[[Book 2 (FINAL book) of "One Lifetime is Never Enough"]]
"I would have waited for you forever."
The lament of a faraway voice that she had missed - that she had been longing to answer to - echoed in her mind.
"But, you are no longer here."
The des...
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A sound of qin softly wafted in the air, the gentle melody almost felt like visible strings of the sun's warmth parting the perpetual mist of Ping sect.
"It is YuLan shimei again, isn't it?" One older disciple smiled knowingly, looking towards the direction where the qin sound had come from.
"Yes. Who else amongst us can play a qin as well as she does? I came from a noble household, but the amount of years I have spent learning the four arts have not even given me the skill to play a qin to that extent," another woman replied, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead, an after-effect of her morning training.
"Initially Sage Zhu Hong was not happy about YuLan shimei's new hobby. But who would have guessed, when her qin playing is imbued with her yin energy, Sage Wei Lan actually ended up becoming her number one fan!"
"Ha! Isn't that amazing though? Esteemed Sage Wei Lan had always had difficulty sleeping. Who would have known that this shimei's unique qin playing could finally assist her rest."
"And Sage Hu Lan finally even decided to use YuLan's skill to aid the meditation of the new disciples!"
"Alas, it is only for the younger disciples, and not for us old-timers. So unfair. The excuse Sage Hu Lan said is that we no longer need an aide to concentrate in our meditation. But can't we just properly listen to her play for once, and not just hear it like this from afar?"
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The oblivious meditation-aide, namely Ji YuLan, sighed. Finishing her play, she gently removed her guqin off her lap. In front of her, there were eight young girls – new disciples of Ping sect – sitting solemnly with their eyes closed. These young disciples, that had just been initiated two years ago, had been getting better in maintaining their concentration during meditation.
Certain forms of calming melody definitely helped the young ones to enter the state of meditation quickly and properly – Sage Hu Lan was quick to notice that and finally defended YuLan to keep her guqin. YuLan's shifu herself – Sage Zhu Hong – initially wanted to throw the zither away. She did not care that the guqin was a gift from Wu sect's and Lin sect's senior disciples during their last outing to the Land of Yanshi. For Zhu Hong, a zither was a useless distraction, not a necessity for YuLan's growth.
Surprisingly, Sage Wei Lan was also on YuLan's side to keep the instrument, as she needed YuLan to do a private performance for her every few days or so when she needed to have a deep proper sleep. Although a Sage -ranked cultivator did not necessarily need to sleep for days, being able to sustain their consciousness by pure energy, they could still feel fatigue. A proper rest was still necessary when they physique needed to recuperate.
In the end, Zhu Hong begrudgingly agreed to let YuLan to keep the zither as YuLan was given the task to supervise the morning meditation for the new disciples, using her guqin as aide.
