Compared to Xiao Yin these spirit creatures were of little importance to Chen Jinshu. Spiritual items could be obtained anytime, but the opportunity to enhance Xiao Yin's bloodline—if missed—would be lost forever.
"Can you sense how far that place is from here?" Chen Jinshu asked.
"Not far! If you ride on me, we'll be there within a quarter of an hour," Xiao Yin flapped its shimmering blue wings, ready to take flight.
"Alright."
Chen Jinshu nodded and climbed onto its now-broadened back. Its feathers cushioned her seat, far more comfortable than riding on the Gale Gourd. Before long, they reached an area covered in Amethyst Bamboograss, growing between the cracks of the stone path.
"Up ahead should be Tianyin Valley."
Tianyin Valley was a particularly unique place within the Xuanming Secret Realm, marked by the amethyst bamboograss growing from the cliff walls. This grass was a vital ingredient in healing elixirs and could have therapeutic effects even when used raw.
But what made Tianyin Valley truly unusual was the melodious music that occasionally echoed through the valley. Everything within the valley—be it spirit herbs, dewdrops, stones, or cliffs—could produce unique sounds.
The resulting harmonies were extraordinarily varied and strange.
As they neared the valley entrance, blue-green vines hung from either side, swaying gently in the wind and producing a delicate symphony as they collided.
"It really is musical… even the vines create notes when they touch. This place is truly fascinating."
"Where is the place your bloodline is sensing?" she asked.
"Inside the valley!" replied Xiao Yin.
"So we'll have to enter the valley, then?"
Tianyin Valley wasn't known to be deadly, but it certainly wasn't free from danger either. Now and then, a white, gauze-like miasma would drift through the valley—likely concealing something. Thinking more carefully now, perhaps it was hiding a beast's lair or some kind of forbidden zone.
As soon as she approached the cliff wall at the valley's entrance, the hanging vines began to sway violently and launched countless fine leaf-needles at her.
Swish! Swish!
The air whistled as they cut through it. She leapt aside and, with a backward motion, drew out her Lüqi Zither, plucking its strings to defend herself.
As the music rang out, the vines halted their attack—as if affected by the melody. When her fingers swept across the third string, the vines echoed with a harmonious chord. Suppressing her shock, Chen Jinshu quickly finished playing the piece, Hymn of the Earth Vein's Rebirth.
This melody had a natural affinity with spiritual plants—it soothed their resentment and revitalized them. That might be why they had ceased their aggression. As she completed the tune, the cliff wall suddenly trembled. The vines swayed apart, revealing a narrow, stone-paved path.
After a brief pause for thought, Chen Jinshu entered with Xiao Yin in tow. If this place could trigger a bloodline response in Xiao Yin, something extraordinary had to lie ahead. Since her music had opened the path, the coming trials might also involve music.
Before long, the path ended at a grove of phoenix-tail bamboo. Though no wind blew, the bamboo stalks swayed, knocking together to create a soft, rhythmic melody.
Chen Jinshu held back—one wrong step, and the bamboo might strike. The melody soon faded, and a flurry of pale purple bamboo leaves rained down, covering the ground in a violet carpet.
She placed her Lüqi Zither before her and began to play Autumn Dance of Frosted Leaves. Frosty leaf-like energy formed a massive barrier around her for protection. Only then did she toss a stone ahead into the bamboo-leaf-covered ground. The instant it landed, the purple leaves shot up like blades.
Swish! Swish!
A violet rain of swords.
"So it is a musical killing formation," Chen Jinshu muttered with a calm face—good thing she hadn't stepped in blindly.
She had suspected something earlier—those vine needle attacks had triggered after the music faded. Was this an enormous sound-based formation, or a series of linked traps testing cultivators?
She didn't hesitate. Her fingers danced across the strings, firing note after note to pierce through the rising blades and strike down the phoenix-tail bamboo. Though she didn't know the formation's structure, she knew that once the bamboo triggering it was destroyed, the trap would collapse.
Rustle! As large sections of bamboo fell, the lethal leaves transformed into harmless maple foliage, gently floating down. After further testing, and finding no more attacks, she pressed forward.
An hour passed. Chen Jinshu had broken through three more musical formations before arriving at a site buried in jade-like beast remains. These bones unmistakably resembled Xiao Yin'.
"Master, these bones… I feel a blood connection with them."
"They must be ancient Sound Luan, kin from long ago. I don't know why they perished here."
"Music, luan bones—could this be the ancient nest of the Xuanyin Luan?"
"Xiao Yin, focus. What exactly is calling to your bloodline?"
Chen Jinshu didn't believe bones that had long since lost life could still stir a bloodline response—there had to be something else.
"Master, I can feel it nearby, but I can't pinpoint it!" Xiao Yin said in frustration.
As Chen Jinshu pondered her next move, a mass of blood-red mandrakes suddenly sprouted from the bones. Even their pistils were dyed a vivid crimson.
"Mandrakes are said to be flowers of the underworld… Why would they grow here—and in such a strange way?"
Alarmed, she stepped back a few paces, staying alert. A thick blood-red mist burst forth from the mandrakes, writhing and swaying without wind. A sorrowful melody drifted through the air, pricking her heart with sudden grief.
She quickly slapped a golden warding talisman on her body—one her master, Shui Huanmeng, had recently drawn for her before departure. The haunting music from the crimson field soon ceased.
She immediately began plucking her zither, mimicking the tune she'd just heard. She feared that once the melody ended, the mandrakes might attack in some horrific manner. As she played, the nearby bones morphed into flying bone blades. If she'd been even a moment slower, she would've been sliced to pieces.
Ting ting…
As her music filled the air, the attacking bone blades froze and then fell inert.
From the pile of remains, countless blue glimmers rose and slowly coalesced into the form of a giant blue bird, bearing a striking resemblance with Xiao Yin