Chapter 3: Bloody Night at the Immortal Cloud Sect
1322 Words
"Hurry, Li Xuan! Don't just stand there. They'll be here in minutes!" The woman's voice urged, sounding very close to Li Xuan's left ear.
Li Xuan staggered, his hand fumbling in the air before finally grabbing hold of the edge of a smooth robe. "Who are you really? Why do you know my name? And what was that sound just now? Why is all the metal in my village shattered?"
"Just call me Yue Er. That's not important right now. You have to move if you want to stay alive. Listen! Do you hear that vibration from the north?"
Li Xuan fell silent for a moment. He tilted his head, trying to catch the wave that had just hit his eardrums. "The Immortal Cloud Sect... The sound is coming from there. But this doesn't make sense. It's the sound of a massacre."
"That's right. Now follow me!"
"Wait, Yue Er! Stop! I hear Old Master Lin's voice. He's screaming. I hear his iron shield being hit by something incredibly hard. The sound is like a giant bell cracking!" Li Xuan grabbed Yue Er's arm. His body shook violently.
"Don't listen, Li Xuan. You can't help them."
"But I can feel it! There are nine distinct tones. One, two, three... nine! They are all swirling at high speed. Each tone destroys whatever it passes through. Metal, rock, bone... everything shatters into pieces when that tone passes by."
"That's the Nine Suns Dance. The forbidden technique of the people chasing you. If you keep standing here and listening, your soul will be shattered by its resonance too."
"Why are they doing this? I hear the sound of the sect's young disciples running. Their footsteps are short and fast, they're terrified. Then... then the sound came. A slashing sound that makes no scraping noise, but rather a burst of air. They're dead, Yue Er. Everyone is dead!" Li Xuan fell to his knees on the cold ground. Tears started to stream from behind his white gauze blindfold.
"Li Xuan, get up! We don't have time to mourn!"
"I'm just a sword sharpener! All this time I've only heard the quiet music of swords being sharpened. Why do I have to hear music of death like this now? The sound is deafening! It's like thousands of needles are piercing my ears!"
"Because you hold that resonance, Li Xuan. Your blindness makes you hear what the universe hides. The Nine Suns Dance isn't just a sword technique; it's how they corrupt the world's score. Now, take my hand. We need to go closer to the ruins."
"Closer? Are you crazy? You just told me to run!"
"We have to get something before they find it. If they get the residual energy at the sect's core, there won't be a safe place left in this world. Come on!"
Li Xuan stood up, his legs still weak. He followed Yue Er's pull. The vibrations beneath his feet felt increasingly unstable. The closer they got to the Immortal Cloud Sect territory, the stronger the smell of burning metal became in the air.
"Stop for a second," whispered Li Xuan. "The sound has changed. There are no more screams."
"What do you hear now?" Yue Er asked softly.
"Silence. But not a normal silence. It's a heavy silence. Like a thousand-ton weight pressing down on the air. And... there are footsteps. Just one person. The steps are incredibly heavy; every time their foot touches the ground, the dead metal around them vibrates with fear."
"That's him. The Shadow General. He must be checking his work."
"His sword's sound, Yue Er, his sword isn't vibrating like an ordinary sword. It's pulsating. Like a human heart. Every time that heart pulsates, I feel like my own heart wants to stop beating."
"Don't focus on the pulsation! Just focus on my voice!" Yue Er pulled Li Xuan into the thick bushes.
Li Xuan crawled on the ground. His palm touched something liquid and thick. He immediately pulled his hand back, but the metallic smell instantly pierced his nose. "This is blood, right? There's so much blood here."
"Don't talk. We're already at the main gate border. I need to see what's left."
Li Xuan tried to focus his hearing forward. Through the bouncing sound vibrations, he began to form images in his head. He 'saw' the majestic gate pillars now fallen. He 'saw' bodies lying in disarray, like piles of firewood tossed aside.
"Master Lin... he's there, right?" Li Xuan asked in a voice barely audible.
"Yes. He's leaning against the main pillar. His sword broke into three pieces."
"I hear it. The residual resonance in the broken pieces of his sword is still there. Very weak, like the breathing of a dying person. He's trying to say something through the vibrations of his metal."
"What did he say?"
Li Xuan fell silent, his tears falling faster now. "He said... run. He said, don't let them hear the final tone."
Suddenly, the pulsating sound of the sword that Li Xuan heard earlier stopped. A sharp silence enveloped the area. Li Xuan felt his hair stand on end. The air around them suddenly became extremely cold.
"Yue Er," Li Xuan whispered, his voice trembling. "He stopped walking."
"Who?"
"That man. He stopped right in front of the gate. And... he's facing us."
"Don't move, Li Xuan. Don't breathe too hard."
"No, Yue Er. He isn't seeing us with his eyes. He's plunging his sword into the ground. He's sending out sound waves to find us!"
A powerful vibration traveled through the ground, hitting Li Xuan's body and throwing him backward. His ears were ringing so loudly he wanted to scream, but Yue Er immediately clamped her hand over his mouth.
"Damn it, he found us!" Yue Er exclaimed quietly. "Li Xuan, you have to run toward the river now! Don't look back!"
"What about you?"
"I'll create a diversion. Hurry! Take the ancient broken sword at your waist, let it guide you!"
Li Xuan felt for the broken sword at his waist. The rusted metal suddenly became intensely hot, as if it were on fire. At the same time, the sound of the heavy footsteps started approaching again. This time faster. Each step sounded like a sledgehammer hitting concrete.
"Go now!" Yue Er pushed Li Xuan hard.
Li Xuan ran aimlessly, crashing into tree branches and stumbling repeatedly. However, amid the chaos, his broken sword gave off a clear hum. The hum pointed toward a single safe direction deep in the dark forest.
He kept running until his lungs felt like they would burst. Behind him, he heard another large explosion, followed by a very loud clang of metal. That was the sound of Yue Er fighting.
Li Xuan stopped at the edge of a small cliff. Below him, the sound of the river flowing was very loud. But that wasn't what made him stop.
From behind him, a very thin whistling sound sliced through the air. The sound didn't come from a person, but from a small dagger thrown at incredible speed, aiming directly for his back.
Li Xuan spun around, following his auditory instinct. He raised his ancient broken sword just as the dagger almost hit him.
Ting!
The impact produced a strange sound wave. The broken sword in Li Xuan's hand not only deflected the dagger but seemed to 'eat' its energy. Li Xuan was stunned. He could feel an enormous ancient power flowing from the sword into his hand.
"So this is what they were looking for," a cold voice said from the top of a tree in front of him.
Li Xuan tensed up. He hadn't heard this person's footsteps before. This person didn't produce any vibration at all.
"Give that back, Sword Sharpener. Or I'll cut off your ears so you don't have to hear your own death screams."
Li Xuan clenched his hand on the hot sword hilt.
- Writer
