The Girl with the Lute

  A night without words.

  The next day, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, its warm rays illuminating the earth.

  The Hanshui Mountains stretched endlessly, filled with danger everywhere. Towering ancient trees loomed ominously and frighteningly. In the treacherous terrain of the Hanshui Mountains, a white-clad youth stood vigilantly, scanning his surroundings with caution.

  A young man held a red flying knife in his hand, with a sharp blade that shone brightly and emitted an intimidating cold light.

  "Whew!" After confirming that there was no danger around, the young man let out a long sigh of relief, his face flashing with a hint of fear, and exclaimed: "Luckily I found a big tree last night, otherwise I would have died here! The Metal Beast's Night Sprint is really too terrifying!"

  The white-clothed youth was naturally Li Ke, who had come all the way from the Double Blade Sect on horseback.

  Li Ke himself had never expected that on his first night in the Cold Spring Mountains, a Metal Beast Night Rush would occur, with thousands of iron-level metal beasts going wild and rushing through the mountains, trampling many large trees and rocks to pieces, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

  "The second forbidden land is indeed very dangerous, and the Metal Beast's Night Sprint is really too terrifying. Even if a Shape-Shifting Sect Master were to come here, they would probably still die in this place!"

  "It's okay, though. Yesterday's harvest wasn't bad after all. More than 20 low-grade Iron Dans can be exchanged for over 16,000 taels of silver, not a bad deal!"

  The most valuable thing on a metal beast's body, apart from some special parts, is the inner dan. Li Ke arrived at the Hanshui Mountains yesterday and went on a killing spree in the border areas. The Flying Soul Knife in his hand seemed to have a life of its own, and ordinary low-level iron-grade metal beasts were completely no match for him.

  But last night's metal beast tide still made him a little frightened.

  Li Ke let out a quiet sigh, in the Cold Spring Mountains at night, if you don't find a place to hide, it's really too dangerous. Even a powerful Shape-shifting Master would have no choice but to die when facing thousands of iron-level metal beasts!

  "This place is really a misstep, and there may be a disaster at any time!" Li came to hone himself, not to send himself to death. The metal beast's night sprint was something that should be avoided as much as possible; he adjusted his spirit and carefully searched for lone iron-level middle or high-level metal beasts.

  After choosing the direction, Li Ke went all the way forward.

  Half a time later, Li Ke felt a strange feeling and looked around, still quiet, without any sound. He wondered: "According to reason, there are thousands of second-level forbidden land iron-level metal beasts, and I am still in the danger zone, how can I not see even one iron-level middle-grade metal beast?"

  "Could it be that there are other teams on this road? Or experts?"

  Just as Li was puzzled and couldn't understand, suddenly - "Ding!" A loud sound echoed through the mountains, this high-pitched sound with a terrifying divine soldier's power, had an extremely strong impact.

  At the same time, a loud "Boom!" sounded, as if something huge had crashed to the ground, just not far from Li Ke.

  "There's a master!" Li Ke's eyes lit up, his right hand slightly retracted, the flying knife Soul Chilling Frost gleaming in his hand, his feet treading on the Nine Dragon Transformation of the Swimming Fish, transforming into a white shadow that quickly rushed out.

  After passing by several ancient trees and circling around a few rocky outcrops, Li Ke saw that not far in front of him, a gigantic bear with its entire body a deep crimson color and an enormous build was lying on the ground, with fresh blood gushing from its chest, where there was a bowl-sized wound, which was clearly the fatal blow.

  "Red Iron Battle Bear!" Li Ke's face changed in shock, the Red Iron Battle Bear before him had its entire body tempered into red iron, with a dark red color, already reaching mid-tier Iron rank, extremely powerful, covered in a thick layer of Red Iron Battle Armor, very majestic, comparable to a four-star General of the Refining Soldier Realm.

  "What kind of person can kill the ultra-defensively powerful Red Iron Warbear with one hit!" Li Ke was also very curious, the Red Iron Warbear was known for its defense, even a 6th-grade orange soldier's soul would find it difficult to penetrate the bear's hard red armor before reaching the fourth level of Quenching Realm.

  Li Ke looked up and saw a girl in a purple long dress, holding a purple wooden zither, standing not far from where the Red Iron War Bear had fallen, panting heavily.

  "Musical Instrument Soul!"

  "And it's a physical weapon!" Li Ke was somewhat surprised. On the Divine Arms Continent, musical instruments were also a type of soul armament. Warriors who possessed musical instrument soul armaments were extremely rare on the continent of Bashu, but on the continent of Leiyin Xuanzhou, one of the nine continents of the Divine Arms Continent, there were many warriors with musical instrument soul armaments.

  Because Leiyin Xuanzhou is mainly based on musical instrument soul soldiers.

  This kind of soul is quite special, some instruments can be used for combat, playing scores with offensive properties, while other instrument souls can give other soldiers additional effects, such as hallucinations, enticements, healing, curses, and so on.

  Li Ke did not expect that in a small region like Hanshui, there would actually be a musical instrument soul, and it was even a Guqin soul.

  Qin Bing Hun and Dao Bing Hun are both among the five great divine soldiers of Shen Bing Continent.

  But Li Ke didn't know if the purple-robed girl in front of him was a descendant of Lei Yin Xuan Zhou's divine soldier, the ancient Guzheng clan, or Zhong Lijia.

  "Had enough? If you've had enough, then you can come out!" Just as Li Ke was secretly surprised, the long-skirted girl holding a purple wooden zither suddenly spoke coldly, her bright eyes looking in the direction where Li Ke was.

  Li Ke was taken aback for a moment, not expecting the purple-robed girl to know of his existence. After a brief moment of contemplation, he finally walked out.

  The girl in front of him had a cold tone, but Li Ke didn't see any murderous intent in her eyes. On the contrary, he saw a deep-seated sparkle.

  Because of this, Li Ke thought for a while before coming out, and at the same time, Li Ke was very interested in how Zhong Qing knew that he had hidden.

  "Who is it?" The purple-robed girl's face suddenly turned cold, her bright eyes gazing at Li Ke with an uncertain expression.

  "In the Li Ke, a disciple of the Double Blade Sect in Hanshui, just happened to be passing by and heard the sound of fighting, so I came over to take a look!" Li Ke bowed slightly towards the purple-robed girl, his expression neither arrogant nor humble, his gaze sweeping past her without lingering on her slender figure.

  The girl in the purple skirt looked up and down at Li Ke again, nodded after making sure he didn't seem to be lying, and said: "I'm smitten!"

  "Love at first sight, what a great name!" Li Ke sincerely praised in his heart. The purple-robed girl had an otherworldly beauty like a fairy, like the snow lotus on Mount Tian, giving people a feeling of being untouched by worldly affairs, so high and sacred that she was inviolable.

  Li Ke took a glance at the Chi Tie Zhan Xiong that had fallen to the ground, thought for a moment, and then said to the infatuated girl, "Since Miss is unharmed, I'll take my leave!" Li Ke said as he turned around and walked away.

  "Please wait a moment!"

  As she watched Li Ke's figure slowly disappear into the distance, the purple-robed girl suddenly spoke up and called out to him.

  Li Ke paused for a moment, turned around and looked at Zhong Qing, asking: "Is there anything else, Miss Zhong?"

  Bright eyes with a hint of flirtation, but the mischievous glint in the corners of her eyes did not escape Li Ke's notice. She gazed at Li Ke, sizing him up for half a moment before saying: "I have a big business deal here, I wonder if you're interested?"

  Li Ke's eyes flashed with a sharp light as soon as he heard it.