The Formidable Golden Bell
After absorbing the golden brilliance for just awhile, Yang Chen realised the barrier on his hands which was just inches away from Heavenly Roar’s mouth began to soften further.
That was an unexpected surprise. If Heavenly Roar could absorb the brilliance till it was exhausted, it meant Yang Chen could get hold of the item on the jade case.
Thinking of that, Yang Chen could not contain his excitement any longer and started to communicate with Heavenly Roar, trying to make it consume all of the golden brilliance. If so, perhaps he could just be quick enough to reach his hands inside and take the golden bell out.
Heavenly Roar also understood Yang Chen’s motive, but to actually executing was another story. Of course, Heavenly Roar was not to be blamed. As a matter of fact, the golden brilliance was acting as if it could flow around. In just a moment, the surrounding lights started to replenish the loss, and the barrier began to harden once again.
The process looked like it would take forever and all Yang Chen could do was wait patiently, and at the same time conjecture what was so amazing about the golden bell on the jade case.
Yang Chen waited, and he waited for one whole month. Heavenly Roar seemed to have an interest towards the golden brilliance; it was simply absorbing the golden brilliance non-stop. Yang Chen knew that the inside surely contained a lot of dragon breath, otherwise Heavenly Roar would not be acting in such a way.
Almost at every interval, Yang Chen would try touching the restriction on the jade case. He realised whenever the shapeless barrier started becoming softer, the surrounding brilliance also appeared dimmer.
The second the light disappeared, Yang Chen stretched his hand into the barrier anxiously. The barrier which was once incredibly sturdy, was now like a layer of thin membrane. It was broken upon being poked lightly.
Yang Chen caught hold of the golden bell, and then quickly removed it. It wasn’t known if the restriction would change, so it was best to take the item out first before anything else.
The small and nimble golden bell looked like it had been minimized significantly. The outside was an unusually exquisite bell canopy, covered with dragon marks everywhere. If counted carefully, the exterior of the bell canopy was covered with nine gold dragons spiralling upwards, while each of them had a unique form, baring fangs and brandishing claws. They appeared beautiful and incredibly lifelike.
On the other hand, a metal spherical ball was hanging inside the bell. It was made out of an unknown material, and it similarly had exquisite lines. However, they were regular patterns instead of being dragon-shaped.
Holding it in his hand, the golden bell was light and delicate, as if it had no weight. Yang Chen shook it, and unexpectedly, the spherical ball inside the golden bell did not move at all. There wasn’t any sound.
This was not surprising as the golden bell was important enough for Dragon King to take things seriously and keep it in the secret treasury in his palace, not to mention it was sealed with restrictions. Dragon King would not have been so careful about it if it could be shaken easily.
Curiosity still had the upper hand. Yang Chen tried to channel his spirit power into the golden bell. However, once Yang Chen’s spirit power entered the golden bell, it was like a clay oxen going into the sea, disappearing without a trace.
Normally this would only spell one situation, which was the magnitude of the spirit power entering and the actual spirit power required were poles apart, causing such a situation to occur.
After approximating his total amount of spirit power, Yang Chen had no choice but to dishearteningly admit that even if he had channelled all of the spirit power in his body, he would likely be unable to meet the demand of the golden bell.
However, outside there was the Nautical Map of the East Sea, and on the huge sea chart lay the existence of countless spirit veins which could help Yang Chen provide a steady flow of support. Yang Chen did not think for a moment and rushed outside. After finding an underwater spirit vein which was not used by any sect, he put the obsidian jade mat onto it.
Sitting upright on the obsidian jade mat, Yang Chen held the golden bell with both hands, then he started directing spirit power into the golden bell frantically. Alongside the input of Yang Chen’s spirit power, the dimensions of the golden bell started becoming larger and larger. Soon, Yang Chen could not pinch the bell with ease anymore. He had no options but put the golden bell which had greatly increased in size down in front of him before placing both his hands on top.
As the spirit power poured in immensely, the golden bell continued becoming bigger. When the golden bell had evolved to the height taller than Yang Chen by a head, that was when Yang Chen noticed things were not encouraging.
Yang Chen unexpectedly could not control the speed of spirit power flowing out, and the spirit power inside his body was as if it was being swallowed by a black hole, rapidly flowing into the golden bell from his hands. Within the time it took for less than a hundred breaths, the spirit power in his whole body had been entirely absorbed.
Fortunately, Yang Chen still managed to draw in spirit power. His formidable spirit awareness, the complex spirit veins and the obsidian jade mat had made the insane absorption possible. However, he was left with no capacity to do anything other than tirelessly absorbing spirit power on his obsidian jade mat to sustain himself.
Once the spirit power entered the body, it would then instantly be engulfed by the golden bell, not staying in the body at all. Luckily, Yang Chen’s Great Yin and Yang Five Phases Secrets gave him a tenfold spirit power of a foundation-stage cultivator and ten times the absorption speed, which made the supply of spirit power to the golden bell possible.
Yang Chen started to regret his decision now. This level of treasure definitely couldn’t be used by him alone, but the curiosity in him had led himself into this inescapable situation. Except absorbing the spirit power and supplying it to meet the demand of the golden bell, he was left with no alternatives.
The thing that frightened Yang Chen was, with the increasing amount of spirit power absorbed by the golden bell, the speed of absorption also increased, and slowly there were signs of stoppage in the supply of spirit power. If his speed of absorption could not catch up with the speed of absorption by the golden bell, wouldn’t that mean he would be sucked dry by the golden bell?
The surface of the golden bell slowly beamed, the dragons on the bell also started becoming more vivid. The dragons seemed to be protruding, becoming like a sculpture, as if the nine dragons were slowly inflating.
Yang Chen’s absorption of the spirit power had reached its limit, causing his absorption speed to reach a plateau. It was like the golden bell could also feel Yang Chen’s circumstance. It maintained the speed of absorption of the spirit power and no longer changed.
Suddenly, a light flashed. The eye of the dragon carving facing Yang Chen flashed. Just as he was questioning himself whether it was an illusion, the golden bell abruptly stopped absorbing the spirit power.
When Yang Chen was still in shock, he could feel the golden bell tremble slightly. Dong! The low but resonant sound of a bell being struck was heard.
The deafening sound was accompanied with a terrifying vibration. At such a close range, Yang Chen almost instantly blacked out before fainting away.
An enormous gigantic ripple suddenly appeared on the surface of the sea right above the secret treasury, after which rumblings followed while numerous splashes arose. Within the vicinity of fifty meters, all living organisms instantly lost their senses. Even the seabirds flying in the sky fell to the ground hard.
The huge ripple formed a wave that was a few meters high and started spreading to its surrounding. After some time, this territory of the sea had finally calmed down, but on the surface were innumerable fish and prawns floating, exposing their white belly.
When Yang Chen finally regained his consciousness, he wasn’t even aware of how much time had passed. All he knew was not a single spot on his body was not in pain. The spirit power in his body had been utterly drained. The clear yet deep sound of the bell was still echoing in his memories, lingering.
Although he was already conscious, he had only recovered his mental ability, his mind was still holding back rivers and overturning seas, being dizzy continuously. He even failed to focus his attention.
Yang Chen could only lie on the floor helplessly, waiting for his body to heal slowly. At this moment, Yang Chen couldn’t move his hands to apply medicine. He even found it impossible to control his spirit power. The golden bell’s impressive strength was just one small feat in a big scheme.
Being constantly in the state of dizziness and shock, it took at least 3 days for the vibration in Yang Chen’s mind to slow down gradually to an acceptable degree.
Enduring the uncontrollable trembles, Yang Chen started getting a hold of his spirit power and began to heal his wounds. For a few days, Yang Chen did not take any food or drink water, lying on the spirit veins yet he could not gain any spirit power. If Yang Chen’s physique was not formidable, he would have already fainted away again.
Spirit power gradually entered Yang Chen’s meridians which had already been dried up, slowly dampening Yang Chen’s body. A while later, he finally had some energy to push his body up.
After sitting down properly, the first thing he did was retrieve two profound yang fruits from Medicine Garden before swallowing them into his stomach. The immense supply of spirit power in addition to the feeling of having his stomach filled made Yang Chen feel slightly better. After he finished absorbing all the spirit power in the profound yang fruits, Yang Chen stopped moving and started cultivating Three Purities Secret.
There were still sounds lingering in Yang Chen’s mind while he still felt dizzy. If these influences were not eliminated, the efficiency of cultivation would be overly low.
It was no wonder that Three Purities Secret belong to Great Supreme Elder’s cultivation technique. After cultivating for one whole day, the vibration had already lessened by a fair amount. Without saying anything, he continued cultivating.
He circulated the spirit power of Three Purities Secret for eighty-one times consecutively. After two whole days, the vibration in Yang Chen’s consciousness sea was no longer lingering, his mind had also become clear. At this moment, Yang Chen then cultivated the Great Yin and Yang Five Phases Secrets for a few times, frantically replenishing the spirit power he had lost.
The golden bell still had the same form after turning larger. It was placed not far in front of Yang Chen but he dared not have even the slightest movement. Just with a slight sound, it had already caused him to be half dead with fright, and Yang Chen was certain that what he had experienced was definitely not the absolute power of the bell. Under this circumstance, if he simply moved around, he was essentially courting death.
Yang Chen still did not know about the situation outside the secret treasury of the Palace of Dragons. Within the vicinity of fifty square meters, all ordinary living things died including every demon beast before the foundation stage. Whereas those above the foundation building stage mostly went unconscious. When they had finally regained their consciousness they still could not differentiate north, south, east and west. The demon beasts were staggering, moving about disorderly.
As marvellous as expected, looking at the bell which was taller than him, Yang Chen could only let out a sigh. No wonder Dragon King had kept it in his treasury. Having unleashed a portion of its power, it had caused such a significant damage. Just imagine how bad the situation would turn out should it be fully utilized.
Yang Chen was only slightly affected by it. Moreover, the sound of the bell was triggered by his spirit power, and could be considered as the initiation of the attack. The treasure’s assault would not harm its master, which was common knowledge. Nevertheless, Yang Chen the allegedly minimized impact had pushed him to this state. If it was being used to attack an enemy directly, he had no idea what the scene would be like.
Yang Chen was so happy that a flower had blossomed inside his heart, having gotten such an excellent item. He impatiently kept it but he was not contented to merely store it inside the Achievement Ring. Yang Chen still wanted to try collecting it, at least like the flying shuttle, he wanted to apply a spiritual awareness imprint on it.
No matter what, Yang Chen dared not rush to channel a single bit of spirit power into the golden bell again. Fortunately, making a spiritual awareness imprint did not require spirit power. As long as the spiritual awareness was powerful enough, it would do the job. Yang Chen still had the upper hand for this.
Refine? Yang Chen never even thought of that, as he sat down on the obsidian jade mat straight away, he started collecting the golden bell. At that moment, his formidable consciousness sea and vast spiritual awareness started to shine, seeping into the entire golden bell slowly.
Although Three Purities Secret was the source of the spiritual awareness, Yang Chen still spent half a month’s time to accomplish the beginning of the collection process.
The second Yang Chen’s spiritual awareness imprint was successfully engraved on the inside of the golden bell, the bell transformed into a void and became a golden shadow, concealing itself inside Yang Chen’s body.
Bam! Countless chants, like a dam had just burst, gushed into Yang Chen’s memories. Soon after, Yang Chen learned the right chant to control the golden bell. As long as a person followed the chant, he would be able to control the bell and he himself would not suffer any injuries from it.
However, the spirit power required to control the golden bell was not what Yang Chen could imagine. At least before Yang Chen was at the peak of the Yuanying stage, he did not need to consider this question. Even if he had reached the peak of the Yuanying stage, if he wanted the golden bell to sound fully, it was not an easy feat. The most that would happen was perhaps the same as the last time, barely making a sound. If he wanted the nine dragons to fly together and the golden bell to sound, it was best to leave them for after he had ascended!
Nonetheless, before this, the golden bell had no use at all. When the golden bell had fused into Yang Chen’s body, it had already opened up a natural protective barrier for him. It was equivalent to Yang Chen’s body surrounding now had a formidable protective treasure, able to protect Yang Chen at any moment.
After discovering this ability, a word automatically appeared inside Yang Chen’s mind: The Golden Bell Canopy. This was in fact the authentic golden bell canopy.
With the formidability of the golden bell, even if Yang Chen stood still in the dome of the palace hall, letting Seven Steps Certain Death Formation’s seven by seven, forty-nine raised flying swords hack at will, still nothing would befall Yang Chen.
The most formidable thing was, when Yang Chen had completely refined the golden bell, the enemies’ attacks would trigger it to vibrate, and they would suffer the counterattack. This kind of treasure which had both offense and defence, even if he had reached the immortal world, it was still an item that would be hard to come by.
Bringing Heavenly Roar on this trip to the Dragon Palace had not let Yang Chen down indeed. Just this golden bell alone was enough to give Yang Chen the utmost surprise. Furthermore, there were still six jade cases in the palace hall waiting for Yang Chen to open the barrier one by one and collect the treasure inside.
Now, Yang Chen became even more eager, wondering what the good things that are left were.