Chapter 112 — Five Stars Split the Wall
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
"Young Master, this music of yours is mixed with a great many things!
" Fu Qingyun plucked lightly and stroked slowly, opening the contest with a gentle melody, and at once she had sounded out what lay hidden in Shen Mu's music. Hidden within it were Buddhist notes, demonic notes, and divine notes — a most peculiar thing — and there was the killing intent of war as well, so that it seemed sabers flashed and sword-shadows danced, so that it seemed to gallop and race. The Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture of the Nether Demon Sect contained a chapter on music, but nothing so intricate and fragmentary as this.
She could hear, in Shen Mu's music, a technique of the Nether Demon Sect's music arts called the Heavenly Demon's Rainbow Robe Melody — yet that was only one part of what he played. Clearly Shen Mu had fallen into a marvelous state and could not tear himself free; he must be comprehending something deeper, striving to knead all these things into one. Having divined his true intent, Fu Qingyun set her heart at ease.
Such a state of madness and demonic obsession was rare indeed, to be touched only in the deepest layers of enlightenment. Without madness there is no living; without madness there is no Buddhahood.
Fu Qingyun cradled her pipa, and the notes flying from her fingertips grew urgent; she was trying to guide Shen Mu, to make his ten thousand methods flow into one channel and complete the fusion.
Those girls of the Rain-Listening Pavilion who had earlier matched music and melody against him had only been making mischief, and yet they had helped him greatly, forcing him to perfect his music again and again through opposition and pressure.
She, by contrast, guided and opposed him at once, so that he might fuse more surely and swiftly.
Her attainment in music was exceedingly high, surpassing the Rain-Listening Pavilion girls by far, and with her to guide him and press him, Shen Mu advanced by leaps and bounds. And his use of the Heavenly Demon's Rainbow Robe Melody in his playing benefited her deeply as well.
The Rainbow Robe Melody was a technique within the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Scripture; Fu Qingyun had been taught it, but not in full. Even as she instructed Shen Mu, she took instruction from him, learning the parts of the melody she had never been given.
After a long while, Fu Qingyun saw that Shen Mu was gradually emerging from his state of madness; their two musics merged, and together they played a single piece, dragon and phoenix in harmony.
But just then a dozen or so girls came bustling out of the rooms carrying a great bell — a bell taller than a man — with Xue Hu'er perched atop it, crying, "If we all ring the bell together, we're sure to blast apart his demonic music.
. . " Fu Qingyun stopped playing, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and scolded, "Do you mean to blast the young master to death? What nonsense — put that bell back!
" The girls drooped in disappointment and hauled the bell away again; Xue Hu'er drooped as well, plainly unhappy that she had not been allowed to bombard Shen Mu with it. Shen Mu came to his senses and looked around in astonishment; only then did he realize what a commotion he had raised, and he hurried to apologize to Fu Qingyun.
"The little girls do not know better, and they nearly ruined the young master's cultivation. Pray do not hold it against them. " Fu Qingyun smiled.
"The young master has not eaten yet? You have been at this all night — it is nearly dawn.
" Shen Mu hastily summoned the little fox spirit who could not abide a peaceful world, and they went off together to eat. The brocade-robed youth gathered up the unfinished dishes, then took the empty bowls and plates away and washed them clean; seeing this, several girls hurried over to snatch them from him, saying, "How could the young master do such coarse, lowly work?
Leave it to us.
" Shen Mu smiled.
"The Dao knows no noble and no base — how then could labor?