The Zither Named Startling Cloud
Wildflowers and grasses swayed in the wind in the Dark Forest, their graceful "dance" refreshing the heart and mind.
After half a month, Luo Feng had finally finished making the zither. Looking at it in his hands, he felt a surge of pride. The guqin was about three chi, six cun, and five fen long, six cun wide, and two cun thick. Its body was flat on the bottom and curved upward on top, its overall shape modeled after a phoenix. The deep-black body was exceptionally beautiful. Luo Feng had made its strings from the mane and whiskers of an Ice-Cold Snow Lion Emperor, a Level Nine Magical Beast he had slain. The whole zither was so beautifully crafted that he could hardly bear to put it down.
It was cool to the touch, which helped Luo Feng calm his mind. He named the zither Startling Cloud.
By the lake, Luo Feng sat down cross-legged and placed the Startling Cloud Zither on his legs. A faintly entranced look appeared on his face. Yet after taking up the zither, he made no sound. He simply sat there in silence, motionless as a dead tree.
At last, Luo Feng slowly closed his eyes. At that very moment, his bearing changed drastically. The surrounding air seemed to come under tremendous pressure, and a feeling of oppression slowly spread through the heart, growing heavier and heavier until breathing was almost impossible, as though a boulder were pressing down on the chest. At that moment, Luo Feng felt an inexplicable sadness, a sadness whose cause he did not know.
His hands slowly plucked the strings, and a melodious, graceful tune rang out across the entire lake. The notes were like pearls falling onto a jade plate, like jade ornaments chiming together. They flowed gently, like a spring murmuring in a quiet forest. Beautiful as the music was, it carried a faint sadness that drew listeners in. His skill had reached a transcendent level.
Luo Feng had not played the zither in over twenty years. He had thought he had long since forgotten how, but the feeling engraved in his bones had not grown rusty from his long absence. Like wine, it had not weakened with time, but grown purer. His technique was not rusty in the slightest. Instead, after maturing over time, it had reached a transcendent level.
Each graceful, delicate note seemed to pluck at everyone's heartstrings like a slender, boneless jade hand. The elegant music gradually began to change as Luo Feng's long fingers moved slowly over the strings. In an instant, countless afterimages of his hands covered them.
Luo Feng's playing was very, very soft, like a breeze outside a window blowing through willow catkins, sending them drifting through the third month of spring. Each gentle note formed part of a sorrowful, heartbreakingly mournful movement. Every note seemed to echo in the listeners' hearts, making them tremble slightly. The music came from the heart, and it seemed to form images before their eyes: rain poured down in torrents upon a bustling street, the clamor blending with the rain all around. A lone figure wandered aimlessly through the downpour. It was as though that figure were all that remained between heaven and earth, utterly at odds with the bustle around him.
"Dad, Mom, I'm doing well here, really well. What about you? Are you doing all right?" Luo Feng had thought he had forgotten everything about his previous life, yet when he picked up the guqin again, he unconsciously played this sorrowful, subdued tune.
Everything from his previous life had ended with the song. Luo Feng slowly opened his eyes, and his tear-filled gaze gradually grew calm.
"Master, what's that thing on your legs? Why can it make such beautiful sounds? I think it really sounds wonderful, but it's too sad. I, Wa'ersi, don't like that kind of sad tune." Wa'ersi, the Silver Dragon, had been wandering aimlessly around the Dark Forest with nothing to do when the music drew him over. He had not expected his master to be the one playing.
"Wa'ersi, this is called a guqin. I made it myself, and I call it the Startling Cloud Zither. What I just played was a zither piece," Luo Feng said with a faint smile. Ever since he had understood his nature and seen his true heart, he had rarely been cold and aloof. Now, Luo Feng was like an elegant noble, gentle and refined as jade.
"Master, I think that piece you played sounds wonderful, but I don't like that sad tune. Master, play a few more," Wa'ersi said with a grin.
Luo Feng glanced at Wa'ersi, smiled, and nodded.
He sat upright, and the moment his hands touched the strings, his bearing changed. Luo Feng had never looked like a muscular Warrior of the Ninth Rank to begin with. Now, without the slightest hint of sharpness about him, he looked even more like an elegant noble, his gentle refinement on full display.
He slowly closed his eyes and settled his mind, taking in the birdsong and the fragrance of flowers around him. His left hand pressed lightly on the strings while his right plucked the first string, and a moving melody floated out. The music was delicate and subtle. His fingers flickered like phantoms, controlling the softness and force, the quickness and slowness without any outward sign. A light rhythm and a lingering, mournful melody floated forth. Invisible waves of music spread outward from Luo Feng, drifting through the entire bamboo grove.
The birds perched in the surrounding bamboo grove flew toward Luo Feng with a flutter of wings, settling gently not far from him. Some peace-loving small magical beasts also came from all around. The lovely flowers nearby unwittingly lowered their proud heads. As a mountain spring flowed through the ravine, even the fish leaping in it forgot to swim and sank downward.
Luo Feng himself was no exception. He seemed entirely immersed in green mountains and clear waters. This time, there was no loneliness in the music; it was like a mountain breeze dancing through a ravine. Luo Feng and the Silver Dragon, and even the people around Luo Feng, were immersed in this peaceful, beautiful scene.
After a long, long time, a jarring voice broke the tranquility.
"Boy, what's your name? This is the Dark Forest. I don't think I've seen you before." Three purple-gold rat kings flashed into view before Luo Feng.
"You are... the kings of the rat-type magical beasts in the Dark Forest? The Purple-Gold Rat Kings?" Luo Feng looked at the three purple-gold rats before him.
"Mm, that's us. Boy, where did you come from? I'm the Purple-Gold Rat King, Harry," the eldest, Harry, said directly in human speech. "Boy, was that sound just now your doing?"
"Yes, it was me. I'm Luo Feng, from the O'Brien Empire's Northwest Province. I was badly injured in a battle with Kenyon, a disciple of the War God Sect, and afterward my magical beast companion, the Silver Dragon, brought me here. But we were unconscious for a long time. Now that you've arrived, we've imposed on you." Luo Feng turned to the Silver Dragon. "Wa'ersi, let's go."
"Rooar!" Wa'ersi, the Silver Dragon, seemed to have wanted to leave for a while. After all, these were the famous Purple-Gold Rat Kings, the pinnacle of the magical beast world. This was no joke. How could he not be afraid?
"Wait, boy. I didn't come to drive you away. Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Are we brothers that frightening? You said you were badly injured by a disciple of the War God Sect and fled to the Magical Beast Forest?" Harry, the eldest, asked.
Luo Feng smiled bitterly to himself. How had he ended up in the Dark Forest of all places? This was the rats' lair. Although he had a fairly good impression of the three Purple-Gold Rat King brothers from the original work, he did not know them, and somehow wandering into their territory was hard to justify no matter how he looked at it. Naturally, Luo Feng wanted to get as far away as possible. If he angered them, he was done for. Midgods! The undisputed rulers of the Yulan Continent! Even the War God and the High Priest had to behave themselves before them, let alone a nobody like him who had not even reached the Saint Domain.