Music

When the band appeared, the bar erupted into another wave of excitement. The band consisted of a bassist, a keyboardist, a percussionist, and the lead singer, Ouyang Zhenhua. The lead singer, Ouyang Zhenhua, also played guitar. All four had long hair falling to their shoulders and wore tight jeans, with rather exaggerated and flamboyant Tibetan ornaments around their necks and on their arms. At first glance, they had a distinctly rock-and-roll style. However, Zhang Hupan, who had never left the mountains, did not recognize the fashionable attire of modern rock bands. He only felt that these people were dressed rather strangely. Still, their appearance did not clash with the surroundings; instead, it seemed fairly harmonious.

Although Zhang Hupan had never been exposed to music, that did not mean he did not understand it. On the contrary, as a Nascent Soul Stage expert, he understood music—and its true essence—better than anyone. In the cultivation world, there were many people who specialized in using sound to attack and overcome their enemies. A true expert understood nature best and was closest to it. At the same time, he understood the true meaning of life and the deepest desires of the human soul. Music was nothing more than using sound to display the beauty of nature and the joys and sorrows of life, in hopes of resonating with the deepest parts of people's hearts and souls. The reason good music in the mortal world could make people experience happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy was merely that it lightly stirred an emotional resonance within them. It was still far from touching the depths of their souls. Perhaps the ancient music said to linger in the rafters for three days had reached that level of touching the human soul. However, understanding music and knowing how to use it were two completely different things. Perhaps Zhang Hupan, who understood the essence of music, could hear the flaws in any piece people considered perfect. Yet because he did not understand musical theory—or, more precisely, how to manipulate and conduct those notes—he could only recognize the flaws without being able to perfect the piece himself. He did not know which notes should be changed.

Although the band's performance sounded extremely rough to Zhang Hupan's ears, and although there were a hundred or a thousand more perfect melodies in his mind, he was still deeply shocked that mortals could perform music to such a standard. In that instant, Zhang Hupan felt that humanity's creativity was not only magnificent in science but equally extraordinary in the humanities. He felt that the entire cultivation world had overlooked the power of the knowledge accumulated and refined by billions of humans over tens of thousands of years. He felt that, besides attaining the Dao and ascending, he had found another matter worth devoting himself to: truly studying all of human civilization.

When the bar truly reached its peak, the DJ frantically whipped up the atmosphere, the dance floor filled with seductive dances, and people's uninhibited behavior caused the entire bar to be permeated with *. Only then did Zhang Hupan truly witness humanity's depraved side—the side that reveled amid glittering lights and wine, drunk and dreaming away its life. Yet all of this resembled the Inner Demons that had appeared during Zhang Hupan's cultivation over the years. Those obscene acts and provocative dances were all scenes from the Inner Demons that had nearly plunged Zhang Hupan into eternal ruin time and again. This was precisely why Zhang Sanfeng had told Zhang Hupan to stop cultivating for the time being and enter the mortal world to temper his Dao Heart. Zhang Hupan's progress had simply been too fast, far exceeding the consolidation of his Dao Heart.

Although everything before him made Zhang Hupan's Dao Heart stir, it also reminded him of something: if he stayed here for a long time and constantly saw and heard these things, then as time passed, these scenes should interfere with him less and less. This sudden realization filled Zhang Hupan with immense joy. He had finally found a way to deal with the Inner Demons. Perhaps it would not be long before he could resume cultivation and study how human science could help improve his cultivation. In fact, ever since Zhang Hupan began studying human science and technology, he had already been considering how to apply them to cultivation, and had even thought of several feasible methods. However, his unstable Dao Heart and the interference of the Inner Demons made him afraid to try them lightly. What if his cultivation realm rose again? It was rather amusing. Everyone else struggled desperately to increase their strength and cultivation realms, while Zhang Hupan was now worried about those very things happening. Yet how could Zhang Hupan not like increasing his strength and cultivation realm? It was simply that circumstances did not allow it. Now that he seemed to have found a feasible method, how could he not be overjoyed?

After figuring all this out, Zhang Hupan no longer rejected these * situations. Instead, he did his best to face them directly and regard them with a calm heart. It soon reached eleven o'clock, but the number of people entering the bar only continued to increase. Someone as intelligent as Zhang Hupan could naturally imagine how generous Liu Xizhen had been to agree to his original request to leave work at eleven. Of course, if Liu Xizhen knew that the raw jadeite Zhang Hupan had given her daughter was worth enough to buy two or three bars like hers, let alone that its value after being processed by a master like Zhang Hupan was priceless, then it would not have been excessive for Zhang Hupan to become her boss directly. Unfortunately, even if Liu Xizhen racked her brains, she could never have imagined that what a first-year university student working for her had given her daughter was a genuine top-grade piece of jadeite rather than a handicraft. Thus, despite knowing that this was the busiest time of the night, she had still agreed to Zhang Hupan's request. This showed how much she looked after Zhang Hupan—or, more precisely, how indulgent she was toward him.

When Zhang Hupan said goodbye during the busiest period, Liu Xizhen did not show the slightest displeasure. Instead, she sincerely reminded Zhang Hupan to be careful on his way home. As a Nascent Soul Stage expert, Zhang Hupan could easily tell whether Liu Xizhen's concern was genuine. Her sincere consideration touched him with an inexplicable warmth, making him realize that genuine affection could be so delightful. It did not lose the slightest value because of differences in cultivation.

At eleven o'clock, there were not many people on the roads of Hangcheng. Zhang Hupan could have used some superhuman abilities without attracting anyone's attention, but he seemed to be enjoying this ordinary life. He slowly rode his bicycle like any ordinary person, and only returned to the dormitory after half an hour. As usual, the men's dormitory was bustling at this hour. The distinctive wolf howls of the men in the bathhouse and the clattering of washbasins intertwined into a symphony unique to the men's dormitory.

Before long, everything fell quiet. Then, in the pitch-black corridor, one could hear the perverted late-night discussions beginning in the rooms on both sides. Room 203 was no exception, though tonight's program was interrogating Zhang Hupan about where he had gone. Everyone knew perfectly well that what they really cared about was not where Zhang Hupan had been, but whether he had gone on a date with a woman or had some romantic encounter. Unfortunately, Zhang Hupan displayed the highest level of "silence is golden," refusing to utter even a single word. Hu Zhiming, the heavyweight on the upper bunk, wished he could bounce on the bed a few times to frighten Zhang Hupan below, but he was still worried about how much the bed could bear and feared causing a disaster. After the interrogation yielded nothing, everyone lost interest in their late-night chat and went off to chase women in their dreams. Only Zhang Hupan's Spiritual Sense continued tirelessly roaming through the books borrowed from the Universe Ring. As far as Zhang Hupan was concerned, he had long since passed the stage of needing sleep.

Over the next few days, Zhang Hupan became absorbed in music once again. He read through every book on music, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, in the library. Only a freak like him could finish all the library's music books at such incredible speed. When Zhang Hupan closed the last music book in the library, his heart was once again deeply shaken by the brilliance of human civilization. A person who was completely deaf had actually created a piece like "Symphony of Destiny," a composition that seized the pulse of life and reached straight into the depths of the human soul. It was absolutely a piece only an immortal could compose. Yet in reality, it had come from the hands of an ordinary person—or, more precisely, a disabled person. After several days of study, Zhang Hupan gained a systematic understanding of music theory and various instruments. In fact, once Zhang Hupan understood human musical theory, everything became clear. What he had lacked was merely a means of expressing the essence of music. Now that he understood basic concepts such as solfège, note names, and range, with a Nascent Soul Stage expert's understanding of life, the soul, and nature, composing, singing techniques, and instrumental performance were no longer difficult.

On Wednesday, Zhang Hupan saw the saxophone expert Jack whom Zhu Yan had mentioned. He was a rather handsome man with golden hair and blue eyes. Judging from the enthusiastic applause, his performance had been quite successful. However, to Zhang Hupan's ears, his playing was extremely ordinary—definitely not as good as Ouyang Zhenhua and the others. This conclusion was understandable. Whether saxophone sounded pleasant depended not only on the piece itself but also, crucially, on the performer's skill. Lung capacity and breath-control techniques were both extremely important to saxophone performance. For ordinary people, these factors were more influenced by innate conditions than bass and guitar, which could be handled with hand technique alone. Thus, saxophone was more difficult for ordinary people. For cultivators, however, there was no difference between the two. Therefore, in Zhang Hupan's eyes, Ouyang Zhenhua played better.