Just then, a voice like a heavenly melody rang out:
“Yanxi, and Classmate Qiuyu, sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Ruo Xuan?”
Mu Yanxi looked up in surprise and saw Ruo Xuan flying over on her sword. Fortunately, she had arrived, interrupting Yu Qiuyu’s questioning.
Sure enough, Yu Qiuyu stepped back, not continuing the discussion about the Lingyue Sword Art, and bowed slightly:
“Good evening, Classmate Ruo Xuan. We only just arrived.”
“What about Classmate Shangguan? Didn’t she send a message saying she’d introduce us to the bandmates?”
Ruo Xuan looked around. Logically, the other three were roommates, so they should have come together, right?
Mu Yanxi said, “Yun’er had something come up and was called away by the student council, but it should be fine. She said she’s already met with that fellow disciple.”
“If she really can’t make it, we can just go in and find that fellow disciple ourselves. She already explained the band situation in advance, and the other party agreed.”
At that moment, she received a message. Picking up her Spirit Moon Ring, she saw it was from Shangguan Yun:
“It’s taken care of. I’ll be right there.”
Before long, Shangguan Yun flew over on her sword to the entrance of the Wind Instrument Department of Yuehua Palace. She looked a bit gloomy, as if in a bad mood.
“What’s wrong?”
Mu Yanxi asked with concern. From the fact that Shangguan Yun had been suddenly called away, it was clear that something urgent had happened.
“There’s been another medicine incident in the sect. This time it wasn’t in a physical cultivation class. During private physical training, she fainted directly. No one found her in time. She almost ascended.”
Shangguan Yun said darkly.
“Ascension” was a euphemism used by the Daoist Sect. Daoists pursued immortality and avoided talking about death, so they used “ascension” to refer to death.
“Ah? That serious? What was the cause this time?”
Ruo Xuan asked. She had also seen the sight of that short-haired girl collapsing and convulsing last time. It was truly terrifying.
“According to the unanimous assessment of the Dao of Medicine teachers, she overused medicine. She injected five doses in one go, and one of them was a beast drug meant for demon cultivators.”
Shangguan Yun said.
“Is she insane? Not to mention that beast drugs can’t be used on ordinary human race cultivators. Just the fact that she mixed different body tempering medicines and injected five in a row—isn’t that basically suicide?”
Yu Qiuyu sneered.
Mu Yanxi also nodded.
Using beast drugs, mixing different body tempering medicines, injecting five in a row—no matter how you looked at it, she didn’t want to live. Each action was a path to death.
“I don’t know the specifics. This is the assessment result from the Dao of Medicine teachers, especially Qiongdann Laoren.”
“But many disciples say they don’t believe it. This matter has spread. The impact is likely huge this time. Yangxin Hall will have to come forward and explain.”
Shangguan Yun said.
‘Something’s wrong.’
Mu Yanxi had been feeling that there were some strange aspects to this, but she couldn’t see the whole picture, and she didn’t have enough information, so she couldn’t pinpoint the source of this sense of dissonance.
But she just felt that something was off.
“Forget it. Let’s not talk about these things. Senior Sister Yu must have been waiting a long time. Let’s go see her first.”
Shangguan Yun said, leading everyone into the Wind Instrument Department.
There were small private rooms everywhere, and the sounds of various instruments came from within.
If it was just a single instrument playing, that was fine. It could at least be considered music. But if it was an ensemble, it was a bit messy.
After the split of the Wind Instrument Society, many elite disciples had left for the Light Music Department and the Singing Department.
Most of the remaining disciples were just going through the motions. Even forming a small band was a struggle.
After all, in a band of five or six people, the cultivation levels should be roughly equal. Experts generally didn’t want to team up with mediocrities.
“When you see Senior Sister Yu later, you can discuss the Music Path, the Zither Way with her. If you have any questions, you can also ask her for advice. But never bring up talent, especially talent in the Music Path. Don’t even compliment her.”
Shangguan Yun reminded them as they walked.
“Why? Is her talent really that bad?”
Ruo Xuan asked in confusion.
“No, she used to be extremely talented. She possessed a Music Path talent called Hundred Sounds Mastery.”
“No matter what musical instrument or sheet music, she could learn it instantly. Although she had no spiritual root, she was unquestionably a genius in the Music Path.”
Shangguan Yun said.
“That’s a talent that would be called a prodigy in the Music Path world. With such talent, why would she come to the Spiritual Moon Great Sect? Shouldn’t she have gone to a music sect?”
Yu Qiuyu asked.
Mu Yanxi noticed the key point in Shangguan Yun’s words.
She asked:
“Used to be? What about now? Did she lose her talent?”
“Yes. Just before she graduated from the Chu Sect, she was confident and ready to apply to a music sect. But on her way back, she was ambushed by a group of Scavengers. They dragged her into an alley and stripped her of the Hundred Sounds Mastery talent.”
Shangguan Yun said.
“Scavengers?”
Ruo Xuan asked in confusion.
At the same time, Mu Yanxi asked another question in shock:
“Can talent be stripped?!”
“Of course. I’ve heard there are special divine artifacts that can imprint a person’s talent and then bestow it on another. In reality, it’s robbery.”
“In theory, this violates the rules, but it’s repeatedly banned and still continues. In the black market, various talents are bought and sold everywhere.”
Yu Qiuyu said in a low voice.
“Yeah, Qiuyu is right. Scavengers do this kind of thing. They are black market Robber Cultivators who specifically ambush young cultivators in remote places, robbing them of their treasures and spirit stones, and even stealing their talents.”
Shangguan Yun also said.
“Fortunately, Senior Sister Yu was not a physical cultivator, nor did she have any special root bones or special constitution. Otherwise, those Scavengers would not have been merciful.”
“They would have dug out spiritual roots, cut out immortal bones, and even removed internal organs like the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Because all her other talents were mortal bones, she actually escaped that fate.”
“How can there be such evil scum?!”
Mu Yanxi was burning with rage.
“Then why doesn’t the sect send some high-level cultivators to wipe out all those scumbags?”
“It’s impossible. They are very cunning. If they don’t make a move, no one can tell they are Robber Cultivators.”
“They only operate in remote places, like the Lower City districts. And killing a few waves is useless. The profits are too high. Plenty of people want to do it.”
Shangguan Yun shook her head helplessly.
“Heh, I’m afraid that’s not the only reason, is it?”
Yu Qiuyu sneered.
“Perhaps these gangs have some shadow of the sects behind them. They are tolerated, even supported, by the sects.”
“This… why would the sect do such a thing?”
Mu Yanxi asked in shock. What difference was there from colluding with evil paths?
“The gangs can help the sect manage the Lower City districts they don’t want to go to. They can also do a lot of dirty work for them.”
“Not to mention, when it comes to robbing talents and root bones, maybe the stolen talents somehow end up in the hands of some genius disciple of the sect.”
Yu Qiuyu sneered.
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