Chapter Ninety: Music of the Qin

A peal of ringing laughter rolled through the air. The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor stroked his ancient zither with his maimed hands and said, “Shameless? This is the first time a woman has ever spoken to me that way. Perhaps you truly are a special girl. If you were willing to let go of the conflict on the Spirit Crag Arena, then perhaps I, Ping Yichen, would finally end these wandering days of mine and take you back to my Fragrant Zither Pavilion to spend the rest of our lives together.”

“I truly do not know what fills that head of yours. You want me to betray my sect? Hah. That is harder than climbing to the heavens,” Jade Whisk replied.

“Alas, destroying a blossom with ruthless hands has never been to my liking. But today, it seems there is no other way.” The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor shook his head helplessly. Then, with a single finger brushing the strings, a resonant hum rang out through Spirit Crag.

Jade Whisk felt her mind sway, yet no direct spiritual force struck her. From that alone, one could tell how exquisitely profound the man’s cultivation was. She hurriedly gathered her thoughts. Perhaps she already knew this Four-Fingered Zither Emperor was the great enemy of her life, for she held nothing back and directly invoked the Yi Blossom Art, driving it to the orange stage. Only after the orange blossom began revolving around her did her heart finally steady. She fixed her gaze upon the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor, only to find that he was no longer looking at her at all. All his focus had settled upon his zither.

Hum, hum, hum. Suddenly the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor began to play. Sitting cross-legged on one knee, his eight fingers moved swift and slow by turns, weaving a wondrous melody. Yet Jade Whisk had already begun to feel an indescribable pressure, as though countless invisible currents of spirit energy were pressing down upon her. Even the orange Yi Blossom at her side began spinning faster and faster.

Below the Spirit Crag Arena, Mo Bai let Nalan Xin’er cling to his arm. Outwardly the two looked at ease, but inwardly they were anxious, for they still had not received the slightest word of Fallen Blossom or Sweet Rain.

All at once, he seemed to sense a trace of icy fluctuation. He smiled faintly, then whispered to the little demon girl beside him, “Xin’er, I will have to trouble you this time.”

Pouting, Nalan Xin’er replied, “Forget it. I’m not that petty. I know Brother Mo can’t leave right now. Don’t worry. As long as she’s sincere, Xin’er will cooperate with her properly.” As she spoke, her eyes flickered. Following the signal Mo Bai gave her, she swayed twice and vanished from sight.

Mo Bai, however, remained as calm as if nothing had happened and kept watching the fierce battle on the stage.

Crack.

That tiny sound sent a chill through Jade Whisk’s whole body. A hairline fracture had appeared in the orange Yi Blossom. She stared coldly at the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor. She had never imagined that he would not even need to raise a hand; merely relying on wave after wave of zither tones, he had nearly shattered her Yi Blossom Art.

Her beautiful eyes rippled with light. Suddenly she raised one hand above her head and formed several intricate spirit seals. The next moment, the orange Yi Blossom slowly began to mend itself. A low humming rose, and the blossom quietly began to change color. Before long, a vivid crimson Yi Blossom appeared above Jade Whisk’s head, and only then was her shaken heart firmly calmed once more.

The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor finished his piece and looked up at Jade Whisk across from him. Seeing that crimson blossom, he could not help but feel a trace of admiration. He had not expected this woman to possess such steadfastness. His Heavenly Demon Melody had failed to crush her outright. It seemed the Yi Blossom Sect’s reputation was indeed well earned. Helplessly he shook his head. The Guihai family’s gold was not so easy to earn after all. If he did not reveal some real skill, it seemed this would not do.

A note rang out again. One tune ended, and another began. Those below the stage were somewhat bewildered, but Jade Whisk knew she could not wait any longer. Endless waiting would bring only defeat. Suppressing her spirit energy, she snapped her horsetail whisk and attacked the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor.

Though the two had not yet truly clashed face to face, the contest thus far had already been one of attack and defense: his had been the invisible assault, and now the offensive belonged to Jade Whisk. “Thief, give me your life!” With that cry, her whisk smashed toward him.

A strange smile curved at the corner of the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor’s mouth. The middle finger of his left hand plucked a string. With a vibrating hum, a strand of spirit energy shot straight at Jade Whisk. At last, he had revealed his Zither-Tone Spirit Sword.

As his maimed hands moved ceaselessly over the ancient zither, the sharp thrumming notes unleashed one wave-sword after another, and they tangled in combat with Jade Whisk. Her brows drew tight. From the moment she attacked until now, she had not advanced a single step; instead, she had been forced back three. The power and trajectory of those zither-tone spirit swords were simply too profound and mysterious. The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor truly lived up to his name.

Jade Whisk knew well that this was only the beginning of the Spirit Crag Arena. If she could not defeat every one of the champions the Guihai family had invited, then she would never be able to touch the true core figures of the Guihai clan. The Yi Blossom Sect could not fall here, and neither could she. With a clear cry, she swung her whisk. Bathed in the light of the crimson Yi Blossom, it suddenly grew enormous, like a rod of hardened iron, and swept toward the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor. Along the way, it met countless zither-tone spirit swords, yet the whisk, empowered by the crimson blossom, was as keen as black iron. It cleaved through emptiness as though through nothing at all, scattering those exquisite sound-currents into the highest heavens.

The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor narrowed his eyes as he watched the immense whisk bearing down upon him. Unhurried, he moved two fingers. A humming tone burst from his zither and met the whisk head-on with a tremendous wave of sound. With a thunderous crash, his sound-wave sword was shattered instantly, and Jade Whisk’s whisk was also flung back several yards.

The hand gripping the whisk trembled. Forcibly circulating her spirit energy, Jade Whisk adhered it to her palm and kept it from flying free, though in doing so she drove the recoil into her own body. But what proud figure was Jade Whisk? Not only did she refuse to let go, she swung again, and the whisk that had just been repelled came smashing back toward the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor.

“What a desperate little girl. It seems you are forcing Ping to become serious.” He shouted loudly, yet used only a single finger to press fiercely upon one string. In the next instant came a crisp metallic twang, and a wave-like sword of sound energy surged forward to meet Jade Whisk’s whisk.

Jade Whisk gave a cold laugh and drove the crimson Yi Blossom to its utmost limit, thinking, You still want to use that sound-wave sword to knock back my whisk? Dream on. This time I will smash you to pieces.

But at the very instant her whisk collided with the sound-wave sword, a chill ran through her whole body. It felt as if a razor-sharp attack was rushing straight at her. Both hands moved swiftly, and the crimson Yi Blossom flew before her chest. Then came a ripping hiss. Looking again, she saw that a tiny hole had been pierced through her red blossom. On closer inspection, it was one of the Four-Fingered Zither Demon’s zither strings.

Jade Whisk blanched in shock. Only now did she realize that the danger she had sensed just now had come from that string. Had her reaction been any slower, this strike would likely have bored straight through her heart. A bead of cold sweat slowly slid down her brow. She stared at her crimson Yi Blossom. She had never imagined that even something so hard and resilient could be pierced by her opponent. Though the crimson blossom still revolved and its red radiance still shone brilliantly, the blow to her heart was immense. She looked at the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor with frosty brows.

Yet he too seemed somewhat surprised. Ping Yichen had used this hidden killing string of dark sound believing he would certainly slay Jade Whisk, but he had not expected the girl’s reaction to be so swift. She had actually used her Yi Blossom to take the strike in her place. No matter how he manipulated the string now, it no longer possessed the same deadly force as before. Trapped within the crimson blossom, it could not advance even a fraction farther.

But the Four-Fingered Zither Emperor was, after all, a formidable figure among spirit cultivators. After only the briefest pause, he immediately flicked his hand and secretly exerted force. The string embedded in the red blossom quivered. Thinking the attack from the string was coming again, Jade Whisk concentrated all her attention upon it. She never expected that, with a sudden sharp cry, a figure like a great bird would come flying toward her.

Jade Whisk cried out and looked up. The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor had used the pull of the string to fling himself swiftly above her head. In the next moment, with killing intent written across his face, he trembled the strings three times above her, and the sound waves, carrying three streaks of violet spirit energy, shot down toward the crown of her head.

“Beautiful girl, I truly cannot bear to see your fragrance fade and your jade perish. Alas...” The Four-Fingered Zither Emperor let out a mournful sigh, but his killing move had already been unleashed.

Even the Red Grove Woman on the platform had not expected him to employ such a bizarre move so suddenly. It was already too late to save her, and cold sweat at once broke out across her brow. She thought bitterly that this time she had failed her honored master, who had painstakingly raised Jade Whisk to inherit the mantle of the Yi Blossom Sect in the future.

Instinctively she glanced at Xiao Xue beside her, only to be even more horrified. At some unknown moment, Xiao Xue had already left the Spirit Crag Arena and vanished without a trace.

For the first time, the Red Grove Woman truly felt the pressure brought by the Spirit Crag Arena. She had thought that with herself, Jade Whisk, and Xiao Xue, they would be enough to sweep through all of Guihai City. Yet she had not expected Guihai Xin to be far more thoroughly prepared than they were. Her gaze turned toward that old man, still as immovable as a mountain. It seemed that the death of a disciple of the Yi Blossom Sect on the stage was beneath notice; it could not even make him open his eyes. Had he truly cultivated to a supreme realm, such that only her own master, the True One Ancient Dream, could personally come and dispel this calamity?

Then a flash of pale blue blade-light shot in from outside the arena. The power of that blade-light was enough to awe every spirit cultivator present. Even Elder Guihai Xin opened his eyes, his face full of bewilderment and disbelief. A handsome youth had somehow already leapt high into the air. He had not yet had time to withdraw his blade, but this single stroke alone was enough to let Jade Whisk breathe a little easier.