Glazed Bell

"What a huge bell! What terrifying pressure!"

Fang Chen stared fixedly at the great bell in the sky. Even breathing had become difficult.

Li Yanshan also looked up at the bell above Heavenly Lake. "That's the Glazed Bell, one of the Glazed Sword Sect's three greatest treasures. Only the Glazed Sword and Glazed Pagoda rank above it. Though it hasn't shattered completely, it's still badly damaged!"

Li Yanshan sighed as he spoke of the Glazed Bell. If the Glazed Sword, Glazed Pagoda, and Glazed Bell had remained intact, the Glazed Sword Sect would never have fallen so far.

"A Saint Weapon?"

Fang Chen's eyes lit up. He knew Saint Weapons were treasures forged by Saints, their power immense. He had never imagined the great bell before him was one of those legendary weapons, second only to a Supreme Emperor Weapon.

Li Yanshan nodded. "Yes. We need the Glazed Bell to open the Trial Path!"

The disciples gathered beside Heavenly Lake stared up at the Glazed Bell, momentarily lost in a daze. Even disciples like Li Yanshan and Elder Yun, who had seen it many times before, still found it mysterious. The bell radiated the enigmatic Great Dao Laws.

Fang Chen discovered that under the bell's strange pressure, his thoughts had grown sharper.

Li Yanshan said to him, "Fang Chen, the Dao Resonance radiating from the Glazed Bell helps us cultivate. Some people even enter a state of Enlightenment. Take a moment to feel it carefully. It'll benefit your cultivation greatly!"

With that, Li Yanshan closed his eyes.

Fang Chen glanced at Elder Yun and found that he had closed his eyes too. Even Xiao Liu, the black dog at Elder Yun's side, had done the same. His eyes were shut and his two large ears drooped, giving him an air of unfathomable wisdom.

Fang Chen looked around. Everyone else was doing the same.

The Dao Resonance from the Glazed Bell grew stronger. Fang Chen slowly closed his eyes and began circulating the Glazed Qi Refining Art.

"Hiss, hiss..."

As Fang Chen circulated the art, the True Qi Vortex in his dantian spun rapidly, faster even than when he cultivated with all his might.

The next moment, a strange Spiritual Power seeped into Fang Chen's body, filling him with warmth. It was unlike the Spiritual Qi he normally absorbed while cultivating. Under its influence, his heartbeat quickened and his blood surged. His muscles began pulsing in time with the rhythm emanating from the Glazed Bell.

Then Fang Chen felt a thread of cool air emerge in his right palm. It traveled along his meridians and entered his mind.

Hum!

The moment the cool current entered his mind, Fang Chen felt his spirit surge. Everything in his field of vision vanished, leaving only the Glazed Bell floating above the lake.

As he watched, the characters engraved on the bell flared with dazzling green light. They peeled away from its surface and flew swiftly around it.

The scene resembled what Fang Chen had seen when he entered Enlightenment while chopping at that great stone on Dog Head Ridge.

More and more characters detached from the Glazed Bell, circling it without pause.

At the same time, Fang Chen felt the mysterious Spiritual Power pouring into him grow stronger. His blood flowed faster, and the pulsing of his muscles quickened with it.

Dong!

The Glazed Bell suddenly rang out. Its thunderous peal sent ripples racing across the still lake below.

At the sound, the characters circling the bell scattered, then lined up neatly in the air to form a cultivation art.

Fang Chen stared at the art in the sky, his gaze tightening in astonishment. He had never expected those characters to form a cultivation art. It was called the Glazed Body Refining Art and seemed to share its origins with the Glazed Qi Refining Art. The latter focused on refining qi, while the former focused on refining the body.

Then Fang Chen saw droplets of water rising from Heavenly Lake, circling the Glazed Bell.

The bell above the lake began spinning rapidly, and the power of a strange law descended.

Splash!

Drawn by that mysterious power, the lake water surged skyward. Fang Chen saw fish, shrimp, crabs, snails, and mussels swept up along with it.

Incredible!

Fang Chen was stunned by the sight. Back in his village, he had listened to the schoolteachers tell stories of immortals who could move mountains and overturn seas, and he had envied them beyond measure.

What he saw now was almost like the mountain-shifting, sea-overturning feats from those stories.

Before long, the Glazed Bell had drawn every drop of water from Heavenly Lake into the sky. The water swirled endlessly around it, exposing the lakebed to Fang Chen and the others.

Sand and stone lay bare below. Fang Chen and the others saw countless remains, including some enormous skeletons, but white mist concealed the center of the lake.

"Whoosh..."

A multitude of brightly colored paper cranes suddenly flew out of the Glazed Bell. They scattered in every direction, then hovered before the disciples.

Fang Chen stared at the Paper Crane hovering before him, glowing with seven-colored light. Confusion crossed his face. He had no idea why it had stopped there.

Li Yanshan smiled. "That's a Glazed Paper Crane. The sect's experts created it with the Glazed Bell using Mana. It can store things. Once we enter the Trial Path and dig up Glazed Mushrooms, all we need to do is whistle to the crane. It'll open its beak and swallow them, and no one else will be able to steal them. Storing the Glazed Mushrooms inside preserves their Spiritual Power so it won't dissipate. It can hold other things too. Once we leave the Sky Lake Barrier, the crane will disappear within an hour!"

Li Yanshan took out his Identity Token and used it to imprint a mark on the Glazed Paper Crane before him. The others followed suit.

Seeing this, Fang Chen immediately took out his own Identity Token and marked his crane.

After imprinting it, Fang Chen sensed a subtle connection between himself and the Glazed Paper Crane.

Just then, an elderly man in a yellow robe descended from the sky and appeared beneath the Glazed Bell. His face was thin, his hair, eyebrows, and beard were streaked with gray, and a keen light flickered in his eyes. Golden cloud patterns adorned his collar and cuffs, and a powerful aura radiated from his body.