Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 176: Shouldn’t I Live for Myself for a Day?

The plucking of strings reverberated through the room.

Zhao Changhe sat there in earnest, playing the guqin.

The maid stood nervously by the side, looking like she was ready to pounce at any time to save her precious guqin. If this bear shows even a hint of violence, I’ll kick him through the wall and I won’t let him three zhang from the guqin ever again.

However, it was very strange. Even though he had clumsily broken a string the last time he played, and he had not practiced playing the guqin these past few days, his posture now was inexplicably gentler and more relaxed. His current movements were devoid of the former stiffness that he had.

So, when he touched the strings, although his movements did still look relatively rigid, he could actually play it.

Back then, the string had broken not because it was too tight, but because he was too tense. How could a martial artist who could even use a broad saber to shave his beard not be able to control his strength and end up breaking a string?

In comparison to back then, he was much calmer and relaxed.

The only issue now was that he had never learned any songs. He was simply following the piece that Tang Wanzhuang had played for him the other day, plucking each string to produce the corresponding notes, before plucking them in reverse. Ultimately, it sounded quite boring.

But it seemed like every beginner started this way. The maid recalled when she was just five years old and had started to... Oh well, forget it.

It was boring indeed, but Tang Wanzhuang simply leaned back against the headboard, and her eyes slightly closed. She looked like she was enjoying herself. After listening for a while, she even closed her eyes as if she was dozing off, resting comfortably.

The maid’s eyes enlarged into two full circles. She could not find anything pleasant in these repetitive and boring notes. There isn’t even a hint of rhythm! It would be pretty good if you don’t start feeling irritable after listening to it for a while. How can you actually relax while listening to this?

After playing blindly for a few minutes, Zhao Changhe himself became impatient with his own playing. He began to think of ways to play simple melodies.

When he thought of simple melodies, the first thing that came to mind was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” He tried plucking the strings to the melody of the lullaby, and surprisingly, he actually managed to do it. Zhao Changhe could not help but grin, finding it quite fun!

But then he got stuck, and he could not figure out how to play the Fa note... Helplessly, he turned to the maid for assistance. “Hey...”

“My name is not ‘hey.’ I’m referred to as the guqin-carrying maid. And no, you can’t call me that. You must address me as ‘miss.’”

“Oh, Miss Carrier...”

The maid glared at him. “My surname is not Carrier!”

“Shh!” Zhao Changhe shushed her. “Your young lady is resting. Don’t get loud.”

The maid lowered her voice. “What do you want?”

“I’m humming a piece. Can you teach me how to play this note?” Zhao Changhe hummed the melody of the lullaby. “Where are the first two notes?”

“Your humming sounds terrible. I never thought that someone’s humming could sound like the squealing of a pig.”

Zhao Changhe rubbed his fists. The maid stood up and took a half step back.

“That’s a modified tone. You’ll need to use your left hand to change the tuning to play it. You can’t play it with just one hand.” Tang Wanzhuang’s leisurely voice came from the bedside. “Demonstrate it for him.”

The maid reluctantly moved closer and demonstrated with her small hands. While using her left hand to press down on one side of one of the strings, she used her right to pluck it. She played the note he was looking for.

Tang Wanzhuang closed her eyes and said softly, “This is not actually as complex as it seems. It simply requires coordination between both hands. It’s quite difficult for normal beginners, but for a martial artist like you, it should be relatively easy, especially since you have the habit of swinging your saber with your right hand while preparing to throw stones from your pocket with your left.”

Zhao Changhe was speechless. You know a lot, don’t you? I bet you once had a pile of investigation reports about me on your desk.

Tang Wanzhuang smiled faintly and said, “Alright, give it a try. I look forward to hearing the proper and complete piece by the end of today.”

The maid said, “Isn’t this just a nursery rhyme, young miss? What’s there to look forward to...”

“What’s wrong with nursery rhymes? I happen to want to listen to songs for children.” Tang Wanzhuang’s voice grew softer and softer. “My mother never played any for me...”

The maid fell silent.

Zhao Changhe also remained silent. He was focused on learning the fingering methods that the maid used earlier to play the right tones. After fiddling around for a while, he finally figured it out and continued playing the piece.

After clumsily finishing the nursery rhyme, he glanced at Tang Wanzhuang, who was leaning against the headboard of her bed. Her tense brow gradually relaxed, and she seemed to have loosened up quite a bit. This time, she really appeared to have fallen asleep.

Not daring to continue playing, Zhao Changhe shushed the maid one last time before quietly leaving the room.

The maid hesitated for a moment, then quietly followed after him, and stopped him at the door. “Um, is there something special about that melody? I’ve played many soothing melodies for the young miss to help her relax, but none of them have had this effect... Meanwhile, your playing was awful, yet it was actually able to produce such an effect...”

“Can’t you speak more tactfully?”

“Isn’t honesty important?”

“Why are you asking this? Are you trying to help your young miss?”

“Yes...”

“In that case, there’s probably no hope.” Zhao Changhe sighed. “It’s not really about the song; she just enjoys seeing me follow the path she envisioned, and that brings her some peace of mind. Her other troubles are beyond her control. She can only look from the side, helpless. She doesn’t know when they’ll end. I’ve simply become something she can anticipate, something concrete to hold onto, nothing more.”

“But...why does she suddenly like nursery rhymes? It’s not like nobody has played them for her before. Even I have played them in the past while practicing.”

“It’s not that she has never heard nursery rhymes, it’s just that nobody has played them specifically for her. In people’s minds, she’s formidable. Even though they worry about her injuries and fatigue and they tell her to take care of herself, they never think to tell her that she can stop handling her affairs or that they will help share her burden. They only ever hope for her recovery so that she can go back to supporting the world.”

The maid was left speechless, unsure of what to do.

“It’s a shame. I can only really say the first part to her as well. I simply don’t think I can share her burden in supporting the world.” Zhao Changhe patted the maid on the shoulder, then turned and walked away. “Take good care of your young miss, don’t let her catch a cold.”

*

Back in his guest house, Zhao Changhe took a long bath before taking out the golden foil and the sword seal again to continue studying.

After fulfilling his promise to Sisi, it was time to focus on his own research.

What he had given to Sisi was the sword art suitable for activating the first Profound Mystery. Zhao Changhe could recite the key points and mimic the movements, but in reality, it was just a fa?ade. He could not unleash its true power. His understanding of sword arts was only really at the Profound Gate. Anything beyond that was beyond his grasp.

In fact, although he had comprehended Profound Gate sword arts, he could not even unleash those to their fullest potential, much less the Profound Mystery one. The same went for the ultimate technique of the Vicious Blood Saber Art that was created for the eighth layer of the Profound Gate; he had yet to even try it.

Therefore, his current goal was very clear: to find special ultimate techniques that he could reasonably use to their fullest potential right now and attempt to integrate them into his saber art.

Although having a sword in his left hand and a saber in his right might look cool, it would be really inconvenient. It was better for him to focus on his saber art for now.

At this time, the Heavenly Tome seemed to have unsealed and evolved further.

Not only could it create an illusory space where he could watch the Sword Emperor preach firsthand, but now he could also control this illusory space like a lucid dream, showcasing whatever content he desired. For example, at this moment, he only wanted the Sword Emperor to demonstrate the techniques that could be used between the fifth to seventh layers of the Profound Gate, and the Sword Emperor would comply, allowing him to choose from the various techniques of the emperor’s sword arts.

I wonder, as the Heavenly Tome becomes more and more sentient, will it eventually try to kill me? Eh...whatever, that’s a concern for another day. For now, I’ve got too many sword arts to consider to be thinking about anything else.

There were only too many such sword moves demonstrated by Sword Emperor for the fifth to seventh layers of the Profound Gate.

What he had given Sisi was just one kind of sword intent and one set of sword arts. As the so-called general outline of sword arts, how could the sword seal only have one system or category of sword arts? There were countless types of sword intent and sword arts, all of which needed a lifetime of study to be fully understood. Just at this level alone, there were already at least a hundred different kinds of sword arts, and even a casual selection could yield hundreds of moves worthy of being called ultimate techniques.

Most of them were not suitable to be integrated into his saber art, as they simply did not fit a saber or Zhao Changhe’s style. Thus, after carefully sifting through them, he narrowed it down to about a dozen options.

After eliminating some that had relatively redundant effects, Zhao Changhe finally settled on three of them.

All his thoughts now focused on how to integrate these three sword arts into his saber art. When he achieved this, would it finally be time for him to depart?

Just as this thought arose, Zhao Changhe shook his head.

Why am I starting to think like this again? I need to slow down and calm down... I should not rush to finish things just for the sake of it.

There was nothing that required his urgent attention. Patience was key.

Knock, knock, knock~

The sound of knocking interrupted his thoughts

Zhao Changhe withdrew his focus from the Heavenly Tome and realized that he had spent the entire night choosing from the sword arts. It was already dawn.

When he opened the door, he saw Tang Wanzhuang standing outside with a smile. “Now that you don’t need to write the manual anymore, am I still welcome here?”

“Are you feeling better?”

“I need some more rest, but I’m fine. It’s been a long time since I slept as peacefully as last night. Thank you for your nursery rhyme.”

“So, are you also going to take things easy? You aren’t planning to deal with the Maitreya Cult today?”

“I think I won’t. Shouldn’t I live for myself for a day?”

“In that case, I’d like to make a request...” Zhao Changhe said. “How about spending today helping me instead?”

Tang Wanzhuang tilted her head in puzzlement.

Without any embarrassment, he said very naturally, “I’ve chosen three sword arts, and I’m considering how to integrate them into my saber art. Since you’re a grandmaster, could you give me some advice?”

Tang Wanzhuang smiled. “Certainly, as you wish.”

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