While Mu Yanxi was deep in thought, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in her ear:
“Yanxi, what are you thinking about?”
Mu Yanxi was startled awake, opening her eyes to see Shangguan Yun’s face right next to her ear, softly blowing air. Just a little bit closer and she would have kissed her earlobe.
Mu Yanxi lost her balance, nearly slipping off the gliding board. Fortunately, the board had a slight adhesive effect, gripping her jade-like feet and preventing her from falling.
Upon closer inspection, she realized they had already arrived at the dormitory main entrance. While she was immersed in the jade slip of sound path fundamentals, the gliding board had automatically navigated at high speed to their destination.
“Yun’er, don’t scare me like that. And you’re too close.” Mu Yanxi quickly jumped off the gliding board, noticing she was getting more comfortable calling her ‘Yun’er,’ and Shangguan Yun seemed to have fewer boundaries with her. It was only the second day of school.
“I saw you holding the jade token, lost in thought, and couldn’t resist playing a little joke. Were you looking at the cultivation methods in the club jade token? Which club did you join?” Shangguan Yun asked with a mischievous smile.
“The wind instrument department. What about you?” Mu Yanxi answered first, then asked in return, storing her gliding board back into the Terminal Ring.
“The wind instrument department? That’s the club that split up last year, right? You’re not just planning to coast along, are you?”
Shangguan Yun immediately guessed Mu Yanxi’s thoughts, then continued, “I’m in the student council, so I don’t have to rush into choosing a club.”
“The student council? That’s the student representative body, right? You can join the student council right after starting school?” Mu Yanxi asked.
She had heard that the student council selected outstanding disciples to oversee the lives and cultivation of the student body, relay their needs to the teachers, and held a status even higher than the Disciplinary Committee.
“I was the student council chairman at Lingyue Chuzong, so naturally, I joined the student council directly upon entering the Great Sect,” Shangguan Yun said with a laugh.
“Actually, I have some questions for you. Do you know about the split in the wind instrument department?” Mu Yanxi suddenly remembered.
If Ruo Xuan and Wei Ling knew about it, then Shangguan Yun, as the former student council chairman of Lingyue Chuzong, should know as well.
“I do know about that incident. The report was even shown to the Lingyue Chuzong student council at the time.”
“We were asked to try our best to mediate the conflicts between disciples and prevent it from happening again. But to be honest, such events are nearly impossible to reconcile,” Shangguan Yun said.
It seemed she truly understood the nature of the event. So, Mu Yanxi asked the question that had been puzzling her:
“Theoretically, most disciples in Spiritual Moon Sect should want to form bands, as that’s more suitable for climbing dual cultivation with higher-level cultivators.”
“So why are there so many disciples supporting that musical genius maiden in forming an orchestra, especially when it involves cultivating some auxiliary instruments?”
“So that’s what you were thinking about. It’s simple. Most disciples in Spiritual Moon Sect actually don’t have much innate talent for the Music Path. They can only practice auxiliary instruments.”
“Before, the wind instrument club also operated on survival of the fittest; those without high enough Music Path cultivation couldn’t even find a band,” Shangguan Yun explained.
“Moreover, auxiliary instruments are simple. They don’t take much time to hinder other cultivation, and they aren’t as expensive as noble instruments.”
“So, many lower-level disciples, with the mindset of casually practicing an auxiliary instrument to freeload off the orchestra’s cultivation, support forming the orchestra.”
“They never intended to pursue the path of a music cultivator in the first place, nor do they plan to stay in the orchestra after graduation.”
“They just want to freeload off the orchestra’s cultivation during their time at the Great Sect. Most of the disciples supporting that genius maiden are lower-level female disciples like this.”
“Oh, I see.” Mu Yanxi suddenly understood. So, there were such complex reasons behind it.
Those supporting the Music Path genius included a group of ordinary disciples she brought up from the junior sect who had difficulty finding bands.
Those supporting the original club president were mostly the core, legitimate confidantes of the original wind instrument club, along with many disciples who lacked both talent and money.
They already had bands, fixed cultivation with either noble or commoner instruments, and clear future plans. Naturally, they were unwilling to reorganize into an orchestra.
Mu Yanxi could only sigh at this. Where there are people, there is society. The factors were so complex, with everyone having their own thoughts.
Even disciples with poor Music Path talent could, by joining the orchestra, be carried along in cultivation by those with exceptional talent.
They wouldn’t be a burden to the orchestra and might even contribute more. This method of cultivation was basically non-existent in Mu Yanxi’s previous life, but in this world, it was the norm.
If Mu Yanxi had to describe it, it was probably the power of unity. In this world, many things required cultivators to combine their strength to achieve greater accomplishments, with the benefits shared by all, concentrating power to accomplish great things.
Mu Yanxi couldn’t imagine why the cultivation realm of this world had developed such a system, but she didn’t dislike it. From this perspective, the climbing dual cultivation promoted by Spiritual Moon Sect was actually a form of mutual assistance.
Lower-level disciples assisted higher-level cultivators in various ways with their cultivation, and the higher-level cultivators would then nurture the lower-level ones in return.
This allowed one person’s cultivation to advance first, and then those with higher cultivation would help pull up those with lower cultivation.
But if that was the case, why was there such a fierce and incompatible path struggle between the orchestra and bands?
Mu Yanxi thought for a moment, feeling that the orchestra represented a state of constant mutual assistance through large-group cultivation, while the bands’ goal was still climbing dual cultivation with higher-level cultivators.
These two might seem similar on the surface, but their core principles were worlds apart.
By now, her head was starting to ache from thinking. Delving deeper would be too complex and wasn’t something she should be pondering. Mu Yanxi shook her head, dismissing these extraneous thoughts, and asked Shangguan Yun:
“It seems you’re also very familiar with the Music Path?”
“Proficient in all four arts—qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Of course, I can play several instruments. I play the violin and the piano,” Shangguan Yun said.
“Impressive. Those are both noble instruments,” Mu Yanxi remarked. If the original host had married her, he would have had quite the enjoyable life. Proficient in all four arts, and probably skilled in other areas too, right?
“Of course. As the Young Lady of the Shangguan family, being required to be proficient in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting is perfectly normal, isn’t it?”
“Right. Speaking of which, you joined the wind instrument department, didn’t you? Then you need to form a band. Would you consider adding me?” Shangguan Yun suddenly asked with a smile.
“No, no, that’s not necessary. I haven’t decided to form a band yet. I need to look into it more,” Mu Yanxi said with a dry laugh. Why was everyone trying to form a band with her?
“Oh? Could it be that Yanxi really just wants to coast along in the wind instrument department? That won’t do. Your precious time at the Great Sect would be wasted,” Shangguan Yun said seriously.
“Of course not! I’m still observing, yes. Once I’m more familiar with the Music Path, I’ll consider whether to join a band or not,” Mu Yanxi hurriedly explained.
At that moment, Yu Qiuyu landed on her flying sword at the dormitory entrance and asked:
“I think I heard you talking about forming a band?”