Chapter 1040: The Traveler Has No Bounds (Part 2)

"Wind sound?"

Master Wu and President Han were startled, quickly looking around.

The wind sound was very soft, still blowing the leaves with a "whoosh!" sound. Earlier, they had found it quiet and calming, giving a sense of relaxation, but now it was hair-raising, making them tremble involuntarily.

"Shut off hearing..."

They both whispered, simultaneously closing their hearing, hearing nothing.

Yet, inexplicably, that silent wind song still entered their minds, making them unconsciously fall under its control.

"It's useless. This is a kind of demonic sound. Even if you shut off the six senses, it can still enter the heart, impossible to guard against!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head and transmitted his voice.

If demonic sound could be rejected so easily, it wouldn't deserve the name "demon" and wouldn't have split into a separate profession, passed down for ten thousand years.

"Then what do we do?"

The two reopened their hearing, filled with anxiety.

Unable to reject or escape, were they, this group, going to be lost here as soon as they entered the ruins?

"Master Zhang... you detected the demonic sound; have you thought of a way?"

Master Wu quickly looked at him.

"This is a demonic sound emitted by an eight-star demonic sound master. I can barely resist it, but to counter it and bring everyone out of that special state, I must break sound with sound!"

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Xuan said.

He had known it was demonic sound as soon as he entered. With his Heaven's Path true energy and identity as a demonic sound master, he could resist it himself, but to break it, he hadn't thought of a way... unless he himself reached the strength of an eight-star demonic sound master and broke sound with sound!

"Break sound with sound?"

Their faces turned pale.

Where could they find an eight-star demonic sound master now?

If they had such strength, they certainly wouldn't have let everyone fall into this inescapable special state.

"This eight-star level is only at the early stage; otherwise, your primordial spirits would also be agitated, like the others, not even knowing they were injured. But I am only a peak six-star demonic sound master; even using all my strength, it's hard to resolve..."

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

This wind sound was only equivalent to music played by an early eight-star demonic sound master; otherwise, President Han and Master Wu would not have been able to bear it and stay awake as they are now.

Even so, it was beyond his ability to counter.

His current strength was still too weak.

"Then what do we do?"

"Does anyone have books on demonic sound at the seven-star level?"

Zhang Xuan asked.

If he had seven-star books, he could condense them into a technique and start cultivating. Even if he didn't reach eight-star, he would at least reach peak seven-star. With that strength, combined with the natural cross-grade ability of the Heaven's Path technique, countering this demonic sound shouldn't be too difficult.

"Demonic sound?"

Exchanging glances, President Han and Master Wu both shook their heads.

One was an array master, the other a master teacher. Although they had seven auxiliary professions, demonic sound was not among them, so they hadn't brought any books.

"Then it's troublesome..."

Seeing them shake their heads, Zhang Xuan frowned.

Without them, he couldn't learn a higher level of demonic sound, making it many times harder to break the demonic sound.

"How about this: you two look after everyone, try to keep them from dying of exhaustion, and if necessary, give them more pills... I'll go find the source of this wind sound. If I can find it, I might be able to resolve it..."

After hesitating, Zhang Xuan said.

If he couldn't break it by force, he had to find the root and destroy it.

"Alright, we'll trouble Dean Zhang..."

They both bowed.

There was no other way now; they had to do this.

"You're too polite."

Seeing their attitude, Zhang Xuan shook his head, said no more, and with a flicker of his body, flew straight in the direction of the sound.

The sound was faint, ringing in his ears. Even he felt a bit dizzy, and if his soul hadn't been further tempered by the lava, he might not have been able to withstand it.

"This demonic sound can cause exhaustion but not death... as long as pills are replenished in time, it shouldn't be a big problem..."

He glanced back and saw that the several battle masters who had been spitting blood earlier had recovered somewhat after Master Wu and the others gave them pills.

However, their bodies still moved forward uncontrollably.

At this moment, they were like puppets on strings, knowing they were trapped but unable to break free.

The reason demonic sound masters could terrify people, shake the continent, and even cause Hongyuan Academy to open a dedicated department was precisely because they made people aware of danger yet unable to escape or avoid it.

After flying for a while, Zhang Xuan frowned, noticing no change in the sound. At his speed, he had flown at least several hundred kilometers in this time, yet he hadn't left the range of the demonic sound or even found its source...

The sound's coverage was too vast!

For him, playing the zither could drive people mad within a few hundred meters, but expanding the range was beyond his power... Even an eight-star demonic sound master couldn't play music covering several hundred kilometers!

If that were the case, such a strong practitioner could play in the imperial city and bewitch billions of living beings—wouldn't that make them more terrifying than a master teacher?

"Could it be the strangeness of this array space? That I'm moving forward but actually circling in the same area?"

Suddenly, a thought struck him, recalling the legendary ghost wall from his past life.

Could it be that he felt he was heading in the right direction but was actually going in circles?

This was common in arrays.

Many maze arrays had a special power that made people lose their sense of direction. Once inside, they would lose all sense of direction, even compasses would fail, making them think they were going east when they were actually going the opposite way or veering off.

"Since this place makes people lose direction, I'll set up an array to clarify the direction..."

Stopping in midair, Zhang Xuan raised his eyebrows, flipped his wrist, and produced another pile of array flags.

His demonic sound strength was still at peak six-star, comparable to early seven-star, unable to counter this wind sound, but... his array mastery had reached peak seven-star, enough to set up an array that could clearly distinguish directions and resist the opponent's attack.

Many arrays flowed through his mind, and soon an array diagram emerged. He raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly.

Whoosh!

The array flags floating before him shot out, landing in specific positions on the ground.

Hum!

With a rumble, the array activated. Zhang Xuan stood inside, rested for a moment, then opened his eyes again.

"The direction was indeed wrong..."

He curled his lips.

Through this array, he immediately discerned the true direction; his previous feeling had indeed been wrong.

It seemed that in this array space, besides the demonic sound ambush, there was something that disrupted direction, making it impossible to distinguish.

Unable to discern direction, coupled with the demonic sound, cultivators entering would keep walking, even exhausting all their internal energy without realizing it.

"Old Dean and the others must have brought the [Direction-Seeking Needle] left by Senior Wu Yangzi. Though not a saint artifact, it surpasses saint artifacts in finding direction, which is why they got out smoothly..."

Understanding this, Zhang Xuan nodded involuntarily.

Old Dean had clearly walked out; if he had died here, his bones would have been found long ago.

Their cultivation was much lower than Master Wu's, yet they got out, probably using some treasure.

From the many books in the Artifact Refining Academy, he knew that the academy once stored a proud work of Wu Yangzi, the Direction-Seeking Needle!

This was a special item refined from direction-seeking wood. Though not a saint artifact, it was many times more powerful than saint artifacts in finding direction.

However, it was only useful in places that reversed yin and yang and the five elements; otherwise, it was useless, so after it was made, it wasn't taken seriously and was given to the Master Teacher Academy.

When he came, he had specifically checked the treasure vault and didn't find it, probably because Old Dean had taken it when he went out last time.

It was with this that he got out of this place.

Of course, how long it took was unknown—maybe an hour, maybe three or five days to realize the problem—but certainly not as quickly as they had.

After all, even Master Wu only found it strange without finding the root cause; it was Zhang Xuan, unaffected by the demonic sound, who saw clearly as an outsider.

Having confirmed the direction, Zhang Xuan leaped out of the array and flew straight in the direction he had found. After flying over ten li, knowing he must have gone wrong again, he took out array flags and set up another identical array.

He found the direction and continued forward.

Repeating this several times, he finally broke out of the circling pattern, and a huge stone tablet appeared before him.

Carved from unknown material, over three meters tall and two meters wide, it had stood there for who knows how long, weathered by wind and rain, slightly whitened.

It trembled slightly, emitting a pleasant sound that intoxicated everyone.

He stepped forward and looked up, seeing three large characters, bold and vigorous, left by someone unknown, seeming ready to fly out at any moment.

"Boundless Realm?"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

He continued reading and saw a line of small characters behind the large ones.

"Boundless Realm: the traveler has no bounds. Anyone entering will be affected by demonic sound, unable to distinguish east from west, north from south, wandering in circles, hard to leave. Only those with firm will can avoid being misled."

"If you can distinguish direction and identify the demonic sound within three days, and find this place, you will receive one of my unique skills; if within ten days, you will receive a fortune I have left; after ten days, it shows you are mediocre, and as a fate between us, I advise you to return early!"

After reading the content, Zhang Xuan blinked.

"From the time I entered the portal to now, it should be... less than half an hour! Even distinguishing direction within three days and coming here earns a reward. Isn't this test too easy? Are there really people so stupid that they don't realize the problem in three days?"

Muttering to himself, he turned to the back of the stone tablet and continued reading, seeing a different style of writing.

"I, Zhang Yinqiu, led a group here, got lost inside, and spent over half a month without earning the reward, only hoping to stop the alien race..."

"Over half a month to realize?"

His mouth twitched, and Zhang Xuan looked embarrassed.

"I didn't expect there really are people so stupid..."