At night, the long smoke disappears into the sky, the moon and stars are sparse, and the noisy Beikai City gradually returns to tranquility. In the center of the city, there is a majestic mansion, still brightly lit, which is the palace of the city lord.
It's just that the current City Lord's Mansion, despite the hanging lights and colorful decorations and the courtyard walls covered with red silk, does not make people feel festive at all. Instead, it smells of decay and depression.
And in this corner of the mansion, the ground was cracked and rocks collapsed, it was devastated, and the surrounding area was in chaos. It was obvious that an extremely tragic war had broken out here.
Not long after, a gust of wind passed by, and two figures suddenly arrived here.
Through the bright moonlight, I could make out the general appearance of the two figures.
One of them was eight feet tall, muscular and as strong as an ox, with a pair of tiger eyes that were bright even in the dark night.
The other person is light and graceful. She must be a woman. Even though she is covered with a veil, she still cannot hide her noble and elegant temperament. It is not difficult to imagine how stunning she is under the veil.
However, looking at the devastated place in front of her, the woman's originally thin and watery eyes suddenly became a little more eager, adding a touch of charming charm to this cold and mysterious person.
"General Li Nong, have you thought it through?"
The sweet voice was like a breeze blowing by, coming from the woman's mouth, as if it had some magic power.
"In such a situation, even if I want to refuse, I'm afraid it will be difficult to do so..."
The man who spoke was clearly Li Nong, and the identity of the woman beside him was also revealed—a mysterious woman who claimed to be the "Holy Girl of the Tianming Sect."
"Both the general and Eunuch Xu are dead, which means something happened on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. I guess the emperor suspects that the remnants of the Liang Dynasty are coming back, and will soon summon the family army to go back. I am afraid that I and the soldiers under my command will not escape death. Even if it doesn't work, I will be punished for several crimes and thrown into prison. I can't bear the suffering of my subordinates and the Li family, so I might as well find a way out for myself, but the Tianming Sect you call..."
As if she heard the doubt in Li Nong's tone, the woman chuckled, her beautiful eyes turning into a beautiful crescent moon.
"General, you can rest assured. Although our Tian Ming Sect is not as powerful as several major imperial dynasties in the world, our power in the Eastern Region is definitely not small. Moreover, when our Sect is developing and growing, you will pretend to be deserters fleeing from the Northern Region. , it’s not difficult to accept you.” The woman’s beautiful eyes sparkled, as if everything was under her plan, “What’s more, the two countries Zhao and Chang in the east are so close together that even the Ming Dynasty can’t reach them. On the contrary, I, the Tianming Sect, , and also has some say in the court."
His confident and somewhat domineering words made Li Nong look slightly sideways, "Since your sect is so powerful, it should be well-known. Why have I never heard of the name 'Tianming Sect'?"
"Haha, it seems that General Li Nong still can't trust me..."
The sweet sound like silver bells echoed in the thick night, and the woman's thin eyebrows like ink willows were raised slightly, as if she had all kinds of charm.
"The sect only changed its name in recent years. If the previous name is revealed, it will always cause big and small troubles."
"However, now that we have cooperated with the general, it is appropriate for me to tell you the truth. Our Tianming Sect was once called the Demon Sect by the world."
This name that once made Dahuang tremble made Li Nong's pupils suddenly shrink. However, he did not believe it completely. Instead, he lowered his eyes and fell into deep thought.
After a long time, Li Nong seemed to have accepted the woman's suggestion. He clasped his fists and said, "In that case, I'll do my best to help you, the Holy Lady."
"General, you are polite. According to the agreement, I will investigate this place. If there is any trace of the Heart-Eating Soul-Seizing Bell, I will give a thank you gift to the General."
The woman bent her knees, bowed generously, and said to Li Nong.
Li Nong was naturally very satisfied with this attitude, so he spread his hands and said, "Please!"
The night wind blew up the green hair on the woman's forehead, revealing a little cinnabar on her forehead. Under the reflection of the moonlight, it looked really moving.
The woman made a few hand seals, and then pointed her sword finger between her eyebrows. A vast amount of true energy stirred up countless smoke and dust, spreading in all directions like a wave.
The combination of true energy and divine consciousness? What a good idea!
Li Nong stood aside and admired secretly in his heart.
After a long time, the woman's true energy dissipated, but her eyebrows frowned unconsciously.
"How about it? I didn't find it?"
Seeing that the woman's eyes were dimmed, Li Nong asked tentatively.
The woman didn't hide anything and nodded lightly.
The two sides were silent for a moment, and Li Nong didn't know what to say.
"What exactly is the Heart-Eating Soul-Seizing Bell?"
The cold moonlight shone on the palm of her hand. The woman turned her gaze to her side and said quietly: "Let me tell you a story..."
"It is said that the founder of Buddhism transformed the world in his lifetime. Before his merits were perfected and he ascended from the lower world, he sealed all his greed and evil thoughts in a magic weapon, and achieved the supreme road in an empty and holy manner. Only that one The magic weapon has been left in troubled times forever."
"With such great power, how can the things left behind be ordinary things? Those despicable and cruel evil thoughts and dissatisfied greed, over time, actually gave birth to spiritual wisdom. It uses the world's greed, hatred, Evil thoughts and other negative emotions feed on it, until one day, its energy has accumulated to an immeasurable level, breaking through the seal and causing harm to the people."
"The evil thing you said gave birth to intelligence, is it the Heart-Eating Soul-Seizing Bell?"
Li Nong frowned when he heard this. He couldn't calm down for a long time and couldn't help but ask aloud.
"Yes, this heart-eating and soul-stealing bell will be attracted to people with deep evil thoughts in their hearts and give them power, but on the other hand, the body and soul of those who gain its power will be cannibalized by it and become demon slaves. This is how it works. Although the magic weapon of spiritual wisdom is called a holy weapon to suppress the religion in our demon sect, it is actually a great evil object. The founder of our demon sect relied on its power to set off a bloody storm in the troubled times a hundred years ago. The world will be in turmoil."
"Originally, the Heart-Eating Soul-Seizing Bell has been sealed by the leader, but later the Demonic Cult was stolen by a powerful person, and it was therefore left outside. It is more reassuring to control such a terrifying thing in our own hands."
Speaking of this, the woman's silver bell-like voice was suddenly filled with a bit of chill, and the bright moonlight cast down, illuminating the woman's eyebrows and eyes like ink strokes.
"Of course, the saintly lady is very considerate."
Unable to help but think of what Li Changsheng had done, Li Nong raised his hand and complimented him and said, "If this heart-eating and soul-stealing bell is obtained by someone with intentions, the consequences may be disastrous."
The woman stopped talking and used her spiritual consciousness to search again. There was obviously unwillingness in her beautiful eyes.
But unfortunately, still nothing was found.
"Lord Saint, why don't I summon the sergeants from the City Lord's Mansion tomorrow and ask them if they have witnessed the whereabouts of this thing?"
Sighing softly, the woman had to give up temporarily, "Okay, then I'll trouble the general."
"It's not about trouble. Help is mutual. I may have to rely on the Holy Lady a lot in the future."
The woman smiled coldly in her heart, bowed politely, and then the two of them left the place together.
On the road, there happened to be two Li family soldiers carrying lanterns and walking towards them from a distance.
The two sides met each other, and by the candlelight, the two soldiers recognized the man in front of them as Li Nong, and immediately stood up straight and saluted him.
"I've seen the right general!"
Seeing the woman behind Li Nong, the two soldiers showed surprise in their eyes, but due to Li Nong's identity, they did not say anything.
"It's so late, where did you come from?"
One of the soldiers clasped his fists and replied: "Back to General Right, the two of us just went to the dungeon to deliver meals to the prisoners. By the way, we got orders from Lord Li Bo to clean up the dungeon."
After looking them up and down, Li Nong guessed that they were not lying.
"Where is Li Bo now?"
"Go back to the right general. Mr. Li Bo was seriously injured and was sent back to his residence for treatment."
The soldier replied respectfully.
"Okay, I'll go see him later. Thank you for your hard work. Go back first."
After hearing Li Nong's words, the two soldiers glanced at the woman behind them calmly, then lowered their heads and left quickly.
When the two of them walked away, the woman stepped forward and asked, "Are there dungeons in the palaces of princes, generals and ministers? This is the first time this lady has heard of it."
"Lord Saint, you are joking. The forces in Beikai City are complex. Some family chambers of commerce have prisons. My Li family is stationed here and it also acts as half of the yamen. It is not unusual to have a dungeon, right?"
The woman chuckled and said, "Who are the people imprisoned?"
"Of course there are many evil and vicious people in Beikai City, and..."
"What else?" the woman seemed interested and asked.
"There are still people who have offended Li Changsheng!"
…………
At the same time, in the secret crypt of the City Lord's Mansion, from a stone room in the deepest part, a vague and weird roar came out. In this dark and silent environment, it was like the sound of a bell ringing in the heart, making people feel chilling and frightened.
Inside, there was a man with disheveled hair who was chained to the wall. The moon-white robe on his body was already covered in dust and exuded a rotting stench. It had not been washed for an unknown amount of time.
But the exposed smooth skin and tender cheeks make it hard to believe that the person imprisoned here is actually a young man!
Hidden under the thick and messy hair, the bloodshot pupils contained endless resentment, just like a ghost. Just looking at him would make people's hearts tremble.
"Damn...die!"
The young man craned his neck and stared, the black resentment turned into reality in an instant, gushing out blindingly!
boom!
In an instant, a strong aura of resentment had covered the entire cell, as if an evil spirit had appeared, and it was extremely terrifying.
But not long after, the black energy quickly dissipated and condensed into a wave that surged towards the young man's palm.
Feeling the heavy weight in his palm, the young man cast a turbid gaze.
A bronze bell with mysterious lines painted on it. If you stare at it for a long time, you will even have sinful and crazy thoughts out of thin air.
"You are finally back..."
The young man's lips moved and he made an inarticulate voice: "Let the troubled world be more chaotic, the Heart-Eating Soul-Seizing Bell!"
