Tu Zhen Yue stood unafraid and asked coolly: “What, you intend to brandish the entire Seven Mists Realm to threaten me?”

He was the overlord of the Earth Realm, master of a whole Small World. The Earth Clan alone could rival the Seven Mists Realm, to say nothing of the other families who had come along this time. For a small Seven Mists Realm to try and block their plan was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

When Guildmaster Chang Deng tried to persuade him further, Tu Zhen Yue looked over coldly and said: “Guildmaster Chang Deng, I will give you only two choices. First, you step out and call the people inside out to me, and I may consider keeping a light hand. Second, take yourself back to where you came from and stay out of the way. You would not want to implicate the entire Seven Mists Realm, would you?”

His arrogant words roused the anger of the Seven Mist Guild’s other sect elders, yet when they saw the dense crowd massed behind him, they had to swallow their fury. Chang Deng’s eyes flickered as he turned toward the Light Screen where Huang Zhong appeared; Huang Zhong shook his head. Chang Deng sighed inwardly: “I overestimated myself.” With that, he retreated several zhang. He did not leave, but he no longer stood between the two sides.

The moment he withdrew, the faces within the Light Screen dimmed. Tu Zhen Yue grew even more brazen and declared: “I will give you a final count. If she still does not come out, she dies.”

A sigh drifted down from the sky. Huang Zhong took one step forward and appeared before Tu Zhen Yue, saying: “Ask me whatever you wish, but do not harm her.”

Tie Gu and the others cried out in alarm, while Chi Lian could only sob—no sound came out—and a tear tracked from the corner of her eye. Seeing someone finally step out, Tu Zhen Yue laughed and flung Chi Lian aside at random as he sneered: “So you do dare come out. I thought you planned to hide in there like turtles forever.”

Huang Zhong kept his composure and said: “Patriarch Tu, release them, and I will permit you to do with me as you please.”

Tu Zhen Yue snapped in disdain: “What are you worth? I want only this: the whereabouts of Sui Bian and his daughter.”

[What?] For a heartbeat Huang Zhong wondered if he had misheard him; then, reading Tu Zhen Yue’s certainty, he understood and regained his calm, answering: “I do not know.”

Tu Zhen Yue’s gaze turned cold as he barked: “You expect me to believe that? You all ascended from the same Small World, and you do not know where he is? Spare me the act. Speak—where is he?”

“Sui Bian has always acted as his whims dictate. Even among us, few can reach him. If you refuse to believe it, there is nothing more I can say.”

Tu Zhen Yue snorted, wholly dissatisfied with the answer. He raised his hand; spiritual power surged, and a giant palm condensed in the sky and slammed down toward Huang Zhong as he shouted: “If you will not speak truth, then you can be the first to die!”

Huang Zhong did not budge. His hands flew through seals as he called out: “Bell, come!” At his word, an ancient bronze bell manifested out of thin air and dropped over him, enclosing him whole. The bell body was half transparent; through its dense, profound sigils his silhouette could be seen faintly.

Clang—the giant palm crashed into the bell, and a deafening peal rolled out. The tone was deep and sonorous, resounding between heaven and earth and sweeping instantly across the whole Seven Mists Realm.

Cultivators throughout the Seven Mists Realm lifted their heads in puzzlement: “Where did that bell sound come from?” “What has happened? Are we under attack?” “Such penetration—what bell could ring like that?”

At the same time, Ancestor Sui Bian, hurrying toward the Seven Mists Realm, suddenly halted and cocked his head to listen. The next instant his face changed and fury burst from him as he snarled: “Huang Zhong’s bell! They really did make a move on him!” He knit his brows and shouted to those behind him: “Faster. They cannot hold for long!”

Back in the Seven Mists Realm, Tu Zhen Yue scowled when his strike was stopped so easily: “I underestimated you. But you think that broken bell can keep me out?”

Huang Zhong said nothing. The light on the Ancient Bronze Bell only flared brighter.

Enraged, Tu Zhen Yue laughed instead and said: “Very good. Let us see how many blows you can withstand.” He brought his palms together; bands of light spread beneath his feet, interlocking to form a vast Formation Array. He stamped his right foot; spiritual power roared; the ground shuddered. Dirt and loam geysered up, coalescing into an Earth Dragon that bellowed and lunged for Huang Zhong.

Clang. Clang. Clang. The peals came thick and fast, each strike setting hearts pounding across the Seven Mists Realm. The bell shuddered wildly; under the tempest of blows, the light on its body wavered to the brink of collapse.

Inside the Light Screen, Tie Gu and the others watched Huang Zhong’s battle with Tu Zhen Yue in mounting panic. Tie Gu longed to rush out to help, only to find he could not step beyond the Light Screen’s boundary. He slammed a fist into it and roared: “Huang Zhong! Open the Light Screen for me!”

“Huang Zhong, you cannot do this! We are one—we fight together, and if we die, we die together!”

“Let us out!”

No matter how they shouted, the Light Screen did not so much as quiver. Before leaving, Huang Zhong had sealed it completely; unless he opened it from outside, no one within could step through. They could only watch as the bell’s radiance dimmed, dimmed again, and shattered to glittering fragments with a thunderous crash. The force the bell could no longer bear fell straight onto Huang Zhong’s body.

His frame jolted; a flush surged across his pallid face; inside him, his organs were wrenched from their places. He spat a mouthful of blood; his complexion turned ashen in a blink; the black and white in his hair blanched to pure white all at once.

“Huang Zhong!” Tie Gu and the others cried out in fury and fear, pounding at the Light Screen. Several sect elders of the Seven Mist Guild looked on in pain and turned to Guildmaster Chang Deng; Chang Deng closed his eyes and sighed. He was powerless—ashamed before an old friend.

“Tu, if you must kill, then kill me. Do not touch him!”

Outside the Light Screen, Yan Yi and his companions struggled madly, trying to throw themselves forward to stop it. Finding them incorrigible, Feng Jiu Si and the others each put a fist into them, beating them until their eyes bulged and they dry-heaved. “Behave. Do you really think you can run?”

Huo Shao Yan gave a contemptuous warning, but thought to himself: [Why are the people Yu Zhao knows as insane as she is? Every last one of them acts like they do not care about living, each fighting to die first.]

Step by step, Tu Zhen Yue advanced on Huang Zhong, twisted delight on his face as he mocked: “If you have any tricks left, use them now. You will not get to use them in your next life.”

Huang Zhong, barely upright, rasped: “Even if you kill me today, you will not learn where Sui Bian is.”

“Still stubborn at death’s door. In a moment I will test whether the others’ mouths are as hard as yours.” His eyes flashed. The Earth Dragon broke apart into seven earthen-yellow cones, all aimed straight at Huang Zhong.