Chapter 109: Pipa’s Song on the Battlefield
The moment the pipa music started, Yang Ji, the Hundred Poisonous Mysterious Insects, and Fu Xiongtu, the Whirlwind Wolf Fang, felt a wave of disorienting noise wash over them, the air itself seeming to ripple and distort.
The martial artists around them screamed, clutching their heads. The giant python beneath Yang Ji thrashed wildly, its mouth foaming, forcing him to jump clear.
Venomous snakes emerged from the gutters and walls, writhing and twisting before dying with a hiss.
Martial artists screamed and writhed on the ground, as if trapped in hell, their agony as intense as being burned alive.
Yang Ji and Fu Xiongtu were both mid-rank experts, seasoned veterans of countless battles, but now, they staggered, clutching their heads, as if needles were piercing their brains.
Their vision blurred, their minds reeling.
The pipa’s sound waves, like a physical force, spread outwards in a fan shape, washing over them.
Although the soldiers behind the girl in the flower dress weren’t directly in the path of the pipa’s attack, the noise still caused them immense pain.
A grating, scraping sound, like a knife against stone, assaulted their eardrums, their heads throbbing, as if about to explode.
The girl played with abandon, her fingers moving across the strings without any discernible rhythm or melody… She was clearly not a skilled musician.
Yet, at this moment, she was like a renowned virtuoso, giving a command performance, her music, although discordant and chaotic, incredibly powerful.
The distorted music, amplified by the jade pipa, invaded their minds.
The Shark Dragon Gang members caught in the direct path of the sound waves writhed on the ground.
Fu Xiongtu roared, trying to leap towards her and attack, but halfway through his jump, the unbearable pain forced him back down, screaming.
Yang Ji’s carefully trained python, its head slamming repeatedly against a wall, blood streaming from its wounds, thrashed its tail and died.
Some martial artists, realizing this was a way to escape the unbearable noise, also began bashing their heads against the walls, their skulls splitting open like melons.
Even the stone walls crumbled under their desperate assault.
The fan-shaped wave of sound plunged the entire area into chaos.
Even those outside the direct path of the attack stumbled and staggered. This music truly belonged in hell.
The Shark Dragon Gang’s forces were devastated. Even the soldiers on Yue Ya’er’s side were affected, desperate to escape the battlefield and find some peace and quiet.
At least a hundred Shark Dragon Gang members were caught in the sonic attack, as if hell itself had descended upon them under the darkening sky.
—Magical Weapon: Pipa Lock
—Containing the High-Rank Divine Crystal: Dhṛtarāṣṭra
What’s that sound? Shi Hao turned and looked towards the distant battlefield.
Hearing pipa music on a battlefield was strange enough, but the melody was also incredibly… unpleasant.
He didn’t know who was playing, but he had no desire to find out.
A booming sound, like a thunderclap, echoed from Dragon Head Mountain.
It felt as if a volcano had erupted from within the mountain, while simultaneously, a thunderbolt had struck from the sky.
Two powerful forces collided at the mountain’s peak, and with an earth-shattering roar, the mountain split apart, a gaping chasm appearing between the two halves, bathed in a mysterious light.
The fighting stopped as both sides stared at the incredible sight.
On the watchtower, the girl in the flower dress also stopped playing, looking towards Dragon Head Mountain.
As the mountain split, the surrounding buildings, as if squeezed by some unseen force, warped and collapsed.
“What’s happening?” she whispered, her eyes wide.
She had only been told to defend Dragon Head Mountain tonight, the reason unknown.
Suddenly, a voice shouted in the distance, “There’s a treasure inside Dragon Head Mountain! The gang leader said whoever finds it can keep it! Charge!”
The word “treasure” was always a powerful motivator in the martial world.
And this explained why their leader had ordered them to attack Dragon Head Mountain… there was treasure inside!
The Shark Dragon Gang members, their fighting spirit renewed, their eyes bloodshot, charged towards the chasm.
“Heh, treasure? Fools,” Grandmother Ba, standing on the mountaintop, leaning on her staff, her back hunched, looked at the chasm and chuckled.
There was no treasure here, but something far more important.
“Let’s descend,” she said, sitting down in a bamboo palanquin.
Four women lifted the palanquin and carried her down the mountain.
A woman in black followed, floating gracefully behind them.
Shi Hao stared at Dragon Head Mountain, his mouth agape.
He had expected something big to happen tonight, but this was beyond anything he could have imagined.
An entire mountain, split in two?
He saw the swirling red clouds above the mountain being drawn towards the chasm, as if by a powerful vacuum.
The mysterious light that had enveloped the mountain also converged on the chasm.
This sight convinced even more people that there was treasure inside. Martial artists from other sects, who had been watching from the sidelines, now rushed towards the mountain, hoping to claim a share.
Shi Hao looked down and saw the Emerald Beauty again.
It sat on a tree, facing him.
Its small figure, as the light from Dragon Head Mountain faded, was swallowed by the darkness.
Suddenly, it jumped and disappeared into a well.
Shi Hao rushed over, grabbed the edge of the well, and looked down.
It was dark.
Looking around, he saw this was a deserted area, the well dry and overgrown with weeds, clearly abandoned.
He gritted his teeth and jumped in… He didn’t believe the Emerald Beauty had led him here to die.
Landing at the bottom, he generated a demonic flame, his hand outstretched.
He saw a passage leading towards Dragon Head Mountain.
He touched the edge of the passage entrance. The rough, uneven surface indicated that a stone wall had recently been removed.
He entered the passage. Logically, the changes in Dragon Head Mountain should have affected the surrounding area.
But this passage was intact, as if designed to withstand such changes.
He followed the winding passage, reaching a large, open space.
He found himself in a mysterious hall, its walls covered in menacing images.
Lamps, burning with different colored oils, stood in the four corners, their flames flickering, casting strange shadows on the walls, making the figures seem to writhe and shift, as if about to come alive.
Shi Hao estimated the passage’s length and direction… He must be beneath Dragon Head Mountain.
He wondered if those who had died trying to reach the mountain would be enraged to learn of this secret passage.
He continued through the hall, passing several similar chambers, and arrived at a stone bridge.
Sheer cliffs rose on either side, and molten lava flowed beneath the bridge. A golden light, radiating a mysterious aura, streamed down from above, swirling around him.
He felt his Daoist and demonic energies surging, stimulated by the golden light.
On the other side of the bridge, Du Yuejiao stood, holding a sword.
And beside her, tied to a wooden frame, Xu Xiaoyan hung suspended in the air.
As Shi Hao approached, Du Yuejiao walked towards him. He said solemnly, “Yuejiao, let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”
Du Yuejiao looked at him, a sad smile on her face, “Brother Shi, I thought you liked that ugly girl. I was wrong. Do you like her because she’s more beautiful than me?”
Shi Hao shook his head, “No, you’re also beautiful.” He paused, then added, “You’re both beautiful.”
Du Yuejiao lowered her head, “Really? You think I’m beautiful? Then why did you… do that to me?”
Shi Hao looked at her. The golden light, like a swirling storm, poured into her, a powerful demonic energy radiating outwards, its killing intent palpable, making him frown.
As a Daoist cultivator, she shouldn’t have such a strong demonic aura.
He asked, “Where’s the Emerald Beauty?”
“Brother Shi, I had a dream,” she said, her voice filled with sorrow, her demonic aura and killing intent swirling around her, “I dreamt that you were the one who imprisoned me. You poured snakes on me, you tortured me with those strange little tools, you tied me to that… that rack…”
She slowly raised her head, tears of blood streaming from her eyes, “I told myself it was just a dream, that the villain who hurt me couldn’t be the same Brother Shi who saved me. The one who imprisoned me in that brothel couldn’t be the kind and gentle Brother Shi I knew.”
A flicker of warmth appeared in her bloodshot eyes, and a sudden smile softened her menacing aura, making her appear strangely vulnerable, “Brother Shi, tell me… it wasn’t you, was it?”
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