The White Moonlight Subdues Everyone with a Suona - Chapter 45
Chapter 44: Na Na Na Na Na
Li Fuqing fell silent for a few seconds, then asked: “Where is Third Junior Brother headed?”
The direction Shen Hege was walking was clearly not up the mountain. He seemed to want to pass through the purple bamboo forest on the right earlier.
After passing through the purple bamboo forest, there were two paths.
One was the road they usually took to the Hall of Enlightenment, and the other was the road down the mountain.
Although Rong Qingyuan had previously intended for Shen Hege to go to the Hall of Enlightenment more often to hone his abilities in getting along with people, ever since Shen Hege broke through his mental demon and completely entered the Golden Core stage, he rarely appeared in the Hall of Enlightenment unless necessary.
So…
Shaoyang Yu asked in confusion: “Junior Brother wants to go down the mountain?”
“Just as Second Senior Sister said.”
Shen Hege nodded without any hesitation. A smile that seemed detached from the mortal world hung on his face, and his whole being seemed to have fallen into a strange train of thought.
“I want to go to the graveyard at the foot of the mountain to take a look,” Shen Hege said.
“I want to see what this view that separates life from death actually looks like.”
Li Fuqing: …
Shaoyang Yu: …
One goose has not settled, yet another song rises.
If it were truly just to “take a look,” that would be fine. But judging from Shen Hege’s current attitude, it clearly wasn’t something that could be resolved just by taking a look.
Maybe while looking, he might suddenly want to experience it firsthand and dig a hole to lie down himself.
Li Fuqing shuddered all over from his own imagination. After snapping back to his senses, he kept a poker face, patted Shen Hege’s shoulder in front of him, and began today’s lesson.
“Little Junior Sister has a lively personality, holds a magical artifact in hand, and the tunes she plays are indeed unique… but Junior Brother, you must never take it seriously!”
“If you take it seriously, you lose!”
“Look at me, your senior brother—I’ve listened to suona tunes for three years and I’m still a living person!”
Shen Hege fell into confusion.
His empathy was too strong, and he was completely undefended against Ji Bingyu, so he was easily captured by her suona sound and sank into it.
Apart from those seemingly ridiculous modulations and unseasoned techniques, Shen Hege sharply caught onto something else.
Detachment, tranquility, and the boundary between life and death seemed to be blurred.
This thing was very subtle and flashed by in an instant. Perhaps even Ji Bingyu herself hadn’t noticed it, and Shen Hege’s understanding of it was also extremely vague.
“It’s getting late now, Junior Brother should go back to rest earlier.”
Shaoyang Yu looked at the distant sky, her words interrupting Shen Hege’s thoughts.
“Master is still in secluded cultivation, don’t make him worry.”
Li Fuqing and Shaoyang Yu comforted Shen Hege for a long time, chiming in one after another, before finally dispelling his desire to visit the graveyard.
Thank goodness, it was just a false alarm.
After sending Shen Hege back to his cave abode and watching his figure completely vanish behind the door, Li Fuqing wiped the sweat that had appeared on his forehead at some unknown point, almost collapsing to his knees on the ground.
After all, whether something happened to Shen Hege or Ji Bingyu today, when Rong Qingyuan emerged from secluded retreat, he would definitely sacrifice him to the heavens first.
Thinking of this, Li Fuqing began to feel resentful again.
Damn it, why should I be the one to shoulder the mess created by those dogs in the Western Demon Realm!
Just as Li Fuqing was imagining a thousand recipes for killing people from the Western Demon Realm in his head, Shaoyang Yu standing beside him suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.
“What were you thinking?”
Li Fuqing instinctively said: “I think braising is best, but stir-frying with salt and pepper is pretty good too.”
“…”
The moment Li Fuqing raised his head, he met Shaoyang Yu’s cool gaze that looked at him as if he were mentally impaired, realizing post-facto that his answer made no sense whatsoever.
“Ahem, wasn’t I thinking that Third Junior Brother has the best temper, being gentle, broad-minded, and mild-mannered? Even an old conservative fellow like Master Qianming acknowledges Third Junior Brother’s gentlemanly demeanor. That’s why I had a stroke of inspiration, thinking of getting Third Junior Brother to persuade Little Junior Sister.”
Shaoyang Yu sneered: “Use your brain next time.”
Without waiting for Li Fuqing to argue, she continued: “It’s true that Third Junior Brother has a gentle and broad-minded temperament, but he is also the most sensitive person.”
The slightest disturbance would seem like stormy waves in Shen Hege’s eyes.
Although Shaoyang Yu was the Second Senior Sister, she was actually younger than Shen Hege in age and entered the sect much later than him.
If calculated according to mortal age, Shaoyang Yu was only about six or seven years older than Ji Bingyu.
The reason Shaoyang Yu was ranked before Shen Hege was at her own request.
She didn’t like being ranked third, nor did she hate being the youngest in the sect.
Thus, the first thing Shaoyang Yu did upon arriving at Xueyu Peak was to find Shen Hege, who was hiding in his own cave abode.
Behind the mask, Shaoyang Yu licked her dry lips and rasped out her first sentence.
“I don’t want to be the Little Junior Sister,” Shaoyang Yu said.
“I want to be the Second Senior Sister.”
This was clearly a very unreasonable request. Any disciple hearing this for the first time would think Shaoyang Yu was making trouble out of nothing. Those with deeper, more suspicious minds might even connect it to various conspiracy theories.
But Shen Hege didn’t.
Shen Hege back then didn’t like to speak, was a bit shy, and his eyes were often hollow and dazed. Yet upon hearing Shaoyang Yu’s request, he was only stunned for a moment before curling his lips into a gentle smile.
“Alright, Second Senior Sister,” he said.
“From now on, we are family.”
After thinking for a moment, Shen Hege carefully added another sentence: “I’ve always wanted to have a senior sister. Having it like this now is truly for the best.”
Liar.
Shaoyang Yu lowered her eyelashes. Shen Hege had clearly noticed the hostile, violent aura she couldn’t fully conceal back then, and was making a clumsy attempt to comfort her.
—See, it’s not that you want to be the senior sister, it’s that I want a senior sister.
—This isn’t your fault.
Regardless of whether he had broken through his mental demon or not, this junior brother’s gentle nature had never changed.
It was just that he was too sensitive. Sensitive people possessed the softest hearts, like wild flowers growing by the roadside, attempting to bring a touch of spring to everyone, yet being the easiest to ignore or even inadvertently hurt.
“Third Junior Brother has a sensitive personality and isn’t suited to listen to Little Junior Sister’s music alone.”
Li Fuqing said nonchalantly: “Hai, what’s the big deal? My cave abode is right next door to Little Junior Sister’s. I’ve listened to it intermittently for almost three years. Apart from occasional tinnitus, blood surging, irritability, wanting to fight, or losing the hope to live… there aren’t any side effects!”
Shaoyang Yu: “…”
For a moment, she couldn’t quite tell what Li Fuqing actually meant.
However, one thing was certain: Li Fuqing had completely failed to realize one point.
“Regarding Little Junior Sister’s instrument, there is a saying in the mortal realm.”
Shaoyang Yu lowered her eyelashes, deciding to speak more plainly: “In one’s life, one must hear the suona.”
“One to congratulate a new birth, one to mourn the final passing. Having a beginning and an end…”
Shaoyang Yu reached out her hand, her somewhat rough fingertips tracing a random arc in the air. A most classic Yin-Yang Bagua diagram appeared out of thin air, floating before Li Fuqing’s eyes.
“…Only like this can it be the samsara of Yin and Yang.”
Li Fuqing widened his eyes slightly, his heart surging with waves of emotion so intense he could barely speak.
In an instant, the Yin-Yang Bagua diagram dispersed. Li Fuqing turned his head abruptly and said in horror: “Are you saying Little Junior Sister can—”
“Watch your words, Senior Brother.”
Shaoyang Yu glanced at Li Fuqing, lowered her eyelashes again, and walked forward on her own: “Nothing has manifested yet, and this is merely an unformed guess of mine.”
Li Fuqing fell silent for another moment, then murmured softly: “Do you think Master knows about this?”
“Perhaps.” Shaoyang Yu also fell silent for a moment. “But precisely because of this, when Little Junior Sister appears before others in the future, it will surely draw glances from many sides.”
Ji Bingyu.
Under the flashy and dazzling title of “White Moonlight,” she had an even greater identity.
—The last member of the Ji family.
Shaoyang Yu guessed that this was also why Master Qingxu hadn’t wiped out the title of “White Moonlight.”
The more she was covered by such superficial, flashy fame, the safer Ji Bingyu would be.
After all, the Ji family was once a prominent family, standing alongside the Qingyu Shen family, the Jinfeng Xie family, and the Bairui Feng family, looking down on all the strong.
The likes of the Yan family and the Xuanyuan family were nothing more than upstarts in front of these four families.
However, the Shen family later fell, the Feng family declined, and the Xie family… better left unmentioned.
As for the Ji family, even though they retired early to the mortal world, their lineage eventually withered, and they were even wiped out by someone.
A centipede dies but never falls over; after the Ji family was wiped out, many people tried to search for those treasures and secret manuals, yet all yielded nothing.
Some said the Ji family patriarch knew he was powerless to turn the tide and had burned all those items in a fire. Others said it was a family secret curse that could only be unlocked by someone possessing Ji family blood.
It was likely that both the Yan family, who raised Ji Bingyu, and the Xuanyuan family, who was engaged to Ji Bingyu, harbored such thoughts.
As Ji Bingyu grew up and appeared before people again, it was bound to trigger movements from certain individuals once more.
The more Shaoyang Yu thought about it, the more anxious she felt. The brows beneath her mask knit tightly without her realizing it, and she began pondering countermeasures.
With a crisp sound, Shaoyang Yu was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts. Looking at Li Fuqing, who had tapped her mask with his knuckles, her eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Want to fight?”
“…Not really.”
Li Fuqing chickened out extremely naturally. He shifted the topic as if nothing had happened: “I say, why are you thinking so much? When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, cover it with soil. At worst, I’ll restore my true body and have a satisfying fight with them. I don’t believe a few dogs from the Xuanyuan family and the Yan family can stop me.”
“When the time comes, if they bark in front of me once, I’ll punch them once. It’ll just happen to avenge us too.”
Shaoyang Yu tilted her head, her gaze wavering slightly: “You also have a grudge against them?”
“Nope.”
Li Fuqing shrugged: “Didn’t you say you had a grudge against the Yan family? Now there’s an extra Little Junior Sister. Tsk, I see this Yan family is going to be finished sooner or later.”
Shaoyang Yu didn’t remember telling Li Fuqing.
Even if she had said it, she was probably annoyed by his nagging and simply replied with the two words “have a grudge.”
Moonlight fell, passing through the purple bamboo forest, crossing the sycamore leaves, half scattering into the mortal world and half falling onto Xueyu Peak.
Shaoyang Yu stared fixedly at Li Fuqing. Across a mask, she herself didn’t realize how relaxed her expression was right now.
Her previous worries and fears all vanished, feeling as breezy as tonight’s moonlight—brilliant and gentle.
“Alright.”
Shaoyang Yu heard herself say.
“When beating people up, count me in.”
…
Ever since she finished playing that song “Entering the Butterfly” last night, Ji Bingyu felt her tacit understanding with the suona had reached another level!
After bidding farewell to Shen Hege, Ji Bingyu couldn’t wait to return to her cave abode, claiming to be in secluded retreat, but in reality, she conducted an experiment.
Sure enough, although she couldn’t arbitrarily change the suona’s form after making it larger or smaller, at the very least, while maintaining the suona’s original size, she could freely transform the suona into objects of similar size!
For instance right now, Ji Bingyu successfully changed the suona’s form and color, turning it into a golden, shining ear of corn!
Oh yeah! I am indeed the best!
With a joy resembling a farmer during harvest season on her face, Ji Bingyu held her ear of corn with fond delight, cradling it in her arms like a newborn baby, looking here and peering there, acting just like it was her first time seeing her own magical artifact.
As if feeling its master’s surging emotions, the suona was also extremely excited. It seemed to like its new look very much as well, constantly issuing a mix of marmot squeaks and big white goose honks—like “AH—” and “GA—”—to respond to Ji Bingyu.
Ji Bingyu was naturally overjoyed, bantering back and forth with the suona for a long time without feeling fatigued!
Heaven’s Will, appearing suddenly out of nowhere: […]
Language could hardly describe its current mood. After all, normal people rarely had the chance in life to witness a human back-and-forth imitating goose calls with a giant golden ear of corn, never tiring of it.
With great effort, it picked up its shattered worldview from the ground and slowly spoke: “What are you doing?”
There were no outsiders here, so it didn’t need to disguise its voice.
Ji Bingyu said cheerfully: “I’m talking with my Na.”
Heaven’s Will fell silent for a moment, then asked once more: “Why did you transform the suona into its current appearance?”
Ji Bingyu, who was right in the middle of her excitement, raised her head discontentedly: “Don’t you think—”
She stopped abruptly.
Ji Bingyu’s words got stuck in her throat, her expression gradually freezing.
As if turning to stone bit by bit, she lowered her head inch by inch, staring blankly at the item in her hands.
Oh right.
Why would she want an ear of corn…
—What’s the point of having one?!
Recalling her previous image of silly joy, Ji Bingyu wished she could turn into a runaway sweetheart and buy a standing-only ticket overnight to flee Xueyu Peak immediately.
Heaven’s Will was already clutching its stomach, roaring with laughter on the ground, rolling back and forth like a maggot.
Ji Bingyu rolled her eyes and gave a noble, cool smile.
Heh.
Isn’t it just a simple transformation of a magical artifact’s form? Did Heaven’s Will think that could stump her?
She, Ji Bingyu, was no longer the goose of the past! She would never be stumped by a minor issue like this!
Since she could transform the magical artifact into this, could turning it back be any difficult task?!
Having slacked off for several days, Ji Bingyu rarely felt a surge of fighting spirit. She curled her lips in disdain, moved her fingertips slightly, and pointed her hand at the suona—
…
…
This single point lasted a whole night.
Li Fuqing, who had been waiting for Ji Bingyu for three days, was full of anxiety. He was deeply afraid that Ji Bingyu, who had always enjoyed smooth sailing, might take things hard, fail to withstand the blow, and breed a mental demon.
Shaoyang Yu shared the exact same worry as Li Fuqing. Therefore, upon learning that Rong Qingyuan had emerged from his secluded retreat, she went to find their master at the very first moment.
After listening to Shaoyang Yu’s explanation of her visit, Rong Qingyuan pondered for a moment. The fingers holding the fan handle bent slightly, his fingertips rubbing against the fan bone.
Rong Qingyuan raised his eyes: “You are saying that because Ah Yu obtained a low-rank secret manual, her mood is extremely bad?”
“Is there evidence for this?”
Evidence?
Shaoyang Yu was stunned. Something flashed through her mind, and she shook her head, stating truthfully: “It was what Senior Sister Lingyun told me the day she escorted Junior Sister back to Xueyu Peak. She said Little Junior Sister had a pale face and low spirits ever since she stepped out of the Treasure Pavilion…”
So they had instinctively assumed that Ji Bingyu was distressed over the secret manual.
But what if that wasn’t the case?
“Let’s go.”
Rong Qingyuan gathered his robes and stood up, his dark green robe forming a graceful arc in the air.
In the blink of an eye, his figure was already at the doorway.
“Since you are worried, come with me to check on your junior sister.”
Before the two reached Ji Bingyu’s cave abode, they happened to see Li Fuqing on the ground…
Rolling around?
Shaoyang Yu: ?
She turned her gaze toward Shen Hege, only to see her usually gentle Third Junior Brother bowing his head at this moment, his shoulders twitching, and what looked like teardrops glistening in the corners of his eyes?
Shaoyang Yu: ??
She looked over to Ji Bingyu again. Little Junior Sister was sitting before a round wooden-stone table, staring at…
An ear of corn on the table, lost in thought?
Shaoyang Yu: ???
Shaoyang Yu raised her head in utter bewilderment. Her gaze swept past Li Fuqing, Ji Bingyu, and Shen Hege one by one, finally landing on Rong Qingyuan.
Shaoyang Yu, who had always been known for her iron-blooded, cold demeanor, felt completely helpless at this moment.
—Master, has Little Junior Sister finally gone crazy?
Rong Qingyuan shook his head slightly, signaling Shaoyang Yu to remain calm.
He cleared his throat softly, reminding the few of his arrival.
Snapping back to their senses, Ji Bingyu and the others scrambled to get up and pay their respects. Rong Qingyuan waved his hand to signal them to remain seated, walking over to the wooden-stone table himself, and asked: “What is this item?”
The few exchanged glances, and finally it was Ji Bingyu who stepped forward, gritting her teeth: “Master, this is my magical artifact.”
Rong Qingyuan’s brows twitched slightly: “Your magical artifact.”
“Yes, my magical artifact.” Ji Bingyu held the ear of corn, looking just like a farmer during harvest season who had lost all desire to live, saying listlessly, “My suona.”
Now that things had reached this point, Ji Bingyu had nothing to hide. She poured out everything that had happened prior in one breath.
The twists of the plot and the cruelty of the content—ranging from the initial joy of discovering she could communicate with her magical artifact in tacit understanding, to accidentally transforming it into the wrong shape out of ignorance—were full of ups and downs, truly enough to bring tears to those who heard it and sorrow to those who saw it.
Rong Qingyuan listened quietly, finally summarizing: “So you can’t transform it back.”
Ji Bingyu: “…”
Your dad’s, do you even know how to talk?!
She raised her head in anger, not missing the fleeting smile in Rong Qingyuan’s eyes.
Grass (a type of plant where senior brothers laugh so hard they almost throw up).
Rong Qingyuan did it on purpose! He had long realized that the item on the table was her suona!
What a bad guy!
Ji Bingyu ground her teeth secretly. Looking at Rong Qingyuan’s face, she suddenly smiled.
“Oh well, I don’t really care actually.”
Ji Bingyu spread her hands, acting innocent: “Anyway, when the time comes for the Seven Sects Heroes Assembly Martial Gathering, I’ll take the corn onto the stage. The very first thing I’ll do is use the sound-amplifying talisman Senior Brother from the Liuming Valley gifted me, and shout three times—”
“My master is Rong Qingyuan!!!!!!”
Rong Qingyuan’s smile froze. Looking at Li Fuqing, whose body suddenly went rigid as if recalling something, his mind suddenly felt much more at peace.
“Alright, it seems you weren’t hit hard by the matter of the Treasure Pavilion, so Master can rest easy.”
Seeing Rong Qingyuan mention the Treasure Pavilion so openly, the hearts of the other three tightened, while Ji Bingyu was the only one completely oblivious.
She raised her head blankly: “What matter about the Treasure Pavilion?”
Rong Qingyuan raised an eyebrow: “What did you bring out from the Treasure Pavilion?”
Under the worried or anxious gazes of the other three, Ji Bingyu clapped her hands together, coming to a sudden realization!
“I almost forgot about that!”
Ji Bingyu quickly rummaged through her storage ring, explaining as she searched: “I was too exhausted that day, so I casually threw the secret manual I got into the storage ring. I didn’t even check what item I actually picked.”
Li Fuqing: ?
Shaoyang Yu: ??
Shen Hege: ???
The three looked at one another, completely dumbfounded. Seeing that Rong Qingyuan was not in a rush at all nor asking questions, Li Fuqing finally couldn’t hold back and spoke up: “So Little Junior Sister hasn’t been sad over these past few days because you got a low-rank cultivation method?”
Ji Bingyu: “???”
She looked at Li Fuqing with even greater confusion: “Of course not!”
Connecting this to everyone’s unusual “gentleness” over the past few days, Ji Bingyu understood what was going on post-facto. She said in disbelief: “You guys thought…?!”
The three nodded in unison.
It wasn’t their fault at all! Ji Bingyu’s series of actions after coming out of the Treasure Pavilion really looked too much like someone who had suffered a heavy blow!
They didn’t dare to ask directly either, fearing they might hurt Little Junior Sister’s fragile young heart, which ended up causing such a huge misunderstanding!
“Alright.” Rong Qingyuan unrolled his folding fan, tapping it gently on the table. “Since that is the case, why don’t you let your senior brothers, senior sister, and me take a look at what you obtained together, alright?”
Having figured everything out, Ji Bingyu said frankly: “Of course.”
Shen Hege was slightly nervous, his whole body tense. Li Fuqing was also staring at Ji Bingyu without blinking, tapping Shen Hege’s shoulder as a cover.
“When you went to the Treasure Pavilion yourself, were you also this nervous?”
Shen Hege shook his head: “This is different.”
“There’s nothing different about it.” Li Fuqing joked, “Who knows, maybe Little Junior Sister opened a Super-Rank musical score?”
Items considered ranked in the Treasure Pavilion were divided into nine ranks, from First-Rank to Ninth-Rank, represented by the colors “Red, Orange, Scarlet, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet,” while the final Eighth and Ninth Ranks were dim ink-black.
Above First-Rank, there was the Super-Rank.
It was said that when a Super-Rank secret manual was opened, it would emit a golden glow—the reason it was “said” to be so was simply because too few people had ever seen a Super-Rank secret manual.
Shaoyang Yu chided softly: “Don’t speak nonsense.”
Fearing Ji Bingyu might have overly high expectations and then experience a sense of disappointment due to the gap between expectation and reality, she stopped Li Fuqing before he could talk wildly: “Super-Rank musical scores are truly rare as hen’s teeth. Even in the Book Treasure Hall, they aren’t easily obtained.”
Shen Hege also said: “I heard that obtaining a Super-Rank musical score requires various unique encounters, needing the right time, right place, and right people, depending heavily on fate.”
Before his words fully landed, they saw Ji Bingyu finally pull out that cultivation manual from her storage ring—
A shabby, graying book that didn’t even have characters on its cover.
At a glance, it didn’t look like anything good.
After a suffocating silence, Li Fuqing spoke stammeringly: “In a few days when we find an opportunity, let’s go search through the Yan family. There will definitely be better ones.”
Shaoyang Yu said: “Junior Sister will still have plenty of opportunities to go to the Treasure Pavilion in the future.”
Before Shen Hege could speak, Rong Qingyuan cut in first: “Why doesn’t Ah Yu open it to take a look?”
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t disappointed, but since she had already picked it up, she had to look at it anyway.
Ji Bingyu sighed, reaching out to flip it open casually.
In an instant, a warm aura seemed to envelop her. In Ji Bingyu’s ears, there was the sound of wind accompanied by falling spring rain, and autumn breezes blowing past summer light. Various sounds of nature combined to form an unprecedented, marvelous piece of music. Ji Bingyu opened her eyes with effort, seeing dots of winter snow falling onto flower stamens, and this winter snow—
Was golden?!
Ji Bingyu’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Did she just pull some Mary Sue lucky-charm script?!
Wasn’t it said that Super-Rank was extremely difficult to obtain?! Didn’t many cultivators go their entire lives without ever seeing one?! How did she manage to get one with a casual grab?!
This was so absurd it was out of line!
“It really is a Super-Rank musical score!”
Shaoyang Yu spoke in surprise, her voice—which usually lacked emotional fluctuation—filled with joy: “It has both musical sound and golden light, and it has no title… Junior Sister! This is the legendary Wordless Score!”
Shen Hege also finally set his mind at ease. He cupped his hands with a smile: “Congratulations, Junior Sister!”
Li Fuqing raised his eyebrows triumphantly: “I told you so—”
“Wait a second?!”
A familiar bad premonition rose in Ji Bingyu’s heart: “Wordless Score?”
“Senior Sister, what is this?”
“It is a Super-Rank musical score that has been circulated among music cultivators for a long time. I also didn’t expect it to actually be in the Treasure Pavilion.”
The person who spoke to explain this time was Rong Qingyuan. Although he said he “didn’t expect it,” his tone remained unhurried.
“The Wordless Score, as the name implies, has no characters on it. The person who obtains it can compose a score based on their own epiphanies—”
Ji Bingyu cut in expressionlessly: “And at the moment it is flipped open, the owner will become connected in heart and mind with it, thereby forming its name. From then on, the Wordless Score has a name, and also has an owner.”
Shen Hege said in surprise: “Little Junior Sister has also heard this rumor?”
Ji Bingyu gave a wooden smile and pointed toward the table.
A person cannot step into the same river twice.
But a person can capsize in the same ditch twice.
Following the direction of Ji Bingyu’s finger, everyone saw the Wordless Score that was originally spread open on the wooden-stone table rapidly flipping through its pages on its own without any wind. As the final page flipped over, all the golden light dispersed, and on the book cover, two characters stood out vividly—
—outrageous
