Although he had fused with the memories of the Soul Fragment, becoming an Inscription Master wasn't something that could be achieved with knowledge alone. It required practice to coordinate the body and mind. He had to merge the memories of that ownerless soul with his own body!
'Materials are money, and they can't be wasted!' When Lin Ming first began practicing, he didn't use any materials. Instead, he simply used his True Essence to form one inscription after another, drawing them according to the memories of the ownerless soul. He used this method to continuously let his body find the feeling contained within those memories.
This was an extremely tedious and mentally taxing task. However, Lin Ming drew them thousands, even tens of thousands of times. Through this repetitive process, he gradually brought his soul and body into harmony.
When his Soul Power was excessively drained, Lin Ming would take a break. He used this time to study the "Introduction to Inscription Technique." With the memories he already possessed, reading the book was incredibly easy. Although it didn't offer him any new knowledge, it allowed Lin Ming to gain a concrete understanding of the Inscription Technique on the Celestial Derivation Continent.
After a full day, Lin Ming closed the "Introduction to Inscription Technique." The book made no mention of an inscription material called Celestial Silkworm Silk.
Celestial Silkworm Silk was an extremely important material for Lin Ming, but he hadn't seen it at the trade fair. After looking through a lot of information, Lin Ming discovered that Celestial Silkworm Silk did exist in Tianyun Country, but it was generally used to make zither strings.
'I wonder if the Celestial Silkworm Silk from that Great Ability's memory is the same as the one here…'
Because the planes were different, the names for materials in the Divine Realm were often completely different from those on the Celestial Derivation Continent. Lin Ming didn't identify materials by name, but by their appearance and smell; if those matched the Great Ability's memories, then there was no mistake. As for Celestial Silkworm Silk, Lin Ming only had memories of the Divine Realm's version and had never seen the one from the Celestial Derivation Continent, so he couldn't be sure if they were the same.
Lin Ming thought carefully. It seemed there was one place where he would most likely find this item: the Qin Mansion of the Seven Profound Martial Mansion.
Generally, most Martial Artists used swords. However, some used sabers, spears, and so on. And sometimes, they used extremely unique weapons, like the zither.
The Seven Profound Martial Mansion was named "Seven Profound" because of the Seven Profound Valley. The name of the Seven Profound Valley, in turn, came from the seven individuals who founded it. Each of the seven had a different weapon, and one of them, a woman, used a zither.
Thus, the zither was passed down to the present day as one of the Seven Profound Valley's legacies, which was why the Seven Profound Martial Mansion had also established a Qin Mansion.
However, using the zither was an intricate art that demanded extremely high talent and proficiency in music. As a result, the Qin Mansion of the Seven Profound Martial Mansion had always been very quiet. Ninety-nine percent of those who came to study the zither were girls, most of whom simply enjoyed playing or wished to use it to cultivate their temperament, having no interest in the violent world of Martial Arts.
Lin Ming's destination for this trip was the Qin Mansion's public lecture hall.
The Seven Profound Martial Mansion was established in Tianyun Country and selected talented individuals to enter the Seven Profound Valley each year. At the request of the Tianyun Country's Royal Family, the Seven Profound Martial Mansion also permitted a moderate number of non-students to audit lectures in the public lecture halls.
An auditor's pass was required to enter the lecture hall; otherwise, if everyone could come, the place would surely be packed to the rafters.
The Seven Profound Martial Mansion stipulated that only Martial Artists at the Body Cultivation Third Layer or higher, nobles, and students of the Seven Profound Martial Mansion and Celestial Fate Martial Mansion could enter. Others were not permitted. Of course, the content taught in the public halls was common knowledge; the true core teachings were only passed down to Core Disciples.
Lin Ming had asked Lin Xiaodong to borrow the auditor's pass for him. Within the great Lin Family, there were naturally people who engaged in Martial Cultivation at the Seven Profound Martial Mansion. With Lin Xiaodong's connections, borrowing a pass wasn't difficult.
It was just that now, whenever Lin Xiaodong saw Lin Ming, he would shout, "Bro! My dear bro, you need a reality check!"
Lin Xiaodong truly admired Lin Ming's diligence and firmly believed he would reach a high realm in Martial Arts. But the Inscription Technique wasn't something one could learn through diligence and determination alone!
In Lin Xiaodong's opinion, spending a mere eight hundred taels of gold on a pile of materials and a copy of "Introduction to Inscription Technique" to start teaching yourself was absurd. 'Are you kidding me? If it were that easy, Inscription Masters would be as common as pigs in the mud!'
Without a doubt, in Lin Xiaodong's eyes, Lin Ming learning the Inscription Technique was pure daydreaming. Not only was he throwing away money, but he was also wasting time!
But no amount of persuasion worked. Helpless, Lin Xiaodong could only lend the auditor's pass to Lin Ming. He was even considering finding a time to take Lin Ming to a physician's hall to see if his brain had been damaged or if he was having mental problems.
And so, Lin Ming arrived at the Qin Mansion's lecture hall within the Seven Profound Martial Mansion. The building had three floors, and the first-floor classroom was enormous.
However, poor Lin Ming had no idea that the Qin Mansion's lecture hall in the Seven Profound Martial Mansion was the equivalent of a women's restroom—a forbidden zone for males.
For years, the students of the Qin Mansion had been almost exclusively female. This was because the girls interested in studying the zither often came from Noble Families and had been immersed in music since childhood, possessing both beauty and grace. As a result, many young masters from noble families got ideas, hoping to woo one or two of them.
It just so happened that these young masters could get auditor's passes because of their status, so they often came to the Qin Mansion's lecture hall to "audit." And audit they did. In the classroom, some of them would blatantly stare at the female students' chests and thighs. After class, they would often ask the girls out for a meal or to go shopping, annoying the beauties of the Qin Mansion to no end. Since playing the zither is an art that requires a calm mind, the Qin Mansion gradually began to resist the entry of the opposite sex. This was especially true for any shifty-eyed boys with ill intentions, who were thrown out without a second thought.
When Lin Ming entered the Qin Mansion's lecture hall, the lesson hadn't started yet. A few girls were exchanging Zither Art techniques. One of them was testing out a new piece, and the nimble, elegant sound of the zither flowed out effortlessly, lingering in the air with a timeless, enchanting quality.
Lin Ming walked closer to take a look. The strings they were using were not Celestial Silkworm Silk. This was to be expected. Celestial Silkworm Silk was expensive and rare. Furthermore, zither strings made from it were so tough that they could easily injure the hands of someone with insufficient cultivation. The young girls of the Qin Mansion simply wouldn't be able to use them.
As Lin Ming approached, the girl playing the zither was too focused to notice him, but the two girls listening certainly did. They frowned but said nothing.
Every so often, some ill-intentioned boys would buzz around them like flies. These boys didn't even know a single musical note, yet they'd eagerly run over, claiming they wanted to practice the zither to cultivate their character, while their eyes were glued to the girls' chests. The sight of such boys disgusted them.
However, the girls were thin-skinned and usually couldn't bring themselves to make a fuss. Many of the creeps would take advantage of this, growing bolder and even getting handsy. This continued until the Qin Mansion's Senior Sister organized a group of her "sisters." On the day of a lecture, they threw out every single creep who had come to the Qin Mansion to hit on girls.
But there were always some thick-skinned scoundrels who, after being kicked out, would just come running back. They insisted that they were only there to learn the zither, and that even asking the pretty girls out after class was for the purpose of discussing "art" together, with absolutely no ulterior motives.
As it turned out, this Senior Sister was a formidable character. The next day, she placed a sign directly at the entrance that read: "Men and dogs not allowed inside."
The incident caused a huge uproar and eventually alerted the higher-ups of the Martial Mansion. It was only resolved after the administration intervened. The administration didn't forbid men from auditing at the Qin Mansion, but it was up to the female students to determine whether the men who entered were actually there to learn the zither. If a man was unanimously deemed to have ill intentions, his auditor's pass would be revoked on the spot.
And so, gradually, the shadow of a man was no longer seen in the Qin Mansion's lecture hall.
Naturally, Lin Ming knew nothing of this history. After watching for a while and failing to find a Guqin made with Celestial Silkworm Silk, he casually wandered over to the Library Pavilion on one side of the lecture hall, hoping to find some relevant documents.
As he left, the girls had just finished playing. They watched his figure standing before a bookshelf from afar and began to whisper, "That guy doesn't look like he's here to learn the zither."
"Yeah, I don't think so either. He's got shifty eyes. He was even staring at Xiaoqian's hands just now."
"That can't be right. He doesn't look very old, maybe just fifteen or sixteen."
"Hmph, where I'm from, guys are already married at sixteen. At my age, many are already mothers." The girl who spoke was only seventeen or eighteen. In Tianyun City, people generally married upon reaching adulthood at eighteen. In the countryside, it was often a year or two earlier, so getting married at sixteen wasn't unusual.
"Whatever, it's not our business anyway. Senior Sister will be here for the lecture soon. If he has any improper ideas, Senior Sister will 'invite' him to leave."
Of course, Lin Ming didn't hear the girls' discussion; otherwise, he would have been speechless. The so-called 'staring at Xiaoqian's hands' was just him looking at the material of the zither strings.
He kept searching for information. The Qin Mansion's public hall was large, and a sizable area on one side of the zither room had been designated as a Library Pavilion, containing all sorts of musical knowledge and scores.
Lin Ming had no interest in music whatsoever. He searched through the books and finally found the information he was looking for: the "Celestial Zither List."
The "Celestial Zither List" cataloged all sorts of fine ancient zithers, including detailed introductions on their origins, users, creators, manufacturing materials, and so on. Naturally, it included a high-grade string material like Celestial Silkworm Silk. Lin Ming's heart filled with joy, and he began to read.
The "Celestial Zither List" described the various properties of Celestial Silkworm Silk and methods for harvesting it. The only regret was that there were no pictures. Nevertheless, Lin Ming was able to roughly confirm that this was the same Celestial Silkworm Silk he was looking for.
Lin Ming was engrossed in his reading, completely unaware that more and more female students were filling the Qin Mansion's lecture hall. They naturally noticed him standing in the corner. A lone male amidst a flock of beauties was simply too conspicuous.
However, Lin Ming wasn't looking around; his mind was entirely focused on the book. Although it was very likely an act, he was at least putting on the pretense. You can't just arrest someone on suspicion of being a thief, can you?
This lecture might have proceeded smoothly. Unfortunately, the Qin Mansion's Senior Sister seemed to hold an extreme prejudice against men.
This Senior Sister's name was infamous in the circles of young noble masters. The "Men and dogs not allowed inside" sign still made many of them shudder in fear when they recalled it. Secretly, some cursed her to be a spinster for life.
In fact, the Senior Sister was quite attractive. In her twenties, she had an oval face, a buxom figure, and long, slender legs. But for some unknown reason, this Senior Sister seemed to have no interest in men and possessed an extremely fiery temper. Once, an undiscerning creep stared at her high, full breasts, and she kicked him between the legs, nearly ending his family line.
Upon arriving at the lecture hall, this Senior Sister noticed Lin Ming almost immediately. Her willow-like eyebrows furrowed. She immediately set down the Guqin she was carrying, strode directly up to Lin Ming, and rapped her fingers three times on the table before him. "How did you get in here?"