"Boom boom boom boom!!!"
The war drums below grew increasingly urgent, signaling that the enemy was about to launch its attack. The horse bandits below began shouting loudly as well.
"You cowards of the State of Zhao, come out and die!"
"I heard there's even a beautiful Princess of Zhao among you! Once we take the camp, how about everyone gets a taste of this princess?"
"Ooohhh!!!"
Hearing the horse bandits' filthy remarks, the Zhao soldiers above turned livid and cursed back furiously. Ji Yanran frowned slightly, then reached out and took a bow from a nearby soldier. She drew the string and nocked an arrow, firing it at the bandit who had been shouting the most enthusiastically. With a scream, he fell from his horse and hit the ground. The other horse bandits were startled, and their arrogance immediately subsided considerably.
Instead, the soldiers on the mountain erupted in cheers. For a moment, the momentum between the two sides shifted. But soon, the drums below sounded again, and the horse bandits immediately moved out, clearing obstacles as they advanced toward the camp above.
At that moment, Fang Zheng extended a finger and lightly brushed the strings before beginning to play.
"..."
"Huh?"
Hearing the music flowing from Fang Zheng's qin, Ji Yanran looked at him in astonishment. It was not merely because she had never heard this piece before, nor because its melody was so strange. More importantly... this should not have been the sound of a qin at all!
In Ji Yanran's memory, the qin should have produced lingering, graceful, winding tones. Yet what Fang Zheng played was something she had never heard before—music of remarkable clarity and depth. Moreover, though it was not louder than the drums below, every single person could hear it distinctly.
It carried