When her roommate approached, Shangguan Yun immediately switched from a somewhat mischievous girl to her cool, aloof young lady mode.
She smiled politely and said, “Yu Qiuyu, we were indeed discussing matters related to forming a band. Have you chosen your clubs yet?”
“I have. The Sword Dao Club and the dance club. If you’re forming a band, how about adding me?” Yu Qiuyu’s eyes lit up as she asked.
“No! We’re still in the consideration stage; we’re not definitely forming a band. Besides, didn’t you already join two clubs? And you’re not in the wind instrument department, so what band would you form?” Mu Yanxi quickly denied it. Why did everyone seem so keen on forming a band?
“I could just join the wind instrument department too. The Spiritual Moon Sect allows a disciple to join up to three clubs at most,” Yu Qiuyu said with a laugh.
Mu Yanxi was taken aback. She actually wanted to join three clubs? Could she handle that? It felt like the activities of one club alone were enough to study for several years.
“Let me correct that. Under normal circumstances, disciples are only allowed to join three clubs. However, if an outstanding disciple can prove they can manage the activities of three clubs and perform well in all of them, they may be granted special permission to join four or even five,” Shangguan Yun corrected.
“Even four or five would be too much for me. Three is enough. And since I’ve already joined the dance club, I could indeed add the wind instrument department.”
“I’ve heard that the celestial music of the Spiritual Moon Palace combines dance and music to unleash its greatest power,” Yu Qiuyu explained.
“That’s correct, indeed. Actually, singing is also part of it. If you hadn’t joined the Sword Dao Club, you could have gone to the performance and song department.”
“Combining playing, singing, and dancing into one, a single person can bring the secret celestial music of Spiritual Moon to its peak,” Shangguan Yun recommended.
“Then forget it. Playing, singing, and dancing all at once sounds exhausting just thinking about it. I feel like zither and dance are already my limit. I’ll just add the wind instrument department,” Yu Qiuyu said with a laugh.
Listening to their conversation from the side, Mu Yanxi had a vague feeling that Shangguan Yun seemed to be probing for something, but Yu Qiuyu had deftly avoided it.
“That’s fine. I don’t have a club yet either. I’ll join the wind instrument department too. We can form a band together,” Shangguan Yun said with a smile.
“W-wait a minute? How did we suddenly decide that? Didn’t I say I wasn’t planning to form a band yet?” Mu Yanxi asked, shocked. How did these two decide to join the wind instrument department after just a few sentences?
“That has nothing to do with you, Yanxi. I just suddenly felt like joining the wind instrument department to play in a band.”
“If you don’t want to form a band with me, you can refuse. Most club activity rules are based on voluntary principles; I won’t force you to join,” Shangguan Yun said, still maintaining her smile.
Although she said that, Mu Yanxi couldn’t help but feel a hint of chill in that smile. It gave off a feeling of “You wouldn’t really dare to refuse, would you?”
Mu Yanxi inwardly groaned. What room did she have to refuse? If she made Shangguan Yun unhappy, she wouldn’t have a peaceful time for the next three years.
“Great! If you join, I’ll join too. Let’s happily form a band together~” Yu Qiuyu said with a smile.
It felt like the two vixens had just gone through a subtle battle and reached a strange conclusion—both were planning to join the wind instrument department.
“Yu Qiuyu, what instrument do you play?” Shangguan Yun asked, seeming genuinely interested in forming a band with her.
“Right now, I don’t know any. I haven’t had any contact with the Music Path before. But I can learn whatever instrument is needed; I’ll pick it up quickly,” Yu Qiuyu said confidently, as if she could easily learn any instrument.
“Then it’s settled. When the time comes, I’ll see what instrument we’re missing, and I’ll trouble you to fill that spot,” Shangguan Yun said without questioning it at all, seemingly truly believing Yu Qiuyu could easily master any instrument.
With that, Yu Qiuyu went into her dorm room. Mu Yanxi followed Shangguan Yun back to their room. Only after they were inside did she speak up.
“You don’t really want to join the wind instrument department, do you? It’s because of that Yu Qiuyu, right? What were you trying to find out from her?”
“You’re quite sharp. I didn’t expect you to be this clever. Didn’t you think Yu Qiuyu was being a bit too enthusiastic about joining clubs? Both Sword Dao and dance require a massive amount of effort to master, and now she wants to join the wind instrument department too.”
“Members of these clubs are allowed access to quite a few of the Spiritual Moon Palace’s key cultivation methods,” Shangguan Yun nodded.
After all, she had been a nascent soul cultivator in her past life. Even though she was young, Mu Yanxi still had the basic ability to read people.
It was just that these two were clearly just teenage girls, yet their acting was so natural. Anyone listening to their conversation would have thought they were close, good friends.
“You suspect she’s a spy? Here to steal cultivation methods?” Mu Yanxi quickly grasped the key point.
“A spy is unlikely. Since the Spiritual Moon Sect’s cultivation methods are freely accessible to disciples, if she passed the entrance exam, she’s naturally allowed to cultivate them.”
“Besides, the methods made available to Great Sect students are already widely available on pirated websites. There’s no need to specifically enroll just to steal that kind of thing,” Shangguan Yun shook her head.
“But you still probed her, and you’re following her into the wind instrument department. Inviting her to form a band is also to keep her close and observe her, right?”
“You think she has a deeper plot? Like, continuing all the way into the Spiritual Moon Palace to obtain the true secret techniques?” Mu Yanxi asked.
This kind of tactic was commonplace in her previous life.
Sending disciples disguised as low-level disciples to infiltrate, or even genuinely starting as low-level disciples, working their way up to high positions, then stealing techniques, stealing sect treasures, and delivering a fatal blow at a critical moment—there were plenty of people who did that.
People in this world might think that to infiltrate a sect, starting as a Great Sect student or even a Chu Sect student, working your way up through the Great Sect until entering the sect itself, is a troublesome process, taking seven, nine, or even over ten years.
But Mu Yanxi found it perfectly normal. In her past life, some spies might hide for over a hundred years for a single objective. Some might never be discovered and die still bearing the identity of a sect disciple. What was a mere ten years?
“I didn’t expect you to see through even that,” Shangguan Yun said, somewhat surprised.
“I suspect she’s after a specific true inheritance technique of the Spiritual Moon Palace, one that can only be learned by formally joining our sect, and only by a music cultivator. She joined both the dance club and the wind instrument department; the Sword Dao Club is just a cover.”
“The Lingyue Ascension Song?” Mu Yanxi immediately made the connection. Although the complete Music Path included dance, music, and song, the Lingyue Ascension Song only had the dance and performance parts, precisely lacking the song.
“You even know about that?!” This time, Shangguan Yun was genuinely shocked. “The Lingyue Ascension Song is generally only known to high-level cultivators—a semi-open secret. Did your grandfather tell you?”
“No, I saw it by accident on the Dao web,” Mu Yanxi said. This wasn’t entirely a lie; she did see it on the Dao web, even if it was through a query by her immortal brain.