The Dawn Bell Falls into His Arms

Chen Yuan sat quietly on the Warm Jade couch.

Only after a stick of incense had burned away did his blood and qi settle.

He opened his eyes.

The crimson-gold curtains stirred without wind. Patterns of rising suns and setting moons brightened and dimmed like breathing. Solar Radiance Stone and Crimson Marrow Jade gleamed against each other overhead, casting down a frozen dawn.

He rose and took a step. Patterns spread through the void beneath his foot like ripples, and wherever they passed, the Spiritual Essence in the hall cleared.

He lowered his gaze. The void warped slightly with a faint crackle, as though something were being scorched. With a single thought, he could burn a mark into the void itself.

He slowly drew the Spiritual Essence around him into his Dantian, then restrained the golden pressure spilling unconsciously from his body, burying it deep in his flesh. Only after repeating this several times could he release and contain it at will.

The temperature in the hall plunged.

The Crimson Marrow Jade, nearly melted by the heat of his aura, gradually regained its gentle warmth. The Solar Radiance Stones overhead dimmed as well, softening the light in the hall to the color of the sky at dusk.

He did not like places that were too bright.

Or rather, he did not like that false brightness. However warm the Solar Radiance Stones' glow might be, they were only stones, not the true sun.

And he had seen the true sun: the Mad Sun that had sunk into the Returning Ruins, the eternal Great Sun that had shone upon all things in ancient times. Having seen the real thing, he could no longer care for an imitation.

He raised a hand. Golden Spiritual Essence surged from his palm and swept across the