Chapter 50 Muse Of The East

As white light converged on Xuan and he was taken to the next floor, he pondered about what he was going to do with his reward—the Eon Ginseng.

This herb, unlike the name suggested, could not be used for food. Or rather, it theoretically 'could', but anyone who used it for food would be a complete idiot. Eon Ginsengs differed from normal ginsengs in the sense that they'd lived for over ten thousand years, and have developed incredible medical properties over the course of that process.

Every ginseng plant had their own set lifespans, so ones that had the vitality to live for over ten thousand years were naturally quite rare—though, of course, the benefits they offered in return were quite worth their value. Many extraordinary pills could be refined with a Eon Ginseng as the main ingredient, including the Origin Seeking Pill which made the breakthrough from Qi Transformation to Origin Transformation easier.

More importantly, however, it was a key ingredient of the legendary Divine-Grade Spirit Blossom Pill, the better version of Soul Nourishing Pills which used normal ginseng as an ingredient. Whereas Soul Nourishing Pills could simply heighten the chances of someone developing a mutated knowledge sea, the Spirit Blossom Pill could be used on someone who already had one, and open their doors to grant them access to as many mutated knowledge seas as they wanted.

In other words, it was perfectly compatible with Xuan, who already had a mutated knowledge sea.

The only problem was, he'd need to gather the remaining ingredients first, none of which were easy to find. In fact, the Eon Ginseng was probably the least troublesome ingredient… not to mention after that, he'd have to ask someone else like Zhi Ruo to refine it since his expertise of the Alchemic Way only reached about Heaven-Grade. He could also ask Ling'er if he got the opportunity to, but… to be honest, Ling'er expertise lay in the field of medicine and diseases. Those were certainly connected to alchemy, but when it came to direct pill refining, Zhi Ruo was still the superior option.

'Oh well. I'll ask her later.'

Saving that thought to the back of his mind for now, Xuan headed towards the Arena of Fire of Floor 16. Within, two people had just come up onto the stage, meaning he'd have to wait until this fight was at least over. Xuan didn't mind—there were fewer and fewer people as he went up, so he was still well ahead of the majority.

Sitting back, he enjoyed the show, paired with his own wife's cooking. The two contestants who were onstage right now were quite unique, in their own way. One was an archer, which was rarely seen these days, while the other was a beautiful lady with a zither in front of her. She remained seated in her stool and had a white blindfold over her eyes, but since she'd made it up here, it meant she was quite strong in her own right and did not let her blindness affect her.

And judging by the way everyone else was watching her with great interest… it was safe to assume that she was no small figure. Xuan had never heard of someone matching her descriptions, but then again, he'd never paid much attention to a lower realm like Asphodel anyway.

"Hawkeye Ying Yan versus the famous muse Hui Feng… I wonder who will win?"

"Not sure. In terms of raw cultivation level, Hui Feng is higher by two levels, but Ying Yan's always had a reputation for defeating those of higher cultivation than him."

"A bow user and a zither player… two unique fighters indeed…"

'Hui Feng, Hui Feng... where have I heard that name before?'

It rang a bell somewhere within Xuan's head, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why exactly that was. But as it would appear from the other spectators' conversations, the archer—Ying Yan—was a fairly well-known figure as well, at least in this region.

It made sense—lone cultivators like these two who were able to reach the likes of Origin Transformation and Origin Emperor realm would naturally be highly praised amongst fellow martial artists. After all, without a master or sect resources to help them, their cultivation journey would be many times harder than that of a normal person. What they obtained in return, however, was the freedom to do whatever they wished, and the creativity to develop their own, unique combat style—much like these two.

The battle began with a resounding strike from both parties—Ying Yan nocked and shot an arrow faster than the human eye could blink, while Hui Feng strummed a powerful chord from her zither that created a blast of Qi to counter. An immense shockwave erupted where the two forces of energy collided, shaking all the hanging lights in the room, but neither of them budged an inch.

Then, havoc came.

Suddenly speeding up, Ying Yan drew three arrows from his quiver at a time and fired them towards the muse while dashing around her in circles, so quickly that he left behind afterimages. The onlookers' eyes widened at the sheer speed of the archer and imagined themselves facing that monstrosity—never knowing when, where, and from what angle he would shoot from next.

It was a terrible thought.

But to Xuan, he was nothing more than an idiot. After all, it was quite obvious that Hui Feng was not using her eyes to fight—and afterimages meant jack shit to a blind person. Ying Yan may be strong in terms of sheer power, but when it came to combat experience and simple common sense, it would seem he was lacking.

And just as expected, Hui Feng reacted to his attacks with ease.

For every arrow Ying Yan shot, the beautiful muse played back a triad of notes. With each strum of her fingers on the zither's strings, pretty crescent-shaped waves of energy shot out from the instrument and exploded against Ying Yan's arrows, so precisely that it was nearly impossible to believe that she was, in fact, not using her eyes. Even if he shot her from behind, she would simply adjust the direction of her strumming accordingly to match.

Her body's posture and her face did not budge one inch, and yet she had formed an impenetrable defense around herself.

Naturally, this left Ying Yan very confused, and he gritted his teeth before coming to a stop. It would seem he was planning on using his ultimate move, judging from the way he was charing up his Qi. However, Hui Feng's expression remained as calmly cold as ever, and her fingers paused on the zither's strings as she patiently awaited the next attack.

"You're strong, Muse of the East," Ying Yan complimented, lowering his bow. "I can see why your name is famous amongst anyone experienced in the martial dao. And precisely because of that… I see no reason to waste any more time with futile normal attacks. This one move will end it all—either victory, or defeat."

Even faced with these words, Hui Feng's face barely showed any change. Instead, from her soft pink lips merely came a single cold snort, as if his words did not mean anything to her. Taking this as a sign of being looked down upon—which wasn't far from the truth—Ying Yan narrowed his eyes, and aimed his bow high into the air.

"Way of the Archer—Sagittarius's Pride!"

Magically, the arrow he let loose exploded in mid-air, and bloomed into what looked like a small fragment of outer space. There, the dozens of tiny sparkles of light known as stars began growing brighter and brighter, until suddenly, streams of powerful arrows made of celestial energy shot out from each of them.

Xuan's eyes widened a bit. 'He's actually able to use Star Qi… I never expected to find someone like this in Lower Asphodel. His mastery over it is pitifully weak, but even so…'

Star Qi—the energy of stars. Usually only a term used in Elysium, Star Qi referred to a powerful form of planetary energy that derived from—you guessed it—stars. It was quite hard to harness due to its volatile and hot-blooded nature, but given enough time and practice, someone who could use Star Qi had the potential to become a peak number one or number two powerhouse in the vast space of Elysium.

Unfortunately, anyone who only knew a few scraps about it here and there, like Ying Yan, could only hope to achieve a little more with it than impressing a few dim-witted audience members like these.

"… Hmph."

With a completely unamused snort, Hui Feng readied her fingers on the strings of the zither.

Then, she began her performance.

Like a graceful swan, her hands moved across the instrument with great elegance, fast yet delicate. In glissando style, her fingers flew across the strings, creating thousands of notes in the blink of an eye which, in turn, became tiny pellets of concentrated, explosive energy—much like bullets.

The rain of arrows met the powerful musical notes, and for a moment, the arena was completely filled with colorful bright explosions. There was a deafening noise, and many of the spectators activated their defensive artifacts out of caution despite the defensive array set around the ring, just out of caution.

But when all was said and done and the dust settled, the person who remained completely unharmed was Hui Feng, while on the other end of the arena, Ying Yan lay unconscious, tanned face charred black with ash. He wasn't dead as he was still breathing—barely—but it would be a while before he could fight again.

The spotlight donned upon Hui Feng and her zither, and together, they were teleported to the next floor. Xuan, watching her go, sank into thought.

'Hm… Hui Feng, Hui Feng… zither…'

He kept feeling like those words, when linked together, felt so familiar, but he couldn't be sure. Dismissing it for now, Xuan decided to simply focus on his next fight, and continue climbing the floors.