Chapter 255: Seventh Toll of the Mystic Bell

Dong—

Dong—

Dong—

Just as he was about to enter meditation, the sound of a bell echoed—as if from the depths of the universe, yet seemingly right beside his ear.

“That bell again.”

Jiang Yan recalled the several tragedies that had occurred previously due to the bell’s chimes.

“How many times has it rung now?”

Just as Jiang Yan was pondering this, he noticed faint whispers of discussion reaching his ears.

“Did you hear that? It’s the Four Directions Bell. It seems the Realm Gate is about to open!”

“By the way, how many times has the Four Directions Bell chimed recently?”

“The seventh time!”

“What? Already the seventh time!”

The speakers sighed wistfully, murmuring, “Ah, if only we could enter the Four Directions Realm too. Even if we don’t compete for Opportunities, just cultivating inside would be a hundred times better than in this Secret Realm.”

“Exactly. Unfortunately, the key to the Four Directions Realm is like a death warrant. Without sufficient strength, holding it is just waiting for death.”

Their words were filled with longing for the so-called Four Directions Realm, and for a moment, they even wasted their expensive cultivation time in the Secret Realm.

Listening to this, Jiang Yan thought to himself that it was time to retrieve that Boundary Stone drifting in the Starry Sky.

Using the [Law of the Jungle], he sensed that the Four Directions Boundary Stone was moving at high speed.

Its trail was elusive, its direction uncertain.

Probably some unlucky soul had obtained the Four Directions Boundary Stone, and now, with the bell chimes attracting powerful figures from all sides, they were desperately fleeing.

When the ninth bell chimes, the Realm Gate rises.

The closer it gets to the ninth chime, the fiercer the struggle for ownership of the Boundary Stone becomes.

By the time of the final chime, countless earth-shattering battles were likely to erupt.

“I’ll retrieve the Boundary Stone when the eighth bell chimes.”

Cultivation knows no time. Even though Jiang Yan remained in a semi-Epiphany state, his cultivation speed was only dozens of times faster than that of ordinary Transcendents.

One month later.

All of Jiang Yan’s Laws had reached the standard of a Ninth Rank Law Embryo.

While others measured their comprehension of Laws in centuries, Jiang Yan measured his in months.

But unlike others, Jiang Yan had many things to cultivate. Only in this way could he live up to the Violet-Gold quality [Law Expansion].

During these days, he had been paying close attention to the bell chimes from the outside world. The Four Directions Bell followed a certain pattern, chiming approximately once a month. By his calculations, it was about time again.

Recently, he had been “robbing the rich to help the poor” while also cultivating in Secret Realms, earning himself quite a reputation throughout the entire Chuiyun Star Harbor.

People hailed him as: The Strongest Ninth Rank in Chuiyun Star Harbor.

With multiple high-priority Laws at his side, though not yet at Perfection, Jiang Yan was more than capable of handling Transcendent Creatures within the Ninth Rank.

But Jiang Yan knew that titles like “Strongest Ninth Rank” or “Number One Below the Martial God” were ultimately meaningless.

In the end, he was just a mere Ninth Rank Transcendent.

He hadn’t even fully cultivated to the Eighth Rank yet, and the tempering of his body by the Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Spiritual energies was far from sufficient. Yet, once he unleashed the power of his Laws, opponents automatically recognized him as a Ninth Rank Transcendent.

On this day, Jiang Yan emerged from the Secret Realm.

The money he had gained from “robbing the rich to help the poor” had been completely spent in the Secret Realm. Moreover, he faintly sensed that the Law fragments within the Secret Realm were becoming increasingly scarce.

In fact, some Secret Realm teleportation entrances would find various excuses to prevent Jiang Yan from entering.

“Others cultivate for a day and comprehend nothing, but you? You absorb Law fragments every single day. How am I supposed to keep this Secret Realm running?”

Jiang Yan was utterly helpless, so he switched from one Secret Realm to another.

“These Secret Realms are so poor.”

Jiang Yan could sense that the annual output of these so-called Law Secret Realms was extremely limited.

For Transcendents to comprehend the Law, it would take at least several decades, and the Secret Realms could still maintain a balance between supply and demand.

Transcendent Creatures wanting to cultivate had to spend long periods hunting outside, then earn money to enter the Secret Realm, a cycle that could sometimes stretch over a century.

But Jiang Yan could fully grasp a Law fragment in just a few days, completely disrupting the Secret Realm’s supply-demand balance.

Thus, the better one’s Talent and the higher one’s Comprehension Ability, the more profitable entering a Secret Realm would be.

But Jiang Yan’s Comprehension Ability was simply too exaggerated, and now his name had been blacklisted by all major Secret Realm operators.

As he left the Secret Realm, the Staff immediately tearfully escorted him out.

Jiang Yan waved his hand. “No need to be moved, I’ll come back to see you later.”

Staff: (=°Д°=)

The crowd queuing to enter behind them all turned to look.

“Who is that man? Why is he so familiar with the staff?”

“Ha, how could they not be familiar? For the past month, he’s been circling around the nearby Secret Realms every day, staying inside all day long.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? After all, Secret Realms charge by the hour. That guy must be a sucker, the Shang Family must be overjoyed, right?”

Hearing this, the crowd around burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha, buddy, you must be new here?”

“Yeah, yeah, you definitely haven’t heard of that guy’s reputation!”

“I’m dying of laughter, calling him a sucker? Do you know how shrewd his calculations are? He can fully comprehend a Law fragment in just two days on average, and I mean fully comprehend—not a single speck left.”

“Do you know what the average lifespan of those Law fragments was before he came?”

“How many years?”

“Fifty years!”

“And now?”

“Two days!”

Hiss~

A sharp intake of breath echoed through the air.

The newcomer stared in horror at Jiang Yan’s receding figure.

“This man… is actually this terrifying!”

Outer space.

Jiang Yan had already boarded his newly acquired small warship.

As for how he got it?

Let’s just say, a bit of hardship.

Of course, the hardship was on others’ heads; Jiang Yan was responsible for the “bit.”

“Buchen Two, activate.”

The small warship emitted a deep blue flame from its rear, and a “cone-shaped” space-piercing device rose at the front. As the speed increased, a torn space appeared ahead.

【Law of the Jungle】

The location of the Four Directions Boundary Stone appeared in Jiang Yan’s mind.

“I never expected it to have traveled so far.”

It was hard to imagine how intense the scene of the struggle must have been.

Over the past month, he had deliberately observed the Boundary Stone’s trail and found its movement pattern identical to a month ago.

This indicated one thing—the person holding the Boundary Stone had been chased for an entire month!

What terrifying escape ability~

As Jiang Yan thought this, he also wanted to test whether his recently improved Sever Space could stop the other’s escape.

The warship pierced through the Void, speeding toward the marked location.

Meanwhile, in the deeper reaches of space.

A lightning-shaped humanoid creature was desperately fleeing forward.

In the dark Starry Sky, this lightning bolt drew a long arc across the black curtain.

“Bro, dear brother, stop chasing me. It’s been a whole damn month.”

Ahead, the lightning’s wail pierced through the vacuum, directly reaching the ears of the pursuer behind.

“Enough talk, huff… hand… huff… hand over the Boundary Stone!”

After chasing the Boundary Stone for a month, most had already given up, leaving only a scattered few Transcendent Creatures still persisting.