Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

Xiao Chen needed to make early preparations for an ultimate move.

However, overthinking it was useless. The inheritance hall was not a bottomless treasure trove. It would be hard to say if there was such a technique in there.

Xiao Chen set this aside for now. Then, he went to the Misty Rain Pavilion.

Xiao Chen saw Su Ye and the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden practicing again, contending with each other in beauty.

Various instruments filled his vision. There were pipes, flutes, bells, drums, guzheng, zithers, and many more.

Any instrument that one could think of was there.

Aside from that, there were some instruments that Xiao Chen had never seen before, like the erhu, the suona, and the cymbals.

[TL Note: You can think of the erhu as a two-stringed violin played with a different posture. The suona is like a pipe. It’s a reed instrument; you can think of it as a Chinese oboe.]

These were rare instruments. More directly, they were not popular enough. So, they rarely appeared in the Misty Rain Pavilion and the Smiling Daughter Pavilion.

“Lord Xiao.”

Su Ye had excellent eyesight. The moment Xiao Chen entered, she noticed him, so she walked over to him.

“The erhu, the suona, and the cymbals…I don’t remember seeing these instruments the last time I watched,” Xiao Chen commented out of curiosity.

Su Ye laughed softly and said, “Indeed, there weren’t. However, it is not that I intentionally added them. Soul Tool instruments are very rare. I have been searching for them for so many years, and I finally found enough.”

“You work very hard on this.”

“My mother’s greatest wish when she was alive was to merge the ten great ancient pieces into one and create a new musical piece. Most of these Soul Tool instruments were left to me by my mother. I want to help her accomplish her dream and bring it to perfection.”

Su Ye sighed. If any of the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden were to put on a solo performance with ancient musical pieces, it would be excellent.

However, the musical piece created by merging the ten great ancient pieces was very hard to coordinate. There were also a lot of flaws.

Su Ye thought of giving up many times. However, she persevered.

Xiao Chen took a look and said, “If the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden were to perform once a month, the Misty Rain Pavilion would rise to the same level as the Smiling Daughter Pavilion. However, you hide them and practice this day and night. Despite this, you might never complete it. Is this worth it?”

Su Ye frowned heavily. Then, she replied softly, “Of course, it is worth it. This is the only thing I can do for my mother. Unfortunately, it is this one thing that I am unable to accomplish. Who knows when I can perfectly perform the Laughing Sword and Saber?”

“The Laughing Sword and Saber?”

Xiao Chen thought about the previous time he watched this performance. What completed the performance were the two women holding a sword and a saber appearing.

They used the saber and sword to contest against each other, with the many instruments serving as a foil, to present a grand scene.

Su Ye looked at the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden, who were currently retuning their instruments. Then, she whispered, “That’s right. I have named the merged ten great ancient pieces as the Laughing Sword and Saber. Unfortunately, my bladeswoman and swordswoman are lacking in maturity. However, I cannot do anything about that. The crux of this Laughing Sword and Saber is the bladesman and swordsman who appear at the end. Otherwise, it cannot reach consummation.”

Xiao Chen pondered this for a moment. Then, he said, “Pavilion Master Su, if you trust me, perhaps I can help you solve that problem.”

“How?”

“For example, I could personally go on stage and take the place of the bladesman that appears at the end. As for the swordsman, I can search for a person whose strength rivals mine to complete the central theme at the end, the clash between the sword and the saber.”

Su Ye’s eyes lit up. Finding this suggestion inconceivable, she said, “Are you sure?”

This was indeed too inconceivable. Cultivators never considered the Music Dao as mainstream.

While the royals, nobles, and Sovereign Emperors might enjoy listening to music, it was just at the level of appreciating beautiful pets. It would be impossible to get them to perform on stage.

These people might even feel humiliated if invited to do so.

As a result, Su Ye felt a headache over this. All she could do was nurture her own cultivators for the roles.

The clash between the sword and saber brought the piece to perfection. In order for the musical piece to be raised to a higher level, it needed to show the most artistic Saber Dao and Sword Dao.

Solving the other issues was just a matter of time. However, this final problem was the source of Su Ye’s worries.

“I am very sure. However, Pavilion Master Su will have to promise me something,” Xiao Chen said as he looked at Su Ye with a serious expression.

“Please speak.”

Xiao Chen stepped forward and whispered a few words into Su Ye’s ears. Then, he looked at her calmly.

Su Ye did not hesitate. She nodded and said, “Don’t worry. That is not a problem. Even if you do not help me, the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden will move with a word from you.”

“Alright. It is a deal, then.”

The two came to an agreement. Xiao Chen would help Su Ye complete the Laughing Sword and Saber, and she would help him with something else.

“You should watch it first. After adding the suona, the erhu, and the cymbals, it is now closer to my vision of the Laughing Sword and Saber.”

Su Ye smiled mysteriously and returned to her seat among the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden, holding up her zither.

Just as Xiao Chen felt somewhat bewildered, a row of women in the back row blew their suonas simultaneously.

A magnificent tone that Xiao Chen never experienced before suddenly sounded. There was no prelude. An entrancing rhythm that built up suspense instantly appeared, catching listeners off guard.

“Peep! Peep! Peep!”

When the suonas reached their most solemn note, the clangor of cymbals rang out, instantly igniting grand aspirations and hot-bloodedness.

Pipas sang soon after as the fingers of eight beautiful women flew across their strings.

The pipa music sounded like an endless river, with each wave rising taller and moving faster than the one before.

This pushed the grand aspirations and hot-bloodedness ignited by the suona and cymbals to a new height. The rhythm of the entire musical piece practically reached a climax at the start.

The mountains roared, the seas howled, the waves surged, and the towering clouds stood tall. There was a surging, inextinguishable hot-bloodedness.

Then, the erhu joined in at a suitable moment, lending the hot-bloodedness a moving and tragic tone. However, it was not mournful, as the zithers, flutes, and pipes closely followed and rang out together.

As an observer, Xiao Chen was overwhelmed by the grand music.

Xiao Chen felt his blood raging and his heart pounding hard as if it would leap out of his chest at any moment.

At the final moments, after the music ignited one’s hot-bloodedness and flames spread throughout one’s body, a saber light appeared. Then, a sword light appeared.

The clash between the sword and the saber!

Two women, one holding a sword and the other a saber, brought out the grand, surging music’s central theme along with everyone’s anticipation.

When the piece finally ended, many of the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden appeared exhausted.

Such a grand performance drained not only their spirit but also their Soul Energy and Veritable Essence Energy.

Xiao Chen gave a resounding applause. With the addition of the suonas and cymbals, this Laughing Sword and Saber was utterly different from what he first heard.

Although there were still some flaws, it had already improved considerably.

Over the next few days, Xiao Chen worked together with Su Ye to perfect the Laughing Sword and Saber.

During this time, he also sent out three letters: one to the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter, one to the Universe Origin Sect’s Chu Chaoyun, and one to the Golden Crow Empire’s Ao Jiao.

--

At this moment, a major matter spread throughout the imperial capital Yan City.

This matter incited passionate discussions. Everyone from the royals to the commoners discussed it.

What was this matter?

Naturally, it was First Prince Wang Fei’s wedding with the Smiling Daughter Pavilion’s headliner Ling Long. Since ancient times, there never had been a prince who wedded a pleasure quarter’s headliner.

Who was the First Prince?

He was a hot contender to become the crown prince in the Yanwu Dynasty, someone who held overwhelming authority.

Headliner Ling Long possessed excellent pipa skills, unparalleled in the world. She was the highest-ranked of the top ten headliners, famous throughout the imperial capital. Her admirers are countless.

No matter who it was, everyone in the imperial capital Yan City knew about her.

However, no one ever imagined that these two people would eventually wed.

Hence, it would be impossible for such a wedding not to attract attention.

Many of the princes considered how the First Prince’s alliance with the Smiling Daughter Pavilion would affect them.

Ordinary cultivators just wanted to watch the excitement and be a part of it, so they would have a story to tell.

Everyone anticipated the day of the wedding.

However, Xiao Chen was unaware of all this. He only focused on working with the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden, perfecting the Laughing Sword and Saber.

This was how Xiao Chen had always been. No matter what it was, he would put in all his effort once he agreed to something.

After seven days, Xiao Chen finally reached a rapport with the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden.

Now, they only lacked someone to take the role of the swordsman. Then, the Laughing Sword and Saber would be close to consummation.

At this point, Xiao Chen temporarily said goodbye, preparing to head to the Azure Dragons’ old lands to seek an ultimate move.

Xiao Chen could not rely on the Hundred Fairies of the Pear Garden to gain a stable footing in Yan City. The one he needed to rely on was himself.