“What the hell…” Qiao Jiayin’s lips trembled slightly, “You guys are absolutely insane…”
Xiaoxiao burst into laughter and said, “Punk, we can die anytime, but what about you?”
Qiao Jiayin didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to Zhang Shan: “Big guy… this rock looks like it weighs at most 400 pounds. Did it really knock you out?”
Zhang Shan lay motionless under the rock.
“Dang it… Are you dead…?” Qiao Jiayin let out a bitter laugh and flexed his limbs again. “This is gonna be hard to explain.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a fist flew straight into Qiao Jiayin’s face.
His head snapped to the side, and he coughed a few times.
“Punk, weren’t you always trying to make me surrender?” Xiaoxiao sneered. “I’ll say the same to you—if you surrender now, I’ll spare your life.”
“Spare my life?” Qiao Jiayin smirked and turned back to her. “You think that’s what I want?”
“Oh? So you’re not afraid of death either?”
“What’s there to fear about death…” Qiao Jiayin shook his head. “What I fear is ‘losing.'”
Xiaoxiao’s expression darkened, and she backhanded him across the face.
“Stop playing games.” She grabbed his shoulders, trying to push him off the bridge, but the rock on his body was incredibly heavy, rooted to the ground like a tree stump.
“How are your limbs not broken with such a heavy rock on you?” Xiaoxiao asked with a laugh.
“Thanks to you, my limbs are still in good shape,” Qiao Jiayin replied. “What about you? Does your right leg still hurt?”
“You—”
Xiaoxiao touched her broken right leg, clearly provoked. She then swung her fist and punched his arm hard.
Since Qiao Jiayin’s arm was partially embedded in the rock, the blow not only hurt but also intensified the tearing sensation.
He felt like he was about to lose that arm.
“Still running your mouth!” Xiaoxiao barked coldly. “Today, I’ll break all four of your limbs and see if you keep talking!”
Qiao Jiayin gave a helpless laugh and turned to Zhang Shan. “Big guy… what should we do?”
Zhang Shan, lying on the ground, slowly opened his eyes at last, feeling as though his internal organs were all in agony.
“Cough…” A mouthful of blood sprayed from Zhang Shan’s lips onto the ground.
“Oh… Good morning…” Qiao Jiayin said with a grin.
“Am I… dead?” Zhang Shan coughed weakly.
“Probably,” Qiao Jiayin nodded. “Right now, you’re just a ghost making an appearance.”
Zhang Shan struggled to turn his head and surveyed the situation on the bridge.
Li Xiangling was no longer there, and Qiao Jiayin didn’t look like he could hold on much longer.
“Are we… losing?” Zhang Shan asked in disbelief.
Hearing this, Xiaoxiao limped over and kicked Zhang Shan in the head.
“Did you really think you could win?!” she sneered. “After this fight, Qi Xia will belong to us, the ‘Extremists.'”
She tried to push Zhang Shan off too, but the rock on him was even heavier than Qiao Jiayin’s, making it impossible to move him for the time being.
Qiao Jiayin slowly raised his head. “Big girl… what nonsense are you spouting? You only said you’d take him away, not turn him into a lunatic like you…”
“If he refuses, we’ll just kill him over and over until he agrees.”
Qiao Jiayin’s expression turned icy, his ears ringing.
“Last time, I wasn’t here, so I couldn’t protect Jiu Zai… He followed the wrong person, trusted the wrong person… and in the end, no one even collected his body…” Qiao Jiayin lifted his head slowly, as if making a firm decision. “This time, I’m here… and I won’t let the same thing happen…”
Zhang Shan, after coughing violently a few more times, gave a bitter smile. “Seems like… we’re really gonna lose…”
The look in both their eyes changed.
“Qiao, you wanna go wild with me…?” Zhang Shan asked.
*DONG!!*
A massive bell tolled in the distance, its sound deafening, as if it were right in front of them.
Qiao Jiayin listened to the bell for a moment before finally dropping all pretense, his face as still as stagnant water. “Go wild…? I’d love nothing more.”
*DONG!!*
Another tremendous bell toll echoed through the sky, even louder than the last.
—
Chu Tianqiu and Xiao Nian were walking toward the notice board in the square.
“Tianqiu, showing yourself like this is way too dangerous,” Xu Liunian said anxiously.
“It’s fine,” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Thanks to you, even if the ‘Extremists’ spot me now, they’ll think I’m an imposter.”
Xu Liunian fell silent for a moment before asking, “But are they really okay? That man named Zhang Shan…”
“Xiao Nian, you just got back, so you don’t know Zhang Shan yet.” Chu Tianqiu smiled meaningfully.
“I know he’s an ‘Echoer,’ but so what?” Xu Liunian fretted. “The other side has three ‘Echoers’ too… One against three, he can’t possibly win.”
“About a year ago, I stumbled upon Zhang Shan,” Chu Tianqiu said. “His ability is incredibly powerful… Even if it only lasts a short time, it’s enough to make him unbeatable. I believe even among ‘Echoers,’ there are ranks.”
“Ranks among ‘Echoers’…?” Xu Liunian didn’t quite understand. “Our abilities all seem to have flaws—how can they be ranked?”
Chu Tianqiu paused before replying, “Xiao Nian, let me take you somewhere. When you see Zhang Shan’s ‘Echo’ for yourself, you’ll understand how different he is.”
“You mean…” Xu Liunian thought for a second. “His ‘Echo’ is already distinct just from its name?”
“Exactly.”
As they spoke, they arrived at the square, where a massive screen and a bronze bell hanging above it loomed before them.
Chu Tianqiu found an old bench and sat down, gesturing for Xu Liunian to join him.
“Come sit.”
Xu Liunian sat down uneasily, her heart unsettled.
She was willing to die for Chu Tianqiu, yet she always felt like she could never truly reach his heart.
What was this smiling man thinking about every day?
Chu Tianqiu gazed wistfully at the sky before pulling out an aged piece of paper from his pocket.
It looked like it had been torn from a notebook—yellowed and brittle, as if it had been around for years.
A single sentence was written on it: “I absolutely cannot let Qi Xia obtain an ‘Echo.'”
He then pulled out another note from his left pocket. The handwriting matched, but the message was different.
“I must let Qi Xia obtain an ‘Echo.'”
Chu Tianqiu knew both notes were written by him in the past, but he didn’t know which one was a lie.
Since they were completely opposite, one of them had to be false.
Had he… lied to himself?
Just then, Chu Tianqiu noticed the bronze bell in the distance beginning to sway.
“Cover your ears, Xiao Nian.”
He tucked the notes away and plugged his own ears. Xu Liunian quickly followed suit.
*DONG!!!!*
A thunderous bell toll erupted right before them, its shockwave spiraling through the square before soaring into the sky.
The sound was so immense it could shake a person’s soul right out of their body.
Xu Liunian and Chu Tianqiu couldn’t even keep their eyes open, forced to wait until the ringing subsided.
When they finally looked up, a line of glowing text flickered onto the screen:
“I hear the ‘Heavenly Might’ Echo!”
“‘Heavenly Might’…” Xu Liunian stared at the screen in shock. This was the first time she’d seen an ‘Echo’ with a three-character name—and the first time she’d heard a bell toll with such intensity.
“What exactly is his ability…?” she whispered.
“He is…” Before Chu Tianqiu could answer, the massive bronze bell began swinging violently again. “What…?!”
“Quick! Cover your ears!” he shouted.
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