Chapter 2117: 2117: The 12 Zodiac Animals

[Please reward and support Little Gou!]Sky Tomb!

What kind of secret is hidden inside, up to now, no one has truly found out!

After Ye Tianchen stepped into this Sky Tomb, he was also surprised, because the moment he entered, all Martial Arts True Qi was suppressed, leaving only Physical Body Power. If one’s Physical Body Power is too weak, don’t even talk about obtaining anything in this Sky Tomb—just moving around would become extremely difficult!

However, with Ye Tianchen’s Physical Body Power, he was not overly suppressed. But when Ye Tianchen walked through the fiery red stone gate, the scorching heat rushing at him made him feel astonished, because his body had been tempered at the center of the second layer Fire Domain of Flame Valley. That Flame Valley is no ordinary place, yet he had never expected the firepower within this fiery red stone gate of the Sky Tomb to be so fierce!

When Ye Tianchen reached the center of the sea of fire and discovered a coffin suspended in mid-air above the flames, Destroying Heaven Divine Son also appeared. According to Destroying Heaven Divine Son, this coffin was entirely forged from Flame Stone, and within this Sky Tomb there was no other place to obtain any clues at all; only within this sea of fire was there a single coffin hanging in mid-air!

But Destroying Heaven Divine Son told Ye Tianchen that he had comprehended here for nearly a year without any harvest. He had even tried to use force to shatter this coffin to see if he could gain something from it, yet he almost ended up with body and soul completely annihilated!

Hearing Destroying Heaven Divine Son’s words, Ye Tianchen couldn’t help but knit his brows, because he knew Destroying Heaven Divine Son was an extremely powerful and very proud young Martial Arts Expert. For something to be able to make him speak with lingering fear, it showed that this coffin made entirely of Flame Stone was not easy to provoke!

"No way, even you, Destroying Heaven Divine Son, almost ended up with body and soul annihilated? This coffin made wholly of Flame Stone is really hard to deal with!" Ye Tianchen deliberately said.

"Didn’t you just say you wanted to give it a try? Why aren’t you making a move yet? Got scared?" Destroying Heaven Divine Son deliberately goaded Ye Tianchen like this.

"I don’t need you to provoke me. When I do things, I have my own ideas!" Ye Tianchen said coldly.

"Then I’ll just wait for you. I’ve got plenty of time!" Destroying Heaven Divine Son sneered.

Ye Tianchen glanced at Destroying Heaven Divine Son. He knew that a life-and-death battle between him and Destroying Heaven Divine Son was inevitable; however, it was not now. For him, finding the secret within this ’Sky Tomb’ was the most important thing. As for other matters, they could be put aside for now!

Staring at this coffin rising and sinking within the sea of fire, Ye Tianchen slowly closed his eyes. In this situation where the Martial Arts True Qi within his body was suppressed, his Cultivation Realm had completely vanished, and only Physical Body Power remained. Under such conditions, he needed to focus all his Essence, Energy, Spirit to be able to sense anything!

Of course, Ye Tianchen was not afraid of being schemed against by Destroying Heaven Divine Son. In the final analysis, since he would not make a move against Destroying Heaven Divine Son right now, Destroying Heaven Divine Son would not make a move against him either. The two of them both needed to make use of the other’s strength to obtain what they wanted. There might be a life-and-death battle, but it would definitely not be at this moment!

"I didn’t expect it to really be a single, completely solid piece of rock. Could there be anything inside?" Ye Tianchen opened his eyes and muttered with a frown.

"That’s my question as well. A single, completely solid piece of rock, forged into a coffin—could there be something inside this coffin? If there is, how was it placed into this Flame Stone coffin? If there isn’t, then where lies the secret of this Sky Tomb?" Destroying Heaven Divine Son asked with the same puzzlement.

Ye Tianchen thought for a moment, the corner of his mouth lifting into a faint smile. His hands clenched tightly into fists, and two strands of powerful force surged out from his fists, bursting forth like flames. This couldn’t help but make Destroying Heaven Divine Son furrow his brows; perhaps he had not expected Ye Tianchen’s Physical Body Power to be this strong!

"You’re planning to clash head-on?" Destroying Heaven Divine Son asked.

"I really can’t think of any other way, so all that’s left is a frontal clash. First break it and see what happens!" Ye Tianchen said coldly, staring at that Flame Stone coffin suspended in mid-air.

"Heh, don’t blame me for not warning you. This Flame Stone coffin cannot be touched—there’ll be a fatal calamity!" Destroying Heaven Divine Son said with a cold laugh.

"If you’re afraid, you can step aside," Ye Tianchen said calmly.

Destroying Heaven Divine Son frowned fiercely, then laughed in his fury and said, "This is my home turf, the arena of Destroying Heaven Divine Son. Whatever you want to do, I’ll keep you company to the very end!"

"Good then, I was just thinking the mighty Destroying Heaven Divine Son might be scared." Ye Tianchen said with a disdainful smile.

Boom!

Before Destroying Heaven Divine Son could even speak, Ye Tianchen had already stepped forward and smashed a punch at the Flame Stone coffin suspended in midair. The powerful force of his fist instantly shattered the power of fire surging around the Flame Stone coffin!

Thud!

Ye Tianchen’s fist force struck heavily on that Flame Stone coffin, and immediately, the entire Flame Stone coffin trembled once!

Clatter!

Slowly, from within the coffin of Flame Stone, there emerged an animal shape formed entirely of firelight, and that shape actually resembled a pig!

"It’s actually a pig?" Ye Tianchen couldn’t help murmuring in surprise.

"Don’t underestimate that pig. There are others as well!" Destroying Heaven Divine Son sneered.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Streams of firelight continuously burst out from within this coffin forged of Flame Stone, forming the shapes of animals. This was a gathering of Fire Power. What surprised Ye Tianchen, however, was that the beasts condensed from the Fire Power erupting from this Flame Stone coffin were not some Ancient Alien Race or powerful Demon Clan, but all kinds of races that weren’t particularly strong, even downright weak!

"Pig, dog, chicken, monkey, sheep, horse, snake, dragon, rabbit, tiger, ox, rat..." Looking at the bestial forms in front of him formed by Fire Power, Ye Tianchen couldn’t help exclaiming in surprise.

"What? Thought of something? Don’t they look a bit like the Twelve Constellations?" Destroying Heaven Divine Son asked with a cold smile.

"The Twelve Constellations?" Ye Tianchen asked with a frown.

"The Twelve Constellations aren’t just in the Mortal World; throughout the entire Martial Arts World there are legends of the Twelve Constellations. This is a legend connected to the Ancient Alien Race and the Demon Clan!" Destroying Heaven Divine Son said indifferently.

The Twelve Constellations!

Mortal World legend: Back then, Emperor Huang of Xuanyuan wanted to select twelve animals to serve as Court Guards. The cat entrusted the rat to sign it up, but the rat forgot, and as a result the cat wasn’t chosen, thus forming a mortal feud with the rat. The elephant also came to compete, but the rat burrowed into its trunk and drove it away. For the rest of the animals, originally the ox was to be first, yet the rat darted onto the ox’s back, and the pig raised a ruckus behind it, so the rat ranked first and the pig was last. The tiger and dragon were not convinced, so they were conferred as king of the mountains and king of the seas, ranking behind the rat and the ox. The rabbit refused to accept this and raced with the dragon, ending up in front of the dragon. The dog felt this unfair, and in a fit of anger bit the rabbit, for which it was punished by being placed second to last. The snake, horse, sheep, monkey, and rooster also went through their own contests and each took a place, ultimately forming the order of rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

Martial Arts World legend: Heaven was black and earth was dim, all was chaos. The rat came out to move around near midnight, gnawing a crack in the chaotic state between heaven and earth—"the rat gnaws the sky open"—thus the branch Zi belongs to the rat. After heaven opened, the earth then had to be split—"the earth is split at Chou"—the ox plows the fields and should be the one to open up the land, so Chou belongs to the ox. Yin is when humans are born; where there is birth there must be death, and nothing sends a man to his death more than a fierce tiger. Yin also carries the meaning of awe and reverence, so Yin belongs to the tiger. Mao is the image of sunrise; the sun should correspond to the Li trigram. The Li trigram symbolizes Fire, and within it the single Yin line represents Taiyin, the essence of the moon, namely the Jade Rabbit; thus Mao belongs to the rabbit. Chen is the trigram of the third month, the time when the hosts of dragons roam the skies and bring rain, so Chen naturally belongs to the dragon. Si is the trigram of the fourth month; at this time spring grass is luxuriant, the perfect days for the snake, like fish in water. In addition, Si is mid-morning, when the snake is just returning to its den, therefore Si belongs to the snake. Wu is the time of afternoon, when yang energy reaches its extreme and Yin Qi begins to sprout. The horse gallops and runs, all four hooves leaving the ground, yet it constantly strikes the earth again. Leaping into the air is yang, stamping the ground is yin; the horse advances between yin and yang, so it became the animal of Wu. For the sheep, mid-afternoon is the best time to graze and put on fat; this time is Wei, hence Wei belongs to the sheep. After Wei comes Shen, the hour when the sun nears the western hills and apes and monkeys cry, and monkeys like to stretch their arms and leap about at this time, thus the monkey is matched with Shen. You is when the moon rises; the moon belongs to water, corresponding to the Kan trigram. The Kan trigram has Yin lines above and below, with the single Yang line in the middle representing the essence of the sun, the Golden Crow. Therefore You belongs to the rooster. When night falls, that is Xu. The dog is precisely the domesticated animal that keeps watch at night, thus it is paired with Xu as the dog of Xu. Then comes Hai, when heaven and earth sink again into a state of chaos, like flesh enveloping the pit of a fruit: in the hour of Hai, night covers all living things. The pig is a muddle-headed creature that knows nothing but eating, so the pig became the animal of Hai.

Usually the number of toes on an animal’s front and back feet are the same; only the rat has four toes on the front and five on the back, odd and even in one body. The rare is precious, so of course it ranks first. After it is the ox, four toes (even); the tiger, five toes (odd); the rabbit, four toes (even); the dragon, five toes (odd); the snake, no toes (also even); the horse, one toe (odd); the sheep, four toes (even); the monkey, five toes (odd); the rooster, four toes (even); the dog, five toes (odd); the pig, four toes (even). This explanation was advanced by the Song scholar Hong Xun; the Ming Dynasty scholar Lang Ying then classified it further on this basis. In his work Seven Revisions, in the Chapter "The Twelve Constellations," he proposed that "the Earthly Branches are below," hence whether they are yin or yang is to be seen by the number of toes. The rat’s front feet have four claws, an even number and thus yin; its back feet have five claws, an odd number and thus yang. The first half of the hour of Zi belongs to the night of yesterday, which is yin; the latter half is the day of today, which is yang, so the rat is used to symbolize Zi. The ox, sheep, and pig have split hooves, the rooster has four claws; add to this the rabbit’s split lip and four claws, and the snake’s split tongue—these six all correspond to even numbers and belong to yin, occupying six of the Earthly Branches. The tiger has five claws, as do the monkey and the dog; the horse’s hooves are round and unsplit—these six are all odd numbers and belong to yang, and together with the rat, which also belongs to yang, they occupy the other six Earthly Branches. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)