Chapter 10 – Heavenly Ladies Gathered in the Holy Land
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Although Lin Ming fused with the memories of the soul fragment, he could not make light of the difficulty of inscription. In order to obtain more knowledge to fill the gaps, he must practice body and mind spiritual coordination in order to fully integrate the soul’s memories within his body!
The materials for inscription were equal to his hard earned gold. He could not waste a single bit of them. At this moment, Lin Ming dared not use any of his precious materials, instead he gathered the true essence within his body to practice. He circulated the energy in his body, and every time it seemed to sync with the memories from the soul fragment, he carved that feeling into his mind.
This was a very tedious and spiritually taxing process, but in Lin Ming’s mind he could see tens of thousands of pages flipping one at a time, again and again, as his soul and body gradually acclimated and his movements became smoother.
The soul force required was excessively demanding. Every now and then, Lin Ming would take a short rest, and in the process he would read that alarming knockoff-like manual, ‘Inscription Techniques: How to Get Started on the Path to Inscription’, and he would feel relaxed. Although the manual could offer him nothing that he didn’t know from the soul fragment, it let him have a more solid and concrete understanding of the Sky Spill Continent’s engraving inscription techniques.
At the end of a full day of practice, Lin Ming closed the ‘Inscription Techniques: How to Get Started on the Path to Inscription’ manual. In the manual was not a single description of anything resembling Sky Worm Silk.
The Sky Worm Silk was a top priority for Lin Ming. He had seen many materials in the Trade Fair, but had not seen this, though he had found a good trail of information. The Sky Fortune Kingdom did have Sky Worms, but they were generally used for making zither strings.
Lin Ming could not actually be sure that these two things were one and the same…
Because of the differences in quality of land and cultivation, materials identified in the Realm of the Gods might not necessarily be the same even though they shared the same name. The Sky Worm Silk in the Realm of the Gods could be completely different than the one in the Sky Spill Continent. Lin Ming identified not with the name, but with other factors such as appearance and smell. If these matched then it was most likely the same thing. But in Lin Ming’s mind, he has only the memories of the Realm of the Gods’ Sky Worm Silk, and since he has not seen the Sky Spill Continent’s version, he could not be sure that they were identical.
Lin Ming thought very carefully about where he could find Sky Worm Silk, and finally concluded that he might be able to locate some in the Seven Profound Martial House.
The majority of martial artists may use the sword, sometimes the sabre, or bow, and so on, but ever-so-often there are those that use extremely rare and precious weapons. For instance, the zither!
The Seven Profound Martial House’s name of Seven Profound naturally originates from the Seven Profound Valleys. But the Seven Profound Valleys’ name also originates from a faction of seven people, each of which uses various weapons. One of them was a female, and her weapon happened to be the zither!
Therefore the zither is also a legacy inheritance of the Seven Profound Valleys, and has been passed down from generation to generation to the present day. Because of this, it is an established department in the Seven Profound Martial House!
But the difficulties of the zither are too many to count. The talent required was unbearably high, but the user also had to have a calm and regal temperament. Due to these requirements, this department of the Seven Profound Martial House had always been lonesome compared with the more popular departments. The vast majority, at least 99 percent of those who came to study the zither were women who came to cultivate their character and instrument skills, and held neither interest in bloody killing nor interest in the extreme studying of martial arts.
Lin Ming immediately set off. His destination was the Zither Department’s Public Lecture Hall where they publicly lectured!
Each year, the Seven Profound Martial House that was set up in the Sky Fortune Kingdom selected top tier talents to enter the Seven Profound Valleys. At the request of the royal family, the Seven Profound Martial House also gave special permissions to non-students to enter the public halls where they were able to attend lectures.
However, in order to enter the public lecture hall one needed a special Pass Card! Otherwise everyone and their mothers and fathers and pet dogs would come. So the public lecture hall was waterproofed against anyone except those with permission.
The Seven Profound Martial House had laid down the rules for entry. One had to be at least the third stage of Body Transformation, part of the aristocracy, or a student of the Seven Profound Martial house or the Sky Fortune Martial House. Others did not have the privilege of entering the public lecture hall. The lectures were truly popular and in high demand, but the real content was still reserved for core disciples.
The Pass Card that Lin Ming currently had was borrowed from Lin Xiaodong. The Lin Family was very big after all, and many juniors and seniors that cultivated the Martial Path were naturally in the Seven Profound Martial House. With Lin Xiaodong’s connections, obtaining a Pass Card wasn’t too difficult.
As Lin Ming first went to visit Lin Xiaodong, who shouted. “Brother! My own, dear brother! Have you finally been cured of your idiocy?”
Lin Xiaodong truly did admire his brother’s hard work and diligence towards inscriptions. In his heart, he had always believed that this big bro of his would reach the highest possible boundaries of martial artists and become a legend, known throughout the lands! But the engraving inscription techniques were something that were not achievable through just one’s convictions. No matter how driven you were, you needed inborn aptitude!
If it was really possible to become an inscription master by tossing around 800 gold taels to purchase some materials and a copy of this truly shady manual, ‘Inscription Technique: Getting Started on the Path to Inscription,’ then inscription masters would be crawling all around like ants.
In Lin Xiaodong’s eyes, for Lin Ming to study inscription was nothing but a pipe dream. Not only would he lose all of his money and become a beggar, but he would also waste valuable time!
But Lin Xiaodong was a true brother to Lin Ming. It wasn’t possible to persuade him, so Lin Xiaodong could only helplessly lend Lin Ming the Pass Card as he considered his options.
He decided he would find an auspicious time and bring Lin Ming to the medical hall and find a renowned doctor. What else could be wrong with Lin Ming but that his brain had been muddled and his spirit was disturbed!
Then, Lin Ming arrived at the Seven Profound Martial House Zither Department Public Lecture Hall. It was a graceful building that was three floors high. The lecture area was spacious.
However, pitiful and occasionally thickheaded Lin Ming did not know that the Seven Profound Martial House’s Zither Department Public Lecture Hall was equivalent to a ladies’ restroom. It was a true holy land in which all men were expressly forbidden!
The reason for this was that the Zither Department’s students were essentially all women. These women who wanted to study the Dao of the Zither tended to be from aristocratic families. In their entire lives they had been gradually influenced by the sweet melodies of music, and thus their appearances also were incomparably high! They were among the most beautiful specimens of womankind. The result of this was that many aristocratic young masters’ hearts were disturbed and tempted with lewd thoughts, and had the night dreams that they would poach one of two of these beauties.
These young masters relied on their status to attain a Pass Card and could thus frequent the Zither Department to spy on girls with their dark and frankly dirty intentions. They did not come for the lectures, instead focusing their eyes on the female students’ curves, especially those with luscious thighs and… rounder chests.
Even after the lectures were over they would follow them around and eat meals in their proximity, and badger them as the ladies went shopping! Finally the beauties of the Zither Department reached the limits of their patience! They had come here to learn the Dao of the Zither, and they needed to maintain a calm heart and peaceful mind, which was impossible with all of the lewd dogs hounding them about! Gradually the Zither Department began to prevent men from entering, in particular those shifty eyed male hooligans, and directly threw them out, relentlessly and without mercy!
Lin Ming entered the Zither Department Lecture Hall, but the lecture time had not yet started, and several female students were quietly inside, exchanging talk and zither skills with each other. In the center, a girl was playing a new tune. It was a nimble and fresh tune that was filled with elegance as the notes flowed out; it was a tempting tune that lingered on one’s mind.
Lin Ming approached to take a gander. The string on the zither was not Sky Worm Silk, as he had anticipated. After all, Sky Worm Silk was an expensive and rare item. The strings were also especially fierce and tenacious. Someone whose cultivation was too low could easily be wounded trying to play on Sky Worm Silk. The young and fragile flowers of the Zither Department would have no way to use such powerful strings.
The girl who was playing the zither was too dedicated to her craft to notice Lin Ming, but the two other female students who were listening naturally noticed the presence of a male. They knitted their brows and frowned, but did not speak.
Every other period of time there would always be some men with evil intentions hovering like flies. They would wait for their turn and while pretending to be some zither enthusiast, they would come closer, only to look at the female students’ chests. These sorts of men made the female students feel utter revulsion.
The female students who studied the Dao of the Zither tended to be thin skinned, and did not want to lose face over arguing against some dirty beast over whether their goods were ogled, so many sexual deviants would be intense and even maybe cop a feel with their hands or feet. It wasn’t until a group of sisters banded together under the guidance of the Elder Senior Sister that all the perverts were shown the door.
Even so, there were still those utterly shameless and thick-skinned rogues and rascals, who even after being thrown out, would come crawling back with the excuse that they were true students of the Dao of the Zither, and that they wanted to study this ‘Dao of the Zither’ together with other female students, and that they certainly did not entertain any dirty thoughts. But they were without a doubt, shameless students who were only masters of the Dao of Depravity!
Because of this, the Elder Senior Sister also became equally ruthless, and on the second day, she set upright a bold sign above the entrance upon which was written, ‘Men and Dogs, Do Not Enter.”
The matter became increasingly serious, and was finally addressed through the intervention of high level members within the department. Men were therefore banned from the Zither Department Lecture Hall. The exception was that male students who came in could still enter, but under the absolute condition that their presence was determined by the Zither Department’s female students. Any men that had a hint of lewd of evil intentions were instantly expelled and had all privileges forever revoked!
As such, over time, now the Zither Department Lecture Hall no longer saw even the shadows of men.
Lin Ming naturally didn’t know the sordid history of the Zither Department and its war with all perverts everywhere. He looked around awhile and did not find a single instrument that used Sky Worm Silk, and so began to stroll around down one side of the hall to a collection of books, hoping perhaps that there was something here that was related to what he was looking for.
As he left, several students finished playing, and they looked at the distant Lin Ming that was standing near the bookshelves. They said with a whisper, “This fellow doesn’t look like he studies the zither.”
“Mm, I think I saw that little shifty-eyed rascal looking at Xiao Sian’s hand a moment ago.”
“Surprisingly he doesn’t seem that old. He looks around 15-16 years old.”
“Humph! This is our home turf here. A 16 year old male should already be married. Someone at my age might already be a mother.” The girl who spoke was only a light 17 year old girl. In Sky Fortune City, 18 year olds will generally have married by then. In the more rural countryside, they would even marry one or two years in advance, so a 16 year old married man wasn’t too rare.
“Whatever, it is not under our control. Elder Senior Sister will come to the lecture soon. If this fellow has any dirty thoughts, she will immediately ask him to leave.”
Lin Ming had not heard these young girls’ discussion; otherwise he would have been left speechless. He indeed did look at Xiao Sian’s hand, but that was only because he was trying to ascertain the material of the strings!
He kept looking for the information on the Sky Worm Silk. Luckily the Zither Department Lecture Hall was very large, and even this one side had a good area set aside for a collection of books, each of which held a variety of musical knowledge and history.
Lin Ming of course was not interested in music whatsoever, he searched and searched and finally found what he was looking for! It was a manual named the ‘Sky Zither List.”
‘Sky Zither List’ was a an encyclopedia on ancient instruments of all sorts, that included origins, users, manufacturers, materials, and other arcane knowledge, all of which were described in minute detail. Of course in these rare materials were also included the Sky Worm Silk! Lin Ming was incomparably excited, and he began to read with vigor.
‘Sky Zither List’ introduced the Sky Work Silk’s properties and gathering methods. The only fault so far was that was no available picture of the Sky Worm Silk, but Lin Ming was able to roughly determine that this was the Sky Worm Silk that he was looking for!
Lin Ming was just innocently and earnestly reading, and did not realize at all that the number of female students in the Lecture Hall began to creep up. They on the other hand did notice him in the corner by himself. In this group of heavenly beauties, the presence of a single man in his dirtied clothes was truly plain as day.
Luckily, Lin Ming had not looked around, as all of his heart’s attentions were focused on the book. Even though the female students thought it might be fake, they did not have any evidence that they could use to throw him out.
Originally, the lecture would have proceeded smoothly, but there existed the Zither Department’s legendary Elder Senior Sister, who retained an enormous prejudice against the entirety of men-kind!
In the social circles of aristocratic young masters, the Senior Elder Sister’s name was like a thunderbolt that reverberated in their ears and caused their hearts to heat up with anger. That sign upon which ‘No Man or Dog shall enter’ was written was an insult to all of them, and caused them to feel the pain of losing so many chances with ladies of such… appreciable goods! They cursed her to remain a spinster for the rest of her life!
In fact, the Elder Senior Sister was a beauty among beauties. She was around 20 years of age, and had a flawless oval face, stature that belonged to royalty, long and slender thighs and legs that climbed to the sky.
It was a pity that the Elder Senior Sister had never shown any interest in men, and was easily irritated with a short temper. Any male who dared to gaze upon her majestic beauty would be sent a swift and decisive kick between their two legs!
After the Elder Senior Sister arrived, she instantly discovered Lin Ming! Her willow eyebrows instantly wrinkled, and she laid down her zither and arrived in front of him. She rapped her fingers three times on his desk and asked him, “How did you get in?”