Chapter 123: Chapter 120: The 8,000-Year Tide of Heaven and Earth

DONG! DONG! DONG—

As the bell tolled for the third time, Song Ciwan raised her hand and unleashed a bolt of lightning, blasting a green-faced monstrosity clutching a butcher’s knife into black ash before her.

She glanced toward the door, but beside her, Xie Yunxiang suddenly clutched his head and cried out in pain, "Brother Xin, the bell... Argh, it hurts so much!"

DONG! DONG! DONG—

When the bell tolled for the sixth time, inside a shop on the east side of Illusory Nether City, a brawny woman was lifting a giant hammer—a Magical Artifact—and with a series of CRUNCHES, smashed a monstrosity into a pulp.

After crushing the monstrosity, her expression suddenly changed.

The few Innate First Transformation Martial Artists beside her suddenly clutched their heads and cried out in pain. One of them even curled up on the ground, trickles of blood seeping from his seven orifices.

DONG! DONG! DONG—

As the bell tolled for the ninth time, at another landmark in Illusory Nether City—a place called the Human-Beast Slaughterhouse—several Cultivators in the midst of a chaotic battle with the monstrosities also clutched their heads and screamed in agony.

...

The bell continued to toll, its chimes echoing ceaselessly throughout the entire city, and more and more people collapsed to the ground.

When the bell tolled for the fifteenth time, Song Ciwan watched helplessly as Xie Yunxiang collapsed, bleeding from his seven orifices. His eyes were wide with a dazed and agonized expression; he was barely breathing.

Song Ciwan had naturally tried to save him. She had done everything from feeding him a Blood Essence Pill to casting the Ganlin Spell on him, but Xie Yunxiang’s suffering continued unabated.

This went on until the eighteenth toll of the bell, when a sharp pain suddenly shot through Song Ciwan’s head as well. It was as if an invisible sledgehammer had materialized out of thin air and struck the very center of her brain.

Song Ciwan clutched her head and let out a soft grunt, then immediately realized what was happening.

In that instant, a flash of Spiritual Light ignited in her mind. She suddenly understood why Xie Yunxiang had gotten a headache at the third toll, and why she herself was now getting one at the eighteenth.

’This... it might be related to the Primordial Longevity Pearls I’m carrying!’

She had placed sixteen Primordial Longevity Pearls in her Storage Talisman. For the first fifteen tolls, the number of pearls in her Storage Talisman had always been greater than the number of chimes, so she hadn’t been afflicted by the headache.

But when the bell tolled eighteen times, the number of pearls she carried was no longer sufficient, and thus she too was caught in the vicious cycle of the bell-induced headaches—

The logic seemed a bit far-fetched at first, but a simple test would confirm whether her guess was correct.

Song Ciwan immediately transferred two Primordial Longevity Pearls from her Vast Sea Grotto Heaven into her Storage Talisman. Sure enough, the headache stopped at once.

She quickly took out another eighteen Primordial Longevity Pearls from her Vast Sea Grotto Heaven and thrust them all into Xie Yunxiang’s hands.

Xie Yunxiang tremblingly cradled the eighteen Primordial Longevity Pearls and took a deep breath. He was like a fish finally returned to water from dry land. "Celestial Lord," he cried out, "I’m alive again!"

His recovery proved it once again: the bell-induced headaches were indeed related to the Primordial Longevity Pearls!

Fearing the bell would toll again, Song Ciwan immediately pressed three more Primordial Longevity Pearls into Xie Yunxiang’s hands. She also transferred an additional three into her own Storage Talisman.

A quarter of an hour passed with no further tolls, and the aftereffects of Xie Yunxiang’s headache finally subsided.

Song Ciwan cast the Ganlin Spell on him twice more. Since her Cultivation had broken through to the Qi Cultivation Stage, the power of her Ganlin Spell had grown considerably. After the two spells, Xie Yunxiang’s complexion was ruddy and his breathing was steady.

He praised her aloud, "Brother Xin, with this one spell alone, you could be called a master of the medical arts among Cultivators. If you were willing, the Immortal Medical Clinic on Siping Street would surely invite you to practice there with the highest honors. That’s the most reliable way to make a fortune!"

As he spoke of reliability, the envy in Xie Yunxiang’s eyes was absolutely genuine. His emotions surged, and the Heaven and Earth Scale made another collection:

[Human desires: The joy, longing, and sighs of a Qi Transformation Stage Cultivator. Two liang and three maces. Can be sold.]

Song Ciwan: ...

This time, the emotional aura from Xie Yunxiang was only worth two liang and three maces. It was clear his emotional fluctuations were truly reaching their limit.

Song Ciwan thought about the bell tolls and said, "Brother Xie, about the bells just now, do you know why—"

Before she could finish, the bell, which had been silent for a full quarter of an hour, suddenly began to toll once more.

DONG! DONG! DONG—

The bell tolled twenty-one times, and Xie Yunxiang instantly shuddered.

Song Ciwan looked at him. Xie Yunxiang stammered, "I-I... I don’t have a headache! Brother Xin, I don’t have a headache!"

That was right. He didn’t have a headache, and neither did Song Ciwan.

Song Ciwan gave Xie Yunxiang another three Primordial Longevity Pearls and likewise transferred three more into her own Storage Talisman.

She swept aside all the junk in the shop and stepped out through the ruined doorway.

After the twenty-first toll, streams of pure light, like ribbons, suddenly descended from the sky above Illusory Nether City.

Immediately after, a hazy yet rigid voice echoed over the entire city: "An eight-thousand-year tide, where heaven covers and earth sustains. Twenty-one cycles of Yin and Yang, the victor shall make a vessel. A Spiritual Treasure of heaven and earth belongs to the virtuous. O people of the Mortal World, you may tread the pure light and come forth..."

The hazy voice spoke only once, but it was like countless giant boulders had been dropped into a dark, swirling current.

SPLASHES erupted everywhere as one Cultivator after another rushed out from their hiding places. Some were covered in wounds but still struggled forward with longing, shouting in astonishment, "A Spiritual Treasure of heaven and earth? An eight-thousand-year tide? Is... is a Spiritual Treasure about to appear in Illusory Nether City?"

Others roared with laughter. "A Spiritual Treasure of heaven and earth belongs to the virtuous! And what is virtue? Power is virtue! A Spiritual Treasure like this is destined to be mine! Hahaha..."

Amidst the laughter, this person stepped into a stream of pure light.

The stream of light lifted him, instantly carrying him toward the high, multicolored sky.

The flowing ribbons of light, the soaring Cultivator... if not for the dim and bizarre backdrop of Illusory Nether City, it would have looked for all the world like a great expert undergoing Ascension amid rosy clouds! 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

This scene galvanized countless others. Following the first person who soared into the sky on a stream of light, dozens more figures immediately stepped into the beams scattered across the city.

Some wept, some laughed, some sang and cheered. And, naturally, some quietly retreated.

In that instant, the entire Illusory Nether City seemed to come alive.

「In the Mortal World, on Wangjiang Peak.」

The Cultivators who had remained behind, watching this scene in real-time on the light screen atop the peak, displayed a full spectrum of human reactions. Surprise was a given, but many more stood up, their faces alight with joy or filled with restrained excitement. Some couldn’t help but shout, "A Spiritual Treasure!"

A Spiritual Treasure has appeared!

Is it real or fake?

With no time to carefully discern the truth, someone immediately sent out a Communication Talisman on the spot.