Senior

Lin Xiao, Qingchu, and Yaoying, who had just devoured a large amount of spiritual medicine and was now recovering her body with the spiritual energy from the medicinal ingredients, stood on a small hill on the east side of the valley, gazing at the commotion in the center of the valley. Xuan Yuan, Xuan Heng, and Xuan Luo, the three old Daoists, along with fifteen other elders of the Xuan generation, were solemnly walking towards a spiritual and beautiful small mountain in the center of the valley, shaped like a grand bell and over three hundred feet tall. Not a single blade of grass grew on this mountain, which was entirely covered by a layer of green rock strata as magnificent as glazed glass, looking extremely charming and vibrant.

"Mysterious Origin Green Bell? Could it be this mountain?" Lin Xiao recalled what Daoist Master Yi Xing had said yesterday in the Fire Cloud Cave, and a wave of curiosity surged within him. If this small mountain was a bell, with such a massive form, how could it be rung? And what kind of miraculous effects would it have after being rung? Filled with anticipation, Lin Xiao, with Qingchu and Yaoying, quickly descended into the valley.

Yi Xin, standing at the edge of the valley, saw Lin Xiao's actions and hurriedly transmitted her voice, "Young friend Lin Xiao, do not go any further! Retreat, retreat a hundred feet! When the Mysterious Origin Green Bell rings, its sound waves will condense and not disperse, but within a thousand-foot radius, it will still be shaken by its sound waves. If you do not have Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, you absolutely cannot be struck by its sound waves! Quickly retreat!"

Just the sound alone required Nascent Soul Stage cultivation to withstand? Lin Xiao looked at Yi Xin with horror, and Yi Xin quickly nodded at him. Only then did Lin Xiao pull Qingchu and Yaoying and quickly retreat. Qingchu obediently followed Lin Xiao back without even a hint of doubt. Yaoying, however, was like a mouse whose tail had been grabbed and held upside down; she struggled desperately, flailing her limbs, "Why retreat? We just came down, why are we going back? Uh, let's get closer, it's exciting to watch!"

However, Lin Xiao's cultivation was far superior to Yaoying's. Lin Xiao infused a stream of true essence into Yaoying's body, sealing several of her meridians, rendering her body unable to move. She could only obediently retreat with him. Yaoying angrily rolled her eyes at Lin Xiao, muttering something unintelligible.

Xuan Yuan and the other eighteen elders of the Origin Sect's Xuan generation stood around the Mysterious Origin Green Bell. They all let out a long roar towards the sky, clapped the back of their heads with their right hands, and their Nascent Souls condensed a massive amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, transforming into eighteen resplendent golden hands that shot out from their bodies, reaching towards the incomparably massive green bell. The fact that they transformed their Nascent Souls into giant palms revealed the gap between the three Void Realm experts and the other eighteen Nascent Soul Stage experts. The giant palms transformed by Xuan Yuan and the other two had a radius of over fifty feet, were entirely golden and brilliant as if made of solid gold, with faint purple auspicious light emanating from within the golden light. The giant palms transformed by the fifteen Nascent Soul Stage elders were only ten feet in radius. Although also golden and brilliant, their palms were hazy, like glazed products with a fuzzy texture.

The eighteen great hands grabbed the Mysterious Origin Green Bell and pulled it upwards fiercely. A 'hum' sound of roaring echoed, and the Mysterious Origin Green Bell, over three hundred feet tall and with a base diameter of over three hundred feet, was lifted by the combined efforts of the eighteen people. Lin Xiao condensed his true essence onto his eyes, instantly sharpening his vision by more than tenfold. He clearly saw the bulging veins on the faces of these eighteen old Daoists, their muscles trembling all over, clearly indicating that the Mysterious Origin Green Bell was extremely heavy, and these eighteen Void Realm and Nascent Soul Stage old Daoists were struggling greatly.

Daoist Master Yizhen, whose upper body was lazily wrapped in a white cloth vest, revealing a large patch of chest hair, had somehow appeared beside Lin Xiao. Daoist Master Yizhen looked at the slowly rising Mysterious Origin Green Bell and sighed, "This must be the last Immortal Artifact that can be found in the cultivation world today, right? Hmm, a high-grade Immortal Artifact, the Mysterious Origin Green Bell. It was also an extremely famous magical treasure in ancient times! It's a pity that no one can drive it anymore."

Mysterious Origin Green Bell, a high-grade Immortal Artifact passed down from ancient times?

Lin Xiao's eyes widened as he looked at the Mysterious Origin Green Bell, which had slowly risen to over a thousand feet above the ground and began to emit streams of green clouds from within. He exclaimed in surprise, "A high-grade Immortal Artifact! How much divine power and how many years of cultivation would it take to drive it?"

Daoist Master Yizhen looked at the giant bell with a mixture of envy and jealousy, and sighed with a touch of sadness, "This great bell weighs thirty-six billion catties. It is impossible for human strength to drive it freely. Only those who have broken through the Dao Integration realm and ascended to become immortals can refine it as a personal magical treasure. Or, Loose Immortals who have survived the Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation four or more times should also have this strength. As for cultivators like us, we can only use the most basic spiritual techniques to barely ring it to send signals."

"Thirty-six billion catties!" Lin Xiao, Qingchu, and Yaoying all gasped simultaneously. Lin Xiao looked at Xuan Yuan and the others, whose bodies were trembling, and sincerely exclaimed, "Although it's the combined effort of eighteen people, and although they used spiritual techniques to drive the treasure to ascend, thirty-six billion... being able to lift such a giant bell with divine power is already a remarkable feat."

Lin Xiao couldn't help but recall the scene of Immortal Miao uprooting a small mountain with a flip of his hand. Cultivation, if one could reach those legendary realms, perhaps grasping the sun and moon, or moving stars and constellations, would not be difficult. Lin Xiao gently flexed his arm. Yes, he could now barely lift several thousand catties, but it was difficult to walk with such a load. Compared to the old Daoists like Xuan Yuan, the gap in strength was like the difference between the scorching sun and a firefly!

Xuan Yuan and the other Xuan generation elders strained to lift the Mysterious Origin Green Bell to an altitude of thirty-six thousand feet. The strong winds at high altitudes buffeted the green bell, and gusts like steel plates shattered against the green bell, emitting 'rumbling' loud noises, but the green bell itself made no sound. Streams of green clouds continuously spread out from within the green bell, gradually covering the entire sky. The sky became like an inverted lotus leaf, with faint spiritual lights flashing within the cloud-like bell, resembling the veins of a lotus leaf.

"Activate the spirit!" Xuan Yuan shouted. The eighteen Xuan generation old Daoists simultaneously waved their spiritual techniques, chanting true essence in their mouths. Streams of powerful magical energy fluctuations spread out, stirring up a gale in the valley. The wind picked up grass and dust from the ground, and dozens of tornadoes, nearly a hundred feet thick, rose into the sky from nowhere. With 'hissing' loud noises, the tornadoes shot straight towards the sky. The immense sound of the wind even drowned out the loud noise of the strong winds shattering against the green bell at high altitude. As the eighteen old Daoists continued to cast spiritual techniques, streams of spiritual light covered the Mysterious Origin Green Bell, and ancient inscriptions faintly appeared on the green bell. A very faint green light shot down from the bell's mouth, covering the valley where Lin Xiao and the others were located.

Daoist Master Yi Xing somehow had a giant bell hammer, nearly ten feet long and three feet thick, in his hands. Daoist Master Yi Xing, looking a bit disheveled, held the giant bell hammer and, stepping on a white cloud, shot straight into the sky. He channeled all his true essence and swung the bell hammer in a flourish, smashing it fiercely towards the green bell. As Daoist Master Yi Xing's true essence was injected, the bell hammer flashed with dense green light patterns. Gradually, the light patterns condensed into the head of a giant dragon, letting out a clear dragon's roar as it struck the green bell with lightning speed.

The bell hammer collided with the green bell. Daoist Master Yi Xing grunted, and the immense recoil force from the green bell made his limbs go soft. He stumbled and fell from the sky. Yi Xin hurriedly flew up and caught him. Yi Xing, as if electrocuted, shivered all over, quickly summoned a cloud to step on, and nonchalantly floated away from Yi Xin by more than a foot. Yi Xin's hand trembled slightly, and he returned to the ground with a smile on his face.

Upon contact between the bell hammer and the green bell, dazzling streams of light surged up and down the green bell. The volume of the green bell slowly expanded, gradually growing to over a thousand feet tall. Lin Xiao watched the gradually expanding bell, which made no sound, and instinctively felt his scalp tingle. He grabbed Qingchu with one hand and reached for Yaoying with the other, shouting loudly, "Retreat another thousand feet!" Yi Xin said retreating a hundred feet would ensure their safety, but that was just safety. Lin Xiao was not willing to be so dazed by the bell's sound that he couldn't tell the heavens from the earth.

Qingchu's small hand obediently reached into Lin Xiao's palm. Lin Xiao's hand reaching for Yaoying missed. Yaoying, with a face full of smiles, had already slipped away at some point and was now hopping and running into the valley. As Yaoying sprinted, she happily laughed, "Big Brother Lin is so timid~ He doesn't dare to enter the valley~ I'm not afraid, I'll go in and see what's so strange about it."

Lin Xiao roared anxiously, "Yaoying! Come back here!"

Qingchu also stammered and trembled, calling out, "Little Qing~ Little Qing~ Come back quickly~ Ancestral Master Yi Xin wouldn't lie to you, come back quickly~"

The rapidly expanding green bell in the sky suddenly trembled and compressed from over a thousand feet high to less than a fist's size with incredible speed. A earth-shattering bell chime erupted from within the green bell. The immense sound wave condensed into a green gale, spewing out from the bell's mouth towards the ground. The green gale struck the ground with lightning speed. The ground shook, and the valley sank slightly. Then, countless multicolored lights flashed from underground, indicating that numerous restrictions had been activated, fully absorbing the heavy blow.

Yaoying, who was turning back and making faces at Lin Xiao and Qingchu with a mischievous smile, let out a cry of surprise. Her small body was caught in the green gale, which was nearly a thousand feet thick. With a cry of "Aiya," Yaoying's body disintegrated in mid-air, scattering green body fragments and green blood everywhere. The shocking green flesh and blood sprayed out, and a tiny little finger rapidly escaped the coverage of the green gale, tumbling uncontrollably out and rolling violently on the ground.

"Ying ying~" The little green finger twisted and twitched on the ground a few times, then suddenly shrunk into a clump of moss the size of a soybean. Yaoying stammered and cried, "Wuwu, I don't want to live anymore~ I've been shattered again~ This time it's shattered so badly~ Wuwu, I'm all in pieces!"

Yi Xing, Yi Xin, Yi Zhen, and the other Origin Sect elders who witnessed this scene had their eyelids twitching simultaneously. With Yaoying's mere Qi Condensation stage cultivation, she was hit by the sound wave gale of the Mysterious Origin Green Bell without her soul scattering. This was simply incredible. Did this little demon, who had transformed from moss, really have such tenacious vitality? Yi Xin's eyes blinked rapidly as she stared blankly at Yaoying, who was wriggling and crawling on the ground, climbing up Lin Xiao's pant leg and clinging to it while sobbing incessantly. Her lips moved rapidly, and no one knew what she was thinking.

As the green gale struck the ground, the bodies of Xuan Yuan and the other Origin Sect elders sank downwards simultaneously. Xuan Yuan, Xuan Heng, and Xuan Luo all shouted loudly, waving their hands rapidly and casting profound restriction techniques. They unleashed streams of spiritual light, protecting their other fifteen fellow disciples. The green gale descended with a deafening roar that could collapse mountains, crack the earth, and evaporate oceans. Xuan Yuan and the others' minds buzzed, their divine senses became muddled, and their bodies trembled violently. Even with the protection of restrictions, they still suffered minor internal injuries from the impact, spitting out a mouthful of blood almost simultaneously.

The green gale struck the valley and was absorbed by the ancient restriction formation that had existed underground for who knew how many years, directly penetrating the earth's core. The immense sound wave vibration churned in the earth's core, and after being amplified by the reflection of Qi Yuan Star's several layers of crust, it followed the invisible magnetic axis line between the north and south poles of Qi Yuan Star and rushed out with a 'whoosh.'

When the invisible sound wave vibration rushed out of Qi Yuan Star, it had already become silent, colorless, formless, and traceless. The sound wave propagated through the void at a terrifying speed, instantly passing by countless stars. Finally, two strands of sound wave simultaneously collided with a strange existence in the void, causing both strands to refract and rush rapidly towards a peculiar node in the distant starry sky.

As the two strands of sound wave approached the node, they gradually drew closer in the void, merged, and began to emit a strong green light.

Finally, a green light column, about a foot thick, struck that point. The dark void suddenly erupted with violent brilliance, and waves of light surged out. The green light column was swallowed by the void. After another moment, comparable to the time it takes to flick a finger, a massive bell chime resounded through the void, making the entire universe seem to tremble. All the stars in the sky seemed to be on the verge of falling, and the spiritual veins in all the blessed lands of the cultivation world began to throb.

After about the time it takes to eat a meal, the void flickered with light and shadow, and five cultivators in strange attire appeared from that area of the void.

"How many years have we been in this ruin?" a tall man with black hair, a beard, and clad in golden armor asked in a deep voice.

"This time, we have been inside for one hundred and seventy-five years," said a mature beautiful woman in a white palace dress, surrounded by swirling petals, gently. "However, just like before, there has been no progress. This ruin is simply too miraculous, and our cultivation is insufficient to benefit from it."

"Only we can come," a middle-aged Daoist with double pupils in his eyes, wearing a light green crane cloak, and with disheveled hair sighed, "We are fortunate enough to have Void Realm cultivation now, and we can jointly open the entrance to this ruin. In a few hundred years, if the spiritual energy in the cultivation world continues to dissipate as rapidly as it is today, then~~~ the mysteries of this ruin will no longer be known by anyone."

Another middle-aged Daoist with a very long face, wearing a milky white crane cloak and also with disheveled hair, said with a wry smile, "Senior brother speaks the truth, but... Golden Venerable, Flower Goddess, Old Man Gu, the Mysterious Origin Green Bell of our Origin Sect has been rung. It seems something major has happened in the cultivation world again. We must return to the Origin Sect to investigate first."

The last of the five, an old man wearing a straw hat, a straw cloak, a fish basket tied around his waist, holding a fishing rod, and with a crude appearance like an old farmer, nodded lightly. "Yes. The Mysterious Origin Green Bell has been rung, so something extremely significant must have happened."

After a pause, Old Man Gu said faintly, "It's good to return to Qi Yuan Star first. We also need to inform the younger generation about this ruin. This way, if we were to perish like Venerable Luo and the other three, this ruin would be completely unknown. This old man always feels that this ruin is closely related to the continuous decrease of spiritual energy in the cultivation world today. If the secret is not found, this old man will not rest in peace!"

The five looked at each other and clapped their hands in agreement.

The five transformed into five streams of spiritual light, over a hundred feet long, and rapidly streaked across the void, heading towards Qi Yuan Star.

As the five long rainbows tore through the void, when they were still a day's journey from Qi Yuan Star, a vast thunderous light suddenly spanned the sky, blocking the five escaping lights.

Golden Venerable, clad in armor, snorted coldly and raised his right palm, about to strike the thunderous light with a palm. Flower Goddess and Old Man Gu merely sneered and remained silent.

The two middle-aged Daoists hurriedly stopped Golden Venerable. The Daoist wearing the light green crane cloak said urgently, "Golden Venerable, the one coming is a friend. He is the renowned Loose Immortal, Demon Subduing True Person Jiang Zizai!" Golden Venerable's brow twitched, and he slowly withdrew his right hand. A dazzling golden light had just flashed in his palm, but it quickly dissipated.