In this world, there wasn’t only the Martial Dao—there were many other Daos. After all, the Great Dao numbered in the thousands. Even poetry, song, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—if one reached extremely high attainments, one could similarly ascend to the peak.

Qin Linran was a representative of “zither” among music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. His hands, more delicate than a woman’s, had almost never fought, but as long as he plucked the zither strings, the demonic music power formed could control others’ thoughts, making them develop absolute worship toward him.

His motto was:

I’ll be in the rear playing the zither as accompaniment; the fans will be in front fighting the enemy.

Before being imprisoned in the Nine Layers Hell, Qin Linran did exactly this. Whenever he appeared, there were large groups of martial artists calling out before and behind. As long as a fight broke out, he would shrink to the far rear.

The zither belonged to one type of the Dao of Music. This kind of ability different from the Martial Dao was indeed profoundly mysterious and couldn’t be explained from a scientific angle. When martial artists fought him, they either had to close in for a beating or steady their original hearts to resist the music.

Jun Changxiao didn’t close in, nor did he resist the music.

He went to another extreme—you play the zither, I sing, let’s all have fun together!

Singing also belonged to the Dao of Music.

But… when Goudan opened his voice to sing, it truly shocked heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep. It truly made mountains lose their peaks and heaven and earth merge!

One could be one hundred percent certain that Jun Changxiao didn’t understand the Dao of Music.

But his singing style—completely off-key throughout, even forgetting lyrics and singing passionately anyway—was definitely the greatest nemesis of the Dao of Music, the greatest disaster star!

Whether playing the zither or singing, there must be a proper system—like having proper words and proper melody. When you opened your mouth, everything was thrown into chaos. Who could withstand that?

The most typical example was Qin Linran using zither music to counter Jun Changxiao’s singing. At first, he could still steady his original heart, but as a result of the other’s interference, even the zither music he played started going off-key.

If the Dao of Music were divided into orthodox and unorthodox schools, without a doubt, Goudan’s heart-wrenching off-key singing style was definitely the most unorthodox among the unorthodox.

Qin Linran completely couldn’t take it. Even more unbearable was that after immersing himself in the Dao of Music for so many years, he was actually affected by the other’s singing to the point of going off-key. So after one song ended, he was immediately knocked flying and shocked into unconsciousness on the spot.

Sigh.

What karma!

The thousands of prisoners didn’t specialize in the Dao of Music and didn’t know its deeper mysteries, so they were merely shocked into spitting blood, then covered their ears with twisted expressions.

Jun Changxiao moistened his throat, preparing to sing a memorable classic. The crowd said in terror and unison: “Big Brother, don’t open your mouth!”

“You’ve regained clarity?”

“We’re clear! We’re clear!”

Many prisoners—the zither music power within their bodies had long since been dispersed under Jun Changxiao’s demonic sounds. Not only did they recover consciousness, they were also deeply scarred by the earlier singing!

If he continued singing, everyone might really die!

Killing someone only requires a nod of the head. Jun Changxiao’s ghostly wailing and wolf-howling style of singing truly tortured the heart, tortured the soul.

……

“Ding! System restarting!”

It must be said, the System was wiser. When the host opened his mouth, it entered temporary shutdown state. Otherwise, it might have caused program paralysis leading to collapse.

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

Jun Changxiao strode to the unconscious Qin Linran’s side and began wildly bombarding with his fists.

He wasn’t deliberately abusing him. Rather, he wanted to use the “Return Me My Pretty Fist” to beat him from the gender boundary into maleness, to beat out the masculine energy he should possess!

A moment later.

Qin Linran was abused until bruised and swollen, covered in large bumps.

His big double-eyelid eyes were beaten into small single-eyelid eyes, his seemingly surgically-enhanced high nose bridge was beaten concave, and his pointed chin was also beaten into a square face.

Now this was manly!

“……”

The prisoners shrinking in the distance trembled one by one.

They didn’t feel sorry for Qin Linran. After all, their earlier infatuation with him was nothing more than being controlled by music. Now that power had disappeared, recalling their earlier brainless shameful devotion, they wanted to go up and beat him together.

“Swish!”

Jun Changxiao waved his hand to retrieve the folding fan that had fallen to the ground. He took out a pen to cross out the word “handsome,” then added the word “ugly” from the side. Only then did his mood become pleasant as he sat down.

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the hidden mission [Music Shakes the Rafters]. Reward: 10,000 contribution points!”

“Ding! Sect contribution points: 130,000/100,000 points.”

“Ding! Sect contribution points overflowing…”

“Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing a hidden mission, triggering a hidden reward. Obtained Divine Grade Aptitude Transformation Liquid ×1.”

“Huh?”

Jun Changxiao said in surprise: “Actually completed a hidden mission!”

Counting the time, since the last hidden mission appeared, one would have to go back to when he resolved Zhenwei Great Emperor.

“Music Shakes the Rafters?”

Jun Changxiao felt somewhat elated: “Is this praising my good singing?”

“……”

The System was speechless.

This guy not only had no self-awareness regarding singing, but was even proud of it.

“Right!”

Jun Changxiao slapped his forehead: “Almost forgot about the overflow contribution points!”

On the second layer of Hell, facing Huo Yanmo, he was given a side quest. Upon completion, the reward was 20,000 points. Because he was rushing to find the Nine Emperors, he had forgotten it entirely.

“First buy a Qiankun Talisman.”

Jun Changxiao used “Another Bottle” and similar effects, spending 10,000 contribution points to buy the Qiankun Talisman.

This thing could raise major realms—it would definitely be useful in the future.

“What should I buy with the remaining 20,000?” Jun Changxiao opened the Advanced Shop. Although the items inside were good, there weren’t any that provided immediate combat power. He couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed.

“You can continue refreshing!” The System encouraged.

“Fine!”

“Ding! Sect contribution points: 110,000/100,000.”

The reason Jun Changxiao was so agreeable was also because under the other’s sales pitch, he tried refreshing with a tentative attitude and ended up refreshing a supreme product.

However.

This time his luck wasn’t so good.

The products in the Advanced Shop were replaced. Various pill formulas and recipes each had their merits, but currently, they didn’t seem able to bring Jun Changxiao substantial help.

“Damn!”

Jun Changxiao thought internally: “The contribution points were wasted! This old man will never refresh again!”

System: “……”

This host of mine—as long as he tastes sweetness, I don’t need to encourage him and he’ll be willing to spend. But once his luck turns bad and he gets nothing, he starts complaining and grumbling, even having thoughts of never refreshing again. This is way too damned realistic.

“Refreshing the shop is like buying lottery tickets—the same principle. Have you ever seen anyone win the jackpot every day? Isn’t it all about buying over and over, accumulating time after time, until the clouds part and you see the moon!”

Jun Changxiao was too lazy to pay attention. Just as he was about to close the shop, his peripheral vision swept to the last slot and could no longer move away, because written there was—Divine Modification, Great Sage Set!

Great Sage?

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven?!

“Swish!”

Jun Changxiao hurriedly clicked on the detailed description—

Item: Divine Modification, Great Sage Set.

Description: A Great Sage set created based on Journey to the West, containing the Phoenix-Feather Purple-Gold Crown, Chain-Mail Golden Armor, and Lotus-Root Cloud-Walking Boots.

Function: Its crown keeps all evils at bay, its armor is impervious to water and fire, its boots can ascend to heaven and burrow through earth.

Advantages: Comprehensive enhancement of soul, body, and speed in all three dimensions.

Disadvantages: The Great Sage Set is created based on a mythological system. Although not the genuine original product, if the user’s three dimensions don’t meet the standards, they will immediately be shattered to pieces.

Special Effect: Great Sage Returns.

Price: 100,000 contribution points.

Grade: ???