Chapter 760: Puppy and music

Shen Shuibi suddenly realized something… something of a natural quality.

She looked up and saw the ethereal figures in the sky; as the flute music faded, these figures gradually fell into slumber, their bodies slowly returning to the earth and sky.

Just now, her flute music had moved these spiritual beings of nature—in the era of the ancient Shaman, they were also considered a type of deity.

However, in reality… they were true deities, later referred to by Shamanes as ‘Di Qi (Earthly Qi)’, their existence corresponding to the ‘Heavenly God’ of Haotian and the Ziwei Heavenly Court.

Later, ‘Human-Ghost’ were also added to the deities, which was another Dao.

These spiritual beings, called Mountain Spirit, Water Spirit, or something else, were manifestations of natural essence; as ‘Di Qi (Earthly Qi)’, they were pure, but precisely because of their purity, they were arrogant and wrathful, easily influenced by emotions to commit extreme acts, some of extreme good, such as sacrificing themselves for the sentient beings of a mountain, while others were of extreme evil, destroying all Mortals in their sight, but none of these were their true nature; their true nature was ‘purity’.

They were like mirrors; if Mortals were kind to them, they returned kindness; if Mortals were malicious to them, they returned destruction.

And just now, Shen Shuibi’s flute music ignited their passion, causing all these sleeping deities to rise and listen to the lingering echoes of creation.

However, once the jade flute shattered and the sound ceased, these deities had already bowed down again, preparing to re-immerse themselves into the earth.

Shen Shuibi witnessed this scene, and what she thought of was: what was the relationship between the primordial sound of creation and the Shaman’s ‘Di Qi (Earthly Qi)’?

If it was related to Di Qi (Earthly Qi), then the external Universe pursued by the Shaman would be connected to the primordial sound.

Celestial Pole, the possibility of this matter being related to the ‘natural’ pursued by the Shaman, would then mean that one’s own Inner World is also related to the natural, doesn’t this imply that… the pursuit of ‘the singular self’ cannot actually be established?

One’s own Inner World cannot exist independently of everything in the outside world?

Shen Shuibi tilted her head.

If it were Li Qi, he would probably be overwhelmed by the accumulated information by now, but Shen Shuibi was not anxious; she had merely found a new clue.

The Little rabbit (Nickname) opened her eyes, and a big question mark appeared above her head.

Hmm… What is this?

At her feet, there was a confused, muddled Earth Spirit, seemingly awakened by the flute music but unable to fall back asleep.

It looked like a translucent ghost bear, but it was too small, only the size of a Xiao Gou, and with its long fur, it looked more like a chow than a bear.

A little… cute.

Shen Shuibi reached out and embraced the chow; it seemed to constantly want to wake up but couldn’t, its sleepy instincts clashing with its desire to awaken, resulting in it constantly nodding off in place.

This scene reminded Shen Shuibi of Li Shiwei when she was little.

When the Little rabbit (Nickname) was still an infant, she often struggled between appetite and sleep, leading her to fall asleep after one bite, then be lured by the aroma a few seconds later, struggle to get up for another bite, and then fall asleep again, repeating the cycle.

After a brief examination, she immediately realized the cause of its condition.

Other large natural Spirits listened to the flute music and rose accordingly, but the music was not enough to fully awaken them, so when the flute shattered, they continued to sleep.

But for this smallest, most fragile natural Spirit before her, the flute music was enough to awaken it, yet after being awakened by her, the flute shattered, causing it to be sleepy but unable to sleep, and awake but unable to get up.

Seeing its adorable, pitiful state, Shen Shuibi picked it up and gently moved it into the Immortal Cave.

As for the changes in the surrounding mountain terrain…

Hmm… anyway, it only changed about a dozen li around; Mystic Radiance Mountain covers several hundred li in area, so let Niu Huang deal with the headache, but… I’ll apologize to him in person later.

Shen Shuibi, unlike Li Qi, did not have a strong concept of hierarchy; she simply felt she had caused Niu Huang trouble, so an apology and compensation later would suffice.

Li Qi was different; he placed great importance on rules and etiquette, so much so that Empress Luofu was somewhat displeased by it.

Thinking this, Shen Shuibi held the sleepy little chow and then glanced at the surrounding spiritual bamboo.

She casually plucked a section of spiritual bamboo.

Cutting the bamboo into a flute, it was one foot, two inches, five fen, one li, seven hao long, with silk wound around the gaps, and ends sealed; one hole on the left, another for blowing, a bamboo membrane on the next hole, six holes on the right, all facing upwards, and two sound holes on opposite sides.

With the new flute, she began to play again, hoping to fully awaken this natural Spirit.

She didn't know why, but she found this Xiao Gou, or rather, little bear, quite cute, so she became interested.

When interest arose, she acted; this was the Little rabbit (Nickname)'s logic.

But after playing for a while, she found that she could no longer enter her previous state, and the sounds she played no longer possessed the quality of ‘echoes of creation’.

In other words, this simple music could not awaken the half-asleep, half-awake little chow.

Hmm…

Several clues in her mind intertwined, giving Shen Shuibi an idea.

If one could awaken the natural Spirit with the echoes of creation, completely grasp the previous Dao Resonance, and find the connection between the Inner World and the Universe, it might be possible to use this to find the Celestial Pole meaning of ‘Gui Xu’.

It makes a lot of sense; it just needs verification.

How to verify it?

Then why not go find those among the Shaman who are skilled in musical instruments.

There were indeed such people among the Shaman, from the Ritual Patriarchs lineage, the Grand Director of Music, or also called the Grand Director of Music.

The Grand Director of Music managed the laws of Chengyun, governing scholarship and politics, and uniting the various disciples. All who possessed Dao and virtue were appointed to teach.

They taught the national children with musical virtues: moderation, harmony, reverence, diligence, filial piety, and friendliness; with musical language: inspiration, Dao, satire, recitation, speech, and language; and with musical dance: dance.

The Grand Director of Music was responsible for teaching the Young Master of Shaman God Mountain and Geniuses from various places the essence of the ‘Dao’, popularizing various necessary skills and music theory.

After all, it was previously stated that ‘music’ itself was a noble thing; even the Shaman God, Heavenly Emperor, and Human Emperor had their own unique music.

The essence of music is ‘vibration’, and vibration exists among all things in the world, just like the primordial sound produced by Yao Wanchi, a second-rank, which is also a type of vibration.

Shen Shuibi remembered that Buddhism was even more extreme, with the concept of ‘Dharma Sound’; the World Honored One Tathagata once roared like a lion, destroying Demonic Overlords with the great Dharma Sound.

One school of thought in Buddhism even believed that the existence of all things, matter, consciousness, spirit, and all phenomena, originated from the ‘birth and death’ of their vibrations.

Existing due to the convergence of Destiny is called birth; ceasing to exist due to the dispersion of Destiny is called death.

The gatha from the Diamond Sutra: “All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, and lightning.” It speaks of how all worldly Dharmas that arise from Destiny are like dreams, like shadows in bubbles, like mist, elusive and impermanent, constantly changing, and also like lightning, changing rapidly.

One birth, one death, is vibration, and its speed is unimaginable, hence the Buddhist scriptures say: “Inconceivable.”

What is inconceivable refers to speeds and quantities that are utterly beyond comprehension.

These types of vibrations, from slow to fast, from simple mechanical waves, to deeper levels, then to the birth and death of matter and spirit, all the way to the end, integrating with the birth and death of all things.

Even the Dao of Reason had a similar saying, called the Sea of Void, where Yin and Yang Qi spontaneously appeared within it, constantly being born and dying in pairs, then annihilating in pairs, thus endlessly.

All of this indicates that the fundamental ‘vibration’ might even be the essence of matter. If the movement of this vibration is the essence, then does ‘Celestial Pole’ have vibration?

If Celestial Pole has vibration, then Celestial Pole is not Celestial Pole, because vibration must carry ‘movement’, and Celestial Pole is an unchanging thing, how could it have vibration?

But if Celestial Pole has no vibration, then what is Celestial Pole?

To these questions, Shen Shuibi decided to go out.

To find the location of the Grand Director of Music of Shaman Dao, and with Li Qi’s connections, she hoped to be able to audit his lectures and discussions on the Dao, which might allow her to understand the essence more deeply.

The Grand Director of Music was a very important position within the Ritual Patriarchs; in Shen Shuibi’s understanding, he was at least a second-rank, and since she currently had doubts, learning something from him would likely be of great help to her Breakthrough to fourth-rank.

Having comprehended for so many years in the outer domain, all these accumulations now, due to an accident, had produced their effects, which was truly an unexpected joy; it was just that her accumulation was still lacking, and she needed to study more.

Without delay, Shen Shuibi, holding the sleepy little chow, summoned the Ghost Chariot and headed straight towards the heart of Shaman God Mountain.

First, go to the outer domain, pass through the罡 wind layer, leave the Heavenly Dao’s jurisdiction over the world, accelerate in the outer domain, and quickly arrive at the heart of Shaman God Mountain.

Then, the Ghost Chariot crashed into the罡 wind layer, directly arriving at the heart of Shaman God Mountain.

It was only because Shen Shuibi was registered with the Ritual Patriarchs that she didn’t trigger any alarms; otherwise, this act alone would have attracted the attention of a large number of third-ranks, and an ordinary fifth-rank might have died on the spot.

However, this action indeed attracted someone.

The next moment, Shen Shuibi immediately sensed someone beside her; she turned her head and saw…

It was Zhu Fengdan.

“Master, weren’t you in the outer domain?” Shen Shuibi immediately stood up, bowed to Zhu Fengdan, and asked.

She directly called her Master; as Li Qi’s wife, it was not an exaggeration to say that Zhu Fengdan was her other parent, as Li Qi essentially had no living parents, and Zhu Fengdan was his elder, naturally also Shen Shuibi’s elder.

Zhu Fengdan casually replied: “Oh, I swapped battle zones and came back for a vacation. I just happened to see you break in from outside the heavens. What’s wrong? Is it urgent?”

“Yes, Master, I came this time because I wish to go to the Grand Director of Music’s seat and listen to his lecture,” Shen Shuibi immediately said.

Zhu Fengdan glanced at the sleepy chow next to her, which kept nodding off.

“The Earth Spirit was awakened by you, and there’s still some kind of vibration lingering in the wound on your hand. Hmm… You want to trace back to before the Universe’s birth through the instant of creation, and thus prove the existence of ‘Celestial Pole’, correct?” Although Zhu Fengdan was usually unreliable, at crucial moments, she could still perfectly discern Shen Shuibi’s current state with a single remark.

“Yes, that’s why I want to go and listen to the Dao at the Grand Director of Music’s place.” Shen Shuibi nodded in acknowledgement, not worried that her background was completely seen through.

Zhu Fengdan was someone she could completely trust.

“Alright then, it just so happens I’m back. Come on, let’s go directly to the Grand Director of Music. I’ll talk to him and have him give you a private lecture. Otherwise, you might have to wait decades for him to open his Immortal Cave again.” Zhu Fengdan clapped her hands and said.

“This… wouldn’t it be a bother?” Shen Shuibi was about to agree, but on second thought, Zhu Fengdan was only a third-rank; seeking an audience with a second-rank might not be appropriate, and asking a second-rank for her sake would likely come at a considerable cost.

It would be best not to do this.

But Zhu Fengdan rolled her eyes: “Nonsense, sit tight.”

Saying this, the control of the Ghost Chariot was forcibly seized, and the entire chariot accelerated, instantly arriving before an Immortal Cave.

Shaman God Mountain didn’t have many buildings; the Great Shamanes basically resided within their own Grotto-heavens, and the spiritual mountains outside were placed casually, decorated according to their own preferences. Various different styles could be seen here, with a denser concentration of diverse civilizations and races than in the outer domain.

These were all things the Shamanes had seen in the outside world and found interesting, so they collected samples and brought them to Shaman God Mountain.

This was similar to the Human Dao; the Human Dao also had similar ‘museums’, but they were not maintained by individual interest, but rather funded by the Human Dao court, extensively collecting various different life forms and civilizations from the outer domain.

Because civilization and life themselves are wealth and accumulation.

But these were only seen for a few minutes; Zhu Fengdan quickly arrived at the Grand Director of Music’s teaching location.

This was a mountain plaza, bustling with young Shamanes, seemingly the younger generation of Young Master, and besides them, there were also some ‘Guozi’.

Around Shaman God Mountain, there were actually many, many countries, such as Annam and Baiyue, which had thousands of nations.

These countries, if they wished, could actually send their Geniuses to Shaman God Mountain for study and training; these Geniuses were called ‘Guozi’.

Evidently, compared to their own level, sending them to Shaman God Mountain for education was a better choice; although this would inevitably lead them to accept Shaman Dao, for these countries, accepting Shaman Dao was a matter of course.

Only a few who had pledged allegiance to other Dao Orthodoxy would refuse.

Therefore, apart from a small number of Young Master of Shaman God Mountain, most of the students here were actually ‘Guozi’.

These young people from various different nations were almost completely free here; they could choose to listen to the Dao among various Shamanes as they pleased.

Unlike the Human Dao Imperial Academy, Shaman Dao would only open altars to lecture on the Dao; they were only responsible for lecturing, whether you came to listen, whether you understood, that was up to you, and what you learned was also up to you.

Upon arriving here, Shen Shuibi looked around.

Besides the Guozi… there were also many people from other Dao Orthodoxy.