Chapter 34

Ye Fan nodded, listening intently, and within his body, something grew warm.

"Did you hear anything?"

Ye Fan suddenly asked.

Everyone shook their heads; even Fang Yu shook his head, still hearing nothing on his cushion.

At this moment, Ye Fan walked toward the inner coffin, caressing it; its surface was covered in verdigris, carved with ancient ancestors and deities, radiating an archaic and weathered aura.

"Fang Yu, I seem to have heard something."

Ye Fan stood before the inner coffin, as if hearing mysterious, elusive words—but neither Fang Yu nor anyone else heard anything.

After listening to the end, Ye Fan wore a thoughtful expression, then approached Fang Yu.

"Fang Yu, I've acquired a treasure—try listening to it yourself; perhaps you can help me understand."

As he spoke, Ye Fan pulled out a bodhi seed and placed it in Fang Yu's hand.

"Oh, Ye Fan, I owe you one."

Fang Yu knew well what a bodhi seed was, but he had no desire to entangle himself in Ye Fan's affairs or possessions—he'd already gained enough riding the Nine Dragons' coffin, and if Zhang Kuang found out, he might summon heavenly hands down upon him.

But since Ye Fan had offered the bodhi seed, he wouldn't refuse to listen to the ultimate truths within the inner coffin.

Those ultimate truths came from the Perfect World, from the Emperor of Desolation—if he could remember them, they might prove useful later.

Of course, according to the Eternal Life Realm's Xiulianfa Sect methods, before reaching the high realm of Wu Wu Zhongtian in the Divine Ability Secret Realm, one need only cultivate one Great Dao technique; hearing other Great Dao truths would be useless.

But Fang Yu listened anyway.

"The Dao of Heaven diminishes the excess and supplements the deficient."

The first line of the Great Dao truth was a famous phrase from Daoist scriptures; what followed were obscure, unheard-of ancient scriptures—heard, yet incomprehensible.

The voice was vast and mysterious, as if crossing time and space from a distant past, finally resonating like a great bronze bell—this was the Heavenly Tone of the Dao, profound as an abyss, boundless as the sea; each syllable rang out like oceans collapsing and abysses splitting, echoing through heaven and earth.

It sounded like ancient chants, like divine prayers—mysterious beyond words, stirring thoughts, leaving one unaware of where they were.

Eventually, Fang Yu came to his senses.

He seemed to have heard, yet seemed to have heard nothing.

"I can't understand—I must wait until a higher realm."

Fang Yu returned the bodhi seed to Ye Fan.

The mysterious divine sound, barely a hundred characters, was etched into his heart, yet he could not comprehend it.

"Can't you comprehend it either, Fang Yu?"

Ye Fan took back the bodhi seed, curious.

"Some truths require a deep realm to be understood; if your realm is too low, even hearing them won't let you grasp them."

Fang Yu shook his head.

At that moment, the void seemed to ring with heavy, mournful drums and sorrowful Zhong Sheng, as if countless voices mourned and prayed for a funeral.

In that instant, everyone seemed to see a vision: a supreme being ruling all under heaven, dominating heaven and earth, followed by an unprecedented and unmatched grand funeral.

No one knew what it meant, but it filled them with dread.

Fortunately, this funeral and its lamentations came swiftly and passed swiftly; soon, the bronze coffin returned to stillness.

The crowd regained their composure, only for someone to notice something flickering on the bronze engravings.

It was a vast starry sky—the coffin walls showed no change, yet stars flickered, as if real, brilliant stars adorned the endless night.

Someone noticed the Big Dipper, seven ancient stars glowing brightly, drawing attention.

Someone else noticed Ziwei Star—the Star of the Emperor, whose legends of descending to earth to achieve great deeds were widely known, most famously Emperor Liu Xiu of Han, said to be the reincarnation of the Ziwei Star, with the Twenty-Eight Lords of the Cloud Platform as his Twenty-Eight Stellar Constellations, crushing Wang Mang without mercy.

"Look! There seems to be a star map!"

"It looks like we're heading toward Ziwei Star."

"No, not Ziwei Star—it's the Big Dipper. Are we going to the Big Dipper?"

Many men and women stared at the star map, crying out in astonishment, until they realized they were moving toward the Big Dipper.

Meanwhile, everyone felt the massive bronze coffin shake violently, as if heaven trembled and earth quaked.

"It seems we've reached our destination…"

"Could it really be the Big Dipper?"

"We've finally arrived!"