1572 Xia Fan’s Awakening

Music began to play in the room. It was a bleak and ancient melody, its voice deep and raspy. It was like a wind passing through a barren wasteland, dancing alone, carrying along harsh grains of sand. The wind passed through the plains, swept through the desert, and whirled above the seas. All around it were ruins and destruction, with no signs of life.

“This sound is so mournful,” Du Yu shrugged.

Jiang Zhibei cocked his head and listened. “Do you guys feel anything? Wasn’t this supposed to Awaken our powers? But after hearing this music, I just feel hungry.”

Plush!

!!
Xia Fan and Du Yu almost laughed. Traveling Buddha frowned, took out his tea set, and started boiling water to brew tea. He knew that he didn’t have any demon power and was just here to play pretend, so he didn’t care about it at all.

Several minutes passed, and everyone was cheerfully chatting in the room, not feeling the Awakening of any special potential. Noticing that they hadn’t heard Le Jiajia’s voice this whole time, Xia Fan curiously turned to the corner.

Suddenly, Xia Fan’s eyes went wide in astonishment. Le Jiajia was sitting motionless in the corner, two crystalline trails of tears flowing from her eyes. She was crying, weeping, weak sobs coming from her mouth. She was like a kitten hiding in a dark corner that had just seen her mother die. In order to not be captured by an enemy, she was trying to keep her sobs as quiet as possible, her body curled up and trembling.

“Look at that…” Xia Fan raised his head and pointed at Le Jiajia.

Traveling Buddha said softly, “Everyone has a different reaction to demonic music. Look at Du Yu and Jiang Zhibei. They were perfectly fine a few moments ago.”

Xia Fan turned around quickly. Jiang Zhibei, who had been joking around with him just a minute ago, was now kneeling on the ground, his eyes rolled up, his arms raised to the sky. It was like he was reenacting a shamanic ritual straight out of a movie.

Jiang Zhibei was muttering softly, and if one listened carefully, they would realize that he was chanting. It blended together with the music coming from the crystal, creating a strange harmony.

As for the cautious, bespectactled, and timid Du Yu, he suddenly jumped onto the table and put his hands on his waist. His eyes were red and his slightly long black hair floated in the air as he let out a crazed laugh.

“All of you will die today! Hahahaha! I’ll tear out your bones and use your skin for my drums! Hahahaha!…”

Xia Fan was dumbfounded. Was that really Du Yu saying all this? His voice was deranged and demonic, exuding violence and bloodlust. He was a guy who normally couldn’t even stand up to a stiff breeze. If someone stepped on his foot, he was likely to apologize hastily. But now that the demonic music was playing, this guy really had turned into a demon! Was this Du Yu’s Awakened state?

…

Outside the room, Turan was observing everything through a one-way window.

“How are things going?” City Lord Calvinson had come up to Turan’s side at some point, and he was looking into the room with him.

“The results aren’t bad,” Turan said as he took notes. “Le Jiajia’s Attribute is Sorrow, and Jiang Zhibei’s Attribute is Divinity. The most surprising of all is Du Yu. His attribute is actually Berserker. To think such explosive power would be contained in that thin little body of his!”

Calvinson nodded. “Attributes are a mysterious thing. It’s also surprising for that vulgar fatty Jiang Zhibei to have the Divinity attribute. Right, how do you plan to report Traveling Buddha’s and Xia Fan’s Attributes? From the look of it, those two don’t seem affected by the demonic music.”

Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan were chatting and drinking tea in the room.

Turan shrugged. “Let’s put Traveling Buddha as Composure. After all, that guy has a nonchalant personality that doesn’t care about anything in the world.”

Calvinson replied, “It makes sense. What of Xia Fan?”

Turan seemed to be in a tough spot. “Xia Fan is more of a problem. Unlike Traveling Buddha, he has a high concentration of demon blood. But for some reason, the demonic music isn’t working on him. Maybe its level is too low?”

Calvinson considered the problem. “It’s possible, but I feel like it’s for another reason. The demonic music is one of the treasures we found on an expedition against the demons, and Xia Fan’s bloodline comes from a long-gone ancient demon. Could it be because he is not in the same lineage as the thirteen Demon Kings?”

Turan helplessly shook his head. “In short, it’s a problem. Everything we have regarding Xia Fan and the Skywings is purely speculation. We don’t even know how many Bloodlines there are in the demon race. In any case, after the civil war, all the other Bloodlines went extinct, leaving behind only Harikane’s line. The Skywings suddenly appearing with their ancient demon Bloodline, well, it’s hard to say if that was a blessing or a curse!”

—

While Turan and Calvinson discussed the Skywings, the demonic music continued to play. At some point, Xia Fan began to hear noise from outside the window, like crickets chirping…

“There seems to be some noise outside.” Xia Fan stood up and looked out the window.

“Is that so? I don’t hear anything. Maybe your hearing is better than mine,” Traveling Buddha answered nonchalantly. He looked around and felt like Le Jiajia and the others had been turned into fools. One was sobbing, one was kneeling and praying, and the last one was standing on the table and bragging. Only he and Xia Fan were rather normal.

“What’s all this? These three guys have all been affected by the demonic music. How can that be? It seems like only we brothers can counter the demons, as the demonic music doesn’t affect us,” Traveling Buddha said proudly. He felt like it was a good thing that he and Xia Fan were not affected by the demonic music.

“So annoying,” Xia Fan frowned.

More and more noises were entering his ears, like countless flies buzzing around him. These sounds were coming from all parts of the city, from the sewers and from the air. The greatest number of sounds, and the loudest of them, was coming from the Cloudsea Garden, where the flying beasts were fed and cared for.

Xia Fan found this strange. His sense of smell had always been rather sharp, but his hearing was no different from an ordinary person’s. He was more than fifty kilometers from the Cloudsea Garden in the outskirts of the city, so how could hear the sounds from there?

“You really don’t hear any noises from outside?” Xia Fan asked again.

“The windows are closed, so how can there be any noise? Are you starting to hear things? Come and drink some tea to calm yourself, and the noise will naturally disappear,” Traveling Buddha said.

‘You’re all so annoying! All of you, shut up!’, Xia Fan shouted to himself. He then went over to Traveling Buddha, picked up a tea cup, and drained the tea. The warm tea soothed the soul, and the strange noises in his ear really did disappear.

“Wow, it actually worked,” Xia Fan looked at the tea cup and said. There were still a few green tea suds at the bottom of the cup.

“Like I said, good tea calms the mind.” Comforted, Traveling Buddha poured Xia Fan another cup. “Try this one. It’s called Snowcap.”

“Okay,” Xia Fan smiled. He took the cup from Traveling Buddha. “Mm, this tea is also pretty good, slightly sweet, and with a gentler flavor than the other one.”

“You really have spent a long time with me. You’ve even started to develop a taste for tea. On account of your excellent performance, I’ll brew you up a tea from my special stock,” Traveling Buddha said happily.

…

The rice paddies to the south of Subduing Demon City…

A farmer took off his straw hat and fanned himself as he asked someone next to him. “Strange. Why did frogs stop croaking?”

“Yes. It does seem like it’s been a while since the frogs have croaked.”

“It’s not just the frogs. Even the cicadas have stopped chirping. There’s not a sound from the forest.”

“Weird, weird. Why have the crows stopped cawing too? They’re usually the noisiest of all.”

“It’s so quiet that it’s uncomfortable.”

The farmers stopped working and looked around. The surrounding wilderness was usually full of the sounds of insects and birds year-round, but at this moment, the world had gone completely silent. It was as if the birds and insects had received some sign to stop making noise. There was no sound now except the blowing of the mountain winds.

…

The Cloudsea Garden…

“What’s going on!?”

“Why are they all prostrating?”

“You’re asking me, but who am I supposed to ask?”

“Look, all the flying beasts have started to prostrate, as if they’re paying respects to someone.”

“Get up! Get up right now!” A warrior responsible for sending messages had an urgent report to deliver. In his urgency, he pushed and pulled on his flying beast, but the white eagle didn’t listen, continuing to prostrate in the direction of the center of the city.

Military letters were extremely urgent, and the messenger warrior was furious and started to lash the white eagle on its back. But the flying Mythical Beast seemed to have hardened its heart, holding its mouth shut no matter how much its wounds hurt. It was if it had been cursed to not make a sound.

Pa!

The leather whip snapped, and the messenger warrior collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. “It’s bizarre. What’s going on with them?! Are they all possessed?!”