147: A glimpse of chaos, ancient relics

Lin Fan's gaze swept indifferently over the three Loose Cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage, who were kneeling in the Void Realm and trembling like sieves.

He didn't even bother to ask their names.

Nor did he care to investigate where they came from.

As his horizons broadened and his power surged, these beings were now no different from dust by the roadside.

He simply waved his hand.

A halo of Restriction, interwoven with Immortal Dao Qi and tribulation lightning power, appeared out of thin air, firmly locking the three in place.

This Restriction wouldn't kill them.

But it would render them motionless, like mosquitoes trapped in amber, unable to transmit any Divine Thought to the outside world.

Having done all this, he completely forgot about the three.

He turned around and gently helped up Su Meier, who was still leaning in his arms, her eyes a little dazed.

"It's over."

His voice was soft, yet it carried a calming power that could soothe all panic.

Su Meier's long eyelashes trembled slightly.

She slowly recovered from the extreme shock.

She looked up, gazing at Lin Fan.

The man before her still had that handsome face and that not-so-burly physique.

But in Su Meier's eyes, his figure, at this moment, grew infinitely tall, as if he could support this collapsing world with his shoulders.

She felt the warmth of his palm on her arm.

She felt the domineering aura emanating from him, still not fully contained after devouring the Ancient Immortal's remnant thought, an aura mixed with Immortal Dao Divine Might and destructive lightning.

An unprecedented sense of security, like a warm tide, instantly enveloped her entire Divine Soul.

All the previous fear and coldness were completely dispelled at this moment.

As long as she was by his side.

Even if an unfathomably dark ancient hall lay ahead.

She would no longer feel any fear.

Lin Fan said nothing more.

He simply took her slightly cool, soft and boneless hand.

Then, he stepped forward, leading her, step by step, slowly walking towards the depths of the open ancient hall, which resembled the maw of a giant beast.

Su Meier's heart skipped a beat.

She could clearly feel the warmth and dryness of his palm on the back of her hand.

It was a very reassuring and stable feeling.

She subconsciously turned her hand and gripped his tightly.

As if to entrust everything she had to him.

Her cheeks uncontrollably flushed with a captivating blush, dispelling her paleness and adding a breathtaking charm and allure to her entire being.

She lowered her head, not daring to look at Lin Fan's profile.

She could only see their clasped hands.

And the deep, dark path beneath their feet, leading to the unknown.

Passing through the broken hall entrance, the light suddenly dimmed.

A more concentrated and ancient Qi, more potent than the outside, rushed towards them.

But this time, it was no longer wild and chaotic Spiritual Qi.

Instead, it was a purer, more primordial Chaos Qi.

These grayish Qi currents were as heavy as lead, flowing slowly in the air; each breath seemed to inhale the dust of ages and the weight of countless years.

The surrounding walls and ground displayed an extremely ancient, grayish-blue hue.

There were no carvings or runes on them, only a Dao texture that had endured billions of years of erosion yet remained indestructible.

Here, time seemed to lose its meaning.

Space was also stable to an astonishing degree.

Lin Fan even felt that if he dared to use even a trace of spatial Divine Ability, his Physical Body would be instantly torn into its most basic particles by these extremely stable Laws.

The two passed through a not-too-long, dark passage.

Ahead, it suddenly opened up.

A distorted spatial gate, rippling like water, quietly floated at the end of the passage.

Lin Fan's steps halted.

He could feel that beyond the gate lay the true core of this ruin.

He turned his head and glanced at Su Meier.

Su Meier was also looking up at him, her watery, foxy eyes filled with unreserved trust and reliance.

Lin Fan smiled slightly at her.

Then, holding her hand, he stepped into the distorted spatial gate without hesitation.

Buzz.

A slight sensation of Divine Soul dizziness came over them.

The next moment.

The two were already in a completely independent and mysterious space.

There was no sky, no earth here.

All around were endless, swirling gray Chaos Qi currents.

And in the very center of this independent space.

An ancient giant bell, a thousand zhang tall, quietly floated there.

It was not a physical entity.

But a flickering phantom.

There were no ornate patterns on the bell's body, only some ancient, unadorned Dao marks that had naturally formed when heaven and earth first opened.

It just floated there quietly.

It did not emit any Divine Might, nor did it cause any earth-shattering phenomena.

However.

The moment he saw the phantom of this giant bell.

Lin Fan's Immortal Grade Nascent Soul suddenly stopped rotating.

The nine-colored Immortal light instantly dimmed.

An extreme resonance and sense of surrender, originating from the deepest part of his Soul and the Origin of his life, erupted!

That was not fear.

But an instinctive call and belonging, like a wanderer seeing his mother, a subject seeing his monarch, a creation seeing its Origin.

This giant bell seemed to be the ultimate destination of his Immortal Grade Nascent Soul.

Lin Fan's breathing became heavy at this moment.

His gaze was fixed on the ancient phantom of the giant bell.

A monstrous wave surged in his heart.

This was... the chaos bell.

The legendary Innate Supreme Treasure.

Even if it was just a phantom, even if it had no Divine Might.

The shock and oppressive feeling it brought, originating from the Origin of the Great Dao, far surpassed everything he had ever seen!

A heartfelt, sincere reverence arose from the bottom of Lin Fan's heart.

But closely following that.

Was an even stronger, almost reason-devouring, extreme desire.

He wanted to obtain it.

At all costs.

He had to completely control this supreme treasure, which represented the ultimate truth of heaven and earth, in his own hands!

As if sensing Lin Fan's strong will.

His Soul-Devouring Dao Body, which had just completed its transformation and was faintly glowing with Immortal light on its surface, began to operate on its own at this moment.

Buzz!

Around the phantom of the giant bell, some previously dim Immortal Dao runes suddenly flickered with faint light.

Vast and obscure information, instead of directly surging in, transformed into countless fragmented Dao imprints and forcefully carved themselves into Lin Fan's Divine Soul!

Images flashed rapidly before his eyes.

He saw the Chaos unformed, the Grandmist unseparated, a giant bell born in endless nothingness, and with its first chime, heaven and earth initially divided.

He saw the Ancient Immortal-devil war, blood staining the star river, countless Immortals fighting valiantly but still retreating steadily, the Immortal Realm collapsing.

He saw a peerless mighty figure, standing tall, integrating himself with the Dao, tragically activating the chaos bell, and forcefully suppressing an immortal realm fragment that had been corroded by Devilish Qi.

He saw a black, unnamable terror called the "Era Calamity" slowly approaching.

And the chaos bell was the "beacon" left for future generations before the arrival of that great calamity.

It was also the "last line of defense" guarding this world.

When he finished reading this information, Lin Fan's heart sank heavily.

He had always regarded the "Era Calamity" as a distant goal, an ultimate dungeon to grind for rewards.

But until this moment.

He truly and clearly realized the urgency and destructiveness that this great calamity represented.

An unprecedented, heavy sense of responsibility, for the first time, weighed on his shoulders.

To be cautious was to survive.

But if the entire world ceased to exist.

Where could he hide?

His gaze slowly moved away from the phantom of the chaos bell.

He noticed that there were other things scattered at the edge of this space.

These were some ancient Immortal Artifact fragments that were already badly damaged.

On each fragment, there remained terrifying fluctuations of Immortal Dao Laws.

There were also a few ancient-looking Storage Rings.

Clearly, these were the relics left by the Ancient Immortal Lord who had integrated himself with the Dao and suppressed this place.

Lin Fan suppressed the turmoil in his heart and walked over, holding Su Meier's hand.

He carefully collected those Immortal Artifact fragments.

The top-tier Immortal Dao Materials contained within these fragments were priceless to him.

Subsequently, his Divine Thought probed into those Storage Rings.

Top-Grade Spirit Stones, Ancient Spiritual Plants, powerful Cultivation Techniques, Divine Ability texts... a surge of irrepressible joy welled up in Lin Fan's heart.

These relics undoubtedly provided him with immense help in resisting the great calamity.

Just at this moment.

His Divine Thought probed into the last, and most inconspicuous, black ring.

There were very few things in this ring.

Only two items.

An ancient beast-skin map, sealed for countless millennia.

And a Jade Slip, shimmering with a faint purple light.

Lin Fan's heart suddenly pounded.

He took out the beast-skin map.

The map seemed to depict the general outline of the entire Cultivation World.

But in a few remote corners of the map, several strange, continuously flickering red dot areas were marked with scarlet cinnabar.

Next to these red dots, there was also a short annotation written in Ancient Immortal script.

"Source of Devilish Qi, Eye of the Calamity, do not enter."

Lin Fan's pupils suddenly contracted.

His gaze shifted to the purple Jade Slip.

He slowly extended a wisp of Divine Thought into it.

Boom!

A will even grander and clearer than when he read the chaos bell's information descended into his Divine Soul.

It was the last words of an Immortal Lord.

And the very first sentence of the last words made Lin Fan's entire body freeze in place.

"Successor, when you see this Jade Slip, you must have already obtained my Legacy and passed the test of that mutated remnant thought."

"I do not know who you are, nor where you come from."

"But I have waited for you for countless years."

"Only one with a pure Immortal Dao Qi and that legendary special Dao Body, capable of encompassing all things and devouring everything, can see my message."

"And you shall be the only hope for this heaven and earth to resist the 'Era Calamity'."

This Immortal Lord had actually prophesied his arrival.

And left another layer of meaning regarding the true purpose of the "chaos bell."

As well as a grander, heavier mission.

Lin Fan's heart, at this moment, uncontrollably pounded fiercely.

Like a drum.