Great Emperor Wushi's legacy (bonus release for 400 monthly votes, extra-long chapter)

Clang...

The Wushi Bell rang out. Its waves of sound were gentle, without any killing intent.

But that was only how Jiang Yun and the Black Emperor heard them. To the Primordial Creatures inside Purple Mountain, they were anything but gentle.

The lingering toll echoed through the ages, shook the void, awed past and present, and resounded throughout Purple Mountain.

For a time, everything inside Purple Mountain fell silent, save for the rumbling echoes of the bell.

That single toll was like a beam of divine light from the primordial beginning, piercing endless space and time. The Primordial Creatures trembled in terror, all of them submitting.

Long ago, Great Emperor Wushi had subdued Purple Mountain and imprisoned all the guardians of the nine dragon veins within it, forcing them to serve as gatekeepers.

Gatekeepers was a flattering name. In truth, they were merely prisoners, forced to become Great Emperor Wushi's watchdogs.

"Let's go. The Wushi Bell has truly awakened."

The Black Emperor grew serious for once. It put away Great Emperor Wushi's Imperial Edict, its expression solemn and reverent.

"Let's go!" Jiang Yun drew a deep breath, calming his tangled thoughts.

The two left the purple mountain cavern and traveled for some time. The light grew dim in the depths, where halls and towers stood dull and weathered, ancient and plain.

Old paths and caves connected with one another, branching off in every direction.

The Primordial Creatures had vanished. Only ancient coffins remained along either side of the paths.

Neither spoke along the way. They had entered from a different direction this time and arrived directly at the Wushi Dao Platform.

It was an enormous platform, with tens of thousands of strands of chaos qi cascading down, each seemingly powerful enough to crush all the heavens throughout eternity!

This place