Làng Wū Yáo heard the cicada's tune change. It was no longer that chorus singing about the summer heat. The notes had quickly turned sour and out of tune, much like strings pulled aggressively until they snapped. They suddenly filled with malice, screaming loudly in a cacophonous warning that something was coming.

"Well that saves us the challenge of actually tracking you down, doesn't it, Yīn Xiàtiān?" Shāng Bù Huàn said. It was just as Làng had suggested. The cicadas changed their tune when Yīn was near. He still couldn't hear it but he trusted Làng's ears to pick up on the difference.

A shrill laugh followed the buzzing of insects as Yīn appeared before them. She held the sonic sword against her almost like an instrument, running a finger along the strings as she plucked a strange tune. She had used the newly awoken summer cicadas to her advantage, buzzing around as a distraction to keep them on edge. She hid one of her own cicadas among them, searching for the group and her beloved bard. The rumors of the earthquakes had indeed attracted her prey, and soon she would make the songbird hers forever.

Làng frowned. The sword's tune was awful. But something else was off about her other than the terrible tune. It was her right ankle. It was made entirely of bugs tightly packed together, causing her steps to be off-kilter when she landed. She gingerly shifted her weight to her left leg instead to compensate for the injury.

"Don't suppose you'll just put down those swords and listen to music, huh," Shāng said.

Yīn bellowed a laugh. "What a fool! And you dare call yourself worthy to stand by my dear Wū Yáo's side?! What a joke! I'll dispose of you and that other musician and take my dear bard for myself!"

"Way to piss her off, genius!" Líng Yá fussed.

"Some people cannot be reasoned with, you know," Mù Tiān Mìng frowned.

Shāng shrugged. Not that he expected that to work but it was worth a try. He wasn't even sure if Huò Shì Míng Huáng's assassins could be reasoned with. Yīn seemed less likely to consider the notion, fully locked on to her obsession with Làng's voice.

Làng didn't wait for the other two to make a move. He leapt forward, pulling at the pipa's strings and firing off several sonic attacks. He aimed for her feet specifically, pushing her backwards and listening to her steps. It was just as he thought. Her footing was off, and she was relying on cicadas to keep her right ankle together. He could hear them crunch as she leapt backwards to avoid his attacks.

He dropped Líng Yá to the ground, the impact forcing her backwards even more.

If he could take out that leg, he could end this battle fast.

"Are they having you fight their battles now?" Yīn mocked him.

"I fight my own battles," Làng replied, pressing on the top of Líng Yá. The pipa transformed into sword form and he leapt forward. He slashed widely at her several times, the trail of qi following his movements.

She responded by stepping backwards several times until finally drawing the sonic sword up to block the attack. The resulting impact cracked the ground around both of them, driving Làng's heels into the ground as she pressed back against him.

He certainly was being a troublesome little songbird, wasn't he? But it was just like when she fought him at the last village and he nearly took off her entire foot. It was useless now, and she was angry at him for it. She took that anger out on a handful of villages and half the peninsula. She'd beat him into submission so he had no choice but to play beautiful songs for her for the rest of his life.

She pulled the sword backwards just enough to create a sound.

Làng leapt backwards, transforming Líng Yá back to pipa form. He quickly pulled on the strings to create a defensive barrier as the sonic sword's attack bore down on him, cracking the land around him and threatening to drive his heels further into the ground. He nearly dropped to a knee to prevent damage to his legs from the soundwave. Her time spent out on the peninsula had certainly refined her skills, and that would make taking the sword much more difficult.

He would need to resort to stronger moves to counter this sound, wondering just how far he could push his abilities. The training he endured at his mother's hands had taught him a lot, but since deciding to be his own blade, he found new ways to use the supernatural abilities he'd not thought of before.

Làng continued to keep lower to the ground as a multitude of tree branches laced with qi soared past him. He quickly found Shāng and Mù standing behind him and his sonic shield.

"You alright, Wū Yáo?" Mù worried.

The bard nodded.

"Seems she's improved her skill with the sword quite a bit since retreating here to the peninsula," Shāng frowned, his sword still drawn and ready for another attack. "How troublesome. We need to get that sword back from her."

"Her right ankle," Làng informed them. "It is composed of cicadas."

"So that's why she hasn't used them against us yet," Mù observed. "We could use that to our advantage, but a desperate woman with a deadly sword can resort to dangerous things."

"True, but it'll be worse if we leave it in her hands," Shāng frowned. "Or if Huò Shì Míng Huáng or the empire get their hands on it…"

"None of those options are good," Mù shook her head. "That leaves us only one."

"That it does," Shāng agreed.

Làng stood up tall as his companions broke away from his shield. There was only one option in his mind as well. Yīn Xiàtiān needed to die. Someone with that much evil in her heart and willing to murder towns and innocent people couldn't be left to wander this world. They would need to pull out all the stops to take her down and seal those swords.

He leapt upward into the air as Yīn fired off several sonic attacks with the sword.

Mù landed, quickly dashing forward with her guqin's blade drawn. Yīn was definitely favoring using the sword's attacks instead of her usual trickery. She noticed that more now that Làng had mentioned the injury. Mù wasn't certain how long that favoring would last given the battle was three-to-one, but if they could end the battle quickly, she would resort to a few tricks herself.

Letting go of the sword, she let her qi carry it towards Yīn as a distraction. Her true intention was to strike the right leg with her razor-sharp sonic attacks.

Yīn quickly responded, leaping backwards and landing only on the left leg then leaping upward once again as Shāng nearly caught her on the opposite side. "Insects!" hissed at them. She glanced at Làng, barely seeing him fire off several attacks and twisting in the air to avoid them. She landed on both feet, the pain shaking her right leg immensely as the cicadas crushed under her weight.

"Hand over the swords, Yīn Xiàtiān," Shāng demanded.

Yīn laughed shrilly. "Do you think it'll be that easy?!"

Shāng frowned. He honestly didn't think it would be. "You would throw your life away and never hear a song again?"

"Me? Throw my life away?" she took to her feet as the cicadas condensed to support her right leg again. "Who says I'm throwing mine away. I'm just getting rid of yours!"

Làng pulled at the pipa's strings, sending a pair of sonic attacks forward. Nearly at Yīn, they suddenly turned, whizzing past both Mù and Shāng closely across their fronts. The attack created a terrible crackling crunch as cicadas manifested, falling dead to the ground.

"You think you can sneak a fast one up on this guy's companions, you psycho buzzy bitch?!" Líng Yá jeered. "He's wise to your sneaky attacks now!"

Yīn stared at Làng. His hearing was much better than she had reasoned. He had fallen to her sneak attacks once, but it was becoming much clearer that technique wouldn't work a second time.

But there was one thing that was always a guarantee to get him to do what she wanted. This sonic sword was her key to the cage that would make that songbird hers forever. It was incredibly powerful and the only way to counter it was with powerful songs. The only one who could pull that off was Làng. There was a caveat. There always was. Làng could fight and sing at the same time.

There was still the trouble of the other two. Another musician who could also fight and that mystery. He held the Index and somehow he'd retrieved the devastating swords within them.

The swords and that Index...

Oh this would work out in her favor. She could take them down and obtain the Index. She could take it to her master and also have the songbird for herself. Without the little posse with him, Làng would surely lose his will to fight and surrender his song to her. Now to force Shāng to reveal the Index so she could snatch it.

"I'll show you the true power of the Cicada's Song!" Yīn leapt into the air, her right leg disappearing as cicadas swarmed around her. Drawing the sonic sword over her head, she quickly drew it downward. The sound was intense, causing the land around to shake violently. The makeshift bridge across the previous fissure cracked and fell into the recesses as it began to shift closed. The trees behind Làng burst apart from the echoing noise.

A new fissure began to form, forcing the group to split apart. Làng had nearly been caught in the center, leaping towards Shāng as the deep ravine formed.

"A desperate woman could resort to dangerous measures, huh," Shāng frowned.

"What gave you the idea we got to that point?!" Líng Yá hissed.

Shāng and Làng backed up as the fissure widened and hundreds of cicadas burst out from within the ground.

Shāng frowned. "Well this isn't good."

...

Author's musings

Well no, Shāng, this is indeed not good.

I thought a lot about what Yīn could really do with cicadas. Honestly they're not that threatening, aren't poisonous, don't bite, and make a lot of noise. But she's found a way to create her own limb and summon an army of cicadas at her command. She can use them to spy and well we know the fun cicada-in-the-ear trick from the start of the story. I do wonder what she plans on doing with this wall of cicadas. Is there some secret technique she knows? Hmmm.

We're on the final stretch. Prepare yourselves!