Daylight had already broken completely, but the gloomy clouds overhead pressed down extremely low, like a piece of gray cloth soaked in water draped over the sky above Ping’an Town, muffling even the sound of birds flapping their wings until it was dull and hoarse.
This should have been the moment to dispel all gloomy mists, yet it remained as dead as an abandoned ghost domain.
The group pressed forward eastward without stopping, fearing that if they arrived too late, they wouldn’t even make it in time to collect corpses. Fortunately, they hadn’t walked far before Yun Mu received a communication from Song Ke.
“Elder Yun, we encountered a Soul-Locking Array and a Soul-Devouring Banner in a theater named ‘Shengping Court’ on the eastern side. The array has now been broken, and we are temporarily safe. How are things on your end? Do you need assistance?”
Yun Mu slowed his pace and replied using the communication jade talisman, “No assistance needed. We’ve already resolved the trouble and are currently heading east. Let’s rendezvous first before discussing further.”
Learning that Song Ke and the others were safe, the tense atmosphere within the group eased slightly, and even Ling Guang couldn’t help exhaling a breath and patting his chest.
Sui Yu silently followed half a step behind Yun Mu, gazing with complex emotions at that handsome, slender back ahead of him. Clearly wearing his usual cold expression as always, he inexplicably felt a sense of great reliability.
He could sense that Yun Mu’s spiritual power had not yet fully recovered and was even somewhat unstable, but the decisiveness and endless array of methods the man displayed were far beyond what ordinary cultivators could match.
This person always seemed able to find a glimmer of survival in desperate straits.
Sui Yu clenched his fists as a strong sense of powerlessness surged into his heart once more.
Right now, he was simply too weak—so weak that even self-preservation seemed barely manageable, let alone seeking revenge.
Once the matter in Ping’an Town concluded and they returned to the sect, no matter what, he must immediately enter seclusion and pour all his energy into cultivation.
Seeing that the date of the grand immortal competition was drawing close, he needed to at least break past the Foundation Establishment stage and successfully form his Golden Core so that he would possess even a sliver of a faint possibility to stand firm on the stage.
In his past life, it was precisely because of his lacking strength that he was forcefully pushed onto the stage of the grand immortal competition by Yun Mu, that vicious master, under the pretext of so-called practical training.
The outcome could be imagined: he lost completely, suffered severe injuries, and his Dao foundation was nearly destroyed.
If Senior Xu Shijin, the manager of Qiandai Terrace, hadn’t happened to pass by and extend a hand to treat him, he probably would have already returned his soul to the parting sorrow, leaving no life left to be continuously tormented by Yun Mu.
[(ε=(′ο｀))) Ah! As long as everyone is fine, that’s what matters. That Song Ke possesses at least early Deity Transformation cultivation; if even he couldn’t handle it, wouldn’t me going over there just be delivering my own head on a platter? The difficulty coefficient of this dungeon looks quite high; once we head back, I’ll need to properly improve my cultivation, or else I won’t even have the baseline confidence to stay alive and will get instantly vaporized in a minute.*]
Yun Mu muttered inwardly in self-deprecation.
Hearing this, Sui Yu felt his gaze flicker beneath his long, slender eyelashes. Should this be considered “like master, like disciple”?
“Master, since outer cultivators’ activities have left traces in Fu’an Village, I’m afraid the other villages as well…” Shi Menglan’s voice carried a trace of imperceptible worry, interrupting Sui Yu’s contemplation.
Yun Mu nodded. “Indeed, we must speed up. If we’re late, those missing cultivators might truly be in grave danger.”
He had a vague premonition that the waters of Ping’an Town were far deeper than initially anticipated.
The group quickened their pace, shuttling along the desolate paths.
Noon arrived quietly, yet the sky showed no sign of clearing whatsoever, appearing even more gloomy instead.
“Clang,clang,clang”
Right at that moment, a bizarre bell tolling sound came from afar without warning.
That sound was distant and dull, carrying an indescribable sense of oppression as if striking directly at everyone’s chests, every vibration causing the blood and Qi within their bodies to churn.
In Shi Menglan’s clear and pretty eyes, a trace of imperceptible, unusual light flashed extremely quickly. She subconsciously glanced in the direction from which the bell tolled, then softly said, “Master, this bell tolling… seems somewhat unusual. Should we go over and take a look?”
Her tone carried just the right amount of questioning and concern, making it hard for anyone to detect the guiding intent behind her words.
Yun Mu’s brows furrowed slightly; this bell tolling truly reeked of bizarreness, and sounding abruptly in a dead town like this was definitely no auspicious sign.
[(Why does the eldest disciple feel so bizarre? The NPC vibe is way too strong. This plot keeps pushing people to go explore; am I supposed to stay put and walk in circles instead? It really makes one’s head bald.]*
“Let’s go, let’s take a look!” Making a prompt decision, he changed direction and dashed rapidly toward the source of the bell tolling.
Sui Yu, Ling Guang, Liyue, and the others naturally followed closely behind.
Meanwhile, Song Ke, Shen Xingshuang, and their group on the eastern side of Ping’an Town heard this bizarre bell tolling at almost the exact same time.
Song Ke and Gu Renran exchanged glances, both seeing solemnity in each other’s eyes.
“The source of this bell tolling is likely the core of the transformation happening here,” Song Ke said in a deep voice. “Yun Mu and the others will definitely go check out the situation. Let’s go rendezvous over there!”
Ping’an Town’s bell tower was unexpectedly majestic, situated right in the very center of the entire town.
It wasn’t the kind of simple timber-and-stone structure everyone imagined, but rather a bluestone pagoda standing over ten zhang tall. The body of the tower was weathered and mottled, covered in traces left by the erosion of time.
Hanging from the northwest corner of the top floor was a gigantic bronze bell, and the entire open-air platform had been set up as a massive altar.
In the center of the altar stood an ink-colored stone tablet towering over a zhang high, carved with countless twisted blood-red runes that crawled and flickered slowly like living creatures, emitting a heart-palpitating, evil aura.
What made Yun Mu’s eyelids twitch even more frantically was that right atop the peak of that stone tablet, a Soul-Devouring Banner was also stuck!
Except this banner was several times more formidable than the previous two he had seen in the ruined temple and the Fu’an Village ancestral hall—whether measured by the size of the banner face or the resentment and tyranny radiating from it. The black banner face fluttered wildly without any wind, snapping audibly as if countless vengeful spirits were roaring and struggling within it.
“First the small ones, now the old ones; this stone tablet and flag can actually grow with the wind!” Yun Mu muttered a low complaint, maintaining his customary expressionless face as he stared at the familiar configuration magnified in power.
Standing beside him, Sui Yu listened to his self-deprecating yet helpless murmurs, paired with that deadpan, serious poker face, and felt an absurd sense of contrast spontaneously rise within his heart, even thinking it was… somewhat indescribably cute.
The moment this thought popped up, he quickly suppressed it.
Just as everyone’s minds were struck with awe by this gigantic altar and Soul-Devouring Banner, a rapid series of footsteps sounded from the other side of the bell tower.
Yun Mu and the others immediately grew vigilant. Looking toward the source of the sound, they saw Song Ke leading Shen Xingshuang, Gu Renran, and Jiang Yuandao hurrying over.
Upon seeing Yun Mu and his group standing safe and sound at the edge of the altar, the tense look on Song Ke’s face finally relaxed into a trace of relief, and the burden in his heart quietly settled.