Dongling

Outside Frostglory Hall, before the Earthfrost Bell, many white Bai-colored meditation cushions had been arranged in a fan shape.

Ancestor Hollow Space sat on the foremost cushion, with his two disciples, Ling Wei Sou and Zheng Yuan Gui, to his left and right, followed by their disciples and the other attendants of the palace.

The Earthfrost Bell could produce all manner of sounds, sometimes as clear as chime bells, sometimes as deep as a great drum, sometimes as lilting as a jade flute, and sometimes as winding as a silk-stringed fiddle. The various sounds emerged from within and combined into the "Celebration of Meritorious Deeds Celestial Music." Starting with the Guanghan Formation-Breaking Melody, this was already the fifth piece.

With every piece he played, Shi Feiyang's understanding of the Dongling Zither and the way of music advanced another level.

At first, the sounds still bore the timbres of various instruments. As the performance continued, the bells, drums, flutes, and pipes all transformed into sounds of nature: mighty winds sweeping through mountain passes, mountain breezes blowing through dense forests, gentle winds brushing fallen leaves, earthly energies stirring reed ash, flowing water, surging tides, thunder and lightning, frost and drifting snow... All these sounds of nature intertwined, miraculously giving rise to the rhythms of the "Celebration of Meritorious Deeds Celestial Music."

Ancestor Hollow Space listened with his face flushed, overcome with excitement. He felt as though he had grasped something, yet in his eagerness, he could grasp nothing at all.

He came from the Unorthodox Path. Though the spells he cultivated were powerful, his foundational cultivation was weak. Becoming a Heavenly Immortal would be difficult, and the winding road to immortality held several perilous tribulations.

Now, as he listened to this "celestial music from above," he dimly sensed an awakening...

Yet just then, the "celestial music" stopped.

Still yearning for more, he sat stunned for a long time before sighing. Turning around, he saw that every disciple behind him was utterly entranced, their Divine Souls thrown into confusion. They sat slumped on the ground as though asleep, their eyes still open but hazy and vacant.

He gave a soft cough, jolting the disciples awake with a shudder, and they hurriedly straightened up.

"You truly have no share in this blessing! Letting you hear such celestial music is like playing a lute to cattle!" Ancestor Hollow Space looked exasperated, like a smith despairing of iron that refused to become steel. Suddenly remembering something, he hurriedly flew beyond Hollow Space Island and looked down from high in the sky. The lake was strewn with floating animals, and the land was much the same: ice geese, Bai bears, ice hounds, frost otters, ice snakes, Merfolk, and more. Whether ordinary animals or supernatural creatures that had already developed human traits, all lay limp and dazed, curled into motionless balls.

He could not help marveling inwardly: Divine music from the Immortal Realm truly is extraordinary, to possess such tremendous power! What profound blessings I enjoy, to have heard these wondrous sounds. Heaven must have taken pity on me for my years of devoted cultivation and bestowed this great opportunity upon me.

He called out to awaken the animals and was about to return to the palace to savor the celestial music he had just heard when he suddenly remembered the Black Dragon Geng Peng had entrusted to him some time ago. He wondered how the dragon was doing now. He lived here in seclusion year-round and had only a handful of friends. Of the two Geng brothers, the younger had a better disposition than the elder. He could not keep neglecting the disciple entrusted to him.

He sent Ling Wei Sou to fetch Shi Feiyang. Shi Feiyang had just finished playing the Celebration of Meritorious Deeds Celestial Music, and his understanding of the sounds of the earth had reached its current limit. He, too, was reflecting on what he had experienced, running his hands over the Dongling Zither, his heart unable to settle for a long time.

Had I been able to wield this treasure like this back then, how could Lady Baoxiang and Zhuge Jingwo have chased me all over the place? My master, Geng Peng, would not have died either.

Unfortunately, he still could not open the second layer of the Heavenly Book Jade Casket. During this time, he had exhausted every means, yet the jade casket remained solid and seamless, as though formed from a single piece, without budging in the slightest.

Just then, he sensed someone calling at the entrance. He put away his magical treasure and came out to find Ling Wei Sou.

He followed Ling Wei Sou to Ancestor Hollow Space, who regarded him with considerable approval. "It is difficult for nonhuman beings to attain the Dao, and not merely because their innate aptitude is poor. The fundamental problem is their inferior character: selfishness, greed, malice, anger, and ignorance. They know only to bite and devour one another, or else mate and produce offspring. It is truly difficult for them to amount to anything. I hear you have spent these past days cultivating in seclusion within this cave, without venturing out. I saw you once that day, and now that I see you again, your spiritual awareness is held within, your gaze is clear, and your cultivation has risen another level."

"Thank you for your generous praise, Island Lord," Shi Feiyang said.

Ancestor Hollow Space pointed into the distance. "Hollow Space Island lies far from the central lands. Beyond it stretch millions of miles of ice sheets and snowfields that have not thawed since Eternal Antiquity, along with endless nights. Heaven and earth remain shrouded in darkness throughout the year. Only here does yin reach its limit and give birth to yang. True yang energy flourishes, creating this wondrous haven. Yet since ancient times, immortals and mortals alike have struggled to reach it. Over these past centuries, I have guided many nonhuman beings toward the Dao, but few have amounted to anything. Hmm. Cold Light, Mysterious Jade, come here."

Two young Daoist attendants approached from behind. Both were snow-Bai from head to toe, without a trace of rosy color. They wore short tunics and shorts of icy silk, garments as thin as cicada wings, like wisps of cloud enveloping half their bodies. They looked delicate and endearing, and extraordinarily handsome.

Ancestor Hollow Space asked Shi Feiyang, "Can you tell what these two cultivated from?"

Feiyang already knew the two boys' origins, but answered, "Please forgive my poor discernment. I cannot tell."

Ancestor Hollow Space stroked his beard with a hint of pride. "They were born from the essence of the Arctic's ten-thousand-year ice and snow, merely borrowing two bodies endowed with the aptitude for cultivation..."

As it turned out, these two children were much like Shi Sheng. Shi Sheng's mother had conceived him after being touched by the Essence Qi of a spirit stone within an earth vein, while these two children's mothers had conceived through the condensed Essence Qi of ice and snow. Their bodies resembled Bai jade, and even their voices were like fragments of ice in a stream, chiming with crisp clarity.

Ancestor Hollow Space said, "Their master met with a tribulation years ago and entrusted them to me before his death. I had already sworn to take no more disciples, so I placed them under my eldest disciple, Ling Wei Sou, as my granddisciples. They have cultivated quietly in the palace over the years and have both made considerable progress."

Having just finished playing the Dongling Zither, Shi Feiyang now heard the notes between the strings. So Ancestor Hollow Space wants to take me as his disciple? Hmm, not his disciple, but his granddisciple, like Cold Light and Mysterious Jade?

Indeed, that was precisely Ancestor Hollow Space's intention. He thought well of this Black Dragon and had genuinely begun considering accepting him into his school.

The essence of Ancestor Hollow Space's lengthy speech was that the difficulty nonhuman beings faced in cultivation lay in their lack of restraint and self-discipline. They acted entirely according to their animal instincts.

When he had first arrived here and obtained the immortal estate, he had been in excellent spirits, and grand ambitions had stirred within him. He had wanted to establish a great immortal sect here and announced that anyone, human or otherwise, who sincerely sought the Dao and feared neither danger nor bitter cold could become his disciple if they crossed the ten thousand miles and more of icy mountains and snowy seas outside and reached this place.

Apart from his eldest disciple, Ling Wei Sou, who had accompanied him when he first discovered the immortal estate, nearly everyone in his palace had been admitted this way.

Before long, however, those already admitted to the palace devised ways to bring in their friends and relatives, secretly helping them reach this place without suffering the ice, snow, and freezing winds along the way. Most also had poor aptitude, and after learning the Dao, they went out and behaved however they pleased.

He established strict sect rules because of this, but repeated prohibitions still failed to stop them. Finally, in a fit of anger, he purged the sect, closed its gates, and ceased accepting disciples lightly.

An animal, whatever its kind, possessed the foundation for attaining the Dao as long as it understood restraint and knew how to curb its animal instincts. Likewise, if a human could not exercise self-control and blindly indulged those same instincts, that was also a root cause of ruin on the immortal path.

Having heard the "celestial music" today, he was in excellent spirits, and the Black Dragon before him looked pleasing to his eyes, stirring the desire to accept him as a disciple. Yet as a nonhuman being, the dragon was ultimately inferior to a human in his estimation. He did not wish to accept him directly as his disciple, so he intended to place Shi Feiyang one generation lower, under Ling Wei Sou.