Second Heaven: Profound Sound Maze
The moment she stepped onto the second floor, Su Meier's sensitive fox ears suddenly stood on end. Billions of transparent zither strings floated in the Void Realm, each string condensed with dewdrop-shaped sound spirits. As she reached out to touch them, the strings vibrated with the melody of "Requiem," startling the jade dragon sword sheath, which automatically let out a Dragon roar in resistance.
A charred-tail zither made of white bone emerged from the Void Realm, and the seven human-faced jade beads embedded in its body simultaneously opened their eyes. The Profound Sound Spirit, a Half-step Nascent Soul, sat on a cloud. As her fingertips caressed the strings, the sound waves tore open black rift in space: "Those who hear this melody, their souls shall return to the Nine Netherworlds."
Ling Tian blocked the incoming sound blades with his sword, only to find his Sword Qi passing through the Profound Sound Spirit's body like mist. Su Meier's Azure Hill Eye saw the core of the Sound Spirit; the seventh string of that charred-tail zither was actually entwined with the Azure Hill clan's Natal Fox Fire!
"You actually devoured an Azure Hill ancestor!"
The Young Miss's nine tails flared, and the power of Azure Hill condensed into three hundred Profound Ice Nails, shooting towards the Profound Sound Spirit! She coldly smiled and plucked the third string, and the cluster of nails suddenly changed direction, attacking Ling Tian's temples.
"Burning Sea!"
Ling Tian was enveloped by the Flame Dragon Body, instantly vaporizing the incoming nails.
The Profound Sound Spirit raised her hand to play the zither. The moment the seventh string of the charred-tail zither vibrated, the entire space twisted and folded like crumpled rice paper. Tens of thousands of transparent zither strings burst forth from the Void Realm, weaving into a net. The instant Su Meier's toes touched a string, the clang of "Ambush from Ten Sides" exploded in her ears, and the sound waves materialized into a million iron cavalry charging from all directions.
"Close the five senses!"
Ling Tian plunged the jade dragon sword into the ground, but the Flame Dragon phantom rising from the sword body was torn to shreds by the mournful sound of "Guangling San." He suddenly bit his tongue, and his essence blood drew a Talisman in the Void Realm, but the Talismanic patterns were scattered by "Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute" the moment they formed. The music could actually dismantle the Law of Talismans!
The Profound Sound Spirit's bony fingers moved swiftly across the strings, each note transforming into a tangible killing intent. The Gong note condensed into bronze chariots that rolled through the Void Realm, the Shang note turned into an arrow rain that sealed off their retreat, the Jiao note summoned fissures and magma, and the Zhi note gave rise to man-eating demonic flowers. Just as Ling Tian's Burning Sea flames incinerated the sound wave arrows, a hundred-zhang mountain of blades, an illusion of the Yu note, already pressed down upon them.
Su Meier's nine tails ignited with Natal Fox Fire, and her Heavenly Dao Pill Body reflected the trajectory of the circulating music: "These killing arrays are based on the five notes. As an Azure Hill Saintess, I have studied the five notes before. As long as I find the Bianzhi sound, I can..." Before she finished speaking, the sorrow of separation from "Three Variations of Yangguan" suddenly invaded her Divine Sense. She vaguely saw the bloody afterimage of the Azure Hill clan's annihilation on the day of the auction.
Five strings stained with Hellfire quietly pierced through the Moonlight Barrier, carving the Five-Tone Soul-Splitting Curse onto Su Meier's shoulder. When the five curse marks of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, and Yu simultaneously activated, her Golden Core began to uncontrollably draw upon her Lifespan. Ling Tian, his eyes splitting with rage, threw the jade dragon sword, but it was trapped by an ice crystal cage formed by "Three Variations of Plum Blossoms."
"Kan position... Water Cloud sound..."
Blood spilled from Su Meier's lips, and her fox fire fingertips outlined a fragmented score in the Void Realm. The Profound Sound Spirit suddenly let out a sharp shriek, because the Young Miss was actually altering the rhythm of "The Song of the Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Clothes"—the fox fire was reversing the killing array into healing immortal music!
At the instant the sound wave suppression disappeared! Ling Tian seized this fleeting opportunity, compressing the Flame Dragon flames to the size of a needlepoint. The flames pierced through the weak point of the Bianzhi scale, blasting open a gap at the dragon gum position of the charred-tail zither. Cracks appeared on the Profound Sound Spirit's bony body, and the strings of the net-like formation suddenly began to entangle themselves.
"Brother Ling Tian!" Su Meier endured the soul-splitting pain, her nine tails wrapping around three main strings. Ling Tian's Flame Dragon transformed into chains, piercing into the zither's body, and then the explosive flames, following the sound wave channels, directly struck the core. When the last note of "Battle Array Music" was severed by the jade dragon sword, the entire String Killing Domain disintegrated like a shattered glazed lamp.
The Profound Sound Spirit let out an unwilling shriek, and the charred-tail zither suddenly exploded into three thousand bone fragments. One piece grazed Su Meier's cheek, revealing the tragic scene of an Azure Hill clansman being refined into a zither spirit three hundred years ago.
The three thousand bone fragments formed a vortex in the air, then slowly condensed into a bone whistle that fell into Su Meier's hand. Blowing this whistle would instantly release sound wave confinement, stunning Divine Sense. Below the Immortal Realm, against someone whose Realm is not higher than one's own by a Great Realm, it can stun for one breath. It can be used once per day. Though a mere breath, in a battle between experts, this breath is enough to be fatal.
Su Meier gave the bone whistle to Ling Tian. The higher one's cultivation, the more effective it would be.
Two consecutive battles had exhausted both of them. Fortunately, the world within the tower also had mountains, rivers, and lakes. After they had each washed up, they sat together, eating fish that Ling Tian had just caught and grilled from the lake.
"Mmm mmm mmm... Brother Ling Tian's grilling skills haven't fallen behind at all! Everything he grills is still delicious!" Su Meier's pouting mouth was still full of fish meat.
Ling Tian, possessing the Flame Dragon Body, transformed into a Great Master of grilling at this moment, with various techniques emerging endlessly!
"Eighteen Styles of Grilled Fish!"
"Flame Dragon Skewer!"
"Hahaha!" Mixed with Su Meier's bell-like laughter, their weary hearts felt cleansed... The bonfire licked the shadows on the profound iron wall. Su Meier dipped her fingertip in Moonlight dew and gently applied it to the wound behind Ling Tian's ear, which had been cut by the sound waves. The young Sword Cultivator, who had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly swayed. His ear brushed against her cool fingertip: "Young Miss Su, this is more deadly than the Profound Sound Spirit's killing array."
"Don't move." She deliberately used her pinky finger to lightly brush that patch of skin, watching with satisfaction as a blush spread from the young man's earlobe to his collarbone, "Weren't you quite imposing when you broke the array just now? Who was it who had their sleeves shattered by 'Battle Array Music' and still had to perform sword techniques?"
Ling Tian clasped her wrist with a backhand, her nine tails glowing with a warm luster in the firelight: "I wonder who it was that, when entangled by the Five-Tone Soul-Splitting Curse, clutched my hair tie like a life-saving straw." The calluses on his palm rubbed against the red marks on her wrist, where the imprints of the zither strings still lingered.
As Su Meier pulled her hand back, she pushed him down onto the spread-out profound black cloak. Her nine tails, fluffy as clouds, covered them both. The moonlight filtering from the top of the tower passed through the silver bells in her hair, casting tiny flecks of light on Ling Tian's nose bridge: "Lord Talismancer is quite delicate. When the zither strings pierced your shoulder blades just now, why didn't I hear you cry out in pain?"
"Because at that time, there was a little fox waiting for me to save her." Ling Tian flicked a drop of water pearl that was about to fall from her temple with his finger, then suddenly pulled out an oiled paper package from his sleeve, "But now..." The scent of caramel wafted as the paper unfolded, and candied plums glowed amber in the firelight.
Su Meier's fox ears suddenly perked up, then she forced herself to compose and turned her face away: "Who are you trying to fool with mortal snacks?" Her voice, however, grew softer and softer with someone's deliberately slowed chewing sounds. When the third plum was bitten open, she finally pounced to snatch it, landing right into the pre-planned embrace.
"Gently, the wound might split." Ling Tian's muffled laugh caused his chest to vibrate, startling a moonlight butterfly that had landed in her hair. Frosting clung to Su Meier's lips, and as he licked it away with his tongue, it transformed into a satisfied sigh: "Sweeter than the millennium honey from Xuefeng and their tribe~"
"Hmph~" Su Meier bit off his unfinished words, her nine tails spreading out on the cloak like a galaxy. As the bonfire dimmed, she curled up in Ling Tian's arms, counting the motes of light on his eyelashes, and suddenly shed tears: "If Grandmother hadn't rescued me then, if you hadn't blocked that Sword Qi, where would I be now, in some old man's Pill Furnace..."
Ling Tian rested his chin on her head, the jade dragon sword within easy reach: "Silly girl, there are no 'if onlys'..."
His voice faded into a sudden tight embrace, and the scattered Moonlight intertwined with the fox tails, forming a net that captured a rare tender moment within the Tower of Heaven.