A terrifying roar came from the direction of the Great Lei Yin Temple, like an ancient beast breaking free from its seal and shaking the mountains and rivers, causing a shudder from the depths of one's soul.

But then, everything fell completely silent. The terrifying roar had subsided, leaving only the rumble of the sandstorm outside the Five-colored Altar.

"What was that?"

"Are there other creatures on Mars?"

"Legend has it that Buddha suppressed many demons and monsters, and perhaps the sealing grounds are near the Great Lei Yin Temple."

After only a few words of discussion, the crowd felt a palpable sense of fear. As modern city-dwellers, who has ever believed in such legends? But after experiencing today's unimaginable events, and now contemplating even more terrifying legends, everyone's hearts were filled with waves of terror.

If their speculation were to come true, their situation would be extremely dire. The Great Lei Yin Temple had already been reduced to ashes, and there were no longer any Buddhas or deities there. If they were to face the monsters from those mythical legends alone, the outcome could easily be imagined.

"Today has been a continuous assault on our minds, making it difficult to bear..."

"Monsters and demons from ancient myths may actually appear right before our eyes!"

Just the thought of the various possibilities made everyone's hearts fill with a chill, and their bodies went cold.

Endless possibilities, an unknown fate, all of it filling them with fear and worry!

And now, in front of everyone, lay a cold corpse, its blood staining the ground and the faint scent of blood hanging in the air. It reminded them that the situation was already very bad, and that the unknown presence had once again taken a precious life right before their eyes.

"Tsk."

A strange sound came from the head of the corpse, making many people in the vicinity nervous.

"Smack."

It sounded like the sound of eating and chewing, which was very uncomfortable to listen to. After all, it was a human head, and an unknown creature seemed to be eating inside it, causing many people to shiver.

"Creak, creak."

The sound of bones being ground up echoed, as if sharp teeth were cutting through the skull. The atmosphere suddenly became tense and oppressive.

No one spoke. The five-colored altar became quiet, and many people held their breath, exuding a terrifying atmosphere.

It was torture—the sound of eating and the sound of bones being crushed combined, like a hellish nightmare that tortured people's minds.

Many girls covered their mouths, wanting to cry but not daring to make a sound. This situation almost made them collapse.

Of course, not everyone was afraid. Those who held relics of the gods had some confidence in their hearts. Pang Bo was usually fierce, but at the moment, he felt suppressed. He dragged the copper plaque of the Great Thunder Sound Temple and was about to move forward to smash the head.

But Ye Fan stopped him and said, "Don't act rashly."

"Pu!"

Just then, a spray of blood and white liquid gushed out from the wound on the forehead of the body lying in a pool of blood. Many people felt sick at the sight of it as it turned out to be brain matter.

Following that, a black, sharp, and pointed head with scales emerged from the wound on the head, which was covered with scales.

"What is that?"

Everyone involuntarily stepped back, even Ye Fan and Pang Bo took a few steps back.

It was a strange creature resembling a crocodile, crawling out from the wound on the corpse. It not only had blood stains on its body but also had white brain matter on it. Its appearance was creepy, like a creature from the netherworld, covered in black scales, only ten centimeters long, and as thin as a finger. It resembled a snake and a crocodile but had no legs, and its belly was bare.

The blood and brain matter on its black scales were ghastly, making many people feel extremely uncomfortable and fearful.

After the mysterious creature crawled out from the wound, it climbed onto the head of the body, and its small eyes emitted an extremely cold and fierce glare, staring quietly at everyone. It seemed like a creature with high intelligence, rather than a low-level organism.

Seven classmates, who had been studying together for four years, had their young lives taken away forever by such a hideous creature.

Its gaze was extremely malicious, scanning everyone like a grudge, not like it was looking at equal beings but rather like it was sizing up its food.

"Punk, you little shit, you haven't even grown as big as a mouse yet you managed to kill seven of my classmates. I'm going to smash you to death!" Pang Bo grabbed the large bronze plaque from the Thunder Sound Monastery and swung it towards the cold-blooded and mysterious creature.

The sound of thunder roared as the plaque emitted a dazzling glow, and electric currents surged forward, crisscrossing and weaving into a vast net of heaven and earth.

"Whoosh!"

However, this unknown creature was extremely fast. It seemed to know that the plaque was powerful and turned into a black streak of light, evading the brilliant glow.

Ye Fan held up the ancient bronze lamp and blew hard on the wick, a fierce flame instantly spewing out and surging forward.

The fierce and grim creature, only the thickness of a finger and ten centimeters long, emitted a piercing scream that shocked everyone. It sounded like a fierce ghost howling, making people's eardrums buzz and their spines chill.

It's hard to imagine how a body covered in such small scales could make such a huge and terrifying sound.

The flame from Ye Fan's lamp wick reached out for three meters, but it did not engulf the creature completely. It only grazed its tail, causing its scales to fall off and half of its tail to be charred and cut off.

It glared maliciously at Ye Fan, showing a human-like expression, incredibly grim with sharp teeth bared and glistening with cold white light. It continued to snarl softly at Ye Fan.

"What the hell is this thing?" Many students in the back were afraid and even those who possessed divine objects did not dare to approach.

"Puny little thing, with such a vicious look, I'll smash you to pieces." Pang Bo showed no fear, raised the large bronze plaque of the Thunder Sound Monastery and charged forward, saying, "You killed seven of my classmates, and I've only broken off one of your rotten tails. You go to hell!"

Pang Bo was surrounded by dazzling light emitted from the bronze plaque, like an angry god with imposing power. The bronze plaque vibrated, and the Buddhist sounds echoed in the sky, making a rumbling sound.

On the other side, Ye Fan surrounded the terrifying creature with only half of its body left. The flame in the divine lamp burst out like an angry dragon, and the scorching temperature made the air seem to burn.

At this time, Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, and others in the back also rushed over, raising their own divine artifacts and smashing them at the hideous creature resembling a crocodile.

Although surrounded and besieged, the creature was too fast, like a black lightning bolt, constantly traversing the Five-Color Altar, making it difficult for everyone to touch it.

A piercing scream was heard. This ferocious and terrifying creature was chased and attacked by everyone, seemingly full of resentment and anger, making non-stop cries like the wails of nine ghosts in the underworld.

"Crack!"

A sound of penetrating the light screen came. Several ugly creatures resembling crocodiles successfully pierced the light shield and sneaked into the Five-Color Altar. They were all only ten centimeters long, no different from the first one, and their eyes were as cold as evil spirits, staring at everyone with intense hatred.

"Why are there so many?"

"What kind of creature is this? Is Mars their old nest?"

Everyone felt helpless. They were not gods, and they didn't know how to use the artifacts in their hands. They could only rely on the self-emitted light from the Buddha artifacts to block the killing intent. Now that so many hideous creatures had appeared, it was impossible to eliminate them all.

The sound of "rustling" came out, and there were hundreds of crocodile-like creatures outside the light barrier.

Those who did not act and were weak-hearted behind Ye Fan and the others were already trembling. With so many ferocious creatures rushing in, even with the divine artifacts, it was not certain that they could hold them back!

"Pang Bo, don't chase them, let's gather together," Ye Fan shouted to Pang Bo.

At present, with so many ferocious creatures appearing, it was impossible to kill them all. The best strategy was to defend and wait until the Five-Color Altar had accumulated enough energy to open the Starry Sky Ancient Road.

"Roar..."

Suddenly, another terrifying roar that made the soul tremble came from the direction of the Great Thunder Sound Temple!

With this terrifying roar, the sandstorm outside seemed to freeze instantly because there were no other sounds in this world except for the rolling and turbulent beast roar.

The earth kept shaking, and the Five-Color Altar shook violently. The storm outside was completely suppressed.

"The Great Thunder Sound Temple... is the lair of these creatures!" someone trembled and said.

Looking outside the light barrier, more and more terrifying creatures were gathering, coming from the direction of the Great Thunder Sound Temple. The ground was covered with black scales, densely packed with thousands of them.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, everyone felt a violent shaking of the earth, and then a very tragic breath came from a kilometer away, reaching up to the sky and down to the Yellow Springs, reverberating throughout the world!

Even though there was a sandstorm outside, the terrifying lantern-like eyes still appeared at the site of the Great Thunder Sound Temple, piercing through the darkness.

It was like a volcanic eruption with rocks flying everywhere, including giant boulders that fell heavily near the Five-Colored Altar, causing a deafening noise.

"The foundation of the Great Thunder Sound Temple is collapsing, and something terrible is coming out from underground!"

Even if the group had some divine relics, they would be useless if it was true.

"I think I know what these crocodile-like creatures are..." a trembling female student said.

In the Tibetan area, Buddhism is highly respected and almost everyone believes in it. This female student had visited Tibetan province and visited Buddhist holy sites such as the Jokhang Temple and the Ramoche Temple. She had heard some legends from a local Tibetan.

According to the legend, the dwelling place of Buddha, the Great Thunder Sound Temple, was not a pure land or a virtuous place, but rather where many world-dominating monsters were suppressed. Among them, the first level was guarded by the ancestor of crocodiles, an ancient divine crocodile with boundless power, but eventually was suppressed by Buddha.

"So you mean the holy land of Buddhism, the Great Thunder Sound Temple, has suppressed many world-dominating monsters?"

"That's what the elderly Tibetan who believed in Buddhism said."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt a chill run down their spine. If it was true, the ancestor of crocodiles was about to emerge from the Great Thunder Sound Temple, and all these ugly creatures were its descendants.

Frowning, Ye Fan said, "I once read some records in an ancient miscellany..."

In that miscellaneous record, there was a limbless "crocodile" that was as tough as a diamond, could fly and move underground, and could easily pierce through flesh and blood. It was called the divine crocodile.

"I have also seen similar ancient books..." Zhou Yi nodded.

It is said that there was a record in the Buddhist scriptures that the ancestor of the divine crocodile was suppressed by Buddha, and since then, its offspring have never appeared in the world again.

Everyone had an unreal feeling. Some legends were once thought of as stories to listen to, but now they were going to witness it firsthand, which made people both shocked and frightened.

"That elderly Tibetan said that the ancestor of crocodiles was suppressed in the first level of the Great Thunder Sound Temple, so does that mean there are still second and third levels..." a trembling female student asked.

No one answered. If the ancestor of crocodiles had truly emerged, it would be enough to destroy them all.

The rustling sound came again, and thousands of small crocodiles appeared outside the Five-Colored Altar, struggling to drill their way in.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the Five-color Altar shook and ancient runes of five colors appeared in the sky, shining like stars. The Tai Chi and Eight Trigrams diagram was about to appear, a sign that the Starry Sky Ancient Road was opening.

However, at the same time, the terrifying vibration from the Great Thunder Sound Temple ruins more than a thousand meters away was felt. The blood-red eyes, like lanterns, rose several meters, indicating that it was breaking free from the underground palace and about to emerge from the ground.

Escape from here, escape from Mars! This was the thought of everyone, and many were praying, hoping to open the Starry Sky Ancient Road as soon as possible, even if they had to float forever in the desolate universe, it would be better than staying here and feeling unsafe.