Chapter 225: Bell of Doom, Elder of the Sea
The moment the Void Resonance Bell appeared in Lan An's hand, Chen Jue's hair stood on end, a primal fear gripping his Mid Void Refining instincts. This bell could threaten his life.
The hidden Void Refining cultivators, not targeted by Lan An, were puzzled by Chen Jue's panicked expression. Why would the 33rd-ranked Golden Ranking prodigy look so terrified? But their seasoned eyes soon identified the bell as a Spirit-Grade treasure, sparking greed. This bell, combined with Lan An's vast wealth, could change destinies.
Chen Jue ignored their thoughts, cold sweat drenching his brow as he tore at the void to escape.
The onlookers were baffled. Why was he so cowardly? He wasn't gravely injured and could still fight. Unaware of the bell's terror, they deemed him spineless.
Lan An sneered at the scene. When the Lucky Shop offered the Void Resonance Bell, he'd been ecstatic, buying it instantly for moments like this. As Chen Jue fled into the void, Lan An raised the bell. Within his dantian, the Five Cauldrons roared, channeling five types of spiritual energy into the bell's core, forming a compressed orb that served as its clapper.
"Let's see you tear through this void!" Lan An bellowed, shaking the bell fiercely.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Instantly, a strange phenomenon swept West Sea Continent. Countless cultivators heard the bell's haunting, melodious chime, looking toward its source in alarm. Space rippled like waves, emanating from Lan An's direction.
Curious onlookers flew closer, only to face mounting pressure from the chime. Nascent Soul cultivators spat blood, their vitality threatening to erupt. A terrifying wave of multi-elemental spiritual energy radiated from Lan An, the bell's sound penetrating the void itself.
Unlike other treasures that shattered space, the Void Resonance Bell transmitted its attack through it, spreading across ten thousand miles. Space quaked without breaking.
"No! My head!" Hundreds of hidden cultivators clutched their skulls, writhing in agony as their blood boiled, forcing them to emerge from the void in panic.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Thinking they'd escaped, they found the chime's effects undiminished. Faces paled as they realized why Chen Jue fled. The sound assaulted mind, body, and blood alike.
"It's inescapable, in or out of the void!" a Void Refining cultivator gasped, pale as death, fleeing thousands of miles with his movement art. At that distance, the bell's spiritual waves weakened, sparing him due to his cultivation.
Others followed suit, even Ai Xin, clutching her chest in shock, retreating from the battlefield. No one dared test the bell's eerie power.
They could escape, but one could not Chen Jue, Lan An's target.
Spurt!
At the chime's peak, Chen Jue's ears and mouth gushed blood, his eyes nearly bursting, pores splitting, a wretched blood-soaked figure. The bell's mouth aimed directly at him.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The chime grew louder as Lan An closed in, one hand ringing the bell, the other blazing with flame.
Where the sound passed, space twisted violently.
"Aaah! Lan An, I'll kill you!" Chen Jue roared, clutching his head, maddened. He sealed his senses with spiritual energy, but the sinister chime pierced through, ravaging his body.
Lan An said nothing, ringing the bell relentlessly. As its master, he was immune. Otherwise, friend or foe within its range would suffer. Against Dark Night, he'd avoided using it to spare Ai Xin nearby. Now, wiser, he unleashed its full might on Chen Jue.
Combined with Heavenly Emperor Transformation – Unrivaled Under Heaven's pressure, Chen Jue faced his worst nightmare.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
"Great Earth Glacier!" Chen Jue roared, his voice thunderous, ignoring his bloodied state, desperate to drown out the chime. Gripping the Thunder-Commanding Saber, he slashed at Lan An, but the bell's influence weakened his strike drastically.
Lan An dodged with Teleportation, still ringing the bell. Chen Jue's slash missed, splitting the sea below.
The Five Cauldrons fueled Lan An's energy, the orb of five spiritual energies clashing within the bell, creating devastating vibrations—not instant destruction, but a grinding torment.
Each shake drained Lan An's vast spiritual reserves, the Five Cauldrons barely keeping up. For the first time since his triple Teleportation days, he felt his energy wane. With his cultivation now, he could Teleport six times before needing recovery.
Chen Jue, however, was at his limit. His face twisted in agony, mind fraying under the chime's torture. He swore it was the most potent sonic attack he'd faced. His bloodied body thrashed in the air, space rippling like a flag, his form on the verge of collapse.
"Aaah! This grudge will never die!" Chen Jue howled like a vengeful ghost, swallowing a pill from his storage ring. His weakened body surged with strength, suppressing the bell's effects enough to tear through the rippling void and dive in.
Lan An watched calmly, ringing the bell toward Chen Jue's escape route.
"Aaaaaaa!" A scream like one being flayed echoed from the void, chilling onlookers. Escape was impossible.
Within the dark void, Chen Jue fled with his last shred of will, knowing emergence meant death. A Spirit-Grade High-Tier treasure, coveted even by Fusion Realm cultivators, required Void Refining energy to wield. Yet Lan An, a Late Spirit Transformation cultivator, used it relentlessly, terrifying him.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Using Piercing Weakness Sight and Thousand-Mile Piercing Vision to their limits, Lan An tracked Chen Jue's slowed void movements. Unable to enter, he followed the spatial ripples from outside, intent on ending him.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
One hand rang the bell, the other fired Star-Piercing Fingers of Purple Heart Space-Burning Flame into the void, aiming for Chen Jue. The chaotic ripples made precise targeting impossible, missing every shot.
The Void Resonance Bell kept ringing.
Lan An sneered. His inability to tear space had frustrated him, but with the bell, anyone slow to escape its range would suffer. Chen Jue's ravaged body dodged the fingers, sustained only by the pill, or he'd have collapsed.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Spurt! Another mouthful of blood. Chen Jue's will was unyielding.
Lan An's eyes hardened, igniting Purple Strange Flame, incinerating a vast swath of space. If he couldn't find the rat in its hole, he'd burn the hole down.
"There you are!" As the space collapsed, Chen Jue's pitiful form emerged, shocking onlookers. The bell's terror was undeniable.
No treasure was invincible; counters existed, but Chen Jue had none, his arsenal nearly spent.
Seeing his foe, Lan An formed a finger, firing at Chen Jue's head.
"Thunder Heaven Flash!" Worthy of his 33rd rank, Chen Jue's stubborn will dodged the lethal strike.
But Star-Piercing Finger's speed was ferocious, grazing his lower body.
"Aaah! My jewels!" Blood streamed as Chen Jue's scream echoed across the heavens, his voice losing its masculinity, tinged with despair.
"Castrated?" Lan An and the crowd thought simultaneously.
He wouldn't spare Chen Jue for this. His layered techniques made him a latent threat. Without the bell's surprise, killing him later would be harder.
"Cross Heaven Fire!" Two fingers joined, Strange Flames forming a blazing cross, hurtling toward Chen Jue's writhing form.
"Is Chen Jue done for?" Ai Xin and the crowd gaped, daring to imagine.
"Senior Brother, save me!" Chen Jue, falling toward the sea, sensed death nearing, muttering weakly.
"Hmph, so young yet so vicious? You can't be spared." A cold voice shook the heavens as a middle-aged man stepped from the void, his claw-like hand lunging at Lan An.
"Little beast not dead, now a big beast comes?" Lan An sneered, ringing the bell at the newcomer.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The man felt his blood boil, head throbbing, pores bleeding, body tensing. Even he suffered immensely.
"No wonder you reduced my junior brother to this state. But against my resolute will, you'll die!" Ignoring his bleeding pores, the chime's torment, and his aching mind, he gritted his teeth, his claw—a heaven-destroying force aiming to crush Lan An.
Resilient to the extreme, even reckless, but decisive. He knew killing Lan An was the only way to stop the bell; fleeing like Chen Jue was futile.
Space shattered before the claw.
"Late Void Refining, nearly Perfect," Jin'er warned.
Lan An's face grew solemn. Facing the terrifying claw, he raised the bell to block.
Clang!
Lan An was blasted back, the bell's fierce energy mangling the man's claw.
The sudden shift stunned the crowd. From Lan An nearly finishing Chen Jue to the middle-aged man's arrival, events unfolded too fast.
Recognizing him, voices cried out, "Sea Palace Fifth Elder – Hai He!"
Hai He, a renowned Sea Continent powerhouse, one of the Seven Great Elders of the Ninth Rank Sea Palace, his fame resounding. No one expected his connection to Chen Jue.
Speculation erupted about their relationship.
"Pay the price!" Hai He ignored the chatter, his fist condensing boundless Water Spiritual Energy, tearing space to strike Lan An.
"Pay the price, my ass! Shameless beasts rob and get beaten, and you demand payment? Are you brain-dead?" Lan An roared, nearly unleashing Three-Colored Thunder Tribulation. Restraining himself, he knew using such heaven-defying power would make him a target across Viet Dragon Star, beyond even Saint Spirit Academy's protection.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three consecutive Teleportations dodged the fist.
Hai He sneered, transforming into a water stream, pursuing at blinding speed.
"Damn it, should I kill him?" Lan An gritted his teeth. With Emperor Flame and Three-Colored Thunder Tribulation, he could fight even a Perfect Void Refining cultivator. But that would draw disaster.
As Hai He closed in, evasion wasn't enough. The Dragon King Spear appeared, two Strange Flames blazing at its tip, thrusting at Hai He's fist.
Hai He's eyes narrowed. Not foolish enough to meet the spear with his fist, he summoned a great saber, slashing at the spear's head.
Ai Xin prayed, the situation spiraling beyond her control. No wonder Chen Jue ignored her behind him stood the Sea Palace, a Ninth Rank force.