Back in the arena, all of the high leveled battles were reaching a conclusion. In the end, the elders of the Tao Feng were too weak. Even with numbers and treasures, they could not defeat the likes of Du Hua, Fu Men, and Qiu Bing.
Zuo Er's side of elders were gasping for breath, tired and cornered.
The only ones that were evenly matched was the Fisherman Wang Yuan and Dian Zhe, a slovenly dressed man. In the end, they stopped fighting as they could not gain an advantage over the other.
"Heh, little boy, do you still have anymore tricks up your sleeves? If so, you better use it now or I'm afraid people would call this bullying!" Qiu Bing taunted Zuo Er.
The rest looked towards him, openly releasing their energy. Lei Jiang, Lan Huang, and many of the younger generation knelt to their knees from the pressure. Many more had been knocked unconscious.
"This is just too much..." Lei Jiang grunted.
He himself was at the Earth Realm nearing the bottleneck of the first level, the Core Stage. Comparing himself to these experts, Lei Jiang was like a bug. Even if he activated his draconic bloodline, battling any one of them would end in his loss. The gap was just too much. They were all either at the Sky Realm or just steps from reaching it.
Despite the enormous pressure, Zuo Er stood tall and gave a small smile. He was neither shaking or struggling from their exertion. Like him, Yen Fen was also unaffected, staring at them all arrogantly as she clung to his side.
Senior Qing rose up from her seat and walked towards Zuo Er. Despite not openly making a move earlier, she looked at him coldly. The elders that remained followed her, sharing the same hostility as before.
"I too am curious, what more do you have to offer?" she questioned.
"Why? Are you going to make a move now?" he replied.
"Depending on what your next response is, I don't mind killing a junior. We all have our bottom line, one wrong step and that would be the end for you."
"Interesting....unfortunately, it's a bit late for that now isn't it."
Something felt off, why was Zuo Er so calm? Exactly what did he have planned next?
"Too late? We'll see about that!"
Qiu Bing could no longer restrain himself and attacked, waving his crimson saber. From the arena floor, he rose into the sky and flew straight for Zuo Er. Like a red meteor, the emperor of the Clear Sky Kingdom shot through the air and pointed his saber towards him.
In a seconds, he was only several feet from Zuo Er before his power scattered and left him falling towards to the ground.
"What?! What happened to my energy?" Qiu Bing quickly recovered but could not muster the strength to attack again.
At the same time, Fu Men, Du Hua, and the others had also found themselves unable to bring out their power. In fact, it seemed that their meridians had been locked up. The pressure they emanated was gone and the younger disciples weakly stood up.
"This is a formation", Du Hua quickly realized.
"Indeed, the Ground Seal Formation was something I had set up while you were all busy fighting and watching", Zuo Er explained, "Subduing you all with brute force was a task even my teacher, the sect leader would have trouble accomplishing. But as long as I can suppress your bodies, it would not be an issue. After all, you are nothing more than a common mortal now."
"You think...that a formation like this is going to be enough?" Qiu Bing grunted and forced out his energy.
Wisps of red leaked from his body as he clenched his fists.
"Wait, stop!" the others warned.
"Do you want to end up a cripple?" Fu Men asked Qiu Bing.
"If you're an emperor then act like it. Just because your children were threatened by him doesn't mean you can act so recklessly. Have some back bone!", Du Hua scolded him.
"Urgh", he could not respond for she was right.
He may be a father but he was a king first and foremost, he had responsibilities to take up.
Zuo Er watched the events unfold and walked down from the arena seats. Leaving Yen Fen, he stepped down and looked at the various leaders in front of him. In his hands, he held a small black bell. Simple in appearance and spotted with rust, but as Zuo Er's weapon this was no ordinary bell.
"So, do you want to accept my terms now? So long as you join the Tao Feng and relinquish your treasures and manuals, we will let you move freely. I'd rather not waste people such as you." he said.
"This..." everyone hesitated.
"Still thinking about it?" he said, sounding slightly annoyed, "What more can you do to stop this from happening? Your martial prowess has been sealed. Even if these elders of mine had been defeated, there are many of other countermeasures that I have in mind."
"You!" Qiu Bing was about to talk back when Du Hua pulled him back.
She stepped forward in her gaudy clothes and looked at the young man.
"Do you really think that you have the power to swallow us all? Rather, do you think you will be ready to take on the full force of the Heaven's Gate?" she asked.
After all, Du Hua was a high ranking elder of Heaven's Gate. Targeting her meant enmity with the powers behind her and Heaven's Gate is backed by numerous countries. She did not believe that he would dare to continue if he understood the full gravity of his actions.
Despite the threat, Zuo Er laughed out loud. In fact, his whole appearance took on a new look. He was not the charismatic leader that he seemed to be when he first arrived. His face twisted and turned, his eyes turned to slits and his smile curled up. His once ordinary appearance turned into that of a maniac. He looked at them with ridicule.
"Ready?" he said, "This is merely a step of my grand plan. You are all pebbles off the road compared to what I am aiming for!"
"Then what are you aiming for?" Senior Qing asked.
"Hmph, that is something none of you need to know. So long as I gain his approval, nothing will stand in my way!" he said.
Then he rose the bell up high.
"In fact, I'm finished with being nice. None of you seem to be willing to join me. Even if you did, you would surely try to revolt against me. So, It's much better to just do this", with the rusted bell up high, Zuo Er ring it.
It wasn't a melodious sound that came out but the noise that resembled ones made from a giant bell. The constant loop of a loud and deep toll entered everyone's ears. It was a droning sound that was both magical and mysterious.
Despite it being aimed towards Senior Qing and the others, those surrounding them still suffered from the sound.
They covered their ears to stop the bell's ringing from entering but it was in vain. Their minds were affected, they screamed in pain as the sound ripped into their minds. They felt a head-splitting sensation that drowned out all thoughts.
But the ones that suffered the most were the many seniors. The pain they felt was several times more intense, it was almost unbearable for them. Any normal person would have died and they were not too far from it. Tired from fighting and stripped of their powers, they all suffered immensely.
Zuo Er rang the bell, incessantly. The space around it began to distort as he exerted more power from the bell.
Soon enough, Du Hua was the first to faint and everyone else followed suit, knocked unconcious from the bell.
Confirming their state, Zuo Er stopped and quickly put the bell away. His hand was visibly shaking, and dark red.
"It seems that I am still too weak to use this bell", he sighed looking at his destroyed arm.
The blood vessels seemed to have popped from the pressure of that mysterious bell.
Then he looked at that bodies of the fainted experts.
"Right, let's chain them up and bring them back to the sect. Afterwards, we'll release news of their capture" he turned to the Tao Feng Elders and gave out orders.
As he walked out of the arena with the remaining forces of the Tao Feng, the thick stench of blood struck his nose.
"What happened?!"