Chapter 125: Gathering Materials for Artifact Refining (Part II)
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“Laughing over the vast sea as the waves surge along both shores, rising and falling with the tides, remembering this day…”
“Your tearful eyes are fragile yet wounded; the pale crescent moon hooks onto the past…”
“Three days and three nights…”
Within layer upon layer of soundproofing formations, Wang Li sang one song after another. He was utterly mortified.
At last, he understood what those lines and little tadpole-like marks were, and he also grasped why Master Sheng had made him refine so many musical instruments.
Practice refining techniques? Not at all.
Master Sheng simply wanted to listen to music and had turned him into a living music player!
That was too much—Master Sheng, you had gone too far!
He was not a songstress. He was not a songstress!
“Smack!”
Master Sheng slapped Wang Li across the sea of consciousness, striking him dizzy and sending stars dancing before his eyes.
“I told you long ago not to discriminate against others, and especially not against their professions!”
Master Sheng sounded displeased. “You were born into a military family and entered the Pure Yang Temple without ever coming into contact with outsiders. You have never experienced the lives of ordinary people at the bottom, so you do not understand their hardships. Today, I shall teach you a lesson.”
“Smack!”
“Ow! Master Sheng, great Master Sheng, please stop hitting me! I was wrong, I was wrong!”
Wang Li begged for mercy, barely short of kneeling before Master Sheng.
The sea of consciousness was shaking. It hurt terribly.
When it was time to submit, one had to submit!
Master Sheng said, “Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they regard all things as straw dogs.”
“Heaven and earth are utterly impartial, but that does not mean they are without feeling. Every living being deserves respect. In the eyes of heaven and earth, all life is equal; there is no distinction between high and low.”
“Teaching you to regard all things equally does not mean turning you into a saintly fool. It is meant to teach you reverence.”
“No one in this world is truly invincible. A sense of reverence can help you understand what should be done and when, instead of relying on your own strength to recklessly disturb the world.”
“All right, keep the music going and continue singing. I have plenty of good songs here! Once you have practiced enough, record these pieces and you will not have to sing anymore.”
Wang Li: Who am I? Where am I? What are you talking about, Master Sheng?
Under Master Sheng’s vigorous palm-based instruction, Wang Li improved rapidly in the art of singing. Combined with his perfect pitch, he had mastered more than fifty songs after a little over a month.
Master Sheng was still not satisfied. He began teaching Wang Li to play the qin, beat drums, and blow the suona.
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Learning musical instruments was different from learning to sing. Talent alone was not enough; one also needed relentless, painstaking practice.
Even a cultivator who never forgot anything after seeing it once and possessed exquisite control over every part of his body could not skip the stage of practice.
After practicing from the musical score for half a month, Wang Li could finally play the full Song of the Gallant Wanderers. After giving Master Sheng a performance, he asked impatiently, “Master Sheng, I have not cultivated for a long time. Surely spending every day studying music and musical instruments is not right!”
Wang Li looked deeply aggrieved.
And he had every reason to be. He was on the verge of breaking through to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, yet he was wasting his precious cultivation time singing songs and playing instruments. It was utterly unreasonable.
Was it not better to cultivate properly and accumulate strength?
Master Sheng reclined in his chair, tapping out the rhythm on his thigh with one finger, still immersed in the flashing blades and clashing swords of the martial world.
“Keep playing. There is no need to rush your cultivation. What use is the Tribulation Transcendence Realm? Once Master Sheng has enjoyed himself, I will send you straight into the Mahayana Realm.”
Master Sheng spoke lazily without even lifting his eyelids.
“Smash!”
Wang Li hurled the qin to the ground.
“Master Sheng, that is enough!”
Wang Li was nearly hysterical. “I am a cultivator! Forget cultivating—I am now being forced to change careers and become a performer. Do not think I have no temper!”
“And what if you do have a temper?”
Master Sheng narrowed his eyes. “I have a temper too. That is why I came here to listen to you sing and play. Young people must learn to remain calm. Sharp edges need to be carefully ground down.”
“Master Sheng simply means to temper your disposition. You are already over thirty, yet you still act like a reckless youth, without the slightest patience!”
“If you refuse to accept that, then try cultivating. With six heavenly-grade techniques operating simultaneously, you should have reached the Tribulation Transcendence Realm long ago.”
“Hmph! Then I will try!”
Wang Li immediately sat cross-legged and entered meditation, operating all six of his heavenly-grade techniques at full power.
During this period, Master Sheng had told him to devote himself to learning artifact refinement, so he had not cultivated with such intensity. He had merely absorbed a little of the world’s primal energy from time to time to temper his body and soul.
Now, with his techniques suddenly running at full speed, that familiar sensation returned. He could clearly feel countless forms of spiritual energy, mixed with vast amounts of primal energy, surging into his body and coursing back and forth through his meridians.
He drew the primal energy out of his meridians and stored it inside his Nascent Soul.
“Hm? What is happening? Why is all the primal energy I store leaking away?”
His Nascent Soul seemed to have sprung a leak. No matter how much primal energy he infused into it, the energy would be stored one moment and return to his meridians the next.
Before long, his meridians were filled with dense primal energy, while the lower-grade elemental spiritual energy was being forced out of his body by its more powerful counterpart.
“Master Sheng, what is going on? I seem to be unable to cultivate!”
Wang Li asked in panic.
Master Sheng chuckled. “Your body is being tempered by primal energy. That is something only Mahayana cultivators can accomplish. You should be celebrating. Why are you howling?”
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Wang Li said urgently, “But I feel as if my cultivation has had no effect at all. I am simply wasting my effort.”
He could not sense his cultivation increasing, and he was terrified.
Master Sheng waved his hand. “Calm down, calm down. Did I not say that you would enter the Mahayana Realm directly?”
“You cannot draw down a heavenly tribulation anyway. After entering the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, you must be struck by lightning at regular intervals. If you want to strike yourself with lightning, I can send you directly into the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Li shook his head repeatedly. “That will not be necessary.”
Only a lunatic would want to strike himself with lightning. That was not cultivation; it was self-abuse!
He was not a masochist, nor did he have any desire to make life difficult for himself.
“But should you not tell me how to break through to the Mahayana Realm?”
Remembering what had happened during his previous breakthroughs, Wang Li asked apprehensively, “You do have a method, do you not?”
“Let me make one thing clear first. If it involves chewing a Golden Core raw or anything of that sort, I refuse. I would rather strike myself with lightning.”
Compared with that kind of agonizing breakthrough, Wang Li felt that striking himself with lightning would actually be easier to accept.
“Hahaha, of course I have a method. But we will discuss it after your natal spiritual artifact has been forged. For now…”
Master Sheng burst into laughter. “For now, consider this a vacation. Come, come—keep playing and keep singing!”
Wang Li: …
You really are something!
When one lived beneath another’s roof, one had no choice but to bow one’s head.
Since he could not continue breaking through and had nothing else to do, he might as well play the qin and sing a few songs. He could consider it repayment for Master Sheng’s kindness.
Yes, he did not want to sing or play at all. He was only doing it to repay Master Sheng’s benevolence.
That was all!
At last, the Earthheart Marrow ripened. Following Master Sheng’s instructions, Wang Li did not collect it all, taking only one-third.
“Though the treasure is excellent, you must not take everything. Sustainable development is the proper way!”
Master Sheng said, “Let us go. We are heading to the next place!”
“Coming!”
Wang Li sounded as though he had just heard celestial music. After erasing all traces of his presence from the cavern, he left.
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