Chapter 322 - The Heavenly Bell and the Soul Benediction

Chapter 322: Chapter 322 - The Heavenly Bell and the Soul Benediction

The silence lasted only a few breaths.

A deep vibration passed through the sky.

It was so low that Su Bai felt it inside his Sea of Consciousness before his ears registered anything.

The remaining fragment of the Heavenly Blessing Descent trembled within its chains.

Another vibration followed.

This time, everyone heard it.

A bell rang somewhere beyond the tribulation clouds.

The sound spread across Radiant Sky Sect in a single vast wave.

Faint chanting followed behind it.

No words could be distinguished.

The voices seemed impossibly distant, yet their rhythm carried a strange purity that made the entire world feel quieter.

Su Bai’s concentration shattered.

Pain erupted through his head.

His body jerked.

Blood immediately ran from his nose, then a second line appeared beneath one eye.

Su Bai barely managed to steady himself before the bell rang again.

The sound entered directly into his spiritual foundation.

His Nascent Soul shook.

The previously stable outline around its body blurred.

The connection leading toward the transformed Black-Ice foundation strained violently.

Su Bai’s expression changed.

’So this is the second stage.’

The first phase had tortured his body.

This one had found his soul.

Another bell rang.

The faint chanting grew clearer.

Su Bai’s vision distorted.

Pain spread through his consciousness as though something were grinding away at the edges of his spiritual existence.

The Dao-Shattering Jade activated fully.

His thoughts sharpened.

The changes inside his soul became easier to perceive.

That clarity did nothing to make them less painful.

The heavenly power contained in the bell was profoundly nourishing by nature.

Its purpose was obvious once Su Bai examined it carefully.

It strengthened spiritual foundations.

It nourished damaged souls.

It purified spiritual sense and stabilized the mind.

Reversal turned all of those effects against him.

Nourishment became erosion.

Stability became disturbance.

The gentle strengthening of spiritual existence became a force that slowly stripped his Nascent Soul apart.

Su Bai drew another thread of Immortal Qi.

The overwhelming pressure entered his foundation.

Reversal immediately changed it.

The pressure became nourishment and extraordinary clarity, pushing back against the erosion caused by the Heavenly Soul Benediction.

For a moment, the shaking within his Nascent Soul eased.

But the bell rang again.

Su Bai coughed blood.

...

Outside the formation, the reaction was completely different.

Cultivators across the Main Peak closed their eyes almost instinctively.

The heavenly resonance entered their spiritual foundations with astonishing gentleness.

Spiritual senses became clearer.

Old spiritual injuries that had resisted pills and meditation for years began easing.

Cultivators whose souls had become strained through repeated battles felt the damage slowly being soothed.

Even comprehension became easier beneath the chanting as distracting thoughts faded and their minds settled into unusual clarity.

The Peak Masters were affected as well.

Several Ancestors who had been maintaining the suppression technique suddenly felt their expressions change.

The nourishment reaching their ancient souls was far more valuable to them than simple physical healing.

Years of accumulated spiritual exhaustion began receding.

Their dimming soul-flames steadied.

One old man slowly exhaled.

"This is... Heavenly Soul Benediction."

His voice carried genuine disbelief.

Nobody needed him to explain much further.

The bell rang again.

The Ancestors felt the nourishment sink deeper into their souls.

For people whose remaining lifespan was already tied closely to the decline of their spiritual foundations, the effect was immediately meaningful.

Their soul vitality strengthened.

The deterioration accumulated through age slowed.

Even a modest improvement there meant additional years they had not possessed before.

Several of them fell silent.

They had expected heavenly wrath after restraining the dragon.

Instead, the heavens had sent something even more precious.

One Ancestor opened his eyes briefly and looked toward Su Bai.

Blood was already running from several of the young man’s orifices.

The old man’s expression became complicated.

Whatever blessing the heavens sent to everyone else seemed determined to become torture once it reached him.

The bell’s influence continued spreading beyond the Main Peak.

Mortals living within Radiant Sky Sect’s mortal city heard the distant resonance as well.

They could not cultivate the power directly, yet their minds became unusually clear.

Long-held exhaustion eased.

Some elderly mortals felt a warmth settle deep within their spirits, while children who had been restless moments earlier became quiet beneath the distant chanting.

At the sect boundary, the visiting righteous cultivators reacted even more strongly.

When the bell reached them, their expressions changed.

Within moments, many sat down where they stood.

Shen Youran watched them briefly before returning her attention to the surrounding terrain.

As long as they remained outside the restricted boundary, their meditation caused no problem.

The Heavenly Soul Benediction did not care whether they belonged to Radiant Sky Sect.

Anyone within reach of the resonance received some benefit.

...

At the center of the Main Peak, Su Bai had become the unfortunate exception.

The bell rang again.

His Nascent Soul flickered violently.

The edges of its arms and shoulders became faint enough that Su Bai could almost see through them.

The connection to the transformed Black-Ice foundation stretched under the pressure.

Su Bai immediately increased the Macro-Taiji circulation.

Yin and Yang passed faster between physical and spiritual structures.

The Nascent Soul stabilized slightly.

But the bell struck again and the stability vanished.

Su Bai’s jaw tightened.

He drew more Immortal Qi.

This time, he did not limit himself to the tiny threads he had been using.

A larger portion escaped from the Immortal Stone.

The moment it entered his body, the immense pressure threatened to overwhelm his spiritual foundation.

Reversal reacted.

The crushing force transformed into powerful clarity.

Su Bai’s Sea of Consciousness steadied.

His spiritual perception sharpened violently.

The eroding influence of the Heavenly Soul Benediction met the reversed Immortal pressure head-on.

Su Bai’s entire body trembled.

Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

He maintained control.

The Dao-Shattering Jade continued simplifying the storm of spiritual changes within him, preventing the overlapping forces from becoming impossible to manage.

The full-sized Nascent Soul slowly regained its outline.

Su Bai exhaled through clenched teeth.

Another bell rang.

He almost laughed.

’Of course there is more.’

The remaining Heavenly Blessing Descent dragon struggled inside the Ancestors’ chains.

Su Bai suddenly remembered it.

His Natal Needles moved again.

Several silver streaks pierced what remained of the dragon.

White-gold fragments broke away from its body.

Su Bai drew them inward.

The nine Tribulation Marks on the transformed Black-Ice foundation lit up again as heavenly lightning reached them.

Thin currents passed across the marks and sank into the transformed structure.

The central seat became steadier beneath the violent soul pressure.

The connection to the Nascent Soul tightened.

Su Bai immediately understood the advantage.

He continued.

The bell attacked his spiritual existence from above.

The remaining dragon supplied heavenly lightning from below.

The nine old marks absorbed enough of that lightning to stabilize the transformed foundation anchoring his Nascent Soul.

Little by little, the connection that had nearly loosened began strengthening again.

The dragon shrank further.

Its roar had become little more than an angry rumble.

Su Bai almost felt sorry for it.

Almost.

Another Natal Needle struck.

The last large fragment of white-gold lightning separated from its body.

The Heavenly Blessing Descent finally collapsed.

What remained dissolved into scattered radiance and flowed through the formation.

The Ancestors’ translucent chains closed around empty space.

Several of them stared.

One old man slowly lowered his hands.

"Sigh... He actually finished it."

Nobody answered.

Another heavenly bell rang before anyone could.

Their expressions relaxed almost involuntarily as another wave of soul nourishment entered them.

Most of the Ancestors simply closed their eyes.

There was very little dignity left to preserve after helping a junior dismantle a heavenly dragon.

They might as well benefit from whatever came next.

Su Bai received the concentrated source again.

His entire Nascent Soul shook.

He lowered his head.

The connection remained.

The transformed Black-Ice foundation remained stable. The Macro-Taiji still turned. His Nascent Soul had not scattered.

Su Bai slowly raised his gaze toward the tribulation clouds.

The faint chanting continued.

The enormous bell rang once more.

Everyone around him wore peaceful expressions beneath the Heavenly Soul Benediction.

Some disciples seemed almost blissful.

Several elders were experiencing improvements they had not managed to obtain in decades.

Even the Ancestors were quietly extending the stability of their aging souls.

Su Bai wiped blood from beneath his nose.

His head felt as though the heavens had placed it inside a bell and decided to strike the bell from every direction.

He stared upward.

The chanting deepened.

His Nascent Soul flickered again.

Su Bai closed his eyes and forced the connection tighter.