Chapter 533: The Mad Demon Tune

Elder Wu, a peak four-star master teacher and a four-star demon sound master, had reached perfection in his control over power. Since it was a fair competition, how could his attacks be fierce at the start and weaken later?

The words Ruohuan had just said to Zhang Shi were clearly meant to undermine the opponent's confidence. That might work on someone from a remote place, but for Fu Xiaochen, it had no effect at all!

"Since you know that, you should understand that once I decide something, no one can argue against it."

Ruohuan glanced over lightly.

"Same for me!" Fu Xiaochen nodded.

Before the mental state assessment had even begun, the two were already at odds.

"Oh? In that case, why don't we have a match first? Whoever wins goes first!" Ruohuan said.

"Fine! What will we compete in?" Fu Xiaochen nodded.

The two were evenly matched, both favorites to win, and neither was willing to yield.

Each wanted to suppress the other from the start, making it difficult for the other to turn the tables later.

"Let's compete in..." Ruohuan pondered for a moment, about to propose the content of the competition, when suddenly a sound reached his ears.

Ding-dong!

Turning his head, he saw that Feng Mosheng, among the crowd, had already taken out a formation plate and sat cross-legged, ready. Elder Wu's fingers had also landed on the ancient zither, gently plucking, and the sound leaped forth.

"Damn it!"

They hadn't expected that while they were arguing, someone else would seize the initiative. Fu Xiaochen and Jun Ruohuan's faces turned ashen, feeling like they wanted to spit blood.

What kind of situation was this!

Both wanted to get the upper hand and make the other suffer, but they hadn't anticipated that this guy would take the lead.

"Hmph!"

Knowing that dwelling on it was useless, they swung their arms and returned to their original spots.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

As soon as they sat down, they saw Wu Shi's zither strings plucking continuously, and a surge of music that pierced the soul came crashing in like a tidal wave.

"This music... there's nothing wrong with it?"

The music was stirring, with an uplifting quality, but to Zhang Xuan's ears, it was very ordinary, without any sense of losing control, and it didn't seem to impact his mental state.

However, a glance at Feng Mosheng told him it wasn't that simple.

As a peak three-star master teacher, his mental state calibration had long exceeded 11.0, yet even so, upon hearing the zither sound, he was drenched in sweat, as if he could barely hold on.

"It seems the zither sound attack has a range; beyond that range, even if you hear it, it doesn't feel like much..."

A flash of insight.

Elder Wu had just said that only one person could be assessed at a time. Now it seemed the zither sound attack had a range; sounds outside that range were normal and caused no harm.

Whoosh!

While Zhang Xuan felt nothing, Feng Mosheng, bearing the brunt, had already turned pale. With a flick of his wrist, a carving knife appeared, and with a "squeak," he carved on the formation plate.

The Mad Demon Tune played by the demon sound master echoed in his mind, making him drowsy and unable to concentrate, causing the carving knife in his hand to waver.

"Indeed, it's not that simple..."

Seeing even this favored son of heaven struggle to carve, Zhang Xuan's expression turned serious.

As expected of the selection for Myriad Kingdoms City; the first move was so difficult that it made countless people balk.

"Does this Mad Demon Tune have flaws?" A thought suddenly occurred to him.

When martial artists use martial techniques or formation masters set up formations, they can summon a book. Now, this demon sound master using demon sound should count too, right?

He mentally called out "Flaw!" and sure enough, his sea of consciousness stirred, and a book appeared before him.

"Wu Xu, elder of the Master Teacher Hall in Myriad Kingdoms City, four-star master teacher, four-star demon sound master, formation master, calligraphy and painting master, tea ceremony master. Excels in demon sound attacks, including the Mad Demon Tune..."

"Weakness: ..."

The book was filled with content. After flipping through several pages, he quickly found the section on the Mad Demon Tune.

"So that's it!"

After reading for a while, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly, a gleam in his eyes.

This Mad Demon Tune, though seemingly terrifying, had many flaws. If exploited, it wouldn't be difficult to break.

Soon, having finished the book, Zhang Xuan had an idea in his mind.

"I'll try it later!"

Knowing this wasn't the time to test it, he suppressed the thought and looked forward again. By now, the Mad Demon Tune was nearing its end, and Feng Mosheng was swaying like a drunkard, barely able to sit steady.

The formation plate in his hand had been carved quite a bit, but from a distance, Zhang Xuan couldn't make out what was drawn.

Hum!

With a gentle pluck, the zither sound ended, the lingering notes echoing around.

"Thank you, Wu Shi, for going easy!"

Feng Mosheng shook his head, stood up, bowed with clasped hands, and handed over the formation plate.

He had just experienced a single tune, but he knew the other party hadn't used his full strength; otherwise, given his mental state calibration, he definitely wouldn't have held on.

"Mm!" Wu Shi nodded without saying much and casually handed the formation plate to a nearby master teacher.

This master teacher took the plate, carefully counted, and announced the result: "A total of four hundred and thirty-two strokes, each of equal weight!"

"Four hundred strokes?"

"Impressive! I saw he was about to collapse, but not only did he not fall, he carved that many marks, all of equal weight. Truly a genius selected for the competition!"

"If it were me, I probably couldn't have carved even one stroke..."

"Don't worry, with your talent, Elder Wu wouldn't bother to attack you!"

"You..."

...

Hearing the result, the crowd erupted.

The Mad Demon Tune lasted less than three minutes. Even without specifying what to carve, carving over four hundred strokes in such a short time was extremely difficult, let alone having to resist the zither sound.

"Over four hundred strokes?"

"I underestimated this guy. He really made a splash!"

Ruohua and Fu Xiaochen also frowned.

The number Feng Mosheng had carved put even them under pressure.

"Alright, next!"

After announcing Feng Mosheng's result, Wu Shi took a few breaths to fully recover his state, then looked at the crowd again.

With his strength, using the Mad Demon Tune against a Mortal Ascension realm four expert might be somewhat taxing, but against these people, without needing to fight, it wasn't too difficult.

"I'll go!" Fu Xiaochen stepped forward.

This time, Ruohuan didn't compete. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but Feng Mosheng's result put pressure on him, and he planned to adjust before challenging.

Ding-dong!

The zither sound rang out, mixed with the sound of a carving knife scraping across the formation plate.

Soon, Fu Xiaochen finished his assessment and stepped down.

"Four hundred and twenty-seven strokes, clear lines, no repeats!"

The master teacher announced the result.

"Pity..." Fu Xiaochen shook his head, his expression unpleasant.

He had thought that with his strength, securing a spot was a sure thing. He never dreamed that in the first round, he would fall short of Feng Mosheng.

A difference of five strokes!

But only by experiencing it firsthand did one know the terror of the Mad Demon Tune. If not for his growing desire to win, he wouldn't have held on.

"Though my result is inferior to Feng Shi's, it's not far off. Let's see Ruohuan's result. If it's worse than mine, with two spots up for grabs, I still have a good chance later!"

He quickly calmed down.

The selection competition would pick two people. This was only the first round; as long as he didn't make mistakes later, securing one spot shouldn't be too hard.

"I'll go!"

The third to go wasn't Ruohuan either, but the beautiful female master teacher, Luo Xi!

In terms of appearance alone, this woman could only be described as pretty, far inferior to Princess Mo Yu or Zhao Feiwu, let alone Zhao Ya.

However, as a peak three-star master teacher and a Mortal Ascension realm three expert, she carried a unique aura that gave her an exotic beauty.

Though this beauty seemed delicate, her mental state calibration was very strong, and she also held on through Elder Wu's Mad Demon Tune.

After Luo Xi came Du Hu, who had also been recommended from another kingdom.

Both of their results exceeded four hundred strokes, but they were still a distance from Fu Xiaochen, let alone Feng Mosheng.

"A dark horse!"

"Indeed! I didn't expect Feng Shi to be so impressive!"

"He even suppressed Fu Xiaochen... I never saw that coming!"

"I said before that Feng Shi was no weakling, but you didn't believe me."

...

Seeing that after four assessments, Feng Mosheng was still in first place, the other master teachers were all astonished.

Originally, they thought the spots would surely go to Ruohuan and Fu Xiaochen, but they hadn't expected Feng Mosheng to be so strong.

It seemed this Feng Shi had always been low-key, causing many to overlook him.

"Look, Ruohuan is up!"

As they were marveling, someone shouted, and everyone turned to look.

Sure enough, they saw Ruohuan sitting cross-legged, having taken out his carving knife.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The zither sound rang out.

Frowning slightly, Ruohuan's carving knife swept across the formation plate, his fingers flying.

"So fast!"

"As expected of Ruohuan. It seems the zither sound has little effect on him!"

"Looks like Ruohuan has this round in the bag!"

...

Seeing his movements, everyone clenched their fists.

To maintain such a fast carving speed under the Mad Demon Tune—truly worthy of Jun Ruohuan, the foremost of the Four Young Masters of Myriad Kingdoms City!

Whoosh!

Soon, the tune ended.

Ruohuan stopped, put the carving knife into his ring, and handed over the formation plate.

"A total of four hundred and thirty-one strokes!" The master teacher in charge of verification counted several times carefully and called out in disbelief.

"One stroke less than Feng Shi?"

"How is that possible?"

"That can't be right. I saw him carving very fast!"

...

Hearing the result, the crowd was in an uproar.

Everyone had seen how fast Ruohuan carved, so how could his final result be inferior to Feng Shi's?

But the master teacher in charge of verification was well-known in the Master Teacher Hall for being impartial and couldn't be wrong.

"Ruohuan doesn't seem disappointed..."

Just as everyone was puzzled, a murmuring voice of disbelief sounded. Everyone looked over and indeed saw something off.

Earlier, when Fu Xiaochen's result was worse than Feng Shi's, he was dejected, but Ruohuan showed no sign of frustration; instead, he wore a faint smile!

A smile?

What was going on?

Could it be that he didn't care about losing?