Chapter 99: She Desires To Try!
As she spoke, another wave of sound attacks struck, flinging Ming Zhaoshuang into the sea, her body crashing heavily onto the blue waves.
The System nurtured her body while whispering in her ear, “She is indeed a Music Cultivator, but Music Cultivators are divided into Music Therapists and Sound Assassins, you know. Yiqi Huang is already a Music Saint, so even if her cultivation is suppressed to the Deity Transformation Stage, she cannot be underestimated.”
“Do you know that the Five Sages back then were all invincible within their own tier, and geniuses who could fight beyond their tier? Especially the Beast Taming Saint Feng He, who basically encountered opponents several tiers higher than her, and she still beat them until they were covered in mud.”
The System said a lot, but it all boiled down to one meaning: Yiqi Huang’s apparent cultivation is Mid-stage Deity Transformation, but her actual strength is Void Refinement Mid-stage. Don’t even think about fighting her.
It’s also fortunate that she’s just casually strumming the strings; if she were serious, not only one of them, but even a hundred of them wouldn’t be able to defeat her.
No wonder she directly told them she was the formation core; it turns out this is an insurmountable mountain.
At this moment, Shen Liqian, the only one not injured on the scene, said, “Sound attacks can be dodged by understanding the patterns of the music, so there’s no need to be too afraid.”
This is also the most criticized aspect of Music Cultivators. If you say they are harmful, their melodies can be interrupted and avoided.
If you say they are not harmful, they can still cause area attacks with considerable damage.
Therefore, in the mainstream of cultivation, only the Sword Dao is the most suitable for combat, as the drawbacks of other paths are too obvious.
Precisely because of this, although the youngsters couldn’t defeat Yiqi Huang, for those skilled in Music Theory, passing this trial was actually quite simple.
Just like Shen Liqian, she walked as if on level ground amidst Yiqi Huang’s melodies, leaving the others far behind. In just a few Sound Blades, she had already covered half the distance.
Ming Zhaoshuang looked at Shen Liqian, tears of envy streaming down her face.
Looking again at Fei Changxiu and the others, they weren’t as extraordinary as Shen Liqian, but they could still dodge most of the Sound Blades. After all, they were all scions of noble families and had to learn at least some of the Six Arts of a Gentleman.
Therefore, even though Fei Changxiu and the others were knocked over by the Sound Blades a few times, they were still slowly advancing amidst the attacks.
Only Ming Zhaoshuang, who knew nothing of the Six Arts and Music Theory, was knocked back as soon as she slightly approached the attack range of the melodies.
“Cough, cough.”
Ming Zhaoshuang spat out a mouthful of blood and stood up, leaning on a reef.
From the reefs on the island to the pavilions and towers, it was only three hundred meters, but under Yiqi Huang’s melodies, these three hundred meters had become a chasm.
Ming Zhaoshuang truly suspected that this trial was specifically targeting her.
In modern times, she had barely listened to online pop songs. Elegant pure music like Konghou and Guzheng? She had basically never touched them. How could she possibly break through this trial?
However…
Ming Zhaoshuang took out the Azure Hidden Cloak she had chosen in the previous trial from her Storage Bag and put it on. Instantly, the Sound Blades seemed to disappear, her ears and mind became clear, and she felt completely at ease.
Speaking of the Azure Hidden Cloak, its design was ingenious. When held in hand, it looked exquisitely beautiful with its gold and jade inlays. When worn, it fit her body perfectly, instantly disappearing from her sight and touch, as if it had never appeared at all.
It was just like the Emperor’s New Clothes, unseen and unfelt.
Wearing the cloak, Ming Zhaoshuang turned and walked past Ming Chenxing.
Ming Chenxing’s clothes had been torn to shreds by the Sound Blades, revealing oozing blood. Seeing Ming Zhaoshuang was able to move so quickly using the Azure Hidden Cloak, he felt a sense of relief.
Ming Zhaoshuang was about to catch up to Fei Changxiu when she suddenly felt the air thicken.
“Ao Tian Sect’s Shen Liqian has successfully passed the trial.”
Looking up again, Shen Liqian was already standing in the center of the final pavilion, standing tall and elegant, smiling towards Ming Zhaoshuang.
Ming Zhaoshuang no longer hesitated, stepping over Fei Changxiu with one foot, and turning to say to him, “Senior Brother Xiu’er, bye-bye!”
Blood welled up in Fei Changxiu’s throat, and he coughed it out, angrily exclaiming, “You’re cheating!”
Ming Zhaoshuang chuckled, “What do you call cheating among cultivators? It’s just bad luck that Senior Brother Fei didn’t choose a defensive Spirit Tool and instead chose the sword ‘Wait a Moment’.”
With that, she quickly moved forward again.
After walking a hundred meters, Ming Zhaoshuang frowned slightly, feeling the damage from the Sound Blades.
It seemed the Sound Blades became more powerful the further one went.
However, it was still within Ming Zhaoshuang’s tolerance. She ignored the intense pain coming from her body and walked forward step by step.
Just as she was about to overtake Qin Feilong, a fierce wave of Sound Blades suddenly struck, flinging her back more than ten meters, causing her to fall right at Fei Changxiu’s feet.
Sand and blood covered her face. Ming Zhaoshuang got up, barely daring to breathe.
The ribs in her chest seemed to have broken; every breath caused her intense pain.
Seeing that her face was scarred down to the bone, Fei Changxiu also dropped his playful demeanor, his eyes filled with concern:
“Junior Sister, please be careful.”
As he spoke, he was about to help Ming Zhaoshuang up when he was interrupted by a rapidly approaching Sound Blade.
Fei Changxiu couldn’t dodge in time and was also thrown back several meters.
When he got up, his arm was limp, clearly indicating that the bones inside were broken.
Ming Zhaoshuang coughed several times and said, “Xiu… Senior Brother Xiu’er, don’t, don’t worry about me.”
Saying that, she used Fushuang to support herself and stood up again.
A Sound Blade brushed past her cheek, leaving scars.
Shen Liqian, seeing this from the center of the pavilion, became extremely anxious. One of her feet was about to step out of the pavilion, ready to fight alongside Ming Zhaoshuang and the others.
Just then, Yiqi Huang, who had been lowering her head and playing the Su Nu Chou, suddenly smiled and said:
“If you step out, the trial will be void. If you cannot break the formation, you will surely die. Instead of thinking of dying with them, you should focus on how to defeat me and break my formation.”
Defeat her?
She is the Music Saint Yiqi Huang. Even if her cultivation is suppressed to Mid-stage Deity Transformation, who could possibly defeat her!
Since leaving the Talisman Saint’s Secret Realm, Shen Liqian had been providing support work like buffs and healing. Although she was also proficient in the path of Sound Kill, setting aside the fact that her cultivation was only Mid Nascent Soul, her research in the Path of Musical Sound would undoubtedly not compare to Yiqi Huang’s.
Shen Liqian glanced at Ming Zhaoshuang and the others who were still persevering amidst the melodies, and gently closed her eyes.
But she still felt she could try, try to see if she could defeat the legendary Music Saint!
She wanted to try!
She had to try!
Shen Liqian knelt on the ground, her eyes like autumn water. Her slender, snow-white fingers gently touched the strings of the Su Nu Chou. Water flowed and coiled around it, making the body of the Su Nu Chou appear even more crystal clear. The embossed phoenix soaring on it, with its neck raised high, looked as if it were calling out to the sky.
One sound, two sounds…
The phoenix’s cry pierced through the pavilions and towers, as if launching an attack at something.
