Chapter 159: The Bell of the Nine Heavens, All Living Beings in Silence

The blood-robed woman was naturally Beiling. Yet at this moment, Beiling retained none of the delicate vulnerability she once displayed when transforming into a butterfly. Looking around, monstrous malevolence surged alongside her blood-thirsting eyes. With a peerless visage, snow-white skin, and a gorgeous, blood-red flowing dress, she stood quietly atop a blood lotus manifested from surging waves of scarlet.

Across the earth and through the skies, living creatures continually swarmed forth like a tide. The moment they plunged into the sea of blood, they would instantly thrash and roar, appearing both in agonizing pain and in a state of ecstasy. After thrashing and roaring amid the bloody waves for a while, these creatures underwent a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering transformation. Regardless of their original forms, once they fell into the river of blood, a layer of scales immediately grew upon their bodies, gleaming in various colors... This was true for beasts and birds alike. Even creatures of a gentle nature, upon falling into that river of blood, instantly became ferocious, their eyes surging with blood-thirsty madness.

One by one, they swarmed beneath the blood lotus where Beiling stood, roaring and howling as if expressing their submission and reverence in this manner.

A thousand miles away, the five humans standing alongside Haotian heard what sounded merely like an ethereal and illusory phrase, yet the reaction produced within their minds was utterly different. The scene appearing before one's eyes was that of his mother in the distance calling him home in his childhood... Meanwhile, what another saw and felt was the woman he loved most opening her arms and standing in the distance, waiting for him to embrace her. That voice echoed in the ears of each person, yet it stirred up the deeply hidden desires or sorrows buried within their hearts. Some immediately burst into laughter and rushed forward, while others walked toward the sea of blood with faces streaming with tears.

Haotian frowned and suddenly gave a stern shout. A golden light surged forth and exploded in the void. To ordinary people, the sound would have seemed merely a bit heavy and loud. Yet to the five individuals charging toward the sea of blood, it struck like a bolt from the blue, awakening them instantly from their trance. Glancing at one another, they saw inexplicable smiles, demon-like agony, and tears upon each other's faces, filling their hearts with a sense of strangeness... Looking around again, they realized they had somehow reached the base of the mountain. Turning back, they saw only Haotian standing proudly alone at the peak, and terror gripped every single one of their hearts. Casting a rapid glance toward the sea of blood, they turned back before they could even see it clearly, and quickly fled toward the summit.

Beiling simply stood there quietly, and wherever her gaze passed, monstrous malevolence seemed to roll. She wore a blood-red robe, and beneath her feet hovered a blood lotus exhaling billowing mists of crimson, floating above the sea of blood. The sea of blood churned endlessly, with countless demonic entities surging within its depths, yet they crowded beneath the blood lotus as if waiting to listen to Beiling's teachings.

The methods of the three Ancestral Witches previously had been truly heaven-defying; under their joint effort, they had actually manifested a realm of their own... Yet now, they had been completely swallowed by the sea of blood, without a single ripple of movement visible.

Beiling's eyes flashed with a scarlet gleam as she looked toward Haotian. Haotian narrowed his eyes without evading. Beiling did not linger long upon Haotian, however; after a slight pause, she shifted her gaze elsewhere.

As she looked into a patch of the void, she suddenly spoke: "You dare not offend the Witch Clan, you dare not offend the Heavenly Court, and neither can you afford to offend our sea of blood." Beiling said coldly and fiercely toward that empty stretch of void, though not a soul was there.

Just as Beiling's voice faded, a voice seemed to travel from an immeasurably distant place: "My sole desire is to cleanse the sins of heaven and earth. Only those harboring demonic obstacles within their hearts hold prejudiced thoughts toward me. You have already entered the demonic path, and moreover, you shall become the demon among demons..."

"So what if I am a demon? You may come and deliver me," Beiling said coldly. Following her words, the demonic entities within the sea of blood thrashed and roared in response.

Upon a mountain extremely far from the sea, a strange figure holding a cyan lotus flower bowl was gazing toward the direction of the sea of blood. He suddenly spoke: "My only wish in this lifetime is for heaven and earth to be clear and bright, and for all living beings to attain transcendence. It is not that I refuse to deliver you now, but rather that the time has not yet come."

Beiling spoke no more. She gazed into the void, paused briefly in a few other locations, her eyes flashing with a crimson light, yet uttered nothing further. Instead, she said coldly: "You pursued and hunted me all the way, and intercepted me here. Whatever your purpose may be, today you shall pay the price..."

Those who knew the beginning and end of the matter naturally understood that the people she referred to were none other than the three Ancestral Witches.

The Ancestral Witches of the Witch Clan were supreme existences between heaven and earth, yet today someone declared that they would pay the price. Had such words been uttered in the past, others would likely have merely smiled dismissively, treating the speaker as a madman. But now, the moment Beiling's words rose, the sea of blood churned wildly, sending waves rolling up to the nine heavens...

Without any ostentatious gesture, she merely waved her hand and chanted syllables of boundless demonic power, causing the demonic entities around her to plunge deep into the sea of blood. In an instant, the choppy waves of the blood sea flattened into utter calm. A short while later, the blood sea boiled once more, as if violent undercurrents were erupting from beneath.

Suddenly, a layer of ice formed across the surface of the blood sea. Yet the demonic entities within the blood sea seemed entirely unharmed; with their thrashing, they shattered the thin sheets of ice. The blood sea churned incessantly from within, casting up floating demonic remains from time to time—some frozen into ice blocks, others reduced to bare skeletons, evidently thoroughly dead—which melted away into the bloody waters within moments.

With a cold and aloof expression, Beiling cast incantation gestures one after another, channeling the ultimate Yin and malevolent forces of heaven and earth, intent on refining these three Ancestral Witches right here...

Deep within the sea of blood lay the Heavenly-Fiend grand formation established by the three Ancestral Witches, which had already self-contained its own realm. Trapped at the very center were Meng Ziyi and Nan Luo, and their current fate remained unknown. Such life-and-death struggles between beings of great divine power were exceedingly rare in heaven and earth. Who knew how many others were watching from the surroundings like Haotian.

"Clang..."

Heaven and earth fell silent. In the ears, minds, and consciousness of all living beings in the world, there remained only this chime of a bell. Everything else ceased to exist; stray thoughts were eradicated, desires vanished, minds went blank, and all things seemed to halt...

High in the nine heavens hung a giant bell.

The bell was earthy-yellow in color, of archaic design, solemn and majestic, inspiring awe just to behold.

No one knew when the giant bell had appeared. When the bell tolled, heaven and earth trembled, and only this righteous and mighty chime reverberated. The churning sea of blood slowed the very instant the bell rang, as if everything were about to come to a stop.

When Beiling looked up, she saw a black hole torn open in the sky above. Gazing through the black hole, she found boundless depths, shrouded in an inexplicable sense of danger. Her expression shifted. She suddenly reached out and grabbed at the sea of blood, lifting the crimson ocean as if it were a red robe, wrapped it around herself, and prepared to depart...

"Clang..."

The bell tolled mightily. Beiling, whose figure was about to vanish under the shroud of the bell's resonance, grew distinct once more. Meanwhile, the minor realm formed by the three Ancestral Witches, which had previously been swallowed by the river of blood, was also exposed, trembling beneath the bell's chime.

"Clang..."

The Heavenly-Fiend grand formation constituted by the three Ancestral Witches shattered in response to the sound. Beiling, who had already transformed into a streak of blood, froze amidst the bell's resonance and failed to escape. The three Ancestral Witches seemed unwilling to engage in a direct confrontation with the giant bell either; the Samsara Brush instantly slashed open a gateway and prepared to make its exit, Shebi vanished like a breeze, while Xuanming charged upstream toward the nine heavens enveloped in a gale of snow.

"Clang..."

The black gateway slashed open by the Samsara Brush instantly collapsed, and Shebi's cyan shadow flashed in the void before reappearing. He raised his rigid cyan face, a flash of fury crossing his eyes, and shouted in a deep voice: "Let the winds rise... Let the rain be born..."

Biting gales swept wildly from the spot where Shebi stood, carrying wisps of persistent rain as they blew directly toward the giant bell descending from the nine heavens. The black gateway torn open by the Samsara Brush, having shattered, did not flee again; instead, it instantly painted a giant black bell in the void, and as the bell body shook, it too possessed a righteous and majestic might.

"Clang..."

The hellish prison that had imprisoned Nan Luo had long since dissipated amidst the bell's toll, and Nan Luo somehow found himself already within the Mountain of a Thousand Turnings and Calamity-Free. Yet that mountain was locked down by layer upon layer of bell chimes, unable to break free.

Failing to escape, Beiling let out a cold snort as the blood-malevolence on her body instantly surged toward the giant bell high in the nine heavens. Simultaneously, she flicked the sea of blood transformed into a crimson cloak, and in an instant, the sea of blood surged forth once more, rolling toward the sky-遮-sun giant bell.

"Clang... Clang... Clang..."

The bell chimes shook heaven and earth, making the world tremble and plunging all living beings into silence.

Beneath the shroud of the giant bell, the suppression and damage suffered were more than tenfold greater than anywhere else.

A streak of sword light flashed out from the pristine white cliffs of the Calamity-Free Mountain, sending murderous intent soaring straight into the sky. Amidst the might of the Ancestral Witches and the monstrous malevolence of the blood river, it did not fall behind by even a fraction. Even amidst the tolling of the bell, a sword hum rang out with remarkable clarity from afar.