450: Chapter 450 The Spirit of the Qin

"You've had a Breakthrough?" Chu Lan leaned in, looking her up and down.

Luo Li nodded. "Foundation Establishment, seventh layer. The heavenly sound zither has recognized me as its master." She held the heavenly sound zither horizontally in front of her; the pale golden luster on the zither body flowed under the sunlight.

Chu Lan reached out to touch it, but the Zither Spirit poked its head out from the zither body, glared at her, and flicked her hand away. Chu Lan clutched her finger and retreated two steps, saying aggrievedly, "It flicked me!"

"A seventh-grade Magical Artifact has its own sentience and doesn't like being touched by outsiders." Luo Li soothingly plucked a string, and the Zither Spirit retreated back inside.

Lin Yue grinned and said, "Heh, if we listen to a tune before battle from now on, wouldn't our morale greatly increase?"

Tianxin suggested, "Let's try it. Let us hear the true timbre of the heavenly sound zither."

The group moved to the edge of the cliff. Luo Li sat cross-legged on the cliff top with the heavenly sound zither across her lap; the setting sun dyed the horizon a golden red. She closed her eyes and placed her fingers on the strings.

The zither music began.

It was not the Star Battle Song, not the Requiem, nor any tune she had played before. It was the one she had improvised while in seclusion. Using the impassioned Star Battle Song as a base, it incorporated the compassion of the Requiem, the sharpness of the Delusion-Breaking Melody, and the purity of the Pure Heart Melody. In the zither music, there was the moonlight of Tianyin Pavilion, the slaughter of the Battlefield of Ten Thousand Races, the sword hum of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the circulation of the Five Elements of Wanfa Tower, the distortion of time of Taixu Palace, and the loneliness of the Shadow Palace.

Four effects—soul suppression, Requiem, amplification, and armor-breaking—appeared simultaneously in the zither music. They were not performed sequentially but were interwoven together. Every musical note contained all four effects, layered and seamless.

Silver Shadow stood up from Gao Feng's feet, pricking its ears, the silver patterns on its body faintly glowing. The Spirit Fox poked its head out from Tianxin's embrace, squinting its eyes, its tail swaying gently. The Wood Spirit flew over from the Spirit Plant Garden and landed on Chu Lan's shoulder, its leaf-wings flapping gently as it listened, mesmerized.

The wind blew across the cliff, and Luo Li's sleeves fluttered in the breeze. As the final note fell, the zither music echoed in the valley for a long time, and the leaves of the Spirit Plant Garden rustled.

Chu Lan was the first to applaud, clapping until her hands were red. Lin Yue pounded his chest with his fist, saying it made his blood boil. Yao Guang's eyes were slightly red, saying this tune was too tear-jerking. Tianxin did not applaud; the corners of her mouth curved up—that was enough.

Su Ning said she heard the resonance of the Space Power. Gao Feng stood at the edge of the cliff, looking at the setting sun, and said only one word: "Good."

Later that evening, Master Xuan Yang's transmission talisman landed in Gao Feng's hand. The talisman contained only a few sentences: The Void Realm Seal is stable, but there are still sporadic rifts in other regions of the Human Realm; we need to send people to patrol, come to Lingxiao Hall immediately to discuss.

Gao Feng put away the transmission talisman and gathered everyone. In Lingxiao Hall, Master Xuan Yang unfolded a map of the Human Realm's territory, marking several areas where Void Realm rifts might exist. The eastern coast, the western desert, the southern dense forest, and the northern snowfield—each place needed people to investigate.

"Although the Void Realm has been sealed, the Human Realm is vast, and it's hard to guarantee there are no omissions. If these sporadic rifts are not dealt with in time, the shadows will slowly multiply and eventually become a great disaster." Master Xuan Yang looked at Gao Feng. "You have just experienced a great battle, and you should have been allowed to rest. But among the Sect, you are the only ones capable of this task."

Gao Feng did not hesitate. "This Disciple accepts the order. Leave the patrol mission to us."

Chu Lan was about to speak but was pulled by the sleeve by Luo Li. Lin Yue stood with his arms crossed. Tianxin looked down at the Spirit Fox, which licked her palm. Su Ning had already opened the star map and started planning the patrol route. Yao Guang checked the Medicinal Pill reserves and said it was enough. Lin Jingyu and Situ Lan each gripped their sword hilts.

Master Xuan Yang nodded and handed the territory map to Gao Feng. "Go to the eastern coast first. There is a small rift there; previously, a Cultivator reported shadows appearing, but the scale is not large, which is just right for you to practice."

Gao Feng took the territory map, tucked it into his bosom, and turned to face his teammates. "We depart tomorrow; prepare yourselves tonight."

The next morning, the teleportation array on the peak of Lingxiao Peak lit up with silver-white light.

Gao Feng's team was ready to go. The Wood Spirit sat on Chu Lan's shoulder, the little guy clutching a Spiritual Qi grass seed larger than its own head, trying hard to stuff it into its mouth. The Wood Spirit couldn't bite it and aggrievedly handed the seed to Chu Lan. Chu Lan put the seed into her Storage Pouch, unable to laugh or cry, and took out a core of a Time Spirit Fruit to hand over. The Wood Spirit hugged the fruit core, chewing until its mouth was full of juice, its leaf-wings flapping happily.

Silver Shadow took shape from Gao Feng's wrist and squatted at his feet, yawning. The Spirit Fox poked its head out from Tianxin's shadow, glanced at Silver Shadow, and then retracted its head again. Luo Li held the heavenly sound zither, and the Zither Spirit was sleeping inside the zither body.

Su Ning checked the teleportation coordinates one last time, confirmed they were correct, and activated the teleportation array. Amidst the flashing silver light, the figures of the nine people disappeared from the peak.

Eastern coast.

The teleportation landing point was set on a deserted beach. Sea waves slapped against the reefs, and the sea breeze brought a salty, fishy scent. Chu Lan took a deep breath. "This is the smell of the sea! I've smelled it in the Green Wood Realm, but the sea there wasn't this big."

The Wood Spirit flew up from her shoulder, blown about by the sea breeze, and hurriedly grabbed onto Chu Lan's hair, its leaf-wings tightly folded. Silver Shadow ran to the seaside, reached out a paw to pat the spray, got its face splashed with water, and retreated several steps while shaking its head.

Su Ning unfolded the star map and pointed to a red dot about fifty miles east of the coastline. "The rift is roughly in that direction, but the exact location can only be sensed when we get close."

"Water route or land route?" Lin Yue looked at the boundless sea and frowned.

"Water route." Luo Li held the heavenly sound zither horizontally across her chest.

Chu Lan took a handful of seeds from her sleeve, crushed a few, and sprinkled them on the sea surface. The seeds quickly took root and sprouted, turning into huge lotus leaves, connecting into a floating bridge. The Wood Spirit flew up from her shoulder, sat on the edge of the largest lotus leaf, and put its feet into the water; it was so cold that it retracted them, then stretched them out again, over and over.

Su Ning used Spatial Magic to add buoyancy under everyone's feet. The nine people stepped on the lotus leaves and walked toward the depths of the sea, their speed no slower than on land.

About an hour later, Su Ning stopped. "We're here. The rift is right below."

The sea surface looked no different from elsewhere, but the leaves of the Void-Sensing Grass in Chu Lan's arms had already begun to curl. The Wood Spirit flew back from the edge of the lotus leaf, landed on Chu Lan's shoulder, pointed its finger at the sea surface, and made babbling sounds.

"The Wood Spirit says there is a very strong resentment below." Chu Lan translated.

Gao Feng drew his sword. "Let's go down and take a look."

Su Ning erected a Spatial Barrier around the group to isolate the seawater. The nine people dived under the sea.

The seawater went from shallow to deep, and the light went from bright to dark. The scene on the seabed was more desolate than what could be seen on the surface—no schools of fish, no coral, only gray-white silt and scattered, withered bones. Some of those bones looked like fish, some like seabirds, and others like small sea beasts.

Chu Lan squatted on the seabed and used her hands to brush away the silt. It revealed a piece of broken bone with traces of being eroded by shadows. "It wasn't a natural death; it was gnawed on by shadows."

Su Ning's spatial perception probed the path ahead. "The rift is a hundred feet ahead, not big, but the shadow concentration is very high."

The group swam to the vicinity of the rift. It was a fissure about three zhang long and half a zhang wide, from which gray-black mist surged. The mist spread in the seawater, dyeing the surrounding water dark. Shadows continuously surged out from the rift; some were only the size of a fist, while others were as big as a sea turtle. They writhed, devoured, split, and multiplied on the seabed, their numbers far greater than Su Ning had anticipated.

"They haven't been here for just a day or two." Tianxin looked at the surging shadows in the distance. "At least two months. Did someone deliberately let it go, or was the person who reported it silenced?" Her words made everyone's mood even heavier.

Gao Feng did not hesitate. "Clear the area."

Luo Li's zither music sounded, and the melody of the Star Battle Song propagated in the seawater. After the heavenly sound zither recognized its master, the penetrating power of the sound waves increased several times over. Those shadows crumbled one after another under the impact of the zither music. But new shadows kept surging out of the rift, endless.

Chu Lan released the Shadow-Eating Vine from her sleeve. The vines spread out in the seawater and pounced on the shadows. The silver-white patterns on the leaves were particularly striking under the illumination of the shadows. The Wood Spirit flew up from her shoulder, sat on a side branch of the Shadow-Eating Vine, and stroked the leaves of the vine with its small hands. The devouring speed of the Shadow-Eating Vine increased sharply—the Wood Spirit's auxiliary ability was effective on Spirit Plants, which could greatly increase the growth speed and devouring efficiency of Spirit Plants.

Tianxin threw a Light Talisman toward the entrance of the rift, and blue-white flames exploded at the mouth of the rift, burning the surging shadows to ashes. But the rift kept producing them; the source had to be sealed.

Lin Yue's Rock Demon Phantom emerged from behind him, pressing its hands on both sides of the rift, and earthy-yellow array patterns spread from its palms, reinforcing the edges of the rift. Su Ning's Space Cutting severed the channel of shadow power in the rift. Tianxin set up a sealing talisman array around the rift, and Luo Li stabilized the array patterns with her zither music.

Chu Lan took out a verdant green seed from her sleeve—a Sealing Spirit Plant, a variety specially cultivated for this mission. She planted the seed at the edge of the rift and injected spiritual power. The seed quickly took root and sprouted, its roots piercing deep into the rift, and the vines wrapped around the mouth of the rift layer by layer. The Sealing Spirit Plant could absorb the escaping resentment and shadow power for a long time, preventing the rift from expanding again.

In less than half an hour, the rift was completely sealed, and the surging shadows were also cleared away.

Chu Lan withdrew the Shadow-Eating Vine into her sleeve. The Wood Spirit sat on her shoulder, its leaf-wings flapping, and the vines of the Sealing Spirit Plant swayed slightly at the mouth of the rift, the silver-white patterns appearing and disappearing on the leaves.

Silver Shadow took shape from Gao Feng's wrist, ran to the Sealing Spirit Plant, sniffed it with its nose, sneezed, and ran back.

Su Ning's spiritual sense spread out, confirming there was no more shadow aura around. "Mission accomplished. We can go back."

Chu Lan suggested: "Let's go around to the shore. It was hard to come to the seaside, I want to see the coastal scenery." Gao Feng did not object.

The group surfaced from the sea and walked east along the coastline. Sea waves slapped against the reefs, and a few seabirds circled in the sky.