TDFM Chapter 96

Flock of Bird When Shi Qingshang walked up to that tall wooden platform holding his qin, Yun Qing finally understood the purpose of this wooden platform.

It was a music platform.

Most people of the Shenle Clan specialized in a particular instrument, and different instruments each corresponded to many musical scores.

For example, Shi Feijia specialized in the iron flute and practiced the Chaos Formation Melody—a melody like blades and weapons that could directly kill people. Shi Wushe specialized in the pipa and practiced the Soul-Confusing Melody that could bewitch people’s minds.

Shi Muyu used panpipes and practiced the Mind-Clarifying Melody, which was the exact opposite of Shi Wushe’s—it could make people’s minds clear and bright. And so forth.

What was particularly special was Shi Ruibin—her voice was her natal instrument. This instrument was ever-changing and mysterious, and sometimes even she herself could not control the effects of this instrument.

For instance, the two brothers Changxiao and Changdi had fallen into a trance because they once listened to her singing, and they still weren’t quite lucid to this day.

“Qingshang’s instrument is the qin. He should be the most talented person of this generation. No, perhaps I can say he is the most talented person in our Shenle Clan in a hundred years.

The characteristic of the qin is commanding all living beings in the world. Of course, strictly speaking, it’s not only the qin that can control living beings—as long as operated properly, other instruments can also achieve this to a certain degree. For example, I can use the iron flute to control venomous snakes in battle.

But this kind of control is very superficial, far inferior to the qin. A true Shi of qin playing can manipulate the strings to communicate with all living beings in the world.

The Demon-Taming Melody can control demons and devils, the Ghost-Banishing Melody can subdue ghosts and spirits, the Dragon Chapter Melody can summon rain dragons, and the Phoenix Ritual Melody can attract colorful phoenixes. However, these are all legendary melodies—there are songs but no sheet music, relying entirely on personal enlightenment.

Qingshang went out to travel and gain experience for two years. I don’t know what level his qin melodies have reached now.”

Shi Feijia sighed leisurely at this point and continued, “His talent is exceptional, but he’s young and still somewhat frivolous. He needs to settle his temperament.”

At this moment, everyone stood below the music platform, about ten zhang away from it. About fifty or sixty people from the Shenle Clan had come. Grandma Bayin had originally wanted to come too, but Shi Feijia had persuaded her not to.

Yun Qing stood in the crowd, looking up at Shi Qingshang on the music platform. At this time, a red sun was setting, hanging distantly behind him.

He sat upright on the music platform with an incense burner beside him, burning a stick of clear incense. The wind was quite strong and scattered the fragrance.

His eyes were still covered with that silk cloth, and the silk ribbon behind his head fluttered in the wind.

Yun Qing quite wanted to ask why he still covered his eyes when he was already blind, but since they weren’t familiar with each other, she felt she shouldn’t be nosy. Everyone had their own preferences, after all.

Shi Qingshang’s slender fingers plucked the qin strings, and the music began.

This qin music echoed between heaven and earth, like surging river water and like ten thousand valleys of green pines. Sometimes it was earth-shaking and soul-stirring, sometimes it was like flowing pearls and leaking jade, stirring emotions.

Yun Qing’s heart wandered between heaven and earth with the qin music, and she couldn’t help but listen in fascination.

The setting sun cast a lone shadow, the high platform held a long qin, the music was clear and distant, spreading far in all directions.

In the mountain forest, under this qin music, there gradually began to be movement.

Countless birds seemed to awaken from the trees, one by one flapping their wings and flying into the air. Nearby there were doves, magpies, and hawks; those in the distance couldn’t be seen clearly—they looked like small black dots like flying mosquitoes.

Yun Qing and the others all looked up in surprise, watching those birds fly up and circle, finally gathering into a large dark cloud above the high platform.

Even the hwamei bird in Shi Ruibin’s hand flew up to join the flock.

Some birds were natural enemies of each other, yet at this moment they coexisted harmoniously without fighting.

Outside the dark cloud, many more birds from the distance continued to join.

Bird calls chirped, twittered, and trilled. Countless bird calls mixed and overlapped, making the sound from that dark cloud extremely loud, yet even so, it could not overshadow the qin music from the platform.

Shi Qingshang appeared leisurely, and the string sounds under his fingers became slower, tinkling and chiming, as if patiently conversing with the birds above.

After “chatting” like this for a while, the string sounds suddenly tightened!

A sparrowhawk flew out first, and the dark cloud above began to flow. The flock followed the sparrowhawk, flying toward a certain direction.

Yun Qing saw the dark cloud stretch out a corner following the sparrowhawk’s flight direction, and immediately understood. “Follow the flock!” she said, and ran out first.

Shi Qingshang on the music platform curved his lips slightly.

The flock flew while calling out loudly, as if reminding the people below. Yun Qing thought they might be showing the way for the Shenle Clan people.

Hearing the bird calls, the Shenle Clan people also began moving swiftly. After all, they were far from the flock and not as quick to react as Yun Qing and her companions.

Thus, the two groups of people rushed together toward a certain forest southwest of the music platform. When the flock reached above the forest, it dove down rapidly, and the dark cloud quickly transformed into the shape of a giant funnel, descending toward the woods.

Yun Qing then knew the target was in this forest.

Several people entered the forest and searched for a while, when they suddenly heard the sound of the flock beating their wings. They looked up to see the birds fly back into the air, gathering into a dark cloud again and moving rapidly eastward. Obviously, the target was running east.

So they chased in the direction of the flock.

Yun Qing pricked up her ears to listen carefully. Her hearing had always been good, but even in this forest she could no longer hear Shi Qingshang’s qin music. However, the flock above was still assisting in the search, which meant Shi Qingshang was very likely still playing the qin.

The distance between them must be at least three or four li. Yun Qing secretly marveled—this Shi Qingshang’s mastery was truly remarkable! He was indeed the once-in-a-century genius of the Shenle Clan.

After chasing for a while, the flock above suddenly changed again. The dark cloud split into two streams, moving in different directions.

Fu Xue’s expression changed. “Senior Sister, there are actually two people?”

Cili corrected Fu Xue. “Idiot, it’s two groups, not necessarily just two people.”

“You bastard, you’re the only one with a mouth.”

Yun Qing was also somewhat surprised and muttered to herself. “This Shenle Valley has quite a few security holes.”

Considering that cooperation between those with eyes and those without would be safer in combat, the five people also split into two teams. Yun Qing, Fu Xue, and Jiang Baiyu formed one team, while Cili and Cheng Suiyan formed another, following the flocks in different directions.

As Yun Qing chased, she discovered that the flock above had split off yet another stream.

Cili had really guessed correctly—there were more than two people.

So the three of them split into two teams again: she and Fu Xue formed one team, while Jiang Baiyu went alone, dispersing to chase separately.

The Shenle Clan pursuers had also consciously divided into three groups. Shi Muyu had originally been with Shi Feijia, but when the team split in two, Shi Feijia went toward Cheng Suiyan’s direction. Shi Muyu hesitated for a moment but didn’t follow his mother, instead pursuing Yun Qing’s direction.

Later, when Yun Qing’s team split in two again, Shi Muyu continued to follow Yun Qing.

Besides her, Shi Ruibin, Shi Changxiao, Shi Changdi, and others also went in this direction.

At this moment, Yun Qing looked back and saw an old lady with silver hair trailing behind the crowd, dragging a walking stick and running with tottering steps.

Well, this Grandma Bayin had ultimately come secretly after all. Looking at her legs and feet, she was quite agile and not inferior to young people at all.

After chasing for a while longer, Yun Qing could already see that person’s back. From the figure, it was a man wearing a very ordinary Daoist robe—gray, dusty clothes that appeared and disappeared among the trees.

Yun Qing’s expression became stern. The Hundred Years of Sorrow rang out from its sheath, and the flying sword struck toward that retreating figure.

The man contracted his body, kicked off a straight cedar tree beside him, and jumped sideways to dodge the flying sword. Then, borrowing from different tree trunks, he jumped sideways several times, his body sometimes contracting and sometimes stretching, even more agile than an ape, getting farther and farther away.

How could Yun Qing be willing to let him escape like this? She stamped her foot and ran wildly after him.

The person ahead looked back through the branches and leaves. If Yun Qing had seen his expression, she would definitely have been surprised.

Because those eyes actually showed anticipation.

It turned out that ahead of Yun Qing, in the place she was about to pass, several spider threads were wound between different tree trunks.

These spider threads were collected from a rare snow mountain spider from the Western Regions. They were transparent and colorless, ten times finer than human hair, yet tougher than steel wire. If a normal person ran into them, they would either die or shed a layer of skin.

At this time, the sun had set and there was no light in the forest. Even with cultivators’ exceptional eyesight, it was extremely difficult to discover these spider threads.

Seeing that Yun Qing was about to fall into the trap, how could the opponent not be pleased! The reason Yun Qing had been able to strike him with her flying sword earlier was merely an opportunity he had deliberately created, just to jump sideways between these spider threads to avoid them, luring her to chase along this path.

But just as Yun Qing got closer and closer to the spider threads, an ocarina sound suddenly rang out in the forest.

The ethereal and melodious ocarina sound echoed in the evening cedar forest, followed by an ensemble of various instruments like flute, xiao, and three-stringed lute.

If one didn’t consider what they were doing, having such an ensemble in the evening at dusk, in an autumn forest tinted with green mist, would truly be a wonderful thing.

At this moment, almost as soon as the ensemble began, Yun Qing saw what looked like ripples in the air ahead.

This scene was somewhat incredible. She stopped and walked closer carefully. Looking intently, she discovered there were indeed several thin threads wound between the tree trunks. These thin threads were normally very difficult to discern with the naked eye, but now they were stimulated by the musical sound and vibrated slightly, thus revealing their flaws.

Yun Qing gave a cold laugh and swung her sword!

Although the thin threads were tough, they ultimately couldn’t withstand a divine weapon like Hundred Years of Sorrow. In the blink of an eye, they were severed and fell down.

She continued chasing.

This time she didn’t chase for long before encountering another group of Shenle Clan pursuers who converged with them, surrounding that person.

The crowd searched in the forest, tightening the encirclement, and quickly found him.

Naturally, this person was unwilling to surrender and attacked Yun Qing with a silver sword.

Yun Qing raised her sword to meet him. When she saw that person’s face, she chuckled. “It’s you.”