Senior

Lin Xiao stood on a small slope on the eastern side of the valley with Qingchu and Yaoying, whose body had only just recovered after swallowing a great quantity of spirit herbs and borrowing the Spiritual Energy within them. The three watched the commotion at the center of the valley from afar. Xuan Yuan, Xuan Heng, and Xuan Luo, three old Daoists, along with fifteen other elders of the Xuan Generation, were solemnly making their way toward an elegant little mountain in the center of the valley, shaped like a great bell and over three hundred zhang tall. Not a blade of grass grew upon the mountain. Its entire surface was covered in a magnificent green rock layer resembling glazed glass, gleaming green with endearing beauty.

"The Mysterious Origin Green Bell? Could this mountain be it?" Recalling what Daoist Yixing had said in Firecloud Cave yesterday, Lin Xiao could not help feeling curious. If this little mountain was a bell, how could something so enormous possibly be rung? And once rung, what miraculous effects would it produce? Filled with anticipation, Lin Xiao led Qingchu and Yaoying a short distance down toward the valley.

Yi Xin, standing at the edge of the valley, noticed Lin Xiao's actions and hurriedly sent him a message. "Little Friend Lin Xiao, do not come any farther. Retreat, retreat a hundred zhang! When the Mysterious Origin Green Bell rings, its soundwaves gather without dispersing, but everything within a thousand zhang will still be shaken by them. Without Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, one absolutely cannot be struck by its soundwaves! Retreat at once!"

Merely enduring the sound it released required Nascent Soul Stage cultivation? Lin Xiao stared at Yi Xin in alarm. Yi Xin hurriedly nodded at him. Only then did Lin Xiao seize Qingchu and Yaoying and swiftly retreat. Qingchu obediently followed him back without even asking a single question. Yaoying, however, struggled desperately like a mouse caught by the tail and hung upside down. "Why are we retreating? We only just came down, so why are we going back again? Uh, let's get closer. It'll be more fun to watch!"

But Lin Xiao's cultivation was, after all, far deeper than Yaoying's. A stream of true essence entered Yaoying's body and sealed several of her meridians, rendering her unable to move. She could only obediently follow him backward. Yaoying rolled her eyes at Lin Xiao in annoyance, muttering and grumbling under her breath, though no one knew what she was saying.

The eighteen elders of the Origin Sect's Xuan Generation, including Xuan Yuan, took their positions around the Mysterious Origin Green Bell. They simultaneously let out a long howl toward the sky, then slapped the backs of their heads with their right hands. Their cultivated Primordial Spirits gathered immense amounts of heaven and earth Spiritual Energy, transforming into eighteen huge, dazzling golden hands that burst from their bodies and grabbed at the enormous green bell. The difference between the three Void Realm experts and the other fifteen Nascent Soul Stage experts was plain to see in the giant palms manifested by their Primordial Spirits. The giant palms manifested by Xuan Yuan and the other two exceeded fifty zhang in breadth, their bodies blazing with golden light like physical objects forged from gold, with faint auspicious purple qi shining through that radiance. The giant palms manifested by the fifteen Nascent Soul Stage elders, meanwhile, were only ten zhang across. Though they too glittered with golden light, their palms were hazy and indistinct, like frosted glass.

The eighteen hands gripped the Mysterious Origin Green Bell and fiercely hauled upward. With a booming "Weng," the Mysterious Origin Green Bell, more than three hundred zhang tall and with a base of equal diameter, was lifted by the combined efforts of the eighteen men. Lin Xiao concentrated true essence in his eyes, instantly sharpening his vision more than tenfold. He clearly saw every vein bulging on the faces of the eighteen old Daoists, every muscle in their bodies trembling. Evidently, the Mysterious Origin Green Bell was incomparably heavy, and these old Daoists of the Void Realm and Nascent Soul Stage were struggling greatly.

Daoist Master Yizhen, his upper body loosely draped in a white sleeveless shirt that exposed a broad patch of chest hair, had somehow wandered over to Lin Xiao's side. Watching the Mysterious Origin Green Bell slowly rise higher and higher, he sighed. "This should be the last Immortal Artifact still found in the cultivation world, shouldn't it? Mm, the high-grade Immortal Artifact, the Mysterious Origin Green Bell. Even in ancient times, it was an extraordinarily famous treasure. What a pity that no one nowadays can truly wield it."

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

Lin Xiao's eyes widened as he watched the Mysterious Origin Green Bell slowly rise more than a thousand zhang above the ground, streams of green cloud-glow beginning to spread from its body. In amazement, he said, "A high-grade Immortal Artifact! How great must one's divine abilities be, and how many years of cultivation would it take to wield it?"

Daoist Master Yizhen gazed at the giant bell with both envy and jealousy, sighing faintly in sorrow. "This great bell weighs a net thirty-six hundred million jin. Human strength simply cannot wield it freely. Only figures who have broken through the Dao Integration Realm and ascended to immortality could refine it into a personal treasure. Or perhaps Loose Immortals who have survived more than four Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulations would barely possess that strength. As for cultivators like us, we can only use the most basic spirit incantations to barely ring it as a means of sending word."

"Thirty-six hundred million jin!" Lin Xiao, Qingchu, and Yaoying all drew in a sharp breath. Watching Xuan Yuan and the others tremble all over, Lin Xiao sighed in heartfelt admiration. "Though eighteen people are working together, and though they are using spirit incantations to activate the treasure and make it rise, thirty-six hundred million... To lift such a giant bell through divine abilities is already an astonishing feat."

Lin Xiao could not help recalling how Immortal Miao had uprooted an entire small mountain with a flip of his hand. If one cultivated to that legendary realm, perhaps plucking the sun and seizing the moon, shifting stars and changing constellations, would be no difficult matter at all. Lin Xiao lightly flexed his arm. Mm, he could now barely carry several thousand jin, but even then, he could not travel far under such a burden. Compared to old Daoists like Xuan Yuan, the gap in their strength was like the blazing sun compared to a firefly.

Xuan Yuan and the other elders of the Xuan Generation laboriously raised the Mysterious Origin Green Bell thirty-six thousand zhang into the sky. Fierce astral winds battered the green bell high above, sheets of wind like steel plates shattering against it with thunderous booms, yet the bell itself made not the slightest sound. Sheets of green cloud-glow continuously spread from within the bell. Gradually, that green cloud-glow covered the entire sky, which resembled an inverted lotus leaf, with faint spiritual light flashing through the cloud-glow like veins upon the leaf.

"Awaken the spirit!" Xuan Yuan shouted. The eighteen old Daoists of the Xuan Generation simultaneously cast spirit incantations, silently chanting true essence as powerful waves of magical force spread in all directions and whipped up a violent gale in the valley. The wild wind swept grass, leaves, and dust from the ground, and dozens of tornadoes nearly a hundred zhang thick rose from thin air. Amid piercing shrieks, the tornadoes shot straight into the sky, their tremendous howls even drowning out the crashing of the astral winds against the green bell overhead. As the eighteen old Daoists continued casting spirit incantations, streaks of spiritual light covered the Mysterious Origin Green Bell. Archaic characters faintly appeared upon its surface, while an extremely pale green light shone down from its mouth and enveloped the valley where Lin Xiao and the others stood.

Daoist Yixing had somehow acquired a colossal bell hammer nearly ten zhang long and three chi thick. Somewhat awkwardly clutching the enormous hammer, he rode a patch of white cloud straight into the sky. Gathering all the true essence in his body, he spun the bell hammer in his hand and savagely smashed it toward the green bell. As Daoist Yixing poured true essence into it, dense green light patterns flickered across the hammer. Gradually, those patterns condensed into the head of a giant dragon, which gave a clear dragon's cry and struck the green bell with lightning speed.

The bell hammer collided with the green bell. Daoist Yixing let out a muffled grunt, his limbs going weak from the tremendous rebounding force transmitted by the bell. Flailing helplessly, he fell from the sky. Yi Xin hurriedly flew up and caught him. Yixing immediately shuddered all over as though electrocuted, quickly summoned a cloud beneath his feet, and silently drifted more than a zhang away from Yi Xin. Yi Xin lightly trembled her hand, yet still descended to the ground with a smile covering her face.

The instant the bell hammer touched the green bell, streams of dazzling light raced up and down its surface. The green bell slowly expanded, eventually swelling to over a thousand zhang in height. Watching the bell steadily grow without making the slightest sound, Lin Xiao instinctively felt his scalp prickle. He grabbed Qingchu with one hand and reached back for Yaoying with the other, shouting, "Retreat another thousand zhang!" Yi Xin had said that retreating a hundred zhang would ensure their safety, but that only meant they would survive. Lin Xiao had no desire to be rattled senseless by the bell's chime.

Qingchu's little hand obediently slipped into Lin Xiao's palm, but his hand reached empty air when he tried to grab Yaoying. Smiling broadly, Yaoying had slipped away at some point and was already skipping toward the valley. As she ran wildly, she laughed with delight. "Big Brother Lin is such a scaredy-cat~ You don't dare enter the valley~ I'm not afraid. I'm going in to see what's so strange!"

Lin Xiao shouted anxiously, "Yaoying! Get back here!"

Qingchu trembled as well, stammering, "Little Qing~ Little Qing~ Come back quickly~ Ancestor Yi Xin wouldn't lie to you, come back quickly~"

The rapidly expanding green bell suddenly trembled, then compressed with incomparably fierce speed from over a thousand zhang to less than the size of a fist. An earthshaking bell chime rang from within it. The enormous soundwave condensed into a green gale and spewed violently from the bell's mouth toward the ground. With the speed of lightning, the green gale savagely struck the valley. The earth shook, the valley sank slightly downward, and countless seven-colored lights flashed up from underground. Who knew how many restrictions had activated on their own, fully absorbing that crushing blow.

Yaoying, who had turned back to make faces at Lin Xiao and Qingchu with a strange laugh, let out a startled cry. Her tiny body was caught directly in that green gale, nearly a thousand zhang thick. With an "Aiya," Yaoying's body disintegrated in midair. Chunks of green flesh and green blood sprayed chaotically everywhere. Amid that shocking eruption of green gore, one tiny little finger rapidly fled the green gale's range, tumbling out in utter misery and rolling fiercely across the ground.

"Yingying~" That small green finger twisted and bounced on the ground several times before suddenly shrinking into a clump of moss the size of a soybean. Yaoying sobbed in a stammer, "Wuwu, I don't want to live anymore~ I got smashed apart again~ This time I was smashed so badly~ Wuwu, I've been smashed into dregs!"

The eyes of Origin Sect elders such as Yixing, Yi Xin, and Yizhen all twitched at once as they witnessed this scene. With Yaoying's mere Qi Condensation Stage strength, she had been struck by the Mysterious Origin Green Bell's soundwave gale without having her soul scattered and spirit destroyed. This, this was simply too inconceivable. Could this little demoness formed from moss truly possess such formidable vitality? Yi Xin blinked rapidly, staring blankly at Yaoying as she wriggled and crawled across the ground, climbed up Lin Xiao's trouser leg, and clung to it while wailing continuously. Yi Xin's lips moved quickly, though 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 all sank at once. Xuan Yuan, Xuan Heng, and Xuan Luo shouted together, their hands moving rapidly as they cast one mysterious restriction after another. They sent out streams of spiritual light to shield their other fifteen fellow disciples. Carrying a roar powerful enough to collapse mountains, split the earth, and evaporate oceans, the green gale thundered down. Xuan Yuan and the others were shaken until their minds buzzed and their divine senses turned muddled, their bodies trembling violently. Even protected by restrictions, their five viscera and six bowels all suffered light injuries, and they nearly simultaneously spat out mouthfuls of blood.

The green gale struck the valley, where it was absorbed by an ancient restriction formation that had existed underground for who knew how many ages, plunging directly into the heart of the earth. The massive soundwave vibrations churned within the planet's core. After being reflected and amplified through several layers of Qi Yuan Star's crust, they followed the invisible magnetic axis connecting Qi Yuan Star's north and south poles and burst out with a crashing roar.

By the time the invisible soundwave vibrations left Qi Yuan Star, they had become soundless, colorless, formless, and traceless. The soundwaves traveled through the void at terrifying speed, crossing countless stars in an instant. At last, the two streams of soundwaves simultaneously struck some strange existence in the void. They refracted at the same time, hurtling violently toward a peculiar node in the distant starry expanse.

The two streams of soundwaves drew closer and closer to that node. They gradually approached one another in the void, gradually fused, and gradually emitted intense green light.

At last, a green beam of light about a chi thick struck that point. Violent radiance suddenly erupted from that pitch-black patch of void, waves of light surging outward as the green light beam was swallowed by the void. Roughly the time it took to snap one's fingers later, a tremendous bell chime resounded through the void, shaking the universe as though it might tremble apart, making the stars filling the sky seem ready to fall. The spirit veins in every blessed land and grotto-heaven throughout the cultivation world began to pulse.

After the time it took to eat a meal, light and shadows flickered in the void, and five strangely dressed cultivators emerged from that patch of emptiness.

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

"This time, we have been inside for one hundred and seventy-five years," said a mature, beautiful woman dressed in a white palace gown, flower petals swirling around her body. Her voice was gentle. "But as before, we made no progress whatsoever. This ruin is simply too wondrous. Our cultivation is truly insufficient to gain anything from it."

"Only we can come here." A middle-aged Daoist with double pupils, wearing a pale green crane-feather cloak and with his hair hanging loose, sighed. "We have at least been fortunate enough to attain Void Realm cultivation, allowing us to join forces and open this ruin's entrance. In another few hundred years, if the Spiritual Energy of the cultivation world continues dissipating as rapidly as it does today, then... no one will ever know this ruin's secrets again."

Another middle-aged Daoist with an exceptionally long face, dressed in a milky-white crane-feather cloak and likewise with loose hair, gave a bitter smile. "Senior Brother speaks truly, but... Golden Venerable, Flower Goddess, Old Man Gu, the Mysterious Origin Green Bell of our Origin Sect has been rung. Something major must have happened in the cultivation world. We must first return to the Origin Sect and investigate."

The last of the five was an inconspicuous old man, crudely featured like an old farmer. He wore a bamboo hat and straw rain cape, with a fish basket tied at his waist and a fishing rod in hand. He nodded lightly. "Yes. If the Mysterious Origin Green Bell has been rung, something extraordinarily serious must have occurred."

After a pause, Old Man Gu said mildly, "It would be good to return to Qi Yuan Star first and have a look. We should also tell the younger generation about this ruin, lest we should perish as High Person Luo and the other three did, and this ruin be left completely unknown. This old man has always felt that this ruin is greatly connected to the constant decline of Spiritual Energy in today's cultivation world. Unless its secret is uncovered, I will not rest easy even in death!"

The five exchanged glances and simultaneously clapped their hands in approval.

The five transformed into five streaks of spiritual light over a hundred zhang long and rapidly streaked through the void toward Qi Yuan Star.

The five long rainbows tore through the void. When they were still one day's journey from Qi Yuan Star, an immensely vast bolt of lightning suddenly spanned the sky before them, blocking the five escaping lights.

Golden Venerable, clad in armor, gave a cold snort and raised his right hand, preparing to cleave down at the lightning with a palm strike. Flower Goddess and Old Man Gu merely sneered without speaking.

The two middle-aged Daoists hurriedly stopped Golden Venerable. The Daoist in the pale green crane-feather cloak said urgently, "Golden Venerable, the visitor is a friend. He is the famed Loose Immortal Demon Subduing True Person Jiang Zizai of the present cultivation world!" Golden Venerable's brow twitched, and only then did he slowly lower his right hand. A dazzling cluster of golden light had just appeared in his palm before rapidly dissipating.

The other Daoist, dressed in a milky-white crane-feather cloak, called out loudly, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, what brings you to our Qi Yuan Star today?"