Chapter 350: The Sound of Silver Bells

In the blink of an eye, an hour had passed.

Ma Chulong and his group wandered aimlessly through the mist. Forget finding the Zhou family members—they hadn't even encountered a single living thing.

Ahead, there was still nothing to be seen except for the mist.

Everyone's emotions were on the verge of an explosion.

"Brother, walking like this indefinitely isn't a solution. Is this checkpoint passed only by finding a way to dispel the mist?" Ma Chulan was, for once, still maintaining her composure.

Before coming here, they had spoken with their father on the phone and learned some things about the Zhou family ancestral lands.

Only by gaining the recognition of the Zhou ancestors could the Zhou family members obtain the treasures within the ancestral lands, and the only way to gain that recognition was to successfully pass the three preceding checkpoints.

In these three checkpoints, as long as one person could pass, the stage was considered cleared. Therefore, the fact that they were still in this mist meant that neither the Zhou family nor the Kong family had found a way through yet.

Ma Chulong replied, "It should be."

The siblings shared the same thought.

"Brother, do you have any good ideas?" Ma Chulan really didn't want to keep walking aimlessly like this. Although it seemed there wasn't much immediate danger, drifting along like this made accidents easy to occur.

Ma Chulong's expression was solemn. Just as he was about to speak, a silver bell rang out in the distance.

The crisp sound entered everyone's ears with absolute clarity.

"It's coming from over there!"

Someone immediately determined the direction of the bell and ran toward it. The others followed closely behind; even Ma Chulong's command to "stay calm" was completely ignored.

A few seconds later, except for the Ma family members who had not received the order, everyone had vanished into the mist.

The ringing continued, sounding indeed quite close, but Ma Chulong felt a sense of foreboding.

In such an unknown environment, the sudden appearance of such a sound was inherently problematic.

"Brother, what do we do?" Ma Chulan's face was visibly tense, and she even gripped her weapon tightly.

Before Ma Chulong could deliberate, shrill cries for help suddenly drifted from that direction.

They immediately recognized them as the exorcists who had just left.

"Follow me!"

With a single command from Ma Chulong, he could no longer afford to worry about much; saving people was the priority.

Those cries for help sounded like they were no more than a hundred meters away, yet they ran through the mist for ten whole minutes without finding the exorcists who had fallen into danger.

"Stop!" A layer of cold sweat broke out on Ma Chulong's forehead.

The others were also panting heavily, clearly having realized the eerie situation.

"Young... Young Master, look, ahead!"

A member of the Ma family in the group suddenly showed a look of terror, staring fixedly ahead.

Ma Chulong and Ma Chulan immediately looked over, and the siblings' faces turned pale in an instant.

The exorcists who had separated from them were slowly walking out of the mist. Their movements were not fast; they were, in fact, extremely slow.

There was no color in anyone's face; even their lips were deathly pale.

Most terrifying were their eyes—their pupils had completely disappeared, leaving only the whites, which was incredibly horrifying.

"How can this be? What happened to them?"

Even Ma Chulan showed signs of fear. They had only been separated from these people for ten minutes.

"Ma family, heed my command! Prepare for battle!" After snapping out of it, Ma Chulong was now completely certain that these exorcists had all lost consciousness and seemed to be controlled by something. It was highly likely that they were the targets!

As the command fell, he was the first to grip his long saber and charge toward them.

Sure enough, once he reached them, the exorcists began to attack him frantically.

Seeing this, Ma Chulan led the Ma family disciples behind her and rushed forward at top speed.

A few seconds later, the two groups engaged in fierce combat...

***

Kong Yueling followed closely at Gan Hua's side, even using one hand to tug at his sleeve.

Kong Yueqing had also disappeared without reason. No matter how much she pleaded, Kong Nian refused to relent and go look for Kong Yueqing.

Kong Nian could treat Kong Yueqing this way, and she could treat any of them the same way. Thus, once separated from them, one might face the threat of death.

Gan Hua knew her fear and simply let her pull on him.

In truth, at this moment, the disciples arranged by the Kong family were far too few compared to the Zhou and Ma families.

If someone truly needed to be sacrificed, the Zhou and Ma families could easily pull out an ordinary member, but on this side, it was destined to be chosen from the four of them: himself, Kong Yueqing, Kong Yueling, and Ruan Tao.

And looking at the current situation, Ruan Tao seemed to be excluded as well, so perhaps Kong Yueqing had left on her own to save her life.

Thinking of this, a sense of tragic heroism rose in Gan Hua's heart. He glanced at Kong Yueling, who was leaning against him and trembling; she was actually still just a little girl who understood nothing and had experienced nothing.

"Senior Brother Ruan, how is it? Have you found her?"

Kong Nian was asking Ruan Tao for confirmation for the third time.

Ruan Tao's brow was furrowed, and he continued to shake his head.

Kong Nian immediately showed a look of dissatisfaction and impatience. "How is that possible? We've been following very closely."

Everything had clearly been going smoothly, and they were seeing themselves enter the depths of the mist. As long as they could successfully intercept Su Yan and dig out her eyes, they would succeed. But just as she was about to make her move, Ruan Tao suddenly lost Su Yan's direction.

Seeing the "cooked duck" fly away like this, she was naturally unwilling to accept it.

"It's possible she sensed our presence." Ruan Tao did not show any dissatisfaction despite Kong Nian's hostile attitude.

Gan Hua's heart trembled; he finally caught a hint from their conversation.

So, they had been tracking someone all along?

"Junior Sister Kong, Ruan Tao, who is this 'she' you are talking about?"

Kong Nian gave him an annoyed glance. "You just worry about looking after Kong Yueling. You don't need to ask anything else!"

Gan Hua hadn't expected that they wouldn't even tell him a single truth; he felt a sense of suffocation unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Although the atmosphere was awkward, Ruan Tao continued unperturbed, "The general direction should be correct. Let's keep moving forward to look."

Kong Nian suppressed the anger in her heart and could only do as he said.

Only a few steps after the four of them had walked, they heard the crisp sound of a silver bell.

"Why is there a bell ringing here?" Kong Nian instantly became alert.

She currently had very little spiritual power, so she was even more careful and cautious regarding danger prediction.

"Stay here and don't move. I'll go take a look," Ruan Tao decided decisively.

However, Kong Nian forcefully blocked his path. "You can't go. What if it's a diversion to lure the tiger away from the mountain?"

If he left, who could protect her safety?

Was she supposed to rely on Gan Hua and that useless Kong Yueling?

(End of Chapter)