Though Little Daoist Zhang and the others were shielded by the Armor of the Holy Angels, and Gu Xiechen concealed the Azure Jade Dao Crown—which possessed formidable defense against psychic assault—within his sleeve, they were still forced to vomit blood by the crushing spiritual impact descending from above. Just how powerful was the entity launching this attack?

Zhao Yi and the rest transformed into streaks of purple light and flew back into Gu Xiechen’s Sea of Consciousness, leaving behind only one burly man, an expert in Earth Evasion, who seized Gu Xiechen, morphed into a plume of earthy energy, and burrowed into the ground. Moments after the two plunged into the soil, enveloped by the earthy aura, the collapsing rock strata of the subterranean palace slammed down, millions of tons of rock and silt sealing the entire structure. Gu Xiechen felt the surrounding earth energy vibrate violently, his body battered as if struck by countless hammers. Fortunately, his Daoist robe and crane cloak spontaneously protected him, saving him from being crushed into a pulp.

The earth travel was swift; in an instant, Gu Xiechen was spirited miles away. The big man who had been tunneling him away was utterly drained of strength and had no choice but to push Gu Xiechen out of the ground. He then dissipated into a stream of purple light, flowing back into Gu Xiechen’s Sea of Consciousness.

Gu Xiechen’s vision cleared, but before he could assess his surroundings, a spiritual impact, solidified almost to physical form and colored a deep, melancholic blue, surged toward him from the front.

This spiritual shockwave was immense in scale, shaped like a comet, spanning dozens of meters in diameter. It tore up thick layers of rock strata as it advanced, shattered scores of towering Dogwood trees, and whipped up a storm of dust and grit, rushing toward him like a raging dragon. Gu Xiechen gasped in alarm. He snatched the Azure Jade Dao Crown from his sleeve, hastily channeling the qi from several major acupoints in his palm simultaneously into the artifact.

The Azure Jade Dao Crown blazed brilliantly, ejecting plumes of azure mist that coiled around Gu Xiechen’s body—ninety-nine separate clouds of blue vapor swirling around him.

Crack, crack, crack—with dozens of sharp fracturing sounds, the incoming spiritual wave relentlessly shattered seventy-three layers of the azure mist. Gu Xiechen felt as if he had been struck head-on by a locomotive. He flew backward, spitting blood, smashing through countless tree trunks along the way. The deep blue spiritual wave grazed his body, inexorably pushing him backward until he finally slammed violently into a small mound two kilometers away.

Smoke and dust filled the air. Amidst the roaring sound, Gu Xiechen gritted his teeth, ignoring the potential catastrophic damage to his body, and detonated the qi cyclones in over a dozen major acupoints along the meridians of both arms. The berserk true qi surged into the Azure Jade Dao Crown, stimulating it to erupt in a massive burst of splendor. Three successive waves of azure mist shot rapidly from the crown. Each wave contained eighty-one distinct clouds, and these clouds merged to form a thick, solid barrier that firmly shielded Gu Xiechen.

CRACK. Gu Xiechen was driven deep into the small hill. The dark blue spiritual impact pulverized ninety percent of the azure mist before him; only the final dozen layers managed to firmly resist the assault. The scattered residual energy shattered the nearly hundred-meter-high mound entirely. Countless huge stones and clods of earth soared skyward, only to vanish into pale smoke within an instant, consumed by the dazzling blue light.

Faint popping sounds echoed beneath his feet. Gu Xiechen stood immobile, his entire body weeping fine threads of blood.

The small hill, originally about a hundred meters high and spanning two to three kilometers wide, was gone without a trace. Beneath Gu Xiechen’s feet lay a massive pit nearly a thousand meters in diameter and over twenty meters deep. The soil and sand on the pit walls had been melted by intense heat into glassy substances, the crimson molten glass slowly cooling, its surface reflective as a mirror, faintly mirroring the surrounding landscape.

This spiritual impact was not only devastatingly powerful but also strangely imbued with tremendous thermal energy. It was less a spiritual shockwave and more like a high-energy beam fired from an energy cannon.

"Damn it!" Gu Xiechen muttered an oath. A dull ache resonated through his entire frame. He stared at the immense crater beneath him, his heart quailing.

If a mere spiritual impact carried such force, what kind of monster was the attacker? Only such a monstrous being could instantly collapse the thick strata above the Jin Xianzi's subterranean palace, catching Gu Xiechen and the others completely off guard. He wondered if Little Daoist Zhang had managed to escape! Gu Xiechen, however, was less concerned about Peng Hua; that fellow was a Jiangshi (a walking corpse), inherently connected to the earth. A cave-in that could kill the entire world couldn't touch a Jiangshi that spent its days tunneling underground!

Suddenly, Gu Xiechen heard Zhao Yi’s anxious voice: "Exalted One, quickly drip your fresh blood onto the Cloud Zenith Bell! The Cloud Thunder Bell is an artifact of extreme spiritual sensitivity and possesses the power to automatically protect its master!"

Gu Xiechen’s eyes flashed brightly. He hastily reached into his Small Qiankun Pouch and pulled out the Cloud Frost Bell.

It took little effort. Gu Xiechen was already expelling blood in great gulps, and just a few spurts of his essence onto the Cloud Thunder Bell were enough to roughly complete the initial refinement process.

A tenuous spiritual connection faintly linked Gu Xiechen and the Cloud Zenith Bell, but the link was wavering and weak, carrying a subtle hint that the bell was reluctant to be commanded by him.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo"—three powerful spiritual assaults shot from the distant thicket. The three impacts struck toward Gu Xiechen with immense noise, like three comets desperately seeking the embrace of the earth, aimed straight for his chest. Gu Xiechen spat another mouthful of blood onto the Cloud Zenith Bell, focusing all his mental power toward it. "Damn it, move for me!" The Cloud Thunder Bell hummed and shrank to the size of a fist. A halo of pure, flawless, pale white light sprayed from within it. Ultra-fine wisps of white mist erupted from the ground within ten meters of Gu Xiechen. The mist rapidly gathered to form broad patches of vapor, which circled Gu Xiechen with an almost inaudible whisper of wind, gradually concealing his form.

Three loud bangs echoed. The three spiritual impacts blasted Gu Xiechen and the surrounding white mist away.

A white plume of mist hurtled through the air, leaving behind a white smoke trail three hundred meters long. Three dark blue beams of intense light followed closely, continuously devouring and wearing down the mist. Gradually, the white fog grew thinner and more sparse, slowly revealing Gu Xiechen's figure. Bang, bang, bang—three explosions erupted violently before Gu Xiechen, blasting him hundreds of meters away until he slammed heavily into a tree towering over three hundred meters high. Gu Xiechen embedded himself deep into the trunk, fixed in a cross shape within the wood.

A deep pit, tens of meters deep, formed where the spiritual impacts had burst. All flora within five hundred meters was reduced to fine powder. One-third of the pit floor had melted into glassy solution, another third was covered in thick frost, and the final third of the pit bottom flashed with countless fine arcs of lightning, the dense electrical arcs colliding and exploding with terrifying intensity.

"Damn! So strong!"

The Cloud Thunder Bell was indeed a superior treasure. This time, the shock Gu Xiechen sustained was less than thirty percent of the first impact. However, he was already severely injured; this renewed concussion added injury upon injury, leaving him gravely wounded. Streams of blood dripped from his nostrils, and his vision swam. Waves of weakness and limpness washed over his body.

The characters in this book have gone utterly mad...