Second Stage
The sound of numerous bells gradually drew closer, and the two groups, which had separated somewhat, finally saw the person. He was neither too tall nor too strong, and his body appeared exceptionally well-proportioned. Even his appearance was unremarkable, except for his large, gleaming bald head, which shone brightly in the twilight sunlight, almost blindingly so.
Twenty-three bells hung all over Niu Dingtian's body, jingling with his unhurried steps. This ordinary bald man, with the sound of these bells, created the aura of a demon king's entrance.
"Niu Dingtian?" Niu Han said in disbelief. He never expected that the Bell Demon King everyone was talking about was actually Niu Dingtian. When did this kid become so powerful? They'd been fighting since they were playing in the mud, all the way up to awakening their life souls. How did the other guy suddenly become so strong? Did he use mods?
"Then, hand over the bell." Niu Dingtian tilted his head to look at Niu Han, then turned to the other group, his tone very sincere.
"You know them? Are we still going to join forces? If not, then this matter is over." The leader assessed the strength of the two sides; if they joined forces, what were his chances of holding them off?
"I said, hand over the bells." Niu Dingtian frowned. A lot of time had passed, and night was about to fall. The first stage of the main quest wasn't even finished yet, and he didn't know how many stages there would be. He didn't have time to waste here.
"Forget it, I'll go get it myself." Seeing the situation, Niu Dingtian walked directly into the crowd. Niu Han, seeing this, bit his lip and said, "Go help Niu Dingtian, after all, he's from our Ox Family Town..."
Before he could even utter the word "human," Niu Han's mouth gaped open as he looked at the ten people who had already fallen to the ground. This speed was too fast! In the time it took to say a single sentence, even an ordinary person standing there wouldn't be able to move this fast, let alone ten Xuanli cultivators who had awakened their life souls.
Niu Dingtian searched the ten fallen men and found six bells on the leader's body. Adding these to the twenty-three bells on his own body, he had a total of twenty-nine bells. He was one bell short of completing the mission, so Niu Dingtian turned his attention to Niu Han.
Niu Han shivered under Niu Dingtian's gaze, then heard Niu Dingtian say, "Do you have a bell? Can I borrow it for a moment? I'll return both to you later."
"Gulp..." Niu Han swallowed, feeling his throat was a little dry. He quickly took out a bell wrapped in cloth from his clothes. They were not as skilled and daring as Niu Dingtian, so they naturally had to hide the sound of the bell.
Taking the bell from Niu Han, all thirty bells were finally complete. The system's cold voice rang in his ears. "Main quest stage one complete. Rewards issued. Please confirm receipt."
A flood of information rushed into Niu Dingtian's mind, giving him a clearer understanding of the various forces in the world. His personal thoughts also developed a feeling of being different from himself, as if there was another version of him, still detached from the outside world. Of course, this was just an illusion caused by the large amount of information, but unfortunately, Niu Dingtian was unaware of it.
With the influx of this information, Niu Dingtian felt as if he could tear everything apart. In fact, part of his thinking had become dehumanized. Lu Li's information modification gave Niu Dingtian part of Lu Li's way of thinking.
Niu Dingtian's extraordinary perception allows him to perceive almost all the weaknesses of this world. He can leverage countless reactions in the world with minimal effort. This monstrous mindset also makes Niu Dingtian's sense of being different from himself even stronger.
"Second phase of the mission begins: Kill Lin Shan."
The system's voice, cold and stimulating, stirred Niu Dingtian's mind. A strange feeling rose within him: if he could kill Lin Shan, the system's main quest would be completed, and perhaps he could resolve all his doubts.
So these bells are useless now. Niu Dingtian has fallen into a trance because of the several deliberate information intrusions from Lu Li. He took three bells off his body, threw them to Niu Han, and then turned and walked to the other side.
An ability called the Lawbreaking Eye surged into Niu Dingtian's mind. Combined with the method of luck, it developed into a unique aura observation technique. He quickly sensed Lin Hao's unique aura and Lin Shan's Unhindered Advance and immense aura.
Without hesitation, without considering the consequences, and without even thinking about whether he could win, Niu Dingtian headed in that direction. At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind: to kill Lin Shan, complete the mission given by the system, and solve all the problems.
"Fun, so much fun!" Lin Hao's cheerful voice drifted from afar. "Put some effort into it, or you'll lose, and I'll kill all your little brats too."
Niu Dingtian walked over and saw an orange light shield shimmering around Lin Hao. Outside the shield, a mystical beast was scratching at it incessantly. Unfortunately, this shield was a life-saving item given to Lin Hao by Lin Shan, and it was far beyond the reach of such a mystical beast.
In Lin Hao's hand, he was holding a young Xuan Beast, shaking it on the ground. After seeing that the Xuan Beast was exhausted, he pretended to let go and threw the cub down. Then he immediately grabbed it with his other hand, causing the Xuan Beast to let out a mournful howl.
Niu Dingtian made no attempt to conceal himself, walking straight toward Lin Hao. A gaze fixed upon him, and Niu Dingtian knew it was Lin Shan's gaze. He knew that if he made any inappropriate move, Lin Shan would unleash a thunderous strike to kill this insignificant nobody.
Lin Hao also noticed Niu Dingtian's arrival. He looked at the exhausted and collapsed Xuan Beast outside with disdain, and slammed the cub in his hand hard onto the ground. Lin Hao's force was considerable, and the cub was smashed to death. Blood splattered out and landed in front of the Xuan Beast.
"What a boring idiot. You over there, are you here to play with me?" Lin Hao did not remove the light shield around him. He took out the high-grade dagger from his pocket, walked directly to the exhausted Xuan Beast, and stabbed it, gouging out the Xuan Beast's eyes.
Lin Hao stared at Niu Dingtian with his dark eyes, then walked towards Niu Dingtian with a mischievous grin. "Big brother, do you want to eat this eyeball? If you eat it, I'll give you a treasure."
"Okay, bring it here." Niu Dingtian clenched his fist and walked towards Lin Hao, feeling a sense of danger coming from behind him. Lin Shan was reminding him not to do anything foolish.