A sword blade comes as a ray of light, striking her like a bolt of lightning.

Muyan wants to dodge, but the blade is simply too fast.

She could feel a sharp pain from her chest, and then the glowing blade that had suddenly struck her disappears.

After a short period of time, severe burning pain spreads from her chest to all parts of her body.

Muyan turns deathly pale like paper, fine beads of sweat from on her forehead.

She feels like her bones are melting from that burning pain.

Muyan couldn’t bear it anymore and she falls down on one knee. A muffled whimper of pain escapes from her mouth.

But that was the lone sound. She clenches her teeth afterwards. She refuses to issue another groan, even by biting her lips till they bleed.

“Really a stubborn little girl.” The gentle female voice gives a low sigh in Muyan’s head, and praises, “I very much admire your willfulness... that you can enter this place proves that you have the blood of us God Musicians in your body... but, if you want to control the Tian Mo Qin, a bloodline is not enough. You must have a powerful enough Shen soul along with a strong blood. Only then can you make the Tian Mo Qin yield and recognize you as master...”

“If you cannot overcome this, I can only kill you and the little guy beside you in order to not expose the existence of the Shen Musicians. But I hope that you can succeed...”

The mild voice echoes in Muyan’s ear, as if to encourage her and portray a beautiful, shining future.

At the same time, the pain in her body has become increasingly violent.

It is no longer just the pain in her flesh and bones, but she feels the grinding and tearing from the depths of her soul.

Muyan can’t keep herself up anymore and she falls to the ground, curling up like a shrimp. ｂ𝚎ｄｎ𝚘ｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

There’s a buzzing in her ears, it sounds like she could hear her blood boiling, like she could hear her bones breaking.

There is an instinct urging her to lose consciousness, as this is a suffering that the human body cannot sustain.

There is a voice constantly speaking to her ears: “Give up... go to sleep... if you go to sleep, you won’t hurt any more, you won’t be tired again, and you don’t have to suffer all the hardships and sufferings of the world...”

Muyan truly feels like she can’t hold on anymore.

At this moment, she hears a child’s hoarse cries, “Niangqin, niangqin, come back!”

The voice is sobbing.

Her Xiao Bao, a child that’s always so clever, a cold face that doesn’t cry, doesn’t laugh, but her Xiao Bao that always takes care of her!

How can her child cry like this!

How can she go to sleep! How can she just leave Xiao Bao by himself in this world?

Muyan snaps her eyes open and uses the Tian Mo Qin to prop herself up. She slowly gets back up to a kneeling position.

The pain didn’t reduce in the least, but Muyan opens her eyes they become brighter and brighter, as if raging flames are rising inside them.

She grips the Tian Mo Qin, the pain makes her fingers dig into the rotten wood.

Her skin tears, and blood leaks out from the wounds; flowing down the worn-out wood, tracing the grains along the body of the zither.

The woman’s voice rings in her ear once again, “...If you can overcome this and get the inheritance of the Shen musicians, you will be facing against the Three Realms...”

“Noisy!” Muyan says in a coarse voice, interrupting the stimulus of the gentle voice.

The pale but beautiful face slowly creates an enchantingly sinister and wicked smile.