"There's something very evil here!" Líng Yá warned.

Like he hadn't noticed. Làng Wū Yáo continued his song. The malice had not yet subsided, indicating that the sword's thrall had not yet been broken. He was growing more concerned that the people would become enthralled to the supernatural power of his voice the longer he continued on. These were ordinary people, just as Shāng had said. They wouldn't be able to resist the power as his companions did. It would cause more trouble than he really wanted for them and for himself.

Perhaps he could continue the song later and appease his desires, but right now he had to figure out how to handle the situation. To stop too early would resume the fighting, and the people would simply slaughter one another in false anger. But to continue on could result in an addiction and obsession and could harm otherwise good people.

But something worse still was here. Someone was hiding among them, someone with true evil residing within their hearts. It didn't feel like the Princess of Cruelty, and the Hunting Fox wasn't exactly known for his ability to hide. Someone else was here, someone sinister.

His sensitive hearing picked up on a horn in the distance. A hunting horn, he surmised. It was the only thing that would make such a cacophonous sound. It served no other purpose. Shāng had been certain they had more time, but given the ploy to bring the might of the empire down onto the town, they probably were headed here at a scheduled time or arriving early to catch Shāng in the act. They certainly weren't quiet about their arrival either way.

But if the imperials were out there, who was here?

Huò Shì Míng Huáng. That was the only thing that came to mind. Mystical assassins, Mù Tien Ming had explained. They were associated with bugs and actually used bugs too. That much he knew after the Princess of Cruelty tried to trick Shāng into eating scorpions. What a terrible trick, replacing food with poison.

Làng closed his eyes for a moment, letting his hearing do the investigation. There was someone hiding among the people. He pulled at the pipa strings, sending a shockwave over the enthralled crowd towards the one in the back. She lept backward, her disguise as an ordinary citizen falling off. She had dark hair pulled upward and wrapped around two peculiar golden balls. Her bodice was golden and brown, resembling an insect's exoskeleton with a cloak of lace, sequins, and glitter resembling bedazzled insect wings. She held in her hand a blade that looked like it was several strands of silver braided together and sharpened to a deadly point.

"And here I was just enjoying the show!" she proclaimed.

"You don't look like an imperial bastard!" Líng Yá pointed out crudely.

"How rude!" she accused the pipa. "I am Yīn Xiàtiān of the Huò Shì Míng Huáng! I already have what I came for, but you, bard. You are quite intriguing. Oh what could I do to make that song mine?"

Làng wrinkled his nose. Every place he went, there was someone after his song. Mù and Shāng were the only ones who were different.

"Screw off, you insect weirdo!" Líng Yá hissed.

Làng didn't particularly care for her introduction, nor did he offer his. He was more focused on what she had in her hand. The musician had seen the Index before and the drawings within them when Shāng talked about the dangers they possessed. He'd seen the ridiculously large sword that Shāng had stolen from the palace in action. These sorcerous swords were always ornate and pointlessly decorative, but their purpose wasn't the usual swords of man. They had wild and powerful purposes that ordinary swords did not. They also possessed a great deal of supernatural power, something that Làng also possessed.

Yīn didn't take kindly to the comment. "Why don't you just sing your song for me and leave that rude pipa behind, my dear bard?"

"I am not yours." With a quick pluck of the strings, Làng flung a sonic attack at the woman. If he let her go, she would easily cause destruction in her wake. He had to get that sword at the very least, and he'd pry it from her dead hands if he had to.

She leapt out of the way, landing on the market stall still covered from the noodle bowl earlier. "Singing and fighting? You sure are a marvel, Bard."

He wanted to stop singing just to spite her, but if he did, the people still enthralled might start killing each other. Or trying to. They weren't very good at it. Perhaps if he knocked the sword from her hand.

A few more sonic attacks sent her leaping from stall to stall. Her movements were easy to follow, accompanied by a strange buzz. Perhaps her robes were strange, but perhaps it was whatever bug she was associated with. She hadn't yet revealed that, nor could Làng pick up on a large number of insects nearby. Legs and wings weren't always known to be quiet, especially to a finely tuned sense of hearing like his was.

As he forced her to leap again, he quickly shifted, aiming for where she was landing instead of where she once was. Had she not moved more quickly, the attack might've taken her arm off. Instead the force caused the sword to drop from her hand for a moment.

Làng sang the final note as the malice of those gathered quickly washed away. It was like Shāng had said. They were all being controlled by the sword, and that sword was now being scooped up by Yīn. The malice didn't return to the crowd as it scattered.

"She's focused right on you," Líng Yá would've wrinkled his nose in annoyance if he had one.

Like he hadn't noticed. She was watching him like that sadistic princess once did, like a cat waiting to pounce on a songbird. But this songbird was also a sharpened blade. He used Líng Yá to deflect several sword swipes sent his way but something else was there. Something buzzing. It felt like something was pulling his qi from him. He could feel it in his knees as he attempted to stabilize himself on the hut's roof.

"Move!" Líng Yá shouted suddenly.

Làng leapt to the side, dodging some sort of swarm of insects buzzing past him. He'd heard the sounds before after leaving the mountains. They only arrived in the summertime, singing a sweet buzzing song in the warmer months.

Cicadas.

But their song was hardly sweet or heralding the warmer weather of summer. They sang a horribly cacophonous too, one that seemed to linger even after they had buzzed past him.

Làng reached up to the side of his face, feeling a sharp pain around his ear. The noise wasn't stopping, instead only getting louder. He stared at his hand, feeling something on it as he brushed his face. Blood? His ear was bleeding. Why was this buzzing so loud? His hearing was sensitive but not that sensitive. He could handle quite a bit of noise, able to hear all the minute details of a battlefield down to the swishing of grass blades and the breathing of his enemy. But even when a battle got loud or he was singing and fighting, his ears had never bled before. Something was wrong.

He dropped the pipa from his arms, placing a hand on Líng Yá's head. He could feel the weakness threaten to take his knees out from underneath him, but he was still capable of fighting. He considered for a moment to flee, but leaving an evil like that with a sword like the Sorrowful Soul would be bad news for them all. He'd have to make this quick. "Guide my movements."

The pipa understood, feeling everything as an extension of Làng and the ringing pain he now felt buzzing around inside his head. There was a sluggishness to his movements, telling him of the urgency of this battle. "You got it! Líng Yá, transform!"

Làng could barely hear Líng Yá now, but he could feel the pipa directing his movements from their close link. They fought off the swarm using the supernatural music they both possessed. The swarm that had encircled them quickly fell dead to the ground. But that buzzing didn't get any quieter. It felt like the sound was boring into his head. He had to get rid of it. He had to stop the noise that felt like it could cause his head to shake apart.

His ear was bleeding more. He could feel the blood drip down the side of his face. He wiped it off with his sleeve, taking another broad swing at the insects swarming around him. His vision felt fuzzy. His leg felt numb. Everything felt off.

He tossed Líng Yá into the air, transforming him back to pipa form. Taking to a knee, he fired off several sharp sonic attacks. He had to stabilize himself somehow until he took her down. Then he could deal with this noise. He couldn't hear her anymore, using Líng Yá to guide his attacks as his vision grew as fuzzy as his hearing. To think a supernatural blade would be stunted by a buzzing noise.

His other leg began to feel numb. A poison, perhaps? Poisons weren't exactly noisy, but his knowledge on the subject was limited. There were certain agents that could be used to alter the mind, much like the euphoric agent they used to get high off Làng's voice in the taverns. Yet that would require some kind of contact and no one had touched him since he entered the town. Even the cicadas that buzzed past him hadn't touched him but the feeling started before then.

Was it perhaps the sword? No the Sorrowful Soul was associated with a noise but it also caused malice. Perhaps this was how one was overcome by the sword's spell. He didn't like the idea of turning against his new-found friends, especially when the feeling wasn't his own.

Làng felt his legs give out as the buzzing noise became unbearable. He tumbled off the roof, landing hard on the ground. Làng grasped for the pipa, gripping the neck tightly as he curled up into a ball, grasping at his ear with the other.

It had to stop. The noise was doing this to him. What was it? Why was it so loud?

"Làng, stay with me!" Líng Yá shouted, knowing full well that Làng couldn't hear him.

...

Author's notes:

So the danger bug finally appears and her attack has some terrible effects on poor Làng's hearing! The question is, how did she do it and will Làng now become someone else's bard? Seriously stop going after his songs!

Yīn Xiàtiān literally means the sound of the summer season, and in warmer areas, cicadas are definitely those sounds! They pretty much scream all of summer. You can hear them in anime a lot. Not sure if Xi You has cicadas normally, but they do now.