Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After Uncle Lan left, Ye Futian was left alone in the String Pavilion; he was still in a trance.
He had thought that it would take a long time to come to this absolute holy land in Taixuan Region, observe the cultivation of the people in this holy land, and make contact with its top characters.
He did not expect everything to progress so fast just because of a few words from the House Master of Taixuan.
But when he learned that the House Master of Taixuan was one of Lord Taixuan’s four disciples, he was relieved.
But this favor would not be easy to return.
Although, officially, he was only the musician caretaker of the String Pavilion, Ye Futian was not so ignorant. He could use any of the Guqins at will and peruse the music scores collected here. What kind of good fortune was this?
Countless many geniuses of Taixuan Region had difficulty even getting to Taixuan Mountain, let alone guarding the String Pavilion.
The String Pavilion was very spacious. Many guqins were hanging everywhere, and as to the music scores on the bookshelves, Ye Futian took some and started reading them, soon becoming absorbed.
His accomplishment in music was extraordinary, but the fact was that he had a solid foundation of spiritual will, and he had cultivated in Divine Melody and demon songs. As for his overall accomplishment in guqin, there was still a lot of room for improvement. After all, he had only studied guqin when he was a youngster, and his knowledge at the time was limited.
And now, everything in this pavilion seemed to open up another door for him.
Ye Futian entered a trance and was unaware of the passing of time or whether or not the House Master Taixuan had already departed. However, she should not ask for him again, as her intention was to send him to Taixuan Mountain.
The String Pavilion also had a backyard. In the backyard, there were ancient mounds connected together. There were many man-made caves and flattened stone platforms. There were traces left by previous occupants everywhere, which were probably left by the String Emperor when he cultivated here.
Ye Futian’s body flickered and came to the edge of a mountain. In front of him was a sea of clouds. The clouds were misty, beautiful, and ethereal, and the scenery was magnificent and out of this world.
Buzz. Suddenly, a radiant figure emerged from the sea of clouds. Its brilliant wings illuminated heaven and earth. Colorful streams of light, along with divine light flowed; it was a divine bird. Ye Futian was stunned to see that it was a phoenix.
The phoenix glanced at Ye Futian, and there seemed to be some surprise in those rebellious eyes. It then turned around and flew away. In the vast sea of clouds in the distance, clouds and fog tossed and tumbled with the occasional appearance of divine creatures, blue cranes, fire phoenixes, and such.
There was also an ancient guqin on the cliff by the sea. This ancient guqin was engraved with the pattern of phoenix; it was a Phoenix Guqin. There were several large characters carved into the giant stone next to it: Flight of the Phoenix Pair.
“There is something here.” Ye Futian waved his sleeves, wiping away the dust. Below the carving of the words Flight of the Phoenix Pair, lines of ancient golden characters were revealed, just like musical notes, imprinted directly into his mind; it was the music score.
Ye Futian sat cross-legged and was quietly absorbing the music score. After a long while, he opened his eyes and came to the guqin, placing his palms on the strings.
Accompanied by the movement of his fingers, the rhythm fluctuated. It was like the chanting of phoenix, crystal clear. The guqin played slowly. Its sound drifted toward the sea of clouds. The sea of clouds rolled in the distance; the bright streaming light came toward this place as if a divine bird—the phoenix, appeared—hovering above the sea of clouds, its eyes focused on Ye Futian.
The notes flickered and penetrated its mind, but its eyes did not waver, but it still focused on Ye Futian. Finally, as if it couldn’t help it any longer, a voice came out of its mouth, “It’s awful.”
The sound of the guqin came to an abrupt stop. Ye Futian turned back to look at the phoenix. He was a little embarrassed.
He was despised by this phoenix.
“Sorry, I haven’t mastered this piece of music yet,” Ye Futian said awkwardly. This Flight of the Phoenix Pair was a song of the Phoenix Guqin and could resonate with the phoenix, but clearly, he had failed.
In fact, when he was perusing the music score, Ye Futian thought of Ling’ er—the Dragon Master.
They could communicate with the dragons by the sound of music, and create resonance, allowing them to control the true dragons directly and even release their abilities through the true dragon. This was the talent of the Dragon Master.
And this Flight of the Phoenix Pair was similar but even more exquisite.
“I just needed to practice more,” Ye Futian continued when he saw there was no response from the other.
“Just don’t torment me anymore,” the phoenix uttered in a human voice. It said with annoyance, “several other places have the same unusual guqin and music. You could just go and cultivate there instead.”
“…”
Ye Futian was speechless. This bird really hated him!
“Every guqin is accompanied by its own piece of music?” Ye Futian asked. How capricious…
“Well, some were obtained by String Emperor’s predecessors, and some were made by his own hands. You are still far from that level,” the phoenix said. His eyes proud, looking at Ye Futian, he said, “Here, there are six prestigious songs left, which can all evoke visions, but it is not so easy to learn. Your attainments are too shallow and are not yet enough.”
“My skill is poor?” Ye Futian was kind of depressed. This was the first time someone had questioned his musical skill.
“Very poor,” phoenix said bluntly.
“How poor?” Ye Futian looked really confused.
“Unbearable,” phoenix responded.
“…” Ye Futian’s eyes lingered on this phoenix. A great demon phoenix of True Self Plane, he could easily overcome. It had been a long time since he had unleashed on anyone.
“Mom, Dad, some people want to hit me,” the phoenix sent out a cry into the far distance. Instantly, in the depth of the sea of clouds, two phoenix cries were heard, loud and clear. A mighty demon emperor swept through, looming over the heavens, and there was a strong pressure of the Great Path appearing above the sky, landing on Ye Futian across the endless and distant land.
“I…”
Ye Futian badly wanted to give the other a beating, but the tone of his voice changed immediately. He said with a smile, “Beautiful phoenix, we can discuss this.”
Did this girl call on her parents?
Was this fair?
The fact that there were two phoenix demon emperors deep in the sea of clouds, what would this mean for the future?
No wonder Taixuan Mountain was really a sacred place; there were demon phoenixes in its backyard. Wasn’t this great?
Ye Futian thought that when he got to this state in the future, he would also raise a great, big hoard… That would be really cool.
“How do you know that I am beautiful?” The phoenix’s body was dazzling with divine light. She turned into a human form. Her figure, after she shifted into human form, was perfect. Her skin was delicate, and her body was covered in a fiery red feather robe made of divine feathers. She was an extremely sexy woman, hot as fire.
“I know it just by the voice,” Ye Futian said seriously. He couldn’t afford to aggravate her.
As the progeny of two great demon emperors and born in Taixuan Mountain, this little phoenix was probably created with the best between heaven and earth. Even though her cultivation was of the Saint Plane, but she still behaved like a young girl. Even Kong Xuan, who was also the descendent of the Demon Peacock Emperor, was still unable to compare with this one.
“Smart guy.” The little phoenix assessed Ye Futian seriously, then said, “You look pretty good. Are you the disciple of String Emperor?”
“No,” Ye Futian shook his head.
“You are not secretly coming here to cultivate on Taixuan Mountain, are you? If so, I suggest you leave immediately,” the little phoenix advised.
“Uncle Lan allowed me to come here,” Ye Futian replied.
“Is that so?” The little phoenix’s beautiful eyes moved around as if thinking about something. No one had been to the String Pavilion for a long time. Now that someone was here to play music, it would be alleviated of some of its boredom.
“My name is Feng Yan. What is yours?”
“Shen Jing,” Ye Futian replied. “Feng Yan, just as expected, your name is as beautiful as your person.”
Feng Yan revealed a bright smile, and Ye Futian secretly felt a little guilty. Little girls were so easy to appease.
“Feng Yan, can you tell me a little bit about the situation here?” Ye Futian asked.
“Sure.” Feng Yan agreed readily, but just then, a wave of heavenly might descended. A voice was heard, “Feng Yan, it’s time to cultivate.”
Feng Yan’s face collapsed in an instant. Above the void, a phantom figure of a phoenix appeared, looking down at Ye Futian.
“Shen Jing greets the honorable elder,” Ye Futian saluted slightly.
“If Mr. Lan let you cultivate here, then focus on cultivating in quiet and don’t disappoint Mr. Lan,” that phoenix spoke casually, her voice full of authority and majesty. She then took Feng Yan to leave.
As Ye Futian had suspected, Feng Yan’s birth was exceptional. She had been born after both of her parents had become emperors, further blessed by spiritual treasure given by Lord Taixuan. Feng Yan was born as a congenital saint and could reach Saint Plane through the natural process of growth. This was a talent only possessed by divine beasts, impossible for humans to achieve.
Therefore, according to the comparison between the Phoenix clan and humans, Feng Yan was very young.
This young one was very mischievous.
However, if Mr. Lan arranged it, she would not do anything.
Ye Futian watched the other leave and felt a little bummed out. Since Feng Yan had always been here, she must know a lot about the String Pavilion and Taixuan Mountain. If he could have coaxed her to stay, it would save him a lot of trouble.
However, the looks from that female phoenix were pretty fierce.
“Crap,” Ye Futian mumbled. He could only mumble slowly to himself. He looked at this area. Six famous songs. It seemed that he would not be bored on this Taixuan Mountain.
…
Thus, Ye Futian cultivated alone in the String Pavilion, as if forgotten by everyone else. No one paid attention to his existence, and he was happy to be by himself. Feng Yan would occasionally come to see him secretly, exchanging a word or two.
However, that female phoenix guarded him like he was a thief or something, which really upset Ye Futian. Was he that kind of person?
Although Ye Futian was not disturbed, many cultivators on Taixuan Mountain knew of his existence.
After all, he became the only guardian of the String Pavilion.
This position was coveted by many but was hard to obtain.
There were many cultivators on Taixuan Mountain, including many geniuses of the younger generations. At this time, upon Taixuan Mountain, a group was discussing.
“Yesterday, I passed by the String Pavilion and heard the sound of the guqin inside. It should be the musician who was sent over by Miss Four?” someone said.
“Shen Jing, what is the background of this person?” someone asked curiously.
Everyone shook their heads, and one of them said, “It was said that he was a musician at Taixuan Tavern, and because Miss Four valued his talent in music, she took him up the mountain. Mr. Lan arranged for him to stay at the String Pavilion.”
“String Pavilion, on Taixuan Mountain, is the place that many yearn for. Why would someone who had just entered Taixuan Mountain can cultivate n String Pavilion?” When he spoke, he looked at a young man next to him. That young man was also a cultivator of Guqin Path, whose attainment was great, but still,l there was no such opportunity for him!
