infodatos Chapter 973: Musician of the Sun
Chapter 973: Musician of the Sun
Chapter 973: Musician of the Sun
Eastnether Isle had long been in an alliance with Seven Blood Eyes. Nowadays, that alliance was stronger than ever. After Seven Blood Eyes rose to prominence in Sea-Sealing County, and of course after everything that happened in the Holytide and Nightspirit Regions, Eastnether Isle became an even more domineering force on the Forbidden Sea.
Guru Eastnether, who was Yanyan’s grandmother, was a good friend of Sir Bloodsmelter. In fact, in years past there were some Seven Blood Eyes disciples who audaciously claimed that their relationship went beyond the level of being fellow daoists. In recent years, Sir Bloodsmelter had been taking a lot of trips to Eastnether Isle, usually every few months, which only fueled such speculations....[1]
At the moment, all of the cultivators on Eastnether Isle were on guard and had very serious expressions on their faces.
Seated cross-legged on a high altar in the middle of the island was a young woman. Just looking at her, it was possible to see evidence of the passage of time. But that evidence was simply the fact that she had grown into a bewitchingly beautiful woman. She had pale skin and looked frail, but was very attractive. She wore a long black dress, and... was surrounded by numerous collections of beloved bladed weapons.
She was, of course, Yanyan. Her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping. But her eyelashes fluttered occasionally as her expression alternated between ferocity, terror, and pain. It was a very unusual sight.
Most unusual of all was her body. When Xu Qing first met her, he had noticed that she was different from other people. She had no mutagen in her. In reality, mutagen was a godly aura that existed everywhere in Revered Ancient. Only very high-level cultivators could completely purge themselves of it. But it was virtually impossible for low-level cultivators to be free of mutagen.
Xu Qing could do it with his violet crystal.
As for Yanyan, she had a very unique constitution. But now, her previously mutagen-free body had a black energy building up in it. It was mutagen.
Thankfully, even as the mutagen appeared, the spell formation around her lit up. Rumbling sounds could be heard as a majestic, cleansing power drove away all mutagen within the spell formation. It also drove away the sizzling black energy from within Yanyan. After the mutagen was gone, the pained expression disappeared from her face. Her breathing steadied, and she seemed to truly go to sleep.
Off to the side controlling the formation were Sir Bloodsmelter and Guru Eastnether. Both of them breathed sighs of relief.
After confirming that Yanyan was doing well, Sir Bloodsmelter cleared his throat and looked at Guru Eastnether. “Well, what do you think? All it took was a single message and I had this spell formation sent over from Sea-Sealing County. It really is an extraordinary formation. In the imperial capital, only heavenly marquises can get them. Don’t worry, my clever grand-apprentice will be here soon. With his help, we can finish the job. It’s no big deal, right? She got hit by the gaze of a godly entity, that’s all. It won’t be hard to deal with.”
Sir Bloodsmelter was clearly trying to sound very nonchalant.
Guru Eastnether glanced at him and seemed about to say something snappy. Instead, she just nodded. “How long until he gets here?”
Seeing that Guru Eastnether was going along with his plan caused Sir Bloodsmelter’s heart to race. “Don’t worry. I already called for him, which means the hard work is already half over. As you know, my status nowadays is different from before. My apprentice is basically a Summer Immortal! I’m essentially the Master of a Summer Immortal. Get it?”
Sir Bloodsmelter proudly stroked his beard.
Guru Eastnether, who had spent nearly half her life bickering with Sir Bloodsmelter, finally couldn’t take it anymore. “You’re quite the expert in tooting your own horn.”
Sir Bloodsmelter chuckled. “Horn? What horn? There’s no horn! Look, I’m still Ol’ Seventh’s father-in-law. What, you want to be his mother-in-law? You have to admit, you have a rare opportunity on your hands.”
Guru Eastnether was apparently struck speechless.
Sir Bloodsmelter looked more pleased than ever. “Even if you don’t want to admit that I’m the Master of a Summer Immortal, you can’t deny the truth about my two grand-apprentices. One of them is King Skycrusher, the region lord of two regions, the tutor of the crown prince, and the future tutor of the emperor! The other is the daoist partner of Flame Phoenix!”
Guru Eastnether tartly responded, “Don’t you have two other grand-apprentices?”
Sir Bloodsmelter waved his hand dismissively. “I can’t really remember.”
Yanyan instantly lit up. Leaning toward him slightly, she put her lips around his finger and licked it gently. The infatuated look on her face grew stronger.
Guru Eastnether stood there silently. Sir Bloodsmelter blinked a few times, looked at Guru Eastnether, and then similarly stood there silently.
Xu Qing let Yanyan do as she wished while he simultaneously sent his god perception over her. Because of their physical connection, combined with his senses, he could now see that the black energy connected to Yanyan’s fate actually stretched out into the Forbidden Sea. It went very, very deep.
He followed it for a long time to the inky seafloor, which was when he started hearing sounds of weeping and wailing. They came from evil ghosts. Not just one. Many.
His god perception was eventually able to make out a dilapidated palace in the sludge at the bottom of the sea. It looked like one small palace that had once been part of a larger palace complex.
Now it was just a crumbling ruin, fading away in time. There was a host of innumerable ghosts occupying the ruins. They looked vicious and sinister. Yet they didn’t notice him. They just let loose ear-piercing screams as they roved about. It almost seemed like they were singing.
Xu Qing’s heart skipped a beat. This was all very familiar. Years ago, he had encountered a host of evil ghosts on the Forbidden Sea. That phenomenon was called... ‘countless ghosts haunting the night’!
“There is a fantastic symphony in the endless sea; mortals are unable to hear it; it accompanies Crimson Yang the golden crow; countless movements become a song; it is called Natural Sounds Welcome the Moon.
“The god loved it; the god’s eyes gazed upon it; the endless sea became forbidden; countless movements became sinister.”
Xu Qing still remembered reading about the song in the sea annals in Seven Blood Eyes.[2]
Especially noteworthy was that, by means of his god perception, he could see that among the evils ghosts in the ruins was the godly entity that was causing trouble for Yanyan.
It was the severed hand of a woman! It was huge, being some 300 meters from end to end. The eye in the middle of the hand was closed, but the fingers were moving. And those fingers... were moving in time with the howling of the ghosts! It was as if the sound coming out of the ghosts was the music that she was playing!
Don’t tell me this is the origin of the countless ghosts haunting the night?
All of a sudden, Xu Qing got the feeling that the golden crow’s dragon chariot that he had been looking for to no avail... wasn’t so out of reach after all! After mulling the matter over, he kept his god perception locked onto the severed hand, but spoke with his physical mouth back on the altar formation.
“Grand-Master, I’m not very familiar with all the legends surrounding the Forbidden Sea. You know a lot more than me, sir. Is there any chance you’ve heard a story about a hand? Something connected to the countless ghosts haunting the night? Maybe something about a hand that can control the sound emitted by the countless ghosts?”
Sir Bloodsmelter looked surprised and thoughtful, but it was Guru Eastnether who responded.
“I know even more than him about Forbidden Sea legends,” she said. “What you’re describing actually conforms perfectly to one particular story. Supposedly, the phenomenon of countless ghosts haunting the night originates with the golden crow sun.
“As the story goes, before perishing, the golden crow would ride a dragon chariot through the canopy of heaven, turning into a sun that shone down on Revered Ancient. When it was night again, the musicians in the sun’s palace would play a song called Natural Sounds Welcome the Moon, which would call out to the moon to rise.
“When the broken face came, the golden crow perished. The Endless Sea became the Forbidden Sea, and the countless movements in the symphony became sinister. The musicians who played that most beautiful of music... also died. All that survived of those musicians was a hand that fell into the Forbidden Sea. Xu Qing, did you... actually find the hand from that legend?”
1. Yanyan was last mentioned in chapter 816, and last appeared onscreen in chapter 726. ☜
2. Xu Qing recalled the description from the sea annals in chapter 82 and 173. ☜