“What the hell…” Qiao Jiajin’s lips trembled slightly. “You guys are really too insane…”

Xiao Xiao laughed loudly a few times and said, “Punk, we can go die at any time, but what about you?”

Qiao Jiajin didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his head to look at Zhang Shan. “Big guy… this rock looks like it’s at most three or four hundred pounds. Did it knock you out?”

Zhang Shan, pressed under the rock, didn’t move at all.

“Damn… you’re not dead, are you…?” Qiao Jiajin smiled bitterly and moved his hands and feet again. “This time I really don’t know how to explain this.”

As his words fell, a fist flew to Qiao Jiajin’s face.

Qiao Jiajin’s head suddenly drooped to one side, then he coughed a few times.

“Punk, didn’t you always want me to admit defeat?” Xiao Xiao sneered. “I’m giving you the same words. If you admit defeat now, I’ll give you a way to live.”

“A way to live?” The corners of Qiao Jiajin’s mouth lifted. He turned his head back and said, “Do you think what I want is a ‘way to live’?”

“Oh? So you’re not afraid of death either?”

“What’s there to be afraid of about dying…” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “What I’m afraid of is ‘losing.'”

Xiao Xiao’s expression turned cold. She backhanded a slap across Qiao Jiajin’s face.

“Playing tricks.” She grabbed Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder, wanting to push him off the bridge, but discovered that the rocks on this person were extremely heavy, rooted to the ground like tree roots and completely immovable.

“With such heavy rocks hanging on your body, aren’t your limbs broken?” Xiao Xiao asked with a smile.

“Thanks to you, my limbs are still strong.” Qiao Jiajin said. “What about you? Does your right leg still hurt?”

“You…”

Xiao Xiao touched her broken right leg. She was clearly enraged by Qiao Jiajin, then swung her fist and struck hard on his arm.

Because one end of Qiao Jiajin’s arm was buried in rock, this strike added a pulling sensation on top of the pain.

He felt like he was about to lose this arm.

“Still talking tough!” Xiao Xiao shouted coldly. “Today I’ll break all your limbs and see if you still talk tough!”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin smiled helplessly and looked back at Zhang Shan. “Big guy… what do you think we should do?”

Zhang Shan, lying on the ground, finally slowly opened his eyes at this moment. He felt all his internal organs were in pain.

“Cough…” Zhang Shan spat a large mouthful of fresh blood onto the ground.

“Yo… good morning…” Qiao Jiajin said with a smile.

“Am I… dead?” Zhang Shan coughed a few times and asked in a low voice.

“Probably dead.” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “You’re basically a ghost now.”

Zhang Shan turned his head with difficulty and looked at the situation on the bridge surface.

Li Xiangling was no longer here, and Qiao Jiajin didn’t look like he could hold on much longer either.

“Are we… going to lose?” Zhang Shan asked incredulously.

After hearing this, Xiao Xiao limped over, then kicked Zhang Shan in the head.

“You think you’re going to win?!” Xiao Xiao shouted coldly. “After this battle, Qi Xia will become one of our ‘Extreme Path’ people.”

She wanted to push Zhang Shan down too, but the rocks on Zhang Shan’s body were even heavier than Qiao Jiajin’s. She actually couldn’t move him at all for the time being.

Qiao Jiajin slowly lifted his head. “Big woman, what… nonsense are you talking about? You only said you wanted to take him away, but you never said you’d make him a madman like you guys…”

“If he doesn’t agree, we can only kill him every time we see him until he agrees.”

Qiao Jiajin’s expression turned ice cold, his ears buzzing.

“Last time, because I wasn’t there, I couldn’t protect Jiu Zai… He followed the wrong person, trusted the wrong people… so after he died, no one even collected his body…” Qiao Jiajin slowly lifted his head as if he had made some decision. “This time I’m here… I absolutely won’t allow the same thing to happen…”

Zhang Shan also showed a bitter smile after coughing several times in succession. “It looks like… we’re really going to lose…”

Both of their eyes changed.

“Qiao, do you want to have a big fight with me…?” Zhang Shan asked.

“CLANG!!”

A huge bell sound shook open from the distance. This sound was incredibly loud, as if it were right before their eyes.

Qiao Jiajin listened to the bell sound and thought for a moment. Finally, he shed his disguise, his expression like a stagnant pool of dead water. “Have a big fight…? I couldn’t ask for more.”

“CLANG!!”

Another huge bell sound rang through the clouds, even surpassing the previous sound.

…

Chu Tianqiu and Xiao Nian were walking toward the bulletin board in the plaza.

“Tianqiu, you showing yourself so rashly… is really too dangerous.” Xu Liunian said with a worried expression.

“It’s fine.” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Thanks to you, even if the current ‘Extreme Path’ discovers me, they’ll think I’m an imposter.”

Xu Liunian lowered her head and was silent for a while before asking, “But are they really okay? That man called Zhang Shan…”

“Xiao Nian, you just came back, so you don’t understand Zhang Shan.” Chu Tianqiu revealed a meaningful smile.

“I know he’s an ‘Echo Bearer,’ but so what?” Xu Liunian asked worriedly. “The other side also has three ‘Echo Bearers’… One against three, he can’t possibly gain an advantage.”

“I accidentally discovered Zhang Shan about a year ago.” Chu Tianqiu said. “His ability is really too powerful… Although it can only last for a very short time, it’s enough for him to win every battle. I believe that even among ‘Echo Bearers,’ there are levels belonging to ‘Echo Bearers.'”

“Levels of ‘Echo Bearers’…?” Xu Liunian didn’t quite understand. “Our abilities all seem to have more or less drawbacks. How can we distinguish levels?”

Chu Tianqiu was silent for a while before speaking. “Xiao Nian, let me take you to a place. When you see Zhang Shan’s ‘Echo’ with your own eyes, you’ll naturally discover how different he is.”

“You mean…” Xu Liunian pondered slightly. “Zhang Shan’s ‘Echo’ is different from others even in name?”

“Correct.”

While speaking, the two had already arrived at the plaza. Before them was a huge screen and a bronze bell suspended above the screen.

Chu Tianqiu found an old bench and sat down, waving at Xu Liunian.

“Come sit.”

Xu Liunian sat down with a puzzled expression. She felt somewhat uneasy.

She was willing to sacrifice her life for Chu Tianqiu, but she felt like she could never enter his heart.

What was this smiling man thinking about every day?

Chu Tianqiu looked at the sky with a sense of loss, then pulled out an old piece of paper from his chest.

This piece of paper looked like it had been torn from some notebook. It had already yellowed and aged, looking many years old.

A single sentence was written on it: “I absolutely cannot let Qi Xia obtain an ‘Echo.'”

He pulled out another note from his left pocket. The handwriting on both notes was the same, but the content was different.

“I must make Qi Xia obtain an ‘Echo.'”

Chu Tianqiu knew that both of these notes were written by him in the past, but he didn’t know which note was lying.

Since they were completely opposite answers, one note must be lying.

Himself… lying to himself?

Chu Tianqiu raised his head slightly and found that the bronze bell in the distance had begun to sway.

“Cover your ears, Xiao Nian.”

He put away the notes and reached up to plug his own ears. Seeing this, Xu Liunian did the same.

“CLANG!!!!”

A huge bell sound rang out before them. The sound waves circled once around the entire plaza before rushing up to the sky.

This bell sound was so loud it could shake a person’s soul right out of their body.

Xu Liunian and Chu Tianqiu couldn’t open their eyes at all. They could only wait for the bell sound to dissipate on its own.

After a moment, the two raised their eyes and looked at the display screen.

A line of glowing text came into view.

“I heard the Echo of ‘Heaven’s Vigorous Conduct’!”

“Heaven’s Vigorous Conduct…” Xu Liunian looked at the screen with a shocked expression. This was the first time she had seen an “Echo” name with three characters, and the first time she had heard such a strong bell sound.

“What exactly is his ability…?” she asked.

“He is…” Before Chu Tianqiu could answer, he saw the huge bronze bell begin to swing widely again. “What…?!”

“Quick! Cover your ears!” he shouted.