"Clang!"
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
The Time Bell began to ring of its own accord!
Its chimes were no longer illusory. They had become resoundingly real!
Each chime seemed to strike the River of Time itself, sending ripples through the void!
Under the flood of terrifying nourishment condensed from the life Essence, Dao fruits, and Laws of more than a dozen Immortal Emperors, the ancient cracks across the bell began to close and mend at a pace visible to the naked eye!
Its dim Dao Patterns lit up again, and its broken structure regenerated. An immense, terrifying aura—the aura of a true Ancient treasure, vast as the Sea of Stars and eternal as Flowing Time—began to awaken, like a primordial beast rousing from its slumber!
Fang Chen had turned the Immortal-Demon Annihilation Array into a furnace and the Five Clans' foremost emperors who had entered it into firewood, carrying out an unprecedented blood sacrifice to refine the bell!
"No! Don't!"
"My Dao!"
"How I hate this!"
Amid screams and wails of utter despair, Star Vault Immortal Emperor, Thunder Punishment Immortal Emperor, Blood Devourer Immortal Emperor, Star Whisper, and Nether Remains Immortal Emperor—Immortal Emperors who had dominated the Ancient Region for countless years and inspired awe in myriad races—began to turn transparent and insubstantial. At last, they vanished like bursting bubbles. Their power, Laws, Dao fruits, and souls all dissolved completely into the gray ripples of Return to the Ruins.
Only the brilliant pillars of energy and Dao Principles remained, pouring ceaselessly into the Time Bell to nourish its restoration and awakening.
When the last two-turn Immortal Emperor was utterly annihilated, the screams cut off.
Within the Core Region, nothing living remained but Fang Chen and, below him, Immortal Emperor Yun Yi, Golden Roc Immortal Emperor, and the others. The Formation had kept