Chapter 16: Like a Deity Descending to Earth

Chapter 16: A Divine Presence

Besides the Vajra pestle, several other people found damaged artifacts such as incense burners, monastic rulers, bronze bells, and wooden fish drums.

Among them, the emaciated female classmate, whom Ye Fan had felt sympathy for at the class reunion, discovered a unique item. It was a complete string of prayer beads, consisting of only six beads. They were translucent and glistening, a pale golden color like crystal, and each was as large as a longan fruit.

“Could these be made from sarira?” someone nearby wondered, their voice filled with uncertainty.

All six beads were pale golden crystals, resembling exquisite gemstones. Their appearance easily brought to mind sarira, the relics left behind after ancient Buddhas achieved nirvana. Given that these artifacts came from the Great Thunderclap Temple, their material was certainly extraordinary.

This string of prayer beads was quite unusual; the female classmate had accidentally found them on top of the stone Buddha’s head. The six beads were strung together with a transparent, thin thread, and each one bore a blurry, distinct human-like figure.

This was the third intact artifact found, after Ye Fan’s bronze lamp and Zhou Yi’s alms bowl. Of course, the bronze lamp remained the most striking, as it was the only ancient lamp completely free of dust and perpetually glowing, clearly indicating its extraordinary nature.

Several intense gazes from within the ancient temple periodically targeted the bronze lamp. Though Ye Fan sensed them, he showed no reaction, facing everything with great composure.

The Buddha hall of the Great Thunderclap Temple had been thoroughly searched, yielding no further artifacts, so everyone withdrew.

Pang Bo was the most frustrated. Over a dozen people had found ancient artifacts, and he was among the first to enter the temple, yet he still hadn't discovered anything.

Standing before the temple, Pang Bo re-examined the ancient structure, and his eyes suddenly lit up. He strode back, moved some large stones to stand on, and then took down the bronze plaque inscribed with “Great Thunderclap Temple.” This immediately left many onlookers dumbfounded.

Everyone then realized that the bronze plaque must be extraordinary. Despite enduring the ravages of wind and time, it bore no trace of dust and was remarkably clean. It was noteworthy that among all the artifacts in the ancient temple, only the bronze lamp was spotless, and the plaque shared this characteristic, clearly indicating its exceptional nature.

“It’s really heavy…” Pang Bo dragged the bronze plaque back. As soon as he exited the temple, the entire ancient structure began to shake. Inside, the stone Buddha suddenly cracked, emitting a 'crunching' sound.

Then, the Six-Syllable Mantra of Buddhism resounded: “Om, Mani, Padme, Hum…”

The immense Buddhist chants echoed through the sky, shaking the heavens, and causing the entire world to tremble!

The compassionate, solemn, sublime, and profound Zen sounds were overwhelmingly vast, cleansing impurities and washing away worldly dust. The area around the ancient temple was bathed in a sacred and peaceful glow.

This time, it was no illusion. Not only did Ye Fan and Pang Bo hear it, but everyone else stood like clay figures, too stunned to speak.

At the same time, all the artifacts everyone had found in the Buddha hall, whether intact or damaged, began to emit a soft, brilliant glow, astonishing everyone.

However, with a final tremendous boom, the stone Buddha inside the ancient temple shattered into dust. Then, the Great Thunderclap Temple itself disintegrated into fine powder in a gentle breeze.

At the same moment, the ancient Bodhi tree standing nearby also crumbled. There were no wood chips or dead branches, only a sky full of ashes that drifted down.

Subsequently, the Buddhist artifacts in everyone’s hands retracted their brilliant light, dimming and returning to their ordinary appearance.

Everyone was stunned, unsure why this had happened. Was it because they had taken the Buddhist artifacts from the temple and removed the bronze plaque?

Only a pile of dust remained where the ancient temple once stood. After gazing for a moment, Ye Fan said, “Perhaps by taking the various Buddhist artifacts and removing the ancient plaque, we caused the Great Thunderclap Temple, which was already desolate, to lose its reason for existing. That might be why it scattered with the wind.”

Zhou Yi, usually gentle and elegant, was incredibly agitated now, his eyes gleaming. He said, “I am now even more certain that gods truly exist in this world. Perhaps we can follow the traces they left behind. Everything we’ve encountered today might be a tremendous opportunity for us.”

Gods, Buddhas, immortality… these seemingly absurd legends, now mentioned, no longer seemed preposterous to anyone. The facts before them suggested that many conventional beliefs could be overturned; gods might not be entirely nonexistent.

“Following the footsteps of gods… that’s easier said than done. I don’t see any hope,” Pang Bo interjected, glancing at Zhou Yi. “Right now, the most important thing is to figure out how to survive. This desert has no villages or stores, no water, no food. In another seven or eight hours, the situation will likely become extremely dire.”

“All signs indicate that this planet is most likely Mars, and we all know that Mars cannot sustain life,” Li Xiaoman, beautiful and refined, stated. After a series of events, she had grown remarkably composed. She continued, “If gods truly exist, then perhaps that explains everything. This might just be a small sanctuary on Mars.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than a rumbling sound suddenly arose from the reddish-brown ground. The vast expanse of land trembled, as if a thousand horses were stampeding or raging waves were surging.

“A sandstorm… a super-storm on Mars!” Kai De, beside Li Xiaoman, cried out in broken Chinese, his face contorted in alarm.

For a quarter of every Martian year, the planet is shrouded in raging sand. While major typhoons on Earth can reach over sixty meters per second, storms on Mars can rage at up to one hundred eighty meters per second, with super-storms capable of engulfing the entire planet.

Not to mention humans, even heavy tanks would be swept high into the sky!

In just an instant, the myriad stars and the moon vanished completely as endless reddish-brown sand and dust blanketed the sky. A planet-wide Martian storm had begun.

“Wait, there’s no storm here…”

Just moments ago, many had been terrified, believing a cataclysm was upon them. But now, they realized that while a colossal storm raged in the distance, their immediate surroundings remained calm.

Centered on the Five-Color Altar and the Great Thunderclap Temple, a hazy circular shield, over a thousand meters in diameter, had formed above the area, isolating it from the outside world.

Li Xiaoman’s words had come true; this was indeed a small sanctuary. A supernatural force blocked the storm, indirectly proving the possible existence of gods and suggesting this might be a place of divine protection.

“Oh no, the hazy light shield is fading, it’s about to disappear!” a female classmate staring at the sky exclaimed, her face turning pale.

The dim light shield in the sky was gradually dissolving and would likely vanish completely soon. Witnessing this, everyone’s expressions changed; death was so close, and no one could remain calm.

“What do we do? Are we… really going to die here?” Some voices trembled.

“I don’t want to die…” some female classmates cried out.

“If the shield disappears, we’ll be crushed by the super-storm!” Even the male students felt profound fear. Mars’s only sanctuary would cease to exist, leaving no more space for survival.

“Rumble, rumble…”

The storm roared like muffled thunder, seemingly shaking the entire ground. The world was hazy with raging sand everywhere, and fear spread among the group.

Ye Fan’s eyes remained clear. Looking at the overwhelming sandstorm, he calmly stated, “There might only be one way out now.”

“We can escape? Tell us how!”

“This sanctuary will be gone. Where else can we survive?!”

At this life-or-death moment, everyone grew incredibly anxious, and many lost their composure.

“We must follow the path the gods walked and leave this uninhabitable environment,” Ye Fan said.

Immediately, some understood Ye Fan’s idea, but many remained confused.

“Indeed, this might be our only chance for survival,” Zhou Yi nodded in agreement.

According to Ye Fan’s deduction, in the distant past, gods had forged an ancient Starry Sky Road, which allowed passage from Earth to Mars. However, this might not have been their ultimate destination.

Mars also had a Five-Color Altar, very likely connected to even more distant parts of the cosmos. This was the path gods had once traversed. Now, pushed to the brink, they could only hope to survive by continuing along this ancient road, away from Mars.

At this point, everyone understood and rushed quickly towards the Five-Color Altar.

Although it was only a thousand meters, the distance felt as vast as an ocean. This short span held their lives in the balance; if the light shield in the sky shattered before they reached the Five-Color Altar, everyone would surely perish.

The vast ruins of the heavenly palace were strewn with debris, making for a difficult journey. Because they moved too quickly, some twisted their ankles but dared not pause, enduring the pain to press forward rapidly, unwilling to be left behind.

Even if they reached the Five-Color Altar safely, whether they could activate the Starry Sky Road remained unknown. This was a huge shadow hanging over their hearts, as everything at Mount Tai had been passive. However, at this moment, they had no other choice; the altar was their only lifeline. For now, they could only rush there and then figure out a way forward.

“Ah…” While running through the ruins, a female classmate suddenly screamed, then fell with a thud into the dust, motionless.

Her face was contorted in terror, and there was a thumb-sized bloody hole in her forehead, from which blood welled up. It seemed she had witnessed something utterly terrifying just before she died.

“What happened?!” Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, their hearts filled with fear. A vibrant life had suddenly ended, a person who had been with them just moments ago was now gone forever, so abruptly and strangely.

“Don’t go near her!” Ye Fan warned two male classmates who were approaching the body. He recalled the pristine white skull he had seen on their way here, which also had a finger-sized hole in the center of its forehead—the same manner of death. A bad premonition arose within him.

“We desecrated the Great Thunderclap Temple, could it be… divine punishment?” a female classmate whispered, her voice trembling, her heart filled with terror.

“Even if gods exist, Buddhas are benevolent,” Zhou Yi interrupted her, preventing the spread of panic. “We have no way to take her with us now; she can only rest here. We must return to the Five-Color Altar immediately.”

No one hesitated. In this moment of life and death, they could no longer concern themselves with the female classmate’s body.

“Dong…” Suddenly, a long, majestic, and solemn bell toll resounded, like the vibration of a great bronze bell.

An incredibly brilliant golden light erupted from Wang Ziwen. His entire body was enveloped in a dazzling golden radiance, as if he were wearing a thick suit of golden armor, extremely luminous, like divine golden fire burning.

In Wang Ziwen’s hand, the broken bronze bell vibrated gently. The grand sound emanated from it, as did the brilliant golden light.

“What’s happening?” Liu Yunzhi, who was closest to him, asked anxiously.

“Something just attacked me…” Wang Ziwen was usually refined and gentle, but at this moment, enveloped by the golden divine flames as if in golden battle armor, he exuded a powerful aura, truly like a god descending upon the earth.