The little girl holding the bell was, of course, Su Huaiying.
And what she held in her hand was none other than the primary culprit behind the catastrophic floods of Yong'an Prefecture, the "Reversal Bell", which resided within the secret realm of the Yong'an River.
Reversal: Reversing life and death, Manifesting the Bardo Realm.
This was the Divine Ability of the Reversal Bell.
It could summon back to the human realm those divine souls that had already dissipated, allowing them to be commanded by its wielder!
However, this Divine Ability of the Reversal Bell did not come without conditions.
The first was a hard requirement: the divine souls summoned by the Reversal Bell must have died within the past three months.
If more than three months had passed, the soul would have entirely returned to the netherworld, restructured into the fabric of all things, and could no longer be reconstituted.
The second condition: the deeper the connection between the soul and the wielder, the better the result of the summoning.
This "connection" could, in fact, be understood as obsession or lingering will, and not the wielder's attachment to the souls, but the souls' obsession with the wielder.
Only in this way could the souls be summoned back in full.
The deeper the obsession, the more complete the soul would be; on the contrary, a soul summoned with insufficient obsession might return as either a cripple or an idiot.
A crippled soul meant one with incomplete abilities, while an idiot referred to a confused consciousness.
Without a doubt, the soldiers who had defended the cities of the Liang Kingdom, as well as the troops of the Huo Clan Army, had not yet even passed the two-month mark since their deaths, they were all extremely fresh divine souls.
As for the obsession they bore in their hearts, it was naturally toward the already fallen Liang Kingdom, and its sole surviving royal heir, the little princess Su Huaiying.
Therefore, the divine souls Su Huaiying summoned using the Reversal Bell at this moment were none other than the nearly complete soldiers and generals of the fallen Liang Kingdom!
Their forms were preserved exactly as they had been in the final moments before death, and so too were their strengths.
At the front stood a young general, holding a long halberd and a banner fashioned from the clothing of his fallen comrades. The flag flapped violently in the wind, and upon it was drawn in fresh blood a powerful, calligraphic character: "Huo".
This, of course, represented the Huo Clan Army once commanded by Huo Hengxuan.
At that time, outside the capital, those who still fought to the death for the City, in addition to the cultivators from Lingtai Mountain, were, for the most part, the spontaneously regrouped remnants of the Huo Clan Army.
As a result, these men later all died upon the battlefields...
Back when Chen Kuang had broken out from the capital, in the mountains of corpses and seas of blood beyond the walls, he had seen this distinctive flag planted at the heart of a mound of fallen soldiers.
The original palace guards inside the Liang capital had, in fact, all later been merged into the Black Armor Army, used as decoys and distractions, and in the end, foolishly sacrificed to pave the way for Li Hongling.
The Huo Clan Army, however, was not like those useless drunkards and gluttons. It was an elite force personally trained and cultivated by Huo Hengxuan.
A thought flickered through Chen Kuang's mind:
"If the fall of the Liang Kingdom was a setup from the very beginning, then the initial conflict between Huo Hengxuan and Su Yu, the confiscation of the Tiger Tally, and the disbanding of the Huo Clan Army, these must all have been part of the act."
"It's possible... that Huo Hengxuan hoped to use this pretext to keep the Huo Clan Army away from the coming war, to preserve as much of their living strength as possible."
"But unfortunately, whether out of loyalty to the Emperor and country, or out of devotion to Huo Hengxuan himself, the Huo Clan Army insisted on returning to the capital, and became one more pile in that sea of corpses."
But regardless, at this very moment, their hearts must be filled with nothing but exhilaration and joy.
The opportunity they had bought with their lives had allowed the final royal descendant of the Liang Kingdom to survive, and now, she was once again leading them onto the battlefield!
To them, this was likely the finest resting place they could ever hope for.
Su Huaiying stood atop the stone outcrop, shouting loudly for the Huo Clan Army to face the enemy and commanding the troops to change formation.
Though her voice was childlike, and her figure small, her gaze was cold and sharp. In her sweeping commands and authoritative gestures, there was an overwhelming and irresistible might.
And how could the divine souls summoned by the Reversal Bell dare disobey her orders?
In fact, because of the link forged through the bell, these divine souls worked together even more seamlessly, and their response time to Su Huaiying's orders was significantly faster.
More importantly, the souls were not bound by physical bodies, and could move freely within the Bardo Realm.
This allowed them to switch formations with incredible speed.
The reaction time of individual soldiers and the repositioning time of the entire army approached zero!
In the blink of an eye, all the soldiers moved to the positions Su Huaiying had designated, opposing the enemies they were meant to face.
From above, looking down, the soldiers on both sides resembled black and white stones on a Go board.
Just as one side's formation was about to take shape, the other side suddenly had a large number of pieces drop from the sky, completely filling the gaps, and even capturing many of the enemy's pieces.
In an instant, the formation of the Yang Kingdom's forces on the board was thrown into complete disarray!
"Kill!!"
As the cries of battle shook the heavens, this true ghost army shattered the forward ranks of the Yang Kingdom troops!
However, this did not mean they could steamroll the elite forces of the Yang Kingdom.
On the contrary, the Yang Kingdom's military strength overall was several times greater than that of the Liang spirits.
The summoned troops had not become stronger, they were still what they had been in life. And due to variations in obsession, there were different degrees of spiritual damage.
Some lacked the strength to even allow their souls to exist outside their bodies. If their original physical power had been too weak, the instant their souls left the body, they would be annihilated by the Bardo Realm.
Their continued existence now relied entirely on the Divine Ability of the Reversal Bell.
This was what made the Reversal Bell so powerful.
Yet even now, Su Huaiying's goal was not to have them engage the enemy forces directly.
What she truly intended to affect was the formation force led by Jiang Wei on the opposing side.
As the enemy formation was thrown into chaos, and as the Yang Kingdom soldiers were stricken with terror at the appearance of these out-of-nowhere phantoms, their morale began to plummet while that of the Liang spirits rose.
And the momentum shifted accordingly.
High in the sky, the second illusory figure finally revealed its full form.
It was a colossal dual-aspect phantasm, standing at a hundred zhang tall!
On one side was the solemn Dharma form of Water-Moon Guanyin, fragrant with orchids and musk, her jade ornaments softly chiming.
Her face was as lovely as an illusory moon and her half-lowered eyes emanated compassion as lotus blossoms bloomed all around her, utterly divine.
Strangely, the half-closed eyes of this Guanyin were of a deep, ethereal blue.
On the other side was the wrathful face of the Asura War God, with bulging muscles and a demonic aura.
His skin was dark with bluish hues, crisscrossed by blood-red flame markings. He held a Vajra pestle in one hand, and behind him, a pitch-black divine light flared like a scorching sun, with vicious qi piercing the sky.
This was the Dharma Form of the Formation Force!
As for the Dharma form formed by Jiang Wei's own military formation, it was only about forty zhang tall.
Originally, even that would have been considered quite grand. But compared to this, Jiang Wei's phantasm looked like a child, laughably small.
Such a towering and terrifying Dharma form naturally provoked even greater panic.
The Yang Kingdom's commanding general, Jiang Wei, immediately snapped back to his senses. His eyes gleamed with fierce light, his killing intent radiating, as he raised his military banner and pointed straight at Su Huaiying.
He circulated his Spiritual Energy, roaring:
"Don't panic! Just because their formation force technique is strong doesn't mean their strength is! She's only at the Qi Opening Realm, kill her first!"
This Yang Kingdom force was indeed made up of battle-hardened veterans, and the subordinate officers immediately understood.
This momentum was strong in appearance but weak in essence.
The Dharma form was so terrifying only because the formation cultivation technique Su Huaiying practiced was extremely high-level, but she herself did not possess the cultivation strength to support it.
In other words, this momentum formation would only last for a very short period of time.
And Su Huaiying, as the commanding general, was extremely fragile.
She was the core of the formation, and also its greatest weakness.
Jiang Wei stabilized his troops' morale, then began to redirect the offensive toward Su Huaiying's position.
For any momentum formation led by a commanding general, its greatest threat was never an individual, but rather another momentum formation.
Therefore, the formation core must be broken first!
However, Jiang Wei himself did not join the charge. Instead, he continued his pursuit of the fleeing Chen Kuang.
That was his mission.
Everything else was merely an obstacle, not the objective.
Chen Kuang had only just broken out and covered a few li of distance when he heard the cry of galloping hooves. The next moment, Jiang Wei, mounted on horseback, appeared up ahead.
"Don't bother resisting. There's no escape for you today!"
Jiang Wei sneered coldly, seated atop a Heavenly Steed with its wings half-folded.
Chen Kuang's heart sank.
At his current speed, he simply could not outrun a Heavenly Steed.
And if Jiang Wei wanted to intercept him, it would only take an instant.
Boom!!!
Above, the two manifestation phantoms born of the momentum formations clashed. The Vajra Demon-Subduing Pestle and the enemy's divine weapon collided, unleashing a thunderous roar.
The asura within the two-faced manifestation forcefully brought down the Vajra Pestle with a resounding crash, smashing the opposing phantom into the earth while surrounding soldiers were likewise pounded into pulp.
Meanwhile, the Water-Moon Guanyin reached out a hand, gently supporting a lotus blossom and scattering it outward.
The lotus flower dissolved in mid-air, its petals drifting down and transforming into drops of sweet rain. These fell upon the soldiers of the Huo Clan Army, healing their wounds, shielding them in shimmering protective barriers.
Creak..
That divine general's manifestation looked battered, but its footing was remarkably stable. It raised its longsword horizontally with trembling arms, managing to block the Vajra Pestle and slowly push it upward bit by bit.
Elsewhere, the battlefield had descended into all-out chaos, soldiers on both sides locked in brutal close-quarters combat. Gains and losses ebbed back and forth, making it hard to tell who actually had the upper hand.
And not far off, several cultivators were closing in on Su Huaiying.
Su Huaiying, however, was staring straight at Chen Kuang, her gaze unwavering as she shouted, "Chen Kuang! If you don't want to die, get over here!"
...Why did that sound like some villain taunting their prey?
Chen Kuang took a deep breath, abandoning the idea of luring the enemy away on his own. Instead, he turned into a streak of light and rushed straight toward Su Huaiying.
Neighhh!
Jiang Wei was right on his tail.
In a blink, he raised his military banner high as the Heavenly Steed reared with a sharp cry, its iron hooves gleaming as it thundered down toward Chen Kuang!
His expression was fierce, and the Spiritual Energy surged violently around him, kicking up dust and gravel in all directions.
Jiang Wei had previously been ordered to wait outside Zangfeng Prefecture.
Though he had seen the column of light piercing the heavens and the various supernatural phenomena overhead, he had never expected that the one responsible for it all would be this Tower Ascension Realm kid.
He had full confidence that this blow wouldn't kill Chen Kuang outright, but it would absolutely cripple him!
Chen Kuang held his breath and focused his mind.
In that instant, he chose instead to relax his body as much as possible as he dropped his Spiritual Energy defenses entirely, even suppressing his energy circulation, letting it go dormant within his meridians.
Although his power had been passively enhanced, as long as his opponent's strength wasn't vastly superior and he himself remained in control, it hadn't yet exceeded the limits of the Sea-Cleaving Realm.
Before Jiang Wei, who was at the Moon-Embracing Realm, this much power was nowhere near sufficient.
As the hoof came crashing down just above his head, goosebumps erupted across Chen Kuang's back.
Originally, Jiang Wei's strike had only been a full-powered attack. But now, thanks to Chen Kuang's ability, it had been transformed into a lethal blow.
"Bullet Time."
"Mirror Flower."
Activated!
Boom!
The horse's hoof landed with tremendous force, Chen Kuang didn't dodge.
Jiang Wei's heart jolted, he quickly yanked back the reins, but a split second later, he realized something was wrong.
As the wind howled past, the Chen Kuang under his hoof was instantly torn apart!
A phantom image!
Jiang Wei's pupils contracted sharply as he let go of the reins and allowed his steed to trample through the illusion. Whipping his head around toward Su Huaiying, he spotted the young man's silhouette.
Chen Kuang had already rushed to within ten zhang of Su Huaiying.
That speed?!
Impossible!
Jiang Wei was shaken.
Having ridden this Heavenly Steed for years, he knew its speed better than anyone.
But just now, Chen Kuang's speed had absolutely surpassed that of a Heavenly Steed!
That was completely impossible for someone in the Tower Ascension Realm!
But Jiang Wei did not immediately give chase. Instead, he frowned deeply.
Chen Kuang had run deeper into the encirclement instead of trying to break out?
He didn't understand.
Was this not walking into a trap?
Chen Kuang met the little princess's gaze and instantly understood, she wasn't bluffing.
She believed he would die, likely based on some calculated outcome. And from that conclusion, she had appeared here, just in time to save him.
Because Chen Kuang had already heard that Su Huaiying had gone to Yong'an Prefecture together with Zhang Zhizhou, he understood that this prediction must have come from Zhang Zhizhou.
"If that's the case, then Zhang Zhizhou should still be with the little princess... but where is he now?"
Just as this thought crossed Chen Kuang's mind, he saw a figure emerge from behind Su Huaiying.
It was a middle-aged man who seemed to perfectly embody the stereotype of a pedantic Confucian scholar.
He wore a long scholar's robe, a single wooden hairpin neatly tucked into his hair, looking as if he might break into an essay of "thus and therefore" at any moment.
This man, naturally, was Zhang Zhizhou, the senior disciple of Liberty Mountain!
Zhang Zhizhou surveyed the area, nodded slightly, and smiled.
"Perfect timing."
He pulled out the wooden hairpin from his head and gave it a light flick. Instantly, a crack appeared down the center of the pin, and it began to grow, sprouting twigs, unfurling branches, and blooming with dazzling peach blossoms.
Zhang Zhizhou sighed.
"Unfortunately, this isn't the right season to admire peach blossoms."
"But... I've always felt that doing the wrong thing in the wrong season, from time to time, can be a kind of refined pleasure too."
He swept the blossoming peach branch through the air and said calmly:
"This soil is rich and fertile, perfect for a peach grove."
"Let the seeds sprout."
Shua! Shua! Shua!...
As Zhang Zhizhou's voice fell, a rustling sound of overwhelming presence suddenly rang out from all across the battlefield.
"What is that?!"
"What's going on? What is that?!"
"Ah!"
"Fall back!"
"Watch out!"
Amidst the chaos, no one could react in time.
All across the battlefield, countless trees abruptly burst through stone slabs and soil, shooting up at incredible speed, growing into towering, upright peach trees!
The speed at which these peach trees grew was astonishing and nearly instantaneous!
Obviously, the soldiers who had been focused solely on their enemies had never even considered that something could be buried beneath the earth beneath their feet.
These peach trees were clearly no ordinary peach trees either.
Not only did they grow at incredible speeds, but the tips of their branches were extremely sharp, and the trees themselves were so solid that their hardness rivaled metal and stone.
This meant that during their growth, the peach trees became like sharp swords, piercing straight through anything above them!
Shhht! Shhht! Shhht!...
The soldiers were thus impaled from the base up, skewered alive by the peach trees and hoisted into the air, suspended on the treetops.
Blood streamed down the trunks, and organs splattered across nearby soldiers and their stunned faces.
And those peach trees, after absorbing that blood, instantly bloomed with vibrant, stunningly beautiful peach blossoms!
Blood, broken limbs, and blooming peach flowers all formed a grotesquely enchanting tableau.
Crimson blossoms like clouds, an enchanting peach grove materialized in an instant at the corner of the battlefield.
In that moment, the enemy soldiers collectively retreated, their faces filled with horror, and as they did so, many of them were struck down by the Huo Clan Army as they fled.
In a flash, the morale within the Yang Kingdom's forces plummeted.
Jiang Wei's expression changed. He looked up just in time to see the divine general in the sky falter and take a heavy blow to the shoulder, half of his body forced backward.
BOOM!
The dual-faced avatar seized the opportunity to press the attack, swinging the Vajra Pestle to smash the divine general's arm to pieces!
Jiang Wei spat out a mouthful of blood as blood gushed from his right arm instantly.
As the formation's core, when the avatar suffered damage, he naturally shared in the injury.
His face darkened as he shouted commands to the remaining soldiers:
"Hold formation! Don't panic! Reinforcements will be here soon! The enemy won't last much longer!"
Jiang Wei wasn't lying.
In the sky above, after that strike, the dual-faced avatar had already begun to disintegrate and fragment on its own...
Its body crumbled into pieces and drifted into the void, like a statue in a temple rotting away after centuries.
Many of the divine souls supporting it below, especially the weaker ones, had already begun to fade away.
On the surface, it looked like the Huo Clan Army had the upper hand, but in reality, this was merely a Returning Light.
If the enemy added just one more chip to the scales, the balance would tip instantly...
Su Huaiying's small hand, still clutching the Reversal Bell, was already trembling violently. Her face was nearly pale white and it was clear that she was nearing her limit.
Her cultivation was still too weak.
In truth, she shouldn't even have been able to activate the Reversal Bell.
But in that secret realm, she had gathered many medicinal pills, which she now used to sustain the Divine Ability of the Reversal Bell.
Normally, taking pills this early would negatively impact the quality of her Spiritual Energy.
But Su Huaiying didn't care. Not only could her cultivation technique perfectly remove and refine those impurities, even if it couldn't, she had at least three other ways of solving that problem.
Six hundred years of reincarnation had granted her far more than just a mature mind.
Still, the pills had their limits.
She had to break out with Chen Kuang before they were exhausted!
Boom...
The dual-faced avatar shifted its stance and toppled backward, rolling once and crushing countless soldiers in its path.
Su Huaiying looked toward the onrushing Chen Kuang and extended her hand, sternly saying, "Go! I can't hold on much longer!"
Chen Kuang reached out naturally, but instead of grabbing her hand, he wrapped his arm around her waist and tucked her directly under his arm.
Su Huaiying froze for a moment, then immediately felt overwhelmed with shame and humiliation.
Her little face turned red as she protested:
"I told you to take me with you, not carry me!"
She kicked her little legs in protest. For a child, it didn't amount to much, but her mind was that of a fully grown adult.
Chen Kuang realized and said, "Uh, force of habit, and it's more convenient this way..."
Su Huaiying had no words.
Admittedly, it was the most energy-efficient method... Su Huaiying felt a little gloomy.
Just when would she be able to shed this child's body?
As Chen Kuang ran, he glanced back. "Zhang Zhizhou, are we just leaving him to hold the rear?"
Su Huaiying replied, "He'll be fine."
Zhang Zhizhou's cultivation, like his mind, was unfathomable. Even in the final moments of the illusion realm, Su Huaiying had been unable to probe his true level.
He never struck with his full strength, as though he were still observing and calculating something.
At the very least, he was absolutely not the kind of man to fail under such circumstances.
Chen Kuang made a noncommittal sound.
They had been surrounded tightly before, but now, because of Zhang Zhizhou's peach grove and the avatar's destructive roll, an entire patch of open space had been cleared, becoming the perfect breakout path.
Moreover, that entire peach grove had become a natural roadblock, completely cutting off the pursuers from behind and buying them valuable time.
Carrying Su Huaiying, Chen Kuang soon charged past the border of Zangfeng Prefecture.
But shortly thereafter, his steps halted, his expression turning grave.
Behind them, Jiang Wei suddenly looked delighted, after all, he had already seen the fluttering banners bearing the character "Yang" in the distance:
Reinforcements had arrived!
Chen Kuang took a deep breath. That dense mass of troops and banners formed a dark cloud across the land, as their galloping warhorses kicked up a sky-blotting cloud of dust, surging toward them.
Banners stretched for ten thousand miles, blotting out the sun!
Su Huaiying murmured, "No wonder it's a death tribulation..."
To stand alone against the military might of nearly an entire nation, how could it be anything but a death tribulation?
Jiang Wei had only led an advance detachment.
Now, the troops that had surrounded Zangfeng Prefecture from the outside, originally positioned to fight the rebels, had fully arrived.
Huanfu Yan must have issued the deployment order the instant he agreed to Chen Kuang's request.
Now, they had arrived at precisely the worst possible moment, to block Chen Kuang's escape route.
Su Huaiying's face turned pale as she clenched the Reversal Bell tightly, preparing to take more pills.
Chen Kuang suddenly lowered his head and asked, "This bell, can it summon the spirits of the dead?"
Su Huaiying froze, then nodded. "Yes."
Chen Kuang said gravely, "Give it to me."
Su Huaiying hesitated for a moment. But after a brief thought, she understood that he intended to use it himself, and so handed the bell over. "I'll teach you the incantation-"
This was, after all, an extremely rare and precious ancient relic. Yet as she passed it to him, there wasn't the slightest hesitation or suspicion.
Chen Kuang smiled. "I don't need it."
Su Huaiying frowned. "Then how will you use it?"
Chen Kuang answered obliquely, "This scene reminds me of a poem General Huo recited before his death."
Su Huaiying was puzzled, but her curiosity was piqued.
When Huo Hengxuan died, Chen Kuang should've been busy helping them escape... when would he have had time to listen to poetry?
Was he making this up at such a critical moment?
But if he didn't recite it, he clearly wouldn't leave. Su Huaiying had no choice but to play along: "What poem?"
Holding the bell, Chen Kuang gazed at the warriors who had returned from the underworld, burning away their spirits to fight for their nation once more, and said softly:
"What regret have I if my head falls today?
A thousand battles mark a difficult campaign.
From the underworld, I'll rally my old troops, with banners flying, we'll slay Yama himself!"
"...Hah. Nice poem."
Suddenly, someone commented, "But how come I don't remember reciting any poem before I died?"
Su Huaiying abruptly turned her head.
There, standing beside them, was a familiar old man with disheveled hair, tattered clothes, a roguish air, and a cold smirk on his face.
It was none other than the "God of Slaughter," Huo Hengxuan!