Chapter Fifty-Four: The Enchanting Sound Rings in the Ears

Mo Zihong was startled upon hearing this, not expecting Xu Zhao to respond in such a manner.

"Rest assured," he smiled calmly and gracefully, his fingertips gently caressing the strings, "in order to cultivate the Demonic Zither martial soul, I specifically took advanced courses in zither performance at a conservatory. However..."

His tone suddenly shifted, carrying a hint of danger:

"The more beautiful things are, the more dangerous they tend to be, and enchanting zither melodies are no exception."

Before his voice completely faded, the eight fingers resting upon the strings suddenly plucked!

A melodious zither tune instantly rippled through the air, carrying a bizarre infectious quality, making even the foliage of the virtual forest seem to sway gently in response.

However, when this zither music, imbued with cursed demonic power, reached Xu Zhao's ears, the slight sensation of anomaly that had just arisen in his heart was instantly smoothed away by the power of his Mind martial soul.

The essence of the Demonic Zither martial soul lay in using the zither tune as a medium to propagate curses that struck directly at the mind and soul.

Once the music entered the ears, it could induce mental exhaustion and breed negative emotions like surging tides.

Precisely because of this, individuals with formidable spiritual power and exceptionally steadfast mental fortitude were the most troublesome nemeses of such martial souls.

As the music flowed from Mo Zihong's fingertips, the shock in his heart grew increasingly intense.

For he abruptly discovered that his Demonic Zither music had no effect on Xu Zhao whatsoever!

"How is that possible?!" he thought in disbelief:

"Where on earth does a child under nine years old get such a rock-solid state of mind?!"

His spiritual power realm had been suppressed to the exact same level as Xu Zhao's.

At this moment, since their spiritual realms were on par, the steadfastness of the opponent's mind became the decisive factor in whether or not they would be influenced by the Demonic Zither music.

Naturally, Mo Zihong had no way of knowing that Xu Zhao's martial soul was not the Sun and Moon Double Pupils, but the Mind.

Therefore, aside from his shock, a deep sense of admiration inevitably welled up in his heart.

Five or six minutes passed, and the tune came to an end.

Mo Zihong looked up at Xu Zhao and praised sincerely:

"‘Heroes truly emerge from youth’—this phrase couldn't be more fitting for you."

His gaze sharpened, and his tone became solemn:

"Since simple zither tunes are useless against you, it is time for me to get serious!"

"Watch out!"

In an instant, three profound ten-thousand-year soul rings behind him burst into brilliant light simultaneously!

Using multiple soul rings simultaneously was an advanced technique of soul ring utilization, passed down among all the top-tier factions.

Every single soul ring served as an output port for soul power.

However, this output port had an upper limit; the higher the age of the soul ring, the higher that output limit would be.

Simultaneous use of multiple soul rings allowed all the soul power output from these soul rings to be released at once, achieving an explosive effect.

This technique was similar to the soul master innate skill "Soul Ring Fusion," though its power was slightly inferior to it.

During the personal actual combat special training, when Ao Rui demonstrated this to Xu Zhao, the explosive method used to kill the virtual Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King was precisely this technique.

The surging torrent of soul power erupted by the three ten-thousand-year soul rings was precisely condensed by Mo Zihong at the tips of his eight fingers, transforming into a torrential storm that frantically battered the demonic zither!

Clang—!

The zither sound abruptly underwent a drastic change! No longer classical and melodious, it was replaced by the shrill, sorrowful wails of demons from the depths of hell!

The zither music, mixed with overwhelming soul power and spiritual power, condensed into tangible sound waves that swept across the forest like an invisible giant sickle!

The air vibrated violently, dust filled the sky, trees cracked, and rocks shattered!

However, when these destructive sound waves touched the area within a meter around Xu Zhao, a layer of soft, silver-white moonlight quietly swept past, and all the sound waves, like snow meeting a blazing sun, instantly vanished into nothingness.

"The Silver Moon Divine Light Shield is truly useful," Xu Zhao rejoiced inwardly.

These demonic zither sound waves, mixed with soul power and spiritual power, were all blocked by his covert use of the absolute defense function of the tier-ten soul device, the "Silver Moon Divine Light Shield."

As early as ten thousand years ago, soul devices had already become an integral part of a soul master's strength.

In the present era, the battle armor that soul masters desired most was essentially a type of soul device as well.

Therefore, although the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield was slightly overpowered, it was indeed his own soul device, and one that he was capable of using, so it did not constitute cheating.

Mo Zihong's pupils constricted slightly in disbelief!

He clenched his teeth, and the intensity and frequency of his attacks surged once more. His fingertips virtually turned into phantoms, and the piercing demonic sound grew increasingly ferocious.

His soul power, suppressed to the thirty-third rank, was being rapidly depleted at an alarming rate, and was on the verge of hitting rock bottom.

Yet he cared not in the least—if soul power was exhausted, there was still spiritual power to use!

The subsequent sound wave attacks were no longer mixed with soul power, but transformed into pure spiritual assaults.

Although the sound waves were still steadily blocked by the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield, that increasingly harsh and grating demonic noise piercing his eardrums caused Xu Zhao's mood to grow uncontrollably irritable, and his expression darkened visibly.

"How can there be such a horrendous sound!"

"They really never name things wrong—the name Demonic Zither truly lives up to its reputation!"

After enduring a little longer, Xu Zhao finally reached his limit!

With a single thought, he condensed the vast energy absorbed and transformed by the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield and unleashed a full-powered Silver Moon Divine Light Wave.

To secure victory in a single strike, he even layered a concentrated, cone-like spiritual assault that poured forth all his strength right behind the divine light wave!

Completely immersed in his offensive rhythm, Mo Zihong was entirely unprepared for this sudden, fierce counterattack.

The Silver Moon Divine Light Wave instantly neutralized his sound waves, and the massive impact blasted him violently into mid-air.

Immediately following that, the spiritual assault imbued with an intense sense of crisis arrived in an instant.

The fatal sense of crisis caused Mo Zihong's instincts to instantly overpower his reason, shattering his spiritual power seal and causing it to instantly recover to the peak of the Spirit Abyss realm.

With his realm restored, the originally fatal spiritual assault suddenly appeared insignificant and was easily neutralized by him.

It was not until he landed that Mo Zihong realized that by doing so, he had violated the rules and would be directly judged as the loser.

"I didn't expect that I would lose just like this."

Mo Zihong candidly accepted this defeat, looked at Xu Zhao, and asked with a mixture of guesswork and certainty:

"Silver-white moonlight, defense, absorption, and counterattack."

"If I'm not mistaken, what you used is the legendary tier-ten soul device, the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield."

He recalled Dean Kong, who led the Sun and Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy this time, and a hint of envy inevitably colored his tone:

"Dean Kong of your academy really thinks highly of you, actually handing over his family's heirloom.

"The Silver Moon Divine Light Shield was already a tier-ten soul device ten thousand years ago; back then, the Silver Moon Douluo wielded this item and was able to contend against Limit Douluos with merely ninety-fifth-rank soul power.

"Such a divine artifact—who wouldn't want it? It's a pity I don't have a second martial soul that is the moon; even if I obtained it, I wouldn't be able to unleash its true power.

"Had we known you possessed this thing, no matter what, we marshals would have placed it on the banned list."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhao couldn't help but mutter softly to himself:

"Ban this, ban that—why don't you just ban me altogether?"