Ye Futian’s words acted as a slap to the face. The people who had previously insulted Hua Fengliu were now fuming, their expressions dark.
It was a palace celebration and the Art Saint was present. They had simply wanted to get on his good side by badmouthing his rival. They had never expected for the Qin Devil’s exceptionally gifted disciple to appear with a challenge.
The young man sitting behind the qin had clean, carefree eyes.
Yun Rou and the other dancers stared at his back with infatuation. It turned out that the young qin player was capable of shining so bright.
Lin Xiyue and Xiao He could also feel Ye Futian’s excellence. They were acquainted with the young man he had just defeated. The young man’s skills were not lacking at all, but he was still defeated instantly by Ye Futian’s musical spells. It was easy to see just how powerful Ye Futian was. Lin Xiyue thought, if it had been her up against him, the results would probably be the same.
The venue fell into silence once again. Even though it was a simple challenge and did not seem to symbolize anything, the other youths knew better than to step up on a whim.
Musical Spells attacked the spirit and were extremely forceful. The young swordsman Ye Futian had just defeated was also a three-starred Glory Plane sorcerer, so his spirit was pretty strong, but he was injured by Ye Futian’s musical spell even though he had yet to put in full force. This meant that any martial or divination art cultivators below the three-starred Glory Plane should not even think about going up against Ye Futian. If your spirit was not strong enough, you would be immediately defeated by his musical spells.
“It seems like the Qin Devil has a successor. Who else is willing to give it a go?” asked Lord Luo. His tone was still calm, but in his heart, he was very unhappy. Today was his birthday celebration, but his spotlight had been stolen by the Qin Devil’s disciple. If Ye Futian had been the disciple of a friend, it would have been better, but he was the disciple of the Qin Devil. Since Lord Luo was good friends with the Art Saint, it was only natural that he did not like Hua Fengliu very much. Plus, what Ye Futian said before had offended many people, and all of these people were his guests.
However, Ye Futian had been frank about his intentions from the beginning, which made it hard to pick any problems with him. After all, the group of elders could not blatantly pick on a youngster. Therefore, the best solution was to have Ye Futian be defeated by one of the young people present.
“I’ll go,” someone uttered. From the crowd, an excited young man dressed in extravagant golden clothing came forth. His aura was remarkable.
“That’s Xu Qing. He’s a Thunder and Fire bi-elemental sorcerer in the four-starred Glory Plane,” said someone in the crowd. Everyone looked at him with anticipation, especially the youngsters from the Luo Palace. The spirit of four-starred Glory Plane cultivators was slightly stronger and should be able to withstand Ye Futian’s musical attacks. As long as the musical spells had no effect, Ye Futian was defeated.
“Xu Qing, four-starred Glory Plane sorcerer,” Xu Qing introduced himself to Ye Futian.
“Please,” answered Ye Futian, not losing his patience. As he invited Xu Qing onto the makeshift battlefield, Ye Futian lowered his head and his fingers began to stroke the chords once again, blocking out everyone else in his surroundings.
The people frowned as they listened to him play. This time around, his music lacked the feeling from before. The notes seemed to be random, unable to form into a distinguishable piece.
“The Demon Flurry,” a look of recognition was on the Art Saint’s face. He was old rivals with Hua Fengliu and was therefore familiar with his attack pieces. The piece that Ye Futian played before was the Cangshan Dragon Chant, and this was the Demon Flurry. What seemed to be a disorganized piece was actually very powerful to deal with.
Thunder and Fire Elemental Spiritual Qi erupted from Xu Qing and it flowed around him as it harmonized with his spirit.
The notes of Ye Futian’s qin continued to enter his ears. Xu Qing grew increasingly agitated. He was unable to focus his spirit and he felt himself lose control of the Spiritual Qi as he attempted to gather it for a spell.
In sorcery, it was essential for one’s spirit to accurately and efficiently gather Spiritual Qi, or else the spells would never succeed. The crowd began to take notice of the strange scene. Xu Qing continued to gather large amounts of Spiritual Qi but had yet to be able to form a spell. The Spirital Qi continued to revolve around Xu Qing in a violent manner.
“What’s happening?” The people were curious. Ye Futian’s musical spell seemed to only be affecting one person. The invisible sound waves were all focused in Xu Qing’s direction. The onlookers could only hear random chords being played, but Xu Qing was able to hear the spirit-attacking piece of the Demon Flurry clearly.
Xu Qing remained in one spot. He looked terrible as the sweat ran down his face. Something was wrong with the atmosphere around him. The Demon Flurry did not attack directly, as the Cangchan Dragon Chant did. Instead, it obstructed the release of the subject’s sorcery. This piece was a sorcerer’s kryptonite.
As Ye Futian continued to played, it became increasingly difficult for Xu Qing to focus his spirit. His will was weakening. This battle took such a large toll on him, like nothing he had ever experienced before, but at the same time, this was his first time going against a musical sorcerer.
“The results are clear. That’s enough,” said the Art Saint. His calm voice managed to carry great force, interrupting the music once again.
Ye Futian took his hands off the qin, looking as calm as ever. It was as if he had just played any ol’ piece. On the other hand, Xu Qing, who was still standing, looked as pale as a ghost. His body was shaking lightly, and he glared at Ye Futian with burning rage. Xu Qing had never been so humiliated before.
Was that really a battle? From beginning to end, Xu Qing did not get a single opportunity to make his move. He was trapped by the music. If they had continued, his spirit would have been depleted.
The Art Saint looked at Ye Futian. Hua Fengliu did not come back to Donghai City with his disciple as retirement plan.
“Step down,” ordered Lord Luo when he saw that Xu Qing had no intention of moving from his position. Xu Qing was unwilling, but because Lord Luo said so, he backed down. His legs shook weakly beneath him as he walked away. He began to wonder, what would have happened if he gave up on gathering Spiritual Qi for a spell and chose to attack at close-range instead? Xu Qing regretted not trying.
Ye Futian remained seated and only stood when no one else came forward. To Lord Luo he said, “My deepest apologies for interrupting your birthday celebration. I only wished to punish these people for their disrespectful words towards my master. I will excuse myself now.”
“You already started your tantrum. Do you think you can just leave like this?” someone voiced coldly. Everyone turned their attention to the young man beside the Art Saint. Zhou Mu was shooting daggers at Ye Futian with his eyes.
The Art Saint disabled the Qin Devil years ago. Now, were their disciples going to recreate history?
The youngsters in the crowd were excited. Only Zhou Mu could avenge them now. Ye Futian’s musical sorcery was able to restrain both martial and divination art cultivators.
“You want to duel?” asked Ye Futian.
“Zhou Mu, five-starred Glory Plane. I’m on a higher level than you and initially had no plans of challenging you, but seeing how arrogant you are, I can only step up to the plate. Don’t say that I’m bullying you,” warned Zhou Mu. Then he stepped up and stood opposite of Ye Futian.
Everyone had their eyes glued on the two young men. They sneered at Ye Futian. If they had simply let him go, not only the people who badmouthed Hua Fengliu, but all the youngsters present as well, would have felt utterly humiliated. Now that Zhou Mu was going to make his move, the results were set.
Lin Xiyue was also looking at the two young men. Ye Futian’s performance was very surprising, but his opponent this time was Zhou Mu. She really hoped that he would reject the challenge. Zhou Mu was at a higher level than Ye Futian and so, it would not be embarrassing for him to reject.
“Then, let’s fight!” Just as Lin Xiyue was thinking, Ye Futian had already spoken. He returned to his seat once more. Hua Fengliu had his powers disabled by the Art Saint all those years ago, but Ye Futian was still not powerful enough to get revenge. However, fighting the Art Saint’s disciple was something he could manage.
Ye Futian sat down and the music started again. Zhou Mu bent down on the ground and drew with his hands. Spiritual Qi gathered at his fingertips and was released to form a picture. It was a life-like goshawk. He heard the notes that Ye Futian played but remained unaffected because he was a powerful five-starred Glory Plane cultivator. His spirit was strong and therefore unaffected. Xu Qing continued to draw. Not long after, he completed the goshawk and it soared through the sky and headed to attack Ye Futian.
Bystanders were shocked, Xu Qing’s skills as a conjurer were too powerful.
The pace at which Ye Futian played sped up. His fingers flew rapidly across the instruments, every note attacked the goshawk. This caused the goshawk’s body to break down piece by piece, but because it felt no pain, the goshawk did not halt its attacks on Ye Futian. After a while, only half of the goshawk’s body was left, but it still descended with talons ready to attack Ye Futian.
Ye Futian continued to stroke at the chords and finally, the goshawk’s body broke apart completely. Simultaneously, Ye Futian’s qin broke apart as well. A gust of wind swept past. Ye Futian’s clothes and hair danced in the wind.
“Vulnerable.” The people were stunned by what happened and began commenting on Ye Futian’s defeat. Zhou Mu was powerful indeed. Ye Futian was defeated as soon as he stepped in.
Ye Futian was a musical sorcerer. How was he going to battle without a qin?
Lin Xiyue sighed. Ye Futian was strong, but his opponent was the Art Saint’s genius disciple.
However, Ye Futian was unfazed. He had a silent epiphany. He finally understood why Hua Fengliu lost to the Art Saint. The creature created by Zhou Mu was unaffected by the sounds of the qin. After receiving multiple blows to its body, it continued to attack. It was all because it was lifeless, only controlled by the conjurer. Musical spells were able to restrained ordinary martial and divination art cultivators but were restrained by conjurers.
It was also because of this that one blow from Zhou Mu, who was two levels higher than himself, destroyed his qin.
“Is this all you’ve got?” Zhou Mu was throwing Ye Futian’s words back at him. Zhou Mu stood in place with great pride.
“Although I have Master’s guidance, I lack the gift and am still unable to learn the main points of musical sorcery,” said Ye Futian. “And that’s why musical sorcery is only my weakest link.”