DKIE CH50: The Elf King

Easy to say.

The dozens of forest rangers nearby were also looking at Luka.

The elf who had asked the question earlier confirmed that he did not see any regret or evasion in the youth’s eyes. He was too lazy to ask again and just said, “You will regret it.”

Then his gaze finally fell on the Great Priest.

At this moment, his face showed the appearance of a middle-aged man. Although it was righteous and solemn, the forest ranger inexplicably felt some resistance to the aura on his body.

He couldn’t say why. He followed the procedure and asked, “And you?”

Great Priest: “To see the Elf King.”

Luka answered first, “Then you will regret it too.”

Great Priest: “…”

The forest ranger saw that the two sides were not on good terms and was not prepared to get involved. He turned and walked into the depths of the forest.

Luka hurriedly followed the elves’ steps, looking up and clicking his tongue from time to time.

There were cobblestone paths and suspension bridges in the forest, but almost all of them were built in mid-air. Behind a natural green barrier, not far away, was a strange mushroom towering into the clouds.

Hundreds of small elves were queuing up to climb a ladder to the surface of the mushroom. From above, from time to time, a ‘woo woo’ sound like a train could be heard, suspected to be a traffic track.

The young elves, who had not yet seen the world, looked at the guests curiously.

Luka’s DNA stirred, “On that side of the mountain, on that side of the sea, there is a group of small elves. They are lively and smart, they are naughty and agile…”

Not everyone was used to him breaking into song at the drop of a hat.

The Great Priest glanced over coldly.

This was the first time he had truly looked at the other party. He had a playful, scoundrel-like appearance at all times, not inheriting a single trace of the Saintess’s nobility.

The classic song was catchy, and the little elves immediately learned it.

“On that side of the mountain, on that side of the sea…”

They sang the elf song while hopping up the ladder.

The forest ranger’s eyes softened a little when he saw this, and he even took the initiative to speak to Luka again, “I have read the article on the suona. Is the village that invented the suona really gone?”

Luka could now be sure that the forest ranger knew his identity. Fortunately, the other party did not mention the report that marketed his beauty.

Luka: “It’s gone.”

He couldn’t go back to Earth Village.

Forest Ranger: “Then the tune you just played, is it also from there?”

Luka continued to nod.

Forest Ranger: “This trip to see the King is fraught with danger. Why don’t you write down the musical score, and we can help you pass it on?”

How did humans put it? Passing on the torch.

Luka: “…You’re too kind.”

Seeing his refusal, the forest ranger was a little regretful, “We can’t speak for you in front of the King, but if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll just become a music slave.”

The forest ranger pointed him in a direction.

An elk was drinking water by the river. The streetlights on the trees were always on. In the distance, someone was mining stones.

Music slaves were also graded. Music slaves without a sense of music could only do manual labor forever.

“The last one who went to see the King to make a deal, his final sentence was longer than his lifespan.”

The forest ranger looked at the palace in the very front, “Although I have advised him, he is fearless because of his extraordinary background.”

After hearing this, Luka didn’t feel anything was wrong. The other party had already said the ugly words upfront. If he still wanted to take a gamble, he could only accept failure.

At this time, the ferret squeaked and proudly patted its chest: When things go wrong, just put me on the line.

Luka took a light breath. You’re really good at this.

The ferret always kept its butt towards the Great Priest. The latter, holding his status, did not bother with the thing raised by the Saint.

The Great Priest’s slight unease was mainly because he was worried about whether the Saint knew about the Holy Court’s plan. Otherwise, why would it be so coincidental?

Soon, the Great Priest dismissed this idea again.

If he really knew, he would not have just sent a pet and a孽子 (evil son) to cause trouble.

In the depths of the forest, countless white sky ladders wound around the trees, permanently housing a palace. The pillars of the palace were all replaced by the same tall and sturdy mushrooms as before.

Vines moved in the form of snakes on the observation deck, singing strangely.

Below the palace was the entrance to the elven race’s treasury. They had not deliberately concealed this. In a place personally guarded by the Elf King, not many would come to seek death.

Forest Ranger: “Go in.”

Luka remembered the Holy Tower guard, “No need for an announcement?”

Forest Ranger: “We don’t have this item.”

“…”

The guards in the huge palace were all stern and unsmiling. Luka had thought there would be a special elf to guide the way.

As a result, every few hundred meters, an elf would point him in a direction with their eyes. One after another, he was passed all the way to the main hall by their eyes.

After looking at others’ eyes all the way, Luka sighed deeply, “They really have work in their eyes.”

The ferret’s eyes suddenly turned into red hearts, and it gently flicked Luka’s arm with its tail: Look quickly.

A beauty, a great beauty!

Quill Pen coldly glanced at this old thing.

In the clean and bright hall ahead, there was a huge Liujiaoqin.

There was no throne here. On the exquisite stage built of walnut wood, a group of small animals were performing happily, like a fairy tale kingdom.

The man who made the ferret’s eyes fill with hearts was quietly watching the performance. He was the only audience member.

The moment Luka looked over, he also had to admit that this was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. His long golden hair showed his innate elegance, and his whole body exuded the breath of nature. All living beings would subconsciously want to get close to him. Even the ferret could not escape this.

Quill Pen didn’t even take a second look and reminded, “On the wall.”

Luka came back to his senses, his eyelids twitched violently. The headline of the newspaper posted on the wall was incredibly familiar and glaring: Heavens! A Face More Beautiful Than the Elf King’s.

Almost at the same time, the Elf King stood up from the audience.

“You have come at a bad time and interrupted today’s performance.”

The small animals on the stage sensed the unfamiliar aura and had all run away.

Luka and the Great Priest were both about to speak, but the Elf King did not give them a chance. Two elven guards came over and added two more vine chairs. They were living plants and could grow thorns at any time to cover the person sitting on them.

Only after Luka and the Great Priest had sat down did the Elf King speak again.

“Since you are here, you should know that a transaction with the forest rangers is only a barter, but here with me, life and death are your own responsibility.”

This voice was like the clouds and mist lingering on the top of a mountain, easily making one feel intoxicated. But the last sentence was chilling.

Luka and the Great Priest nodded one after another.

The Elf King continued, “Only those who pass the test are qualified to negotiate the chips. Unfortunately, so far, no visitor has been able to do it.”

“The glory of the Holy Court is above all else,” the Great Priest’s eyes showed no fear. He asked lightly, “What is the test?”

The Elf King did not answer, but just said coldly, “If you fail later, the Holy Court will not be able to protect you. As for you, if you cannot pass…”

His cold, sharp gaze finally swept to Luka, “Leave here immediately.”

The air instantly fell silent.

No matter how calm the Great Priest was, at this moment, he was deeply surprised and even had a trace of anger.

“Are you joking, Your Excellency?”

This differential treatment was too exaggerated.

The Elf King was unmoved. It was Luka who covered his mouth and said in a low voice, “I asked someone to pull some strings for me.”

The Elf King would not give face to one force, but with multiple, he would inevitably have to consider it.

The communication stone had a distance limit, so he had specially gone to see the Saint again before setting off, asking him to help contact the dragon race and have the dragon race put in a good word for him.

The dragon race had a good relationship with the centaur race, so the centaur chief also helped to put in a good word.

In the first draft that Luka had sent to Cullen, he had specially included a letter written to Lilian, hoping that her pharmacist father and succubus mother could try their best to speak well of him. If it was convenient, it would be best to mention it to the lord of the Boulder City as well.

As a modern person, he deeply understood the importance of connections.

After speaking, Luka even looked at the Great Priest in surprise, “You didn’t look for connections?”

“…”

The air became silent for the second time.

He really didn’t!

In a foreign land, he just charged in with his faith?

Luka immediately straightened his clothes and sat upright, “The Holy Court is amazing to have you.”

The surrounding aura was invisibly distorted, making it difficult for people to breathe.

Luka sat leisurely in his chair, waiting for the test to begin.

The Great Priest’s eyes were gloomy. It seemed the newspaper had not exaggerated. This kid could not only cultivate, but his level was not low now, and his spatial resistance was quite strong.

The Elf King ignored the dispute between them, casually chanted a magic spell, and the exquisitely crafted Liujiaoqin floated silently onto the stage.

He then also walked onto the stage. The lights automatically shone. When the Elf King sat by the qin, everything was like a work of art.

Luka narrowed his eyes. A competition of musical instruments?

The Great Priest, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief. There was more than one priest. The Holy Court had specially dispatched him because his achievements in music were far beyond ordinary people.

“That sentence you said before was good,” the Elf King’s gaze was slightly lowered, his eyes only on the strings. “Only music is eternal.”

Luka raised an eyebrow lightly.

The Elf King actually knew a sentence he had said outside the forest so clearly. He was sure that there was no divine sense covering the area at that time.

“Are we just competing with the Liujiaoqin?” Luka asked.

The Elf King shook his head, “I need an audience.”

“Whoever listens and thinks it’s good, that’s passing the test,” his long fingers rested gracefully on the strings. The Elf King’s tone changed, mixed with a bit of sharpness, “Of course, if it’s insincere words, I won’t give face to anyone.”

Luka transmitted his voice to Quill Pen, “I have a bad feeling.”

The elven race was best at music. To use this to test the crowd was too strange.

The Great Priest also frowned. Since the Elf King said so, he must be confident in judging the truth of the answers later.

But what was the difficulty of this question?

A beautiful melody like a clear spring slowly flowed. The timing of each stroke of the strings was just right.

Everyone stopped thinking and listened intently.

Luka had never heard such a moving performance. Just as he was intoxicated, the Elf King suddenly opened his mouth to sing—

The guards outside the door put on a pained expression in advance.

Luka and the Great Priest were not prepared at all and were almost shaken out of their souls by this voice.

Just like the dragon race’s physical body, the elven race’s voice was born to be a weapon. If an ordinary person was screeching, the audience would only find it unpleasant. But if it was an elf, and a powerful elf, the impact would be almost like a missile launch.

The Elf King was still performing with emotion.

The hearts in the ferret’s eyes completely disappeared. It frantically shot healing light waves at itself. Even so, it eventually fainted.

Quill Pen, facing a great disaster, each for himself, calmly asked, “Can I wait outside?”

He was going to die.

Luka used the greatest rationality of his life to not seal his five senses and stared at the stage in disbelief.

Was this reasonable?

The instrument was played so well, but he was tone-deaf!

Not a single note was in tune.

The mechanical clock on the wall ticked past one minute and thirty seconds. When the Elf King reached the climax, two batches of guards outside the door had already been dragged away.

Pain.

This singing was too painful.

The Great Priest’s originally upright face had a trace of ferocity.

The ferret’s body was almost stiff.

The whole song was two minutes long.

But Luka felt as if two civilized eras had passed, and he had even lost his sense of time.

He had truly lost it.

The great pressure produced by this directly caused a short-term dissociative disorder.

Quill Pen: “Hold on, don’t let your soul scatter.”

Luka: “…”

Just as his self-awareness was about to become chaotic, the singing finally stopped. The Elf King returned to his initial cold and otherworldly appearance and asked, “How was it?”

Luka kicked his long legs, and the stool automatically moved back an inch. The Great Priest, who was protruding by a few centimeters, passively obtained the right to speak first.

Facing the Elf King directly for the first time, after struggling to recover from the song, the Great Priest actually showed unexpected calmness.

Under the impact of the sound wave, his hand was still a little unsteady. He just took out a bottle and secretly thought that the Saintess was indeed prophetic.

Originally, he was a little unsure, but now he was seventy to eighty percent sure.

The Elf King was not born tone-deaf. It should be related to the battle with the Beast King. The Saintess said that in that battle, the Beast King had found the descendants of the curse masters and used a curse of destruction, which would inevitably leave a hidden injury.

Now it seemed that the curse had directly caused the Elf King to be unable to recognize normal pitch and rhythm anymore.

For an elf, this was a devastating trauma.

The other party couldn’t even change himself and was妄想 (delusionally hoping) to change the world’s aesthetics.

Great Priest: “In here are a hundred drops of life liquid.”

The Tree of Life could only condense a few drops of life liquid every ten years. The effect could be seen from its name. Not only could it repair any hidden injuries, but it could also purify all curses. Every time it appeared at an auction, it could be sold for hundreds of millions.

And this was a hundred drops!

With the superposition, it might be able to directly eradicate the curse of the curse masters.

It was almost impossible for anyone in the world to refuse such a temptation. In the Elf King’s icy eyes, there were also some fluctuations.

The Great Priest noticed this change and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

“The Holy Court has always come with sincerity.”

As he spoke, he looked at Luka and the annoying beast on his shoulder, unlike someone who only brought connections.

The ferret was lying on Luka’s shoulder, its tail hanging down.

It was outmatched.

It could only heal the fundamental damage to the body, it couldn’t purify curses.

Luka always felt that there was something strange about this life liquid, but he had just experienced a round of musical bombing, and his thinking was very slow.

The Elf King did not ask the Great Priest for an answer of whether it was good or not. It was obvious that he was a little moved by these hundred drops of life liquid.

The Great Priest turned his head and smiled, “Child, it’s your turn to appreciate. Do you think that song just now was good?”

Luka did not speak.

Singing like that, even a deaf person couldn’t say insincere words.

The atmosphere became oppressive in his silence.

“You can’t answer…” the Great Priest said, neither lightly nor heavily. “Then how dare you come to trade?”

Luka knew that this was using language and the temptation of the life liquid to make the Elf King more critical of him and have less patience.

After another ten seconds of silence, the Elf King looked at the guard at the door, obviously about to send him off.

Seeing Luka still sitting motionless in the vine chair, seemingly wanting to struggle a bit more, the ferret recommended itself: Put me on the line!

Luka shook his head.

He finally spoke. His strategy was the same as the Great Priest’s, avoiding a direct answer.

“There is no true empathy in the world, but I am sure that I am the only one in the world who understands your feelings.”

The nonsensical words successfully delayed him for a few seconds.

In these few seconds, Luka continued to speak, “I also have very profound art, but it is not understood by the world.”

As he spoke, he took a big step onto the stage.

He seized every moment, otherwise, when he returned to the question of the test, he would have no chance.

Under the Elf King’s gaze, Luka cleared his throat, obviously about to sing.

No one could understand this move. No matter if he sang well or badly, it was a bad move. Singing well was tantamount to slapping the Elf King in the face in public. Deliberately singing badly… that was even more courting death.

The Great Priest noticed that the Elf King’s eyes were tinged with a bit of gloom. He gave up trying to stop him and waited to see the joke.

The next second, a kind of singing that did not belong to this world began to echo in the palace.

Throwing a brick to attract a jade. There was a real brick in front, so Luka’s voice was unusually pleasant.

Luka not only sang, he also danced.

With a sudden movement, Luka unexpectedly spread his wings and flew into mid-air on the spot, remaining suspended.

Illuminated by the lights from above, the entire scene was both brilliant and bizarre.

The ups and downs of the performance were enough to make the audience gasp.

“Ah~~~~~”

Just as they were speechless at the sudden ascent, a simple hum, after being amplified by magic, resounded for thousands of miles. The surrounding tall glasses were all shattered.

The Elf King was stunned.

All the new guards turned their heads in unison.

Luka looked down thoughtfully. To put it bluntly, the elven race was mainly about art. To move the Elf King, one could not use all the current mainstream methods.

Otherwise, any performance would be like a slap in the face.

The abnormally cold and ethereal dolphin sound was the upper limit of the human voice so far.

Anyone who heard it for the first time would be very shocked. It was most suitable for use here.

Just being beautiful was far from enough.

When he returned to the repetitive, high-pitched melody again, Luka’s joints began to move with the rhythm, twisting little by little.

At the same time, using his abdominal voice, he interspersed imitations of a clockwork spring winding.

The lights flickered, and with every pause, the sound of a spring being tightened could be heard.

Including the Elf King, everyone’s brows were knitted.

His body control was formidable, just like a… a real marionette.

That’s right, that’s the feeling!

For the elves who were born to yearn for freedom, it was incredibly uncomfortable to watch. They wished they could personally cut the non-existent strings in the air.

The new guards who had just changed shifts at the door couldn’t help but speak, “Can we force him down?”

This could be considered a danger to public safety!

Not a single guard could bear it, but out of their race’s innate curiosity for new art, they couldn’t help but watch. And after watching, they couldn’t bear it.

Under the vicious cycle, their whole bodies felt like they were being scratched by cats.

Even the Great Priest couldn’t help but feel that the ceiling was missing a rope to hang Luka.

There was no empathy in the world. Now there was.

The combination of the sound of nature and the ‘flying corpse from heaven’ was very similar to the perfect instrument performance and the singing that made people want to die.

Just then, Luka’s neck tilted, like a rooster whose head had been twisted off. His two eyes stared straight at him, his mouth opened, “How was it?”

Elf King: “…”

The performance ended. Luka escaped from gravity and flew straight down.

For a time, the surrounding gazes were all focused on his limbs, especially his neck, making sure that what had just happened was just a performance and not really broken.

Luka only looked at the Elf King, his gaze sincere, “Tragedy is more shocking than comedy. My dance of pain, if paired with your singing, will definitely pain the audience to death.”

The two were simply the most compatible partners.

Everyone subconsciously imagined the combination of the soul singer and the dance that made people’s skin crawl earlier, and more or less gasped.

The name of the group, was it called ‘The Audience Must Die’?!

Pained to death, the contemporary pioneer Luka was very satisfied with everyone’s reaction.

“I have learned many novel arts from the common people in the past. Ballet, tango, jazz… I came this time also for exchange.”

These were definitely not in line with the elven race’s aesthetics, but it did not prevent him from using them to show off and create a ‘know-it-all’ persona to arouse the Elf King’s curiosity.

Finally, not forgetting to add a sentence, Luka cleverly switched the concept, “Art is priceless, and your singing is also art.”

“…After all, beautiful singing is always similar, while true art is ever-changing.”

After speaking, Luka glanced proudly at the Great Priest.

No way, no way.
Would someone, in the name of treatment, want to eliminate art!

__

Author’s note:

Excerpt from Luka’s diary:
Pursuing spiritual civilization over material civilization = niche hobbyist
Please call me a treasure singer!
Ferret [insincere] [loving] [painful]:
Alex:
Great Priest:
Elf King: …
Thank you all for your feedings and irrigations yesterday. Today’s me is a long and thick me! Teacher Yu will randomly drop fifty concert red envelopes~ [Yes, he is that poor]
This chapter is recommended to be read while listening to classic dolphin sound songs. There is one that is particularly suitable, but I forgot its name…
At the beginning of the month, a brief request for nutrient solution. Let me stay on the list for two more days.
PS: Author’s notes are free.