Zhao Changhe suppressed the ripples in his heart and lowered his head to drink lotus seed soup. "Master, I won't worship you... I remember you used to avoid this matter too, why don't you care now?"

"Martial arts is different from music, chess, calligraphy, and painting..." Tang Wanzhuang whispered, "In martial arts, I can't accept you as my disciple, it would be presumptuous and I am not qualified... but there is no problem with music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Why don't you want to?"

"I used to be called Tang Buqi's grandnephew, but suddenly we are of the same generation, and I'm not happy about it."

Seeing Tang Wanzhuang's widened eyes, Zhao Changhe suddenly realized and hurriedly explained, "No, I was just taking advantage of the situation, I didn't want to be his uncle... After becoming his disciple, I won't even have that advantage anymore. I'm younger than him, so I should call him brother... Oh..."

He turned his head away with the guqin in his arms.

He's just a child, even more childish than holding a guqin.

Zhao Changhe blushed under the strange gaze of the guqin, feeling embarrassed. "I'm telling you, First Seat, your starting point for everything is that I am a prince. Now you are becoming more and more obvious about it, but how would you feel when you realize that I'm not?"

Tang Wanzhuang smiled, "It doesn't matter. I just don't want to see a junior from the martial world become more and more impatient, following in my footsteps... Besides, you have done favors for the Tang family. I'm just helping you a little. What's wrong with that?"

"Following in your footsteps... Does that mean that music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are actually useless? Should I focus on breaking through the Lung Meridian or the Lung Meridian?"

"But have you ever thought that if it weren't for this, I would be harming more than just your Lung Meridian?"

"Um..."

Tang Wanzhuang's expression became somewhat melancholic. "Perhaps music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are indeed useless... but I have already said that they can calm your mind and make you less restless. Otherwise, would you like to recite Buddhist scriptures? That's also a method."

"...Then I'll stick with music, chess, calligraphy, and painting." Zhao Changhe hesitated for a moment, and for a while, he didn't know how to address her with these words.

It's strange. Yue Hongling is two months younger than him, but he can easily call her "Sister Yue" without any psychological barriers. Tang Wanzhuang is eight years older, but he can't naturally call her "sister" at all, for some reason.

Perhaps it's because their interactions always have a sense of official business. There is no personal friendship between them, not even in teaching music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. In her eyes, it's all "official business." It's known to everyone that it's just an excuse to cultivate the prince in her heart, using the reasons of "martial world junior" and "Tang family benefactor."

Zhao Changhe has never had any sense of belonging to Daxia, and even because of what he has seen along the way, he is quite disgusted. He doesn't know what Tang Wanzhuang's feelings would be if he chooses to overthrow this country in the future.

They have never been on the same path, and their relationship with Yue Hongling is completely different.

Perhaps it's because... seeing her pale face that could collapse at any moment, one can always forget that she is a very powerful warrior. The feeling of pity in his heart is even stronger than respect, making him feel that she is the younger sister who should be taken care of.

This feeling is very complicated and contradictory.

Tang Wanzhuang stared at him for a while, as if she guessed what he was thinking, but she didn't ask. She turned to the guqin and said, "Give me the guqin."

The guqin bowed slightly and placed the guqin on the desk in front of Tang Wanzhuang.

Tang Wanzhuang gently stroked the strings and whispered, "It is said that Wanzhuang is exhausted and distracted, not conducive to the Dao. But the young master's mind seems to be more troubled than Wanzhuang's thoughts... It's not the way of cultivation. With this piece, please calm your mind."

A gentle sound of the guqin resonated, soft and soothing.

Just like this hot afternoon, a gentle breeze blew, brushing over the water pond and bringing a fragrance.

It seemed that a dragonfly had touched the water and quietly left, leaving behind a ripple that gradually spread and expanded, rhythmically, amidst the sounds of insects and cicadas around.

Search "pawℝead.com" for the original.

The lotus leaves tilted slightly, and a drop of water slowly fell, dripping into the water with a "drip".

In this tranquility, everything became lively, and the field of vision stretched. The refreshing water splashed on the face, and the green shade above blocked the scorching sun. A beautiful woman stood under the vines, smiling lightly, while a little girl in the distance giggled and ran to catch the dragonfly. The sky was high and the air was clear, with white clouds drifting leisurely. The laughter seemed to come from a very distant place, like a distant scenery, and also like a melodious dream.

Lying on the reclining chair in the courtyard, Zhao Changhe listened to the distant and crisp laughter. His mouth couldn't help but curl up with an aunt's smile.

The rivers and lakes gradually faded away, the bloody clamor, the whistling of blades, all disappeared with the laughter of the children, drifting away with the kite in the distance, and could no longer be seen clearly.

The sound of the guqin gently stopped.

Zhao Changhe found himself leaning back in the chair, almost falling asleep.

He rubbed his eyes in a daze, his mind still empty, completely relaxed, unable to gather his thoughts for a while.Tang Wanzhuang looked at him, her gaze filled with a hint of pity. "You... you're too tired. I've noticed that you even think about things in your sleep, at least you did last night."

Zhao Changhe: "Uh..."

Indeed, last night... Speaking of the dream communication, did he actually sleep or not?

Tang Wanzhuang continued, "Not only your daily rest, but your cultivation is also too tense. You've pushed your vitality to the limit. Did you activate a state of overwhelming evil energy entering your brain under the Sword Emperor's tomb? It's still boiling and eroding your flesh, but you're unaware of it... If this continues... it's like overexerting your body in your youth, you'll be worn out before middle age."

Zhao Changhe twitched his mouth, "Your words are a bit ambiguous, like a certain thing."

"Isn't it the same?" Tang Wanzhuang calmly said, "The human body, in the end, is all the same... What you need now is to consolidate your foundation and cultivate your vitality, stop blindly pursuing breakthroughs."

Zhao Changhe introspected for a moment, indeed he could feel the evil energy in his flesh receding. He had been completely unaware of how it had been gradually eroding him from within his skin and bones, but under this melody, the evil energy was completely gone, it was like a celestial method.

Tang Wanzhuang could see his thoughts and sighed, "This is not a celestial method. Of course, music is a form of martial arts with special effects... but what I suggest you learn is not this aspect."

Zhao Changhe nodded, "Understood."

"Is your mind calm?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to learn?"

Zhao Changhe stood up and sincerely bowed, "Please guide me, Miss Tang."

Miss Tang...

Is this the title you've been struggling with for so long and finally decided on?

Tang Wanzhuang chewed on it for a moment, then suddenly smiled, "Come here, I'll first teach you the basics, the sound of each string, and the basic fingerings."

Baoqin widened her eyes, "Mis...Miss..."

Tang Wanzhuang glared at her, "What's with that expression? Master Zhao has a natural talent, he can learn others' sword intent just by watching, playing the zither is just a matter of coordinating fingers, does he need hand-holding? A demonstration or two and he'll naturally get it."

Baoqin: "Oh..."

She carefully watched Zhao Changhe sit next to Tang Wanzhuang, their shoulders touching. She thought to herself, what I find inappropriate is them sitting shoulder to shoulder, it looks too intimate. My mind hasn't even gotten to the hand-holding and finger-bending part yet, Miss, you must have been struggling with this...

In fact, at this moment, Zhao Changhe was sitting close to Tang Wanzhuang, the fragrance from her body was intoxicating, but he didn't feel the slightest ripple.

The melody just now was too calming, he was completely in a sage-like state, no distracting thoughts could arise in his mind. At this moment, he only wanted to learn the zither, he knew this was truly very beneficial for him.

All along, with the evil energy in his body and the bloodthirsty intent in his hands, Zhao Changhe had long been worried about whether he would become a bloodthirsty demon in the future. However, he had previously looked down on things like the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, thinking they were useless. But today, he realized they were indeed useful.

They could make the sword shadows gradually fade away, make the bloody madness seem like it was in another dimension, leaving only the beauty of Jiangnan and the tranquil summer in front of his eyes.

In this world, music is a form of martial arts. Even if Tang Wanzhuang wanted him to learn something other than that, the principles were the same.

Tang Wanzhuang's jade hand was demonstrating the fingerings in front of him, it looked simple... it was just physical movements, compared to her high-level Spring Water Sword Intent, it was really simple.

It was also beautiful, Zhao Changhe was learning for the first time that just looking at hands could make people feel the meaning of beauty.

It was also elegant, making Zhao Changhe involuntarily imagine himself playing the zither casually in the future, like Linghu Chong, playing a tune of "A Laugh in the Sea", that would be so cool.

"It doesn't seem difficult, can I try?" Zhao Changhe asked.

Tang Wanzhuang moved aside with high expectations, "I trust Master Zhao's comprehension..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Zhao Changhe stretched out his hands like a zombie and "snap" broke the zither strings.

Tang Wanzhuang: "......"

Baoqin covered her face and squatted down, "Wuuu... I spent three hours tuning the strings yesterday... Wuuu... Is this the prodigy you were talking about, Miss... Why do you insist on making a bear embroider flowers..."

———

PS: The reading background of this book is now online, it looks good, you can find it in the reading background~

(End of the chapter)