Chapter 36: Past Events of Sound Valley

At that time, Xiao Han had just broken through to a Five-Star Dou Zun and was looking to go out and find an opponent to test his personal strength.

What he had not expected was to inadvertently stumble into Sound Valley, and in doing so, attract the attention of the Sound Valley Elders.

Through a series of twists and turns and fortuitous circumstances, relying on his own formidable strength, Xiao Han caused quite a scene in Sound Valley.

In the end, he drew the joint siege of multiple Sound Valley Elders.

Just as he was surrounded on all sides and facing a desperate situation, he was saved by Tianyin Laoren stepping in... Thinking back on it, it's all tears!

If he had known back then that helping Sound Valley would be such a troublesome affair, Xiao Han reckons... he still would have done it. After all, his little life was in someone else's hands, wasn't it? For the sake of staying alive, it's nothing to be ashamed of!

Through the account of Tianyin Laoren, Xiao Han also understood the predicament Sound Valley was in at the time—it was splitting apart.

Due to the unique nature of Sound Valley cultivators, the consumption of using Dou Techniques is extremely low, which is the reason why, under normal circumstances, experts of the same level cannot defeat Sound Valley practitioners; they simply cannot outlast them in a battle of Dou Techniques.

But on the other hand, unlike casting ordinary Dou Techniques, which only requires meeting the physical requirements, the Dou Qi circulation path, and having enough Dou Qi—all of which can be mastered through practice—it is different.

If one wishes to successfully cast a Musical Technique, one must not only meet the above conditions but also possess an extremely profound understanding of the path of music.

And this requires spending a vast amount of time. A person's time is limited, but cultivating Dou Qi and comprehending the path of music are neither easy tasks.

However, Dou Qi cultivation is indispensable on the continent. Because of this, no one knows when it started, but someone proposed abandoning the original Musical Techniques of Sound Valley and choosing the relatively simpler Sound Wave Techniques.

After all, both use sound as a medium of transmission; they reach the same goal by different paths, and it is much simpler for Sound Valley cultivators to practice.

Yet, this proposal met with strong opposition from many Elders, who believed that the path of music was the heritage of Sound Valley; to abandon the heritage, wasn't that betraying one's masters and ancestors?

……

For reasons unknown, this debate became increasingly intense.

It even led to Sound Valley splitting into two major factions under the Sound Valley Master, fighting each other incessantly. Fortunately, due to the rational restraint of the leaders of both factions, no bloodshed occurred.

Originally, as long as Tianyin Laoren, the strongest person in the valley, spoke up, this incident would have been easy to resolve. After all, in this world, the strong are respected; he could have suppressed all dissent with his strength alone.

But it just so happened that this little old man was in seclusion at the time, ignoring everything outside his door.

By the time he came out of seclusion and learned of this matter, the internal strife in Sound Valley was already very serious. If he were to forcibly suppress it, it would lead to extremely grave consequences, so he could only struggle to maintain the standoff between the two sides.

And by the time Xiao Han stumbled into Sound Valley, the factional struggle in Sound Valley had already entered its most intense stage.

If not for that, relying on him, a mere Five-Star Dou Zun, no matter how heaven-defying his combat power was, how could he have caused such a scene in a Sound Valley teeming with experts? They would have taken his little life in a minute!

And the reason Tianyin Laoren requested the help of Xiao Han, an outsider, was naturally because he was already powerless to resolve the chaos of that time and was beginning to prepare for forcible suppression.

But if that were to happen, Sound Valley would inevitably be drenched in blood and suffer heavy damage, leaving them no choice but to seal the valley and lick their wounds.

Moreover, Tianyin Laoren had a deep understanding of the difficulty of practicing Musical Techniques, and because of this, the speed at which the strength of Sound Valley cultivators took shape was much slower compared to ordinary experts.

He also wanted to know if there was any way to achieve the best of both worlds.

As for finding Xiao Han, that was purely a case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive. After all, it was impossible for Tianyin Laoren to expose the contradictions of Sound Valley to everyone; if he did that, Sound Valley would likely be finished immediately.

Only Xiao Han, a "three-no youth" (no power, no background, no one wanted him) who had gone astray, happened to be suitable.

Facing this situation, Xiao Han could only offer his own suggestion, which was to incorporate Sound Wave Techniques into the cultivation system of Sound Valley as well.

Regarding Xiao Han's "cure-all" answer, Tianyin Laoren just gave a blank expression and a "Heh," and then his Dou Qi began to circulate.

Then Xiao Han began to speak recklessly, breaking out in a cold sweat all over.

Finally, when he really couldn't take it anymore, Xiao Han could only give up resisting and said in a "let it rot" manner: "Why don't you pull out the Disciples of their two factions and let them spar with each other? Whoever is stronger, listen to them."

"Just give them a place for public competition and control this conflict on the arena."

"Whoever isn't convinced, have a fight."

Hearing this, Tianyin Laoren also revealed a look of interest.

Indeed, compared to large-scale conflicts where swords have no eyes, it would be better to set up an arena for one-on-one duels; this way, lives could also be preserved.

Seeing that Tianyin Laoren was becoming interested, Xiao Han, knowing his life was once again guaranteed, continued to suggest that Tianyin Laoren cultivate a genius who practiced both a small amount of Sound Wave Techniques and Musical Techniques.

Then, have this genius compete with the other two factions; if the effect was good enough, then this could be used as an example.

Initially relax the practice of Musical Techniques and gradually integrate Sound Wave Techniques into the Sound Valley cultivation system.

Tianyin Laoren pondered for a long time and finally made the decision to agree to Xiao Han's proposal, but he required that Xiao Han not leave the sphere of influence of Sound Valley during this period.

Regarding this point, Xiao Han naturally had no objections; Tianyin Laoren's approach could already be considered quite benevolent.

If one followed the common practice, facing Xiao Han who had grasped his own secrets, making him vanish from the face of the earth would be the correct solution.

Being able to keep his life was already good enough; what more could he ask for!

Just like that, Xiao Han stayed in Sound Valley for two years. During this period, many Sound Valley Elders also came to know this youth who was a guest in Sound Valley, and they became quite familiar with each other.

And Tianyin Laoren, under Xiao Han's constant pestering and relentless badgering, also developed a decent friendship with him.

And what prompted him and Xiao Han to talk so happily was the gradual resolution of the internal contradictions in Sound Valley.

Although there were still struggles, they were all controllable. It only required a certain catalyst to completely resolve the hidden danger of Sound Valley's split.

Even because of Xiao Han's suggestion, the strength of the Sound Valley Disciples had improved quite a bit. Regarding this, Tianyin Laoren, as the Sound Valley Master, was naturally deeply gratified.

And in the interactions between Xiao Han and Tianyin Laoren, some special musical attainments he inadvertently revealed also made Tianyin Laoren very curious and appreciative.

After all, the people of Sound Valley were mostly masters of music. It would be a lie to say Tianyin Laoren wasn't interested in such unheard-of music. Thus, he began to ask Xiao Han for advice.

However, this was truly too difficult for Xiao Han, who was a musical novice. Originally, he could only hum a couple of lines at random; what did he know about music!

Finally, being unable to stand Tianyin Laoren's pestering, he could only brush it off by saying he had inadvertently obtained some musical scores and then taught himself.

Facing Tianyin Laoren's request to observe them, Xiao Han, in order to get rid of the entanglement at the time, agreed to everything, and as a result, he stupidly bragged about it.

And Tianyin Laoren had kept it in mind ever since. He even came to Langya Pavilion in person.

"You are actually this persistent?" Xiao Han's mouth twitched a few times involuntarily.

"Alright, alright," Tianyin Laoren laughed heartily and said in a straightforward manner: "I know you kid don't have any musical scores or anything like that. This is your business, and naturally, I, this old man, won't pry."

"I came to find you for another matter."

"What matter?" Xiao Han asked suspiciously.

Sound Valley and Langya Pavilion basically belonged to two different systems; if not for Xiao Han, the two forces would likely have remained parallel lines forever.

"I need to borrow your Langya Pavilion to stay for a while..."

Xiao Han: "... Stay for a while?" What does that mean?