Chapter 973: Continuing the Music

At this moment, on the Forbidden Sea, dawn was breaking. A thick, deep black enveloped the heavens and the earth, like a hidden deity in the darkness, spreading its divine power.

It dyed the sea and the universe.

In the end, it was impossible to tell if this deity resided in the sky or in the sea. Had the sea's color invaded the sky, or had the sky merely highlighted the Forbidden Sea?

However, none of this truly mattered to the various races inhabiting the Forbidden Sea. For them, every day and night was like this; living here, they had become one with it.

On the black surface of the sea, occasional boat shadows rose and fell with the waves.

In the sky, birds were occasionally seen hunting in the night.

Meanwhile, deep beneath the sea, the severed hand moved at extreme speed, continuously fleeing. Its figure was sometimes blurry, sometimes clear, and with each such shift, it would cover a large distance.

During this time, any sea beast that appeared before it would instantly wither, their divinity and life force consumed as nourishment for the severed hand.

This allowed it to move even faster.

Furthermore, wherever it passed, everything—itself, the seawater, and the surrounding sea beasts—fell silent. All sounds were suppressed by its divine authority.

It knew that sound was its weapon, but also the weapon of its pursuer.

Yet, even if it sped up considerably, the pursuer behind it, who had been seizing sound and tracking it by strange means, remained constantly present.

It had not been shaken off in the slightest.

And the distance between them was growing shorter.

This was because Xu Qing's speed was propelled by more than just the divine authority of sound.

Misfortune could empower the purple moon and spread, and even the alien substances within the Forbidden Sea could, to some extent, provide assistance to Xu Qing.

His physical body was terrifyingly formidable.

And so, after another fifteen minutes, the seawater around the severed hand suddenly rippled. Tendrils of water, formed from the sea, suddenly shot out from within, rushing silently towards the severed hand, instantly closing in and blocking its path.

The severed hand flickered, changed direction, and was about to continue, but more water tendrils, formed from seawater, appeared in other directions, continuing to block it.

In the blink of an eye, it was surrounded from all directions.

Countless water tendrils appeared one after another, centering on the severed hand, instantly closing in, rapidly coiling and merging.

No matter how the severed hand struggled, under the shroud of these countless water tendrils, it was ultimately halted.

The cost of this halt was the formation of an elliptical cocoon of entangled vines on the seabed.

It was like a seal.

Although it only existed for a few breaths, the cocoon quickly shattered under the severed hand's impact. However, the booming sound that erupted in that instant was the first to break the silence of this battle.

A rumbling sound echoed.

Even though the severed hand seized the sound a mere breath later, it was still too late.

Almost at the instant the booming sound erupted, Xu Qing had already captured it, and his body strangely emerged directly from within the sound.

He now stood directly in front of the severed hand.

From within the collapsed water tendrils, the figure of the Holy Heavenly Divine Vine flashed by, signaling its triumph. It then dispersed in all directions, transforming into more water tendrils to seal the area once again.

At the same time, the shadow, not to be outdone, rapidly spread, covering the seabed in this area and extending upwards to completely envelop everything.

Furthermore, Xu Qing's divine curse poison also spread from his body, making the seawater even blacker.

Having done all this, Xu Qing looked up, gazing at the severed hand with a deep glow in his eyes.

This hand was crucial for him to summon the Dragon Palanquin.

He took a step forward, suddenly advancing.

The instant his foot landed, the eye in the severed hand's palm flashed with a brilliant bloody light. Streams of illusory ghostly figures emerged from its eye, and a piercing ghostly wail echoed once more.

Forming a lethal melody, it was about to erupt.

"Here, no other sound shall exist but mine!" Xu Qing stated calmly.

The moment his voice rang out, the sharp wails of the ghosts ceased abruptly, their sound seized, and they collapsed.

The severed hand trembled. Immediately, the red light in its palm eye intensified, and a tear, like fresh blood, flowed out from within, forming a terrifying power that shot straight towards Xu Qing like an arrow.

Wherever this tear passed, the seawater erupted, stirred up by it, carrying malice, madness, and endless hatred, as it instantly drew near.

A light flashed within Xu Qing, and immortal light was about to emanate. But after his eyes narrowed, he suddenly dispelled all the immortal light, his body not pausing at all as he continued to advance.

He allowed the red tear to strike his body.

It struck silently.

Xu Qing's body paused for a moment, and a pinprick sensation spread throughout his entire being.

But that was all.

Not reaching the level of a Dominator, it could not shake his current physical body; only the power of a Dominator could cause his physical body and soul to feel separated.

Only then could it inflict damage.

So he lifted his foot and put it down again, appearing directly in front of the severed hand. He ignored the trembling hand as its red light reappeared, the struggling ghosts emerging around it, and even the hand's fingers forming seals... He raised his right hand and threw a punch.

This seemingly indestructible punch had, in reality, been improved by Xu Qing. He integrated it with the Nine Springs of Underworld from Seventh Master's legends. After this combination, the punch simultaneously possessed both reality and illusion, making its power even more astonishing.

Still silent, yet explosions suddenly erupted.

The severed hand was sent flying backward.

All of its combat power, compared to its sound authority, was far inferior.

Its previous otherworldly ghost sound, which summoned the decayed moon, was already its limit.

If Xu Qing had not mastered the divine authority of sound, he would certainly have struggled against the severed hand's strangeness, requiring more brute force. But now, the severed hand was like a defanged snake before him.

It was forced to fight him using methods it was not proficient in.

And the outcome, naturally, was as expected.

For the duration of a stick of incense, Xu Qing, relying on his formidable physical body and having seized the sound, disregarded all incoming attacks.

He advanced while simultaneously striking.

As for the severed hand, it continuously retreated. Its ghosts disintegrated, its tears shattered completely, and all of its methods lost their effect.

Forced to retreat continuously, it grew dimmer, and the eye in its palm showed signs of cracking.

Its aura also became increasingly weak.

Finally, Xu Qing's fist stopped three inches from the eye in the severed hand's palm, not fully descending.

He did not want to completely obliterate the severed hand; what he wanted was control.

So, after heavily injuring it, divine consciousness emanated from Xu Qing, instantly enveloping the severed hand, suppressing it comprehensively from its divine source, divine knowledge, divine authority, and divine rank.

The severed hand trembled violently. Yet, though clearly completely suppressed by Xu Qing, the bloody eye in its palm revealed a hint of madness, staring intently at Xu Qing.

A wave of self-detonation also emanated from its body.

This was not the result Xu Qing wanted.

So, the next instant, just as the severed hand was about to self-detonate, a Golden Crow's cry suddenly erupted from within Xu Qing. This clear sound spread in all directions, and a black sea of fire, centered on Xu Qing, expanded outwards.

From within that sea of fire, a Golden Crow shot out, circling above Xu Qing's head.

Its black body, black flames, and thousands of tail feathers formed a snow of flames, magnificently beautiful against the deep black, as they drifted to the seabed.

The severed hand trembled.

Then, the Golden Crow, while circling, suddenly surged directly towards Xu Qing, finally merging with his body, forming an imperial robe that he wore.

It also formed an imperial crown, which settled on his head.

At this moment, standing there, Xu Qing actually bore a resemblance to the Golden Crow youth of yesteryear.

Especially the aura of the Golden Crow.

As for the severed hand, the eye in its palm watched all this, trembling even more violently. Faint, jarring murmurs even seemed to emanate from within it, with Xu Qing's permission.

Xu Qing paid no mind to what it said. At this moment, he gazed at the severed hand and spoke calmly, as if giving an order.

"Play!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Xu Qing's divine consciousness assault also followed. But this time, under the influence of the Golden Crow, the severed hand's struggles significantly diminished.

Finally, Xu Qing's divine consciousness completely covered it.

The eye in the palm of the severed hand slowly closed.

From where the hand was severed, wisps of illusory blood threads appeared. These threads rapidly spread, outlining a blurry figure.

It was a woman.

She wore a long white robe, her head bowed, her face unseen. She held a zither with broken strings.

At this moment, her only clear right hand plucked at invisible strings.

Soft, flowing melodies rose up.

"Heavenly Music Welcomes the Moon!"

This was the true melody.

It sounded the same as the "Heavenly Music Welcomes the Moon" that Xu Qing had previously formed after stripping away the wails, but its essence was different.

And at this moment, just as dawn faded outside and night dispersed, the sunlight that should have arrived was strangely late.

In the depths of the seabed, as the musician played, the surface of the Forbidden Sea rippled, as if something was about to rise from within the water.

Until finally, the illusory Decayed Moon slowly appeared.

It appeared from the seabed, breaking through the surface of the sea. At this moment when the sun should have appeared, it seemed to be rising to replace the sun, ascending according to its destiny.

The maiden's face upon it also slowly seemed to be opening her eyes.

But unfortunately... the moon that was meant to fly into the Sky Curtain of Wang Gu under the "Heavenly Music Welcomes the Moon" had long since fallen. It only existed in time; in this present world, only a projection remained.

It could not truly hang in the sky.

Thus, the rising moon, like a bubble, slowly dissipated.

The eye that was about to open ultimately failed to do so.

Only at the moment it completely dissipated, a murmur, accompanied by the long-delayed sun in the distant sky, echoed through time and space.

"Imperial Brother..."

This sound wandered through time, landing on the Forbidden Sea outside of time, rippling its surface, and carried by the sea breeze to the Outer Sea.

In the Outer Sea, beneath the ink-like seawater, in the terrifying depths of the seabed, even more mysterious than the Inner Sea, a rotten giant was currently striding forward slowly.

Its footsteps created tsunamis, stirring up the seawater.

Around its body, rusted iron chains were coiled, and at the end of the chains... was a dilapidated bronze dragon palanquin.

At this moment, the dragon palanquin trembled. No matter how the giant pulled, it couldn't move it even slightly, so it slowly came to a halt.

Inside the dragon palanquin, the Golden Crow method carved on the murals was shining.

As those runes twisted, they seemed to form a Golden Crow, which opened its eyes and gazed towards the Inner Sea.

After a long while... the Golden Crow dimmed.

But the rotten giant gradually changed its direction, abandoning its intention to sleep in the Outer Sea. Pulling the bronze dragon palanquin behind it, it began to walk towards the Inner Sea.

As it moved forward, the waves grew larger, and amid the ripples, the sound of the sea inhaling was heard.

The sound of exhaling echoed in the Inner Sea.

Xu Qing sat cross-legged at the bottom of the sea.

The musician formed from the severed hand before him was still playing "Heavenly Music Welcomes the Moon."

The melody was enchanting and moving.

As Xu Qing listened, he distinctly felt his divine authority of sound becoming increasingly brilliant and radiant.

Only a trace of regret from the outside world, as the Decayed Moon's projection dissipated, seeped into his heart with the music.

Time slowly passed.

In the blink of an eye, over half a month had passed.

During these twenty-odd days, Xu Qing remained motionless at the bottom of the sea. The "Heavenly Music Welcomes the Moon" was not played constantly, but only after each sunset, when night descended.

Again and again.

Xu Qing could feel the seawater changing; it seemed colder than before, as if an undercurrent, accompanying some colossal entity, was slowly approaching.

He knew he had succeeded.

The bronze dragon palanquin was slowly approaching from a direction unknown to him.

Xu Qing was very patient and waited silently.

But the little shadow was very anxious.

The appearance of the divine vine made it feel a crisis, and the appearance of the severed hand intensified this crisis. So, during the day when "Heavenly Music Welcomes the Moon" was not playing, it actively clicked and clacked with all its might.

Just like that, another seven days passed.

As the Inner Sea's water temperature decreased and the waves grew larger than before, most of the forces that had long inhabited the Forbidden Sea felt the change.

They consequently reduced their trips out to sea to avoid danger.

However... some dangers, even if one wished to avoid them, would ultimately descend.

Just like now, on the island of the Sea Spirit tribe—a small affiliated tribe with only a few thousand members, dependent on nearby large islands in the Forbidden Sea—the flames of calamity were burning.

The fire was red.

Blood stained the tribe's land red. Thousands of tribesmen, without exception, were now corpses, including men and women, old and young.

Even some newly born children did not escape; all were dead.

The Son of Floating Evil from the Evil Birth Holy Land sat on a stone house, savoring the blood-soaked air.

"A beautiful scent!"

Around him, his nine protectors were currently digging out hearts one by one from the corpses.

The hearts of the Sea Spirit tribe were crystal cores.

In the records of the Evil Birth Holy Land, these crystal cores were a very good material, and thousands of them held even greater value.

Soon, all the crystal cores were collected, and as the flames burned, everything in this place turned to ashes, leaving no trace behind.

The Son of Floating Evil then stood up, took out a map, and was about to determine the next location for acquiring materials.

But at this moment, a faint glow suddenly shone from the palm of his right hand.

The youth glanced at it, a sharp glint in his eyes, and a smile on his lips.

"So fast, have you already sensed the culprit?"

"Then, let's go see what this culprit looks like!"

The Son of Floating Evil smiled, stood up with a sway, and walked towards the horizon.

His nine protectors followed silently behind him.

The sea breeze grew stronger.