Ren Ye stared, his face deathly pale, at the figure suspended beneath the city gate by the Binding Dragon Rope. Rage surged within him, and even his teeth were chattering...
Ever since the Demoness of the Vengeful Ghost Sect had taken him away, his situation had remained dangerous. He had therefore acted cautiously throughout the journey, afraid to expose his whereabouts, let alone contact Ai Fei, Daoist Chu, Yin Tiger, or the others, lest the excessive attention on him implicate his friends.
But he had never expected that trouble would find them anyway.
For the person hanging from the city gate was Xu Bangzi, covered in wounds.
He hung beneath the gate from the Binding Dragon Rope, his hair disheveled and his entire body drenched in blood. He looked utterly bedraggled and gave off no trace of mystical power.
Ren Ye had originally been watching the commotion, but at his first glimpse of Xu Bangzi, he had felt stunned and despairing. He had thought Xu Bangzi was already dead, that his closest friend had fallen in this war-torn land.
But when he concentrated on sensing him, he discovered that the "Powerful Local Retinue" connection between them had not been severed. And as Xu Bangzi hung beneath the gate, he even raised his head slightly.
He was not dead. Ren Ye simply did not know why he had been captured alive. A High Grade Supernatural Ability User from Western Liang City must have used some forbidden technique or Magic Treasure to seal his Star Source Power, allowing him to be taken prisoner and brought here.
Otherwise, given Xu Bangzi's character, he would never have let himself fall into their hands, even if it meant death.
Last night, the phantom of a great bell had appeared south of Western Liang City, spanning