104: Chapter 104 I have some knowledge of music, let me give it a try.
A bronze stone gate, hundreds of feet high, stood across everyone's path. There were no radiant formation patterns on the stone gate; it only had a primitive, rough feel, with even excavation marks remaining on its surface.
"Strange, truly strange..."
On the human side, several white-haired formation grandmasters were circling the stone gate. Leading them was Duke Wencheng, who held a compass in his hand with a deep frown.
"The material of this stone gate is Dragon-Severing Stone, which isolates all spiritual sense probes. I have been deducing for a long while and cannot find even a trace of a formation eye."
Duke Wencheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his expression solemn. "This kind of 'formation-less formation' is the most terrifying. Once an obscure restriction is triggered, I fear we will all have to meet our end here."
"Then what should we do? Just wait here?"
Zhao Junyang asked with a frown from the side.
"We can only wait," Duke Wencheng sighed. "Let me use the 'Nine Palaces Flying Stars' method to test it bit by bit..."
"Excuse me, coming through."
Just then, a lazy voice interrupted everyone's thoughts.
Lin Fan pushed through the crowd, a foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, and swaggered toward the stone gate.
"Lin Fan? What are you doing?" Duke Wencheng was startled. "Don't move recklessly! This is a restriction left by the Sage of the Zither; one slight mistake and you'll be crushed to pieces!"
"A restriction?"
Lin Fan glanced at the massive stone gate, then at the grandmasters who looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Under his Bright Heart Dharma Eye, the stone gate was clean as a whistle. Forget a restriction, there wasn't even a single ghostly scribble on it.
"Sometimes, overthinking is a disease."
Lin Fan spat out the grass root, cracked his knuckles, and let out a series of crisp pops. "This is like your front door being unlocked, but you're convinced there's a landmine buried there, so you're using a magnifying glass to find the fuse. Aren't you tired?"
"You... what do you know!" Duke Wencheng's beard trembled with rage. "This is reverence for a Saint!"
"Reverence my foot."
Lin Fan walked forward and, under everyone's terrified gazes, directly reached out both hands and pressed them against the rough stone gate.
"Is he crazy?!"
"Back away! Watch out for the backlash!!"
Everyone scrambled back, terrified of being splattered with blood.
However.
The expected formation backlash did not occur.
Lin Fan planted his feet, and his thigh muscles instantly bulged, stretching his tactical pants tight.
"Open... for me!!"
A thunderous roar shook the sky—!!
With Lin Fan's low shout, the physical strength of the late Desolate Realm, combined with the explosive power of the Dragon Blood Hegemon Body Art, poured out like a mountain torrent.
Creak— Creak—
A tooth-gritting grinding sound echoed.
Under the dumbfounded gazes of the crowd, the massive stone gate that had left the formation grandmasters helpless actually began to slowly open inward!
Dust fell in showers.
"It... it opened?!"
The compass in Duke Wencheng's hand fell to the ground with a clatter, shattering into pieces. His mouth hung wide open, feeling as if his worldview had crumbled to the floor.
"Where is the formation? Where is the restriction? Where are the killing moves?"
"What formation?"
Lin Fan patted the dust off his hands, turned back with a grin, and showed a row of pearly white teeth. "This door is just purely heavy. Maybe Senior Sage of the Zither was afraid of thieves, so he intentionally used a big rock to block the door. This is called... brute force creates miracles."
Everyone: "..."
What the hell kind of 'brute force creates miracles'!
You call this 'a bit heavy'? That Barbarian Bear King was sent flying when he crashed into it earlier!
"Let's go, masters."
Lin Fan made a 'please' gesture with a playful look. "I've opened the door for you, what are you still standing there for? Waiting for the New Year?"
Everyone looked at each other, their old faces flushing red, especially Duke Wencheng, who wished he could find a hole to crawl into.
Past the stone gate was a wide, dark tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel was a massive hall capable of holding tens of thousands of people.
As soon as they stepped inside, a clear and resonant zither sound rang in their ears. Looking around, the hall was actually densely packed with over ten thousand ancient zithers!
These ancient zithers were made of various materials: parasol wood, red sandalwood, and even unknown beast bones. Each zither had a faint glow circulating over it, subtly revealing a sense of spirituality.
"Welcome to... the Hall of the Zither Heart."
An ethereal voice echoed above the hall.
"I am Qin Saint."
"To obtain my Saint Weapon, the 'fuxi zither', one must pass three trials."
"The first trial: Discerning the Sound."
"Among these ten thousand zithers, only one has a pitch that reaches the divine, and it is the key to opening the next trial. The rest are all ordinary items; to touch them is to die."
"Time limit... one stick of incense."
As the voice faded, a burning stick of incense appeared out of thin air in the center of the hall.
"To touch them is to die?!"
Hearing these words, those who had originally wanted to rush forward and grab a zither instantly froze in place.
Picking one out of ten thousand zithers?
The odds were lower than winning the lottery jackpot! And choosing wrong meant death?
"Hmph, playing tricks!"
From the foreign race camp, a thunderous roar erupted.
A five-meter-tall foreign race Barbarian Bear King covered in black fur stepped out. It had just suffered a setback at the door and was holding in a belly full of fire.
"I don't believe in this nonsense! What 'touch and die'? Who are you trying to scare?"
The Barbarian Bear King swung its massive hammer, which was capable of smashing mountains, and pointed at an ancient zither in front that was entirely golden and carved with dragon patterns.
"This zither looks the most pleasing to the eye, all golden and shiny, it must be something good! It's this one!"
After speaking, it walked over with giant strides and reached out to grab it.
"Don't move!!"
An elderly man named Zhou on the human side turned pale with fright and tried to stop it.
But it was already too late.
The moment the Barbarian Bear King's furry hand touched the strings.
Buzz!!
The golden ancient zither suddenly emitted a piercing clang.
Without any warning or any energy fluctuations.
An invisible sound wave instantly swept through the Barbarian Bear King's body.
"Ugh..."
The Barbarian Bear King's movements froze, the cruel smile still hanging on its lips, but its eyes instantly lost their luster.
The next second.
Crash!
Its mountain-like body instantly disintegrated, turning into a pile of flying ash!
Even the alloy giant hammer in its hand turned into a pile of iron powder, scattered on the ground.
It didn't even have time to let out a scream!
Hiss—!!
The entire field gasped.
Everyone retreated several steps in fear, their faces as pale as paper.
Although the Barbarian Bear King wasn't very bright, its defensive power was among the top in the Domain King Realm. Just like that... it was gone?
What kind of zither was this? This was clearly a death warrant from the King of Hell!
"This... how do we choose?"
On the human side, the elderly man named Zhou stepped forward. He was a famous master of music, and at this moment, he was also covered in sweat.
"This old man knows a little about music, let me try."
Elder Zhou cautiously walked into the zither array, listening intently and even using his spiritual sense to perceive the aura of each zither.
Time passed minute by minute.
The stick of incense was already half-burned.
Elder Zhou's face became increasingly unsightly, and his body was trembling slightly.
"It's no use... the zither sounds here interfere with each other, I can't distinguish them at all! Every zither is ringing, and every zither seems real... it's too difficult! This is simply an impossible task!"
Seeing that the incense was about to burn out.
The shadow of death loomed over everyone's heart.
The foreign races were already starting to get restless, and some even planned to forcibly break the formation and escape.
"How troublesome."
Lin Fan sighed and walked out from the crowd.
"Little friend Lin Fan, don't be reckless!" Zhao Junyang quickly warned. "This is gambling with your life!"
"Gambling?"
Lin Fan smiled and walked straight into the zither array.