Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Long Chen’s heart trembled when he saw the Heavenly Devil Zither. That aura and those fluctuations were all too familiar.

Long Chen sensed Zi Yan’s aura within the Heavenly Devil Zither. She was still sealed inside.

Long Chen had the urge to charge over and smash the Heavenly Devil Zither apart to drag Zi Yan out. However, he didn’t dare to be so reckless here.

After all, this altar gave him the chills.

Upon closer inspection, Long Chen recognized that this was a grand palace filled with threads as fine as hair.

Millions of these threads filled the palace, in various colors and seemingly placed at random, yet there was a mysterious order to them.

These threads contained various emotional shifts. When Long Chen perceived these changes, his head suddenly buzzed, experiencing Joy, Anger, Worry, Longing, Sorrow, Fear, and Shock.

Long Chen’s first encounter with the Heavenly Devil Zither’s attack was in the Four Cardinal Alliance, where he saw it devastate a city and reap many lives.

The second perspective was through Jing Jing’s eyes, where he witnessed a terrifying ripple destroying the Butterfly Spirit race. Inside that ripple was a zither string as fine as a hair. Seeing all those strings, Long Chen felt a sense of horror.

Previously, the zither string used to attack the Four Cardinal Alliance was as thick as a finger, but Jing Jing had seen one as thin as a hair.

In other words, the thinner the zither string, the stronger it became. Maybe all these threads represented the zither string’s final form.

As Long Chen observed these millions of threads and felt their emotional fluctuations, he clenched his fists tightly.

“What crap about overseeing the Dao of the heavens and acting according to the heavens!? The Zither Sect is full of dogshit devils wearing human skin!”

Thinking of how Prince Chun Yang had dared to speak such false words so unashamedly made Long Chen feel disgusted.

Taking a deep breath, Long Chen forced himself to calm down. He knew mere anger couldn’t solve problems.

Seeing all these threads, Long Chen guessed that the Zither Sect was planning to merge these threads together into ultimate zither strings. However, he didn’t know whether they planned to replace the Heavenly Devil Zither’s original strings or to combine them with new ones.

Long Chen carefully went around the threads. As he approached the altar, he sensed two conflicting forces here.

From one of those forces, he sensed Zi Yan’s aura.

Just then, a sinister voice rang out.

“You must be skilled to come here!”

Black mist burst forth from the Heavenly Devil Zither, gradually revealing a shadowy figure within. The silhouette was hazy, but it looked like a woman.

Her voice was rough and gravelly, as if her throat was lined with sand.

A pair of serpent-like eyes opened within the mist. Their vertical pupils sliced through Long Chen like blades, and the surrounding space froze.

The threads in the palace trembled, as if the entire space had broken into a million pieces. This was the first time Long Chen had felt such a thing.

However, he remained calm and stared at her coldly. He then asked, “What do you want in exchange for my woman’s freedom?”

“Hahaha!”

The woman’s laughter was sharp enough to cut through iron.

“You want to negotiate with me, the Heavenly Devil Zither? Humans are as naive as ever. You’re as foolish as the one who used my bones to craft the Heavenly Devil Zither. That person used my bones to maintain the karmic luck of the nine heavens and ten lands. I must thank that war for freeing me from my body and restoring my consciousness. Currently, all I want is to slaughter every last human in the nine heavens and ten lands. If you want a deal, then slaughter all humans and kill yourself in front of me! Only then will I release her!”

Although Long Chen was prepared, this response still caused his heart to sink. He took a deep breath to regain his composure.

Long Chen said, “The primal chaos war tore your body and soul apart. Your soul awakened your original consciousness, while your body developed its own soul. Since that’s the case, shouldn’t you prioritize merging with your zither body and not targeting Zi Yan?

“If you remove Zi Yan from the Heavenly Devil Zither, it will quicken your merger, which is likely what you desire. As for slaughtering the humans of the nine heavens and ten lands, that’s a matter for the future. Without merging with the zither body, you will remain nothing but a drifting spirit. If you release my friend, you can name your conditions. As long as they are not excessive, I can consider them!”

Hearing Long Chen’s reply, this woman laughed once more. Her head slowly came out of the black mist, revealing a twisted and ugly face.

She was not human, appearing like a mix between a viper and a toad. Her face was covered with uneven bumps, and when she opened her mouth, sharp teeth were visible. Long Chen had never encountered such a grotesque creature.

The woman said, “I really don’t understand why the Earth Cauldron would choose such a foolish master. Zi Yan has merged with the zither body’s item-spirit, and I cannot separate their souls. Further, Zi Yan possesses a natural Divine Music Saint Body—the only one of its kind among music cultivators since ancient times.

“Both the zither body and Zi Yan are valuable to me, but Zi Yan is especially important. I plan not only to seize their souls but also to reincarnate within her body. Who wouldn’t desire such a beautiful body, wouldn’t you agree?”

Seeing her ugly face getting closer and closer, Long Chen finally couldn’t endure it any longer.

“Fuck you!”

BOOM!

Long Chen slapped that ugly face to the side, sacrificing his arm in the process.

This was merely a fragment of his soul. Therefore, even though Long Chen managed to hit her, she did not suffer at all.

This woman hadn’t expected Long Chen to be able to strike despite being bound by her pressure. Moreover, his attack managed to evade her senses.

“You damn idiot!” she roared.

The black qi surrounding her exploded. Her head grew, and she suddenly opened her mouth to devour Long Chen.

Just then, the threads throughout the palace quivered, binding Long Chen in place. He could only watch as he was devoured.

Suddenly, the Heavenly Devil Zither glowed brightly. A beam of divine light covered Long Chen, and he disappeared.