The mountain rain fell in a torrent, and when the group stumbled into the cave, fine droplets of water clung to the tips of their hair. Water dripped from the stalactites on the roof of the cave, striking the blue stone slab with a crisp sound that made the atmosphere seem even quieter than the wind outside.
Ye Fan tucked the crystal into his robe and turned to see Su Qingxue leaning against the cave wall, using a handkerchief to wipe the Jiuxiao Huanpei guqin. Mud stained the hem of her pure white skirt, and the pearl hairpin in her hair was askew, yet she still curved her lips into a smile as she looked up. "Little Ye Fan, my fingers are sore from vibrating the strings just now, so you'll have to massage them for me." Her words were bantering, but her fingertips trembled slightly as they brushed across the strings—when she had used the sound of her guqin to shatter the black mist a moment earlier, she had forcefully invoked Hanmei Pavilion's "Soul-Shattering Tune," and a faint, lingering pain still coursed through her meridians.
Lin Zhaoyue stood at the entrance of the cave, having removed half a scale from her sword tassel and tossed it into the fire with the tip of her sword. The sparks crackled and burst, casting a brilliant glow on the cinnabar mole at the corner of her eye. "The scales of a Void-Rending Beast King can withstand three strikes from a Gang Transformation Realm cultivator. The grievance wrapped within that black mist..." She paused, her knuckles turning …
Chapter 317