The icy edge of [Black Order] pressed firmly against Lin Xiu's carotid artery. Under the vibration of the dark-gold energy, a thin line of crimson beads began to seep from his skin. Lin Xiu's remaining natural eye lost focus due to sheer, primal terror; he lay limp atop the slag pile, a desperate, wet gurgling sound escaping his throat.
"Wait."
The Blind Gatekeeper's voice cut through the darkness like a rusted nail, wedging itself into Gu Hanzhou's surging killing intent.
Gu Hanzhou's wrist faltered for a fraction of a second. He turned his head, his dark-gold eyes swirling with lingering ferocity. "Give me one reason not to end him."
"Look at that ruptured eyeball of his." The old man walked closer, the crunch of mineral slag beneath his feet sounding like breaking bone. In the dim light, his hollow eye sockets looked unnervingly cold. "That is a replica of the 'Eye of Truth.' To find the ruins of the Ancient Court, the Inquisition turned this boy's brainstem into a living server. Locked within those damaged crystal circuits is half of a star-map—the path to the ruins in the Polar Abyss Sea."
The old man paused, his tone turning grim. "Kill him, and no one left in this world will know what Gu Qingshan truly brought back... from those freezing depths ten years ago."
Gu Hanzhou's grip on the hilt tightened. The truth about his father's past remained the deepest splinter in his soul.
Just then—
DONG————!!
An ancient, heavy, and majestic tolling of a bell suddenly erupted from the direction of the planetary core, deep beneath the mines.
The sound didn't seem to travel through the air; it vibrated directly within their marrow. As the sound waves rippled outward, the entire mountain of refuse began to tremble violently. Countless shards of discarded Order-ore emitted a low hum, as if responding to a call that had crossed ten thousand years of silence.
The bloodstained scroll against Gu Hanzhou's chest turned searing hot, burning so fiercely he could barely maintain his stance.
"This is..." Su Qingyue forced herself to sit up, her eyes wide with shock. "The [Bells of Mercy] of the Ancient Court? Weren't they supposed to have sunk into the Abyss Sea with the Royal Capital ages ago?"
"No... they never sank."
The blind old man's withered face now held an expression of indescribable piety and fanaticism. He knelt toward the direction of the sound, pressing his forehead hard against the filthy, jagged mineral dust.
"It is the Clocktower... the 'Watchmen' are tolling the bell! They are calling for the last drop of Royal Blood!"
The old man snapped his head up, roaring at Gu Hanzhou: "Boy! Take that half-dead cur and run toward the depths! When the bell tolls, the 'Night-Kin' sleeping in the dark-core will awaken. The Inquisition's Trial Squad will descend in mass, guided by the sound. If you stay here, you are a dead man!"
Lin Xiu, sensing a sliver of hope, let out a delirious, blood-flecked laugh. "Gu Hanzhou... do you hear it? That is the sound of hell opening its gates! You can't escape..."
Gu Hanzhou remained expressionless. His right hand shot out like a viper, clamping onto Lin Xiu's jaw. With a sharp flick of his fingers—
CRACK!
He dislocated Lin Xiu's jaw to prevent him from biting his tongue to commit suicide. Then, he hoisted him over his shoulder like a dead hog.
"Old man, if you are lying to me..."
"Lying to you?" The old man stood up, his figure beginning to blur and become translucent in the shifting air. "I have waited three thousand years. My only pleasure is watching the traitors die. Follow me, unless you wish to be drowned in the rising magma."
Gu Hanzhou cast one final look back at the ink-black abyss of the mine.
The second bell tolled.
DONG————!!
This time, following the sound, thousands of pairs of crimson eyes ignited in the darkness. The 'Order-Rupture Bio-creatures'—monsters buried for millennia—were crawling out from the earth and waste, answering the call that transcended space and time.
Gu Hanzhou took a deep breath. Though the dark-gold flame at his shattered shoulder was weak, it burned with a stubborn, defiant heat. Carrying his unconscious father and dragging his broken enemy, he followed the old man's lead, charging resolutely toward the death-zone where the bell continued to toll.