Covering the sky

"What?!"

Everyone was stunned. They believed that Ye Fan was not speaking without reason and must have discovered something. Even Li Changqing and the female classmate next to Liu Yunzhi, who had been targeting Ye Fan, changed their expressions, nervously looking around.

Ye Fan had been observing everyone's reactions, calmly throughout the entire process, and by now, he had a clear sense of who was sincere and who was pretending. Only now did he start to prove his innocence, pointing out a key suspicion.

"You can feel his throat yourself. His Adam's apple is shattered. Even if someone has great strength, it's impossible for them to do that."

Someone crouched down and touched the throat, confirming Ye Fan's words. Most others stepped back, feeling a chill in their spines as they faced the unclear corpse. If it wasn't a human attack, then what was it? Everyone felt an eerie coldness crawling up their backs.

"Ye Fan, do you know what it was? Could it... also come after us?" Someone asked in a trembling voice.

The purple-red bruise on the corpse's neck looked like the imprint left by a vengeful spirit. Thinking of this, many people unconsciously looked towards the bronze coffin.

"We haven't escaped the Divine Crocodile yet..."

When Ye Fan uttered this, everyone was horrified, gripping their divine relics tightly and nervously scanning their surroundings.

A female classmate, crying, asked, "Is it the Crocodile Ancestor, trapped under the Great Thunder Sound Temple, that followed us?"

That was an unparalleled great demon, one personally sealed by the Buddha. Though they had only seen its appearance for a moment, the terrifying power that shook the heavens was unforgettable.

"It's impossible. It didn't follow us. It's not it!" Li Changqing's face turned pale. He no longer held a divine relic and was tightly clutching the Vajra Pestle beside Liu Yunzhi.

"I didn't say it was the Crocodile Ancestor. What I meant is that a smaller Crocodile might have entered the bronze coffin." Ye Fan crouched down and shone the faint light of his phone on the corpse's face. "His expression is full of fear, his eyes wide open, unable to close, just like the expressions of the other thirteen classmates who died before."

"I saw records about the Divine Crocodile in a miscellaneous chapter of an ancient text. Besides describing its form, it also mentions 'The Divine Crocodile devours people, taking both soul and spirit, scattering their hearts and spirits in fear.'" Though the ancient lantern in Ye Fan's hand had gone out, he still gripped it tightly, seemingly guarding against something. "This is no coincidence. The way they died—full of fear, their souls scattering—is exactly the same as the previous thirteen classmates. It matches the records in the ancient text. There must be a Divine Crocodile causing trouble."

Ye Fan was not afraid to approach the dead body. He pried open its mouth and indeed found a blood hole, which led up to the skull. Everyone immediately felt a chill. That tiny blood hole was identical to the wounds on the other deceased classmates.

Only the Divine Crocodile, that terrifying creature, could easily pierce the human body and shatter the Adam's apple internally without issue.

A Divine Crocodile had entered the bronze coffin. How many were there? Would the divine relics be able to resist if their divine glow faded? Everyone was filled with unease.

"Does this mean the Divine Crocodile is still inside him?" someone asked.

"Hard to say." Ye Fan shook his head.

"Something's moving in his chest!" Zhang Ziling suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the corpse's chest.

"Poof!"

A spray of blood erupted, and a familiar, hideous creature emerged from the corpse's chest, revealing its sharp little head. It was a ten-centimeter long Divine Crocodile. It transformed into a dark shadow and lunged straight for Ye Fan's forehead.

"Bang!"

Ye Fan reacted quickly, raising the copper lamp in front of him. A few weak sparks shot out, hitting the Divine Crocodile. It let out a shrill scream, almost pierced through, and was sent flying.

"Clang!"

Bang Bo was quick as well, swinging the Great Thunder Sound Temple copper plaque and slamming it to the ground. Strands of divine light shot out, and the copper plaque crushed the Divine Crocodile into a heap of flesh.

"Liu Yunzhi, what do you have to say now?" Bang Bo asked, holding the copper plaque and confronting Liu Yunzhi.

"I was too impulsive, but who could have expected a Divine Crocodile would enter the copper coffin?" Liu Yunzhi no longer said much, nor did he apologize. By now, the situation had developed to the point of sharp confrontation, and there was no need to lower his posture anymore.

"Smack!"

At that moment, Bang Bo suddenly struck, landing a solid slap on Liu Yunzhi's face.

During this, the Vajra Pestle and the Great Thunder Sound Temple copper plaque radiated dim light, and their auras collided, enveloping the two of them. However, none of this stopped the slap, and Liu Yunzhi's face was struck with such force that blood instantly oozed from the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry, I was too impulsive," Bang Bo teased Liu Yunzhi.

"You..." Liu Yunzhi's face darkened, and he grabbed the Vajra Pestle, about to charge forward. But recalling the divine glow that had emitted from the copper plaque earlier, he ultimately held back.

"Shh."

Ye Fan suddenly made a silencing gesture and then focused on the central bronze coffin, as though he was listening for something. After a moment, he turned to the others and asked, "Can you hear anything?"

Everyone was startled because they heard nothing. Ye Fan looked puzzled, then slowly walked toward the four-meter-long small bronze coffin.

At this moment, the Bodhi seed in his chest suddenly grew warm, and his heart felt a soothing warmth. Just then, the sound became clearer.

He couldn't help but reach out and touch the bronze coffin, which was covered in verdigris and engraved with numerous ancient figures and deities, emanating an ancient and worn aura.

In that moment, he felt that the Bodhi seed in his chest had forcibly opened a door for him, allowing him to hear a very special sound.

At first, the sound was small, but it gradually grew louder. The Bodhi seed in Ye Fan's chest also grew hotter.

The Bodhi tree, also known as the Tree of Wisdom, the Tree of Enlightenment, or the Tree of Thought, was said to be where Buddha attained enlightenment. The Bodhi seed in Ye Fan's possession had an image of the Buddha naturally formed within the texture, clearly extraordinary.

The ancient and mysterious bronze coffin before him was emanating a sound that grew more majestic, like the sound of the Great Dao or profound and arcane principles.

"Dao of Heaven, diminish the excess and make up for the insufficient..."

The mysterious sound of the Great Dao started with a famous sentence from Daoist scriptures, yet the following phrases were from unknown and unfathomable ancient texts, difficult to comprehend.

The vast and profound sound seemed to cut through time and space from the far-off primordial era, and finally, like the booming of a great bell, it vibrated in Ye Fan's ears, entering deep into his heart.