eurekapd Chapter 519 Entering the Time Tower
Chapter 519 Entering the Time Tower
When Rong Shu and his six companions arrived at the Four Seasons Palace, it was already almost packed with people.
Duan Yuyan found the senior brother who had helped her grab a spot, handed over spirit stones in one hand and the spot in the other, and beckoned Rong Shu and the others to come over.
Rong Shu glanced around and saw that the other students had brought various musical instruments, writing brushes, ink, paper, and even chessboards.
"What kind of class is this?" Rong Shu had just returned to the academy and was still completely confused.
Duan Yuyan explained to her: "The four masters of plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum correspond to the four arts of qin (a stringed instrument), chess, calligraphy and painting. They are all renowned masters in their respective fields of expertise."
“Using music as a means to cultivate Tao and kill enemies, I can understand that. But how do you cultivate the three arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting? How do you fight?” Feng Qianli scratched his head.
“Chess… I remember in the legend of the Ten Divine Artifacts, one of the artifacts was originally a chessboard?” Rong Shu glanced at Si Chenbi.
The artifact, Thousand Transformations, was kept by the Si family. I wonder if Si Chenbi ever saw it with his own eyes.
As always, Si Chenbi sat quietly beside Rong Shu, listening to their conversation.
If you observe carefully, you'll notice that every time someone speaks, Si Chenbi nods his head slightly, seemingly to show agreement, demonstrating his principle of distributing his favor evenly.
Rong Shu remembered that he also had a guqin (a seven-stringed zither) in his Hanchuan Qiankun Pearl, which he had learned from his second senior sister. He took it out and played a short piece.
Duan Yuyan found it strange; he could tell that Rong Shu wasn't just playing randomly.
"Rong Shu, when did you ever learn these things?"
"Of course, I learned it from my second senior sister at Zhanming Mountain." Rong Shu proudly raised his chin: "My second senior sister is the eldest daughter of the Lin family, the current young master of the Lin family, and the future head of the Lin family!"
"She is a talented woman who is proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting! Moreover, she is extremely skilled in music, proficient in all kinds of musical instruments, and is a music cultivator who can control all kinds of beasts with her music, and also cultivates the art of beast control."
Rong Shu stayed by her second senior sister's side, and even if she didn't become an expert, she was at least influenced by her.
"I didn't realize that." Duan Yuyan looked at Rong Shu's posture and found it to be quite impressive, indicating that he had indeed put in a lot of hard work.
"This is too fantastical... Rong Shu, is there anything you can't do?"
"I guess... I'm still missing one talisman, Little Duanzi. Remember to teach me later." Rong Shu blinked.
"Get out! I won't teach! Teaching a disciple will only lead to the master's starvation!"
Amidst their banter, the four masters of plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum arrived at the Four Seasons Palace.
The students quickly rose and bowed, saying, "We pay our respects to our teacher and beg him to impart his knowledge and skills."
"Today, the four of us will be holding a class at the Four Seasons Palace. The class will last for six hours. You may do as you please."
The four masters, Plum Blossom, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum, wore identical Taoist robes, differing only in their color scheme and patterns.
Master Mei, dressed in fiery red with plum blossom patterns.
Lan Fuzi, elegant and refined, with orchid patterns.
The bamboo master, dressed in flowing blue robes with bamboo leaf patterns.
Chrysanthemum Master, autumn chrysanthemums in frost, chrysanthemum patterns.
The four masters sat at four separate tables.
Master Mei, an expert in music, began the lesson: "Everything in the world has a sound. Some sounds you can hear, and some you can't, but that doesn't mean they don't exist..."
Lan Fuzi, who had set up the Longmen Chess Game on the board, made his final move, connecting all the black pieces on the board into a black dragon, breaking the deadlock.
The black dragon soared through the clouds, its roar echoing in all directions.
“…Ah!” Some students instinctively covered their ears, but still looked pained.
Seeing this, Master Mei gently plucked the strings of her zither with her delicate hand. As the music flowed out, the furious roar of the black dragon was instantly dissolved.
"Me too!" Master Zhu boldly rolled up his sleeves, picked up his brush, and with a few strokes of ink, a poem appeared on the paper—
Thunder roars over a thousand peaks, rain falls upon ten thousand mountains.
As the poem took shape, the words attached to the paper came to life.
Boom!
The heavens were enraged, and thunder roared as if mountains were collapsing.
Swish!
The rain poured down, its sound like thunder, like an army pressing in.
Suddenly, the weather inside the Four Seasons Palace changed drastically, and the students were caught off guard and drenched in the rain.
The torrential rain brought floods, creating towering waves that forced many students to wade through the water.
"Aaaaaah! I'm going to fall..."
As one student lost his footing and was about to fall into the giant wave, a flower petal suddenly blew out from beneath him and gently caught him.
By the time the students came to their senses, the raging storm had been replaced by a beautiful fairyland of blooming peach blossoms.
Amidst the falling petals, the fragrance of flowers and the songs of birds, all so close at hand, it feels as if one is wandering in a fairyland.
Master Ju once again wielded his brush, and in that scroll of landscape painting with fragrant peach blossoms, warm sunlight pierced through the clouds, showering the students and drying their wet hair and clothes in no time.
At this moment, everyone seemed to awaken from a dream.
Before they knew it, they found themselves inside one of Master Ju's paintings.
The four masters, through music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, staged a battle of wits that was both elegant and popular. Their strength was understated, their sharpness concealed, and their power softened, hidden within the musical notes on the chessboard and blended into the landscape paintings. The students watched with rapt attention, as if in a dream.
Six hours of instruction.
Six hours of self-study.
A day and a night had passed by the time Rong Shu and her party emerged from the Four Seasons Palace.
"By the way, I need to get ready to enter the Time Tower," Rong Shu said to his friends.
Taking advantage of the current free time, Rong Shu planned to enter the Time Tower to further comprehend the profound divine power of the [Nine-Character Mantra].
Duan Yuyan: "Oh, goodbye, don't bother seeing me off."
Rong Shu: ...?
A question mark slowly appeared on her forehead.
Are you really not going to send it to me?
So ordinary?
But seeing Duan Yuyan and Lu Zhuo each holding one person in each hand, the five of them running very fast, with only Xing Xue and Si Chenbi turning back to look at her one last time, Rong Shu couldn't help but shake her head and sigh.
"The world is going to the dogs, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be."
"The little boat of friendship capsizes so easily~"
After Rong Shu left, little did she know that Duan Yuyan, who had run far away, was talking about her to the others: "This girl has twenty years of use of the Time Tower. In my experience, every time she goes into seclusion, it's never anything good; she's always holding back something big!"
Feng Qianli: "Then we can't fall behind!"
Lu Zhuo: "That's right! Let's go, let's go to the Eight Wonders Sect. I remember two months ago I challenged a few senior students and won several opportunities to go to the Eight Wonders Sect for intensive training..."
Xing Xue took Si Chenbi's hand and nodded: "Alright, let's not delay..."
"set off!"
"..."
Unaware that her mischievous friends were pulling her along behind her back, Rong Shu walked into the seemingly ordinary Time Tower.
"Lu Zhuo and the others once said that everyone who enters the Time Tower will encounter different things, and what they can understand depends entirely on their own opportunities and comprehension..."
"I don't know what I will encounter."
A blinding white light made Rong Shu involuntarily close his eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, all she saw was white.
Everything was white, without a single hue of color, as if Rong Shu had stepped into a pure white room.
She looked back, but there wasn't a single door or window.
Rong Shu remained silent for several seconds before finally uttering a soul-searching question: "What...what the hell is this?"