The Journey of Flower - chapter 43

After Xiao Gu left, Jue Qing Hall seemed empty. Bai Zi Hua came out of meditation, thought of Hua Qian Gu and felt uneasy. Using his fingers to calculate Heaven’s will, it appeared a calamity would occur soon. However, he had never been able to see her fate clearly, Luo Shi Yi’s group would probably be in trouble, they would be in danger during their journey.

So Bai Zi Hua summoned Huo Xi and Wu Qing Luo.

“Zun Shang has an order for us?”

“You two go immediately to Mount Tai Bai, you must catch Luo Shi Yi’s group in three days.”

“We’ll obey you.”

Bai Zi Hua closed his eyes, it seemed as if his body was surrounded by thousands of silver silk strands from his palm, collecting light, it was impossible to look directly at the radiance.

Wu Qing Luo and Huo Xi were shocked: “The Fu Xi Zither!”

There was only radiance, the holy instrument could not be seen, but the two of them recognized it was the Fu Xi Zither protected by Mount Chang Liu.

“Huo Xi, put this in your internal coffer, give it to Hua Qian Gu when you see her.”

“But Zun Shang, how can the zither leave Mount Chang Liu, what if monsters and demons seize it, the consequences would be disastrous…… The responsibility is too heavy, I can’t do it!” Wu Qing Luo paled as soon as she heard the command. Huo Xi continued to stare in a daze at the radiance of the zither.

“It is all right, I have sealed the zither, only Hua Qian Gu can break the seal, everyone else will only see the light.”

“Zun Shang, will Luo Shi Yi’s group encounter trouble so it’s necessary to use the Fu Xi Zither?”

“Yes, you two need to leave as soon as possible, do not let anyone know about this. After the task is completed, fly immediately to Mount Lao.”

“We’ll obey your order!”

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In the valley, Hua Qian Gu held a basket, plucking leaves, picking mushrooms.

“Over there, over there, there’s one Gu Tou, over here, over here too……” Tang Bao wore a small grass hat on its head, sat on Hua Qian Gu’s hair, continuously telling her what to do.

Taking advantage of a break, Hua Qian Gu wanted to find ingredients to make dinner for everyone. Even Ni Man Tian admitted reluctantly the meals were delicious. She pretended to criticize but ate as much as everyone else.

Hua Qian Gu felt tired and rested under a tree, retrieved a painting of Bai Zi Hua from her internal coffer, looked at it for a long time, and looked some more, then some more.

“Gu Tou, what are you staring at?” Tang Bao talked and blew out bubbles.

“I’m thinking about Teacher. I’m not with him, he probably won’t eat anything, eating is good, it’ll increase internal energy. If life doesn’t include food, it’ll be less fun.”

“As for me, life wouldn’t be fun if I can’t sleep.”

A bubble popped against Hua Qian Gu’s nose.

“Tang Bao, what are you doing, you’re not a fish, why are you blowing out bubbles?”

“I was hungry so I ate a mushroom in the basket, I don’t know why I blow out bubbles now when I talk.”

“That was a Bubble mushroom, it should be cooked before eaten. You’re a gluttonous worm so just blow out bubbles for a few more days!” Hua Qian Gu laughed.

“No……” Tang Bao cried in distress.

When they returned, no matter how Luo Shi Yi teased it, coaxed it, it refused to talk, scaring Luo Shi Yi into thinking he did something to anger it. Hua Qian Gu also teased it, using her fingers to poke its chubby flesh, but it refused to laugh out loud. However, the mushroom soup was too delicious, eating too much without being careful, Tang Bao patted its round stomach and burped, its mouth blew out a small bubble, amusing everyone.

———————————–

“Luo Shi Yi, we’ll arrive at Mount Tai Bai in a few days, right?”

“Yes, we’re almost there.” Waking up in the morning, Luo Shi Yi felt something was wrong, he frowned, surveying the area carefully .

The valley was narrow, long and deep, if monsters and demons attacked, they could succeed easily.

His mind unsettled, Luo Shi Yi turned and said: “This valley is strange, everyone needs to fly quickly out of here.”

They flew on their swords, staying completely vigilant.

A blue fog suddenly drifted down. Could it be poisonous? They immediately avoided it, Luo Shi Yi used the wind to blow it away, but the blue fog unexpectedly split into eight different directions, rushing toward them.

A burst of sweet bell ringing suddenly appeared like in a dream, as if encompassing thousands of tunes, using all the musical instruments in the world, even some Hua Qian Gu had never heard before, pleasant to listen to, but it caused pain and grief unbearable to human ears.

Hua Qian Gu turned to look at Luo Shi Yi, asking in surprise: “Luo Shi Yi, why are you crying?”

Luo Shi Yi raised a hand to touch his face, which was covered in tears. He was alarmed, looked at everyone else, they did not realize tears rolled down their faces. Hua Qian Gu looked at everyone in bewilderment, not knowing what was happening.

Tang Bao was awakened by the ringing, it also began to cry.

Luo Shi Yi shouted: “Oh no! It’s the Cui Lei Bell. Quickly, seal off your hearing!”

They paled as soon as they heard, the Cui Lei Bell was one of the 16 holy instruments that was stolen by monsters and demons.

The bell ringing seemed far away but gradually drifted closer, the blue fog thickened, producing a lot of smoke. The fog turned into different shapes, at times like clouds in the sky, floating as if alive, at times wrapping around them. At times like silk, at times like vapor. The fog seeped into their ears, noses and mouths, the ringing could not be blocked out. It seemed the bell not only produced sounds, it also created effects that could be felt.

“What demon is responsible for this, show yourself!” Ni Man Tian’s eyes were red, she could not stop crying from heartache. She used her internal energy to shout loudly, but the ringing did not wane.

A woman appeared in the air, her arms and waist were covered with tiny silver bells, swaying in the wind, causing waves and waves of tears.

They looked carefully, the woman was pale, her face used to be pretty but was now grisly from illness. She wore a short purple skirt made from an unknown material, her chest wrapped with a smaller piece of the same material. She showed off slender legs and cleavage white like snow.

She laughed like a innocent child, her eyes were dull, like she was blind. Yet her body was sensual, causing people’s mouth to go dry, their hearts to speed up.

Luo Shi Yi was startled: “One of the Ten Demons? Mo Xiao Sheng!”

Mo Xiao Sheng tilted her head and smiled sweetly: “You know me? Great, you’re the best looking person here, I won’t kill you, but I want to hide you. Want to go with me?”

Ni Man Tian did not say anything, countless tears turned into ice, shooting toward Mo Xiao Sheng, the ringing from her created a barrier, easily blocking the attack.

They rushed forward, their tears kept falling made them want to stop the ringing. Mo Xiao Sheng did not need to move, the ringing blocked all attack attempts.

Luo Shi Yi said: “We can only fight music with music.”

So they retrieved the musical instruments from their internal coffers: zither, various types of flutes, drum, bell, music suddenly filled the air. However, this was a drop in the ocean, their combined effort was not a match against the Cui Lei Bell.

Mo Xiao Sheng had just gotten the Cui Lei Bell, she could not fully control it. Yet the power was still unimaginable.

Luo Shi Yi swallowed blood and tried to attack, in a flash he flew in front of Mo Xiao Sheng, his tears flowed more heavily.

“Why are you blocking us?”

“The immortal realm split reinforcement into five groups, we also split into five watch groups, one person comes and we kill one person, a group comes and we kill a group!”

“You think you can block us with your ability?”

“Of course not, but how about the holy instruments, if we don’t use them then why do we bother to steal the holy instruments? Even though we only managed to unseal a little of the holy instruments, that’s still more than enough to deal with the lot of you!” Mo Xiao Sheng smiled softly, “I’m not going to play around anymore, Cui Wei will be here soon, he’ll be mad if I haven’t finished this.”

The silver bells on her waist, ankles and arms suddenly rang loudly, giving off a powerful blue light.

The musical instruments in their hands were destroyed by the ringing of the bells, turning to ashes. Only Hua Qian Gu was unaffected, the Ling Ji zither quivered quietly.

Mo Xiao Sheng was surprised: “You don’t have tears?”

She shook the silver bells on her arms faster, everyone else covered their faces with their hands and cried harder, falling off their swords.

Hua Qian Gu shouted: “Let’s get out of here!” She used her internal energy to attack back, the zither, the bells, it sounded as if stones were breaking in the air, although Hua Qian Gu was not crying, her eardrums were heavily injured, blood oozed from her ears.

When it seemed as if she could not hang on anymore, the pressure decreased, a woman’s singing and a flute playing rose up, it was Xiao Hong and Xiao Bai appearing by her side and helping her, Hua Qian Gu was extremely grateful.

Luo Shi Yi wanted to lead everyone to break out, but the colorful ringing of the bells suddenly turned to silk threads, lining up, then shooting forward like arrows. Only he and Shuo Feng barely managed to fight back, trying hard to protect everyone else. Afraid Tang Bao would be harmed, he put it into an enclosure, pushing it far away with all of his power.

The Cui Lei Bell was too powerful, the strings on Hua Qian Gu’s zither broke one by one, she could not hang on any longer. Xiao Hong and Xiao Bai were also exhausted, not wanting to endanger them, she used her last strength to send them back to the Underworld.

The Ling Ji zither broke, Hua Qian Gu spat out blood, falling from the sky, exposing the bone whistle from Sha Qian Mo from her neck. She blew on it as hard as she could.

The whistle gave off a high pitch, the shrill noise broke through layers of clouds, straight through the barrier to Mo Xiao Sheng. She was not cautious, spitting out blood.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, everyone used their swords to fly away from the bells.

Mo Xiao Sheng did not know the whistle was so powerful, her face twisted, without readjusting her body she chased after them.

“Fly up, leave the valley!” Luo Shi Yi ordered. The echoes in the valley were too loud, making the Cui Lei Bell more harmful.

As soon as they left the valley, the bell ringing from Mo Xiao Sheng caught up to them. Luo Shi Yi stayed behind to protect everyone, his injury too serious, he lost consciousness and fell from the sky.

“Teacher!” At this time, Ni Man Tian did not know if she was crying because of the Cui Lei Bell or for herself. She saw Hua Qian Gu flying by, catching Luo Shi Yi, holding him in her arms.

“Let’s go!”

Hua Qian Gu stopped to block for the group, continuously blowing on the bone whistle. When she used up all of her internal energy, a surge of internal energy poured into her. Turning around to look, it was Shuo Feng transferring his internal energy into her body.

“You must go!”

Shuo Feng smiled and shook his head, his eyes calm and warm, clear like water. Hua Qian Gu was surprised, trying her best to block the enemy, the further the others could get away the better!

Mo Xiao Sheng flew in front of her, asking in surprise: “Who are you? How can you resist the Cui Lei Bell for so long?”

Hua Qian Gu said loudly: “Hua Qian Gu! Disciple of Chang Liu’s High Immortal Bai Zi Hua!” Then she blew hard on the whistle, tearing the enemy’s eardrums. She already knew Mo Xiao Sheng was blind, relying on her ears to know what was happening. If she could not hear, that meant she could not see. She quickly unleashed the Emotionless sword, stabbing Mo Xiao Sheng through the stomach.

Mo Xiao Sheng screamed, shaking the Cui Lei Bell as hard as she could. Shuo Feng could not take it anymore, crying tears of blood, collapsing to the ground.

“Shuo Feng!” Hua Qian Gu prepared to fight to the death, a red cloud suddenly appeared from far away.

“Huo Xi!”

“Dummy Gu Tou! You don’t want to live anymore? Take this!”

A silver light flew straight into Hua Qian Gu’s hands.

“The Fu Xi Zither!” Hua Qian Gu was startled, her eyes teared up, her nose burned, Teacher knew there would be trouble so sent Huo Xi to help them? Teacher!

It was rumored the Fu Xi Zither was a musical instrument Fu Xi created from jade and Heaven’s silk threads, then fused his blood and flesh into the zither. The zither’s music could calm the mind, it was believed to have a mysterious force that could dominate the thinking of all things.

Hua Qian Gu softly stroked with her hands, the Fu Xi Zither glowed brightly, the fog from the bell ringing was immediately pushed back.

Mo Xiao Sheng staggered backward, whispering: “Impossible! Impossible!”

Hua Qian Gu sat in the air with her legs crossed, a large lotus bloomed beneath her. Her eyes closed lightly, her mind recalled Teacher’s beautiful smile at the Qun Xian Feast.

She extended her hands and lightly plucked the strings of the zither. The sound waves were like the winds of an ocean blasting straight at Mo Xiao Sheng. The bell ringing disappeared, Mo Xiao Sheng was struck and flew back more than 10 meters, vomiting blood. She gritted her teeth, using all of her internal energy to shake the bells. The colorful fog suddenly turned into ferocious beasts and monsters, lunging toward Hua Qian Gu.

Hua Qian Gu did not move, continuing to play the zither. Coldly, calmly, full of resolve. The tune was sometimes high sometimes low, sometimes bleak but heroic like endless billowing sand dunes. Sometimes lively but enigmatic like echoes in nature, like Mount Tian in the middle of freezing winter, the snow blowing, covering everything in white.

The bell ringing weakened gradually, then disappeared.

Mo Xiao Sheng realized she had lost, wanting to slip away.

“You can’t escape that easily!” Hua Qian Gu thought of Shuo Feng and everyone injured so she was filled with anger. The zither’s tune turned desolate and heavy, Mo Xiao Sheng struggled, but her mind was controlled instantly.

Mo Xiao Sheng flew slowly toward Hua Qian Gu, respectfully handing up the Cui Lei Bell.

Hua Qian Gu reached out, the bell rang, Mo Xiao Sheng burst into tears. Her hearing was more sensitive than average, it was hard to suppress the hatred and despair in her heart. Under the ringing of the Cui Lei Bell, she suddenly wanted to die, putting up her sword to kill herself.

Hua Qian Gu quickly stopped the ringing, she did not know the Cui Lei Bell in her hands was much more powerful than with Mo Xiao Sheng.

“I’ll spare your life today, I won’t spare you again if you commit an evil act in the future!”

Mo Xiao Sheng did not complete her task, not to mention losing the holy instrument, she would be punished severely when she returned, feeling anger and hatred, she looked up at the sky and laughed wildly: “Do you think you’ve won? What if the Fu Xi Zither defeated the Cui Lei Bell? The rest of your group is probably captured by Cui Wei. You think you can defeat the Shuan Tian Chain in his hands?”

Hua Qian Gu panicked, helped Shuo Feng up, then flew away with Huo Xi.

“You’ve come just in time, otherwise I’m dead already.” Hua Qian Gu treated Shuo Feng’s injury and panted in relief.

“You’re my pet, you dared to leave your owner behind, be careful or I’ll whip you dead!” Huo Xi remembered seeing Hua Qian Gu covered in blood and felt chills. “Luckily, Tang Bao led me and Wu Qing Luo here. Otherwise, we wouldn’t know where to find you, hundreds of miles around here are blocked by the Shuan Tian Chain.”

“What are you saying?” Hua Qian Gu was shocked and looked up, realizing she did not know when the sky had turned dark, the sun was a black sphere.

“The Shuan Tian Chain has incredible power, the rumor is it can tie up everything, including demons, deities or time, even the world and the universe, it also has amazing destructive power. If we can’t break the Shuan Tian Chain, we’ll die here.”

“In the front!” Huo Xi and Wu Qing Luo used telepathy, quickly locating everyone else.

Loud laughter rang out in the air, Hua Qian Gu looked up, seeing a huge mirage appearing before them. The man wore a black robe and stood arrogantly, a golden chain wrapped around his arms.

Ni Man Tian, Qing Shui, Yun Duan and Wu Qing Luo stood in front to protect the injured disciples, Luo Shi Yi was still unconscious.

“Qian Gu! Thank Heaven you’re all right!” Qing Shui and Tang Bao jumped to hug her.

The huge mirage in the sky looked at them and laughed crazily: “How great, the Fu Xi Zither is here, I’ll take everything in one go.”

“Never!” Hua Qian Gu remembered the Shuan Tian Chain in his hands was exchanged by hundreds of lives at Mount Mao and was filled with anger. She quickly plucked the strings to control his mind.

Cui Wei laughed uncontrollably: “Don’t be naive, you think I’m dumb like Mo Xiao Sheng? You’re just seeing my mirage, why should I cross over the Shuan Tian Chain with my physical body?”

Hua Qian Gu knew if his physical body was not present, the Fu Xi Zither was useless, she did not know what to do.

The Shuan Tian Chain only needed to move a little and could shake the world, if it tightened would they not die immediately?

She did not know what to do, the cries of a fiery phoenix suddenly came from afar. A tall figure jumped down from the phoenix, standing before everyone in the blink of an eye.

Hua Qian Gu joyfully looked at the man who was scratching his nose, so surprised she could not say anything. Huhuhu……

Everyone else was stunned, their minds empty, not knowing how to react.

“Beauty, beauty……” It was as if Huo Xi was hit by a giant fireball, boiling blood rising up to his head, his body burning up, his saliva dripping to the ground.

In this world, how could there exist such a stunning beauty that could inspire madness?