Chapter 11: The Nine Heavens Guitar

  At this time, even if you don't know who the person above is, you must go up and take a look. Everyone quickly sprang into action, ready to investigate.

  As for the fastest speed, there is no doubt that it is Du Ying who grew up in the mountains since childhood. Mu Lian and Mu He's full set of professional equipment can't compare to his swift movements. In just over ten minutes, his hands touched the wooden beam at the edge of the temple.

  "Look, is that Xiao Qi?" Su Youxin was anxious at the bottom, responsible for holding the flashlight, and wished she could grow two wings immediately.

  "Right away!" Du Ying replied in a low voice, his hands exerting force as the kite flipped over and soared upwards.

  This trick would normally get a full house of applause, but now everyone is too busy to appreciate it. Mu Lian, Mu He and Jing Sheng are climbing up, only Su You is staring at the person on top, hoping for an affirmative answer - whatever happened can be said later, the important thing is to find the person first!

  Du Ying almost ran to the temple gate. But after seeing the situation inside, he stopped his feet abruptly. "This..."

  "What's wrong?" Su You couldn't see what he could see and was anxious with worry.

  "It's Jiang Siqi, but it doesn't quite feel like him!" Du Ying shouted loudly, "And there seems to be some kind of barrier at the door, I can't get in!"

  Su You was no longer able to remain calm and think clearly. "Quick! Pull me up quickly!"

  Du Ying immediately followed suit. As soon as Su You's feet touched the wooden floor, Jing Sheng also arrived, unexpectedly being the fastest of the three. Normally, Su You might have marveled at the infinite power of adrenaline, but he didn't think about that now. Almost without hesitation, everyone's reaction was to rush towards the door immediately. Then they soon discovered that Du Ying's previous reaction was absolutely calm in comparison.

  "What the hell...?"

  Jing Sheng's unbridled profanity was exactly the voice of the people. Because the door was wide open, but they all bumped into something solid without exception, as if the air suddenly condensed into a transparent wall.

  The vast interior is fully visible, and the texture of the rocky walls is completely exposed. The light does not come from flashlights, but from the white glow emitted by the stone pedestal itself, where a stone piano statue stands. The windows that were closed during the day are now open again, and the bright moonlight pours in, illuminating the ground.

  Jiang Siqi stood with his back to them, standing at the edge of the stage. His hands stroked the stone piano, just like he did the first time.

  But this time, the gravel began to fall from where the two touched, slow and rhythmic, like a slow-motion replay of petals falling. In just a few seconds, the originally uneven surface of the stone piano had shattered and floated into the air, revealing the dark purple interior of the piano body.

  "Jiuxiaoqin? Really?"

  Mù Lián said in surprise, with a hint of realization. It turned out that when Sū Yóu and others were staring at the temple, she and Mù Hé had also arrived.

  But she had just opened her mouth, and undoubtedly confirmed Jing Sheng's suspicion, more or less. "How did you know?" he asked. When they were discussing the guqin earlier, Mulian didn't say anything! And even if someone knew the name of that guqin, it should be Du Ying, shouldn't it?!

  "This...". Mu Lian had wanted to say that there was a long story, but she soon discovered that another key figure - Su You - didn't even acknowledge her.

  At the same time, those scattered gravel suddenly flew up rapidly and swirled around that blurry stone statue. They rose from the ground to the top of their heads, almost forming a small tornado. The center of the whirlwind was originally grayish white, but soon became dazzling, with some light shining through from inside.

  Just as they could barely make out the figures inside, Du Ying, Mu Lian and Mu He knelt down in unison. The stone storm gradually subsided, and the people inside became clearer -

  That was a person. A long white robe trailed on the ground, and the jade crown and jade belt had a faint seven-colored glow flowing on their surface. If that wasn't enough, the person inside the clothes didn't have a physical body - the profile facing them was completely an illusion.

  Although it was not suitable for the occasion, Jing Sheng could only think of using a 3D projection with a transparency of 20% to compare what he saw. Looking inside and then outside the door, he felt that he had never been so shocked in his life. "What's going on? Who is that guy? Why does he look so much like..."

  Here outside contrast, Su You also noticed. But he doesn't care about anything else now, his face is stuck to the transparent air wall at the door. "Xiao Qi?" This voice has already shouted, "Xiao Qi!"

  Jing Sheng only wanted to cover his ears, but Jiang Siqi inside seemed to have not heard anything. The two could only stare with their eyes wide open as Jiang Siqi raised his right hand. That person who was just a virtual image turned his face around, his eyelashes falling, and also stretched out his right hand...

  "Stop it!" Su Yu shouted loudly. Although he had no idea what was happening and didn't know anything about the guy who looked like Jiang Siqi, his intuition told him that something bad was definitely going to happen!

  Jiang Siqi still didn't react. On the contrary, the shadowy figure raised its head, its gaze passing over Jiang Siqi's head and staring straight at Su You, its lips moving slightly.

  Du Ying and the other two lowered their heads, Jing Sheng didn't understand what was going on, only Su You recognized that lip shape - "Come find me, Zi You, I've been waiting for you" - exactly the same as the words he had dreamed of!

  Yu Yingren finished speaking, then lowered his head and slowly but unmistakably grasped Jiang Sizhi's right hand. In an instant, a brilliant white light filled the air, and several people couldn't see anything.

  "Let go of Xiao Qi!" Su You shouted loudly, her voice hoarse from exhaustion.

  But that was just for a moment. The next second, the white light dissipated. The shadowy figure disappeared, and the stone platform emitting white light returned to its original grayish appearance. Jiang Siqi still maintained his half-raised hand posture, which slowly fell at this time. Moreover, he finally moved, propping himself up onto the stone platform, and sat down cross-legged again.

  "Xiao Qi......?" Jing Sheng spoke out in doubt. This strange reaction, had Yu Ying already taken control of Jiang Siqi's body?

  Su You originally used force to smash against that invisible wall, but at this moment also stopped.

  Jiang Siquan learned guqin for a while when he was young, of course, he knew it, and he had also seen it. However, Jiang Siquan always despised that kind of instrument as being too feminine, and thought that the skills required were superficial and could be faked in front of outsiders.

  But now, even if he didn't understand music, he could see that Jiang Siqi's action of lifting the purple qin with his hands was gentle and familiar, absolutely not the Jiang Siqi he usually knew!

  Su Yu finally remembered the culprit, turned around and pulled Du Ying up from the ground. "Speak! What's going on? Did you guys intentionally lead us here?" He was emotionally agitated, completely bellowing.

  Du Ying gripped Su You's collar, his face calm to the point of serenity. "That's right, but all I know is that Jiang Siqi must come into contact with that qin before the 15th of this month. What happens after that, I'm not clear about either."

  "How is it possible?" Su You didn't believe a word. "We fell into your trap as soon as we entered the mountain, and now you still dare to say that you don't know anything?"

  "It may be a trap, but it's definitely not ours." Du Ying remained calm. "But I have to admit, you've been in the situation since you entered the mountain."

  "How is that possible?" This time, it was Jing Sheng who spoke out in opposition. "The itinerary was set by me, and the wilderness survival project on the north slope of Paiyun Mountain is indeed part of the route!" Even Qinggang and Xuan Kong Temple are included in the tourist strategy! It's just that no one knows what's inside Xuan Kong Temple, it's all hearsay!

  "You're right about what you've found." Du Ying actually smiled, "But you should know, the three of you, from the beginning, didn't enter the same place as those people in Paiyun Mountain!"

  Isn't it the Cloudy Mountain where humans enter? Is it the one where ghosts enter instead?

  Su's hand trembled and he released Du Ying's collar. He remembered very clearly the ghost he had encountered before. And this time, had he run into even more of the same thing?

  Du Ying seemed to see what Su You was thinking. "No, he is different from us." His gaze passed over Su You and into the temple. "He can leave where he should be to find you, but we can only stay on Paiyun Mountain and wait for the destined person to come."

  Su's lips moved slightly. He wanted to ask if the destined person was them, but the answer was obvious, and he didn't need to ask at all.

  "Actually, we are also helpless..." Mu He said, rarely stuttering, "We all rely on the spiritual energy of that green oak to survive. But we don't know why its spiritual energy is getting less and less..."

  Live by spiritual energy? That cypress isn't alive for over a thousand years? With this reasoning, whether it's the wooden lotus, the wooden water lily or the viburnum, they've all been alive for at least several hundred years?

  It's really scary!

  Jing Sheng was greatly shocked and cautiously retreated two steps, sticking closely to the wooden wall. But he soon realized that these three people had just knelt down to a virtual shadow resembling Jiang Siqi, which meant that there was an even bigger boss inside?

  Then he immediately thought that Du Ying said "he" could leave the place to find Su You. So, had Su You seen that ghost boss before?

  Is it necessary to be so frightened?

  "What does this have to do with us?" Su You asked impatiently. He was usually quite patient, but at this moment he had none left.

  "You also saw it, Jiang Siqi and he look exactly the same." Du Ying said, for the first time showing a slightly dejected expression, "We are just..."

  "We're just treating a dead horse as if it were alive." Mulian helped him finish his sentence. She raised her chin, indicating for everyone to look at the temple. "If Jiang Siqi can play that guqin, then he's the one."

  Su You turned her head and saw that Jiang Siqi had already placed the guqin on his knees, with the neck of the guqin suspended in mid-air and the tuning pegs facing outward. Although there were no strings on the guqin initially, Jiang Siqi had already tuned them during their conversation, evident from his meticulous movements.

  Su Youzhen didn't want to think about where Jiang Sizhi had gotten the seven strings from. Moreover, when he saw Jiang Sizhi's still pale and slender fingers, he thought in despair that Jiang Sizhi's way of entering this temple was also problematic.

  But to think about it, with Jiang Siqi's delicate skin and tender flesh, it's really surprising that he was able to climb up here on his own without getting hurt. In the worst-case scenario, considering the best possible outcome, although he doesn't know what happened to Jiang Siqi right now, at least Jiang Siqi looks fine for now, without any visible injuries...

  No, why did it still involve Jiang Siqi in the end? Can't he just come alone?

  It's clear that he refused to consider the possibility that Jiang Siji was indeed a ghost boss.

  But now what Su You thought was no longer important, because Jiang Siqi had already pressed his fingers on the thinnest string closest to him.

  "What would happen if he really played that zither?" Su You used all his strength, still unable to shake off the invisible barrier, and could only ask Du Ying again.

  "The ninth heaven's zither sounds, ascending the cloud ladder opens!" Du Ying this time actually answered very quickly.

  "What about after it's opened? It can't really make someone immortal, right?" Jing Sheng also joined in the discussion.

  "This... " Dusai said.

  But in fact, this answer was unnecessary, because Jiang Siqi lowered his eyes and had already plucked the first string.

  Clang!

  Su Yu couldn't stop it, and could only watch as the scene from his dream reappeared before his eyes - floating sea of clouds, bright moonlight; the two layers of cloud on the mountain began to drift apart, while the farthest reaches of the sky also surged with a final layer of cloud.

  "Third heavy cloud!" Mu Lian exclaimed. Her voice was originally filled with joy, but it almost instantly disappeared; because the ground beneath their feet suddenly shook violently, and a kind of ear-piercingly sharp scraping sound rang out above their heads, with small rocks rolling down first——

  "Good grief, Mount Paiyun has collapsed!"