Struck by her stunning beauty, Gu Ningyun struggled to regain her composure and followed Martial Aunt Kong into May. "Sorry to trouble you, Martial Aunt Kong."
The courtyard of May was filled with roses, blooming vibrantly under the moonlight.
The petals were a striking red and their fragrance was rich, yet they suited the ethereal and elegant Martial Aunt Kong surprisingly well.
There was an open space in the center of the roses where Kong Lingyan had placed two meditation mats. The two of them sat down across from each other.
"Ningyun, I have some theories regarding the problem you mentioned, but I still need a bit of proof."
"Play a rendition of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 now. Let me listen."
"Alright."
Gu Ningyun took out her ancient zither and played 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 to the best of her ability.
The smooth, sarcastic, and sharp melody flowed from the strings as Kong Lingyan listened intently.
Once the song ended, as expected, nothing happened.
Holding onto a sliver of hope, Gu Ningyun looked up at her martial aunt.
Martial Aunt Kong did not disappoint her. "Although I have never played 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 myself, I can tell you the essence of music cultivation."
"Unlike spells that only require the manifestation of spirit energy, for a melody to take effect, it is tied to the music cultivator's emotions."
Perfected Person Kong shifted into a relaxed posture, resting her chin on her hand as she tilted her head to look at her. "Ningyun, aside from processing ingredients, you've never actually killed anything, have you?"
Gu Ningyun was stunned.
It was true. Over two lifetimes, aside from killing fish for cooking or defeating virtual opponents generated by the Trial Tower, she had never truly taken a life or seen real blood.
Was this the reason she couldn't bring out the true power of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》?
As if sensing her confusion, Martial Aunt Kong continued, "Your guess is correct. That is exactly the reason."
"Attack melodies require the performer to harbor the intent to harm others, and this is especially true for a melody at the level of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》."
"Only by truly entering the artistic conception of the song can you exert its power to the fullest. Think about when you play melodies of other categories—isn't it the same?"
Gu Ningyun recalled her devotion to the music and her understanding of the artistic conceptions when she played 《Clear Heart》 and 《Zongjiao》. A spark of realization lit up in her heart.
"I understand, Martial Aunt Kong."
Martial Aunt Kong nodded with satisfaction. "Most music cultivators encounter this situation at your stage. There is no need to worry."
"Once you've experienced more, you will naturally be able to play attack melodies."
...
After understanding why she couldn't play 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 properly, Gu Ningyun stopped dwelling on it.
If she couldn't play attack melodies, she still had spells and sword qi; she didn't need to worry about her offensive capabilities for the time being.
After finishing an entire night of cultivation, she took out the defense melody 《The Qin and the Wei》.
Perhaps her talent was strong enough that both the previous 《Zongjiao》 and 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 were powerful and versatile melodies.
The same was true for this defense melody, 《The Qin and the Wei》.
The tone of 《The Qin and the Wei》 was lighthearted and passionate. When played, it could form a sound shield to defend against both divine sense and physical attacks.
The range of the sound shield could be controlled by the music cultivator. As long as there was enough spirit energy and divine sense, it could cover as far as the melody could reach.
And the range of the melody was related to the music cultivator's spirit energy and primordial spirit cultivation.
Since returning from May, Gu Ningyun had carefully organized and summarized her thoughts by combining Martial Aunt Kong's guidance with her previous experience playing several melodies.
Therefore, when learning 《The Qin and the Wei》, she quickly entered the right state and formed a transparent sound shield.
After practicing repeatedly until she could construct the sound shield quickly and at will, Gu Ningyun sought out the Trial Tower enthusiast, Jun Luo, to test its effectiveness.
She had no other choice; her other three companions were busy studying the four arts of cultivation, so Jun Luo was the only one who could spar with her.
After breakfast, the two arrived at the small plaza of Ruiyu Pavilion.
Gu Ningyun looked at him with pleasant surprise. "You mean you can spar with me for the next period of time?"
"Yes." Jun Luo's voice was cold, yet carried a hint of helplessness. "I'm stuck on the seventieth floor."
Gu Ningyun laughed. What a coincidence; she was stuck there too.
"It seems we're stuck at the same hurdle, Jun Luo."
Jun Luo was uncharacteristically surprised. "You too?"
"Yes. That monkey is too fast; I can't keep up with it either." Gu Ningyun nodded solemnly.
"My sword qi can slow it down, but I still can't even catch its shadow." Jun Luo was very calm and resigned.
"It's fine. We'll go back once our cultivation is higher. For now, let's just hone our swords."
As they spoke, he already held his peach wood sword, his entire body radiating a chilling sword qi.
Gu Ningyun quickly constructed a sound shield and took the first strike.
Feeling the damage the strike dealt to the sound shield, Gu Ningyun asked him, "How much power did you use?"
"Thirty percent."
"Try eighty percent. Don't worry; if I can't take it, I can just run with my zither."
...
The days of sparring passed quickly. At the beginning, Gu Ningyun couldn't even withstand Jun Luo's sword qi at eighty percent power, but now she could hold out for three strikes even when Jun Luo went all out.
Furthermore, if she used spirit energy to support her ancient zither, playing while moving around, she could dodge some attacks and exchange moves with Jun Luo for even longer.
During one practice session, she secretly used spirit energy imbued with mysterious power to test the shield's condition.
She discovered that after using the mysterious power, the shield became more than ten times stronger.
However, after taking three strikes, Gu Ningyun intentionally let the shield be shattered.
This was just sparring with a partner; using mysterious power would negate the training effect, so it wasn't necessary.
And just as she was certain Jun Luo still had trump cards he hadn't used, she didn't want to easily expose her own.
After the shield shattered once again, Gu Ningyun put away her ancient zither.
Through repeated sparring, she had mastered the physical defense function of 《The Qin and the Wei》.
With her current spirit energy reserves, being able to withstand three strikes from a powerful sword cultivator like Jun Luo was already her limit.
As for the divine sense defense, Jun Luo didn't know any divine sense attacks, so she couldn't practice that for now.
During their sparring, Gu Ningyun also noticed that Jun Luo was much stronger than her when it came to honing sword qi.
So, she took out her peach wood sword, released her wind-attribute sword qi, and gave Jun Luo a provocative smile. "Jun Luo, how about sparring with swords?"
As soon as she said this, Gu Ningyun saw a sudden surge of battle intent in Jun Luo's eyes, and even the cold aura around him dissipated quite a bit.
From that day on, Gu Ningyun deeply experienced the depth of Jun Luo's refinement in the Dao of the Sword.
Her strength in the Dao of the Sword was far inferior to Jun Luo, who had begun honing his sword at age five and refined his skills in the Trial Tower every day.
In the beginning, she was completely suppressed.
After nearly injuring her, Jun Luo suppressed his strength.
However, Gu Ningyun told him to fight without holding back, because she knew that only this way could she improve at the fastest speed, and Jun Luo could also gain something from the sparring.
Understanding her intent, Jun Luo no longer held back.
Consequently, every night when Wen Xuan and the others returned from their tasks and passed the Ruiyu Pavilion plaza, they would see two blood-stained figures lying on the ground, gasping for air.
When she first saw them, Wen Xuan was frightened.
She frantically pulled a Return-to-Spring Pill from her storage bag while crying out, "What happened? Who came to Ruiyu Pavilion to beat you two up?"
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