Why study?

Luo Yin tilted her head and listened closely. Her expression gradually brightened, and she tugged at Gu Yu's sleeve. "Listen..."

"I am listening..." Gu Yu nodded.

"This person's mastery of the Music Dao isn't actually very profound. About the same as yours..." Luo Yin seemed to be talking to herself.

Gu Yu rolled his eyes.

"But the feeling in his music is incredibly rich. Music gives voice to the heart. His playing isn't subtle and veiled like mine; he pours his feelings straight out." Luo Yin's eyes shone. "Like an old man who has seen every face of the world, then looked back and found the great Dao in simplicity."

"Music gives voice to the heart. I understand..." Luo Yin looked as though she had encountered an old friend, her expression complicated. "He's longing for home..."

"But why is his homesickness so intense?" Luo Yin was puzzled... Can he not go home?

In this world, before the Music God, music had merely been a means of entertainment. Later, the Music God attained the Dao through music, and thus the Music Dao came into being.

The Music Dao infused sound with the seven emotions and six desires, using music to comprehend the great Dao. Those who cultivated it were therefore extraordinarily sensitive to emotions, whether their own... or those of others.

As Luo Yin listened to Su Mo play, it was as though she stood face-to-face with him, carefully searching his heart.

"Hey, hey, hey... rein it in a little... you're drooling!" Gu Yu could also tell that this flute melody was truly fresh and delicate, its tune enchanting, its mood far-reaching yet direct. But he was not as sensitive as Luo Yin. Perhaps it also had something to do with how emotional she was herself. In any case, he could not hear all the strange sentiments Luo Yin had found in it.

Watching his close friend's expression shift unpredictably over a flute melody, bright one moment and dark the next, he was rather speechless.

I was going to get my flute back... but with you like this... if I interrupt his playing now, you'll smash your zither over my head, won't you?

Forget it. At this rate... I'd better wait until he finishes!

Luo Yin ignored Gu Yu's teasing. Instead, she turned back to the zither table, laid her hands on the strings, and murmured to herself.

"Though I don't know the score, I can still follow your melody and accompany you!"

Luo Yin's confidence came from her command of music. I may not know your piece, but I can accompany you just by listening.

Gu Yu considered it briefly, but still did not stop Luo Yin, because he realized someone was already doing what he had come here to do today.

Playing a duet with Luo Yin on the Heart Flute!

The flute melody flowed on, and the zither began to sound.

Zither and flute sang together... Their voices were like two lonely yet kindred souls meeting, pouring out their hearts and supporting one another.

The flute's notes flowed, clear and lilting; the zither's were pure and ethereal.

The two melodies intertwined, painting a scene steeped in poetry.

Gu Yu's expression gradually grew entranced.

Inside the Riverboat Pavilion, the listeners had still been marveling at the flute melody, mistakenly assuming that Gu Yu from the Academy was playing.

But when the zither sounded and wove itself into the flute melody, everyone suddenly sank into a peculiar atmosphere.

They wanted to cry out in wonder, yet dared not make a sound, afraid that the slightest noise would shatter the harmony of the duet.

The music rose gently, and the moonlight over the river gradually began to ripple.

The frosty night danced to the music.

Spiritual energy began to stir, circling the pavilion boat, the riverbank, and the gazebo before dispersing over the river.

The piece ended, and the last notes faded...

Luo Yin withdrew her hands from the zither and looked toward the window, her gaze beguiling.

"I've broken through!"

The Music Dao is wonderful. Play a tune on a zither, and you break through... Gu Yu nodded, rose with a touch of sour envy, and darted out the window...

Could you be the one with whom I'll unite in the Dao... Luo Yin remained unsettled for a long time. "What are you thinking right now?"

Su Mo lowered the jade flute in his hands and let out a long sigh toward the sky.

Who the fuck interrupted my brooding...

Su Mo had heard the zither accompanying him, but had not given it much thought...

He had merely assumed a musician inside the Riverboat Pavilion was playing along on a whim!

"Were you the one playing the flute just now?"

Su Mo turned around and saw that someone had appeared in the gazebo without his noticing.

Red robes fluttered around a figure with an otherworldly air.

Life always held plenty of awkward moments, such as:

Being caught pocketing money you had found,

Being seen acting out some embarrassing fantasy,

Being heard singing to yourself,

And being caught red-handed playing nonsense on a flute while wallowing in sentiment, especially when the other person looked like an immortal fairy...

"Uh, yes... what can I do for you?" Su Mo nodded stiffly, somewhat embarrassed.

Gu Yu kept staring at Su Mo, his brows furrowed.

Su Mo saw that the other person said nothing and merely stared at him... Is this guy an idiot... could I have a buff too? Does overwhelming handsomeness count as a buff?

"A mortal?" Gu Yu suddenly asked, frowning.

"No..." Annoyed, Su Mo retorted offhandedly, "A Provincial Graduate!"

"How could a mortal... play the Heart Flute?" Gu Yu was utterly baffled. He had originally assumed that whoever was playing must at least be a cultivator, but after coming over, he could sense no fluctuation of spiritual energy from Su Mo whatsoever. He was an entirely ordinary person. Yet the Heart Flute was a spiritual artifact. How could an ordinary person possibly make it sound?

The Heart Flute... does he mean this jade flute... Su Mo looked at the jade flute in his hands.

"I found this flute." Su Mo was thoroughly puzzled. "Is it hard to play?"

Su Mo raised the flute and blew a string of random notes.

Toot, toot, toot~ toot, toot, toot~

Is it hard?

"Stop!" Listening to it gave Gu Yu a headache.

Oh...

"Do you know where this flute came from?" Gu Yu looked at the Heart Flute in Su Mo's hands.

"No!" Su Mo shook his head... But it looks pretty valuable!

"This flute is called the Heart Flute. It's a spiritual artifact from the Academy that has awakened its own intelligence." Gu Yu narrowed his eyes and stared at Su Mo. "Then do you know who I am?"

"Who?" Su Mo asked cautiously.

"I'm Gu Yu, the Academy's third disciple!" Gu Yu lifted his head, looking supremely full of himself.

Realization dawned on Su Mo.

"You're trying to say this flute is yours, right? I'll just give it back... aren't you tired of beating around the bush?" Looking thoroughly unimpressed, Su Mo held out the jade flute.

Gu Yu did not take it. This was not quite how he had expected things to unfold...

"You've never heard of me?" Gu Yu asked in astonishment.

"Uh..." Su Mo pondered for a while. "I've heard of the Academy..."

Gu Yu took a deep breath and settled himself... He suspected Su Mo did not even know what the Academy was.

"Have you never thought of cultivating the Dao?" Gu Yu asked... In Great Hua, anyone who wanted to cultivate, or who already cultivated, knew of the Academy.

Cultivate the Dao?

Yearning surfaced in Su Mo's eyes, only to dim again.

"I'm just a scholar!"

Gu Yu suddenly assumed a profound air. "Some attain the Dao through the sword, others through the zither. Why do you study?"

Confusion appeared in Su Mo's eyes.

To see my name on the golden list... to stride straight into the clouds... those were someone else's lifelong wishes, not mine!

Why do I study?

Su Mo recalled the slogan from his youth in his previous life: "Repay the motherland, serve the people."

Repay the motherland, serve the people?

That seems right. I think that was why I started studying!

But as he grew up, he had forgotten that original intention instead.

Now that he was being asked again why he studied, those words still seemed usable, but they no longer fit his heart quite as well as they once had!

What exactly was it... For the moment, Su Mo did not know how to answer.

"When you've figured it out..." Gu Yu sighed.

"You can attain the Dao through studying, too!"