Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 268: Chapter 180: The Diagram Appears (Extra for Tom2017)_2

His spiritual thought swept across Yi Lingling’s storage bag, retrieving two identical boxes—evidently, one of which was meant to deceive him.

Both boxes were opened, revealing two ancient zithers within.

One zither had obvious spiritual artifact fluctuations, but under the scrutiny of spiritual thought, it felt like a facade; instead, the other zither, which had no such fluctuations, felt rather special to him.

Li Shiming had never seen this kind of spiritual artifact before, and, although there were numerous sound wave techniques on Sky Sea Island and he had mastered both the Buddhist “Oral Lotus” and the devilish “Devil’s Sound into the Ear,” combining them into the “Devil Sound Lotus,” he had never encountered a sound wave technique-reliant spiritual zither.

His spiritual thought passed over the ancient zither without finding any noticeable markings.

“Since you suspect this zither has no connection to the Six-fingered Sound Demon’s legacy, why not hand over the zither?” Li Shiming looked puzzledly at Yi Lingling and asked.

...
“Because Yi Yichen sent someone to find me, offering double the auction price to buy this zither. At the time, I was on Tianhua Mountain where he did not dare to snatch it forcibly. Given his status, he wouldn’t have made the offer without knowing something. The power of Baoze Mountain is strong, and their information on the cultivation world far surpasses that of people like us!” Yi Lingling knew she could not hide it and replied honestly.

Li Shiming nodded slowly as a bolt of lightning appeared on his finger, traveling along the surface of the ancient zither.

Refining the ancient zither took little time—it only took ten breaths for him to refine one-tenth of the zither.

As he refined the zither, information flowed into his brain.

The zither was named ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither,’ and even from its name, it was clear the Demon nature of the Six-fingered Sound Demon.

Apart from Buddhist practitioners, nearly all cultivators referred to their practice as “Dao,” with Taoists even placing the progenitors of the Dao on the same level of reverence.

The Six-fingered Sound Demon gave the ancient zither the name ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither,’ denoting disregard for the Dao, and Li Shiming couldn’t understand why he would do so.

Along with the name ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither,’ an Annihilation Dao Piece also entered his mind.

Li Shiming had never studied the zither, so he gently plucked the strings of the ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither,’ connecting his consciousness to the IBMz15, and began learning the ancient zither playing techniques.

Yi Lingling listened to the meaningless jumble of notes, unsure of Li Shiming’s intentions, as it was clear that Li Shiming didn’t know how to play.

As she was pondering, Li Shiming had already learned the ancient zither’s playing techniques, and through the random plucking of strings just now, he had also grasped the unique sound characteristics of the ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither.’

He sat down cross-legged, the ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither’ resting on his legs, recalling the Annihilation Dao Piece in his mind, as a trace of Wood Thunder Spiritual Power appeared on his fingertips.

A bizarre piece of music emanated from his fingers, the Annihilation Dao Piece carrying the world’s rage and intent of destruction; it was as though he saw the world fissure, mountains crumble, oceans overturning, and life falling, becoming dry bones amidst the Annihilation Dao Piece.

Unwittingly, Li Shiming too was drawn into this mood until an alert from the IBMz15 snapped him out of it.

Looking at the ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither,’ he saw a map materialize above it, with a brightened dot on it, and beside the map was a mnemonic for entering an array.

The IBMz15 recorded both the map and the mnemonic, and Li Shiming breathed a sigh of relief, ceasing the zither music.

His consciousness was connected to that of Li Yuanba, so as he woke, Li Yuanba also came to his senses.

Li Shiming felt a chill at the close call. He was only playing the zither, and the ‘Earth Sound Annihilation Dao Zither’ was not even fully refined, yet it was already capable of unleashing such a terrifying might, drawing him into a horrifying mood.

He had no idea what would have happened had he been sucked into that entirely destructive mood.