novelraw Chapter 1300: Did Ji You See a Ghost?
Chapter 1300: Did Ji You See a Ghost?
A group of people crowded together in a damp, dark environment, surrounded by silence. It was so quiet that you couldn’t see your fingers when you reached out. The atmosphere felt slightly oppressive and heavy, and everyone held their breath, trying not to make any sound.
Cheng Haoyue also had a tense face, his back hunched as his hand reached for the bow and arrow on his back, ready to attack at any moment.
"Goo~"
This bird call sounded closer.
"Goo~"
Even closer.
...
Faintly, the sound of wings flapping was heard, and Cheng Haoyue judged that the bird was no more than 100 meters from their position! The bird kept moving around unpredictably, sometimes high, sometimes low...
A breeze blew by, brushing against his cheek, carrying a cold chill. This chilly breeze caressed his face, slipped down his neck into his clothes, and for a moment, Cheng Haoyue felt his feet trembling with cold.
Not just cold, but combined with the dark, damp surroundings, it gave him a creeping feeling of unease.
Cheng Haoyue furrowed his brows and couldn’t help but slightly turn his head in an effort to see He Nu next to him, finding that He Nu’s breathing was extremely shallow—without listening carefully, it was hard to detect He Nu’s breathing.
Noticing the slightly anxious Cheng Haoyue, He Nu stretched out his foot and kicked him.
[Don’t panic!]
Cheng Haoyue steadied himself and exhaled a breath.
"Goo~"
Flap-la~
The bird flapped its wings, landed on the top of a tree, and stopped.
second.
seconds.
seconds.
...
Time ticked by, yet Ji You, the leader, didn’t issue a second command. Everyone huddled together with her in the mountain stream, trying their best to remain still.
In Cheng Haoyue’s mind, he kept turning over the words ’dig wild vegetables, dig wild vegetables, dig wild vegetables...’. In the damp cold, he kept muttering to himself until he even thought he smelled the fresh fragrance of wild vegetables at the tip of his nose...
Goo~
This time it wasn’t the bird call—it was his own stomach growling.
Hungry.
Continuous fighting had pushed his spirit to its limits, and he hadn’t thought about eating. At this moment, already entering the field on an empty stomach, Cheng Haoyue truly felt a hunger pang gnawing at his stomach.
So hungry.
Did the bird fly away?
Could he shoot it down and have a barbecue?
Thinking like this, Cheng Haoyue couldn’t help but drool. He swallowed hard, trying to discard these chaotic thoughts from his mind.
...
The bird landed on the branch, stopped for a while, then flew away, followed by several birds flying back...
Goo~
Goo~
Goo~
A few birds kept jumping and flying over branches... They were completely unaware that, just a few meters away from a stone, Ji You was squinting, tilting her ears, and attentively watching the surroundings.
Time quietly flowed, and when the birds flew away, everything returned to silence again. Not only Cheng Haoyue, but He Nu and others felt numb hands and feet due to hunger. Finally, Ji You moved.
Suddenly, she stretched her neck and opened her mouth to make a bird call: "Goo~"
At the very end of the team, Cheng Haoyue heard the sound and felt a jolt: the bird was back!
His barbecue.
The barbecue didn’t fly away!
Saliva unconsciously dribbled from Cheng Haoyue’s mouth! Then, before he could cheer, Ji You’s very faint voice reached his ears: "Everyone listens, discard the raft, follow me, bypass to the northeast, cross the canyon at full speed—no questions, no exchanges, pay attention to my commands."
Huh?
Cheng Haoyue shivered, goosebumps falling all over the place.
He... he remembered Ji You being at least 500 meters away, how... how could he hear her voice? And her voice seemed as if it was whispering right by his ear!
This!
This is Sound Wave Transmission!
Which is a very complex explanation, simplified as transmitting sounds or voices through the spiritual silk network for others to hear. Sounds mythical, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s not as fantastical as it sounds because the ambient techniques for utilizing sound waves were originally researched and learned from a Star Beast called Sound Bird. Humans then mimicked and improved it, creating methods suitable for humans by combining their own spiritual power. It allows not just transmission of sound between people but also enables attacks via sound waves.
This Star Beast, named ’Sound Bird’, emits ultrasonic waves that humans can barely hear, yet its sound waves can inflict significant damage to the human spiritual world. The higher the level of the Sound Bird, the greater the harm to the human spiritual world, as it can even directly use sound to destroy a person’s spiritual world, causing mental breakdown and death.
With current medical advancements, physical injuries are easily treated, but mental injuries are much harder to heal. A person’s spiritual world is quite fragile, and once injured, it’s extremely difficult to repair, while the mental damage caused by a Sound Bird makes healing even more challenging.
Thus, to humans, the Sound Bird is an extremely terrifying Star Beast. To put it into perspective, although both possess immense destructive power, a Level 10 Thunder Leopard Beast and a Level 10 Sound Bird cannot be compared. Because the Sound Bird’s sound wave attacks are unavoidable, even ten Thunder Leopard Beasts of the same level couldn’t cause as much damage to humans as a single Level 10 Sound Bird. Fortunately, due to its terrifying ability and overpowering capability, the Sound Bird’s numbers are exceedingly rare, and humans haven’t spotted a Sound Bird for a long time. The last occurrence was a century ago during a Beast Tide, where 3 Sound Birds appeared, causing devastating destruction.
Due to the enigmatic nature of the spiritual world and the fact that humanity’s research on it spans less than a few hundred years, the only effective remedy for mitigating mental damage and slowly repairing the spiritual world isn’t current medical technology but the Soul Device.
The higher the level of a Soul Device and the better it matches the harmed individual, the better the effects for repairing and healing mental injuries.
Thus, the Soul Device and soul artifact makers hold immense value to society, which is why their social status is extraordinarily high.
Let’s skip these details.
What shocked Cheng Haoyue wasn’t the Sound Wave Transmission or the sound wave attacks or even the terrifying Sound Birds, but Ji You mastering Sound Wave Transmission! Because, with such an ability being so overpowering, not everyone can learn it! Humans don’t naturally possess the Sound Bird’s vocal system; they can only mimic and improve it to artificially create a sound system similar to that of a Sound Bird, which requires integrating a person’s Spiritual Network to complete.
What is the Spiritual Network?
It’s woven and formed from Spiritual Silk.
The higher a person’s Spiritual Silk Cleaning Rate, the more Spiritual Silk they can use, and thus, the stronger the Spiritual Silk Network they can weave, allowing for broader extension.
Therefore, learning the Sound Wave Transmission skill requires extremely high spiritual power talent and a very high Spiritual Silk Cleaning Rate! According to some released official data, the minimum threshold for Sound Wave Transmission is a 50% Spiritual Silk Cleaning Rate! Meanwhile, some people go their whole lives with only a 10% Spiritual Silk Cleaning Rate, and Cheng Haoyue? Just 5%.
Want to learn Sound Wave Transmission?
Go to hell.
But?
How does Ji You know?
Did she go to hell?