"Hm?"
Hong Xiao drew back his chains. At the sight of the thin layer of ice crystals coating them, a flicker of surprise crossed his scarlet eyes.
He snapped the chains hard. The ice crystals shattered and fell away, restoring the chains' scarlet color, but the glow of their dark red runes had visibly dimmed.
"Not bad, but still not enough!"
He flung his arms wide, and every chain wound around him shot out at once.
Ten scarlet chains surged like ten furious dragons bursting from the sea, lashing at Ling Juehan from every direction.
Dark red bloodline power coiled around each chain. Its violence shattered every stretch of space in its path.
Above the Arena, black spatial rifts spread like a broken spiderweb hanging across the sky.
The ten chains closed in from ten different angles, cutting off every route of retreat Ling Juehan had.
The dark red runes on the chains flashed wildly, releasing scorching waves that baked the Arena floor until it cracked.
Ling Juehan remained expressionless, but his grip on the little bell tightened slightly, his knuckles paling with the force of it.
He raised the little bell above his head, its mouth facing down. The mass of chaotic cold mist inside spun wildly.
It was like an ice-blue eye about to open, with an eternal winter deep in its pupil—one that could freeze all things.
"Three Chimes of the Cold Bell: Mountains and Rivers Shatter."
Clang...
The third chime rang out. Unlike the first two, it carried a terrifying force of destruction, as though it would grind everything into dust.
An ice-blue ring of sound exploded from the bell's mouth.
It swept outward in every direction. Wherever the ring passed, the air compressed into solid ice-blue walls that pushed outward layer upon layer.
All the