Primordial Era: A brick knocks Hongyun unconscious, and he seizes the throne at the start.

Before the aftershocks of Di Jun Tai Yi's self-destruction had even subsided, a frenzied scream suddenly rang out from the ruins of the battlefield.

The sound came from the edge of the giant pit, from a broken wing of a golden crow—the last trace of Taiyi's essence that was stripped away before his self-destruction. Although it had lost its intelligence, it instinctively condensed into a phantom form and frantically pounced on a broken bell not far away.

Counterfeit Chaos Bell.

Or rather, it was the worst of the worst—the bell was covered in cracks, its sound was dull, and it could barely even float.

But the golden crow phantom formed from Taiyi's remnant soul crashed into the bell like a madman.

"clang--!!!"

The bell tolled hoarsely, like a dying lament.

The golden crow phantom burned with its last obsession, striking the bell again and again. Each strike added more cracks to the bell and dimmed the phantom phantom.

What is it doing?

Lu Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

That wasn't pointless madness—Taiyi's remnant soul was forcibly injecting its last essence into the bell! It was using its final strength to awaken the Chaos Bell imprint hidden within this replica!

"Oh no!" Lu Chen instantly realized.

The Chaos Bell is one of the three treasures of creation, and even a replica retains a trace of the true Chaos Bell's Daoist essence. Taiyi is about to sacrifice his last remaining existence, forcibly activating that trace of Daoist essence, detonating the bell, and destroying everything in its path!

He wanted to drag the entire Buzhou Mountain battlefield down with him!

"Stop it!" Lu Chen activated his full brick-escape technique and lunged at the broken bell.

But it was too late.

The golden crow phantom completed its final impact, then completely dissipated, transforming into specks of golden light that merged into the bell.

And all the cracks on the surface of that broken bell simultaneously lit up with a dazzling golden light!

"Buzz—!!!"

The bell's sound was no longer hoarse, but became grand, ancient, as if it came from the beginning of time! The bell trembled violently, and the cracks on its surface began to heal—no, not heal, but the cracks transformed into some kind of mysterious array pattern, frantically drawing energy from everything around them!

The Chaos Bell imitation is transforming into the real Chaos Bell!

But this is a distorted transformation, a last gasp born of sacrifice.

Lu Chen could clearly sense that the terrifying energy inside the bell was brewing and expanding, and it could explode at any moment!

Once it explodes, its power will be no less than that of Di Jun's self-destruction!

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!" he roared at the remaining lich soldiers on the battlefield—although most of those creatures had lost their minds, every one they could save was a chance.

At the same time, he used brick-遁 (a technique to escape from danger) to rush towards the broken bell, with the Chaos Brick in his right hand and the God-Slaying Spear in his left, preparing to forcefully suppress it.

But just when he was still a hundred feet away from the bell—

"clang--!!!"

The bell rang for the ninth time.

Nine is the ultimate number.

After nine rings, the transformation of the Chaos Bell replica... was complete.

The bell is no longer broken, but has become ancient and heavy, with the phantom images of mountains, rivers, sun, moon and stars appearing on its surface, and a chaotic flow of energy faintly circulating inside the bell mouth.

It looks...exactly like the real Chaos Bell.

But Lu Chen's expression turned even uglier.

Because he saw that inside the bell, the chaotic bell essence that had been forcibly generated had expanded to its limit and was frantically impacting the bell wall, trying to break out!

"It's going to explode!"

Lu Chen gritted his teeth, no longer hesitated, activated his full brick-escape technique, and turned to flee!

Almost the instant he turned around—

"Click."

A crisp sound, like porcelain shattering.

A crack running through the body of the Chaos Bell appeared on the surface of the replica.

Then came the second, the third...

"Snap, snap, snap—!!!"

A dense, continuous cracking sound rang out like raindrops!

The bell exploded!

But it wasn't an ordinary explosion—each of those shattered fragments carried a trace of the chaotic Daoist essence, transforming into billions of golden streams of light that shot out in all directions!

Even more terrifying is that the chaotic bell-shaped energy that was forcibly generated at the core of the bell body has now completely lost its restraints and transformed into a fist-sized ball of chaotic light, which is suspended in mid-air and exudes an aura of world destruction!

That is... a projection of the Chaos Bell's origin!

Although it is only one billionth of the true origin of Chaos Bell, it is still terrifying enough!

The sphere of light slowly rotated, and with each rotation, the surrounding space collapsed by one layer, and time became more disordered.

It is absorbing all the energy around it, growing stronger, and then... it explodes completely!

"It's over..." Lu Chen's scalp tingled.

If this thing explodes, not only the battlefield, but the entire area within a radius of hundreds of millions of miles around Buzhou Mountain will probably be reduced to dust!

There's no escaping it—the aura of the light sphere has locked onto this area, completely imprisoning the space, even rendering brick-escape ineffective.

Can only resist.

But what can we use to resist?

Chaos Brick? God-Slaying Spear? Morning Bell?

Not enough! Far from enough!

Just as Lu Chen was in despair, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in his mind.

Fragments of the Chaos Bell... Projection of Daoist Rhyme... Absorbing Energy...

"That's it!" His eyes lit up. "I have the Morning Bell! The Morning Bell is the companion spirit treasure of the Chaos Bell, sharing the same origin! If I..."

He suddenly looked at the morning bell hanging at his waist.

The morning bell was trembling violently at this moment, and the chaotic Dao rhythm that originated from the same source as the ball of light appeared on the surface of the bell—it was resonating, it was yearning, it was… wanting to devour the ball of light!

"Let's take a gamble!" Lu Chen gritted his teeth, took off the Morning Bell, and activated it with all his might!

"clang--!"

The morning bell flew towards the sphere of light on its own initiative, its mouth opening wide, seemingly trying to swallow the chaotic bell-shaped projection!

The sphere of light seemed to sense the aura of the same origin and hesitated for a moment.

In that instant, the bell mouth of the morning bell erupted with a terrifying suction force, forcibly pulling the ball of light into the bell!

"Buzz—!!!"

The ball of light struggled frantically, trying to break free, but the Morning Bell was, after all, a genuine companion spiritual treasure, and it had an innate suppressive power over the Chaos Bell Dao Rhyme.

One inch, two inches, three inches...

The ball of light was gradually pulled into the bell.

But Lu Chen's face grew paler and paler—he could feel that the Morning Bell had reached its limit, and fine cracks began to appear on the surface of the bell.

After all, it's just a companion spirit treasure, not the real thing.

It's still too much of a stretch to devour the projection of the Chaos Bell Dao Rhyme.

"Hold on... hold on..." Lu Chen gritted his teeth and frantically poured his magic power into the Morning Bell.

Just then—

"call out!"

A golden streak of light (formed from a fragment of the Chaos Bell) suddenly changed direction and shot towards the Morning Bell!

"Oh no!" Lu Chen tried to stop them, but it was too late.

The fragment struck the bell wall.

"clang--!!!"

The morning bell let out a mournful cry, and the cracks on the surface of the bell instantly widened, interrupting the process of swallowing the light sphere!

The ball of light seized the opportunity to break free and floated back in mid-air, but it was smaller in size—it had been partially swallowed up earlier.

As for the morning bell... a fist-sized hole appeared on the bell wall where it was hit!

The magical artifact was damaged, and its power was greatly reduced!

"Damn it!" Lu Chen's eyes reddened.

Chen Zhong had been with him for so many years, and they were already of one mind. Now that he was hurt, he felt the pain as if it were his own.

But the crisis is not over yet.

Although the sphere of light had shrunk, it remained deadly. Moreover, the shooting fragments continued to wreak havoc everywhere, each capable of easily killing a Grand Luo Golden Immortal.

The surviving lives on the battlefield are being slaughtered.

Lu Chen took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Fragments...orbs of light...devouring..."

Another idea flashed in his mind.

"Since the Morning Bell can't swallow the whole thing, then I'll... clean up the fragments first, then deal with the light sphere!"

He activated his brick-escape technique, no longer fleeing, but instead actively charging towards the shooting golden streaks of light!

With the Chaos Brick in hand, one brick at a time, he swatted away all the flying fragments—not by catching them head-on, but by changing their trajectories and making them collide with each other!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The fragments collided with each other, producing a piercing metallic clang. Each collision consumed a portion of the Daoist energy, weakening the power by a fraction.

Lu Chen moved like a nimble monkey, weaving through the countless fragments, the chaotic bricks dancing so densely that they left no gaps.

After half an incense stick's time, the number of fragments decreased by 30%, and the power was also greatly reduced.

At this moment, the ball of light seemed to sense the danger and began to shrink on its own, preparing to detonate ahead of schedule!

"Dream on!" A ruthless glint flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.

He ignored the fragments and used his brick-遁 (a technique to teleport) to the sphere of light, simultaneously pulling something out of the Qiankun Diagram—

He had kept the real Chaos Bell (lost by Taiyi) hidden away, afraid that the demon race would discover it.

But I can't worry about that now.

"clang--!!!"

The true Chaos Bell rang, its magnificent and vast sound instantly drowning out all other noises!

The sphere of light trembled violently, but was frozen in mid-air by the sound of the bell!

Although it was only for a moment, it was enough.

Lu Chen seized the opportunity and smashed the Chaos Brick with all his might towards the light sphere!

"Smash it!"

"Bang--!!!"

The bricks collided, and countless cracks appeared on the surface of the light sphere, before... it exploded into a sky full of light spots.

The projection of the Chaos Bell Dao Rhyme was forcibly dispersed!

But Lu Chen was also badly hurt—the recoil sent him flying backward, smashing through more than a dozen mountains and breaking seven or eight tenths of his bones.

He lay in the ruins, coughing up blood, watching the fading lights in the sky, and grinned.

"We won..."

Although it was a tragic battle, at least... the battlefield was saved, and Mount Buzhou... barely managed to preserve its lower half.

He struggled to his feet and looked around.

The battlefield was now a ruin, littered with corpses and stained with blood.

Of the Lich and Demon races, less than one in ten survived.

The great calamity... has finally come to an end.

But Lu Chen knew that only the war had ended.

Mending the sky, restoring the earth, rebuilding order... these things are only just beginning.

All he could do was continue his "garbage scavenging" business amidst the ruins.

He shouldered the Qiankun Diagram and limped toward the depths of the battlefield.

There lay his greatest haul—a fragment of the Chaos Bell (after the replica exploded), and… the real Chaos Bell.

From this day forward, this bell will belong to the Lu family.