In the remote suburbs of Qingshui County, several players aimlessly wandered about before finally stopping at a forest at the base of a small hill.
"This is the place," Liao Yunhuai gently kicked a tree trunk and then gave his companions a knowing look. Yun Yao, observing the barren wilderness devoid of human presence, furrowed her brows:
"Are you sure? Are there really monsters in this godforsaken place?"
"Absolutely. Didn’t we encounter so just before? Don’t you trust my intelligence-gathering skills? The ga’s monsters are algorithm-driven; as long as we search according to the logic of where bandits and rogues would be based, we can’t go wrong."
"Alright then." Yun Yao, recalling the waves of monsters they had encountered previously, nodded in agreent. She then took the ancient Chinese zither off her back, assud the Crane Stance, and placed the zither on her legs. Although it still felt sowhat heavy, she could manage it at last.
She had initially intended to use a thirteen-string zither (a smaller version of the ancient Chinese zither popular in the Tang Dynasty, later spreading to the Eastern Country and known for its smaller size), but the mont the idea left her mouth, her NPC master had beaten her for suggesting it, and in the end, she carried an ordinary zither instead.
These thoughts drifted by slowly, but as a musician, Yun Yao maintained her professional integrity. As her fingertips brushed the zither strings, her distractions gradually faded away...
"Hummm~"
"Hummm~"
"Zing zing zing zing zing zing~"
The zither’s lodies, seemingly slow yet swift, echoed through the forest and, with the modest aid of her inner strength, spread farther and farther.
As the music unfurled, the players all concealed themselves, silently waiting; one minute, two minutes. Finally, a small figure flashed across their field of view, and soon, a group of pirates lured by the sound of the zither appeared.
As a band of humanoid monsters approached, their unpleasant grins and cacophonous shrieks filled the air, heading straight for Yun Yao. Yet Yun Yao remained unmoved, still plucking at her zither strings as if she hadn’t noticed the approaching "mock humans" from the hill at all.
The tone of the zither was gentle, lacking any hint of aggression; even sounding sowhat frail, such that the pirates, who had maintained at least so semblance of formation as they rushed down the hill, now resembled beasts in a race—seemingly whoever reached the front had earned the right to enjoy the ’flower maiden’ first.
But as the pirate throng closed within ten ters of Yun Yao, the players suddenly leaped from the treetops, unleashing a barrage of attacks on the diminutive invaders.
Although their weapons were rely the most ordinary ones from a shop and their martial arts basic, their adversaries were not true samurai—nor even genuine pirates; they were a miscellaneous ’army’ exploiting the na of pirates for rampant looting and pillaging. As the two forces clashed, unbelievably, the players held their ground, relying on the basic skills learned from martial arts schools.
Watching her teammates slay their enemies, Yun Yao remained detached, her zither playing the role of a lure. The lodious sounds stretched far, attempting to attract the attention of even more distant monsters.
"Stop, stop! Sister Yao, stop luring them, we’re almost out of stamina!"
"Who’s calling Sister Yao? If you can’t speak properly, then just shut up!" Yun Yao glared at the player and, with a flick of her fingertips, the sound of the zither changed dramatically, instantly filling the air with a looming sense of deadliness. All living beings present—players, monsters, even the smallest insects—felt a chill spreading, not the cold of ice but a shock akin to being tossed from a warm environnt into a frozen wasteland. The stark contrast left everyone involuntarily stiffened, limbs chilling, and even the flow of their inner qi faintly started to feel as though it was freezing.
"Yun sister! Miss Yun! Just stop already, please, you’re doing area-of-effect attacks here! When the hell will this damn ga turn off friendly fire?!"
Players grumbled with their mouths but their hands didn’t stop for a mont; they had already cooperated to kill several waves of monsters. Yun Yao’s "Frost Descent" tune’s debuff effects were well known to them, and since they didn’t have any particularly sophisticated moves, grouping up to apply debuffs actually worked to their advantage.
Before ten minutes had passed, a small group of samurai had already fallen to the ground. The players rifled through their loot and did manage to find so items rated as ordinary and green crops styles.
The ones who ca down for patrol were rely Mixed Soldiers. If they searched up the mountain, they might find better things, but with the players’ current level, ambushes were fine, but a direct assault would be suicide.
They called over people to drag the cart out from the woods, and together they threw the corpses onto the cart. This damned ga’s quest system was so realistic it made one sick; to undertake the Governnt Office’s bandit-suppression quest, you actually had to deliver the corpses to the county office to get the bounty—and of course, if there was a Bounty Order for a notorious gangster, just bringing the head would suffice.
"Yao... er, Sister Yun, we still farming?" After tallying up the number of corpses, the player with five consecutive kills looked back at Yun Yao. Yun Yao looked up at the sky with a face of helplessness and said,
"No more, my ntorship quest is such a hassle. I have to go back every day to practice, or else I get hit with both a decrease in favor and actual beatings. If I wasn’t afraid of defeat, I’d wish he’d just burst into Gold Coins!"
"Quit playing the innocent after taking advantage; that’s a Hidden NPC—many would kill to be their disciple but get rejected! How about I slip you so cash IRL for an intro? I can’t do anything with the guzheng, but I can play the guitar..."
"Scram!"
...
"♪~~" Feng Xue humd a tune, his fingers lightly smoothing out the wood’s rough edges. Rubbing his palm back and forth a few tis left the wood’s surface as smooth as a mirror, as if waxed.
Although Feng Xue wasn’t very fond of martial arts like One Yang Finger, combined with Mystical Lord’s Cleverly Crafted Power, it was perfect for carpentry.
As he pondered when his dutiful disciple, who kept dreaming of making him burst Gold Coins, would return, he saw a girl carrying what looked like a coffin board approaching gracefully.
But before Feng Xue could even open his mouth to tease her as usual, he saw his frugal disciple staring at him with an incredulous look, pointing at the object in his hand,
"What on earth did you make this for?"
"Ah, you’re talking about this?" Feng Xue lifted the unstrung guitar in his hands, his lips curving upwards,
"An interesting fellow ntioned it to . He said it’s a Western Country biwa that can be played while moving. It sounded simple enough, so I tried making one. It seems pretty good, doesn’t it? I’ll just fit so strings and give it a try. If it works well, I might even use it as a lee weapon."
"It must have been that Five Kills!" thought Yun Yao, grinding her teeth, while Feng Xue secretly chuckled, acting as if a player had tipped him off, as he finely crafted the wood guitar. He even pretentiously took out a sheet of paper with a guitar design on it for a few glances.
Seeing this, Yun Yao beca a bit anxious and couldn’t persuade her cheap Master to give up on making the guitar. While fuming inside, she heard Feng Xue suddenly say,
"Don’t just stand there, start today’s training. You still can’t control it precisely even after so long. Really, playing an instrunt and you end up freezing your allies; don’t go out telling people you’re my disciple. It’s embarrassing!"
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