Shāng Bù Huàn wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword, taking an offensive stance as more imperial soldiers approached. For such a remote town, they sure had a suspicious number of soldiers at the ready. That sound the proprietor had mentioned could easily be another sword planted in the area for the purpose of disrupting the town. This place was bordering large amounts of forests at the edge of the kingdom, and the empire liked to take out these remote locations that didn't want to submit to imperial rule.

This could be fortunate and unfortunate for them. Fortunate that they could seal another sword away. Unfortunate that they had no idea what it was or how it worked.

Also unfortunate was that Yīn Xiàtiān was likely still lingering around the town.

Also, also, unfortunate that the Hunting Fox could be nearby too.

There were far too many unfortunates for Shāng's tastes but he'd been in worse. "What makes you think we're somehow the Sword-plundering Nemesis?" Shāng questioned. "We were just enjoying some dumplings."

Làng Wū Yáo paused with his fingers just above the pipa strings. This was a strange approach, not one that he expected from someone who could flatten the whole lot of them with a stick. His sensitive ears picked up on the deep ringing noise in the distance, stealing his attention away from Shāng attempting to downplay the unfortunate title. He still wanted to find Yīn Xiàtiān before she attempted to ambush them and take Làng out with a bug in the ear again. He still was upset about that. But that noise. It was unnatural.

One of the imperials scoffed. "We know about your conversation on sorcerous swords!"

Shāng frowned. That server had blabbed much more quickly than he expected. "How troublesome."

"Guess you just can't reason with imperials." Mù Tiān Mìng pulled the guqin off her back, flinging off several sonic attacks and knocking the front lines backwards.

"Attack!" the soldier shouted.

Shāng withdrew his sword, dispatching the closest ones quickly. These were honestly just small fry, easy enough to deal with even in droves like this. The challenge was to do it a little more delicately as there were still civilians in the area. Hiding, but still present. He snatched a broom from a nearby stall, using it as a sharpened lance. He quickly struck the soldiers, piercing their bodies and piling them up on the ground.

As the fight raged on behind him, Làng's attention was somewhere else. That noise was getting closer far too fast. Stepping away from his companions, he adjusted the strings on the pipa. A quick strum of the strings, he used his manipulation of sound to create a massive rounded shield around him and the others.

"Get close!" Líng Yá shouted.

Shāng drove the broom through a line of imperials, leaping backwards towards Làng.

Mù fired off several blasts with her guqin as she heard some terrible noise approach. She quickly stepped backwards and behind Làng.

Something loud slammed into the shield that Làng had created, pushing him back several feet. Had Shāng and Mù not been behind him, he might've toppled over just from the sheer impact. With them leaning against him, he continued to pull the strings and block the sudden attack. "It's strong."

The sound that had impacted them rolled off the side of the shield, shattering the stalls and the people hiding behind them on impact. Not even the soldiers were spared their unfortunate fate.

Another slash of sound came and another, crumbling the sides of the buildings nearby. This town was quickly being torn apart by the sounds the proprietor mentioned. This sorcerous sword was powerful. Làng was reminded of the Dark Phantom sword that crumpled an entire peninsula in one swing. He saw the ravine it created when Shāng and Mù had taken him with them. These swords needed to be out of the hands of the empire and in that Index Shāng had. This one would be no different.

But first, there was that sound to contend with.

"Look! It's an imperial bastard!" Líng Yá pointed out.

An imperial wearing long fluttering red and white robes stood on the far end of the plaza, holding a sword that looked closer to a stringed instrument than an actual blade. The hilt was curved, strings attached at the lower end of the hilt and traveling halfway down the blade before tying off. It didn't look like a practical instrument at all, and Làng frowned at the poor design. But even badly designed, it was still doing a massive amount of damage just by swinging.

"A setup again," Shāng gritted his teeth. "They planned to take this city down whether we were here or not. This destruction needs to stop."

"Their motives never change, honestly," Mù said. "We need to stop that noise and seal the sword before they take down more of this region. And perhaps us with it."

Làng shifted, bending his back knee for support. "I will sing to counter it."

"Wū Yáo," Mù stared at his back.

"Làng can win a singing contest with a dumb ass badly designed musical sword! His voice is much stronger than that!" Líng Yá confirmed Làng's plan. "The other option is to wait until sound slices us in half like the rest of these poor bastards caught in the crossfire!"

Shāng frowned. There was so much blood of innocent people splattered across the town. The sword had made quick work of them all, felling the buildings along with them.

Mù placed a hand on Làng's shoulder. She knew how much he wanted to sing since they'd ditched the imperial hunting party some time ago, unable to fulfill his heart's desires as he attempted to not attract Yīn. He had barely spoken since they left the forest two days ago. That hadn't really been as effective as they'd hoped, as she ended up happening upon them anyway. She wasn't certain of the limits of his voice or what he could do with it, but he'd been rigorously trained to use it, to funnel all his sorcerous power through his throat in a positive way. If anyone could win a singing contest with a sword, it would be him. "Hold him off as long as you can then join us. If you hear cicadas, don't hesitate to call for us."

Làng nodded. Last thing he wanted was to have another cicada in his ear then be kidnapped or dragged off by that obsessive assassin. He was no one's caged bird.

Tuning the strings on the pipa again, he began the familiar song. It was a favorite of his, one that spoke to him and he often sang when still performing at the taverns and the palace.

"Journeyed days across the distance,

Keep walking on: His/Story.

Vowed to be fearless—broken and hopeless,

What was gained, what has been lost?"

As he belted out the words, he could feel his voice being used for something useful. Not once had he really considered using his voice to repel attacks. There was too much of a risk normally, but with a town now dead from a supernatural sword and that Shāng and Mù could resist its power, he could sing to his heart's content. He'd been wanting to sing for some time, and he was continuously denying his soul's desires and keeping those frustrations and desires and emotions bottled up deep inside. It was time to let them out.

Truthfully his companions had put the idea into his head when they first faced off against the Sorrowful Soul. A voice that could overpower a sorcerous sword. Well supernatural blade versus sorcerous blade. He would accept that challenge.

As soon as the song began, Shāng and Mù took the first opening to leap upward and run along the remains of the town's walls.

The imperial drew his attention from Làng for a moment, firing off sonic booms at Shāng. The guttural sound of the sword rang out as it cracked the city's walls and the ground around it.

Làng wrinkled his nose, intercepting the attacks as Shāng leapt off the wall and out of sight. The musician closed his eyes, listening to everything around him. No sign of the cicadas or an evil aura other than the one before him, though it was growing more difficult to search for either with how loud and deep that sword's notes could be. He hoped that Yīn Xiàtiān would stay away. For the better. He could focus on the music instead.

He fired off several attacks at the imperial as he took several steps forward. "Your fight is with me." He could handle himself in a musical battle. He'd endured that several times over at the hands of the princess. This was a bit different than a bunch of soldiers being sacrificed for the princess's sadistic entertainment, but in a way, it still felt the same. Stop singing and die. He had no plans of dying today, and with two whole dumplings for lunch, he had repaired his own qi enough to keep this up for a while.

As the exchange of musical blows continued, Shāng ran along the outside wall. He could feel the qi blasts and that nearly deafening rattle of a noise threatening to take the wall down. With the town unfortunately now slaughtered, Làng had no reason to hold back. Shāng knew full well that Làng could handle himself in this sort of situation. He didn't fully understand how Làng's abilities actually worked, though they were related to the massive amount of supernatural qi the musician held in his voice. He just knew right now was the perfect time to use his strengths. Shāng had every intention of backing him up with his own.

He glanced outward to the forest. No signs of anyone approaching. Good. That gave them time hopefully, but Huò Shì Míng Huáng's assassins could appear out of nowhere. He'd keep a sharp eye open since there was really nowhere for her to hide herself in a crowd here.

He leapt up onto the nearby building that was thankfully still in one piece. There were bodies strewn everywhere here as well. So much senseless death. He needed to get that blade out of the imperial's hand and seal it before more of this happened.

Shāng spotted Làng now closer than before. He was still belting out the song but he had his eyes closed. He was listening to everything. Shāng reasoned that Làng already knew where everyone was with that remarkably refined hearing of his. Làng had once attempted to describe what he heard, calling it painting a detailed image of the surroundings with At sound. Shāng didn't really understand it, so he'd leave the sound paintings to the expert.

The imperial turned right as Shāng launched himself off the building. He prepared to swipe at Shāng with the musical sword but Mù was faster, launching razor-like wind at the imperial's arm and slicing it clean off. He reeled backwards, screaming until a blast from Làng had quieted the noise permanently with a quick attack that took off his head.

The musical sword clattered to the ground like a dropped instrument. Sheathing his wooden sword, Shāng removed the brush from his sleeve. "It's time we seal this thing before anyone else shows up.."

Làng pulled at the pipa's strings as he approached, humming the last of his tune. A quiet sound caught his attention.

Buzzing.

Nothing could ever be easy, could it?

...

Author's musings

It's just one thing after another, isn't it? At least the imperial didn't put up too much of a fight with the sword.

I like the idea that Lang is still trying to figure out the limits of his voice. Experimenting with abilities and manipulating sounds, seeing what a song can truly do beyond entrance someone. He seems like he's still feeling it out in Season 2, and since this is very early on, he's really pushing his limits in order to seal these swords away with his new friends.

Seems his effort paid off.

But that buzzing sound can't be good news, right?