Chapter 7 Milan Magic Martial Academy (Part 3)_1

Although Flowing Water found this female teacher somewhat odd, he still did as she said, and his gold coins were instantly halved.

"Teacher, where is the examination held?"

"I'll take you there, there probably won't be anyone else signing up for the Divine Music Master. In the past few days, the registration was overcrowded, only my place is as quiet as a couple of kittens. Follow me."

Stepping out of the registration office, the female teacher stopped, put her hands together in front of her chest, and her index fingers crossed, drawing a hexagram. Muttering a few incantations, a beam of light burst forth from her chest, which rendered the hexagram outlined by her fingers into a clear orange color. With a flash, an enormous body had already appeared before her.

It was a unicorn, but unlike any Flowing Water had ridden before; this one was white and thrice as big as the ones he had previously encountered, over five meters long and almost two meters tall, with an aura that clearly didn't belong to a First Rank Magical Beast. As soon as it appeared, it gracefully bent down its body for the female teacher to mount.

"Teacher, is this your Magical Beast?"

"Yes, my name is Brigitte, you can call me Teacher Brigitte. Come on up; walking won't do for such a short time. Riding is much faster."

Yin Zhu didn't hesitate, he swiftly mounted the horse. Due to the White Jade Unicorn's length, he didn't come into contact with Brigitte in front. The White Jade Unicorn stood up and began striding forward at her direction. Although the speed was fast, the ride was neither too shaky nor too hard, but steady and comfortable.

"Teacher, is it permissible to ride Magical Beasts within the academy?"

"Of course. The grounds of the Milan Magic Martial Academy occupy an area equivalent to one-fifth of Milan City. For those in the warrior department, walking might be fine, but what about us mages? My Little White is a Third Rank Jade Unicorn, quite a rare one, with excellent stamina."

"Third Rank? Do mages also have lower-rank Magical Beasts?" Flowing Water asked in surprise, looking at Brigitte in front of him. Anya had told him that, due to the importance of Magical Beasts to mages, they usually wait until their magic had reached a certain level before deciding on their companion beast. While warriors contracted with their beasts too, they couldn't summon them at will like mages, yet warriors' contracts were not as fixed, allowing for multiple contracts in a lifetime, and they could negotiate a new beast after paying a certain price should their current one die.

Brigitte huffed, "Although I'm a mage, I'm just an Orange-rank Divine Music Master. We Divine Music Masters don't need to fight; having a means of transport is enough. If you aspire to become powerful, it's still not too late to change your registration to another specialty."

"No need, I've chosen to be a Divine Music Master." Flowing Water fell silent. Through his interaction with Anya and now with Teacher Brigitte, he had come to fully understand the status of Divine Music Masters on the continent. No wonder so few chose this profession.

When the Jade Unicorn turned around a few bends along the avenue, the scenery suddenly opened up, and many tall buildings and large open spaces gradually came into Flowing Water's view. The number of students also increased. Brigitte spurred the Jade Unicorn to stop in front of a round building. "We're here. This is our Divine Music Department's auditorium."

Before Flowing Water could take a good look at the building before him, Brigitte had already led him inside the auditorium. It wasn't very large, with a capacity of around five hundred people, but there were only a little over forty people sitting, making it seem empty. Since Flowing Water and Brigitte entered from the back, he could only see the backs of these people, and just as he had guessed, they were all girls, with their own instruments placed in front of them on the tables.

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In the auditorium's innermost stage, there was only one young girl at this time. She sat behind an ancient-looking wooden desk, on which an ancient zither was placed. The girl was dressed in a long white skirt, and like Yin Zhu, she too had black hair. Because she was bowing her head to tune the zither, her black hair completely covered her face, preventing Yin Zhu from seeing her features. However, the pair of hands that were playing with the zither strings had fully drawn Yin Zhu's attention.

They were a pair of delicate hands, like tender spring onions, with slender and long fingers. Even white jade carving could not match the delicate and lustrous texture of her ten fingers. Each finger bore nails about an inch long, clear and crystalline like the nails themselves. The natural and harmonious movements as her fingers lightly strummed were so elegant and moving.

"Find a place to sit down, the entrance exam will start soon," Brigitte said to Yin Zhu.

"Teacher Brigitte, what will the entrance exam consist of?"

Brigitte smiled slightly and replied, "As soon as you listen to her play a piece of music, the exam will be completed." After saying this, she walked over to a corner and sat down.

Yin Zhu looked around and then his eyes lit up – he saw an ancient zither. Without any hesitation, he quickly walked over and sat down beside the girl who had the zither. His eyes could no longer be pulled away from the ancient zither in front of him. The Jade Zither Charm – this was the Jade Zither Charm!

"Yin Zhu, the zither is the earliest plucked string instrument, a treasured gem of traditional culture, and can be called the most exalted of instruments. The five ancient zithers we possess in the Zither Sect are all prestigious, but they are still not enough, for we do not have an ancient zither that can truly be called a Divine Artifact. If you discover other prestigious zithers, you must obtain it if possible. Especially the five legendary peerless zithers, they are on par with Divine Artifacts," echoed Grandpa Qin's words in Yin Zhu's mind.

"Grandpa Qin, what are the peerless zithers you're talking about?"

"There are many kinds of famous zithers, divided into many categories, such as Divine Dragon Style, Lianzhu Style, Shi Kuang Style, Lingji Style, Phoenix Style, and so on..."

As Qin Shang's words flashed through his mind, Yin Zhu thought of the Jade Zither Charm, which although was not considered a peerless zither comparable to a Divine Artifact, was still on the same level as the Spring Thunder Zither!

At this moment, the girl in front of the zither turned her head toward Yin Zhu. When she discovered that the person sitting beside her was a man, she couldn't help but slightly open her mouth in surprise. She was dressed in light blue clothes, and her same-colored long hair was draped gently over her shoulders. Although she didn't possess beauty as breath-taking as Anya's, the gentleness in her brows made it easy for her to give a pleasant impression. Especially her sky-blue eyes – although filled with surprise, her gaze remained very soft.

It was at this moment that the sound of the ancient zither began to play, and in just that instant, the whole hall was shaken. Yin Zhu's eyes, which had been fixed on the Jade Zither Charm, were forcibly torn away.

The ancient zither, similar in appearance to the ancient zither, was larger than the zither and had more strings, a total of twenty-one. Its sound, magnificent and piercing through the air, was also easier to control than the zither. Qin Shang had told Yin Zhu that of the many ancient instruments, the zither was the emperor, and the zither was the empress. A zither is difficult to play ensemble with other instruments, except for flutes, whereas a zither could accompany or play ensembles with any other instrument. The sound of the ancient zither was clearer and more melodious than that of the zither, and it had a broader range, but it lacked the refined, profound air and lingering charm of the zither.

At this time, the girl on the stage playing the ancient zither had just sounded a note, and like Tall Mountains and Flowing Water, the music's orange hue captivated everyone in the hall. The clear and textured music held a trace of sorrow, and her slender jade hands fluttered over the zither strings. The color of the music that emanated from the ancient zither intertwined with her movements, shining together. The sound of the zither was like threads of spirit, entwining the souls of everyone present.

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