Fusang Sword Heart Diagram

The two continued walking deeper into the underground palace of the mausoleum.

The underground palace was damaged, with cracks everywhere. Changman moved nimbly through the cracks in the ruins, and a small door appeared in its eyes.

It waited for Ning Fusang and Bai Ni at the door for a while, and only after seeing Ning Fusang follow did it slip into the small door.

The small door led to complete darkness, devoid of any light. Ning Fusang flicked her finger and emitted a luminous pearl, which emitted only a faint light, giving her a rough idea that the space inside was not small.

Ning Fusang and Bai Ni each transformed into a white rainbow and entered it, isolating the water flow from the outside.

Iron frames were nailed to the wall, and the oil lamps were nearly dry, but still usable. Bai Ni lit the surrounding oil lamps, and the small space instantly became bright.

In the very center, on a round platform, sat a wooden coffin. She flew over, glanced inside, and saw the skeleton of a mermaid.

"They might be the ancestors of the merfolk of the Water Silk Sea lineage," Bai Ni speculated.

The mermaid woman was originally using a jade pillow as a pillow, but what Bai Ni saw was that the jade pillow had been roughly thrown aside, with several cracks on it.

Ning Fusang looked around. The stone walls here were made of some unknown material, and they were much harder. So even though there were spiderweb-like cracks on the walls, they did not collapse.

The murals are much more complete than those in the underground palace passageway.

The girl who left in dejection turned around and saw a naturally beautiful mermaid girl walking onto the lotus platform.

The mermaid girl had a head of thick, curly hair like seaweed, without much adornment, only a few pearls and seashells.

With a serene expression, she sang a song, her voice like heavenly music, and the surrounding tribespeople all showed expressions of rapture.

Mermaid scales should be colorful, but on the stone wall, they are all a plain gray.

A group of male merfolk, clad in armor and wielding spears, maintained order during the goddess festival, but their gazes were also drawn to the girl's melodious singing voice.

According to custom, the holy maidens of the Merfolk should come from commoners, but in reality, they are supported by Merfolk nobles.

Several mermaid girls took turns going on stage, and in the end, ten remained.

These ten mermaid girls are all beauties, some youthful, some charming, some dignified, and some delicate.

It should be said that all mermaid women are born with beautiful appearances. To find an ugly woman among them is an extremely difficult task.

During the final test, a zither appeared. Ning Fusang's eyes flickered slightly, and she had Changman nudge Bai Ni, signaling her to look at the mural.

"Do you recognize this zither? Doesn't it sound like an ancient melody?"

She had never seen the Merfolk, so she naturally didn't recognize the Emperor's Bow's Lost Sound Zither.

However, since Bai Ni wants the Eternal Sound, she must know something.

"The Holy Maiden of Lewu came from a commoner background and did not know how to play the zither. It was Emperor Gong who taught her the art. The Yiyin Zither was originally made by Emperor Gong and given to the Holy Maiden of Lewu. Later, when Emperor Gong stepped down from his position as deputy envoy, the Holy Maiden of Lewu returned the zither to him."

Bai Ni carefully observed the spirit zither on the mural, "Therefore, the words 'Le Wu' should be on the body of the zither of the Eternal Sound..."

Her gaze suddenly sharpened as she spotted a blurry "艹" radical.

Bai Ni flew forward and stroked the body of the zither, but the mural was just a mural, not the real Yiyin Zither.

If the Eternal Echoes were hidden in the murals, they would have been taken by that group long ago, and there would be no way they would have left them for her.

"Perhaps it was just a master sculptor who happened to witness the goddess festival and then carved this mural upon his return."

Ning Fusang thought about it for a while, but something felt off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She knew far too little about the history of the merfolk.

Bai Ni probably doesn't even know the connections between Le Wu, Di Gong, Jiang Ji, and this line of merfolk from the Shui Xiao tribe, let alone her.

According to the merfolk in the Memory Pearl, the merfolk of the Water Silk Clan are only a branch of Jiang Ji's bloodline, and their bloodline is thin. So how could the spiritual zither, the Eternal Melody, be taken away by the people of the Water Silk Clan?
However, Ning Fusang had no doubt that the Eternal Echo was in the Shuixiao Clan's territory. If those human cultivators weren't 70% certain, they wouldn't have come prepared.

All the fragmented information, like a tangled mess, was intertwined, obscuring the truth.

Ning Fusang felt a bit overwhelmed, but then she thought, so what if it's an ancient melody? She doesn't necessarily need this zither. Besides, she doesn't study music at all.

My mind suddenly cleared, and I felt much more at ease.

Ning Fusang regained her composure and looked at the mural with a gaze devoid of purpose or inquiry.

boom--

A noise came from behind them. Bai Ni and Ning Fusang turned around and saw that Chang Man had caused trouble again, smashing someone's coffin.

Bai Ni twitched the corner of her mouth: "Yao Ling, can you take care of it?"

Ning Fusang looked at the mermaid woman's corpse and suddenly asked, "Do you have a zither?"

Bai Ni looked completely bewildered.

"What do you need the zither for? There are only the two of us and that fool Changman here. Who are you going to play it for?"

Despite saying this, Bai Ni still took out a seven-stringed zither, pushed it forward with her palm, and presented it to Ning Fusang.

She shook her head and handed the zither back to Bai Ni, saying, "I can't play the zither, you play."

Both the Mirage Maiden and the Mermaid are skilled singers, but it is said that the Mirage Maiden's singing can cause cultivators to lose consciousness and die.

Bai Ni was skilled in singing and music, but for a moment she didn't know which tune to play.

"Let's play 'The Song of Forgetfulness'." This is the most famous piece of the Imperial Bow, and it can only bring out its effect when paired with the Echoing Zither.

Bai Ni was taken aback upon hearing this, "The 'Song of Forgetfulness' has long been lost, and I don't have the sheet music..."

"I have."

Ning Fusang said softly, and handed the sheet music to her.

The sheet music unfolded and floated in mid-air. Bai Ni glanced at it, but couldn't tell if it was actually the sheet music for "The Song of Forgetfulness".

After writing down the score, she plucked the strings a couple of times and gradually got into the groove.

Bai Ni's talent in music far surpasses Ning Fusang's. She can play a piece fairly well after only seeing it once.

Ning Fusang may not know how to play the zither, but he can appreciate music.

"The Song of Forgetfulness" was composed by Emperor Gong to erase his feelings for the Holy Maiden Yuewu, and the first person to hear it was Yuewu.

The melody was tinged with endless regret; if the Yiyin Qin were here, it would surely sense something. After Bai Ni entered the realm, her attention was entirely focused on the qin, while Ning Fusang stared at the merman female corpse. Between her brows, there was a glimmer of light, about to break free from its cocoon.

As the music faded, a burst of spiritual light emerged, transforming into an ancient zither before Ning Fusang.

Zheng——

The music stopped abruptly. Bai Ni's eyes widened, her voice filled with disbelief, "The Eternal Sound of the Qin?"

The zither was taken away by Ning Fusang, and Bai Ni barely even saw it.

Her tone was somewhat urgent: "Yaoling, you can't play the zither, so just tell me, what do you want in return for this Eternal Melody?"

Ning Fusang smiled gently: "Let's talk about it after we find the royal court's secret treasure."

Bai Ni realized that even with the oath of the sea binding her, she didn't trust herself and still wanted to use the Eternal Echoes to control her.

She didn't know what to say for a moment.

Ultimately, she meant that she would give the instrument to me, but the conditions for doing so would likely be very demanding.

(End of this chapter)