalies in the heavens and earth gradually vanished. The divine and demonic corpses, the wails of ghosts, and howls of gods all disappeared.

The world returned to peace and clarity. The terrifying phenomena dimmed and dispersed, as if nothing had happened, and West Mountain remained unchanged, just as it was before.

“I believe this was erased by at least a Quasi-Emperor. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible. Even after such a long time, it still exerts immense pressure on me.”

Ye Fan even suspected that the destroyed ninth carving was emitting a strange power, an astonishing divine might, and that its fluctuations were partly responsible for the recent anomalies.

The first five carvings depicted the old man: chopping wood, feeding horses, and finally riding a dragon into the distance, disappearing. The latter four carvings seemed unrelated to him, telling a different story, as if they had been added on.

“Were these left by the old man? What was his identity? The first four carvings depict parts of his past, but what is the meaning of the latter four?”

The group discussed, but couldn't reach a conclusion, focusing their attention on the last few carvings.

Among them, the sixth carving was the Nine-layered Coffin from the Mythical Era, the seventh depicted the Immortal Heavenly Blade and a stone-shelled divine egg, the eighth was the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin, and the ninth was destroyed.

Across the various carvings on the stone wall, two ancient coffins appeared, both entirely different. They likely did not contain the same person. Logically, the last four carvings seemed unrelated and independent of each other.

Just then, they simultaneously felt a sensation. Their Immortal Platform trembled, and their forehead bones shone brightly, casting light upon the stone wall, where lines of small characters, ancient divine script, began to appear.

“A touch of melancholy in my heart, my spirit nearing twilight’s end. Though I know the immortal path is an illusion, I can only struggle onward with all my might.”

These words expressed a sense of helplessness, while also indicating that this person was unfathomably profound, at least a Quasi-Emperor; otherwise, how could they utter such words?

The stone wall glowed, and lines of ancient characters emerged, recounting past events. Indeed, they were left by the old man who chopped wood, who eventually departed on a dragon, able only to “struggle onward with all his might.”

The latter four carvings were not illusory; they were things he had witnessed personally. They hinted at astonishing secrets, and thus he created these illustrations to provide insights for future generations, though without explicitly stating them.

However, they also contained warnings!

“Ye Zi, you should still throw away the stone coffin you have, bury it in the starry sky. Otherwise, I always feel there’s something wrong with that thing; keeping it on you will lead to big problems,” Pang Bo said.

Ye Fan pondered, then pointed to the very bottom of the stone wall, where a final sentence served as a note: these latter four carvings were all encountered on the Immortal Path.

The arrangement of the carvings was based on the chronological order in which the old man encountered them; it did not inherently signify anything else.

It only mentioned that the last carving perhaps should not exist in the world, and after much hesitation, he ultimately erased it.

Everyone gasped. The stone coffin, the Immortal Heavenly Blade, and the Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin were all on the Immortal Path. Some of these things had already intersected with them, which seemed rather unsettling.

Pang Bo stared at the Immortal Heavenly Blade, feeling a boundless murderous aura from ancient times, as if it could cleave through all heavens and ten thousand realms, rushing out from the stone wall and threatening to tear their bodies apart.

“What’s the deal with this famous Heavenly Blade and this egg? What kind of contingency did the Immortal Heavenly Emperor leave behind?!”

Ye Fan had slain the Heavenly Emperor’s son, and now there was an egg beneath this blade, which felt eerie and caused a faint unease in their hearts.

“There’s a legend that the Undying Heavenly Emperor was a fallen immortal phoenix. Even if it’s not true, there are probably some hidden circumstances and secrets. Is this egg his own nirvana, or someone else’s?” Pang Bo voiced this terrifying conjecture.

This startled everyone. They exchanged glances. If the old man who once wielded a wood-chopping knife had kept his distance from it, then surely this blade and egg posed a significant problem.

These last few carvings were independent of each other, with no apparent connection, yet each was astonishing and awe-inspiring.

Over the next few years, they remained on this ancient planet, honing themselves and cultivating in this ancient land of life, which was suppressed by the Great Dao.

This stone wall became their training ground. They constantly studied and pondered it. After observing the first five carvings, Ye Fan began to practice without using his magical power, engaging in selective forgetting.

“One day, this world will cease to exist, and all Daos will become illusory. Only my heart will remain, only my body will be true oneness.”

He practiced without using magical power or Dao principles, undertaking arduous journeys on foot through this world.

Ye Fan chopped wood, fed horses, and traveled across this planet. He served as a minor official in an ancient city, fought as a general on the frontier, and journeyed through famous mountains and great rivers with a group of scholars.

Four years later, he returned to himself. Amidst the vast human world, he had experienced countless roles, and though he couldn’t claim great enlightenment, he had gained profound insights and wisdom.

“My Dao…” For years, he had contemplated his future path of cultivation and sought to establish his own scriptures. Now, his thoughts were gradually maturing.

On this day, as Ye Fan, Pang Bo, the Dragon Horse, and the Black Bear Saint meditated, the West Mountain stone wall shimmered as if dripping with crystal light. Their scriptures resonated, producing unusual, rumbling sounds.

Even the Great Dao in the sky couldn’t suppress it. Evidently, they had all made remarkable progress over those four years, breaking through the world’s restrictions and causing Dao sounds to reverberate loudly here.

“Huh, ancient characters have appeared on the stone wall again…” exclaimed the Scorpion Saint.

The moss and other impurities on the stone wall had long been removed, and now, nourished by Dao light, it was translucent like a jade platform. Lines of ancient divine script emerged.

They were still left by the old man, describing a conjecture: the Nine-layered Coffin from the Mythical Era had fallen to the mortal world, perhaps due to some reason, descending on its own accord to follow a certain path.

Furthermore, he had carved an ancient map depicting ancient starfields, marked with coordinates – the path he had traveled. Along this path, he had encountered the Immortal Heavenly Blade, seen the divine egg, met ancient coffins of gods, and everything depicted in the erased ninth carving…

“Let’s go, let’s see what’s there!” They set off, once again venturing into the starry sky.