Chapter 148: May This Melody Guide the Lost Home

The voice of the girl in the stone slab fell into a state of panic and unease for the first time.

“You… it’s you!? Impossible, it cannot be you! How did you get here?!”

But the white-haired girl with the fox mask merely chuckled lightly.

“What’s wrong? You were acting just fine when you were impersonating me earlier, bragging that it wouldn’t matter if I came. Now you’re scared?”

“N-no, that’s nonsense! How could I be afraid!? Just a cheap fox! It was just good luck for you that—”

The voice in the slate suddenly paused slightly, as if realizing something, and grew gradually colder.

“Wrong… You are not Ming Xi; the Spiritual Fox Priestess could never appear here. Why did you only show up now? Who are you to dare impersonate her in front of me?!”

“Hehe ~ who really is the one impersonating here, I wonder?”

Even under such a harsh reprimand, the girl with the white fox mask remained calm as dust, stepping forward while the ghostly female figure in the stone slab involuntarily began to shrink back into the statue of the Spiritual Fox Priestess behind her, finally realizing it, her face pale with horror.

“You, you… that feeling, impossible, it can’t be…”

She approached the nearly three-meter tall white-armored warrior, who seemed somewhat confused as well, his deep-set eyes beneath the helmet merely staring at her silently, neither lowering the giant sword in his hand nor attacking.

Not paying attention to his demeanor, the girl continued forward, standing before the hulking warrior, blocking the space between him and the stone slab, and calmly spoke again.

“Nameless, we haven’t seen each other in over a thousand years, right? A thousand years have passed, and I thought you could reflect on things here. It seems you haven’t changed at all.”

However, these words seemed to touch a nerve in the Nameless Demon Lord, and she no longer focused on the authenticity of the Spiritual Fox Priestess before her, instead roaring with rage and resentment!

“Reflect? What do I have to reflect on!? I just want to become stronger, to gain power that allows me to break free from this world’s constraints and grasp true freedom!”

“Survival of the fittest, this is an unchanging truth of the ages! The strong are meant to take all, what about mercy… Has the Spiritual Fox Priestess never killed? It’s just an excuse for you not wanting to see more powerful beings emerge!”

“Do you even know what a miracle this technique I created is? It can help us later-borns surpass our limits, break through the impenetrable thresholds of the later stages, and reach the ultimate realm! How many true gods have ascended from the later-borns in that primordial land!?”

“But such miracles have been buried for a millennium because of your selfish desires!”

“Ming Xi, you selfish cheap fox, what right do you have to bear the name of a holy immortal?!”

“Oh really, is that what you think…?”

With a light flick of her red sleeve, an ancient wooden zither silently hovered before her. She tenderly caressed the seven pure white strings with her jade-like fingers, seemingly deep in thought.

Perhaps if it were someone else, they would earnestly reproach the Nameless for viewing human life as insignificant or argue from a righteous stance for justice concerning the people’s welfare.

But she merely smiled, and soon melodic yet slightly irritating mockery emerged from beneath her mask.

“There’s a saying I think you got right, the strong should take all in this world. Without strength, everything is just empty talk.”

“Yeah… that’s right, I was just finding a way to annoy you on purpose because I can’t stand you. So what? You think you’re something special? Whether I deserve the title of holy immortal is none of your business!”

“Isn’t it super annoying to be thwarted right before success? It was like that over a thousand years ago, and now it’s happening again. Are you about to blow a fuse? If you’re not satisfied, come and hit me, you little fish!”

“Ming Xi!!!!!!”

After a moment of silence, that phantom suddenly unleashed an ear-splitting roar that could even be described as a scream, as if emotions within had been thoroughly ignited.

“You filthy fox! I’m going to slay you!!!”

The phantom erupted, transforming into countless dazzling white lights surging forth from the stone slab like a torrential rain, the scale of which far surpassed the earlier struggle with the white-armored warrior, truly carrying an air of divine fury.

This was the true power of the Nameless Demon Lord, and the existence-depriving power contained within the white light would likely consume any ordinary strong person that even brushed against it, turning them into a strange empty shell that had never existed.

“…”

The white-armored warrior quickly stepped forward, trying to protect the girl behind him as the clanging of armor echoed, but she merely raised her arm to stop him and calmly chuckled.

“Over a thousand years ago, even at my peak, I could beat you to a pulp. Now that you’re merely a shadow lacking any form, who are you trying to scare?”

“Clink ~”

With a light sound, a silver bell quietly rose into the air, hanging naturally beneath the ancient zither that the girl had already taken out, producing waves of melody. An ancient jade hanging at her waist also floated up, transforming into a pure fox-shaped pattern engraved on the zither’s side, bringing forth an immersive mysterious aura.

“Cloud Dream as the form, the ringing bell guides the way, Spirit Fox transforms the heart… may this melody lead the lost home.”

“Zheng ~”

As the girl strummed the strings, the invisible sound waves surged forth like a whirlwind, sweeping away the falling white shadows entirely.

“This is… ahhhhhhh!!!”

Within that zither sound seemed to harbor some captivating force. Though difficult to measure, at the moment it echoed throughout the temple, the Nameless Demon Lord’s voice trapped in the stone slab let out a sharp scream distinctly different from before as if enduring immense suffering.

The sound of the zither rippled.

“Boats on the river, ancient lamps at night ~”

“Celestial music rising into the sky, myriad mortal dreams coming to life ~”

“Fate comes and goes like smoke, only devoted hearts remain unchanged ~”

“Mortal sigh, mortal sigh, people sigh for the mortal realm, yet none know the mortal realm.”

“Clashing steel and iron horses, magnificent ancient paths, a thousand years of thoughts, all turning to emptiness…”

“Do not obsess over delusions, look back now, the old tune remains ~”

The music spiraled, and the wails of the Nameless Demon Lord gradually quieted. On the stone slab, fine cracks began to appear, the already incomplete form shattered into pieces, finally breaking apart completely, transforming into over ten streams of white light that were pulled away and vanished into the various passages of the tomb.

In the end, only the central portion of the stone slab less than half remained, which fell back into the statue of the Spiritual Fox Priestess, disappearing from sight.

“Ah, what she didn’t do back then, I won’t meddle with either. You just stay here obediently; don’t think about causing trouble…”

Once the song concluded, the three parts that made up the ancient zither separated again. The Spiritual Fox Miss put away the zither, raising her hand lightly to call forth a ball of white light that had not been resealed with the stone slab but was floating in the air, which naturally descended into her palm.

Gazing at the uniquely shaped object in her hand, the girl pondered silently.

“Thud!”

A dull sound pulled her back from her thoughts. She turned her head and found the white-armored warrior had somehow knelt on one knee, sword planted in the ground, deeply bowing his helmeted head, seemingly offering some sort of exalted gesture.

His deep-set eyes connected with the girl’s silver-blue gaze beneath the mask in silence.

After a moment’s hesitation, Miss White Fox shook her head helplessly, signaling him to rise.

“You’ve worked hard for over a thousand years, holding on until now… it’s not easy, this is my oversight.”

As if understanding her words, the white-armored warrior, strikingly similar to Lucas, shook his head. The armor on his chest naturally opened up, and he extended his hands from within, drawing out a finely crafted, far more exquisite “core” than the previous straw soldier, holding it up before the girl.

His voice, slightly hoarse as if formed by magical resonance in the air, slowly echoed in the temple.

“Fortune… I shall deliver, my master.”

   

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