WBICDPH Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Changing the Tune

The black thread that had just pierced through a high-grade Heartguard Mirror in an instant with terrifying explosive force was now casually crushed in Xiao Lanqi’s hand.

Lin Jin frowned slightly and looked up at him.

From his angle, he could only see Xiao Lanqi’s profile.

Although Big Brother Hei got angry often enough, his emotions were usually like those of a sulking child—quick to flare up and quick to fade. They never truly frightened anyone, only left people feeling helplessly amused.

But this time felt different.

Lin Jin could clearly sense the sharp hostility and oppressive aura radiating from him.

This guy seemed genuinely furious.

But what exactly was he angry about?

“So tell me,” Xiao Lanqi said again in a low voice, “who exactly do you think you’re bullying?”

The moment his words fell, the flaming demonic patterns surrounding him shot forward instantly, charging straight toward the black thread in his hand. Their momentum was terrifying, as though they would not stop until the thread had been ground into dust.

After Xiao Lanqi activated his demonic markings, the black thread seemed to sense the danger. It froze for a brief instant, then, before the markings could touch it, decisively severed itself.

The latter half of the taut black thread had remained hidden in the air, impossible to see clearly. Once cut off by its owner, it instantly lost all vitality, the loose end drooping limply downward.

Xiao Lanqi’s demonic markings and flames lost their target and gradually dissipated, leaving behind only the hair-thin black lines of demonic energy still wrapped around his hand.

With visible disgust, he ripped the threads apart and casually tossed them aside.

Then, as if he found them filthy, he dusted off his hands and frowned seriously at Lin Jin.

“You really are a walking disaster. I leave for one moment, and somehow you almost get yourself killed again?”

“?”

Lin Jin was utterly baffled.

What did he mean by “walking disaster”? What trouble had he caused? And who gave him that title?

And what was this “almost got yourself killed again”? He had only nearly gotten his shoulder pierced by that weird black thread! He’d been nowhere near death!

Lin Jin felt like tearing his hair out, but facing the Big Brother Hei who had just saved his life, he obediently lowered his head.

“Thank you for saving me. Your timing was perfect.”

“Well, obviously my timing was perfect.”

Xiao Lanqi completely failed to catch the faint politeness in Lin Jin’s tone and instead looked rather pleased with himself.

“You…!”

Hua Nanzhi had been stunned speechless earlier. When Lin Jin was attacked by the black thread, she hadn’t even had time to react. By the time she finally remembered to draw her blade and help him, Xiao Lanqi had already appeared at Lin Jin’s side before her.

Even now, she still couldn’t get used to this fierce-looking Heavenly Demon giant. Every time she saw him, her instinct was to pull out her sword. But her senior sister trusted him and said he was an ally, and he had just saved Lin Jin’s life, so Miss Hua could only do her best to suppress her hostility toward him.

She glanced at the discarded black thread, lingering fear stirring in her chest.

“What exactly was that thing? It was terrifying. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Xiao Lancheng’s Heartbinding Silk.”

Xiao Lanqi glanced at Lin Jin and frowned slightly as he warned him:

“If you ever see that thing again, be extremely careful. Once his Heartbinding Silk pierces human flesh, it keeps growing and splitting inside the body. It devours your flesh and takes over your body until you become nothing more than his shadow. Since you promised to be my friend, start valuing your life a little more. Stop throwing yourself into life-and-death situations every other moment.”

“…”

Lin Jin froze upon hearing that, only now realizing how serious the situation had been.

Honestly, he really hadn’t thought much about the black thread earlier. It hadn’t looked especially dangerous. Even when it broke through his defenses, he’d thought rather recklessly: If I can’t dodge it, then fine, let it stab me. At worst, I’ll hurt for a month.

But now, hearing Xiao Lanqi’s explanation, he understood that if the thread had truly pierced him, he would likely already be nothing more than a walking corpse.

“So that’s why Xiao Lancheng even brought out the Bewitching Sound Bone Spirit. Turns out he came specifically for you.”

Xiao Lanqi pressed his lips together and rubbed one ear thoughtfully.

“Using the Bone Spirit’s music as cover so he could pass through the battle lines and locate you in the middle of the battlefield… clever plan. He almost succeeded.”

“…Big Brother Hei.”

Lin Jin followed his train of thought for a moment before looking toward the front lines, where the number of enemy demons had noticeably increased.

For the moment, he set Xiao Lancheng aside and instead asked:

“Do you know why the number of demons on the front line suddenly increased?”

“Because my pressure stopped working.” Xiao Lanqi sounded irritated just talking about it.

“That branch of the Bone Spirits is incredibly troublesome. Their music can dispel negative suppression effects for allies and even boost morale. They specialize in countering the inherited pressure of Heavenly Demons. This Bone Spirit has a high-level inheritance and powerful cultivation. At the very least, none of your human music cultivators are a match for her.”

Then he paused before abruptly changing the subject.

“Hey, I think this battle’s hopeless. Why don’t you all retreat?”

“?”

The topic shift was so sudden that Lin Jin couldn’t keep up at all.

He shook his head and let out a helpless little laugh before turning serious again.

“We can’t retreat. The Mist Pavilion must be defended, and we have to win this battle. Not only win—we need to inflict as much damage on Mingzhu Heaven as possible.”

Then he asked again:

“Big Brother Hei, you understand Heavenly Demons best. Is there any way to counter the Bone Spirit’s music?”

Xiao Lanqi answered without hesitation:

“No. Unless you kill her, or force her to retreat so she can’t keep playing.”

“I’ll go!”

The moment Hua Nanzhi heard that, her fighting spirit surged.

She wiped the blade of her Poyue Saber with her sleeve.

“Isn’t she just someone playing a zither? I’ll smash her instrument in half with one strike!”

“You?”

Xiao Lanqi looked her up and down exaggeratedly, his green eyes full of contempt, as though he were staring at an idiot.

“With your level of cultivation? Before you even got close to her, you’d be bleeding from every orifice and your organs would explode.”

Then, seeing Lin Jin looking tempted to speak, Xiao Lanqi immediately cut him off:

“And don’t even think about it yourself. With that frail little body of yours, you couldn’t even endure the aftereffects of her music. If you rushed over recklessly, you’d end up worse than this girl. Right now, the only ones qualified to deal with that Bone Spirit are Jiang Zhenfeng and a few of the top experts from your sect. But if she’s able to appear here at a moment like this, then clearly those capable people are too occupied to stop her. That’s why I’m telling you to retreat. As long as she’s here, winning will be difficult. And the worst part is—she’s not even the biggest problem. Look, Han Xiao still hasn’t even appeared yet.”

“…”

Hearing this, Lin Jin lowered his eyes slightly.

One hand hidden inside his sleeve unconsciously rubbed against itself as though deep in thought.

After a moment, he said:

“Not necessarily. A music cultivator probably isn’t skilled in close combat. If I use runes to temporarily block her sound attacks and bring Miss Hua or another close-combat cultivator to her position, what are our chances? We wouldn’t need to kill her. We’d only need to force her onto the defensive so she can no longer support the demon cultivators.”

The moment he proposed this idea, Hua Nanzhi instantly perked up.

“We can do that? If we can, then let’s do it! I’ll give it everything I’ve got!”

“Do what exactly?! Did neither of you hear a single word I said?!”

Xiao Lanqi genuinely could not understand what went on inside human heads.

Pressing his lips together, he finally waved a hand impatiently, his tone turning rough.

“Forget it. You’re both infuriating. Stop with these unrealistic fantasies already. It’s just a Bone Spirit—why are you making such a huge deal out of it? I’ll handle her myself!”

“No.”

Lin Jin rejected him immediately without even thinking.

Truthfully, from the very beginning, he hadn’t approved of Xiao Lanqi getting involved in this battle, even if all he had done so far was stand in the rear and suppress the enemy with his inherited pressure.

Because his surname was Xiao Lan.

Because he was the sovereign of the Heavenly Demons.

One day in the future, he would reclaim Mingzhu Heaven from Xiao Lancheng. And when that day came, if he wanted his people to truly accept him as their king, then he absolutely could not stand with humans today and slaughter his own kind—especially not high-ranking inherited Heavenly Demons like the Bewitching Sound Bone Spirit.

Otherwise, today’s enemies could easily become obstacles on his future path.

“If you step onto the battlefield today, what position will you stand in? And in the future, if you want to rightfully inherit Mingzhu Heaven, how will you explain all this to your people? How will you make them trust you? Xiao Lanqi—you are a Heavenly Demon.”

Hearing those words, Xiao Lanqi seemed momentarily surprised, his eyes shifting slightly.

But soon enough, he curled his lips dismissively.

“As if I don’t know what I am! Stop meddling in my business! One little Bone Spirit isn’t worth my attention! You should hurry up and get to the rear to rest and worry about yourself instead. Be careful that bastard Xiao Lancheng doesn’t come after you again!”

With that, before Lin Jin could say anything else, he shot into the air and rushed toward the Bone Spirit’s location.

Humans really were annoying.

Why did this guy always think so much about everyone else when none of it even concerned him?

Or was he like this with everyone?

Xiao Lanqi narrowed his eyes slightly.

Damn Lin Jin. After today’s battle, you owe me a huge favor.

—

“Pfft—”

Upon the throne outside the Penglai Mountains, Xiao Lancheng suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood.

The crimson blood splattered across the black beast-fur carpet beneath him, disappearing into the dark color without a trace.

Han Xiao hurried forward.

“My lord?”

Xiao Lancheng raised a hand to indicate he was fine. Wiping the blood from the corner of his lips, he left them stained a shocking red.

Slowly, he curved his lips into a smile tinged with madness.

“Such quick reflexes, Ah Qi.”

The Heartbinding Silk he had released earlier had been condensed from the essence of his divine consciousness. Now that Xiao Lanqi had crushed part of it while he himself had severed the remainder, the backlash he suffered was severe.

But if he hadn’t done so, Xiao Lanqi’s Biyun Flame would already have followed the Heartbinding Silk back and burned straight into his consciousness.

It seemed that the boy named Lin Jin was even more important to Xiao Lanqi than he had imagined.

Which meant Xiao Lancheng absolutely had to kill him.

A vicious gleam flashed through his eyes before he slowly closed them and steadied his breathing.

“Xiao Lanqi went after Ruyin. She’s no match for him. Han Xiao, tell Qianggu Ruyin to retreat. And Jiang Zhenfeng… she’s almost here. She’ll be your opponent.”

“Yes.”

Han Xiao bowed to accept the order, but before leaving, she glanced back uncertainly at Xiao Lancheng.

“And you, my lord…?”

“Don’t worry about me.” Xiao Lancheng drew in a deep breath as demonic markings surfaced across his body.

“With Qianggu Ruyin retreating and Jiang Zhenfeng arriving, the frontal assault won’t work anymore. I’ll have to find another path.”

Purple light flickered through his demonic markings as his lips slowly curved upward.

“The piece I planted… should finally move.”

—

Southern mountain path of the Penglai Range.

The Jianxin Sect had been ordered by Jiang Zhenfeng to guard this place. Their entire sect consisted of sword cultivators specializing in heavy swords—capable of both offense and defense, with formidable combat ability.

Unlike the main pass that stretched across the mountain range, the southern mountain path was only a narrow trail. But it led directly to the Dengwen Sword Pavilion at the rear of the Penglai Mountains, where the alchemists, artifact cultivators, and disciples below Foundation Establishment were hiding. It was also the perfect route for flanking the main battlefield.

For that reason, the southern path was critically important and could not afford the slightest mistake.

This time, the Jianxin Sect had sent dozens of elders and disciples to participate in the Sword Trial Convention. Along with reinforcements from Misty Rain Mountain and several other sects, their side faced far less pressure than the main battlefield, so everyone remained relatively composed.

“Slash—!”

A square-faced sword cultivator swung his heavy blade and drove back a wolf demon. The beast’s foul-smelling blood splattered across him. He raised a hand to wipe the blood from his face, and no one noticed the strange pause hidden within the motion.

His hand stiffened for the briefest instant.

At the same time, an eerie purple light flashed through his dark pupils.

But his expression quickly returned to normal. Raising his heavy sword again, he forced back another ghost cultivator before glancing toward the main pass of the Penglai Mountains.

Suddenly, terror twisted his face into something almost grotesque.

Then, his voice trembling, he shouted enough for everyone present to hear:

“Master! Elders! Senior brothers! The battle situation has changed! The mountain gate… the mountain gate is about to fall!”