The bells sounded lovely, not a whit inferior to the zither music at today's Plum Gathering, and possessed a particular marvel of their own, calming all who heard them. Layers of invisible ripples seemed to spread through the air around the plum grove, smoothing the surface of the little lake. Along with clearing the mind, they gradually dispelled the lingering traces of the formations, leaving nothing behind.
Clearly, an expert from the Hanging Bell Sect had forcibly broken these formations. Presumably, that expert had already forced their way inside.
The Hanging Bell Sect and the Green Mountain Sect had been on friendly terms for generations. Somewhat worried, Zhao Layue reached out and took Jing Jiu's hand, rising on her sword.
A streak of red sword light illuminated the old garden and followed the sound of the bells. A light breeze stirred, then instantly subsided.
Deep within the old Plum Garden lay an unremarkable little lake. Untidy plum trees grew along its banks, hardly beautiful, and a small nunnery could just be seen in the grove, equally unremarkable.
Someone had blocked the path leading from outside the grove to the nunnery, and the two sides were confronting each other.
"Why shouldn't we be allowed inside?"
A woman spoke with a frosty expression, an extremely powerful presence radiating from her seemingly frail body.
The woman was the very envoy who had attended the Green Mountain Sword Trial that year.
Standing beside her, her delicate little face full of impatience, was naturally the Little Girl who had once promised to give Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue bells.
An old eunuch stood on the stone path. He was not necessarily the one who had laid those formations, but clearly, he too wanted to stop these two people from the Hanging Bell Sect.
His eyelids