Jiang Chen appeared perfectly at ease, watching the Madman Old Monster whose state looked utterly frenzied. Yet his own heart was completely calm. No matter what terrifying expressions and actions the Madman Old Monster put on, they were utterly incapable of shaking Jiang Chen's unshakable Dao heart.
"Boy, watch this!"
The Madman Old Monster clawed at the empty air with both hands, and a pure-gold treasure staff materialized in his grasp — a crescent spade on one end, a monk's spade on the other, its design as fierce and grotesque as the mad old man himself.
The moment the staff swept through the air, it erupted with ten thousand zhang of golden radiance, so blinding that Jiang Chen's eyes wavered under the glare.
However, this kind of golden light was nothing unfamiliar to Jiang Chen. His Magnetic Golden Mountain possessed a similar ability — it could unleash blinding golden radiance to disrupt an enemy's vision, even plunging their five senses and six perceptions into a brief state of total disorientation.
Precisely because he was familiar with this type of attack, it held very little use against him.
Jiang Chen no longer even needed his five senses to track an opponent's strikes.
His Dharma body instinctively flickered as the Celestial Roc Flowing Light Escape activated, transforming him into a streak of flowing light that vanished from his original position.
The Madman Old Monster let out a savage laugh. "Not bad speed — the Celestial Roc Flowing Light Escape, is it? Hmph, hmph, what a pity that you've run into me, the Madman Old Monster!"
This Madman Old Monster was true to his name. Once he entered his frenzied state, he was genuinely, spectacularly mad.
The treasure staff blurred continuously in his hands, generating countless phantom strikes that spun like a golden windmill in the void. At the same time, the Madman Old Monster's own Dharma body transformed in a flash into a beam of golden light, hurtling after Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen naturally had no fear of this Madman Old Monster.
The old codder was crazy, true enough, but he had honored his promise — he had genuinely suppressed his strength to somewhere between the fifth and sixth levels of the Celestial realm.
Jiang Chen gave a cold snort and clapped both palms together. Before him, a massive golden bell unfurled against the wind with a thunderous roar, suddenly spanning the void and completely sealing off the space between himself and the Madman Old Monster.
The golden bell expanded with tremendous momentum. Before long, it was already humming with a deep, resonant boom.
Jiang Chen formed a series of hand seals and shouted, "Majestic heavenly might, thunderous great bell — suppress him!"
The golden bell was fundamentally an unparalleled defensive artifact, and while its offensive capabilities were not as flashy as its defensive ones, it was far from a mere decoration.
In particular, this golden bell excelled at imprisoning opponents — at crushing them under its weight.
The moment it stirred to life, the bell's gaping mouth became fathomless and black, as though filled with endless dread. It was like a savage beast letting out a piercing shriek as it lunged with open maw toward the Madman Old Monster, who had closed in with reckless abandon.
Though the Madman Old Monster was mad, he was not without awareness. He knew the person before him was a formidable foe — and that the treasure currently deployed might very well deal even him a devastating blow.
But the golden bell bore down with terrifying force, and it contained within it fearsome spatial laws. That devouring mouth was like a blood-red cavern that would not rest until it had swallowed its prey whole.
What the Madman Old Monster had not realized was that Jiang Chen's deployment of the Celestial Roc Flowing Light Escape had never been about retreat. It was a deliberate bait to lure him in.
And this golden bell — it was Jiang Chen's trump card to turn the tables.
Which meant the Madman Old Monster understood that this golden bell had to be taken with the utmost seriousness.