Chapter 1 A Bang

Something seemed to have fallen from the wall with a "boom."

Liu Yi felt a tingling in her scalp, and a powerful instinct drove her to retreat.

The next moment, the spot where she had been standing shattered!

Dust flew everywhere.

Crow, in a suit, stood in the crater, expressionless, his eyes flashing with a sharp cold light, staring at the woman not far away... In the Huazhi Building, they were "colleagues" who worked together and had carried out tasks together. They knew each other's strengths very well.

Liu Yi knew very well how terrifying Song Ci's killing power could be in actual combat... This guy was a natural combat prodigy, his whole body was a weapon, and his extraordinary cultivation in recent years had been like a cheat code, progressing rapidly.

If it came to a life-and-death struggle... not many in the entire capital could match Song Ci.

The reason for using the [Spirit Eye] in conjunction with the [Soul-Locking Bell] was precisely because of this reason. In a head-on confrontation, she had no chance of winning.

"You... knew I was coming all along?"

Liu Yi calmed down.

Her group had already concealed their tracks, yet they were still exposed.

"Yeah."

Song Ci said indifferently, "Although it's night, you all made such a big commotion... isn't that considered parading through the streets?"

A drop of cold sweat slid down Liu Yi's forehead.

She knew that Song Ci's intuition was very keen, but she never thought it would be so keen. [Spirit Eye] could be considered a top-notch concealment ability, enough to shield most mental perceptions within the same realm... How did this guy notice it?

It was as if he had mind-reading abilities.

Song Ci stretched out two fingers and pointed to his eyes, saying, "It's simple, just look."

He emphasized the word "look."

Liu Yi only felt... like she'd seen a ghost.

Others can't "see" it, so how can you see it?!

"Enough talk." She took a deep breath and said, "Since you're here... it saves me the trouble."

She raised her hands, and a wisp of invisible mental波動 spread out in the void.

Song Ci frowned slightly and immediately retreated.

Mental attacks were the most bizarre and unpredictable... He could dodge bullets fired at high speed, but he couldn't necessarily dodge the impact of mental念頭.

The small bell covered with talismans in Liu Yi's hand gave him a considerable sense of danger.

He had to dodge this time!

Crow's figure instantly dispersed, as if he had transformed into dozens of figures in an instant, rotating rapidly around Liu Yi. The entire alley was filled with fluttering suit phantoms, while the woman holding the bell didn't panic at all. As strips of talismans detached themselves and floated around the surface of the ancient bell, a glow reappeared on her brow.

[Spirit Eye] activated again!

A ray of scorching light shone from the eye pupil in her brow, as if a virtual spirit body floated from the top of Liu Yi's head, condensed into a human form, and slowly turned its head.

The direction the gaze shone upon.

Those fluttering phantoms shattered one after another!

No matter how fast Song Ci was, as long as he maintained the thought of attacking, it would be difficult for him to escape the [Spirit Eye]'s tracking... The alley space wasn't large. Liu Yi looked pale as the spirit body floating above her head quickly turned its head, trying to capture the figure of Crow himself.

A muffled groan rang out in the distance.

A corner of torn clothing slowly fell in the distance.

That was a corner of a sleeve torn apart by the enormous mental power at the moment it brushed past the [Spirit Eye]. Clearly, Song Ci wasn't planning to retreat... He was using high-speed movement to force a breakthrough.

This battle wasn't complicated.

Whoever touched the other party first would win!

Liu Yi held the bell in both hands. The ancient and袖珍 sealed artifact now scattered all its talismans, revealing its full, true appearance. Several talismans formed a small river protecting the bell, rotating rapidly. Invisible characters vibrated, and a soul-stirring波动 transmitted from the bell. Even hearing only an aftersound would make one's mind palpitate.

The back of her skintight suit was completely soaked with sweat.

The intense sense of oppression grew closer and closer.

In front of and behind her, a series of broken bricks cracked, walls exploded, and the ground shattered. The [Spirit Eye] rotated frantically, but it was always a little short... Crow was getting closer and closer!

With a "boom!"

It was the roaring sound of wind.

Liu Yi could feel a strong wind pressure assaulting her. She roared and raised the Soul-Locking Bell, aiming it at a certain direction. This bell looked as light as a feather, but at this moment, it exhausted all the strength in her body, as if she were lifting a towering mountain.

The spirit body also stopped turning its head at this moment!

The final gaze fixed on the suit-clad man in front of her, delivering a punch.

The direction of this punch was slightly off, not directly hitting Liu Yi's head, but deviating at a slight angle.

Countless gusts of wind were stirred up, blasting away an entire wall pointed to by the punch...

A shocking scene.

But... it ultimately missed.

Liu Yi felt like her heart was about to jump out of her throat... She looked in shock at Song Ci, who had suddenly broken into her presence, less than a meter away.

In battles of this level, there were no mistakes.

The only possibility was... Song Ci's punch was deliberately deviated.

What would be the consequence of this punch hitting her face?

She glanced back slightly, her expression pale.

Because she saw the slowly collapsing, fragmented wall.

With a "clang."

The Soul-Locking Bell, silent until now, finally rang at this moment. The shattered tremolo forcefully dragged a soul into the dreamland.

Watching the suit-clad man who had fallen into "sleep," Liu Yi didn't feel like she had won... On the contrary, she felt that she had lost miserably in this battle. Was Song Ci showing mercy out of old friendship?

In any case... she had bought herself some time to act.

The distant chaotic noises gradually diminished.

She prepared to advance toward the final residence... But suddenly, a strand of extremely fine wind-breaking sound flashed through the air.

With a "whoosh."

It sounded like something was slicing through the air.

Liu Yi frowned. She reached out and touched her cheek, only to find her hand covered in blood... Something sharp had sliced across, and before she even felt the pain, a cut had been opened on her cheek.

Three or four seconds passed.

Only then did the stinging pain slowly surge up.

At the end of the distant alley, the figure of a young woman wearing a windbreaker slowly walked out of the dim light. She held a knife in each hand, the left one long and the right one short, and a third knife hung from her waist.

"Lu Nanjin..."

Liu Yi narrowed her eyes.

She glanced back slightly... On the other side of the alley, another figure seemed to have appeared silently. It was a youth, his brow surrounded by a wisp of flame. The distant night concealed the youth's face.

Liu Yi recalled the "S-rank" that had been making waves in the Federation recently.

The newcomer to the Tribunal's Special Investigation Team.

Gu Shen.

"Hiss..."

A slightly painful hissing sound rang out.

The suit-clad man who should have been in slumber next to her had fingers that trembled slowly, like stone sculptures awakening. A sound like popping soybeans erupted from his whole body...

Song Ci woke up from the restraints of the [Soul-Locking Bell], one hand pressing on his neck, slowly rotating it, his voice hoarse as he sighed, "This thing is a little powerful... It can actually drag me directly into a dream, and even make me... get a stiff neck."

This was?

Awake?

Liu Yi's expression became extremely strange. She looked at Song Ci as if she had seen a ghost, then looked at the A-grade sealed artifact [Soul-Locking Bell] in her palm.

What the hell!

What the hell was this!

The [Soul-Locking Bell] had taken effect. It had indeed forcefully dragged Song Ci's spirit into the dreamland, but how long had it been? Ten seconds, five seconds, or even less? Before she had even taken a step, Song Ci had woken up from the dream.

Of course, Liu Yi knew that the duration of the bell's imprisonment was determined by the strength of one's spiritual power... But the problem was, how could Song Ci, this brute, possibly possess such powerful spirit?

According to her original plan, the Soul-Locking Bell would trap Song Ci for ten minutes.

Those ten minutes would be enough to complete all the actions.

But now... the plan was completely shattered.

In an instant, her thoughts raced.

Liu Yi felt that she might have been ambushed... because those two guys from the Tribunal had arrived too timely.

It was very likely that they were ambush troops who had been lying in wait near the residence for a long time!

Sure enough, there was an improper cooperative relationship between Zhou Jiren and Lu Nanzhi. The news received by Huazhi was that a large number of transcendents from the Tribunal were集中clearing out the remaining believers of the Evergreen Foundation today, and Gu Shen and Lu Nanjin were no exception. These two would serve as the core members of the Special Investigation Team, acting as the absolute vanguard in the清剿任務.

What vanguard, it was all a lie... She ran right into them at the old Lion Lane residence.

"Escape!"

Liu Yi did not hesitate and chose to retreat. She knew very well that even in a one-on-one fight, she was no match for Song Ci, let alone with two helpers assisting.

The队员she had brought would probably be caught at this moment, and then there would be more and more reinforcements... She had to retreat now!

The direction of retreat was not difficult to choose.

Pick the softest persimmon to pinch.

Among the three people, that "S-rank" newcomer from the Tribunal was the weakest.

The strength information of this newcomer was very closely guarded by the Council... Liu Yi did not know what Gu Shen's ability was at all, and at this critical moment, she could not be careless.

So... she directly chose to use the safest method.

[Soul-Locking Bell]!

She activated the [Spirit Eye] once again, and the floating spirit cast a幽幽 gaze towards Gu Shen, a strong light shining in an instant.

Darkness shattered, revealing a handsome face with a frown.

Gu Shen raised his head and met the eyes of the spirit above Liu Yi's forehead... The next moment, he heard a clear bell ring in his ears.

"...Be careful!"

Song Ci's warning sounded.

Gu Shen took a step sideways towards the center of the alley. He stood in the very center of the retreat route, his expression unchanged, staring at the light of the illusory spirit as if facing a great enemy.

However... nothing happened.

The spirit's gaze coldly逼視.

After Liu Yi's palm shook the bell once, it no longer made a sound.

The scene fell into a dead silence.

It was once very awkward.

The妖異spirit floating in the night sky was gazing straight at Gu Shen, looking majestic and sacred.

It was just that the scorching high temperature emitted by the [Spirit Eye] was absorbed by熾火 without rejection.

The small flame swayed back and forth, as if it had given birth to the念頭 of imitation, spreading out in a decent manner, seemingly trying to幻化人形... It was a pity that there were too few of these flames, and no matter how it swayed, it was just a pitiful appearance that could be extinguished at any time.

"..."

Song Ci retracted his raised hand. To cover up his embarrassment, he scratched his hair unnaturally.

His warning just now... seemed superfluous.

This strange bell was protected so preciously by Liu Yi... Could it be some high-sequence sealed object? But judging from its performance just now, this sealed object didn't seem to be very useful?

Dragging him into a dream only lasted a few seconds.

Dragging Gu Shen into a dream... it failed directly.

Gu Shen was even more茫然. He had silently clenched the尺 of Truth, ready to fight at any time... After leaving Fulong Lane with his Senior Sister, he noticed something was wrong. There was an unusual murderous aura in the air, and sure enough, he found the fallen patrolman not far away.

And after摸to here, he saw Liu Yi.

Previously, in the Huazhi Building, Gu Shen had偷looked at the scene of this woman and Cui Zhongcheng's conversation... He knew that this was Zhao Xilai's subordinate, and there was only one possibility for her to appear in Lion Lane.

Huazhi was preparing to take action against the Madam!

No matter what, he could not watch the Madam fall into danger.

That bell was an extremely dangerous sealed object, capable of forming a great impact on精神力... He had been cautiously guarding against it, but just now, the bell rang, but he had no reaction.

That sense of danger... had also dissipated.

"What... the hell is this?"

Liu Yi really began to doubt her life. She had come to Lion Lane confidently with the [Soul-Locking Bell], but the result was a bit滑稽... She now suspected that she had taken the wrong sealed object, causing her action in Lion Lane to look like a comedy performance.

Why, could this weak小子 resist the梦入 of the A-grade sealed object?!

Several beams of strong light shone from the distant alley, and several transcendents from the诚心会南堂, holding the members of the five-person team in custody, slowly appeared at the entrance of the alley.

"Mr. Song."

"Mr. Yingji, what should we do?"

These people were all under the management of the South Bay faction. They had received Chen San's order this time to protect the residence, and usually obeyed Song Ci's orders.

It was the first time that he hadn't been called Crow by the brothers on the road, and Song Ci was a little unaccustomed... What Mr. Song, Mr. Yingji, were these titles that the混子 of the诚心会 should be calling?

He had a headache and made a gesture, signaling them to hold the opponents, and千万not to let go.

"Alright."

Song Ci came to Liu Yi and said, "Liu Yi, put down your weapons..."

Looking back at her队员.

Liu Yi took a deep breath, as if she had made a great decision. She chose to give up resistance... The炽光 of the [Spirit Eye] slowly dimmed, and the spirit that had凝聚 also飘散 with the wind.

Had she given up?

Many people breathed a sigh of relief.

Madam's instructions came through Song Ci's earpiece. He listened silently and frowned slightly.

After a moment of thought, Song Ci opened his mouth: "Madam wants to see you."

Then he stretched out his palm.

Liu Yi handed over the [Soul-Locking Bell] very reluctantly.

After losing the support of extraordinary source質 and spiritual power, the small bell returned to its original form... One by one, the talismans floated and stuck back to the surface. The whole bell became哑光失色,斑驳老旧, very inconspicuous.

"Tsk..."

Song Ci捻了捻 the bell, a little鄙夷, and more puzzled, thinking that this broken thing, which was not very靈驗, was treasured and regarded as a baby?