Zither Emperor

Nina groaned. “Magic and martial arts combination can display an awfully large, formidable power, but because it’s not really specialized, the cultivation speed reduces substantially after the Green Rank. Perhaps you can be successful, but you must invest a huge amount of effort that is several times greater than what a single mage and warrior must invest. And once you reach Violet Rank, a mage-warrior is not necessarily favorable over that of a warrior or mage.”

Ye Yin Zhu shook his head and said, “I don’t know if what you are saying is correct, but I believe Grandfather Qin would never harm me.”

Nina looked at Ye Yin Zhu with a very serene but also very persistent gaze. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say. From her heart’s perspective, she naturally wouldn’t doubt Qin Shang’s teachings. After all, Qin Shang was the mainland’s best Divine Music mage. In the domain of Divine Music mages, it was too hard for her to compare. She really couldn’t imagine, however, why Qin Shang allowed Ye Yin Zhu to select this magic-martial arts path. In fact, she already knew that Ye Yin Zhu’s current cultivation was not ordinary in concerns to magic and martial arts cultivation.

“Well, let’s not talk about this first. What happened during today’s match? Why did that Netherworld Snow Spirit change sides during the battle?” This question was the real reason why Nina sought out Ye Yin Zhu.

Ye Yin Zhu forced a smile and said, “I don’t know either. Our music must have influenced it.”

Nina shook her head and argued, “No. Music does influence magical beasts; this is what we Divine Music mages excel in. After all, magical beasts for the most part do not have strong spiritual power. For some rudimentary magical beasts, we can even completely make them lose their combat ability through the use of our music,but today, you confronted a Netherworld Snow Spirit that, when matured, is comparable to a rank 9 sentient magical beast – one of the Death Spirit class. The damage our music does to it is minimal. Even if you can influence its mood, it is impossible to control it to change sides!”

Ye Yin Zhu automatically answered, “Maybe, our song selection today, << A Chinese Ghost Story >>, has some correlation.”

Nina’s eyes brightened. “<< A Chinese Ghost Story >> song, a Death Spirit class Netherworld Snow Spirit. This correlation…, apparently, our Divine Music division has a new topic we must research. I must think carefully on this. If hereafter every Divine Music mage can cause an opponent’s magical beast to change sides, in that case we can even face the dragon cavalry at last…” With this thought, she couldn’t help excitedly dancing with joy. Her eyes gave off brilliant rays of light, unexpectedly even resembling Xue Ling from earlier.

“Good, Yin Zhu you should return early to rest. Restore your spiritual power properly. Tomorrow you still must compete in a match.” With this new goal in mind, Nina immediately ignored Ye Yin Zhu, being entirely immersed in her excited thoughts.

Leaving Nina’s office, Ye Yin Zhu didn’t return to the classroom. Just recently the victorious match made the entire Divine Music division excited. All but some ignored Ye Yin Zhu’s energy consumption, however. As the general, he alone blocked all the attacks of the enemy party of five and also the Netherworld Snow Spirit. All of this consumed an extremely large amount of dou qi and spiritual power. If he didn’t cultivate his Pure Zither Heart since he was a child and if his foundation wasn’t so deep, he feared he would not have been able to hold on. Especially when he gathered all of his strength for a final attack and didn’t even have the chance to release it; the elemental backlash alone had already given him trauma. Now his brain was continuously hit with waves of fatigue. Thus, after exiting Nina’s office, Ye Yin Zhu walked out and immediately returned to his dormitory to rest.

“Yin Zhu.” Just as he left the Divine Music division school building, Ye Yin Zhu heard someone call him.

Sura appeared out of some unknown place, his complexion appearing somewhat pale. His gaze towards Ye Yin Zhu also became somewhat strange.

“Sura, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick?” Ye Yin Zhu raised his hand with great difficulty to feel Sura’s forehead.

“I’m not sick.” Sura shook off Ye Yin Zhu’s hand. He said with a strange voice, “Congratulations, you won.”

Ye Yin Zhu forced a smile and said, “There’s nothing to congratulate. In fact, luck made up a significant part of it. Sura, you don’t look well.”

Sura gnashed his teeth and said, “I look fine. Ye Yin Zhu, I want to kill you.” His petite body momentarily exploded with an incomparably astonishing speed as he immediately closed the distance between the two of them. Because Ye Yin Zhu used up a significant portion of his energy, his reaction time had declined substantially. Before he could react, Sura’s hands already clutched his neck. Because of the height difference, he was entirely on Ye Yin Zhu’s body.

Yin Zhu felt an ice-cold, clammy feeling on his neck. Sura’s hands were very cold, and despite his vicious appearance, he didn’t really exert himself.

“Sura, what are you doing?” Yin Zhu cried out in alarm.

Sura’s eyes brimmed with a complicated light and even a layer of mist. He violently released Ye Yin Zhu. “You, I hate you. Why did your Divine Music division win, why…”

“I…” Just as Sura released his grip, Ye Yin Zhu’s body was suddenly hit with a spell of dizziness. The over consumption and elemental backlash finally showed its effect. As his eyes blacked out, his body pitched forward and collapsed.

Sura’s heart was startled by this new complication, and he cried out in alarm as he suddenly saw the direction of Ye Yin Zhu’s fall. Before Sura could react, Ye Yin Zhu’s body had already knocked against him. To save himself, as Ye Yin Zhu toppled over, both his hands unconsciously extended forward to grab anything to support his body. As he hit Sura’s body, his right hand coincidentally grabbed Sura’s chest. His palm tightened as he leaned up against Sura in order to prop up his own body.

“Sura, as it turns out, your pectoral muscles are quite robust.” These were Ye Yin Zhu’s final words before he blacked out.

Holding up Ye Yin Zhu’s body, Sura’s complexion became red and then white. A pitch-black dagger unknowingly appeared in his grasp. He stared at Ye Yin Zhu before clutching at his own chest with his hand. His heart hesitated for a while, unable to thrust his dagger out.

✶

The Northern Wasteland occupied over a quarter of the mainland. Located in the most northern part of the mainland, it remained bitter cold throughout the year. Along the Northern Wasteland’s southern border was the Ascoli Kingdom to the southwest, the Milan Empire to the south, and the Florence Kingdom to the southeast. In order for the human countries to defend against the Northern Wasteland beastmen, a massive military force was deployed to cover the entire border. Equally, the beastmen also always guarded against human invasion. Therefore, they built three fortifications, one for each human country. The Ascoli Kingdom bordered on Solomon Stronghold, the Milan Empire bordered on the Mjolnir Stronghold, and the Florence Kingdom bordered on the Mars Stronghold.

In the eyes of the humans, the beastmen were savages from an unauthentic descent. But in fact, despite beastmen commonly having low intelligence, the higher level beastmen’s intelligence were not inferior in any respect to the human race. The great majority of the beastmen nobility’s figures were exceedingly similar to humans in appearance.

Zi stood atop a hill five miles away from the Mjolnir stronghold and looked into the distance at the 66.6 meter high wall, his eyes gleaming with an ice-cold light. Both of his hands gripped the heavy iron stick supporting his body. He had stood there without moving for no less than an hour.

“Ten years, I didn’t expect I would return to Mjolnir one day. You wouldn’t expect that the child you chased after to kill has already returned. From the far north to the far south, returning from the far south to the far north, Zi’s rage will melt the ice and snow of the Northern Wasteland in the end.”

Two terrifying rays of light shot out from Zi’s electrifying eyes. The muscles of his arms abruptly thickened, exposing blue veins. No one would suspect that this pair of arms packed an explosive strength.