5: Chapter 5 The Horror of Mars, Great Thunder Temple

The interior of the bronze coffin was dim; only the ancient runes on the coffin walls emitted a faint, eerie green glow, barely illuminating the limited space.

Su Qingyue stood there, bracing herself against the coffin wall. The left sleeve of her white tracksuit was torn, and blood was slowly seeping out, staining the fabric red.

Her face was somewhat pale, but her eyes were steady. It was the gaze of someone who had become even calmer after experiencing danger—those from ancient martial arts families possessed a tolerance for pain and blood loss that far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Lin Ye looked at this face, which was both familiar and strange.

In his past life, the first time he met Su Qingyue was on the third day after entering the Big Dipper Star Field.

At that time, she was already being besieged by three players on the grounds that she had "stolen their monster."

Lin Ye happened to pass by and saved her, only to discover that this seemingly delicate girl had terrifyingly high combat talent.

Later, he learned that she was a descendant of an ancient martial arts family in reality, the current walker of the Su Clan Taiji lineage.

But in this life, their meeting had been brought forward, and the location had changed from the Big Dipper to inside the bronze coffin.

"I was the one who drew the snake away," Lin Ye nodded in acknowledgment, while simultaneously taking something out of his storage space—a few dried medicinal herbs he had grabbed from a handful of red sand outside the Great Thunder Sound Temple. "Your wound needs to be treated. The sand on Yinghuo Ancient Star contains ancient bacteria; it will be very troublesome if it gets infected."

He placed the herbs in his palm and rubbed them together with both hands.

The dried leaves crumbled in his palm, emitting a faint, bitter scent.

"This is 'red glow grass,' a hemostatic herb unique to the surroundings of the Great Thunder Sound Temple." Lin Ye handed over the crushed leaves. "Apply this to your wound; it can stop bleeding and reduce inflammation. Although the game doesn't have a detailed infection System, wound status will affect your attributes, such as causing continuous health loss or weakening your strength."

Su Qingyue did not take them immediately, but instead carefully examined Lin Ye: "You know a lot about this place?"

"I've read the original novel," Lin Ye lied without changing his expression. "'Covering the Heavens' wrote that red glow grass grows around the Great Thunder Sound Temple on Yinghuo Ancient Star, and it was what Ye Fan used to stop Pang Bo's bleeding."

This explanation was reasonable. Before the server opened, the "Covering the Heavens" novel had indeed become popular again, and many players had reread it.

Su Qingyue seemed to accept this explanation. She took the herbs, skillfully tore the fabric at the wound, and applied the leaves.

Her movements were crisp and efficient; it was clear she had received professional first-aid training.

"Thanks," she said with a simple expression of gratitude. "My name is Su Qingyue."

"Lin Ye." Lin Ye gave his name, then pointed to Chen Hao beside him. "This is my brother, Chen Hao."

"H-hello." Chen Hao greeted her somewhat awkwardly.

He was clearly stunned by Su Qingyue's temperament—that cold yet heroic feeling was rarely seen in reality.

Su Qingyue nodded in response.

Then she looked around: "Are we in a bronze coffin now? Where are we going next?"

"The Big Dipper Star Field." Lin Ye was also observing the situation inside the coffin. "According to the original plot, Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin will cross the starry sky and descend into the Southern Region of the Eastern Wilderness in the Big Dipper Star Field, at the edge of the Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land within the Yan State."

"The Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land..." Su Qingyue said thoughtfully, "That forbidden zone that drains life essence?"

"Yes. So after arriving, we must leave the forbidden area as soon as possible, otherwise, staying too long will cause us to age and die." Lin Ye paused. "But before that, we still have about three hours of travel time. We can't waste this time."

"Can't waste it?" Chen Hao asked, puzzled. "What can we do inside a coffin?"

"Cultivate, or... treasure hunt."

Lin Ye's gaze fell upon the glowing runes on the coffin wall.

In his past life, many players had nothing to do in the coffin, not realizing that these runes themselves were an Opportunity.

They also didn't know that hidden in certain corners of the coffin were things left behind by "predecessors."

He walked to the coffin wall and reached out to touch the runes.

Cold and rough, his fingertips could feel the deep carvings.

When he concentrated, the lines of the runes seemed to come alive, decomposing and recombining in his vision, evolving into the Profound Truth of spatial folding and void traversal.

[Contacting ancient runes, Comprehension Ability check in progress...]

[Comprehension Ability: 13 (Base 5 + Chaos Heavenly Emperor Body bonus 5 + bodhi seed bonus 3)]

[Check passed]

[Spatial Perception + 2]

[Spatial Perception + 2]

As expected, the Comprehension Ability bonus from the bodhi seed had taken effect.

In his past life, he had spent three hours comprehending inside the coffin, and his total Spatial Perception had increased by 15 points.

In this life, it would likely double.

"These runes... is there something wrong with them?" Su Qingyue keenly sensed something.

"They contain the Law of space." Lin Ye did not hide it. "Calm your mind and comprehend them; it can improve your understanding of space. If you obtain spatial Divine Abilities or Cultivation Techniques later, it will be much easier to get started."

Su Qingyue's eyes lit up, and she also walked to the coffin wall and placed her hand on it.

Three seconds later, her body trembled slightly: "Really... there is something flowing."

"That is spatial energy. Try to use your consciousness to capture and understand it," Lin Ye instructed. "Don't force it; just comprehend as much as you can."

After saying this, he closed his own eyes and immersed his entire mind in the comprehension of the runes.

The Comprehension Ability bonus from the Chaos Heavenly Emperor Body, combined with the extra boost from the bodhi seed, made his speed of comprehension astonishingly fast.

Those runes, which were just background textures in the eyes of ordinary players, became an open textbook on the Law of space in his "eyes."

Time passed in the darkness.

Outside the bronze coffin was the dead, silent starry sky; inside, there was only the eerie green fluorescence and the suppressed breathing of the players.

About five thousand survivors were squeezed into the coffin. Most were still in a state of panic; some were weeping softly, some were muttering to themselves, and some tried to log off only to find the exit button was still grey.

But gradually, some people began to notice the anomaly of the three of them.

"What are those three people doing?"

"Hands pressed on the coffin... are they praying?"

"No, look at their expressions... it looks like they are comprehending something?"

"Is there something on the coffin wall?"

Curiosity dispelled some of the fear.

Successively, players walked to the coffin wall to imitate Lin Ye's actions.

But the vast majority of people frowned as soon as they put their hands on it—they felt nothing.

Their Comprehension Ability was not high enough.

One of the hidden settings of "covering the heavens era": if Comprehension Ability is lower than 8 points, it is basically impossible to comprehend basic Laws.

Ordinary players had an initial Comprehension Ability of only 5 points; the Chaos Heavenly Emperor Body doubled it to 10 points, and with the bodhi seed, it reached 13 points.

Ordinary players? Unless they had special talents or item bonuses, they couldn't even touch the threshold.

"Why can't I feel anything?"

"Do we need to chant some spell?"

"Are you kidding? Where is there any spatial energy?"

Voices of doubt began to emerge.

Lin Ye ignored them.

He was at a critical node—his understanding of a certain complex rune had reached the final step.

The structure of that rune was exceptionally complex, composed of three hundred and sixty intersecting basic lines, with each line representing a type of spatial change.

In his past life, he had spent a full hour to barely understand thirty percent.

In this life...

"Hum—"

A soft hum came from deep within his mind.

That rune "lit up" in his consciousness.

It was not a visual brightness, but a clarity of understanding.

The direction, connection, and energy flow paths of the three hundred and sixty lines were all clearly presented.

He could even "see" what effect would be produced if these lines were activated in a certain order—

Spatial folding, shortening distance, a thousand miles in a single step.

[Successfully comprehended spatial rune 'Shrinking Ground to an Inch' (incomplete)]

[Effect: Movement speed increased by 10%, small probability to trigger 'Shrinking Ground' effect (next step movement distance doubled)]

[Current comprehension degree: 12% (need to continue comprehending to improve the effect)]

It's done!

Although it was only an incomplete version, and the comprehension degree was only 12%, it was already a good start.

Once they reached the Big Dipper and found a Cultivation Technique or Legacy that recorded the Law of space, the complete form of this rune might be directly converted into a skill.

Lin Ye opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

In three hours, his total Spatial Perception had increased by 38 points, and he had also comprehended an incomplete rune.

This gain was enough to allow him to establish a huge advantage in the Early Stages.

Looking to the side, Su Qingyue also happened to open her eyes.

Fine beads of sweat oozed from her forehead; clearly, the comprehension process was not easy, but there was a hint of enlightened brilliance in her eyes.

"Any gains?" Lin Ye asked.

"A little bit." Su Qingyue rarely showed a faint smile. "It seems... my sense of 'distance' has become sharper. For example, right now, I can roughly judge that you are 2.34 meters away from me, with a margin of error of no more than five centimeters."

"That is the prototype of spatial perception," Lin Ye nodded. "Continue cultivating, and it might develop into a 'Divine Sense' type ability in the future, allowing you to perceive the surrounding environment without using your eyes."

"Divine Sense..." Su Qingyue said thoughtfully.

As for Chen Hao, the situation was not very optimistic.

He pulled his hand back with a bitter face: "Brother Ye, I didn't feel anything at all, I just felt my hand was a bit cold..."

"That's normal. Your Comprehension Ability attribute is not high enough." Lin Ye patted him on the shoulder. "Once we reach the Big Dipper, I'll find a way to help you look for a Medicinal Pill or Cultivation Technique to increase your Comprehension Ability."

"Really? Thanks, Brother Ye!"

Lin Ye smiled and turned his gaze to the depths of the coffin.

It was time to take the next step.

Inside the bronze coffin, besides the rune Opportunity, there were also several hidden "relics of predecessors."

Those were Easter eggs set by the game developers, and also rewards for observant players.

He walked towards the head of the coffin.

That was the position where the nine dragon corpses were pulling, where the coffin wall was thickest and the runes were most dense.

Among the dense runes, there was an inconspicuous depression—shaped like a handprint.

In his past life, this handprint was only discovered a week after the server opened.

A player who was extremely tired leaned against the coffin wall to rest, and his hand inadvertently pressed into the depression, triggering a hidden mechanism.

Inside was an "Ancient Star Road Coordinate Stone," which was later acquired by a large guild for an astronomical price.

And now, Lin Ye was going to be the first person to open it.

He reached out and pressed his palm against the depression.

The size was just right, fitting perfectly.

"Need to inject energy..." Lin Ye recalled the walkthrough from his past life. "Not Divine Power, but... blood?"

He bit his fingertip and smeared a drop of blood in the center of the depression.

The moment the blood touched the bronze, it was quickly absorbed.

Immediately after, the runes in the depression began to glow, not eerie green, but a deep blue like the starry sky.

The light spread along the lines of the runes, eventually forming a circular Formation with a diameter of half a meter on the coffin wall.

The Formation rotated, and a hole slowly opened in the center.

The inside of the hole was pitch black, but one could feel a faint spatial fluctuation.

Lin Ye reached in and groped around.

His fingertips touched a cold, hard object, irregular in shape, with uneven textures on its surface.

He took it out and found it was a black stone slab the size of a palm. The surface of the slab was engraved with dense star charts, and the positions of those stars were constantly changing, as if simulating the movement of the real starry sky.

[Obtained: Ancient Star Road Coordinate Stone (damaged)]

[Quality: Rare (Blue)]

[Description: A strange stone recording a segment of Ancient Star Road coordinates. Due to the passage of time, it is partially damaged, and the coordinate information is incomplete.]

[Effects:]

1. The holder can slightly improve their perception of the direction of the starry sky.

2. Incomplete coordinates: (Eastern Wilderness -> Eternal Star Domain) path, 17% completeness.

3. Can attempt to repair (requires mastery of Advanced Formation or Star-Seeking Art).

[Note: Collect three fragments to synthesize a complete Coordinate Stone and unlock the hidden map 'Eternal Star Domain'.]

Eternal Star Domain!

Lin Ye's eyes lit up.

That was the technological civilization Star Domain in the "Covering the Heavens" Universe, with mechas, warships, and genetic agents—a System completely different from the immortal cultivation civilization.

In his past life, the Eternal Star Domain was only discovered by players half a year after the server opened, and the technological equipment there once sold for astronomical prices at the auction house.

And this Coordinate Stone, although damaged, at least pointed out the direction.

When he had enough strength later, he could go to the Eternal Star Domain to "borrow" some technology back.

"What is this?" Su Qingyue walked over, looking at the stone slab with curiosity.

"Starry sky coordinates." Lin Ye did not hide it. "It records a route to other Star Domains. But we can't use it now; we have to wait until we reach at least the Four Extremities Realm to cross the starry sky."

"Four Extremities Realm..." Su Qingyue murmured. "According to the cultivation System announced on the official website, that's something for after level 60."

"It will be very fast." Lin Ye put away the Coordinate Stone. "The game's time flow is ten times faster than reality; one day in reality equals ten days in the game. As long as we hurry, it's not impossible to reach the Four Extremities Realm within a month."

His voice was not loud, but the few players nearby who were pricking up their ears to listen all gasped.

Reach level 60 in a month? Are you kidding me! Everyone is generally only level 1 or 2 right now, okay!

But Lin Ye was not joking.

In his past life, in the first month of the server, the highest-level player had already rushed to the Dao Palace Realm (level 30).

In this life, with the 200% experience bonus of the Chaos Heavenly Emperor Body, plus his foresight advantage, it was entirely possible to push for the Four Extremities Realm (level 60).

"Um... big shot." A young player wearing glasses leaned over and asked cautiously, "About the rune comprehension you mentioned just now... can you teach us? We can't feel anything..."

Lin Ye glanced at him.

ID: Li Ming, level 2, Human Race. He had no impression of him from his past life; he must have been an ordinary player.

"Your Comprehension Ability is not high enough, it's useless even if I teach you," Lin Ye said truthfully. "However, I can tell you another thing: once we reach the Big Dipper, find a place as soon as possible to open the wheel sea secret realm. After opening it, your attributes will skyrocket, and you will also unlock basic skills. It might be easier to comprehend these runes then."

"How do you open the wheel sea secret realm?" another player asked hurriedly.

"Find an 'archaic sacred fruit,' or a similar Heaven And Earth Treasure," Lin Ye said. "There are nine in the Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land, but it is very dangerous there. You can also go to pharmacies in major cities to buy 'Wheel Sea Pill,' but the price is very expensive; no one should be able to afford it in the Early Stages."

He intentionally spoke louder so that more players around could hear.

This was not selflessness, but a layout.

In his past life, because information was not transparent, over three million players died in the Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land on the first day of the server's launch.

The massive death toll of beginners led to them falling behind in levels, severely dragging down the overall strength of the Human Race faction.

In this life, Lin Ye planned to release some basic guides to improve the overall survival rate.

After all, one year later, when the game fused with reality, the Human Race would need more high-end combat power to resist the Dark Turmoil.

"Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land... Wheel Sea Pill..." Players hurriedly noted down these keywords.

Just then, the bronze coffin suddenly shook violently!

It wasn't the slight swaying from the stable flight before, but the entire coffin was shaking frantically, as if it had been heavily struck by something.

"What's wrong now?"

"Don't tell me it's going to crash again?"

"What kind of monster is it this time!"

Panic spread once again.

Lin Ye's expression was grave. He walked quickly to the coffin wall, pressed his palm against it, and closed his eyes to perceive the outside world.

It wasn't a physical impact.

It was spatial fluctuations—violent, chaotic spatial turbulence, impacting the bronze coffin's protection like a tsunami. And the source of the turbulence came from... behind.

He "saw" it.

In the star field about three hundred li behind the bronze coffin, a giant claw covered in dark red scales was tearing through space, reaching out towards the bronze coffin. Wherever the claw tip passed, stars dimmed, space shattered, leaving behind a pitch-black trail.

The Crocodile Ancestor's Divine Sense had caught up!

It was not satisfied with just obtaining the Buddha bone relics; it wanted more—it wanted this bronze coffin capable of traversing the starry sky, and it wanted the flesh and blood essence of all the living beings inside the coffin!

"Everyone, hold onto something fixed!" Lin Ye shouted, "Spatial turbulence is coming!"

Before he finished speaking, the bronze coffin accelerated violently.

It wasn't the dragon corpses accelerating, but the coffin itself, pushed by the spatial turbulence, had entered a kind of "gliding" state. The runes on the coffin walls flashed frantically, and the eerie green light almost overflowed from the coffin; it was a sign that the defensive Formation was overloaded.

"Boom!"

The second wave of impact arrived.

This time it was a direct physical attack. The giant claw struck the tail of the coffin, and the bronze coffin spun wildly like a whipped top. The players inside the coffin were tossed about, with screams, crashing sounds, and vomiting mixing together.

Lin Ye gripped a protrusion on the coffin wall tightly, holding Chen Hao with his other hand. Su Qingyue also grabbed a rune indentation nearby, her body floating as the coffin spun, but she gritted her teeth and refused to let go.

"This won't work..." Lin Ye's brain worked at high speed, "The bronze coffin's protection won't last long. I have to find a way to interfere with the Crocodile Ancestor, even if just for a tenth of a second, to let the coffin enter the star jump state..."

He remembered something and suddenly looked at the bronze lamp in his hand.

The Buddha Fire had a restraining effect on evil spirits. Although the Crocodile Ancestor's Divine Sense was powerful, it was essentially an evil entity, an obsession that refused to dissipate even after death. If he lit the Buddha Fire, could it... block it for a moment?

It was worth a try.

"Ah Hao, hold on tight! Su Qingyue, you too!" Lin Ye released his hand from the protrusion, and in the instant his body was flung out, his other hand ignited the bronze lamp.

"Sss—"

A faint golden flame ignited on the wick.

It was really very faint; in the wildly spinning, light-confused coffin, this spark was almost invisible. But the moment the flame ignited, a painful roar came from outside the coffin!

It worked!

Lin Ye poured all his Divine Power into the bronze lamp.

10 points, 20 points, 30 points...

His Divine Power limit was 200 points, and he poured it out without reservation. The flame on the wick expanded from the size of a bean to the size of a fist, and golden Buddha light spread out, enveloping a three-meter radius around them.

Within the Buddha light Domain, the chaotic spatial fluctuations seemed to stabilize slightly.

And outside the coffin, the Crocodile Ancestor's pursuit was clearly delayed by half a beat. Although the Buddha Fire was weak, the nature of Buddha light naturally restrained evil, just like a basin of ice water poured onto a red-hot iron plate; while it couldn't extinguish the iron plate, it could at least make it "hurt."

That half-beat was all it took!

The bronze coffin seized the Opportunity.

On the coffin wall, several of the most ancient runes suddenly lit up with blinding silver light. The structure of those runes was more complex than the spatial runes, and the Law they contained was also more Advanced—they were Time Runes!

The silver light swallowed the entire coffin.

Time was distorted at this moment.

Lin Ye felt his consciousness being stretched and pulled, like a rubber band stretched to its limit. Everything in his field of vision slowed down: flying droplets of saliva froze in the air, the terrified expressions of players were fixed on their faces, and the light on the coffin wall flowed slowly like syrup...

Then, the silver light exploded.

The bronze coffin disappeared from its original spot.

It wasn't accelerating until it was invisible to the naked eye, but a true "disappearance"—erased directly from the current spacetime coordinates and jumped to another part of the starry sky.

The rotation inside the coffin stopped abruptly.

The players fell to the ground like dumplings, sprawling in all directions. But no one complained, because everyone felt it—the suffocating feeling of being locked onto by a terrifying existence had disappeared.

"Is, is it over?" someone asked with a trembling voice.

Lin Ye extinguished the bronze lamp, sat down against the coffin wall, and gasped for breath.

His Divine Power was almost exhausted, with only 3 points left. The weakness from excessive consumption flooded his whole body, and he didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. But a smile appeared on his face.

He had succeeded.

The bronze coffin had entered the star jump state and could at least safely navigate to the Big Dipper. No matter how strong the Crocodile Ancestor's Divine Sense was, it couldn't track them accurately across Star Domains.

"What did you just do?" Su Qingyue walked over. Her condition was slightly better than Lin Ye's, though her face was a bit pale.

"I interfered with it using the Buddha Fire," Lin Ye answered briefly. "The bronze lamp has a restraining effect on evil."

"The bronze lamp... the one from the Great Thunder Sound Temple?" Su Qingyue narrowed her eyes. "You weren't in there long, yet you got the lamp and knew how to use it. This can no longer be explained by just 'having read the original work'."

Lin Ye was silent.

He certainly knew his actions would arouse suspicion. But some things couldn't be explained. Was he supposed to say, "I am a Rebirth person, and I know the future"?

"Everyone has secrets," Lin Ye finally said. "You just need to know that I have no malice towards you. On the contrary, I think we can cooperate."

"Cooperate?"

"Yes." Lin Ye lifted his head and looked straight into Su Qingyue's eyes. "In this game, you won't get far by fighting alone. We need teammates, partners we can entrust our backs to. You are like us—calm, decisive, and also..." He paused, "When you were comprehending the runes just now, did you feel anything unusual in your body? For example... cold Qi?"

Su Qingyue's pupils contracted slightly.

She had indeed felt it.

While comprehending the runes, besides spatial energy, she had also felt a cold, crisp energy surging from the depths of her Dantian. That energy made her exceptionally sensitive to concepts related to "cold" and "ice," and she could even vaguely manipulate the surrounding temperature.

"How did you know?" Her voice carried a hint of wariness.

"I guessed," Lin Ye didn't elaborate. "If I'm not mistaken, you should have awakened some kind of 'Spirit Body' talent. What exactly it is, we'll have to wait for the System to detect. But it's certain to be of the ice-cold attribute."

Spirit Body talent was one of the hidden settings in the covering the heavens era. When players created characters, there was an extremely low probability of triggering a special Physique Awakening, such as the Sun Body, Moon Body, God King Body, Tyrant Body, etc. In her past life, Su Qingyue awakened the "Vast Cold Spirit Body," specializing in ice-type Dao methods, and in the Late Stages, she could even freeze time.

In this life, the Awakening seemed to have happened early.

"Spirit Body..." Su Qingyue murmured. "The official website didn't mention this."

"There are many things the official website didn't mention," Lin Ye smiled. "How about it? Consider cooperating? When we get to the Big Dipper, we'll act together. I know where the good things are, what's safe, and what's dangerous. In exchange, I need your combat power."

Su Qingyue did not answer immediately.

She carefully sized up Lin Ye, then looked at Chen Hao, who was still rubbing his head nearby. A few minutes later, she nodded slowly: "Okay. But I need to know, what is your goal?"

"Goal, huh..." Lin Ye looked towards the coffin wall, his gaze seemingly penetrating the bronze to see the endless starry sky. "First, survive. Then, become strong enough, strong enough to protect the people I want to protect, strong enough to... change some things."

This sentence was a bit vague, but Su Qingyue seemed to understand something.

She extended her hand: "Happy to cooperate."

"Happy to cooperate." Lin Ye held her hand.

Her palm was cold, but firm.

Just as the two shook hands, a System notification sounded in Su Qingyue's ear: [Detected special energy fluctuation...] [Analyzing Physique...] [Analysis complete] [Congratulations! You have awakened a special Physique: Vast Cold Spirit Body (Initial Awakening)] [Quality: Rare (Blue), can evolve with Realm improvement] [Effects:] 1. Ice attribute affinity +50% 2. Ice-type skill power +30% 3. Fire-attribute damage resistance +20% 4. All attributes +10% in moonlit night environments 5. Unlocked talent skill: Ice Control (Elementary)

[Talent Skill: Ice Control] Effects: Can condense cold Qi to form basic shapes like ice spikes, ice walls, etc., consumes Divine Power, power is related to Spirit attribute. Current Rank: Elementary (0 / 100) Proficiency improvement method: Use skills, absorb ice-attribute Spiritual Qi, comprehend ice-type Law.

Su Qingyue's body shuddered, surprise flashed in her eyes, followed by realization.

She raised her left hand, and her mind moved slightly.

Above her palm, three ten-centimeter-long ice spikes slowly condensed, floating and rotating. The ice spikes were translucent, with sharp edges, emitting a chilling cold.

"It's true... I can control ice," she said softly.

"Congratulations," Lin Ye congratulated her sincerely. "The Vast Cold Spirit Body is one of the top-tier Spirit Bodies, with great potential. Develop it well; in the future, it won't be worse than those God King Bodies or Tyrant Bodies."

"You really know a lot," Su Qingyue put away the ice spikes and gave Lin Ye a deep look. "However, I won't ask further for now. When we reach the Big Dipper, you prove your value, and I'll prove my strength. Then, we can talk about deeper cooperation."

"Fair."

The two smiled at each other.

Chen Hao watched from the side, dumbfounded. It took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "Brother Ye, Sister Su, you... have you formed a team just like that? What about me?"

"You are, of course, a core member," Lin Ye patted his shoulder. "But Ah Hao, you need to improve your strength as soon as possible. When we reach the Big Dipper, I will help you find a suitable Legacy."

"Yeah!" Chen Hao nodded vigorously.

The subsequent journey was much calmer.

The bronze coffin glided silently through the starry sky, occasionally grazed by small spatial turbulence, but it no longer posed a threat. The players gradually recovered from the panic and began to whisper to each other and sort out their gains.

Lin Ye sat cross-legged and circulated the "Qi Induction Technique" to recover his Divine Power.

Although the Spiritual Qi in the coffin was thin, it was better than nothing. More importantly, he needed to prepare for the upcoming Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land.

Two hours later.

The glow of the runes on the coffin wall began to change, turning from eerie green to pale gold. At the same time, a faint gravitational pull came from outside the coffin, in the direction of... below.

"We are about to land," Lin Ye stood up.

Everyone else felt it too and gathered by the coffin wall, trying to see the scene outside through the gaps in the runes. But they couldn't see anything, only a blur of light and shadow.

Until— "Boom!" The bronze coffin shook violently and then came to a complete stop. The coffin lid slowly moved aside.

Fresh air poured in, carrying the scent of soil, plants, and some kind of... vast and ancient aura. Light shone in from the coffin opening; it wasn't the dark red of the Yinghuo Ancient Star, nor the pitch-black of the starry sky, but warm, bright sunlight.

"We've arrived!" someone cheered. The players rushed towards the coffin opening.

Lin Ye didn't rush out. He held back Chen Hao and Su Qingyue, and only when most of the people had left did he walk to the coffin opening and look out.

What came into view was an endless stretch of primitive mountain ranges.

Ancient trees towered into the sky, vines coiled like dragons, and exotic flowers and herbs covered the ground. In the distance, there were waterfalls and springs; nearby, there were chirping birds and fragrant flowers. The concentration of Spiritual Qi was more than ten times higher than on the Yinghuo Ancient Star, and every breath made one feel refreshed.

But Lin Ye's gaze passed over this beautiful scenery and landed deep in the mountain range.

There, nine towering peaks thrust straight into the clouds. The peaks were pitch black, barren of any grass, forming a sharp contrast with the vibrant life around them. Between the peaks, gray-white mist drifted, slowly flowing; wherever it passed, plants withered and birds and beasts fled.

The Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land.

A forbidden zone that devoured life, and also... a treasure trove containing great Opportunities.

At the edge of the Forbidden Ground, where the bronze coffin had landed, a group of "indigenous people" had already gathered.

They were not players, but NPCs. They wore primitive linen or animal skin clothes, held stone spears and wooden clubs, and were looking at the "visitors from outer space" emerging from the bronze coffin with fear and curiosity. Leading them was a white-haired old man, leaning on a cane, with a glimmer of wisdom in his cloudy eyes.

Yan State, the kingdom where Ye Fan descended in the original work. The game had officially begun.

Lin Ye took a deep breath and stepped out of the bronze coffin.

His feet landed on the soft earth, and the real sensation came from the soles of his feet. The sunlight shone on his face, warm and real. The wind blew through the forest, bringing the fragrance of plants. Everything was so beautiful.

But he knew how many dangers and secrets were buried beneath this seemingly peaceful land.

And his first step was to take those around him and... survive on this land, and then, rise.

"Let's go," he said to Chen Hao and Su Qingyue. "First, go to the nearest village to inquire about information. Then... prepare to enter the mountains."

"Enter the mountains?" Chen Hao was stunned. "Which mountains?"

Lin Ye pointed to the black peaks.

"The Ancient Desolate Forbidden Land. We are going to get those nine archaic sacred fruits that can change our destiny."