In an instant, all seven strings trembled in unison.
That note was heavier than any that had come before.
Not heavier in volume, but heavier in weight.
The instant it rang out, the enormous golden net of laws above the entire arena suddenly caved downward by a huge portion, and the laws within the Coiling Dragon Pillar let out a piercing resonance.
A massive pillar of light woven from seven-colored sound waves shot skyward from the zither, exploding in midair into musical runes that filled the sky.
Those runes were densely packed, numbering in the tens of thousands. Each one was an independent sonic attack.
They gathered into an inverted bowl-shaped cage, enveloping Xu Xun within it before contracting and crushing inward all at once.
Xu Xun stood at the center of that musical cage.
Countless sonic runes pressed toward his body simultaneously. Every rune sliced through his flesh, shook his meridians, and battered his spiritual platform.
His gray robe instantly shattered into dust, revealing the bare upper body beneath, covered in purple markings.
As he endured the sonic assault, those purple markings began to flash wildly, like countless slender snakes awakened and slithering over the surface of his skin.
Dense red welts appeared across his skin, marks left behind by the cutting of the sonic runes.
But those red welts lasted only two breaths.
Two breaths later, the purple markings on his body suddenly erupted with a blinding light.
Wherever that light passed, the red welts rapidly faded, healed, and vanished without a trace.
The runes within the musical cage shattered one after another under the impact of the purple light, annihilated and returning to Void.
Three breaths later, the entire musical cage had completely collapsed.
Xu Xun stood where he was, bare from the waist up, while scraps