The Regressor of Mount Hua-Chapter 258. The Sound of a Zither, the Sound of a Strike (2)

"...!"

When Zhou Xuchuan casually walked out of the deep pit, Shao Leijin was speechless.

The way their pupils quavered resembled swimming fish.

"How...?"

Shao Leijin's sound waves weren't ordinary sound waves.

Just as a swordsman would imbue his sword with aura, Shao Leijin imbued their sounds with aura as well. When they had yet to reach the Coruscant Realm, their sound waves had a subtle hue, but as soon as they became Coruscant Realm experts, they would always use formless aura.

Even if Zhou Xuchuan somehow managed to block it, he was supposed to be injured. He ought to have suffered even the slightest bit of injury. However, he was unscathed.

"That was kind of painful." Zhou Xuchuan patted his clothes, dusting them off.

Whew. That was a bit dangerous. The sound wave just now contained a massive amount of force. He had layered multiple defensive qi barriers. Most of them had shattered completely, but his defensive art—the Iron Shirt—allowed him to take the brunt of the attack.

The Iron Shirt was a Physical Cultivation Art that he had acquired from Meng Gang.

"Who, who is that?"

"That's the Melody Gate Master! It's the Sound God!"

Everyone in Nanchang was familiar with Shao Leijin's face.

It wasn't because Shao Leijin liked showing their face in public. On the contrary, they were actually not a fan of going out. The reason everyone recognized them immediately was that their beauty was so outstanding that it made both men and women blush.

"Who is he?"

"To think someone actually managed to survive the Sound God's attacks."

The scene had left an indelible mark on everyone's mind.

They heard a loud noise from the Pavilion of Prince Teng, and two people fell from the third floor. The one who came down later started attacking, much to everyone's surprise.

Before they could recover from their astonishment, they were even more astounded upon discovering Shao Leijin.

"Phantom Bow Swordsman!"

Someone jumped out from the main gate of the Pavilion of Prince Teng. It was Jin Ba, and he was covered in dust as he knelt down and cried out, "E-eldest Hyungniim!!"

"Ha..." Zhou Xuchuan sighed.

Jin Ba's cry was so convincing that Zhou Xuchuan himself almost thought that he truly had a long-lost brother whom he had forgotten about after losing his memories.

Jin Ba's tearful eyes and voice, soaked with the joy and the sorrow of reunion, moved people's hearts.

"That's the hero of the Evil Valley, the Phantom Bow Swordsman! He's my older brother!" Jin Ba exclaimed.

"Eldest Hyungnim!"

"Eldest Hyungnim!"

Jin Ba's eight younger brothers followed suit and knelt down as well.

If the Phantom Bow Swordsman loses, we're going to die as well. Jin Ba swallowed hard and trembled. He never thought that the individual whom he thought was a fellow con artist was actually the Phantom Bow Swordsman.

When the Phantom Bow Swordsman was summoned to the third floor, Jin Ba refrained from fleeing the Pavilion of Prince Teng.

It wasn't because he truly felt that he was the Phantom Bow Swordsman's younger brother or anything; it was just that he didn't want to get killed by the Melody Gate for causing a commotion at the Pavilion of Prince Teng.

After descending to the first floor, he waited to latch onto Zhou Xuchuan's leg and ask him to accept him as his younger brother.

However, what?! A loud noise had erupted from the third floor, and the Phantom Bow Swordsman was sent flying to the ground.

Immediately afterward, Shao Leijin came down, and Jin Ba's heart sank at the sight.

I don't know why, but the Sound God is fighting the Phantom Bow Swordsman. If that bastard dies, the Sound God will definitely not let me go.

Once furious, the Sound God would plunge everything into chaos.

Their personality was so flawed that they wouldn't calm down unless they had either killed or destroyed everything related to their anger.

The Evil Valley Master had a horrible personality, but the Sound God's personality was even worse.

"The Phantom Bow Swordsman? You mean the Hero of the Evil Valley?"

"But why does he not have a bow?" the gathered onlookers whispered.

"Eldest Hyungnim! Here!"

Jin Ba threw over a bow and quiver as if he had been waiting for this moment.

He had stopped by a nearby armory and picked them up while Zhou Xuchuan went to the third floor with Shao Leijin.

Just what sort of punk is he? Zhou Xuchuan wondered as he accepted the bow and quiver.

"Pick it up."

Contrary to Jin Ba's worries, Shao Leijin didn't pay him any attention at all.

They only looked at Zhou Xuchuan.

"Aren't you supposed to be the successor of the Archery God? Surely you weren't lying, were you?"

"No. I didn't lie."

Zhou Xuchuan picked up a sword instead of a bow.

"However, I never said that the bow was my main weapon."

He hadn't lied at all.

His Eclipse Divine Archery was merely at the Fifth Stage, and using that against an Empyrean Overlord was suicidal. With that in mind, Zhou Xuchuan raised his sword.

"In the end...!" A purple vein bulged out on Shao Leijin's forehead. The tendons on the back of their hand stood out. They were so angry that the people around them froze from the bloodlust flowing out of their body.

The ordinary people were crushed by fear, while the martial artists turned pale upon realizing the sheer level of bloodlust contained within their aura.

"You're the same as those bastards!" Shao Leijin roared. Instead of using the Roar of Injustice, they merely roared. "Even if it was just for a moment, it was foolish of me to think that we could cooperate! I'll make you pay for humiliating me!"

Shao Leijin sat down, placing the Literary Martial Strings Zither on their lap.

"I, the Sound God Shao Leijin, will show you my everything."

Manifestation of One's Path!

What all Coruscant Realm Masters had—the Manifestation of Their Path.

Still, Zhou Xuchuan could already guess what it would be like.

"It's Sound."

"Ah...!" someone gasped in admiration at the voice ringing in their ear.

Ah!

They weren't a martial artist; they were just a bystander. For some reason, however, their gasp was amplified dozens of times, and it tore through the air.

"Agh!"

The person next to him screamed in surprise, and that scream, like the gasp, was amplified dozens of times as well. A sound wave capable of making just about anyone faint burst out again.

It wasn't just one or two people. The person next to the second one screamed in response, and dozens of sound waves rushed out. It was like the very sound of their screams had become contagious.

As expected, so this is what their power is like...!

As expected of the so-called Sound God, the Path they had established throughout their life's cultivation was indeed Sound. While sound arts used sound as a medium for attacks, it generally only accounted for the sound that one made.

It was impossible to make use of someone else's voice for one's sound art. Even if one had reached the extreme peak in their sound arts, it would still be impossible.

However, Shao Leijin could do it. The ability brought on by the Manifestation of One's Path was to create and apply a law that was beyond human limitations with one's will.

It might be okay if it's just from one person, but since it's coming from so many people.

The accumulated power could surely shake even the heavens itself.

In reality, the technique rapidly consumed qi. In return for an exponentially increasing speed, sound, and proliferation, it was nearly impossible to use it nonstop for more than fifteen minutes.

Still, if the target weren't a master of qi like Zhou Xuchuan, their eardrums and even their brain would burst before the fifteen-minute limit was up.

But why is everyone else okay?

Zhou Xuchuan looked around and saw that the onlookers were still making noises.

They were all ordinary people, so they ought to have exploded and perished by now.

Ah, that's right! If one could control sound at will, it meant one could block the transmission of sound as well.

Shao Leijin truly was worthy of a title with the word "God."

I'm sorry, but I can't just keep on taking this! Zhou Xuchuan thought and made his move. If things were normal, he would just kick off the ground and jump forward.

However, he couldn't do that here as he was afraid that the sound coming from his feet hitting the ground would end up attacking him. Instead, he jumped in a way that made him look like he was pushing off the ground. Then, he looked straight at Shao Leijin and charged at them.

"I was waiting for that!"

Shao Leijin's fingers pressed down on the strings of the Literary Martial Strings Zither, and then they flicked the strings—the strings made of silk threads emitted sound waves.

The sounds overlapped and mingled, moving according to the Sound God's touch.

Ting.

Once.

Ting ting.

Twice.

They had plucked the strings only twice, but the number of sound waves that came out from the tremors was endless. If these sound waves were visible, it would be impossible to see beyond them due to their numbers.

Shao Leijin emptied all the cultivation that they had accumulated over the years.

Not concerning themself with what would happen afterward, they converted all of their qi into this attack.

They didn't know why; they were doing it under the urge of their heightened emotions. This was unbecoming of an Absolute Master of the Seven Empyrean Overlords.

They were shouting like a child, asking for recognition while playing the Literary Martial Strings Zither, a treasure for the ages.

Well, to be frank, it was difficult actually to call this "playing."This was nothing more than plucking two strings with all their might.

Somehow, a rhythm could be felt. It wasn't soft. No, it was a fierce melody that made one's heart race.

Thrum!!

The sound reached a crescendo before dissipating, but it had probably exceeded the limit of what humans could hear. This was a power that could only be created by the human mind, and the power became a physical force that destroyed everything in its path.

A mass of sound waves shot out like a cannon came crashing down.

"...What?"

A dumbfounded sound came out of Shao Leijin's mouth.

"Impossible... impossible..."

Ting.

Shao Leijin plucked the strings and shot out sound waves.

"That's impossible!" the Sound God screamed. Their beautiful voice was distorted with disbelief and anger. It was no longer pleasant to hear.

A wave of sound waves invisible to the human eye rushed forward. Zhou Xuchuan engulfed by the wave advanced ever so slowly.

Scritch. Squelch.

Part of his clothes were torn apart every time the sound wave swept across him; red lines were drawn on his skin, and blood spurted out of the wounds. It even gnawed at his skin, revealing the bones inside.

Clang! Clang, clang, clang!

He wasn't just blindly moving forward. He was coated in a defensive qi barrier made of formless qi. However, not even the layered defensive qi barriers could last long against the relentless attacks. Whenever a sound wave struck them directly, they would shatter into pieces.

It was a cycle of repeatedly creating layers of defenses only for them to be destroyed in an instant. In the time it took for him to erect new barriers, the sound waves—as sharp as blades—would tear apart the Phantom Bow Swordsman's flesh.

"Argh!" Zhou Xuchuan burst out into a scream. The sound wave slowly closed in on him, and he screamed to blow away the oncoming monster. However, Zhou Xuchuan neither stopped nor backed down.

There was a brief pause, and his back was bending backward, but it didn't matter. This was an attack that not even a Coruscant Realm Master could withstand.

The people around him incessantly spat sound waves that flew toward him. He had to have taken more than a dozen direct hits from those sound waves, but he pressed forward despite his injuries.

"Why..."

Zhou Xuchuan walked steadily forward.

Crack.

Even the sound of his bones breaking was transformed into sound waves. At this point, he couldn't care less, even if his own voice became a sword that could claim his life.

"Isn't it strange to see a random bastard appear in the midst of your success and ruin everything you've built throughout your entire life?"

Shao Leijin's daily routine always started with a performance.

Even when they were busy with work as a Dark Heavens Association Executive or as the Melody Gate Master, they would never miss their performance. It was always the same every day, and it was always peaceful as usual.

However, as if he had risen from the very ground or perhaps had fallen from the sky, the Phantom Bow Swordsman, whose whereabouts had been unknown so far, suddenly appeared before Shao Leijin.

"I'm the same."

Zhou Xuchuan raised his iron sword.

Crack!

The iron sword could no longer withstand the attacks and split into dozens of pieces that immediately flew away. The shards pierced Zhou Xuchuan's flesh, giving him pain, but that was about it.

He had no trouble moving forward. He clenched his fists and walked straight ahead, still bleeding.

"While we were fighting each other over ideologies passed down for tens or hundreds of years, the Dark Heavens Association, an organization unknown to me until then, suddenly showed up and turned everything upside down.

"It's like someone is enjoying their life at home when a Coruscant Realm Master randomly shows up to mess things up. Isn't that right?"

When the Dark Heavens Association appeared, Zhou Xuchuan thought that it was a dream. He thought it was a bad nightmare.

People who knew nothing about them couldn't come to their senses in time. They were too shocked by the Dark Heavens Association's sudden appearance and could only stare blankly as their lives were destroyed.

"Just like there was a secret plot behind the murim. I, too, have been hiding behind the murim, and I've been watching you."

Zhou Xuchuan's voice was quickly buried by the sound waves flying toward him from all directions.

The only person who could actually hear him was the Sound God, Shao Leijin.

"I'll show you exactly how absurd that feeling is. I'll show you, right now."

Soon, Zhou Xuchuan arrived in front of Shao Leijin.

"Don't be ridiculous..."

Smack!

There was a sound—the sound of a fist landed on someone's chin.

Shao Leijin's eyes widened.

They couldn't even remember how long it had been since someone managed to hit them. Their lower teeth collided with their upper teeth and shattered. The shattering of the teeth produced sound waves, and they tried to vomit it with another Roar of Injustice in retaliation.

Woosh!

Before that could happen, Zhou Xuchuan's hand grabbed Shao Leijin by the nape.

The sound waves tore through Zhou Xuchuan's flesh.

"Just like what you guys do, I ought to tell you the identity of the one who shoved his way in and gave you a beating, right?"

Zhou Xuchuan covered his mouth with his empty hand.

"Mount Hua Sect."

Shao Leijin's eyes widened to the point that it seemed like they would tear apart.

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"Zhou Xuchuan."

There was another sound—the sound of a fist smashing into someone's head.

It went bang, and everyone heard it loud and clear.