Three Variations of the Zither Heart, Pillowed on a Skull
Chu Tianshu walked step by step to Sanqi's side.
The moment the back of his hand touched the hilt of the sword, Sanqi rang out joyfully.
Yuanzai stared blankly at the sword, then looked up at it again.
Two masks also fell from the sky.
"The Five Rampancies only borrowed divine power; they did not completely possess you."
Chu Tianshu flipped his wrist and gently grasped Sanqi.
"The deputy seal, the main seal, the mask—its foundation is indeed much stronger than the others."
"But, having been nerfed time and time again, losing all those things, it's now just a cripple hiding and waiting to die!"
Before Yuanzai could say anything, Chu Tianshu instantly sealed his acupoints with his finger and carried him away.
Inside the manor.
Liu Yanqi's military uniform was somewhat tattered. He stood on another section of the bridge not far from the pavilion, facing the pavilion and also the breach in the high wall.
He was just tricked by the Five Chang Gods' Divine Power and blasted underwater. The Heaven-Leaning True Explanation is most effective in a place with plenty of water.
A series of muffled explosions underwater were quite dangerous.
To make matters worse, he was swept by the turbid current to the edge of the area where the Ghost King was imprisoned.
Back in Bashu, and just now at the manor, both of the two most important followers died by Liu Yanqi's sword.
The moment the Ghost King saw him emerge from the water, he poured out a deep sorrow.
Literally, it means to pour out.
The floating Ghost King used a white wine glass to collect the sound waves of the zither music, while in his other hand he held a black wine glass with its rim tilted outwards.
Black mist, like clouds and smoke, flowed down from the wine glass, only to dissipate in the wind halfway down its length.
Chu Tianshu saw this scene from afar, abandoned Yuanzai, touched the lake water with his toes, and flew to Liu Yanqi's side.
"Careful!"
Liu Yanqi immediately warned, "I told you before in Luoyang that this Ghost King has the ability to harm people with his sorrowful words."
"Once he triggers painful memories, physical injuries will actually occur."
Joy can be forgiving, but sorrow can be devastating.
These are the two most basic, yet also the most powerful, uses of the Divine Power of Sorrow and Joy.
It gathers the joy of the masses and can withstand hundreds of attacks without being harmed.
Provoking the target's sense of tragedy will immediately cause emotional, mental, physical, and even physical harm.
The battle in Bashu was like a nightmare because none of those who opposed the Ghost King could see that their comrades were being attacked.
Suddenly, his companion was stunned, and his body was torn apart. His chest was inexplicably ripped open, and his limbs broke off silently.
The only truly terrifying sound was the spurting of blood.
Chu Tianshu could tell when he got closer.
Tears streamed down Liu Yanqi's face as he held a small sword in each hand, the tips of which trembled at a strange frequency.
That is clearly a form of performance as well.
The sound of swords echoed Cai Shanjun's zither music.
"It's not good to keep you all stuck like this. I'll give it a try."
Chu Tianshu became extremely wary and took a step forward.
This step felt like crossing heaven and earth.
It was also dusk.
After dispersing his energy, the old man, who actually looked rosy-cheeked, was wearing a shirt and leaning against the bedside table.
"No, this time I'm really going to die, I'm not kidding."
The old man had already given many instructions, and finally picked up the medicinal wine next to him and took two sips.
The glass was small to begin with, and after a couple of sips, the amber-colored liquor inside was completely gone.
"Homemade liquor is so good! You can have a couple of glasses if you have trouble sleeping in the future."
Old Man Chu smiled as he looked at the young man whose back was to the setting sun. His wine glass rested on the quilt on his stomach, his eyes still shining, but his breath had stopped.
Despair!!
With his back to the setting sun, Chu Tianshu took a step back and pressed his hand to his chest.
A thick stream of blood flowed from his lips.
Liu Yanqi exclaimed in surprise, "Little Chu..."
"Fine."
Chu Tianshu raised his eyes, expressionless, and wiped the blood from his lips. "This injury is mainly from being kicked just now."
"The Ghost King aggravated my original injuries a bit."
"But that's nothing, let me adjust my breathing for three minutes!"
Chu Tianshu swiftly inserted a handful of silver needles into more than a dozen acupoints on his chest.
These needles are no ordinary items.
He had anticipated that he might get injured on his trip to the capital, so he prepared some medicine in advance while he was in Luoyang.
Using the Nanhua True Interpretation, the vital energy from the medicine is extracted and incorporated into the silver needles.
Now, with acupuncture and a strong physique, these medicinal effects can be absorbed, stopping bleeding, reducing inflammation, replenishing qi, and promoting tissue regeneration.
He took a minute and a half to inhale and a minute to exhale, which took the same amount of time, so it was indeed about three minutes, and his injury was no longer a problem.
"That Ghost King is quite shameless."
Although Chu Tianshu had heard about the Ghost King's unique abilities from the person involved, he only realized how outrageous they were after actually experiencing them.
Just now, his body was unharmed, and his internal energy, mind, and Weapon Soul did not sense any external attack.
At most, it's because some kind of association was automatically generated from the atmosphere created by the Ghost King.
As a result, his heart injury actually worsened.
In other words, as long as one is sad, the Ghost King will inflict true damage that ignores defense.
"Fine."
Listening to the music, Chu Tianshu said, "The method you've developed really can counteract it."
Cai Shanjun was originally skilled at using music to manipulate the enemy's senses.
After obtaining Zhuge Liang's Origin Canon, his qin skills improved greatly, far surpassing his achievements on instruments such as the flute and xiao.
Furthermore, since a Cave God resided within his guqin, he pondered how to counter the Ghost King's methods by creating his own musical scores.
In that battle, the Ghost King used every trick in the book, all of which were witnessed by Cai Shanjun and others.
This can be described as a true "hindsight" Zhuge Liang, specifically plotting against this ghost.
The Three Variations of the Zither Heart.
The first layer: the sound of the zither is like wind and rain, a raging storm—is it sorrow?
No, it was just an empty mountain with no one around, where clouds gathered and rain fell, wind blew through the long valley, and nature was wild and untamed.
The second layer, the sound of the zither is like the clash of swords, signifying victory in every battle—is this a sign of joy?
No, it's not that. It's due to the accumulation of time, the weathering of the rocks, and the rolling of boulders that collide with the ore.
The third layer features eerie music, like encountering a tiger's skull on the road and sleeping with its bones as a pillow—is it sorrow or joy, surprise or terror?
No need for that. Even if there were giant beasts in the world that could devour tigers and vomit up their bones, swallowing me whole would only add to my share, allowing them to continue their struggle with the world.
The Three Variations of the Zither Heart gradually progresses from simply expressing feelings through nature to a state of ethereal and expansive detachment that is "unrelated to all births and deaths."
Good music is mostly a reflection of one's heart, but this is not Cai Shanjun's ambition.
This is the aspiration of the Cave God.
If we're talking about sorrow, those warriors and witches who transformed into Cave God, trapped in the cave for thousands of years, how could they lack sorrow? If we're talking about joy, they also experienced endless joy and longing.
But after the Ghost God they fought against had vanished, and with the passage of time, all they longed for was to return to nature.
This is precisely why the Cave God was able to almost fight the Ghost King to the death back then.
Cai Shanjun helped the Cave God sort out his mind and created this piece, which is just like the nemesis of the Ghost King.
When the Ghost King attacks someone, he may only need to use a fraction of his strength to ignore a full ten percent of their foundational defense.
Moreover, this contribution might not even be its own, but rather derived from the feelings of others.
However, it clashes with this piece of music.
If the Ghost King uses a fraction of his strength, Cai Shanjun only needs to use a fraction of his strength to counteract it, and may even use less.
"Old Cai composed the music, and Cave God was the prototype for it; both are indispensable. As for us standing on the sidelines, we're at most just loudspeakers."
Chu Tianshu said, "I'll take over your role as a loudspeaker."
"With such a commotion here, the capital is likely to descend into chaos. Go and resolve this."
Liu Yanqi is an expert in this field.
His skill in handling various organizational chaos and political turmoil was as adept as Chu Tianshu's effortless study of the Thousand-Drunken Old Man's boxing manual.
"Okay."
Liu Yanqi said, "Once the Shanjun has worn it down, only you will have enough strength to subdue and obliterate it in one fell swoop."
Chu Tianshu nodded, raised the Three-Seven Sword, and lightly flicked the tip.
The chanting of Sanqi gradually echoed the rhythm of the guqin.
Once Cai Shanjun started playing this piece, he became completely absorbed in it, oblivious to what was happening outside, and just kept plucking, strumming, strumming, and sweeping.
The movement has entered its third phase.
The piano music tinkled and sang, its melody light and lively, peculiar and enigmatic.
The sun slowly sank below the mountains.
The moon, which had already risen long ago but was previously overlooked, is now being noticed and is high in the sky.
The entire artificial lake in the manor became even colder.
Chu Tianshu held the sword with one arm, silently channeling his inner strength, the tip of the sword responding to the melody, but his mind was somewhat distracted.
"Six famous swords and three famous sabers."
"Especially those three precious swords, which were forged by Cao Pi himself. Originally, I intended to use these Three-Seven Sword to stab Cao Bokun to death."
"It can be considered that Xiao Cao killed his father across generations, creating a legendary tale like that of the sword-wielding star, Frost X-Wound."
"I never imagined that in a real fight, someone would be beaten to death with their fists."
Chu Tianshu felt a little regretful.
The Ghost King is too durable; standing still for hours on end is truly boring.
Chu Tianshu then recalled the kung fu that Cao Bokun had unleashed after letting the divine power permeate his entire body.
It seems that many of them are related to theatrical performance.
The God of the Pear Garden, in his approach, tends to focus on the romantic and affectionate aspects of the plays, ultimately leading to anger.
The Five Chang Gods, in comparison, is much more realistic.
It doesn't concern itself with romance, emotions, or artistic conception; it simply elevates the solid skills related to drama.
It combines long-standing performance styles and stereotypes with real methods of murder.
This forms a method of killing that is both distinctive and effective.
The technique of throwing weapons away, the unpredictable legwork.
Especially legwork; in stage performances, singing is paramount.
But for true masters, body movements and footwork are the foundation for drawing the audience into the atmosphere.
Especially since the Ming and Qing dynasties, there have been many martial arts practitioners who, after killing officials or committing crimes, hid in opera troupes.
Many of the essences of leg techniques from Jiangnan can be glimpsed in the evolution of theatrical body movements.
"After being refined by the Five Chang Gods, this kind of movement and legwork has actually surpassed the scope of the Martial Stove God, and is better than any other movement techniques I have ever learned or seen."
Chu Tianshu began to ponder.
"Having mastered the Sky-Spanning Divine Art to this level, the explosive speed it unleashes is truly exhilarating, but the lack of a dedicated lightness skill to complement it is a bit of a shame."
"When I go back to my hometown in a few days, I can ask if there are any powerful martial arts manuals."
"If we get our hands on the Pear God, the Ghost King, and the Five Rampancies, even if we use them to optimize the Demon Blade first, we should still have some left over."
"It can be used to optimize a set of light-footwork techniques."
Vajra Samadhi, Vertical and Horizontal Seal, Sky-Spanning Art, Kalpa Ash Sword, Demonic Saber Art.
If you add a set of light-body skills, you'll truly be a master who has mastered all six elements, using them effortlessly and without any weaknesses.
Clang!!
Cai Shanjun's guqin suddenly produced a loud note.
Chu Tianshu understood, adjusted his longsword, lowered his center of gravity, stared intently at the Ghost King whose figure in the air had become ethereal, and suddenly attacked.
(End of this chapter)