The Calamity Bell Rings
This Scarlet Heaven Cultist was dumbfounded.
According to the original plan, he would complete the suicide ritual alone in this Unregarded inn, sacrificing the organ corresponding to the "Sighing Wilderness" to attract the descent of the Gray World... But he never expected that just as his ritual was about to be completed, an inexplicable female beggar would suddenly appear.
This female beggar was not only not scared by his ritual, but was terrifyingly calm, casually restraining him. She didn't look like an Ordinary Person at all.
Gurgling blood flowed out of the Scarlet Heaven Cultist's body. Since the suicide ritual began, he had already fallen into a near-death state, and his vitality was also frantically slipping away... His exposed lung lobe continuously heaved, and his Aura gradually weakened.
"You... Are you from the Floating Life Painting? Or... the Dusk Society??"
"Neither."
"Then you... you..." The Scarlet Heaven Cultist glared at her fixedly, wanting to blurt out "Then what the f*ck does it have to do with you," but he didn't even have the strength to curse.
Liu Qingyan's hand gripped his arm, refusing to let him tear off the lung lobe no matter what. Those black jewel-like eyes stared at the Scarlet Heaven Cultist and narrowed slightly...
"I see it, your Faith."
Liu Qingyan muttered, her voice possessing a certain soul-stirring power amidst the swaying Kerosene Lamp. "Disaster, ominouness... You, what exactly are you believing in?"
The Scarlet Heaven Cultist didn't answer. He stared fixedly at Liu Qingyan, his eyes full of anger and unwillingness.
If he wasn't currently conducting a suicide ritual, if he hadn't already fallen into a near-death state, he wouldn't be this passive...
"It looks like your ritual requires the removal of this lung lobe to succeed." Liu Qingyan took all this in. A slender finger like jade slowly raised from the darkness.
"That is to say, if I kill you now... even if the ritual fails?"
The Scarlet Heaven Cultist knew he was destined to fail. His vision began to darken due to excessive blood loss, and he could only speak intermittently:
"No matter who is behind you... I am not the only one conducting a suicide ritual in these few blocks... even if the ritual here fails... the surrounding blocks will still experience a Gray Realm Convergence... Do you think just saving this small block... can change anything?"
The faint light of the Kerosene Lamp swayed outside the door. In the dim and narrow room, Liu Qingyan slowly crouched down. The scarlet blood all over the floor dyed the hem of her clothes. Her face was cold and calm in the darkness.
Her gaze passed through the small black window and looked outside. Under the pitch-black night sky, the lights of a Theater House silently illuminated a patch of sky, and the melodious Opera Vocals still echoed.
She said lightly:
"I don't care about other places... but here, is not a place you can lay your hands on."
As her voice fell, Liu Qingyan's fingertip gently flicked the center of the Scarlet Heaven Cultist's forehead.
Bang—
The next moment, his head exploded like a blood flower, instantly splattering the entire wall. Even the tightly closed small black window was dyed with blood, a shocking sight.
Amidst the bloody color all over the floor, Liu Qingyan slowly stood up, calmly stepped over the headless corpse, and came to that tightly closed, blood-stained small black window.
She forcefully pushed the small black window open. Fresh air instantly flowed in, and the originally muffled opera sound outside suddenly became clear and melodious!
Liu Qingyan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Under the illumination of the lights across the street, Liu Qingyan's blood-stained cheeks remained cold and clear.
She gently closed her eyes, her slender eyelashes trembling slightly in the wind, looking as if she was completely intoxicated by Chen Ling's opera.
"Lord Chen Ling singing opera is truly beautiful..."
...
Thud—
A few kilometers away from Jinghong Theater, in another inconspicuous inn, a Scarlet Heaven Cultist crushed into pieces fell to the ground with a muffled sound.
"Damn it... It really is the Scarlet Heaven Cult!!" In the darkness, Wang Jincheng's face was extremely ugly.
"First the Dusk Society, and now a Scarlet Heaven Cult. What kind of terrible luck has the Red Dust Domain fallen into... Attracting two major Plague Gods at once?!"
Wang Jincheng didn't have time to curse anymore. He quickly walked to the window, took out a Walkie-talkie with one hand, and pressed the button:
"I've resolved the one here... How are other places?"
"The one on Green Vine Road is also resolved."
"Damn it... I've already searched all over Narcissus Road, but still haven't found the location of the suicide ritual!"
"I haven't found it here either. These Scarlet Heaven Cultists prepared well in advance and hid themselves very dispersedly. Finding them one by one is simply too late..."
"This is definitely an organized and premeditated Scarlet Heaven Cult attack, and there is definitely someone secretly presiding over the overall situation behind the scenes. We realized it very quickly, but still not as fast as them..."
"It's too late. The suicide rituals of the Scarlet Heaven Cultists are generally conducted simultaneously. I estimate that the vast majority of rituals have already ended now."
"A conservative estimate is that at least a third of the areas in the Red Dust Main City will be swept into the Gray Realm Convergence this time... The resulting casualties will be immeasurable."
"Even the Floating Life Painting can't save everyone."
Wang Jincheng gripped the Walkie-talkie increasingly tightly. The veins on the back of his hand bulged one by one, and anger burned fiercely in his eyes.
"These beasts..."
Before Wang Jincheng's voice fell, streaks of gray and thin "smoke" floated up from everywhere in the Red Dust Main City under the night sky, like some kind of lit campfire, gradually connecting with the sky.
Wang Jincheng knew that it wasn't some campfire at all, but the Red Star Aura escaping from the corpses of Scarlet Heaven Cultists who had completed the suicide ritual... These Auras would attract a certain area of the Gray World to approach, conducting a large-scale convergence.
Almost all the blocks on the south side of the Main City had this kind of "smoke" floating up. Only a few blocks were spared; presumably, something went wrong during the ritual process. But even so, it couldn't change anything. If the surroundings of a block all converged with the Gray World, those Calamities would sooner or later strike from all directions and level everything to the ground.
As these plumes of "smoke" slowly rose into the sky, it was as if a large hole had been burned into the sky. A patch of gray began to rapidly spread outwards, enveloping heaven and earth!
Wang Jincheng witnessed this scene with his own eyes, gritting his teeth tightly... After taking a deep breath, he picked up the Walkie-talkie and slowly spat out four words:
"Ring the Calamity Bell."
...
Jinghong Theater.
"Suddenly hearing the sound of the golden drum and the painted horn shaking, arousing my soaring ambition to break through the Heavenly Gate.
Thinking back to those years on the peach blossom horse, awe-inspiring and majestic, enemy blood splattering the pomegranate skirt..."
On the Stage, Chen Ling, dressed as "Mu Guiying," was pacing along the edge of the stage, striking a pose. Before he finished singing, he seemed to have sensed something and suddenly looked up at the hollowed roof of the Theater House!
In the distant sky, a patch of Grey Intent was rapidly spreading;
This is...
Chen Ling's apricot-red eyes narrowed slightly.
The people Off Stage were watching entranced. The next moment, several thunderous bell chimes sounded from afar!
Clang—
Clang—!!
Clang—!!!
Three rings of the Calamity Bell, turmoil in the Red Dust.