The blood zither sat right before her eyes. Ziqing had thought she’d be able to face all this calmly, but seeing the instrument—so achingly familiar—her heart still couldn’t help but race.
The thing Lige had left for her.
Was it, as Mi’er had said, meant as a birthday gift? Or was it something else entirely, meant specifically for her?
Or perhaps Lige had known long ago that something would happen to him, and had prepared this gift for her in advance?
No matter how she puzzled over it, she couldn’t work it out, and only now did she realize how little she truly understood about that man.
Ziqing was so nervous she forgot to even reach out for it. And it wasn’t only her who was tense—everyone in the room stared at the blood zither, and the mood in the room grew strange without anyone noticing.
“Take it, look for yourself.” It was Jun Beiyue who spoke first, clear-headed, his tone flat.
He had pored over this instrument for so long and found nothing. Where could the thing Xuanyuan Lige wanted to give Ziqing possibly be hidden?
Ziqing took the zither and examined it carefully, but just as Jun Beiyue had before her, she found nothing.
She looked up at Baili Weisheng in surprise, and everyone else turned to look at him too.
“Don’t look at me like that. That kid wouldn’t lie to me—he said it’s inside the blood zither,” Baili Weisheng explained hastily.
Ziqing frowned slightly, took a deep breath to calm herself, and then settled her mind to examine it carefully.
Because of the blood that had soaked into it, unlike the plain zither, the blood zither’s color was a dark, blood-red hue, and even the strings carried a faint reddish tint. Under the lamplight, if one wasn’t paying close attention, the whole instrument seemed wrapped in a faint bloody glow.
Ziqing lowered her eyes, her expression focused, and gently ran her fingers over every part of the instrument, checking it inch by inch. Beside her, Jun Beiyue quietly lit a few more lamps.
Everyone was anxious and curious, yet none dared crowd too close, and the room grew ever more silent.
To the naked eye, nothing at all seemed hidden inside or on the plain zither. If they were certain the thing was on the blood zither, then it had to be something carved into it.
But carved where?
The blood zither was made up of several parts: the soundboard, the bridge, the strings, the front nut, the tuning pegs, the tuning box, the feet, the back nut, the side panels, the sound hole, the bottom panel, and the string holes.
Ziqing’s fingers gently traced the entire surface of the instrument, then lightly brushed over the strings. She quickly finished checking the front, but found nothing, to her frustration.
She then turned the blood zither over and checked it piece by piece, still coming up empty-handed.
For a moment, everyone exchanged glances.
“There has to be something!” Baili Weisheng was certain. Something this important—he wouldn’t have misremembered it!
At this point, Jue Mingzi finally spoke up timidly, “Ziqing, why don’t… let me take a look?”
If Jue Mingzi hadn’t spoken, everyone might have forgotten his presence entirely. But this blood zither, in a sense, was his creation!
He understood the blood zither better than anyone else present.
Ziqing nodded, and Jue Mingzi stepped forward, somewhat excited, examining it carefully as though it were a treasure. Soon, a look of delight crossed his face.
“Did you find it?” Ziqing asked urgently.
“It should be right! Ziqing, may I borrow some of your blood?” Jue Mingzi asked.
“For what?” Jun Beiyue asked warily.
“When he placed the blood curse on the zither, he most likely sealed the item within the bottom panel—the color here isn’t quite right,” Jue Mingzi explained. If Baili Weisheng hadn’t mentioned there was something hidden, he might never have noticed the strange discoloration on the bottom panel—after all, ever since the zither had come into Xuanyuan Lige’s hands, its bloody hue had clearly grown much deeper than before.
“Since it was meant for Ziqing, then surely only her blood can unlock it.”
The moment she heard Jue Mingzi say this, Ziqing didn’t hesitate—she immediately bit into her finger, and a bead of blood welled up at once.
Jue Mingzi quickly took her hand and gently smeared the blood onto the bottom panel of the zither. And then, at that very moment, a miracle occurred!
The blood zither did not reject Ziqing’s blood, nor did it absorb it!
The blood simply seeped into the panel like water, washing away the dark coloring. Gradually, a line of musical notes began to emerge on the panel!
“It’s a musical score!”
Ziqing cried out. Being well-versed in music, she recognized it at a glance—this was sheet music, and the single line that had appeared was merely a fraction of the whole!
Amid shock and delight, without even thinking, she said, “Beiyue, the dagger.”
The dagger?
Jun Beiyue was momentarily stunned, then a helpless, faint smile touched his lips as he handed over Liuguang, the dagger he’d pulled out earlier.
The moment she took it, Ziqing immediately slashed her own forearm, opening a cut at once!
Jun Beiyue’s heart ached at the sight, but he said nothing.
In an instant, blood stained the bottom panel of the blood zither, and just as Ziqing had guessed, it was indeed a musical score! Across the entire narrow bottom panel of the zither, densely packed musical notes had been carved.
There was no doubt—this wasn’t just a piece of music, and it wasn’t short either.
“A musical score?” Jun Beiyue looked puzzled, seeming to have some vague suspicion, but he said nothing.
But Baili Weisheng spoke bluntly, “Why would that kid leave you sheet music? Don’t tell me… it has something to do with Lament of Parting?”
“I don’t know either.”
Ziqing was lost in thought, her attention entirely fixed on the bottom panel. She scanned the score line by line, silently committing it to memory, saying nothing.
Jun Beiyue watched silently, his eyes suddenly brightening as though he’d thought of something, and he asked, doubtfully, “Why would he hide a piece of sheet music so elaborately?”
“That is strange…” Baili Weisheng had thought of the same thing.
This wasn’t the first time Xuanyuan Lige had given Ziqing a piece of music—so why would he go through so much trouble for this particular one, carving it into the blood zither while placing the blood curse upon it?
“Maybe… carving it here means it can never be erased?” Xiong Xiaobao spoke up timidly as well.
As they talked, everyone turned to look at Jue Mingzi, and even Ziqing couldn’t make sense of it.
This score had nothing to do with Lament of Parting—it was an independent piece, unlike Xuanyuan Lige’s usual style. It wasn’t sorrowful, nor was it grand and heroic—it was fresh and lively.
Even without having played it, Ziqing could tell as much just from looking.
Jue Mingzi couldn’t figure it out either, and was about to speak when Ziqing suddenly cried out, “Look! The notes are disappearing!”
Everyone looked over at once, and sure enough, the dense notes that had just been there vanished as if they’d never existed, disappearing without a trace!
The bottom panel of the blood zither returned to its original state, as though it had never been carved at all.
“Could this mean…” Baili Weisheng exclaimed in shock.
“The blood curse!” Jun Beiyue blurted out.
Neither of them finished their sentence, but everyone present could guess what they meant!
Could the blood curse have been broken?
The key to breaking the blood curse lay in the score on the bottom panel, and in Ziqing’s blood!
The blood curse had been placed by Xuanyuan Lige himself—only he could have set the method to break it.
For a moment, Ziqing’s heart pounded wildly. Ignoring the blood still trickling from her arm, she unconsciously reached out and gently touched the strings of the blood zither.
Was their guess correct?
…