One second passed by.

It was just a second, but it felt like an eternity to the white-faced Qing Song. His back was already completely drenched with sweat from his anxiety.

Truly, the passage of time almost felt far too slow to him. It felt as if he would die from old age after this moment was over...

A moment’s inaction was dangerous. For people as strong as him, a second could determine their life or death several times over.

Though he was straddling the fine line between life and death, Qing Song couldn’t help but feel excited. Bai Yunfei would no doubt be left unprotected if he dodged this, and that meant he had an excellent chance of killing Bai Yunfei!

“Hmph! So, in the end, you’ve run out of parlor tricks?! It doesn’t matter how many tricks you have up your sleeve, you cannot escape death!”

Song Qing’s eyes honed in on Bai Yunfei like a snake eyeing its prey. His soulforce was circulating in preparation to strike and kill Bai Yunfei in one blow.

It was at that moment a sense of danger crawled up his spine. Sensing something above him, Qing Song snapped his head up. Something had been casting its shadow from above him...

Something that was black and gold in color and was the shape of a bell!

“Gongggg!!!!”

The only thing that could be heard was the bell dropping down onto Song Qing. His elemental barrier was rendered useless as no attack struck it—the bell had simply been too big for its interior to touch it!

It was strange that the bell could make such a sound when it fell. Qing Song had been standing on thin air and yet the bell made the same sound it would as it would if it fell onto solid ground.

When the bell did fall, a black and gold sheen of light materialized at the bottom of the bell to form a material surface for the bell to rest on.

“......”

At what was the most critical juncture of the battle between Bai Yunfei and Qing Song, Bai Yunfei used the King Caging Bell to trap his still-frozen opponent!

That was the last resort Bai Yunfei had up his sleeve!!

He hadn’t any other way to attack Qing Song. He was already operating the King Caging Bell to imprison Qing Song when the Yun’s Soul Ring had warded off his opponent’s attack. By using the Core Stone to evade his opponent, Bai Yunfei was able to fly the King Caging Bell over Qing Song’s head while being camouflaged in the flames.

Qing Song hadn’t been wrong in one regard. When Bai Yunfei used Soul Ignition to recover his strength and then the Soul Anchoring Technique to attack, he really was defenseless. But defenseless didn’t mean being unable to think. With a single command, Bai Yunfei was able to precisely drop the King Caging Bell onto Qing Song!

Generally speaking, there was no way a Half-emperor would be caught so off guard like Qing Song had. In Qing Song’s defense, this battle with Bai Yunfei had been so alarming to him that he couldn’t help but focus entirely onto him. He hadn’t the time to spare for the flames left behind by the Dual Dragon Burst and was thus caught off guard by the King Caging Bell. Even more importantly...he didn’t realize Bai Yunfei would have the treasured King Caging Bell in his possession!

......

“This is...the King Caging Bell?! How!!”

He knew what the King Caging Bell was, of course. He just couldn’t believe his eyes that the King Caging Bell of all things was imprisoning him. No matter how much he didn’t want to believe it, the truth was biting down on him hard!

“Why...why! Why is the King Caging Bell in his hands rather than Qin Bangjie?! How can...how can he even use it?!!!”

Trying as hard as he might to think, Qing Song simply couldn’t justify the situation with an answer. How in the world was an outsider in possession of the treasured King Caging Bell; an item that had been closely guarded by the representative elder, Qin Bangjie, for the last several dozen years?!

“Damn it all!!”

Qing Song roared aloud. Even if he wanted to pretend that this wasn’t real, he could still very clearly feel his soulforce being drained away from his person!

He had to escape this place at once!

The power of the King Caging Bell wasn’t lost on him. Qing Song knew better than to stick around here. Two seconds had elapsed since he was entrapped here and already he was starting to formulate a plan to escape. Black energy started to form around his right arm in preparation for an attack. He snarled.

Black claws formed immediately from the black energy to extend out from his hand. Despite its black color, a chilling sheen could be seen reflecting off the claws as he thrust them at the King Caging Bell!

“Gongggg!!!”

The vibrations unleashed by the claws hitting the bell was almost strong enough to rupture Qing Song’s eardrums. But he persisted somehow.

“H—how?!”

He was stunned. Something wasn’t right here. While the King Caging Bell might be strong enough to stop Soul Kings, a Half-emperor was a step up from being a Soul King and shouldn’t be stopped here.

He had put his all into that one blow. How in the world had it not broken him out?

Several scratch marks were left on the bell’s interior, but that was the extent of the damages! The King Caging Bell was still exuding its powerful ability onto him!

It was enough to make him feel faint-headed. Was this really the King Caging Bell he knew of? Looking at his arm, the man suddenly realized something was amiss!

“This can’t be!!”

He roared before slamming onto the wall of the bell again!

“Gong...”

The bell hummed with a loud vibration once again when he struck against it. As everyone on the outside leaped at the sudden noise, Qing Song was on the inside still struggling against his confines.

“This...this can’t be...”

All of the Soul Exalt students there were stupefied. Not even the Soul Kings were able to withhold their fear!

What had they seen?

It was simple really. A few moments ago, Bai Yunfei was on the retreat after being assaulted by another powerful elder from the Soul Refining School. Then a few exchanges later...that same elder was captured by the King Caging Bell!

It went without saying that even the Soul Kings couldn’t help but just stand there in mute shock. Their jaws were hanging on the hinges and their eyes were wide open. Who could possibly expect something like this to happen!?

There was one person in particular who was able to keep a calm expression on his face. Bai Yunfei!

“He’s captured!!”

That calm expression of his bled away as the realization of Qing Song being captured dawned on him. A fierce light started to shine from his eyes as he smiled in glee!

This last resort of his had been a gamble. He definitely would’ve died if it failed, but...he somehow managed to turn the tables!

“Resisting? Give up, it’s hopeless!!”

Bai Yunfei sneered to himself when he heard the noise coming from the King Caging Bell. Breathing in, he took off towards the King Caging Bell!

Qing Song hadn’t been too far away from him to begin with so it didn’t take long for Bai Yunfei to reach the side of the bell. Placing his right hand onto its surface, Bai Yunfei pressed gently against it...

One terrifying moment later, the other Soul Kings watched as the King Caging Bell lit up like a black and gold sun before...disappearing from sight!

“Ah!! Stop him! Stop him!! Stop him now!!”

The disappearance of the King Caging Bell and Bai Yunfei flying away was all it took for the remaining Late-stage Soul King to snap out of his daze. Letting out a cry of despair, he took off after him!

“Boom boom boom boom...”

Multiple streaks of light shot across the sky like a storm of shooting stars. They were each flying for Bai Yunfei, but...was that really enough to stop Bai Yunfei?!

Evading and shrugging off the attacks as if it was no more trouble than a few droplets of rain, Bai Yunfei had the Heaven’s Thunder beneath his feet fly even faster towards the boundary to the outside world!