Chapter 378: Master of Sound Arts

The two women plucked the pipa so exquisitely that I, Yong Hwarin, became absorbed in the flute performance.

Then it happened.

Suddenly, the tone of the pipa changed.

‘Hm? What’s this? Do they not know the latter part of the piece?’

I thought the middle-aged woman simply didn’t know the song.

But just as I was about to lower the flute from my lips, I flinched when a surge of energy shot up violently from my dantian.

‘What is this?’

The sound of the middle-aged woman’s pipa carried true qi.

‘And it reached the level of Three Gaps worth of true qi.’

As her qi struck me, my meridians prickled as though stabbed with countless needles.

‘This is dangerous.’

To resist her sound arts, I too drew up my qi.

Ddi-dding!

When the sound pierced from behind, I realized it wasn’t just the middle-aged woman—there was another woman as well.

‘Ah, so that’s why these women sat before and behind me.’

From behind, the younger woman’s sound arts shook my qi violently.

Had I known from the start they would attack me with sound arts, I would have prepared countermeasures. But caught off guard, it became nearly impossible to circulate my qi.

That was precisely why the middle-aged woman coaxed me into playing together.

Those who hadn’t trained in sound arts properly couldn’t channel qi into their notes while playing.

The sound arts burrowed into each of my vital points, leaving me barely able to maintain clarity.

‘Now that I’m on the receiving end, sound arts truly are formidable.’

It was a dimension of martial arts completely different from when I fought San Bi.

‘I have to find a way out somehow.’

Barely, I raised Protective Qi to shield my body and began channeling qi into my flute.

I infused it with the same degree of qi I had displayed while passing through the formation of the Three Swords Beyond the Heavens.

Yet, the flute tones were beaten back by the pipa, striking against my Protective Qi. The combined assault of their sound arts was like being attacked simultaneously by two absolute masters.

And with no counter technique, I was taking the brunt of it helplessly.

‘At this rate, my Protective Qi will shatter.’

It trembled under the relentless pounding of their sound.

Ttiririririring!

The pipa’s melody grew faster.

Plucking at breakneck speed, the middle-aged woman and her disciple exchanged triumphant smiles.

No matter how great a master I was, they believed I could not endure their combined assault.

Sensing the time had come, the middle-aged woman nodded toward her disciple behind me. Then both of them stood abruptly, strumming the pipa as they stepped closer to me.

It was to pressure me further with an even stronger wave of sound arts.

Those in the inn began collapsing, their eardrums rupturing and minds overwhelmed.

Those too near vomited blood and died outright.

As they closed in on me, their fingers plucked ever faster.

At that point, it was no longer music—just violent strumming of the strings.

And the pressure intensified with every note.

Feeling I would be utterly overwhelmed if I persisted with the flute, I set it down and began directing my qi directly.

First, I amplified my cultivation through the Tai Chi Dantian to strengthen my Protective Qi.

“Ugh!”

But under the constant suppression of sound arts, even controlling my qi properly became difficult.

‘Damn it, even the Nine Dragons Heavenly Ascent Technique isn’t working.’

As a last resort, I recalled the melodies of the Royal Consort Record.

It was always a dangerous piece, one I avoided for fear of qi running rampant. Yet when I summoned it now, it felt like it could resist their sound arts.

The more I recalled it, the more it steadied my qi against their attack.

‘If I fail here, I’ll die.’

With that desperation, I immersed myself in the melody of the Royal Consort Record.

As I sank into it, qi amplified through the Tai Chi Dantian surged like a tidal wave toward the Crown Point.

Though I had intended it to counter their sound arts, the flow instead charged straight toward the Crown Point.

‘Damn…’

I tried to force the qi back, but their sounds hammered each of my acupoints, sending my qi rampaging out of control. When I attempted to seal the Yamen Point to force the energy downward, the younger woman’s sound arts relentlessly battered it open from behind.

And so, the acupoint I had sought to close burst wide.

“Khuk!”

Blood spurted from my nose and mouth as the middle-aged woman shouted.

“Release all your power and strike him down!”

At her command, the young woman imbued her notes with even greater qi.

Boom!

Inside my head, it felt as though hundreds of fireworks exploded at once, my consciousness blurring.

Losing focus meant certain death, so I desperately clung to consciousness.

The qi that had burst through the Yamen Point surged unimpeded to the Crown Point.

Thwack!

It was like a steel club smashed down upon my crown, wrenching a groan from me.

The qi shot through the Crown Point and pierced skyward.

And then—something strange occurred.

I expected the Crown Point to rupture and kill me. Instead, the qi broke through, escaped my head, and merged with Nature’s Energy, wrapping around my body.

Until then, my Protective Qi had been supported by qi erupting from the two Laogong points and two Yongcheon points. But now, a fist-sized cluster of qi surged from the Crown Point, thickening my Protective Qi enough to block their sound arts.

From then on, the force of their sound strikes weakened, and I could once again direct my qi.

The Demon Sound Immortal, Hyebang, reeled back in shock as the sounds bounced back against them.

“What’s happening?”

Her disciple, too, stared at me in disbelief.

They had been so confident, having pushed me to the brink of death.

I opened my eyes.

Before me, just three steps away, the woman plucked her pipa furiously. I rose to my feet.

And I slowly stepped toward the Demon Sound Immortal.

The closer I drew, the stronger the rebound force grew, the veins bulging on her hands as her own sound struck back at her.

Their sound arts had turned against them.

They did not realize that their own assault had opened my Fontanelle.

‘Should I call this a miraculous encounter? Had I not suffered their attack, I would never have awakened to the Realm of Music. The Royal Consort Record’s melodies always drove my qi to the Crown Point for this very purpose—to open the Fontanelle. Master Gwi Ryeong had already grasped this truth. I mistook it for qi deviation and always suppressed it. Without this chance, I would have lived my whole life thinking it was nothing but deviation, never daring to attempt it. In a way, I owe them thanks. Through them, I’ve laid the foundation for Sword Control with Qi.’

But that didn’t mean I had any thought of forgiving them.

They had driven me to the brink of death.

As I closed in, the Demon Sound Immortal’s veins burst one by one across the backs of her hands.

Puhak!

Blood spurted from her hands and arms, forming a mist of blood. The Demon Sound Immortal looked aghast, as if she had just witnessed a ghost rising from the dead.

Until now, no one had ever escaped from her sound arts at the final moment. Realizing her death was inevitable, the Demon Sound Immortal sent a telepathic message to her disciple.

– When I pluck the final note, you must flee this place immediately! Then hunt our enemy to the end and assassinate him.

Her disciple, the Blood Sound Witch, clenched her teeth.

The Demon Sound Immortal instead stepped toward Yong Hwarin, raising even her Innate Qi as she strummed the pipa.

Dding, dding, dding!

The strings snapped, flying straight toward me.

At that moment, the Blood Sound Witch slipped away to escape.

When I tried to snare her with a wave of my hand, the Demon Sound Immortal flung her broken pipa string, wrapping it around my neck.

To my surprise, the pipa had hidden long strings.

And those strings were woven from silkworm thread of heavenly origin, impossible to cut.

She tightened the string around my neck and pulled.

But I had already surged my power explosively through the Tai Chi Dantian. I shattered her strength and yanked on the string as though pulling a fishing rod.

The Demon Sound Immortal’s hands, gripping the strings, were severed cleanly, like tofu sliced apart.

Thud!

Her hands fell to the floor, and with hollow eyes she stared down at them.

I asked,

“Who are you, that you tried to kill me?”

“Do you remember the old man who once served the Young Cult Leader?”

“I do. The old man San Bi called Elder Man.”

“He was my husband.”

I gave a bitter smile of understanding.

“Your revenge nearly succeeded. Let that be enough.”

At my words, the Demon Sound Immortal gave a self-mocking laugh.

“Yes, I almost killed you.”

“While you waste words with me, your disciple has already fled far away. Don’t force yourself to stand.”

“Is that so? You knew?”

I nodded, and she shook her head.

“To oppose you requires more than martial arts alone. Heaven’s fortune and mental schemes as well—no one can rival you.”

As I turned my back, her body crumbled slowly to the floor, like clothes slipping off a frame.

Thud!

With a bitter smile, I returned to the inn and handed the waiter money for her funeral.

When Mo Biyoung returned with materials for disguise and clothes, she saw an undertaker arrive in the backyard to handle a corpse. Realizing something serious had happened, she rushed into my quarters.

“What happened?”

When I told her about the Demon Sound Immortal and the Blood Sound Witch, she burst with anger.

“To think such a thing happened while I was away!”

Blaming herself for failing to protect me, I laughed.

“Don’t blame yourself too much. They struck while I was alone.”

“It was my mistake not to see it.”

But I thought instead it was fortunate she had been absent.

If Mo Biyoung had been there, she would surely have staked her life to protect me, only to be slain by the Demon Sound Immortal’s sound arts.

So her being away at that time was nothing but a blessing.

After waking early and completing our circulation of qi, Mo Biyoung and I disguised ourselves and left the inn.

We needed to conceal our true identities, for our goal was to seek out the Dabie Sect’s movements and find the Bell Spirit Stone Milk at Mount Dabie.

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