The Path of the Sage

Chapter 164: Flood control literary conference

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Fang Yun listened and observed carefully, and the more he watched, the more he felt that Yang Yuhuan's fingering was talented.

Playing the zither is not easy. There are more than 30 fingerings or combinations for the right hand including supporting, wiping, picking, hooking, picking, hitting, etc., while there are more than 30 fingerings or combinations for the left hand including kneeling, bumping, leading up, pushing out, simultaneous sound, calling, advancing and returning, etc. It can be said to be extremely complicated.

Fang Yun once studied the art of playing the qin at Jiangzhou Academy of Literature, and even memorized many books on the art of playing the qin. He could only be considered to be able to play and appreciate the instrument, but it would take a long time to practice to Yang Yuhuan's level.

Fang Yun soon discovered the flaws in Yang Yuhuan's fingering, which was too soft and lacked strength where it should be used. It seemed that this was related to her temperament. If Yang Yuhuan had talent, it would be very ordinary to kill the enemy with the way of the zither, but it was precisely because she had flaws in this aspect that her talent in other aspects reached a terrifying level. If Yang Yuhuan used the sound of the zither to assist rather than directly kill the enemy, or even to harmonize, the effect would most likely be several times that of an ordinary zither player.

After playing the sad song "Autumn Wind Tune", Yang Yuhuan's eyes turned red. She wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeves and it took her a long time to recover.

Fang Yun sighed softly, "Sister Yuhuan, I never thought you would have such an accomplishment in the art of playing the zither. In a year at most, you may be able to enter the first realm of the art of playing the zither, 'Made with Voice and Emotion'. If you can enter the second realm, 'Sword-hearted and Courageous', even if you don't have talent, you will have the ability to calm and soothe the mind, and can defeat some of the magic that confuses the mind."

Yang Yuhuan said happily: "I just want to practice the music for you, I don't want to think too much. But Madam Lai has been praising me, saying that in a few months at most, my piano skills will be better than hers."

"In that case, I will write a few music scores today. Once you have mastered them thoroughly, you can enter the realm of Qin Dao in advance. By the way, have you learned the famous piece "High Mountains and Flowing Water"?"

"Yes, I have learned it. I can play 'Flowing Water' quite well, but I have never been able to get the hang of 'High Mountain'."

Fang Yun nodded. "I originally wanted to listen to you play these two pieces and then judge, but since you said so, my guess is right. The "High Mountain" is majestic and magnificent, and it is indeed not suitable for you. Although the "Flowing Water" has the might of rivers and is very powerful, big rivers are formed by small streams. You can gradually grasp its meaning. In the future, if you find that you can't play a piece well, don't learn it, and focus on learning what you can play well. The "High Mountain" and "Flowing Water" by the zither master Yu Boya are war songs. As long as you practice "Flowing Water" well, you will benefit a lot."

"Okay. I'll listen to you." Yang Yuhuan didn't ask why.

"What do you feel about "Guangling San"? " Fang Yun asked.

Yang Yuhuan thought for a moment and said, "Although Guangling San was not composed by the great scholar Ji Kang, he slightly modified it and made it the best war song of the time. Unfortunately, I felt it was not suitable for me as soon as I heard it. The original name of Guangling San was Nie Zheng Assassinating the King of Han, and the meaning of the song was the assassination of Nie Zheng, one of the four great assassins. I think you, Xiaoyun, are suitable for this kind of war song. I have been thinking about it these days. If you want to learn to play the qin to kill the enemy in the future, I can play the qin to help you. But playing the qin to help does not require talent."

Fang Yun was stunned. Yang Yuhuan's idea was very good.

The qin is the main instrument, the qin and the qin are the auxiliary instruments, and the qin and the qin are in harmony. You can play the famous song "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" jointly created by the sage Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun.

When Sima Xiangru and his wife Zhuo Wenjun went to the desert for a trip, they were besieged by two barbarian semi-saints. At that time, they were only at the fourth level of the zither art, and Sima Xiangru had just been canonized. Zhuo Wenjun had no talent at all, but the two of them played the zither in harmony and played "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix". They caused the phoenix to burn thousands of miles, exterminated 100,000 barbarians, and killed a barbarian semi-saint, shocking the world.

Fang Yun then shook his head. "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" was originally a poem that was spread throughout the world. If the famous song "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" wanted to attract the phoenix, in addition to having someone to help, it also required the legendary "two-tasking" literary mind.

The reason why Sima Xiangru and his wife were able to attract the Heavenly Fire Phoenix was because Sima Xiangru could do two things at the same time. While playing the piano, he wrote the poem "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" with his divine pen, thus increasing the power of "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" to the extreme.

Precisely because "Feng Qiu Huang" was difficult to perform, no one in later generations could play it, and the name of the first battle song became "Guangling San".

Fang Yun said: "I have not yet decided whether to study the art of playing the zither in depth. Please do not waste your talent for playing the zither for me."

Yang Yuhuan smiled and said, "I learn the Qin for you to listen to, and the Se can not only let you listen, but also help you to play the Qin. I must learn it! From now on, I will learn Se as the main thing and Qin as the supplement."

Fang Yun looked at Yang Yuhuan's determined eyes, and a wave of warmth surged in his heart. He nodded and said, "Well, from now on, you and I will live in harmony as husband and wife, and perhaps we can reproduce the holy miracle of "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix" and even create a more powerful war song."

"Yeah." Yang Yuhuan lowered her head, her cheeks flushed.

Fang Yun said that he would come out on the day of Qixi Festival to participate in the Qixi Literary Festival. Just after lunch, some friends came to visit, including Qian Boshang, whose literary talent was broken by the people of Qing.

No one mentioned the matter of the Qingjiang Jiao King, for fear that Fang Yun would feel pressured, and they only talked about the Zhilao Literary Meeting and the Qixi Ci Meeting.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, everyone left Fang Yun's house in a carriage and headed for the city wall of the South Sub-City.

Fang Yun and more than a dozen literati got off the carriage and came to the gate of the South Sub-City. Looking up, they saw a tower right above the city wall, which was the venue for the literary gathering.

In order to fight against powerful demons and nobles, the city walls here are more than ten feet wide, otherwise they would not be able to withstand the impact of magic. The city tower is also very magnificent, larger than many restaurants.

The group climbed the stairs to the city wall together. Instead of entering the tower immediately, they looked at the strange scenery outside the city wall.

The sky at the top of the city wall was extremely clear, with the sun even shining through. But just a mile away, the sky was covered with dark clouds, lightning and thunder, and heavy rain. The completely opaque water curtain blocked everyone's sight, and it was all white, and the scenery in the distance could not be seen at all.

Fang Yun looked in all directions, and saw nothing but heavy rain in the end. Because the rain was so heavy, he even had an illusion that the rain was sea water and the entire Yuhai City was actually at the bottom of the sea, completely surrounded by sea water.

The rain did not fall, but poured down like billions of barrels of water at once, which was a truly amazing sight.

The rest of the people were also shocked by the spectacle. In the face of this terrible rain, everyone felt weak and powerless.

Fang Yun asked in a low voice: "Are the dragon race so strong?"

"Yes. If they were in the sea, a half-saint of the dragon race could fight against three half-saints of the human race or three half-saints of the demon race."

Fang Yun said helplessly: "This is not a flood control literary meeting, this is a land reclamation literary meeting."

Everyone nodded silently. Fang Yun’s description was so vivid.

"Let's go to the tower."

Before everyone entered the tower, they heard loud laughter coming from inside.

"How strange! The rain won't stop, so why are we holding the Qixi Literary Festival? I've lived for so many years and I've never heard of a Qixi Literary Festival in the rain! The preferences of you people in Jing are really different from those of the other nine countries." said one person.

"You're wrong. Isn't there a big hole on top? You can see the starry sky! But this hole is a bit like a well. Wouldn't the people in the hole be frogs at the bottom of the well? The people of Jing are really humble. We, the people of Qing, are not so shameless as to think of ourselves as toads!"

"Well, this is Jingguo's literary gathering, fellow Qingguo writers, please don't be too harsh. However, my mentor, Shijun, said that if Jingguo can't even stop a little rain, then there's no need to take out his gift of poems. Such a Jingguo is not worthy of his gift!"

One person was furious and said, "You Qing Nation are becoming more and more shameless! The demon tribe bullied our Jing Nation, and not only did you not help, you also made sarcastic remarks here, you are no different from the traitorous literati!"

"You are not only a frog in a well, but also a brainless person. Since Zhiluo and Qixi are combined into one, we wrote Zhiluo poems first and then Qixi poems. Our presence here means that we will also write Zhiluo poems to help your Jing country. How can we be no different from the rebellious writers? Lord Dong, you are the governor of Yuhai, please give us your opinion!"

Prefect Dong snorted coldly and said, "My fellow Qing country literati, it's okay to say some things occasionally. If you keep pestering us, we will have to ask the literati to solve it. If another great scholar dies in Qing country, the people of Jing country will feel bad too."

Fang Yun just walked in and saw that except for a few who were very calm, most of the literati from Qing country had angry looks on their faces, while some of the people from Jing country had sneering expressions on their faces, while others seemed extremely pleased.

"Prime Minister Fang is here!" After one person shouted, all the people of Jing immediately stood up to greet him, including many officials such as Governor Dong. The people of Qing had different expressions, but most of them stood up. Only one man with a gleam in his eyes but a very arrogant look remained seated.

The man from Qing looked up at the roof and said lazily, "There is no one in Jing country, and a scholar can become a role model for scholars. This makes our ancestors blush."

The city wall suddenly became quiet. The people of Jing could not question Fang Yun’s title of “model literati”, but the people of the other nine countries could.

Many Jing people dared to be angry but could not speak, because they knew in their hearts that what the man said made sense. For a scholar to become a "model of literati", purely in terms of status, he was above ordinary great Confucian scholars and on par with Wenzong, because even great Confucian scholars might not be able to get the title of model of literati, but Wenzong would definitely get it.

Dozens of eyes were staring at Fang Yun. The people of Qing were proud, while the people of Jing were secretly anxious.

Fang Yun smiled and said, "In Jingguo, I can be a role model for scholars, so those who are above the scholar level are naturally more virtuous and talented. The great scholar of Qingguo and I are both role models for scholars, which seems to mean that the great scholar of Qingguo is not as good as the scholars of our country. As for this brother, you are below the great scholar, and even worse than me, and you still have the nerve to speak nonsense here. Have you completely mastered the holy way of courage? I admire you!"

Many Jing people laughed, thinking that Fang Yun was indeed smart. He could say the same thing from different angles and the meaning would immediately reverse.

The man from Qing saw that Fang Yun fought back so quickly, and thought that if he continued speaking he would probably be humiliated even more. He gritted his teeth and said nothing, secretly looking at the other people from Qing, hoping that someone could lend a helping hand.

The first disciple of the Poet of Qing State said slowly: "As a role model of scholars, he forced dozens of people from a famous family in a prefecture to wear mourning clothes and brave the rain to come to Yuhai City to beg for mercy. It would be better if Qing State did not have such a role model of scholars!"

There was deathly silence in the tower.

Fifteen miles away from the west gate of Yuhai City, two armored ox carts were moving forward in the storm. White cloth strips were tied everywhere on the carts, and the word "Liu" was written on the outside of the cart canopy.

Under the dark clouds, a strange white cloud passed over the ox cart.

.(To be continued..)