"Musical rhythm?"
Long Zijin raised one eyebrow, recalling the chant he had used to reprimand the sisters, then thinking of his past life...
He nodded. "Yes, I am indeed the most skilled in musical rhythm among my clan."
Back then, among the Nine Sub-Dragon Kings:
Qiuniu loved music, while Pulao loved roaring.
It was only after his guidance that they developed absolute pitch and exceptional voices.
"Oh? Is that truly so?" Han Yun Douluo's eyes lit up.
Soul Masters versed in music and rhythm were extremely rare, because learning it consumed too much time and hindered meditation cultivation.
Sound was neither a tangible attribute nor a spiritual attribute. Yet once used in battle, it could inflict double damage upon both the enemy's body and spirit, and could even shatter all things at a certain fixed frequency.
Thus, whenever this female Super Douluo encountered someone skilled in music or vocalization, she would make their acquaintance. Not to mention that this youth claimed to be the best in his clan.
"I am skilled at playing instruments, but lack talent in singing. Would you be willing to get to know each other?" Han Yun Douluo invited him.
As she spoke, she placed the Han Yun Guqin horizontally before her, as though about to play.
Clearly, this Super Douluo had already developed the intention of taking him as a disciple... or perhaps becoming friends with him.
However, Long Zijin shook his head and stepped ashore. "No. My cultivation is nearing Rank 30. Not only do I need to prepare for my third soul ring, I also urgently need to find my next Soul Spirit."
"When I have some free time, I'll return to this floor and meet with Sister Xia."
With that, he immediately headed toward the exit of the sixty-ninth floor.
Yet after being politely refused, Han Yun Douluo—Xia Zheng Leng—had an even brighter gleam in her eyes.
Because just now, when she observed Long Zijin's movements after he emerged from the water, the force and gait of his legs as he stepped ashore were more distinctive than those of every dancer in her social circle.
"I never expected this child's foundation in dance to be so outstanding as well. Dongfeng, oh Dongfeng, just what kind of marvel is this person you asked me to watch..."
After leaving Qiangu Dongfeng's office,
Long Zijin and Di Guangming each had an additional soul tool token in their hands.
These two items were respectively the identification tokens of a candidate Spirit Envoy and an honorary deputy pagoda master.
The upper ranks of the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda had a very simple structure:
One pagoda master, two deputy pagoda masters, four Spirit Envoys, and thirty-six council elders.
Of the two deputy pagoda master positions, one held real authority, while the other was merely honorary.
The deputy pagoda master with real authority managed the pagoda's daily affairs. Meanwhile, the pagoda master was usually responsible for external diplomacy and rarely seen, so the internal duties borne by the deputy pagoda master with real authority were exceedingly burdensome.
As for the honorary position, namely honorary deputy pagoda master, it was a role that collected a salary without doing any work, equivalent to the offerings positions in Spirit Hall and the Holy Spirit Cult.
But once they acted, it would always be a world-shaking matter. Either the Spirit Pagoda headquarters was about to fall, or war was being declared against another force guarded by a Quasi-God.
Therefore, the position of honorary deputy pagoda master could only be held by the strongest person within the pagoda.
After Zhang Geyang, master of the Thunderous Hell-Prison Vine, had been transferred to the Star Luo Continent, the position of honorary deputy pagoda master had remained vacant for nearly twenty years.
Qiangu Dongfeng had also considered appointing his elder brother to the role, but Qiangu Qingfeng's command over the Shadow Department was of vital importance. It was the only route connected to the Holy Spirit Cult, so the appointment could only remain shelved until now.
On the crystal corridor of the eighty-first floor of the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda.
Golden Pupils overlooked the boundless greatest city on the continent below.
Long Zijin suddenly gazed eastward and switched to the dragon language. "Report the results of your investigation over the past month."
Di Guangming lowered his head and sighed softly. "This little king has failed Your Majesty's expectations."
"This little king found the hill you described on the first day. There was indeed an ancient ruin atop it, which had undergone many human restorations. It was called Douluo Hall."
"Within it were enshrined the memorial tablets of those human Titled Douluo from twenty thousand years ago. They are now known as cultural relics."
Long Zijin continued, "Douluo Hall atop Douluo Mountain—the center of the continent twenty thousand years ago, the ascension site of the Angel God."
"The first batch of tablets enshrined inside belonged to the Titled Douluo who followed the first Angel God in fighting the Ancient Desolate Beasts."
"I know that. That was why I sent you there—to use your ultimate light and ultimate sacredness to sense whether you could contact the lost Angel God position."
"And thus find the remnant soul of Qian Renxue, the last Angel God, whose godhead was shattered by Asura Sea God Tang San twenty thousand years ago and who died of old age in Spirit City."
"However..." Di Guangming hesitated briefly.
"Over the course of an entire month, this little king did not sense any soul fluctuations related to light or sacredness."
"This little king even searched thousands of li around Douluo Mountain as the center. Sacred light penetrated three feet into the ground, yet I found not the slightest trace related to angels."
"Tsk, is that so?" Long Zijin sighed softly.
"Forget it. This is not your fault. It seems Qian Renxue's soul has already reincarnated and completely left the Douluo Plane."
"Fortunately, I have a substitute—the God of Thunder. Though he is not perfect, he was still once a god."
When it came to mental expectations, the Dragon Emperor had always been open-minded. After all, having plotted for more than ten thousand years, he could not possibly have prepared only one plan.
"However, to find the grave pit where the God of Thunder fell, we must first go to the Star Luo Continent and capture Zhang Geyang. Then we can trace the source through the Thunderous Hell-Prison Vine Soul Spirit, and finally locate the place where the vine sprout first took root."
"Tsk, it's just too time-consuming... What a bother."
"Your Majesty, though, this little king discovered a heresy on the first day..." The Holy Dragon King seemed hesitant to speak.
After a moment of slight hesitation, he still stated truthfully, "Within Douluo Mountain, this little king sensed the struggling remnant souls of a large number of Ancient Desolate Beasts. They seemed to react strongly to sacred light."
"Moreover, among these ancient beast souls, there was a fallen fluctuation hidden away."
"A fallen fluctuation?" The Dragon Emperor immediately became interested.
He repeatedly confirmed, "Are you certain it was not an evil attribute fluctuation, but... fallen?"
"Absolutely certain!" The Holy Dragon King's tone was firm. "Although it was somewhat weak, it was indeed a fallen fluctuation."
"It was the fallen fluctuation produced when sacredness fell toward evil."
"Good." The Dragon Emperor rubbed his palms together, his smile gradually widening. "Then that's it."
"So I had a flaw in my thinking as well. But this saves us the trouble of finding the God of Thunder's grave pit."
He swept away the Will of Destruction around them and paced toward the red-grade elevator. "Come on. Let's go down and say goodbye to Tian Feng, then return to pay respects at the graves of your Younger Brother Fire and Younger Sister Water."
Author's Note:
1. Ancient Desolate Beasts—
Three have been explicitly established in the original work: the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent and the Nine-Headed Blood Bat King from Douluo 1, as well as the Dragon-Eating Behemoth from Douluo 4.
These Ancient Desolate Beasts lived before divine power nourished the Douluo Plane, and benefited the most when divine power began nourishing the continent.
After the first Angel God became a god, she led the humans of the continent to defeat these beasts and suppressed them beneath Douluo Mountain with a sword.
The second Angel God pulled out the sword, releasing the remaining beasts and resentful souls. That was why the Sea God stopped the second Angel God from pulling out the sword.
2. Fallen and the fallen attribute—
Fallen is not evil. Therefore, many Douluo fan works and derivatives have gotten this setting wrong.
Fallen is the process of sacredness falling toward evil, so the fallen attribute is a higher tier than both the sacred and evil attributes.
Refer to the original plot: the Bright White Tiger was possessed by the Evil God King, grew gray "fallen" wings, and transformed into the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
Ultimate fallen was equivalent to ultimate sacredness falling toward ultimate evil.
Corresponding to fallen, the process of moving from evil toward sacredness is called sublimation. However, the original work never mentioned a sublimation attribute, so to reduce reader fatigue, the author chose to respect the original work and not introduce a sublimation attribute.
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