Chapter 926: Mars Demon Sea Eye

Mars, anciently known as Yinghuo, is entirely reddish-brown, primarily due to its abundant hematite. Twenty years prior, even before Ye Fan left Earth, he had seen reports describing it as a desolate, boundless dead planet.

Yet, what lay before him was a vast expanse of dark water, with roaring waves and the sound of tsunamis, great swells crashing towards the sky. It was a terrifying and unbelievable sight, incomprehensible. The ancient star of Yinghuo must have once had water, but it had dried up countless millennia ago. Ye Fan stared, dumbfounded, as the black waves surged towards him, nearly submerging him. The salty water was no illusion; it was real!

He shot into the air, stunned and almost petrified. Where did this water come from? What was happening? Was the lost mythological era re-emerging? He gazed at the several ghost ships with extreme wariness. Though distant, he could already sense their eerie aura.

The black ocean quickly engulfed the area. All he could see were enormous black waves, crashing against the air, churning up countless layers, an incredibly grand sight. It all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye, the barren land vanished, replaced by an endless expanse of water. Even the Five-Colored Altar and the ruins of the Great Thunder Sound Temple were submerged.

"Is this still the ancient star of Yinghuo?" Ye Fan murmured to himself, finding it all beyond comprehension.

In the distance, several ghost ships sailed steadily on the waves, never capsizing. Their faint green ghostly flames made them even more bizarre. Moreover, a dense fog appeared over the entire sea, blurring everything and making it difficult to see. In such a short time, the environment had completely transformed. If Ye Fan were to land on the ancient star of Yinghuo now, he would surely not recognize it, likely mistaking it for an unknown planet.

The fog was thick, and the ghost ships became even more indistinct. Were it not for the flickering green ghost lights, they would have been completely invisible, seemingly on the verge of disappearing into the black ocean. His previous understanding shattered, Ye Fan pondered deeply, staring intently at the ghost ships. To understand the situation, he would likely need to start with them.

He strode across the water, moving swiftly, leaving a trail behind him. His long robes billowed, his hair flew, as he approached a slightly smaller ghost ship. It was ancient in style, long and large enough to easily accommodate hundreds of people. The pitch-black hull was shrouded in swirling mist, chilling to the bone. This sea became deathly still; even the great waves no longer surged. A profound silence fell, utterly devoid of sound.

Having fought no fewer than a thousand battles in his cultivation, Ye Fan was rich in combat experience. Naturally fearless, or perhaps simply bold due to his skill, he landed on the ship. The fog grew denser, even affecting his Heavenly Eye. This was a sea of mist imbued with Dao principles!

With the Cauldron of Myriad Things' Mother Qi above his head and the God-Beating Whip in hand, Ye Fan moved through the ancient ship, searching in the darkness. The ship was empty, save for a bronze lamp hanging at the bow, flickering with ghostly light. As he walked into the cabin, he was startled. Something tripped his foot. He looked down to see a corpse, dead for an unknown number of years. Deeper inside, he found more corpses, all clad in armor. Their iron mail was nearly rotten. He gently touched one with the God-Beating Whip, and with a clatter, rotten iron pieces fell to the floor, the flesh having turned to dust, leaving only scattered white bones.

"What era are these people from? Are they indigenous to the ancient star of Yinghuo? Where does this black ocean usually hide?" Ye Fan wondered, astonished.

Soon after, he reached the deepest part of the cabin, where he found a blood pool constructed of dark jade. The blood within had long since dried, and several humanoid figures were encased in solidified blood clots. Suddenly, something happened. A hand grabbed Ye Fan's ankle from behind with immense strength, almost pulling him off balance. A corpse had actually revived! Possessing boundless strength, it failed to pull him down, instead leaping up like an ape, its hands lunging for his neck.

It was like a reanimated corpse, truly a horrifying ghoul seizing a person. Even Ye Fan, hardened by countless battles, was startled, his hairs standing on end. He quickly retreated, then swung the God-Beating Whip forward.

"Boom!" His strength was immense; even a Dao-slaying king would be annihilated, body and soul, if struck by him. Few in the current era could match his physical power. "Clatter!" The rotten iron armor instantly shattered, and the bones turned to powder. This strange corpse was utterly pulverized, no longer able to cause trouble.

"Thud!" From the dried blood pool, the five ancient corpses encased in solidified blood clots all broke free, emitting shrill howls as they leaped high and lunged at Ye Fan. Ye Fan spread the five fingers of his left hand, and immediately five dragon-shaped light beams shot forth, piercing forward. Such destructive power was enough to kill a sect master. However, with five soft thuds, these five blood-soaked corpses, though pierced, continued to charge forward, unaffected.

Ye Fan's heart tightened. These corpses must have been incredibly powerful in life, certainly Dao-slayers. Now, only complete annihilation could end their agonizing nightmare. "Boom!" He lightly shook his cauldron, and strands of Myriad Things' Mother Qi descended, each as heavy as a mountain, instantly crushing the ancient corpses into powder and turning them to ashes.

"This place is truly strange. These things, left from who knows how many tens of thousands of years ago, haven't decayed and can still launch attacks..." Ye Fan marveled.

"Woo... woo..." Suddenly, a mournful, wailing sound like crying echoed, particularly terrifying in the silent black dead sea, making one's scalp crawl. Ye Fan immediately rushed out of the cabin onto the deck, staring at the source of the sound: the bronze ghost lamp hanging at the bow. He punched it, and with a "poof," the ghostly flame extinguished, and the ancient lamp shattered into dust. However, the wailing had already spread across the black ocean. Its sound was exceptionally distant, and several nearby ghost ships quickly surged forward, each with several corpses standing on their decks, looking incredibly eerie.

"Just a few ancient corpses; they haven't formed a significant threat, nothing to fear." Ye Fan sneered, unleashing his Six Paths Reincarnation Fist. His golden fists immediately stirred up towering waves, and boundless golden light surged, reducing all these ghost ships and the ancient corpses on them to dust. The sea surface calmed. Everything became silent; even the waves subsided. The entire ocean was deathly still, without a single sound.

However, Ye Fan felt an unease. An ominous aura was spreading, as if something was about to happen. Sure enough, not long after, the atmosphere grew even more oppressive and heavy. Nine enormous black ancient ships suddenly appeared, each as tall as a mountain! They made no sound, appearing abruptly like nine islands, full of oppressive presence, submerged in the thick fog. Only the ghost lamps at their bows flickered with dim light.

The silence was deathly until the large ships were upon him. A shrill cry first broke the quiet, followed by a hair-raising scene. A riot erupted on the nine black ships. Countless ghostly claws writhed; it was almost boiling. Ghostly qi soared to the sky, the clamor deafening, and the screeching of ghouls unnerving. Then, like dumplings falling into a pot, thousands upon thousands of ghostly corpses leaped from the ships, splashing into the black sea and swimming towards Ye Fan, their ghostly claws obscuring the water's surface. This sight was sickening!

Unheard of, unseen, this bizarre and frightening spectacle made Ye Fan's heart pound. He couldn't understand why such terrifying things were happening. "Boom!" Powerful ghostly corpses flew directly at him, spewing black clouds as if they could swallow the heavens and earth. Their ghostly bodies were immense, all clad in rusted iron armor. Ye Fan was in great trouble, submerged in a sea of ghouls. His golden fists crushed all obstacles, but among them were powerful ghostly entities with bodies like copper tendons and iron bones, undoubtedly Semi-Saints in life.

"Here... I understand!" Ye Fan looked at their armor, at the boundless sea of ghouls. He knew these must be the ancient soldiers he had seen on the Five-Colored Altar, transformed after death. It must be that there was an extremely Yin place on the ancient star of Yinghuo, where countless Yin spirits were buried, preserving their bodies until now. Whenever the mysterious black sea surged, they too would emerge to cause chaos. Ye Fan fought fiercely, trapped in a predicament, as there were simply too many ghostly corpses, including terrifying ghouls formed from Semi-Saints. Though they lacked their former cultivation, they were still boundlessly horrifying.

Just as he considered unleashing his nine-colored flames, a dazzling golden light suddenly appeared from the edge of the sea, dispersing the endless Yin mist as it rapidly approached. It was a magnificent great ship, radiating boundless divine light that illuminated the entire world, dispelling the dense fog. It emitted deafening Buddhist chants, resonating endlessly, shaking the sky. It was as if they had arrived at Mount Meru, with all the Buddhas chanting in unison, transforming into runes that soared skyward, suppressing the ghostly corpses. Divine light surged forth like a tide. Bathed in the Buddha's light, many ghostly corpses shattered and vanished into thin air. More retreated into the nine black ghost ships, confronting the radiant great ship.

Ye Fan was astonished. This descent of divine Buddhas instantly turned the tide, forcing the numerous ghouls to retreat. But what was this sacred-looking great ship? Suddenly, he froze. On that seemingly sacred and dazzling great ship, there were no living beings. Hundreds of golden Arhats had long since achieved nirvana, mere skin and bones, devoid of life. All the chanting originated from their lingering will and Dharma bodies from when they were alive.

A ship full of dead monks! Ye Fan counted carefully: exactly five hundred old monks, no more, no less. Every one of them was skin and bones, yet surprisingly, they exuded no death qi. Their skin was golden, wreathed in divine light, and inscribed with runes. Could they be the Five Hundred Golden Arhats? He gasped!

The radiant great ship, carrying the Five Hundred Golden Arhats, naturally restrained the ghouls. The ceaseless Buddhist chants echoed through the sky, and the nine black ghost ships wailed mournfully, swiftly retreating into the depths of the black sea.

"Boom!" Suddenly, colossal waves surged, the ocean crashing against unseen shores. Tides spanning thousands of miles seemed poised to rip the sky apart. Both the ghost ships and the Buddhist ship lost control, pulled by an immense force, rushing northward. At the same time, Ye Fan noticed the black ocean receding, the tsunami reversing and withdrawing towards Yinghuo's North Pole with astonishing speed.

"What's going on?" Ye Fan wondered, puzzled. Many areas were reappearing as dry land. He pursued. At the North Pole of the ancient star of Yinghuo, a colossal sea eye appeared. The towering ocean poured entirely into it. The nine ghost ships and the golden Buddhist ship were also spinning within. This sea eye was enormous, imbued with a demonic quality capable of swallowing even heaven and earth. The surrounding space twisted, causing the void to continuously collapse! It was boundlessly terrifying. Ye Fan's expression instantly changed. This was likely the greatest secret of the ancient star of Yinghuo: the ocean, believed to have evaporated, was here!

"Roar..." A mighty roar, capable of shattering heaven and earth, erupted from the depths of that demonic sea eye. If Ye Fan hadn't possessed the Sacred Body, he would surely have exploded into a mist of blood.

"You brat, you've ruined my great plan! The Demonic Sea Eye, the Immortal Burial Ground that opens once every millennium, has just closed because of you! Eating your flesh and drinking your blood won't suffice to quench my immense hatred!" A formidable surge of blood qi instantly engulfed the heavens and earth, threatening to shatter the entire cosmos. Demonic qi soared skyward. This was undoubtedly an ancient Demon Saint!