Book 5 Chapter 4

Anyone can play Yin Gong!

"No, not that kid!"

When Bi Ryuyeon first stepped onto the stage

Sitting in the judges' chairs, Hong Lan, a pianist, said.

I had to squint my eyes.

She recognized Bi Ryuyeon, and she recognized the zither hanging on his back. So she couldn't help but say something.

"How reckless!"

The Heavenly Yin Master Hong Lan recognized Bi Ryuyeon at a glance as she stepped onto the stage. Moreover, the near-godlike mastery of his inkstick was something Hong Lan couldn't forget even if she tried. Even if he could forget Bi Ryuyeon's face…….

"Do you know him?"

A worker next to him asked. Hong Lan nodded. He didn't bother to hide the puzzlement on his face.

"That's strange, with his current level, there's no way he'll be able to use Yin Gong in the real world……. How reckless!"

How could she show up to a high-level martial arts tournament with only a single zither when she'd only been learning for so long? It was obviously a ridiculous decision to use the main zither on her back as a weapon, given that she had no other weapon. She could only be described as reckless.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't believe that Bi Ryuyeon was already at a level where she could actually apply her skills to music, given her lack of seriousness in class. Certainly, compared to her first impression, she was surprisingly talented and skilled in basic pitches, which surprised Hong Lan. It was clear at a glance that the occasional flashes of skill were not the result of a year or two of practice. Among the current first-grade pianists, he is probably the best in terms of pitch (not phrasing), along with Mo Yonghui. I hate to admit it, but…….

Still, that's that and this is this.

This is not to say that being good at playing white gold means you'll be able to play yin gong properly.

Yin is music, and Yin Gong is nothingness. The fields were as different as the sky and the earth. But what can you do with only one year of study!

Yin gong is not for everyone.

At this point, she had no idea that the results would turn out the way they did.

"Alas, I never thought that would happen, who would have dared!"

When she thought of the terrible atrocities Bi Ryuyeon had committed today, she couldn't help but sigh deeply in despair. If this was a disciple of her own, she would have kicked him out of the academy immediately. However, this was the Heavenly Martial Academy, and that bastard was not her immediate master. The sea of countless shining stars had lost their brightness in her wailing. At least, that's what it looked like to Moon Diary.

You don't need a beautiful sound to kill someone, but there are certain virtues that must be upheld in the art of music. Elegance, romance, and decency are the three great virtues of a musician. A musician is a proud and dignified man, not a moralist. They are not murderers, and they are not vagabonds, traveling in search of style, propriety, and romance.

Earlier today, Hong Lan almost lost the use of her zither due to a twist. Musical instruments are delicate, and the slightest impact can cause the sound to go out of tune. If the sound is out of tune, it means that the instrument's life is over. It was partly because he had overstretched himself, but if his beloved instrument had come to an end, he might have rushed out to beat Bi Ryuyeon to death.

For a swordsman, his sword is his life, and for a musician, his instrument is his life.

The fact that his life was almost ended by a foolish disciple made it even more incredible. Moreover, what Bi Ryuyeon had done was even more appalling.

Now, who could be still, and how could she be calm?

I can't believe I had to stand by and watch that ugly behavior. It would have been nice to see him lose cleanly……. Then we could have just laughed it off as a one-year old's game.

A sigh escaped her lips. For the first time in her life, she knew what it was like to be blind.

So did Bi Ryuyeon lose miserably? No, he didn't. On the contrary, he won. But this time, he won.

Bi Ryuyeon's first opponent was Danpyeong from Haenam Pa.

Danpyeong was praised by labor and management for his ability to transform swords.

This is why they called him a "flying sword" (快幻劍). It meant that the changes in his sword were fast and frightening. His indigo-blue robes, with silver thread embroidery that resembled the foam of crashing waves, were the symbol of the Hainan School and could only be worn by Hainan literati. Dan Ping, the Haenan Sect, to which he belonged, was both a Nine Great Sects and a non-Nine Great Sects. This is a play on words, because it can be said that the nine great schools are both nine and not nine. The reason is simple.

This is because, with the exception of the Four Great Schools of Shaolin, Wudang, Huashan, and Ami, the other Seven Schools have always changed places.

Of the nine seats in the Nine Great Schools, there was always competition for the remaining five seats, except for the four seats in the Four Great Schools, which were always reserved for the Seven Schools.

There were seven schools: the Chengsheng School, the Kunlun School, the Zhongnan School, the Joint School, the Hsiangshan School, the Point Chang School, and the Hainan School. They were always moving in and out of the old schools, so it was inevitable that invisible ties would bind them together.

They were eleven schools in all, but to call themselves the Old School was, in a way, very funny; and indeed they were so bound.

The fact that they were always changing positions, with the exception of the four stalwarts, did not diminish their pride enough to make them fit in with the other schools. The fact that they changed positions every time meant that they were all very good, and except for the Four Great Families, the outcome was often determined by luck. This makes it even harder to accept the outcome.

Thus, they created an unwritten code among themselves. It was now an established tradition that even if a school was not honored as one of the nine great schools at the five-yearly convention of the great schools, they would be treated as members of the same school when dealing with them.

Even when there is a gathering of the great schools, it is always these eleven schools that gather. There are never exactly nine sects gathering, but the name and signage are always that of a gathering of the old sects. At first glance, it's hard to understand. But if you look behind the scenes, they had no choice. They don't know when they will fall into that position. That's what they're afraid of.

They could not turn their backs on the Old School just because they were occasionally pushed out of their seats. Nor could the old schools turn their backs on them. Because they are in this position of not being able to withdraw from the old schools, and because their pride is too great and too high for them to associate with other lesser schools, they call themselves the Nine Great Schools, if only for the sake of name.

They could not, for the sake of their own pride, associate with anyone outside the Old School. No, they couldn't. That's why there were eleven schools of thought in the Nine Chapters, not nine.

Therefore, these eleven factions seem to call themselves all the old schools. Even the great powers had no choice but to recognize them.

There are many things like this in Kang Ho. He quarrels over ridiculous things, and he deliberately looks for formality in the most insignificant things.

This time around, as determined by a convention held once every five years to determine eligibility, the nine great schools were Shaolin, Wudang, Huashan, Ami, Qingcheng, Hsiangshan, Hsiangshan, Kunlun, Zhongnan, and Co. Unfortunately, the Haenan and Jiaqiang factions were excluded. However, even if they were excluded, they would always be descendants of the old schools, the great masters of Murim. And they were more than capable of doing so.

Dan Fei was an old sect master, and the last disciple of a non-old sect, the Haenan Sect. As a disciple of a prestigious sect, he couldn't possibly be as good as he was, and he brought an unfamiliar golden koto against such a person………………. Bi Ryuyeon's behavior was completely incomprehensible to common sense.

It's disrespectful to Yin Gong, and it's completely disrespectful to Danpai.

Musicianship is not for everyone. Wielding the pitch of a song as a weapon was great, and who could argue with that, but then came the problem.

When criticized for her lack of insight, she was forced to keep her mouth shut like a clam.

Although Bi Ryuyeon stood on the offstage holding the mukgong confidently, Yin Gong was indeed inefficient and ineffective, and its complexity and esotericism was such that it could not be mastered by just anyone. Even in the current powerhouse scene, there were only ten people who could count on their fingers to protect themselves and remain unharmed by Yin Gong.

The reason why there are stories of the Hundred Days Sword, the Thousand Days Spear, and the Ten Thousand Days Sword is because swords are inefficient and difficult to learn. That's why there are so few swordsmen in the Black Sword. You could say there are none. It takes too long to learn, and it takes even longer to put it into practice. A master of kendo is a master of the art. Otherwise, they're just a bunch of posers or…….

Yin gong is not a matter of 10,000 days. Even if you take it lightly, you need to learn about 20,000 days before you can really exert your power. In fact, 20,000 days is nearly 60 years. You can't just master the pipa by then. That's how difficult it is.

Of course, this is only true if you start with yin gong and master only yin gong, because although yin is yin, it needs an indispensable element called inner gong to reach its full power.

This inner gong, as it is popularly known, is indeed difficult and demanding to cultivate, which makes cultivating the yin gong even more difficult. Of course, if you start with a certain level of inner qigong, you will see much faster progress. Even so, half a year, less than 200 days, is far too short. This is true even if she had studied pitches beforehand.

In fact, in terms of studying music, I've been playing for nearly eight years. I've been practicing with the mukgeum for almost seven years. Although he didn't know much about musicianship, he had a knack for pitch. He must have learned it out of boredom, because he had time to spare. He wasn't exactly sure how old his teacher was either. All he knew was that he'd eaten a lot, a lot, a lot.

In fact, he didn't need it at all, because even if he didn't, he had plenty of other ways to catch people.

It seems to be an immutable truth that there is a difference between practicing and performing. As difficult as it was to learn Yin Gong, it was even more difficult to use it in practice.

Well… again, Bimu's biggest miscalculation was the fact that he overlooked the fact that his opponent was not a stationary plant, which is of course very common sense and almost ridiculously obvious, but because of this, his opponent was not going to fight as gracefully as he thought. Furthermore, the miscalculation of the distance was greater than expected. Once again, Bi Ryuyeon realized that Yin Gong was a very inefficient creature.

You're done ruminating, and now it's time to deal with an enemy who's about to run in and slash at you.

It's hard to see through her bangs, but her eyes are starting to glow blue.

There was no time left for her to play.