mesbooks Chapter 185 Return to the 27th Morning Bell
Chapter 185 Return to the 27th Morning Bell
Chapter 185 Returning to the Morning Bell of Erqi
"What? Li Jiuhe is missing?!" Tong Cheng asked in surprise.
"Brother Li! Brother Li, are you there?" Luo Shuo didn't answer him, but called out uncertainly several times.
After waiting for a while, there was indeed no reply from Li Jiuhe.
Because of the old man's dying curse, no one can see the light of day. So in this dark environment, no one can tell when or how Li Jiuhe left.
Mu Nian coughed several times, spitting out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, and slowly said, "When we first met, I said that the mastermind behind it all was a bit strange, and now I think I know why."
"What's the reason?" Tong Cheng asked.
Mu Nian didn't answer, but instead asked Luo Shuo, "You told me before that when you were tracking the mastermind, you said there were—two people behind it?"
"Yes." Luo Shuo nodded. "One is at the Guan family in Xiongfeng Ridge, and the other is near Yuanmeng City, which is the old man we just killed."
"No, there should only be one person behind the scenes!" Mu Nian shook her head decisively.
"What?"
"But I tracked down two people!"
Tong Cheng and Luo Shuo both expressed surprise and doubt.
Mu Nian leaned against the wall, panting heavily, and spat out another mouthful of blood. At this moment, she felt that the strange gray Taoist robe on her body was no longer so tight after the old man's death, but had loosened a little.
"I can't explain the specific reason either," she said slowly. "This old man's lineage—he was at least a great diviner, and just now, before he died—he cast a divination spell on us. And this kind of divination spell—is almost equivalent to a curse cast by a great sorcerer—"
She paused, then continued, "In the moments before his death, I used the 'Mind-Locking Spider Silk' to bind his remaining consciousness, and discovered that the person bound seemed to be the same one. Luo Shuo, investigate further."
After hearing her explanation, Luo Shuo shook his head and said, "That's not right. If a person is already dead, all clues about him will disappear. How could there still be—"
"If Mu Nian tells you to try, then try it," Tong Cheng interrupted him. "I trust Mu Nian's judgment."
Luo Shuo groped his way closer to Mu Nian in the darkness and touched the other's blood-soaked left hand.
"At the tip of my index finger," Mu Nian prompted.
Luo Shuo followed her hand to the tip of her index finger, where he faintly felt a tiny, extremely tough thread, and then began to track it.
A moment later, he exclaimed, "I tracked him down to the Guan family, and he's still there?! But—but he clearly—"
He's dead? What happened?
"Keep tracking Li Jiuhe and see where he went," Tong Cheng reminded him.
Luo Shuo immediately began tracking Li Jiuhe, and he deliberately kept items related to Li Jiuhe on his person in order to prevent today's situation from happening again.
A short while later he said, "I can't track him down. I can't find any information about Brother Li's whereabouts. It's like he's vanished into thin air!"
Upon hearing this, both Tong Cheng and Mu Nian were stunned.
..
Let's move a little further back in time.
Just as the old man released the divination incantation before he died.
Li Jiuhe felt the same way as Tong Cheng and the others. He immediately found that his body began to itch, as if something wanted to break out of the ground, and he felt extremely uncomfortable all over.
He knew it was because the old man had uttered a curse; from this moment on, no one here would ever see the light of day again.
Only then did he realize that this old man was incredibly difficult to kill. Even with Mu Nian, the chief special investigator, and Tong Cheng, who had just recovered from some of his injuries, the two of them combined were no match for him; they could only be considered evenly matched.
However, killing the other party was impossible. If Li Jiuhe hadn't been there, the old man would have already escaped.
Even with Li Jiuhe added to the mix, the old man still had several opportunities to escape, and he could even kill one or two of his own men before escaping.
Including Luo Shuo, who was a great victim of injustice, he almost always died.
Now that they've finally managed to get rid of him, they never expected that even when they're about to die, this old guy could still cast a spell on all of them.
Li Jiuhe also noticed that the other party used the term "divination incantation" rather than "curse".
The next second, Tong Cheng wrapped the stairwell with a red curtain, keeping them away from the daylight. Almost at the same moment, Li Jiuhe's connection with Erqi Chenzhong suddenly strengthened, and he could clearly feel the other pulling him closer.
Perhaps because the old man was already dead, Li Jiuhe did not hesitate and immediately sensed this connection, taking a step forward.
As he landed, he looked up and saw a crack appear in the sky above him.
The gap hovered in mid-air, seemingly dark, but allowing Li Jiuhe to see what was inside; the true form of the Second Seven Morning Bell was within it.
Without hesitation, Li Jiuhe took another step forward. Suddenly, the scene changed, and he was surrounded by bright light, with no more darkness.
He almost instinctively wanted to hide immediately, because the sunlight was everywhere and had already illuminated his entire body.
But Li Jiuhe soon discovered that he did not feel the discomfort he had just experienced. He was still standing in the daytime and could feel the breeze on his face, but he did not feel his blood freezing.
Looking up, I saw the four-meter-tall Erqi Morning Bell, which I hadn't seen for a long time, right in front of me.
Turning his head to look around, he found himself back in the space of the Morning Bell. Under his feet was a bluestone brick floor, and the two great halls, the Morning Hall and the Evening Hall, stood in front of him. Everything was so familiar.
This Morning Bell Space is a completely independent space, similar to a Boundary Stone, but Li Jiuhe felt that its rule system was even more powerful than that of the independent space of a Boundary Stone.
Because the rules here are entirely Morning Bell's own, while the rules of each small world in the Boundary Stone are different.
Looking up at the sky, I felt that the time here was neither day nor night, but the moment between dawn and dusk. Time seemed to be frozen at this moment, motionless, as if it had stopped.
Clearly, problems have also arisen within the space of the 27th Morning Bell.
Li Jiuhe took two steps forward and reached out to touch the huge morning bell in front of him.
He didn't speak, but simply sensed the morning bell, wondering if it would convey any more information to him.
After a moment, I vaguely realized that the morning bell was sending me two signals. One was a sense of warmth, like seeing a family member I hadn't seen in a long time, and I suddenly felt the joy and warmth of seeing them again.
The other was a warning signal, a reminder from the morning bell to Li Jiuhe.
Li Jiuhe looked up at the square and the two halls of dawn and dusk in the distance. There was nothing around, and he did not see the two familiar stone figures.
He also noticed that after the old man in the previous scene was killed, his mission information did not show that it had ended, but was still in progress.
Therefore, the task was not completed.
Recalling what Luo Shuo once said, there were two people behind the scenes. Now that one of them, an old man, is dead, the only one left is the one hiding in the Guan family in Xiongfeng Ridge.
Now, the Morning Bell of the Second Seventh has clearly allowed itself to enter its space on its own initiative, but Li Jiuhe doesn't know exactly what it wants.
Li Jiuhe guessed there must be a reason, but Chenzhong had always been very cryptic in its expression; this was its nature, not that it was unwilling to tell Li Jiuhe.
Li Jiuhe looked up at the two main halls in front of him.
Suddenly, words from the death pass appeared before my eyes.
[Wow, look what treasure I've found! Collaborator, is this the alternate dimension among the sequence beings on the same sequence line as you? I can sense the residual aura of that self-target here. Quick, take care of it! Once I absorb it, the life you owe me from that sequence being can be wiped clean!]
【Hmm, if we can also handle the behind-the-scenes part of our agreement, I'll tell you a huge secret that will definitely make you feel like it's worth every penny!】
Li Jiuhe asked in surprise, "You mean there are other people here?"
"Yes, trust me. Find him and kill him quickly. If you're too late, he'll regain some of his strength, and you might not be able to handle him then."
Without saying anything more, Li Jiuhe immediately moved closer to the two main halls.
He hesitated for a moment, then chose the Morning Palace, having already set a reset point beforehand, and stepped inside.
Because the outside light was rather dim, the morning hall was even darker, and at first glance, nothing unusual was apparent.
Li Jiuhe said to Death Pass, "Could you help me pinpoint the target's location? That way I can locate him faster!"
No problem, go forward 27 steps, turn right and continue for 30 steps, then turn left and go for 48 steps.
The pass's answer was incredibly detailed, which shows that absorbing this person's sequence ability would definitely be of great help to it.
Following its guidance, Li Jiuhe walked forward and soon found himself in the same place where he had seen the first stone figure holding a weight and standing on a bronze balance scale.
However, the scales are still there, but the stone figure and the weight are nowhere to be found.
Instead, a man dressed entirely in gray stood beside the scales.
The man's colors stood out from his surroundings, as if he had stepped out of a black and white film. Everyone around him was in color, but he was the only one in black and white.
He had his back to Li Jiuhe and was facing the bronze balance scale, on which were placed many incense burners of different weights and sizes.
Li Jiuhe had used these incense burners before; they were used to balance the weight of the scales, ensuring that the entire scale remained in perfect balance.
Strangely, the scales that were originally broken are now not only intact, but both ends are also in balance.
The black and white figure stood in front of the scales, its body rising and falling as if it were gasping for breath.
Seemingly sensing someone approaching, the person slowly turned their head.
Li Jiuhe was startled and realized that the man's face looked somewhat familiar, even resembling the elderly cleaning man from the hospital he had just seen.
But after looking closely, I felt that I had seen this person before in the "scene replay". His appearance was also somewhat similar to that of the middle-aged man who squatted at the hospital entrance and tricked Ma Li.
The impression this guy gives is that his face is a composite, or that his face can change at any time depending on the situation.
No one understands why this is happening.
Mu Nian had already guessed that this guy was a great diviner, but even a great diviner couldn't just transform into another person anytime and anywhere and change his face.
The man looked to be about the same age as the elderly cleaner from earlier, but he was noticeably weaker.
He also showed a surprised expression upon seeing Li Jiuhe, then seemed thoughtful, and casually waved his right hand behind him.
A copper coin appeared and, with lightning speed, pierced through Li Jiuhe's body. Its momentum didn't diminish, and the coin embedded itself in a huge beam pillar not far behind Li Jiuhe.
Li Jiuhe died instantly before he could even muster the will to resist.
When the scene changed and he returned to the reset time anchor point, he suddenly realized what was happening. His face turned pale, and he stood outside the gate of the Morning Palace, taking a few deep breaths.
Find and kill him quickly. If you're too late, this guy will regain some of his strength, and you might not be able to handle him then.
"It's too late."
Looking at the words on the death pass that appeared before him, Li Jiuhe said, "That guy is indeed not dead. He is hiding in this Morning Palace, but even if he is in the recovery phase, I am no match for him."
【Oh no, what should we do? You know, I'm a complete noob when it comes to fighting! Think of something quick.】
Li Jiuhe ignored the pass and entered the Morning Hall. Instead of approaching further, he estimated the opponent's location and consumed 1 unit of his power.
Each point directly triggered the "labeling" process.
Soon the text prompts for the labels appeared before my eyes.
[The target has been identified. Please select the impending negative effects.]
1. Slowed movement, lasting for ten minutes; 2. Deafness (aphasia, blindness) for half an hour (either can be specified);
3. Sequence ability reduced by one-fifth, lasting three minutes; 4. Cognitive distortion, hallucinations, lasting three minutes; 5. Misfortune strikes, the probability of low-probability unfortunate events increases to 100%, lasting twenty minutes.
After a moment's thought, Li Jiuhe chose "slow action".
He had just realized that the black and white figure behind the scenes was using the balance scales that had been balanced to absorb the energy of the Morning Palace, or more precisely, the energy of the Morning Bell on the 27th.
No wonder that although his physical body in the real world seemed to have been destroyed, he was actually secretly lurking inside the Morning Bell Space that he controlled, wanting to continue to absorb energy to rebuild his physical body and make a comeback.
It seems that we should be able to interrupt his rebuilding process and kill him when he is at his weakest.
However, this guy is too strong. If they were to fight head-on, unless Tong Cheng or Mu Nian were there, even if the opponent was still in black and white and had a lot of energy to absorb, Li Jiuhe would still be no match for him.
With this in mind, Li Jiuhe decided to try labeling him as "slow to act".
After all, this guy is incredibly strong. The only way to kill him is to slow him down.
If you label someone as "blind," it might seem like a good thing, but in reality, a master of this level has a perception of the outside world that is not limited to their eyes.
Even without using his eyes, the old man could kill Li Jiuhe instantly with his strength.
As for the label of reducing sequence capability by one-fifth, Li Jiuhe believes the effect is not ideal.
Because the opponent was too strong, able to kill him instantly in the previous situation, even if he reduced his strength by one-fifth, it would still be beyond his ability to resist.
After a moment, once he was sure the label had worked, Li Jiuhe tiptoed toward the scales.
They spotted the old man with his back to them at a glance.
The old man still didn't turn his head, but kept his head down, his hands groping for something, but his movements had obviously become extremely slow.
Judging from his speed of action, Li Jiuhe speculated that even if he was aware that someone was approaching, he wouldn't be able to react immediately.
Li Jiuhe took out the quinoa-patterned knife that he kept close to his body, held his breath, and tiptoed closer.
Unexpectedly, at that moment, the old man's body began to slowly turn, and he still managed to spot Li Jiuhe.
However, his body movement was too slow. Li Jiuhe was only five meters away from him, but it seemed that this guy couldn't turn around at all.
Li Jiuhe's eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately quickened his pace, rushing off.
But at that moment, his body jolted violently, and he was instantly nailed to the spot like a nail.
This scene immediately reminded Li Jiuhe of the time when Mu Nian was frozen in place.
The old man seemed to be able to fixate on the target for a period of time using that Bagua compass.
It took Mu Nian some time to break free of the restraints, but now it's his turn to be immobilized, his body completely still. It seems that it will take him at least twice as long to break free as Mu Nian did.
Even if the old man moved slowly, that amount of time would be enough for him to kill himself.
Maintaining his forward-leaning posture, Li Jiuhe watched as the old man turned around completely.
Behind the old man, a half-grown illusory stone figure finally appeared, the very same stone figure holding a bronze weight that had been in the morning hall before.
The stone figure is now only one-third of its original size. An energy aura is being drawn out of its body and merged into the old man's body, flowing continuously. It is clear that the stone figure is in great pain, but to no avail.
"No wonder I haven't seen you? So you've been controlled by him!" Li Jiuhe suddenly realized.
At this moment, the old man looked surprised, clearly not expecting Li Jiuhe to appear here.
Before he could take any further action, Li Jiuhe immediately initiated a mission reset.
They quickly returned to the main gate of the Morning Palace.
He took a deep breath, pondering how to kill the old man who was absorbing the energy of the stone figure in the morning hall.
After all, he now has to use up 1 point and 1 chance to put on a label.
Making someone deaf, mute, or blind is basically useless, and slowing them down has also proven ineffective.
As for causing "cognitive distortion," that still seems unreliable, given the old man's immense power and ability to alter others' perceptions.
As for the "Misfortune Descends" option, it will definitely bring misfortune upon the old man, but it is uncertain whether it can kill him in one blow.
So it feels like there's no guarantee of success no matter what you choose.
It seems that only through continuous experimentation can the best method be found.
Just then, Li Jiuhe suddenly paused, a bell chiming echoed in his mind, and he then showed a thoughtful expression.
The next second, he stepped into the Morning Hall, quickly locked onto the old man's location, and restarted the tagging process, consuming 1 point.
The exact same label appeared as before, and this time Li Jiuhe did not hesitate and chose "Misfortune is coming".
At the same moment, however, he took out the Boundary Stone and threw it in the direction of the old man.
The old man, who was absorbing the stone man's energy, was startled. He suddenly realized that he seemed to be under a curse.
The old man was far too familiar with curses.
Then a stone flew over.
The old man instinctively sensed the danger and waved his hand, unleashing a powerful force to knock the stone away, preventing it from getting close.
But the stone figure he was absorbing suddenly exerted all its strength to reach out and grab, expending even more of its energy. The suction force surged, and it seized the boundary stone in its hand.
With a bang, the old man who was absorbing its energy vanished instantly.
However, the stone figure was defined as lifeless, like the scales and incense burner next to it, and did not fall within the scope of absorption by the Boundary Stone Space, so it remained in the same place.
Li Jiuhe immediately strode closer, saying, "You entered the Boundary Stone Strange Space under a 100% doomed condition, and your strength was greatly diminished. If you still don't die this time, I'll take your surname!"
He could clearly sense that the world rules formed by the Boundary Stone Space this time were extremely strong, no less than the Ye City World (B+ level) last time, and the world level had probably reached "A-1".
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