Chapter 241: 234 Red Clothes

A great bell, a deafening sound!

The bell toll rippled far away, like a tidal wave, invading and swirling toward all directions.

And Tang Zhao and the others were right in the center of that wave.

When the bell toll rang from beside Tang Zhao, his entire body shook along with it.

It began with his eardrums; the impact, so close at hand, nearly shattered his ears.

Then it was his body; that vibration traveled from his ears to his whole being—skin, blood, joints, internal organs—every single part seemed to have entered a rhythm of resonance, trembling incessantly.

Immediately following that was his power; under the vibration, he involuntarily released his Qi. As soon as the Qi appeared, it vibrated violently, like a shaken egg yolk, condensing one moment and swaying the next, locked in a tug-of-war with that sound wave, barely maintaining stability.

Finally, what was shaken was his Soul!

This was his own sensation; that vibration invaded from the outside in, inch by inch, much like the suppression encountered when facing Dragon Might, but it was not the suppression of being pinned down, but rather an incessant shaking. Under the trembling of his Soul, he became shocked, terrified, and nauseated...

Fortunately, at this moment, the bell toll stopped.

Tang Zhao lowered his head, as if about to vomit; in the end, he did not, but his whole body felt extremely uncomfortable. He nearly could not stand, steadied himself against the nearby rubble, and felt dizzy for quite a while before slowly recovering.

Raising his head, he saw Zhang Rong standing by the bell, his complexion changed; clearly, he had also been affected by the vibration, and the sword at his waist had already left its scabbard by three inches.

Tang Zhao had not expected that after experiencing so many battles, having wielded an Immortal Sword and a Power Sword, having defeated Heavenly Demons and Sword Guests, having destroyed the carefully planned conspiracies of the Turtle Bandits, and having faced the Soul pressure of Dragon Might and the Hundred Spirit Cannon, he would nearly be knocked over by a single bell toll.

This reminded him of Zhu Yang's theory.

If the Soul is not strong, it is ultimately weak at its source.

If one is not a Sword Guest, the Soul is the greatest weakness. Qi can provide Body Protection, but it cannot protect the deeper Soul; no matter how robust the body is, it can be pierced by specific techniques.

One must become strong from the root.

Thinking this, Tang Zhao calmed down and laughed self-deprecatingly, "I have made a fool of myself before you, sir."

Zhang Rong shook his head and said, "This bell toll is formidable; even my Free-Roaming Qi nearly couldn't hold it back. My sword almost left its scabbard to protect me."

Tang Zhao felt even more embarrassed; he had assumed Zhang Rong could only protect himself by relying on the power of a Sword Guest, but he had not expected him to be able to defend with just his Qi. It seems the Free-Roaming Qi, having fused with a firm will, was indeed a cut above.

He could try that when he had the time.

Immediately after, he pulled his attention back to the bell toll itself and said, "This bell toll is so powerful, is it really not some kind of Dharma Artifact? And this was just you striking it with a Folding Fan; if it were truly struck properly, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the whole city would die, and it could even repel a mighty army."

Although Tang Zhao was not as skilled as Zhang Rong, he was still a proper Loose Practitioner, and his Qi could barely protect him amidst the bell toll. If even the elite soldiers of the previous dynasty, strong as they were, could not even manage to be Knights-Errant, how could they withstand such a bell toll?

Still somewhat disbelieving, he checked it carefully once more, even quietly taking out his Glasses to look.

Glasses...

The Glasses showed nothing.

The Glasses did not display everything; wood, stone, and scrap iron would not trigger a prompt, only things related to swords, Rune Formulas, text, and the like. The fact that the Glasses did not display anything proved that this was not some Dharma Artifact or Art Tool; it was merely a broken bell in form, and a pile of scrap iron in substance.

However, what was the deal with that bell toll just now?

Tang Zhao was not at ease and took out a small hammer to strike the bell again—as a proper Talisman Sword Master, it was normal to carry a hammer, right?

Yet when he struck the bell with metal, it still emitted a rotten, hollow "clunking" sound, which he found baffling.

Zhang Rong said, "Let me do it."

Seeing that he was about to use his Folding Fan to strike the bell again, Tang Zhao could not help but step back and take a Longevity Lock from his Time Jar.

Zhang Rong naturally knew that it was an Art Tool, but he found it very strange why one would use a Longevity Lock as an Art Tool.

Tang Zhao would naturally not say that this was a legacy from his parents, and had connections to Xing Ji; after he became a Talisman Sword Master, he had fashioned the Longevity Lock into an Art Tool for Body Protection.

Sword Art—Drawing a Circle as a Prison!

This was a Meta-Art Tool that Xing Ji had given Tang Zhao back then. At the time, Tang Zhao had thought it was a defensive wall, but later, after recording the Pi Gan Jian into his Sword Manual, he realized it was actually a punishment—a prison sentence, which meant confinement. However, by confining himself, outsiders could not approach, which naturally amounted to protection as well.

Having firmly circled himself, impenetrable to wind and rain, Tang Zhao took out the jar container specifically used for collecting wind materials, indicating that they could begin.

Clang—

In the wilderness, the bell toll that made countless living things shudder continued to echo.

Not far from the bell tower, a woman was observing in secret, her expression one of extreme terror.

However, that terrified expression could not be maintained for long; as the bell toll rang incessantly, her figure shifted from solid to void, from bright to dark, and finally almost blurred into a mass of light and shadow.

"No... I can't take it anymore."

In the end, the woman's phantom made a gesture of covering her ears amidst the bell toll and fled in a panic. As she fled, even the outline of the hands covering her ears could not be maintained; her figure, fleeing into the distance, looked like a ball of ghost fire.

Tang Zhao and his companion, one striking the bell and one collecting, did not even notice that an expert who had been confident in being able to eliminate them had been silently shaken away.

After a long while, as the sun set, Tang Zhao had collected another large batch of bell tolls, filling nine large jars; he had truly returned with a full harvest.

Zhang Rong leaned against the bell and said, "It is truly a supreme treasure. I even wanted to move it away, but destroying a historical site like this would be truly unrefined."

Tang Zhao nodded; in truth, he had also wanted to move this bell away, but it seemed he had no affinity with this object. He couldn't make it ring, and if he moved it home, he could only sell it as scrap.

It was better to let this bell stay quietly with the ancient city, the moss, and the sunset.

With their business finished, both felt relaxed and stood on the moss-covered city wall, looking into the distance and reminiscing about the past.

Tang Zhao stroked the bricks of the bell tower and discovered that although the bricks beneath the vines were old, they were still surprisingly hard, and almost no scratches or damage could be seen on the surface.

He lightly traced it with his Qi; his Qi was like a knife, but the sharp blade could not enter the stone. He increased his force, but it only entered the brick by three inches; any further in, the resistance was immense, and it even emitted a harsh, grating sound.

Tang Zhao could not help but wonder, "How were these bricks fired? They are even harder than the city walls of today. I don't see any Rune Formulas added either; is this another special method from the previous dynasty?"

Come to think of it, the previous dynasty not only suppressed Sword Guests, but the development of Rune Formulas was also very slow. Yet, they left behind many strange creations and legends, as if that were another system, or even another civilization.

Zhang Rong said, "It should have been fired with a special formula from the Former Wei, and the materials were also different from those commonly used today. Nowadays, both the formula and the materials have been lost. This is also normal, because the enemies were different. The city walls of those days were built to guard against Sword Guests and Heavy Swordsmen who relied on their strength to attack cities; guarding against cutting and slashing was the top priority, while bows, crossbows, and battering rams were secondary. Therefore, the hardness of the city bricks was specially reinforced. Not to mention anything else, the Heavy Swordsman army established at the founding of this dynasty each held a standard-issue Art Tool, capable of cutting iron like mud and destroying anything; they didn't need heavy equipment to attack a city, and even the current city walls might not be able to stop them. Only against such city walls were they helpless."

"The situation is different now. City walls don't need to guard against Sword Guests and Heavy Swordsmen—there are Sword Guests stationed to defend against them—but instead must guard against Yin Calamities and the Spirit Officials of the previous dynasty's remnants. Therefore, the focus is on superimposing various Rune Formulas, which have a restraining effect on all kinds of sinister tricks. The effect is also very good; even though many city walls are now in disrepair and the Rune Formulas have faded significantly, the likes of Phantoms outside still find it difficult to invade. Unless a Demon Cave descends directly into the city, evil things like Heavenly Demons and Phantoms in the Demon Caves outside can rarely cross the city walls to invade directly. This is also the reason why cities are safer than villages, and large cities are safer than small ones."

Tang Zhao nodded. Nowadays, Yin Calamities occur frequently, and the common people abandon small villages and towns to migrate into large cities and strongholds. In reality, this is not to gather crowds for self-protection, relying on large numbers to resist Yin Calamities. What skills do the common people have? Even if there are many people, they can guard against Fierce Beasts and bandits, but can they guard against Phantoms?

On the contrary, when people gather in large numbers, the casualties are even more severe when Phantoms invade.

The reason for gathering people together is to facilitate the construction of walls and protective barriers with special effects. These works are not cheap and cannot be built casually; only large towns with tens of thousands of people can afford them. And the larger the city, the more perfect the defenses, and the smaller the chance of being harmed. Therefore, wealthy families have no choice but to abandon their own manors and move their whole families into large cities.

If it weren't for Xun City having bad luck and being covered by an Empty-Type Demon Cave, there shouldn't have been any danger. Yunzhou is well-governed and financially prosperous, the city walls are often renovated, and Xun City is a rare, mighty city; even if a Demon Cave descended at the city gate, just by closing the gate, it could protect the safety of all the people in the city.

"Spirit Officials and Phantoms are one and the same; guarding against Phantoms is guarding against Spirit Officials. It is said that the more powerful a Spirit Official is, the more suppressed they are after crossing the city wall; they can't even release their Spirit Image inside the city. I just don't know if the Spirit Officials of our dynasty will suffer the same fate."

Zhang Rong smiled and said, "The Spirit Officials of this dynasty were not originally powerful, and most only served in auxiliary positions, so they were less suppressed. Even if there were occasionally powerful Spirit Officials, they likely had special methods to remain unaffected." He sighed, "Even if there truly were powerful Spirit Officials, because of various taboos, no one dared to entrust them with important responsibilities. The Gaoyuan Marquis, however, has extraordinary spirit and is all-embracing, even having Spirit Officials serving as officials under his command."

Tang Zhao thought of Peng Yiming. Indeed, compared to the methods of the Spirit Officials he had seen at the Talisman Assembly, Peng Yiming's Spirit Image had too little capability, at most occupying the aspect of beauty, making it more like an auxiliary. Thus, although he had seniority, he could ultimately not be appointed as a formal official of any region. The heavy responsibilities of the Land Inspection Division all fell to the Sword Guests.

It seems that Spirit Officials of the previous dynasty were not affected by the inversion of appearance and could adjust the appearance of their Spirit Images according to their own will. Although it was pleasing to the eye, the appearances of the Spirit Images were all meticulously decorated by people, adjusted according to standard beauty, which instead made them seem artificial and lacking many naturally peerless Spirit Images; this is also a pity.

The two chatted casually, sighing over things from ancient times to the present, and reminisced about the current situation, finding themselves quite compatible. In the end, Zhang Rong actually composed a poem, and Tang Zhao, unable to think of any fresh words, simply recited a song by an ancient person:

"Peaks and ridges gather, waves rage, the Tong Pass road lies between mountains and rivers. Looking toward the Western Capital, I hesitate. Saddened by the places the Qin and Han dynasties passed through, ten thousand palaces have all turned to dust. When it rises, the people suffer; when it falls, the people suffer!"

After the recitation, the two returned for the time being, carrying their full harvest.

After the two had walked far away, the bell gave a slight tremor.

From beneath the giant bell, a little girl in red clothes crawled out and smiled slightly in the direction the two had left.