Shrouding the Heavens Chapter 18 Hostility

Chapter 18 Hostility

Ye Fan’s left hand was holding the ancient bronze lamp. Retreating two steps, his right hand made a thumping noise as he grabbed onto that classmate’s collar, practically lifting him off the ground.

Beside him, Pang Bo reacted at once and angrily shouted, “You wolf-hearted dog, you really are a thankless wretch who doesn’t know how to repay favors! Did you forget that Ye Fan was the one who shared his lamp with you just now and protected your miserable life on the way here?”

Pang Bo angrily reached out his arm, grabbing onto that man’s neck and wanting to throw him directly out of the five-colored altar.

“Cough...” That man’s face was becoming whiter. When he was grabbed by Ye Fan he had tried to struggle, but he couldn’t get out of Ye Fan’s grasp. And now he was also being choked by Pang Bo.

The expressions of everyone around them were different. Some people had long been restless, but they didn’t expect that someone would actually take action; furthermore, the fool chose Ye Fan as a target when he had just done him a favor.

“You incompetent vicious trash, do you no longer have a conscience? If it wasn’t for Ye Fan saving you, you would have already died outside!” The more Pang Bo thought about it, the angrier he became. His innate temper wanted to throw this person out. Raising his right hand, he hit his face four or five times.

A man walked up to them in an attempt to reconcile the situation. “Everyone here has past relations and were old classmates. We shouldn’t act this way. Let go of him, Pang Bo!”

Pang Bo glanced at him and said, “You want me to let go? Didn’t you see how he just tried to kill Ye Fan? If it weren’t for Ye Fan’s quick reaction, he would have been thrown out of the five-colored altar and into the storm. How can I let off such a malicious scoundrel?”

“Everyone came from the same place and we’re all working towards a common goal. It’ll be easy to talk about it later, but first let him go,” another man said as he came up to mollify the situation.

Pang Bo took a look and understood. This was a person who had just been standing with Liu Yunzhi. Despite having split up, the two of them most likely had the same interests. Moreover, the classmate in his hand had also just been with him, and although there was no proof that they were accomplices, Pang Bo didn’t care. His heart didn’t care about the fact that there wasn’t proof. He memorized the enemies before him.

“You say it’s easy. If someone was about to kill you, could you still remain so calm? How about I push you out of the five-colored altar and test that!” Pang Bo became even more furious as he spoke, and he once again fiercely punched the would-be thief several times.

“Don’t kill him! If you want to talk, we can talk. But first, let him go and then we can discuss how to punish him,” a woman chimed in. After speaking she cast a quick look at Liu Yunzhi.

During this whole course of events, Liu Yunzhi had remained completely undisturbed. He didn’t come forward or open his mouth to discuss anything. He acted like a complete bystander that was staring at something with no relation to him.

Ye Fan surveyed everyone’s expression. Seeing that that was no way to get Liu Yunzhi involved, he put a stop to Pang Bo. “Let him go.”

“That’s right, release him.”

“Yeah, first let him go. We’re all classmates, there’s nothing we can’t resolve. Don’t hurt him too badly.”

The two mans and the feman all successively spoke out for him. At this same time, the other people all saw that even Ye Fan had opened his mouth, so they also chimed in.

“Don’t hurt him too badly… Don’t you think this has already exceeded that point?”

Pang Bo stared at that fellow who was always following Liu Yunzhi, saying, “He almost killed Ye Fan, but you unexpectedly are still able to say such words for him.”

But Pang Bo also no longer continued to hit him. Seeing Ye Fan’s hints, he released his hand.

However, no one expected that after Pang Bo let him go, Ye Fan himself would not let go. His hand clutched onto the man’s neck, and carrying him, he brought him to the edge of the five-colored altar apparently as if he wanted to throw this man out.

Everyone was completely stupefied. No one expected that Ye Fan would actually act in such a way. At the same time, they were also very shocked at Ye Fan’s strength. They couldn’t help but think back to when Ye Fan would stand under the shade, and he earned the nickname of ‘Barbarian’ for himself. Ye Fan appeared gentle and quiet, but his physique was very sturdy and his strength was astonishing. Just like carrying a chicken, he only needed one hand to carry this man to the very fringe of the five-colored altar.

“Before this, I saved your life. Why did you want to hurt me?” Ye Fan’s hand restrained him on the edge of the altar; at any time he could push him off. As for that hazy light shield, it was no more than half an inch away.

This man’s courage wavered, and he shouted, “Don’t push me out! I’m just an unscrupulous person and I just became possessed for a short time and forgot right and wrong. Let me go, I won’t do it again…”

Ye Fan smiled, exposing a mouth full of brilliant, white teeth. He said, “No matter what someone does, there’s always motivation behind it, wouldn’t you say? I really don’t wish to see you be blown into the sky by the storm...” Stopping here, his hand forcefully pushed on the man, causing him to tumble almost out of the five-colored altar.

“Save me!” This man truly became frightened now, loudly shouting, “Let me off, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything….”

When would a modern era’s city person ever face such a frightening scene? This man collapsed on the spot. Having almost directly faced the storm, his whole face was deathly pale without a trace of blood.

“This isn’t appropriate. Ye Fan, you should let him go. Acting like this is too dangerous.”

“That’s right. Everything can be resolved through talk. You can’t act this way to your fellow classmates, what if you ended up causing his death?”

As always, it was the previous trio of classmates who once again opened their mouths to speak against him. They were already slowly walking over here.

Clang!

Pang Bo slammed the half-a-person-tall copper plaque he had obtained from the Great Thunderchant Temple onto the ground. Under his glare, they all immediately stopped in their tracks.

Ye Fan looked back at them and gave them a lukewarm smile. “There’s no problem, he wants to tell me the reason. And I also want to know just why he would do this. I won’t be displeased with him, so you don’t have to worry.”

When he turned his head back at the man he was pressing to the edge of the five-colored altar, his gaze once again became severe. If he didn’t speak, then he would directly push the bastard out; this was the message that Ye Fan’s eyes were showing.

“I-I didn’t obtain anything from the ancient temple and I don’t have any relics left by the god. I felt scared for myself so I…greedily took action against you in a cruel way!” Saying this, he started to shut his mouth.

Ye Fan didn’t say anything, straightforwardly beginning to once again push him out. Half his body was hanging off of the altar now and was almost touching the dim light cover.

“No…save me!” the man shouted out in fear. “It was Li Changqing…it was him who gave me the idea!”

Ye Fan pulled him back up. He didn’t take such a spineless coward seriously in the slightest. This kind of person would never become anything. After his anger passed he couldn’t continue to menace him and push him out of the altar in front of everyone, or the other classmates might look negatively down at him. After all, they were all classmates in the same situation; the gains from doing so would not make up for the losses.

Ye Fan very naturally took away the man’s water bottle, and then he patted his shoulder, saying, “We’re all in the same boat. We need to help each other to get through this.”

“Yes… right!” After the man was free his body continued to tremble, and he wanted to retreat away from Ye Fan.

Pang Bo had long since become furious. Brandishing the copper plaque as he rushed forward, he slammed it into the man whose name was Li Changqing.

Bang!

Pang Bo had a large structure and powerful strength. When he hit with the copper plaque, he knocked Li Changqing onto the ground in front of everyone’s eyes.

“No wonder you were constantly backing him, you were actually inciting him from behind!” Pang Bo shouted, placing his copper plaque on top of Li Changqing’s body. “You even plot against your old classmates! Do you even have any humanity left?!” He was extremely infuriated. Li Changqing was one of the people who had just been standing together with Liu Yunzhi, and he had also kept telling him to let the attacker go.

Ye Fan walked over, and very naturally he took Li Changqing’s water bottle away and gave it to Pang Bo.

Seeing him take away a second water bottle, everyone’s faces all revealed complicated expressions. If they could quickly leave Mars, then in just a few hours, water might be the most valuable thing to everyone here.

Ye Fan felt regretful that he couldn’t connect this matter to Liu Yunzhi. Despite knowing that it was most likely incited by him, there was no proof. It wouldn’t be good for him to become hostile with him in front of everyone right now.

Li Changqing’s mouth was tightly shut. Even under Pang Bo’s questioning, he didn’t give away anything, only saying that his mind had become heated and he didn’t want to say any random things. He had become a bit greedy for Ye Fan’s lamp and urged the other classmate to take action.

Pang Bo truly wanted to just throw him out of the five-colored altar, but sensing the misgivings of his other classmates he could only restrain his anger. He didn’t do anything else, but he felt that such a peaceful atmosphere was something that would probably not be maintained for long. If a crisis once again occurred, the friendship of former classmates might all be torn apart and shattered. Some people’s hearts were already starting to be unsettled now.

Ye Fan didn’t become angry, and he very amicably smiled to Li Changqing, “Sometimes people are very complicated and things can happen involuntarily. But it’s best for you to not be used like a tool by other people.”

After saying this he crouched down and unhurriedly reached out to take the broken bamboo fish drum[i] from Li Changqing’s waist, the ancient relic he had found within the Great Thunderchant Temple.

“What are you doing?” Li Changqing intensely struggled. When he had been beaten by Pang Bo he hadn’t reacted at all, but at this moment he frenetically used all his strength to try to protect his bamboo fish drum. But his upper body was still being pressed by Pang Bo’s copper plaque and he couldn’t use any strength so there was no way he could prevent it.

BOOM!

Suddenly, Li Changqing’s bamboo fish drum released a muffled thunder sound. Ray after ray of cyan lightning was emitted out, dancing quickly over his body.

It seemed like Lei Gong[ii], the God of Thunder, was striking his drum. A quivering drone sounded, and then an even louder thunderclap rang out. Violet rays of light immediately covered and protected Li Changqing.

The light appeared like a violet cocoon. The divine splendor dazzled the eyes, contrasting with the five-colored altar.

The surrounding people were all shocked. The buzzing noise in their ears was so loud that it caused people standing to almost slip and fall.

At this same time, Pang Bo’s copper plaque also released thousands upon thousands of rays of light with an accompanying rumble of thunder rolls. The words ‘Great Thunderchant Temple’ that were written began to shine with a light that rushed towards the heavens, and a peal of Buddhist chanting could be heard.

Buddhist chanting as shocking as thunder!

The Great Thunderchant Temple’s copper plaque released a glorious radiance that immediately suppressed the huge violet cocoon, and the sound coming from the bamboo fish almost completely disappeared.

At the same time, the ancient bronze lamp in Ye Fan’s hand released specks of gentle light. In a flash, they shrouded his whole body in a layer of holy divine light. He was covered evenly from head to toe in this dense light, as if he were wearing holy battle armor.

The light was not at all glaring, but instead hazy and gentle. However, it still caused people to feel reverence in their hearts, as if a god were really standing there. The layer of holy light truly did seem like a god’s clothing, causing Ye Fan to appear free from the filth of the mortal world.

The bamboo fish was suppressed, its violet light cocoon fading away. The bamboo fish once more became dim, becoming nothing more than an ordinary object. Ye Fan calmly reached out his hand. Nothing could stop him; he appeared just like a god. The ancient bronze lamp was releasing divine specks of light that made him above the dust of the mortal world.

Just at this moment, the woman not far from Liu Yunzhi who had spoken out against Ye Fan and Pang Bo walked forward with a broken bell in her hand, saying, “Ye Fan, you’re acting too excessively!”

Following, another man walked up and said, “We should all be peaceful and not oppose each other. The matter has already passed; don’t be so quick to sever all relations.”

These two people had been helping Liu Yunzhi and Li Changqing from the very start. Their standing was very clear, and at this moment they obviously stood up because they didn’t want Ye Fan to obtain another divine relic.

At this moment, Liu Yunzhi, who from the very start had not taken any action, walked over with his vajra scepter in hand, saying, “Ye Fan, since it has already happened just let it go. Even if he was wrong just now, you can’t punish him in this way. Acting like this is the same as depriving him of his life.”

What was beyond Ye Fan’s expectations was that Zhou Yi, a person who didn’t seem to be involved in this, also walked over with an amethyst-gold alms bowl and said, “You can’t take his bamboo fish, Ye Fan. You already have the bronze lamp, so taking another relic is useless to you. But if loses his bamboo fish drum, it’s very possible he will be killed by that dreadful and unknown thing.”

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[i] 鱼鼓 (yugu) literally means bamboo fish. It is an instrument used by Buddhists.

[ii] Lei Gong is the Chinese mythological god of Thunder. He has a mallet and drum which he uses to produce thunder.

Translator notes:

At this time, the Wikipedia page for the bamboo fish is called the fish drum. There is an image if you wish to see what it looks like.

李长青 (Li Changqing)’s name Changqing is very common since it literally means ‘long youth.’

Chapter end