68: Chapter 68 The Spiritual Musician's Performance

"The direction of the drive is north, which aligns with our current path. The Shadow Clan is herding the Savage Beasts toward the edge of the Ink-scaled Python's territory."

Wang Sheng's brows furrowed slightly. The Shadow Clan was driving the Savage Beasts toward the Ink-scaled Python's territory—but what was their goal? To enrage the Ink-scaled Python? Or something else?

"Are they using the Savage Beasts to test the state of the Ink-scaled Python?" Murong Xue's voice came from behind him. A sharp glint flashed in the Holy Light Knight's brown eyes. "The Shadow Clan isn't driving the Savage Beasts to attack us; they are using them as scouts to see if the Ink-scaled Python has been eroded by Shadow Power to the point of being controlled."

"If the Ink-scaled Python has already been eroded by Shadow Power to the point where it can be controlled," Liu Ruyan's voice was like a cold wind cutting through the dark night, "then the Shadow Clan would possess the combat power of a 5th-rank Barbarian Warrior, which would be a massive threat to our tribe at the moment."

Wang Sheng's fist clenched slightly at his side.

"So, we aren't just here to clear out the Savage Beasts," his voice sounded like iron that had been tempered. "We are here to confirm the state of the Ink-scaled Python. If it has already been controlled by the Shadow Clan, Guangming Village must prepare in advance."

The team continued to push deeper.

Under the influence of the Shadow Clan's herding net, the number of Savage Beasts on the outskirts of the Savage Beast Forest became increasingly dense. Almost every step forward resulted in an encounter with a small group of Savage Beasts: 1st-rank Barbarian Warrior Iron-Backed Wolves, 2nd-rank Barbarian Warrior Venom-Fanged Spiders, and 1st to 2nd-rank Barbarian Warrior Black-Maned Wild Boars.

These low-rank Savage Beasts were cleared away like grass under the arrow rain of the Elf Archer and the holy light spears of Murong Xue; there was no suspense.

However, Wang Sheng noticed a detail: the eyes of these Savage Beasts were not normal. Their pupils contained an unnatural blood-red color, as if they had been ignited from within by something.

Savage Beasts intensified by Shadow Power were at least thirty percent more aggressive than normal Savage Beasts. Even after sustaining fatal wounds, they would not retreat; they were like killing machines that had had their instinct for fear extracted.

Until...

"Stop!"

White Deer's deer ears suddenly perked up, and her golden eyes contracted sharply. Her voice was like an alarm bell struck by a primordial deity.

"Ahead, 3rd-rank Barbarian Warrior, six heads, a pack of Armor-Splitting Lizards."

Armor-Splitting Lizards.

Wang Sheng had never encountered this creature before, but he had seen it in the Savage Beast illustrated handbook after he transmigrated. The Armor-Splitting Lizard was one of the most ferocious Savage Beasts on the outskirts of the Savage Beast Forest. Its body was twice the size of an Iron-Backed Wolf, and its back was covered in jagged scales, as if it were wearing a layer of natural armor.

There were tiny gaps between the scales, which were their only weakness. Their tails were like iron whips; a single strike was enough to snap a tree as thick as a bowl in half. With 3rd-rank Barbarian Warrior strength and a pack of six, this was not a skirmish—it was a hard battle.

Murong Xue's expression grew three parts more solemn. The Holy Light Knight's brown eyes swept across the dense forest ahead, her silver armor appearing like a silver shield covered in frost within the shadows.

"Six 3rd-rank Barbarian Warriors. They are a notch stronger than the previous Savage Beasts. We need coordination."

Wang Sheng nodded.

"Elf Archer, provide suppression. Linger, control the field. Murong Xue, look for opportunities to pierce their armor. I will provide frontal suppression. Liu Ruyan, wait for an opportunity on the flank to assassinate. White Deer, long-range support. Xiao Yuqing, free fire."

He looked at Zhao Linger.

"Linger, this is your first time facing a 3rd-rank Barbarian Warrior."

Zhao Linger stood in the center of the team. The Spirit Sound Master's Spirit Vine combat suit was like a verdant, skin-tight armor in the dark forest, clinging to her petite yet devilish figure.

She didn't playfully interrupt as she usually did. The expression on her baby face was serious as never before, her large, round eyes staring straight at Wang Sheng.

"I know." Her voice was no longer the honey-soaked silver bell; it was like the most precise note in a Spirit Sound Technique—steady, clear, and without a trace of tremor. "The spiritual barrier in the nervous system of a 3rd-rank Barbarian Warrior Savage Beast is twice as thick as that of lower-rank Savage Beasts. I need a more precise frequency to penetrate it, but I can do it."

She didn't say "I'll try," but "I can do it."

Wang Sheng looked into her serious, large, round eyes. In that instant, he did not see the coquettish little bird, but a Spirit Sound Master, like a sonic blade tuned by the hand of a primordial deity.

"Good. I'll follow your rhythm."

The six Armor-Splitting Lizards burst out of the bushes. Their size was even more terrifying than Wang Sheng had imagined; each was the size of an adult calf, and their thick limbs stamped deep claw marks into the ground.

The jagged scales on their backs were like six moving black blades in the dark forest. Their dark golden vertical pupils contained a blood-red light—a trace of intensification by Shadow Power.

Their mouths were slightly agape, revealing two rows of jagged, sharp teeth. A low rumble emanated from the depths of their throats, just like six killing engines manufactured by a primordial deity.

Zhao Linger stood in the center of the team. A Spirit Sound Master does not need to engage in melee combat; her weapon is sound.

She spread her arms slightly, her slender fingers plucking lightly in the void, as if playing an invisible string. A string of clear, bright notes flowed from her lips.

It was not the sweet, cloying silver bell of her usual coquetry, but the core combat skill of a Spirit Sound Master: Spirit Sound · Slow.

The sound waves transformed into tangible pink ripples that diffused through the air, as if an invisible pink spirit flower had bloomed in the dark, dense forest. The ripples expanded in circles toward the pack of Armor-Splitting Lizards. When they touched the head of the first Armor-Splitting Lizard,

The Armor-Splitting Lizard's movements slowed visibly to the naked eye. Its charging body seemed as if it had been pressed with a slow-motion button by an invisible hand. The speed at which it lifted its front claws slowed by half a beat, the frequency of its tail swing decreased, and the blood-red light in its vertical pupils seemed to be veiled by a layer of pink mist.

The sound wave attack acted directly upon the Savage Beast's nervous system. The frequency of the Spirit Sound Technique penetrated the weak point of the Armor-Splitting Lizard's spiritual barrier, disrupting its nerve conduction and reducing its reaction speed by thirty percent.

The second, the third... the pink ripples spread like water waves. Within the coverage of the sound waves, the six Armor-Splitting Lizards were like six lizards with their limbs dragged down by a quagmire; their movements were sluggish, their reactions dull, and they stumbled about as if drunk.

Zhao Linger's combat posture possessed a charm completely different from her daily coquetry.

She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, like a butterfly listening in the wind. The Spirit Sound Master's perception was entirely focused on the feedback of the sound waves. She did not need to see; she "saw" with sound.

Every reflection of the sound waves mapped out the precise position and movement trajectory of the Savage Beasts within her perception.

Her petite body swayed slightly to the rhythm of the notes, her slender waist resembling a willow branch swaying gently in the spring breeze. The Spirit Vine combat suit clung to her body, outlining every inch of her stunning curves with her movements.

The dimples of her lower back, when she bent, looked like two fingerprints pressed by the hand of a primordial deity, appearing and disappearing with the sway of her waist. The fullness of her chest, when her arms were spread, was lifted to the ultimate arc by the Spirit Vine armor plates.

The rounded contours beneath the skin-tight battle armor resembled two small hills bound by verdant spirit vines. Every rise and fall of her breath caused the patterns of the Spirit Vine battle armor to stretch slightly, as if the spirit vines were growing, breathing, and pulsating on her body.

She was not fighting; she was performing. With the wilderness as her stage and the Savage Beasts as her musical score, the Spirit Sound Master was the only profession that turned slaughter into art.