I taught Little Spring, a song inspired by Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams, on both guitar and flute. Three Winds Elegant Notes and Bright Blinding Melody, had produced it. They’d been so proud when they discovered the effects it had on the soul. I could still remember their large grins as they played it to me for the first time.

The reason I taught it was because cultivators fucking loved this song.

How could they not when the lyrics were about a highly relatable topic — walking down a path alone while wishing for a companion?

When played at a high enough realm, it had the power to force listeners into an emotionally healing mindset where they acknowledged their loneliness and disconnection — then realized that many others felt the same, lessening the feeling.

I was confident that if anything could convince Gold String to join my band; it was that song.

After a half hour of instruction, Little Spring played the last chord perfectly. He looked at me expectantly.

“Excellent!”

He grinned. “It’s all thanks to your teachings, Sister Lin.”

Like hell it was. Fuck. This kid learned things so fast that I wanted to cry. I’d spent nearly two days teaching this song to my mentees! After dealing with normal prodigies like them, I almost forgot what it was like handling my martial brother’s goddamn heavenly talent.

I was glad those two weren’t here. They might have erroneously believed they had no capability and quit.

Actually, this made me remember that poor ex-apprentice chef, Tangerine Flower. It was no wonder she turned to the demonic path if she was trying to keep up with this level of talent. Fortunately, Garlic saved her in time. Last I heard, she decided that, if she couldn’t become an immortal chef, she’d learn spiritual horticulture and beast taming so she could nurture the perfect ingredients.

I smoothed Little Spring’s green hair. “While we’re spying on this sect, pretend to learn things slower.”

He frowned. “How slow?”

“Slow enough that you don’t give your teacher a heart attack.”

He scowled while looking confused.

Hmmm. “Then, however long you take to figure something out, increase that time by ten.” I was pretty sure that was slow enough.

“Doesn’t that seem like too much?”

I shrugged. Frankly, we’d both lived near prodigies all our lives. It was hard to guess how long the average cultivator took to learn something.

“I’ll just watch the other students and match their speed.”

Oh! Brilliant! I knew I could count on this brat. And I was fairly positive this wouldn’t backfire on us.

***

A while after Little Spring left, I began preparing for the last thing I’d teach my mentees during this hell week — a song inspired by Free Bird. Of course, they would have to master Tribute to Kashmir first.

As I played the last epic guitar solo again, the ground shook. I turned to see dust clouds rise high into the sky.

That… wasn’t a good sign.

I used Impossible Leap to exit the soundproof area to the familiar sound of a stampede.

My courtyard gate burst open. Over a dozen giant lizard-type spiritual beasts charged toward me. From their energy, I could tell that they were mid-stage 2 beasts — the equivalent of a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“Oh, fuck.”

Sadly, this was not the first time this happened to me. As I ran, I pulled out my flying sword tool, then jumped on top of it before zipping away. The lizards, still on the ground, followed me.

What the fuck did I miss?!

From my right, a high-stage 2 eagle beast flew at me. It swooped down, spreading its massive talons to pierce my skin.

image [https://i.imgur.com/xWFHQB9.jpeg]

[https://imgur.com/gallery/dfatZlB]

Motherfucker.

I swung my guitar while enhancing my muscles with Qi. My attack struck just right, deflecting the eagle’s talons. I must have used too much strength since I heard a loud crunch as its hollow bones broke. It cried out in pain. It briefly spiraled out of control, before finally catching itself and flying off. One of its eyes glared at me before it vanished into a cloud.

Yeah, it definitely wasn’t done yet. But it would not pursue revenge any time soon with its legs broken like that.

One of the lizard beasts used its spiritual energy to jump toward me with its large tooth-filled mouth open. I flew to the left, avoiding its bite that might have broken my cheaply made sword.

Shit. With how massive they were, I didn’t think they could jump this high. My fault for underestimating them. Then again, my knowledge of spiritual beasts was often lacking since I’d been avoiding them for centuries.

I played a chord, sending seven slashes of Qi at the lizards. The cheaply made outer sect buildings hadn’t stopped them. They continued to barrel through courtyards, leaving a line of destruction that followed my curving path.

Several disciples jumped out of the way and cursed at me and the scaled, rhino-like beasts.

image [https://i.imgur.com/S8iu8bt.jpeg]

Fuck... the sect wasn’t going to make me pay for this, right? If they tried to, then I’d direct them to whoever had these bastards come after me.

I led them down the main road. The various disciples hurriedly ran into the few buildings protected by higher realmed cultivators.

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Actually, if I thought about this another way, these beasts might be an excellent training opportunity.

I sent Shadow Panther and Three Drops Silent Toxin a telepathic message. ::Get outside and start playing Tribute to Kashmir as loud as you can. I’ll show you two how to use it in a fight.::

I estimated where their locations would be and started flying in that direction while avoiding buildings.

Of course, that was when the damn eagle swooped down on me again. Somehow it had managed to heal its legs in a short time because the sharp talons spread wide to attack me. Since I didn’t have time for its bullshit, I flew down faster than gravity, twisted, and pulled up, completely bypassing the giant bird.

It sent out a loud screech as it missed.

I flipped off the eagle, only to see it vibrate with anger. Muahahaha!

This wasn’t the first time I’d been attacked by bird-type spiritual beasts.

It flew up into the clouds.

Once I reached a location between my two mentees, I turned the volume up on my battle guitar to the max.

::Hit it!:: I sent them.

Three Drops started with the cymbals, then both Shadow Panther and I came in with the guitar. Our sound echoed through the outer sect, overwhelming and impossible to avoid.

Three Drops’s beat could almost force a heart to keep going.

Shadow Panther’s playing had an energy to it that was missing previously. While she’d been gone, she had obviously studied the lyrics I’d given her and had a breakthrough.

By the time I started singing the lyrics to ‘Tribute to Kashmir,’ the lizards caught up. I directed them down roads, guiding them in a simple pattern that helped form a minor battle formation between me and my students. This formation amplified our spiritual music’s strength. When the lizards’ gazes stopped focusing on me, I knew I’d caught them up in the illusion. They believed they were traveling down the desert to seek enlightenment. As long as we kept playing, they’d keep running through the pattern.

But this was only the first step, one which prevented them from destroying more of the outer sect. Now I needed to pick them off one by one without the others noticing.

Of course, that was when a Golden Core Cultivator with shimmery white scales around his eyes flew over on a fan spiritual tool. “Just how long do you think you can keep this up?”

Who the fuck was this?

Since I had to keep singing for the song to work on these mid-rank 2 spirit beasts, I split my mind in two. One part kept playing, while the other focused on my telepathic technique. ::And who are you, Senior?::

“Are you joking?! Didn’t you hear anything I yelled at you before I sent my beasts to fight you?”

This fucker! I was in a goddamn soundproof area. How could I have heard him? ::Do I look like I’m joking? Of course, I didn’t!::

He closed his eyes. “I am Flood Dragon’s White Scale. And you, Fairy Linlin, made my son, Hard Iron Roar, lose face!”

::Wait, that’s all? That is an issue between members of my younger generation. It has nothing to do with you.::

His cheeks turned red, causing his scales to become more visible. “He refuses to speak to anyone because of you!”

Oh, great. This asshole was the perfect example of the unreasonable fathers that showed up in Xianxia.

::That was a week ago! If you were that angry at me, what took you so long?::

His face contorted into several confusing but obviously frustrated expressions.

He used all his spiritual energy to pressure me. Since he was only in the middle stage of Golden Core, I only coughed up a half mouthful of blood during a pause in my vocals.

I smirked at the fucker. ::You have to do better than that if you want to kill me.::

I glanced at Shadow Panther. ::Take over the vocals for me.::

::Senior Linlin! I’m not sure I can do it.::

::You can! You’ve been doing amazing so far. Show me what you learned!::

For a brief, beautiful moment, our voices and guitars blended together, then I stopped singing.

“Now, senior. How about we take this to the sparring area? That way, no one can blame me when I kill you.”

He laughed. “You? I’m a realm above you! I’ve been cultivating using the sects methods for over a hundred years. But you’re a mere rogue cultivator. Know your place!”

He pressured me again, and I spat out another small mouthful of blood. This was going to be a difficult fight. But I wouldn’t back down to that prick’s father. There was such a thing as punching up, and he was just in my range to do so.

Before I could start playing a different song that would blend together with Tribute to Kashmir, Pearlescent Rose showed up flying on beautiful fans along with several other Golden Core demonic musicians.

She glared at Flood Dragon’s White Scale. “You dare go after my new musician?!”

He scoffed. “She insulted my son. Does she think she can get away with that?”

Rose crossed her arms. “As far as I’m aware, your son insulted her first.”

I knew that she would be keeping an eye on me, but her intervention here was beyond my expectations.

“So what?” He said. “Little Hard Iron Roar was born into this sect. Why should I let some outsider humiliate him?”

“She’s no longer an outsider.”

He scoffed. “She has only been here a week. The girl is still in her probationary period.”

Rose gestured to the spiritual beasts that were charging along while listening to ‘Tribute to Kashmir.’ “Do you know who’s doing that?”

He looked down at them, then glanced at me, to see that I wasn’t playing anymore. He scanned the area where my students were rocking out and his eyes grew wide.

“No...”

She smirked. “That’s right, in under a week, our peak’s newest disciple took two cultivators that were struggling on their paths, realized their strength lay in demonic music and taught them so well that they’re able to keep a song going to coerce beasts in a higher realm than them. If this isn’t worthy of our Irrepressible Beast Blood Sect, then I don’t know what is.”

“No!” He quickly created several hand seals that sent ten Golden Core level attacks at me that appeared as illusory flood dragons.

I flew backwards and to the left. The illusory flood dragons followed me. Expected of an attack at this realm. I played a discordant chord and sent twenty thick blades of sword Qi to counter them. Since I knew this wouldn’t cut it, I delivered two dozen more. They canceled out all but one of the attacks. Finally, with the side of my guitar, I blocked the last illusory flood dragon. The force of it sent me soaring away. I crossed my arms and adjusted my hands into a flying sword-controlling seal to steady myself.

Muahahaha! “Got anything else, Senior?”

“Junior Linlin. Don’t provoke him,” Pearlescent Rose chided, then she smiled. “That’s my job.”

Between his red face and the vein bulging on his forehead, I had a feeling he was about to explode with rage. “Then do I have to fight you to kill this little rogue bitch?”

Rose brought out a zither, and the other disciples wielded their own instruments. “I think you’ll have to fight all of us.”

“I’m not scared of some weak demonic musicians.”

Pearlescent Rose briefly glanced at me then turned to him with a raised brow. “If you’re teaching him nonsense like that, I can understand why your son was beaten up.”

He scowled, then whistled. Three identical eagles flew down from the clouds. One had a pair of broken legs.

Oh! No wonder it seemed like the beast had magically healed. Of course, I would have seen that if I’d bothered to check the clouds with my divine sense.

The man tsked at the lizards that were too caught up in the mental illusion.

She sent me a telepathic transmission. ::Watch closely. You are about to see why they call our techniques demonic.::

Frankly, I was curious. I’d only heard vague rumors about this before.

The musicians began to play very strange and discordant music. But what was the most interesting was how their energy moved while they performed. An illusion of eight massive beasts formed behind them.

White Scale gestured to the musicians. “Bite their hands off, so they’ll never touch a zither or pipa again!”

“No, you don’t,” I said. I played the first note of ‘The Song That Doesn’t End (Rock Version)’ while aiming several blades of Sword Qi at the birds. They dodged to the side, but I still clipped their wings.

Before they could drop, they used blasts of air to keep themselves aloft.

The illusory beasts charged past the musicians and attacked the eagles and White Scale with teeth and claws.

The man threw out a scale-shaped spiritual tool which produced a massive shield. The clawing and bites from the illusions quickly narrowed it down until one slash from a tiger broke it apart. Another blow from a wolf sent White Scale flying two hundred feet until he slammed against the courtyards of the outer sect and flew through several buildings.

That... was insane! Music cultivators were not supposed to do that! How the fuck had this unorthodox sect discovered how to make complex physical illusions from music before the Immortal Bone Creation realm? How? Holy fucking shit!

Pearlescent Rose tossed me a golden sect token. “Go pack up your things while we take care of this mess, then come with us to the inner sect.”

“Yes, Senior Pearlescent Rose!” Amazing. Even a thousand-year-old monster like me could see new things.