Chapter 00027: Seven Sounds
# Seven Sounds
Chapter 27
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 27: Seven Sounds
The painstaking process of refining muscles and bones was of little concern to Lan Xiaobu. After successfully concocting the first medicinal formula for refining muscles and bones, he drank it down before it had even fully cooled. A surge of heat quickly spread from his abdomen outwards, prompting Lan Xiaobu to immediately start cultivating his technique.
A series of faint cracking sounds emanated from his bones, but Lan Xiaobu felt elated inside. Previously, every attempt at cultivation had been met with excruciating pain in his bones, as if they could fracture at any moment, deterring him from continuing. But now, there was only a slight discomfort, and it felt as if a warm current was coursing throughout his body; where the current traveled, the pain swiftly dissipated.
The stagnant inner qi surged forth once again, flowing as incessantly as a stream.
From dawn until dusk, Lan Xiaobu halted his cultivation, bursting with joy as he leapt into the air. The powerful energy coursing through him made him feel capable of slapping several people like Cheng Jianjie to death with ease.
"Great formula," Lan Xiaobu couldn’t help but praise. This formula had perfectly resolved his bone refinement issues.
In just a day, his bone refinement realm had solidified, and his inner qi levels had risen substantially, leading Lan Xiaobu to increasingly suspect that his talent for martial arts was extraordinarily high. Previously, he had cultivated inner qi merely by navigating one cycle, yet now, with the aid of medicinal herbs, he had stabilized his bone refinement realm in just one day. If he weren’t highly talented in martial arts, then what truly qualified as talent?
With noticeable progress in his cultivation, Lan Xiaobu seized every moment to practice deep in the Ten Thousand Mountains. He took time to hunt for food when he was hungry, and there were streams aplenty to quench his thirst. However, more of his time was dedicated to the search for medicinal materials rather than food.
Thanks to the medicinal herbs, after just half a month, Lan Xiaobu had reached the peak of the bone refinement realm. At this stage, not only was his cultivation speed not slowing down, it was accelerating.
One day, having just completed a session of cultivation, Lan Xiaobu felt light and agile, as if everything around him had become vividly clear.
Had he entered the meridian realm?
He suppressed the urge to howl in elation. From the start of his cultivation until now, it had only been a little over four months, and in that brief time, he had transformed from an ordinary person into someone at the meridian realm.
Beyond the meridian realm lay the innate realm, and as long as he could enter the innate level, he could then venture into the depths of Kunlun Mountain to search for that flying saucer.
Shang Wei had only arrived at Kunlun Mountain after advancing to the innate realm, and Lan Xiaobu had assumed it took Shang Wei a year to reach that state. Reflecting on it now, it likely took him two years. Yet here was Lan Xiaobu, who in just four months had reached the meridian realm. Even if his talent wasn't superior to Shang Wei's, it certainly couldn't be said to be lacking.
With his medicinal materials exhausted, it was apparent that the meridian realm differed from the bone refinement realm. The latter focused mainly on refining body and bones and didn’t have an abundant demand for heaven and earth spiritual qi.
Now, in the meridian realm, Lan Xiaobu acutely felt the significance of heaven and earth spiritual qi to him. Only a few months had passed since the Kunlun Mountain flying saucer incident, and although the Ten Thousand Mountains contained some spiritual qi, it was nowhere near the levels found in Hu Prefecture. He needed to leave this place, handle some trivial matters, and then head towards Kunlun Mountain.
Upon entering Kunlun Mountain, he could both cultivate and search for the flying saucer.
……
While Lan Xiaobu secluded himself in the Ten Thousand Mountains refining his skills, outside there was a cacophony of chatter ignited by a sticky post on the Jianghu Forum.
The content of this post revolved around Lan Xiaobu, titled “Is Lan Xiaobu Really a Demon?” It described how he had killed the grandfather-grandson duo of Ju Jie at the Ju family estate and then stolen their treasured Blue Wing Star, being branded as a demon by countless people.
However, the post was not ordinary; it explicitly pointed out doubts regarding Lan Xiaobu's alleged actions. As one of the great families of Huaxia, the head of the Ju family, Ju Jie, was a martial artist who had mastered inner qi. What grounds did Lan Xiaobu have to kill Ju Jie?
To clarify what constituted an inner qi master, the post contained parentheses explaining inner qi masters. Many felt inner qi masters didn’t exist, while in reality, only a rare few in Huaxia had mastered inner qi, thereby affirming their existence. However, the scarcity of inner qi masters alongside their aversion to showcasing their abilities led to a widespread belief that they were essentially mythical, and inner qi itself was dismissed as nonsense.
The post also indicated that despite the existence of inner qi masters and Ju Jie’s capabilities, it did not mean that Lan Xiaobu was likewise an inner qi master. Generally, inner qi masters were at least thirty-five years old. With Lan Xiaobu being merely eighteen, the suggestion that an eighteen-year-old could become an inner qi master elicited doubt—were they mocking the depth of Lan Xiaobu’s knowledge or had he simply been uneducated?
If Lan Xiaobu was not an inner qi master, then how could he have killed the inner qi master Ju Jie? Don’t come at me with the idea of a sneak attack. If an inner qi master could be ambushed by an ordinary person, they wouldn’t be considered so rare as to be deemed impossible to cultivate successfully.
Yet, I’ve also heard that the Ju family has a fondness for drowning people. Lan Xiaobu had just published a globally sensational medical paper on the Dao of Medicine and then vanished. Could it be that he too was drowned?
This post, indeed provoking a storm of discussions, led to a multitude of replies. Ultimately, the argument devolved into a frenzy, with the primary focus shifting from whether Lan Xiaobu had killed Ju Jie and Ju Jun to whether inner qi masters truly existed, along with whether the Ju family routinely drowned people.
Some even posted vague photos purportedly of the Ju family drowning people, while others provided data indicating the Ju family's history was built on the bloody accounts of countless marginalized families. The debate culminated when someone posted that they hoped Ju Jie had indeed been killed by Lan Xiaobu—Doctor Lan was eradicating a societal menace.
Due to a criminal legislation passed by the state ten years prior, if a case achieved the level of eradicating societal menace, the protagonist could be exonerated—even rewarded.
Though Ju Jie no longer existed, the Ju family remained a towering giant. Yet, regardless of how colossal they were, they lacked the capability to expunge the sticky post from the Jianghu Forum.
……
To ordinary citizens, the term “Seven Sounds” may seem commonplace, even likened to the seven tones representing Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu, Bian Gong, and Bian Zhi in music.
However, within the realm of the world’s elite, “Seven Sounds” referred to seven individuals known as Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu, Bing, and Kong.
The founder of the Seven Sounds was Gong, whose stronghold lay atop Seven Sounds Mountain. Gong was rumored to be extraordinarily talented, with martial prowess said to have reached the realm of feathered ascension. Of course, these were mere legends, as no one had ever seen Gong. Nevertheless, Thousand Sounds Auction, a name known by all, was established by his disciple, Shang.
Gong had six disciples: Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu, Bing, and Kong. Each of these disciples was no ordinary person. Aside from Shang having founded Thousand Sounds Auction, Jiao wielded command over the largest mercenary company in South Africa. As for Zhi, he founded the Great Universe AI Corporation, which now ranked sixth among the world’s hundred best enterprises. The only one who was somewhat low-profile was Yu; however, those who knew the inside story said that Yu was the only disciple to have received Gong’s true teachings, content merely to cultivate in seclusion like his master.
As for Bing and Kong, these two had swept through the entire martial circle upon their debut. Subsequently, they founded two technology firms, the Great Universe and AI Pan, yet for reasons unknown, both went missing in the Pacific Ocean. Later, these two corporations were merged with the Great Universe AI Corporation formed by Zhi, resulting in the current colossal entity.
Those who knew of the Seven Sounds and Gong understood better than to provoke matters concerning Seven Sounds. It was precisely due to this that Thousand Sounds Auction had thrived for so many years without any disturbances during their auctions.
Though Seven Sounds was renowned, no one knew where Seven Sounds Mountain lay. In truth, it was not within Huaxia but a discreet peak on the fringes of Yue Kingdom.
At this moment, atop Seven Sounds Mountain, within an exceedingly ordinary temple, a middle-aged man sat at the heart of the hall, flanked by two individuals.
The middle-aged man kept his eyes shut, as if savoring something. After a long while, he finally opened his eyes and slowly inquired, "Have the other two returned yet?"
The man on the left, who appeared older, quickly bowed and replied, "Master, Brothers Shang and Jiao are on their way and should be reaching Seven Sounds Mountain shortly."
The man responding had a feminine face, resembling a eunuch. Nevertheless, once he stepped outside, no one would question his identity—he was Zhi, the controller of the Great Universe AI Corporation, while that middle-aged man was the founder of Seven Sounds, Gong. Zhi, after all, was merely his disciple.
Gong nodded slightly, then turned to the younger man on the right and said, "Yu, go and greet your two brothers."
"Yes," the younger man bowed in acknowledgment and quickly exited. He was Yu, the youngest disciple of Gong, having remained close to him ever since Bing and Kong went missing.
(End of Chapter)