Three-Ring General Summoning Bell

The shop was deathly silent, with only Li Chengjie's slightly ragged breathing remaining, along with the Spiritual Power Fluctuation that had yet to fully dissipate and the faint scent of blood in the air.

Li Chengjie looked at Chen Xuan's gradually cooling corpse, then at the few remaining Talismans in the Jade Box held against his chest. His heart felt incomparably heavy.

He had killed Chen Xuan. The trouble was enormous!

Just then, a rapid, orderly set of footsteps approached from afar, accompanied by an imposing shout from outside the shop. "Who dares use spells for private combat within the market?! Come out and answer at once!"

Zhou Wenwu appeared swiftly at the entrance with a squad of tough, battle-hardened Flowing Cloud Sect Guards.

When they saw the wreckage inside—the blackened walls, the pitted floor, and especially the corpse lying in a pool of blood, clad in moon-white brocade robes—everyone's expression changed.

Zhou Wenwu's gaze was as sharp as an eagle's. It instantly locked onto Li Chengjie, who stood amid the wreckage with the Azure Edge Sword in hand and blood staining his robes, before sweeping over Chen Xuan's corpse on the ground, its eyes still wide in death. His face darkened to the extreme. Stepping into the shop, he spoke in a voice cold as iron. "Li Chengjie! What happened here?!"

At the sight of Zhou Wenwu, Li Chengjie felt somewhat reassured, though he knew an even greater storm was about to descend.

Li Chengjie sheathed the Azure Edge Sword and gave Zhou Wenwu a deep bow. His voice carried the hoarseness of surviving a disaster and a deliberately maintained calm. "Steward Zhou! You came at just the right time! This man, Chen Xuan of the Chen family, barged into my humble shop and, without a word of reason, sought to kill Li here! Li was forced to defend himself and accidentally slew him in return! I beg you to judge the matter fairly!"

"Self-defense? Slew him in return?"

Zhou Wenwu frowned tightly, his eyes scraping over Li Chengjie like blades. "Tell me every detail! If there is even half a false word, you know the consequences!"

Li Chengjie did not dare delay. He recounted everything that had just happened exactly as it had occurred, without concealing a thing—from Chen Xuan's aggressive manner and verbal threats after entering the shop, to his sudden attack with Gengjin Sword Qi in an attempt to take Li Chengjie's life, and then Li Chengjie's forced use of his treasured high-grade Talismans to strike back, ultimately accidentally killing him.

Li Chengjie added no embellishment and merely stated the facts. Yet his account painted Chen Xuan's arrogance, unreasonableness, initiative in attacking, and blazing Killing Intent with perfect clarity, while defining his own actions as "forced," "helpless," "self-defense," and "accidental."

"...Steward Zhou, that is the situation," Li Chengjie said at last, his tone carrying just the right measure of grievance and lingering fear. "If Young Master Chen had not been so resolute in his Killing Intent, attacking with techniques meant to take lives from the start, Li would never have dared use such precious Talismans, much less risk life and death against him! The traces of battle in the shop, the lingering spiritual power, and the condition of Young Master Chen's body can all prove that Li's words are true! I beg the Steward to uphold justice for Li!"

After hearing this, Zhou Wenwu fell silent for a moment.

His gaze swept across the traces of the fierce battle within the shop: the remnants of fire-element spells that had scorched the walls black, the holes pierced by ice needles, the shattered stones from the collapse of the earth prison, and the obvious sword wounds and Talisman injuries on Chen Xuan's body. They largely matched Li Chengjie's account.

Zhou Wenwu already believed seven or eight parts out of ten. This Chen Xuan had surely relied on his family's power to come here and threaten and extort Li Chengjie. When that failed, he had tried to establish his authority, only to kick an iron plate and lose his own life instead!

But belief was one thing. The trouble was all too real!

The dead man was Chen Xuan, a direct descendant of the Chen family and a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator!

How could the Chen family possibly let this go?!

With a grave expression, Zhou Wenwu ordered the guards behind him, "Seal off the scene immediately! Examine it carefully and record every detail! Properly collect Chen Xuan's... remains."

Then he looked at Li Chengjie, his tone complex. "Alchemist Li, if what you said is true, then the other party provoked trouble and committed violence first, while you were forced to defend yourself. Under the market's laws, there are mitigating circumstances. But... the man you killed was the Chen Family Patriarch Chen Liming's own nephew, one of the foremost talents of the Chen family's younger generation! This matter will be very difficult to settle!"

Li Chengjie's heart sank, but his expression remained calm. "Li understands. But in that situation, it was either he died or I did. Li had no other choice. Everything shall be judged according to the Steward's and the sect's laws!"

Almost at the same time Zhou Wenwu received the news, a servant came tumbling and crawling into the discussion hall of the Chen Family Residence, pale as a sheet.

"Pat... Patriarch! Bad news! Young Master Xuan... Young Master Xuan, he... he was at Li's Pill Pavilion... and was... was killed by that Li Chengjie!" The servant's voice trembled, thick with tears.

"What?!"

Chen Liming, seated in the place of honor, abruptly rose to his feet. The previously tranquil aura around him erupted like a volcano in an instant. The terrifying pressure of the Peak of Ninth Level of Qi Refining swept through the entire discussion hall, making the tables, chairs, cups, and plates hum and tremble!

Chen Liming's face turned livid, his eyes nearly splitting apart. He seized the servant by the collar, his voice like ice from Jiu You. "Say that again?! What happened to Xuan'er?!"

The servant was so frightened that he nearly collapsed, tears and snot streaming down his face. "It's true... Patriarch... everyone outside is talking about it... Young Master Xuan went to Li's Pill Pavilion to trouble Li Chengjie, but... but that boy used Talismans... and killed him in return! His body... his body has already been collected by the Flowing Cloud Sect!"

"Li! Cheng! Jie!" Chen Liming forced out the three words through clenched teeth, every syllable steeped in towering Killing Intent and bone-deep hatred! He flung the servant away, his chest heaving violently as his eyes instantly filled with blood.

"Good! What a Li Chengjie! What an ignorant Rogue Cultivator who does not know life from death!" Chen Liming roared like a wounded beast. "First, you damaged the foundation of my Hundred Herbs Hall, and now you dare kill a direct descendant of my Chen family! Do you truly think my Chen family is made of clay?! If I do not avenge this hatred, I, Chen Liming, swear I am not human!"

Chen Liming abruptly turned toward the clan elders and Chen Kun, who had rushed over upon hearing the news. His gaze was so vicious it was terrifying. "Transmit my order! Gather every capable cultivator in the clan at mid-stage Qi Refining and above! Surround Li's Pill Pavilion at once! I will tear that Li Chengjie into ten thousand pieces, perform Soul Extraction and Spirit Refining upon him, and offer him as a sacrifice to my nephew's spirit in heaven!"

Li Chengjie's heart sank, but his expression remained calm. "Li understands. But in that situation, it was either he died or I did. Li had no other choice. Everything shall be judged according to the Steward's and the sect's laws!"

Zhou Wenwu's expression was grave, and he was just about to say more and arrange the next steps when suddenly—

BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!

Three heavy, distant Bell Chimes, as though capable of piercing the soul, thundered from the very center of Qingshi Market. In an instant, they rang throughout the entire inner district and even reached every corner of the market!

The chimes carried a strange penetrating force and majesty, as if they were striking directly upon everyone's mind and spirit.

The instant Zhou Wenwu and every Flowing Cloud Sect Guard he had brought heard the bell, their faces changed in unison!

Zhou Wenwu abruptly raised his head toward the direction of the chimes, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief. He murmured in a lost voice, "The Three-Ring General Summoning Bell?! This... the sect's highest emergency summons?! What could have happened to require this bell to be rung?!"

The Three-Ring General Summoning Bell was no trivial matter. It was the Flowing Cloud Sect's highest signal for urgently gathering all sect disciples whenever Qingshi Market faced a major crisis or an order of the highest level was issued!

When the bell rang three times, every Flowing Cloud Sect Disciple within the market, regardless of status or position, regardless of what mission they were carrying out, had to immediately set aside everything and rush to the Central Plaza as fast as possible!

Those who disobeyed would be treated as traitors to the sect!

The guards Zhou Wenwu had brought looked at one another, their faces filled with tension and bewilderment.

Zhou Wenwu drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the stormy waves in his heart. He knew that, at this moment, every matter had to yield before the General Summoning Bell.