“Uuuuu... Lan[1] said you’re a bad guy, drop Xiao Yin! Bad guys, don't grab me! Let go! Let go!” The one constantly struggling under Shadow One’s hold was actually a child.
[1] Means Blue.
The child's silver hair was even more distinctive in the moonlight. There were tears in his big eyes, but he still stubbornly waved his hands and feet around in the air.
Signalling for the child to be put down, Qi Mingyue blocked the child’s way before he could slip away, “Whose child are you? Why are you here?” The child seemed to be no more than five years old, with a head full of silver hair, and he showed up at such a distant place as Lofty Mountain. No one would believe that he was a child from an ordinary family.
Upon being stopped by Qi Mingyue like this, the child stopped and didn't dodge. He looked straight at him with his eyes full of doubts, “Why do you have master’s smell[2]?”
[2] A more appropriate word would be ambience/aura, but that wasn’t going well with the flow, so I just used the MTL’s version.
Master's smell? Could he be referring to the aura of Tianyin? Qi Mingyue showed a soft smile and stretched out his hand to stroke his silver hair, “Your name is Xiao Yin[3]? Is Senior Chu your master?” If that was the case, it wouldn’t be difficult to explain why there was such a strange child here.
[3] Literally means Little Silver.
“How do you know my master's surname is Chu?” Xiao Yin nodded his head with confusion, stopped the tears in his eyes and grabbed Qi Mingyue’s sleeve without fear, “Little brother, why isn’t your eagle afraid at all? Master’s music is so powerful that all the animals in the mountain are gone.”
“Little Black is originally a spirit animal from this mountain. It was tamed by your master, so naturally, it’s not afraid. My name is Mingyue, so Xiao Yin, tell me, who is this Lan you speak of and where is your master?” Qi Mingyue probed.
The child heard his words, then suddenly, tears filled his eyes again, “Master had an accident. Lan sent a message to find someone like Master instructed, but there has been no one...” As he spoke, his tears fell, and he threw himself into Qi Mingyue's arms and sobbed.
Qi Mingyue was about to comfort him, but a small figure appeared out of nowhere and dragged Xiao Yin out of his arms. Before he could stop him, a force from behind also pulled him a few steps back and he instantly fell into a familiar embrace. ”MingEr promised me that you wouldn’t to be close to anyone else, so why did you break your promise?”
Listening to the question being whispered in his ear, it was evident that Father was already displeased. Father Emperor actually found even such a small child provocative. Qi Mingyue turned around, dumbfounded, and dropped a kiss on his lips in front of everyone. Then, he laughed lightly, “Father, why do you have to be like this? Xiao Yin is just a child.”
Qi Xutian leaned over, stopped right beside his ear and chuckled, “MingEr, don't forget. At that time, you were also just a child and you could already mess up my mind.”
How could Qi Mingyue not understand the meaning of his words? However, it wasn’t appropriate to say anything here, so he turned around as if nothing had happened only to see another child in front of him. He looked to be about the same age as Xiao Yin, dressed in blue, but his expression was very cold. He completely ignored the intimate actions between father and him and was holding Xiao Yin close while looking at them vigilantly, as if he intended to protect Xiao Yin in his arms and leave immediately if there was the slightest movement.
Hong Qi, who had been standing on the side, saw the two children and was already very happy. She stepped forward, first smiled kindly towards them, then said softly, “Our master is here to save your master, he’s not a bad person. Don't be afraid.”
The child dressed in blue still looked unmoved and waited for her to finish speaking before retorting with a disdainful expression, “Who's afraid!” Then he lowered his head and cursed at Xiao Yin in his arms, “Idiot! I already told you not to run around and wait for me to come back...” Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Yin burst into tears. He promptly stopped and began comforting and apologizing, as if he was the one who had done something wrong.
Qi Mingyue watched them with interest from the side and couldn't help but remind them with a laugh, “You still have time to play around here, is your master alright?”
Upon hearing his words, the two children suddenly remembered that their master was still waiting for someone for rescue, so they both walked up to him in a hurry, “Can you save Master?”
“Perhaps.” Qi Mingyue smiled slightly, his words expressed uncertainty, but he seemed confident.
Xian Yin hurriedly tugged at his sleeve when he heard his words, “Really? Then let’s go save him right away?” Just as he finished asking, he was pulled back by the child named Lan.
Qi Mingyue had a smile on his face throughout. He looked up at the sky and suddenly asked, “Is there a place to rest nearby?”
The two children nodded in a hurry.
The group followed them to a hut in the mountain, it seemed that the two children did not live with Chu Yu but lived in this hut.
When they arrived at the hut, Qi Mingyue first asked about Chu Yu’s situation and both of the children answered one by one.
It turned out that a few days ago, this senior Chu suddenly had an epiphany, threw the two children back in the hut and just instructed them to release a carrier pigeon if something went wrong. The two had long grown accustomed to their Master going into seclusion from time to time, and there had never been a time when that carrier pigeon came into use. That’s why both of them naturally echoed his instructions and then happily spent these few days of free time by playing around.
Unexpectedly, something really happened this time. For three days in a row, the sound of zither never stopped; from the intoxication at the beginning, it went to being petrifying for the soul. These two small children didn’t dare approach, but they were worried about their master having an accident, so they released a carrier pigeon in panic and regretted not discovering the abnormality earlier.
Qi Mingyue had long known that Chu Yu was affected by his own music. With the presence of Pure Heart technique, he should be able to persist for a bit longer. He wanted to head there promptly but was blocked by two small figures.
Apparently, there existed a maze on top of the mountain. People who were in the formation wouldn’t notice any difference but would be deterred by Tianyin congregated within the formation. The power of the sound of the zither in this formation would magnify the effect of Tianyin by several levels. Even a strong-minded person didn’t dare say that they were capable of staying in this formation for more than half a second.
Those who strayed into the mountain had their souls scared away by the sound of Tianyin. In the past few days, many people had lost their souls and left. I’m afraid that they wouldn’t survive for more than a few days after returning home.
Hearing this, Qi Mingyue suddenly understood and thought to himself that this was the reason for the rumours at the foot of the mountain, but if he didn’t enter the formation, they wouldn’t be able to save each other and Senior Chu would die inside the formation sooner or later.
Seeing his sombre look, the two little ones smiled at each other and told Qi Mingyue that there was another shortcut behind the mountain which lead to the top of the mountain that no one knew of. It was their usual playing spot; the road up the mountain was long, so they found this path to shorten the route up the mountain.
Hearing this, Qi Mingyue no longer hesitated and stood up, “Senior Chu has been playing the zither for several days now, he must be exhausted. He must be in a trance and doing all this by instinct. Now is the time when most people are asleep and are most likely to relax, if we go ahead now, the effect should be the best.”
No one could refute his reasoning. Qi Xutian did what he wanted, and others had no reason to oppose. After leaving the two children, instructing both Hong Qi and Ying Ran to wait in place, and ordering both Shadow One and Wu Yao, who was hidden in the dark, to protect the safety of everyone staying behind, Qi Mingyue and Qi Xutian went to the back mountain path the children spoke of.
Along the way, Qi Mingyue noted that Qi Xutian didn’t seem to be worried at all, so he asked curiously, “Father, are you not worried that I might fail or be influenced by the zither?”
Qi Xutian wrapped his arms around him, “I believe in your ability; besides, I won't let anything happen to you.” His faint tone of voice had a hint of coldness. He had already planned that if something happened to MingEr, or if he was attacked by gu, he would immediately kill that person and then find another way to remove the gu.
Qi Mingyue guessed his thoughts but didn't say anything. He was held in Father Emperor’s arms and allowed him (QX) take him up the mountain without making any effort.
As they approached the top of the mountain, they heard intermittent sounds of zither.
Little Black, who was circling the air, heard the sound of zither and suddenly swooped down and went straight towards the source of the music. He let out a shrill cry, apparently familiar with the sound, or he was aware that something was wrong.
Qi Mingyue jumped down from Qi Xutian's arms and hurriedly chased Little Black.
Beyond the cover of trees, he saw a clearing in the mountain forest. Someone was sitting with their back to them and the intermittent sound of the zither was produced by this person. Little Black hovered a short distance over his head but didn’t dare swoop down, evidently, the power of zither was too strong. Even though Little Black was a spirit, he didn’t dare get too close.
At this moment, when Qi Mingyue got closer, he realized that the sound of zither truly contained the power of Tianyin, and he could feel it. He thought of Father Emperor and his heart became tight, he quickly looked to his side.
Qi Xutian was frowning, and his eyes had turned deeper. He noticed MingEr looking at him, revealed a slight smile, raised his eyebrows and said softly, “Don't worry, my mind is already on you, the music can’t sway me.”
Qi Mingyue saw that he was able to speak such words even at a time like this and couldn’t help but stare slightly. It seemed that Father’s romantic nature hadn’t changed at all, but the target had just become him alone.
But this wasn’t the time to joke, he still felt uneasy, and took Qi Xutian's hand before approaching cautiously.
After he passed through the forest cover and walked up to the man, the music with Tianyin became clearer.
The music from the zither was like a weeping complaint and seemed to evoke infinite memories, but it was also soothing. It broke into people's hearts and made people fall into it, intoxicated by the tenderness, and what followed was a heavy blow, like thunder that struck the core. The zither’s music became clearer and gentler... this repeated many times, it seemed that the person playing the zither was still subconsciously fighting against the music, unwilling to sink under its control.
Qi Mingyue was about to approach again, but suddenly, he felt pain in his hand. Father Emperor held his hand dead tight and the look on his face was murderous as if he couldn’t wait to slaughter. It was a look he had never seen him make before. Those eyes had always looked at him tenderly, but now, they shone crimson and it seemed as if he might draw his sword any time.
Shocked by the abnormality in front of him, Qi Mingyue didn't notice a tremor in his heart, and just concentrated on fighting against Tianyin. He didn’t notice, however, that at this moment, this momentary loss of spirit caused pain in his chest.
Could it be that Tianyin had alarmed the Lianxin gu? With a hand over his chest, he still tightly held onto Father’s hand and showed a wry smile. It seemed that Jiang Yao had overestimated his abilities.
He was barely able to input the power of Tianyin into Father’s body to make it fight the zither’s music, but the pain in his chest became more violent. Seeing that Father Emperor’s situation was still unchanged, moreover, the bloodthirst in his eyes became more intense, Qi Mingyue could no longer endure the anxiety and pain in his heart. He spurt out a mouthful of blood and fell into darkness.
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