“That really is a noble friendship,” was all Mu Yanxi could say.
One person was willing to trade their most important immortal path talent to someone else, and the other refused to accept a talent higher than their own—how utterly unimaginable.
“Mm, I was really happy during my time in the orchestra. Playing together with everyone, I felt a kind of music I had never experienced before.”
“At that time, I was almost certain that if the orchestra succeeded, I would definitely be able to break through my mental barrier,” Yu Mowen said, reminiscing.
The three fell silent again. Everyone knew what happened next—the orchestra failed to form, the Wind Instrument Society split, and her dream of returning to the Music Path was soon cut short.
But then, Mu Yanxi thought of something off and asked, “Why didn’t you go to the Light Music Department instead of staying in the Wind Instrument Society?”
“If you had gone to the Light Music Department and formed a band, maybe you could have found your heart of the music path again?”
“When she left, she didn’t come to find me, probably afraid of hurting me.”
“Bands and orchestras are different—orchestras mostly play classic, famous celestial music, which I already know, so I could just follow the score. But bands often play trendy songs, and I can’t learn new songs; joining a band would just be a burden,” Yu Mowen said somewhat dejectedly.
It sounded heartbreaking. Her best friend had left without taking her, but since she was a friend willing to give away her talent, she surely wouldn’t look down on Yu Mowen. Given Yu Mowen’s skill, no one would look down on her; it was probably just fear of hurting her.
“Then why did Senior Sister Yu agree to join our band now? With your skill, many people must have wanted to invite you to join their band, right?” Yu Qiuyu asked.
Mu Yanxi also nodded. Even if Yu Mowen couldn’t learn new songs, just her profound understanding and high cultivation in the Music Path was enough to make many people eager to invite her to join a band.
If worst came to worst, she didn’t have to learn new songs—given the breadth of Yu Mowen’s repertoire, even just practicing songs she already knew would be more than enough.
“During summer break, quite a few fellow disciples came to ask me to form a band, but I was too sensitive and sad about the orchestra’s split and refused them all.”
“It wasn’t until the new semester started that I adjusted my mindset. Then Yun’er came to find me; I owed her a favor from our time in the Chu Sect, so I agreed. I also wanted to make some changes myself,” Yu Mowen said.
“Yun’er and I made an agreement. For now, I’ll only join as a support member. If it’s a song I’ve learned, I’ll attend practice and performances seriously; if it’s one I haven’t learned, then you’ll have to find someone else.”
“Senior Sister Yu is joking. We’re all amateurs and need your guidance. We won’t be learning new songs for a long time, and by the time we finish, maybe you’ll have already gotten back on track with the Music Path,” Mu Yanxi encouraged.
“Mm, I hope your words come true. Without further ado, we can start preparing to practice. Have you all brought your instruments? If not, go borrow one from the Wind Instrument Society; there are plenty of instruments here,” Yu Mowen said very crisply.
Shangguan Yun always carried her instruments with her; Mu Yanxi knew that.
“I brought mine.”
Shangguan Yun and Ruo Xuan said in unison.
But Ruo Xuan had actually prepared a new instrument so quickly? It had only been three days.
Shangguan Yun shook her hands, and a heavy black piano and an elegant violin appeared in her left and right hands respectively; as for Ruo Xuan, she waved her hand, and an asymmetrical instrument with a flame-shaped body appeared in her hand—it was a bass.
These three were all divine artifacts, and none of them were low-grade. Especially the bass in Ruo Xuan’s hand, which caught Yu Mowen’s attention.
“A fifth-grade divine artifact, a Hualai series bass produced by the Tianyin Sect—this costs at least fifteen thousand spirit stones. A beginner buys something this high-grade?”
“There happened to be one at home, so I had it couriered over. I tried it out and it felt okay,” Ruo Xuan said, lightly strumming the strings a few times, producing a textured tone that already carried spiritual power.
Any random bass at home costs fifteen thousand spirit stones?
This made Mu Yanxi extremely envious. She and Yu Qiuyu shook their heads together and said, “We don’t have instruments.”
“It’s true that beginners don’t have drum kits, that’s normal. But there are many in the Wind Instrument Society, feel free to borrow. As for Junior Sister Mu’s specialties, the yangqin and guzheng. There are still a few guzheng, but not many yangqin,” Yu Mowen said, recalling.
Then she led the four of them to the instrument warehouse of the Wind Instrument Society.
A great hall was filled with a vast number of instruments, thousands of them. There were instruments of all types and styles, truly an instrument museum, and it showed how powerful the Wind Instrument Society was at its peak.
However, in terms of quality, most of these divine artifacts were seventh or eighth grade, a huge difference from the fifth-grade bass in Ruo Xuan’s hand. Just looking at that bass’s glossy shell and the strings flowing with spiritual light showed the gap.
Yu Mowen first led them to the drum kit area.
Here, all kinds of large drums, small drums, waist drums, and war drums were piled up like a mountain, along with gongs, cymbals, and other instruments. Not to mention standard drum kits—even assembling a custom one on the spot was completely possible.
But Yu Qiuyu didn’t take too long to decide. She found a standard drum kit that looked decent, tapped it a few times to confirm the sound, and directly stored it in her Terminal Ring.
Mu Yanxi had more to think about.
Originally, since Shangguan Yun had chosen the violin and was responsible for the string melody section, Mu Yanxi was more suited to choose the yangqin to replace the struck-string section, acting as the keyboardist.
But there was only one yangqin. According to Yu Mowen, there had been a few before, but they must have been borrowed by others, leaving only this one. And this one was damaged.
“This is a bit troublesome. But fortunately, the guzheng, though a plucked string instrument, can substitute. If it really doesn’t work, Yanxi can use the guzheng for melody, and I’ll go back to piano for keyboard,” Shangguan Yun suggested.
“I have another idea.” Yu Mowen pondered for a moment and then asked, “Why don’t we use both? Junior Sister Mu, do you know how to play the zhu qin?”
“Play the zhu? Do you mean the zhu qin?” Mu Yanxi thought for a moment and recalled this very unique ancient instrument.
The zhu qin is very similar in shape to the guzheng, but the playing method is different. The left hand plucks the strings while the right hand strikes them with a mallet. In other words, it is both a struck-string instrument and a plucked-string instrument.
“Since you can play both the guzheng and the yangqin, that means you can do both plucking and striking. How about combining them? I know there’s a very good zhu qin in the Wind Instrument Society,” Yu Mowen said.