Chapter 1 Time Flows Differently

The flow of time within the Realm of the Bell differed from that of the outside world. As early as when Feng Bujue and Si Yu had just set foot on the island, it was already the next day outside.

On this day, the already turbulent Cang Ling Town was stirred up once more.

Noon, the main hall of Cang Ling Inn.

With the exception of a very few people, almost all the martial artists were searching for the answer to the same question. And that question was... where had Xie San gone?

After an entire night and a morning, even the less well-informed sects had heard the news... Yesterday, at dusk, Xie San, the Nameless Sword, had taken the main road from Tongqiu, riding his horse straight towards Cang Ling. By nightfall, the horse Xie San had been riding had wandered back to Tongqiu alone.

But here in Cang Ling, no one had seen a trace of Xie San.

So... where had Xie San gone? How could a person simply vanish on the road?

These days, the main road was being used, but not by many people. Mostly, it was disciples from the various sects traveling back and forth between Tongqiu to deliver messages. In any case, none of these people had seen Xie San along the way.

Logically speaking, it seemed as if... after Xie San took the main road, he didn't come to Cang Ling, but instead turned off into the mountains halfway.

But that didn't make sense at all. Could it be that after inquiring around Tongqiu, the Great Hero Xie had learned that there were no rooms left at the Cang Ling Inn, and not wanting to stay in an abandoned house, he preferred to camp out in the mountains, surviving in the wilderness?

Or... had the Great Hero Xie been ambushed? That was unlikely too. Who could beat him? Unless Ye Cheng was present, even if the Six Swords of Hua Ying joined forces, they couldn't do anything to Xie San. That's just how the martial world was; the difference in quality couldn't necessarily be made up for with quantity. Xie San, as a lone wanderer, was on par with Ye Cheng, the master of the Ye Estate and supreme of the martial world. His martial arts level was such that he could take on ten without breaking a sweat.

Of course, if you got a thousand people to surround Xie San completely, trapping him in a place where he could only fight and couldn't run, then, once his inner energy and stamina were completely exhausted, you might be able to succeed.

But that was even more impossible...

Then there was one last hypothesis, perhaps, with a one in ten thousand chance... Xie San had encountered a ghost.

People of the martial world, especially the veterans, while not exactly reverent of ghosts and spirits, were certainly not completely disbelieving either. The rumors of ghosts haunting Cang Ling Town had reached the ears of various factions back in Tongqiu.

Adding to that, the mysterious disappearances every night, with no bodies to be found, certainly made the townspeople uneasy.

But it couldn't all be blamed on the ghost on the mountain. She hadn't actively come down to the town to snatch people. Many were those who, after killing someone, went up the mountain to dispose of the body, only to end up leaving themselves and the corpse there, unable to return...

In short, these people were digging their own graves. If they went into the mountains before dark, didn't go too deep, and just buried the body shallowly in some corner on the edge of the forest, they would have been fine.

But the reality was that they were mostly going into the mountains in the dead of night, carrying still-warm corpses, deliberately going far, entering the depths of the mountains before abandoning the bodies. Not to mention Ling'er's ghost, even the corpses they brought were a threat.

Someone who had just died a violent death, their resentment and soul not yet dissipated, and the murderer was taking the corpse into a ghost realm forest shrouded in resentment, it wouldn't be surprising if the dead body reanimated and sought revenge...

In any case, although we know from a god's-eye view that Xie San was indeed ambushed, the martial artists of Cang Ling didn't know. They couldn't possibly guess Lin Chang's involvement, so they could only guess wildly...

"What do you think the Great Hero Xie is up to? Although the Nameless Sword has always been low-key, this time it's really strange..."

"Aren't there enough strange things in this town? Last night, several more disciples from the Giant Whale Gang and the Sea Sand Sect disappeared, without a trace."

"Hey, hey, did you hear... that Lu Qingning of the Fallen Plum Sword went missing the day before yesterday night. No one saw her all day yesterday, and she still hasn't appeared today."

"Oh, I heard about that this morning. I also heard that of the five people from the Broken Sword Teahouse who arrived yesterday, only the Young Hero Jin is still at the inn. The other four also didn't return last night."

"By the way, speaking of this, do you know? I heard that last night, the Young Master Tang suffered a great loss at the hands of the Young Hero Jin."

"What? Tang Shize, the Swift Hand with Flowers? That kid's a tough one."

"Who says he isn't? I even heard that he was taught a lesson by that Young Hero Jin, and had no choice but to admit defeat."

"Wait, why did the Young Master Tang start fighting with that... Young Hero Jin?"

"Heh, you don't even know about this? It's for a woman, of course." The speaker then gave a rundown of the gossip between Murong Ying and Tang Shize.

"Oh, I see." He smiled gleefully. "But... speaking of which, this Broken Sword Teahouse is indeed not simple. I wonder what the origin of this sect is."

"Didn't their leader already say? They opened their own sect and created their own martial arts."

"Heh, you've been in the martial world for so many years, and you believe that? Someone in their twenties can create their own martial arts? Do you think he's a reincarnated immortal? In my opinion, that kid probably received a power transfer from some hermit master, that's why he has such amazing inner energy."

"Alright, you're all getting off topic. We're talking about the Great Hero Xie here, so what do you think is going on?"

"What's going on? To put it bluntly..." lowering his voice, "The duel is tomorrow, and that Master Ye still hasn't appeared today. Maybe..."

*Bang* A large wine jar was slammed down on the table.

Lu Shan's tall figure appeared next to the wooden table where the speakers were sitting.

"Waiter, it seems like there are flies in this inn's hall," Lu Shan said. "Let me see, one, two, three, four, four flies buzzing around here, how annoying."

Hearing this, although the four were angry inside, none of them dared to say anything. They obediently put down their teacups, left some loose silver on the table, and slipped out of the inn's door with their tails between their legs.

In fact, these four were just third-rate characters in the martial world. Such people were unlikely to achieve anything great, whether in martial arts or character. These people spent their days indulging in backbiting and slandering those who were doing better than them, sometimes making malicious speculations and spreading rumors.

Lu Shan had only overheard them because he was close by, and he couldn't stand it anymore, so he came over to drive them out of the inn.

It was one thing for these four to presumptuously comment on those great figures, but as they spoke, they even began to imply that Ye Cheng might be ambushing his opponent before the duel. How could such words be said carelessly? Who was Ye Cheng? If the current martial world were to elect a leader, Ye Cheng would be the one who could directly take office. How could the Sword God's martial arts and character be slandered by a few nobodies? Even Lu Shan, an outsider, felt a surge of anger. If Ye Muhan heard these words, she might draw her sword and chop them down on the spot.

"Monk, don't be angry. Come, sit down and have a few drinks with me." A slightly tipsy young man came to the table and invited Lu Shan to sit down. Who else could it be but Tang Shize.

Lu Shan glanced at the Young Master Tang, who was drunk in the middle of the day, looking dejected.

"Heh... alright. Drinking, I'm always ready to join in," Lu Shan said, sitting down unceremoniously, his face plastered with his usual hearty smile.

Although Lu Shan's nickname was Drunken Monk, he rarely actually got drunk. These experts all knew their limits when drinking, knowing how much they could handle. If it really came down to it, they could force the alcohol out of their system with their inner energy.

But the Tang Shize in front of him was clearly truly drunk.

As the saying goes, drawing your sword to cut water only makes it flow more, using alcohol to drown your sorrows only makes them worse. Young Master Tang's self-abusive way of drinking wouldn't solve any problems. The monk wanted to offer some advice.

"You heard what they said?" Lu Shan asked.

"Hmph... I heard it," Tang Shize replied weakly.

Between their questions and answers, a waiter had already come over to quickly clear the table, conveniently collecting the silver left by the previous guests, and then quickly left.

"They're right, Young Hero Jin's martial arts are outstanding, and his character is better than mine," Tang Shize continued, with a bitter smile on his face. "I can't even argue."

How could Lu Shan not know what he was thinking? He shook his head and said, "Amitabha, these worldly troubles are nothing more than wine, women, wealth, and anger. I'm afraid this monk can't enlighten Young Master Tang's current troubles."

"Ha! Who needs your enlightenment? You're a monk who can't live without wine, how dare you say that?" Tang Shize said. "I just feel like it's hard to drink alone, so I wanted to find someone to have a few drinks with, don't give me any nonsense."

"Young Master Tang is mistaken," a woman's voice rang out.

Hearing the voice, Tang Shize knew who it was. His body immediately froze as he slowly turned his head.

Murong Ying had arrived next to Tang Shize at some point.

In Young Master Tang's eyes, whenever he saw this Fairy from Beyond the Clouds, she was always so dignified, elegant, and touching. But at this moment, there was another man standing next to her, Jin Fugui! (Rich Jin)

"Is this Jin guy here to show off to me?" Tang Shize thought, and immediately downed another mouthful of wine.

"Master Lu is kind and virtuous, compassionate and benevolent. He saw you were distressed and wanted to offer a few words of advice," Murong Ying said, sitting down at the table.

Ji Bu also sat down, but he didn't sit next to Murong Ying. Instead, he went around to the other side to sit.

Tang Shize looked up at Ji Bu, who even had a smile on his face, which undoubtedly became a mockery in Young Master Tang's eyes.

"Hmph... what's so funny?" Tang Shize snorted and said to Ji Bu.

"Oh, because there's also someone called 'Master Lu' in my hometown. When I hear someone else being called that, I find it quite amusing," Ji Bu replied truthfully.

Hearing this, Tang Shize didn't know what to say, so he silently drank another cup.

"Young Master Tang seems to have some misunderstandings about Young Hero Jin," Murong Ying said again. "So I invited Young Hero Jin over to explain things to you."

"Misunderstanding?" Tang Shize said. "What misunderstanding? Hmph... this Tang doesn't understand."

At this moment, Ji Bu interjected, "Miss Murong has already told me about the things between you two." He shrugged. "I was wondering what was going on last night, so that's what it was." He was straightforward. "Young Master Tang, Miss Murong and I are at most just casual acquaintances. I went to her room yesterday to ask about some rules of the martial world. That was the leader's order. We didn't do anything shameful. Young Master Tang, you're drinking this vinegar for no reason."

Hearing these words, Tang Shize's expression changed several times, and his heart rose and fell. Before he could fully react, Murong Ying spoke first, "Young Hero Jin, there's nothing between Young Master Tang and me either... Your previous sentence, 'the things between you two,' was not well-spoken..."

"Alright, alright, you don't need to explain to me," Ji Bu interrupted. "I'm just here to clear up Young Master Tang's misunderstanding of me. I'm not interested in your affairs." He turned to Tang Shize again. "I'll just give you two pieces of advice. First, if you have time to come and fight me, why don't you just ask her the reason? Do you not trust her that much? Also, if she really didn't like you, would she have bothered to specifically ask me to come over and explain things to you clearly?"

After saying these words, Ji Bu stood up and left. From the perspective of a young man from the 21st century, he felt that these petty things were nothing big. Little did he know that in ancient times, there were many things that couldn't be said directly, especially not in such a crowded public place.

After he said these words, the three people left at the table were dumbfounded. Lu Shan immediately said "Amitabha" and stood up, as if he were just passing by and didn't know these people at all, taking three steps at a time and darting to the side. Murong Ying was so ashamed that her cheeks were flushed red, all the way to her ears. She didn't say a word, lowered her head, and floated away.

As for Tang Shize, he sobered up in a few seconds, his eyes as wide as the Black Cat Detective. His mind was in chaos, his heart was beating fast, and his joy was overflowing. However, soon, he felt his back burning, as if everyone in the inn's hall was watching him.

Actually... the situation was better than he thought. The inn's hall was relatively noisy, and not many people heard Ji Bu's words. Only the few tables closer to them heard it. Besides, it was hard for people to comment on this kind of thing, so they mostly pretended not to hear it. Everyone had quality and status, even if they didn't have quality, they still had some status... Anyway, they wouldn't suddenly shout and jeer.

Without mentioning how Tang Shize later left the inn's hall in a daze, let's talk about Ji Bu, who was also annoyed. He had waited all night, but his teammates were still nowhere to be found. He was wondering whether to go out and look for them when Murong Ying came to ask him to resolve a romantic dispute in the morning.

At this moment, he was walking back to his room, still considering what to do next, when he suddenly heard a system notification:

[Current task completed, main quest updated]

He opened the game menu. The item [Enter the Realm of the Bell and search for Ling'er's soul.] had already been checked off. A new task now appeared: [Defeat the "Bell Demon"]