Chapter 194: Energy as a Vibration
Having a teacher who was born blind was certainly different from others. Anji never thought she would one day be learning how to cultivate like a blind person. It was fascinating and groundbreaking to know how her shifu perceived the world. There was a reason why Yan Ping was very accurate in her judgement, and Anji knew better now. Without visual distraction, her other senses became clearer, and she could pick up on the more subtle things that most people miss.
For the longest time, Anji saw energy as an ever-changing rainbow fashion show. They shifted colours very frequently and came in many fascinating shapes. However, energy was just as interesting even without sight.
"Unfortunately, I do not have your Heavenly Eyes or functional eyes like others. Hence, I can only teach you using the methods I am most familiar with," Yan Ping explained. "Energy is a vibration, among other things. Music is one of the few ways blind people can connect with it as a medium of communication. Coincidentally, a sage who was devoted to music as a cultivation method found a correlation between them. This is the Seven Sound Mantra, which relies on synchronising vibrations produced by sound with the seven chakras of energy."
The number seven was rather important in this cultivation method. Anji had not read the book about the Celestial Root spiritual composition. However, she was familiar with the concept of the five elements of medicine. The sixth and seventh elements were light and darkness, a combination of the five elements with yin and yang, creating the seven-point formation.
"Typically, most music is composed with five notes in a pentatonic scale — Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, and Yu. The beauty is how all these five notes can combine in any formation and still sound in harmony. It is the basis of the five elements we practice in orthodox sects."
Anji nodded. She knew this already because Mingshen shared it with her briefly. However, today, she learned that the ten-hole Xun flute could play more than five notes. Before this, Anji had no idea there were more than five different types of sounds. Some of them made her feel uneasy as it felt eery.
"The notes that the orthodox sect approve of is not all there is," Yan Ping confirmed. "As you heard, there are many notes if we slide across the erhu. Fixed notes were chosen based on their common uses, but there are less common notes that are not frequently used. For that, we will use seven sounds instead of five, also known as the heptatonic scale inspired by the Big Dipper frequently used in astrology."
Anji knew that much about the Big Dipper. It was an important thing to pay attention to when choosing auspicious days for weddings and bigger events. Not even the Emperor can ignore it. Fortune tellers who are apt at reading the Big Dipper can even predict when flooding and misfortunes will happen. However, it was the first time Anji heard of it being modelled into a cultivation method.
According to the general knowledge of the Northern Dipper Constellation, each star represented a major turning point governing worldly affairs. Anji knew the basics like everyone else. For instance, the Celestial Rotating Jade star is a star that points a direction in life to follow or a written fate. The Jade Sighting Tube is a forecasting star that points out certain obstacles in life. If it was shrouded by an eclipse, most people took it as a bad omen and would cancel any important plans. Likewise, when the Twinkling Brilliance star was in the centre of the formation, it could signify that victory was guaranteed.
While it was easy to identify the first five stars and the elements they governed, Anji could not understand why the sixth star and seventh star were considered otherworldly.
"The sixth star — Opener of Heat, is closely related to the afterlife and rebirth. It is the star that carries darkness. On the other hand, the seventh star — Twinkling Brilliance, rarely appears. When it does, people see it as a sign of absolute victory as it governs hope and represents light."
Mathematically speaking, Anji thought the seven stars each represented a note, with the sixth and seventh stars adding onto the regular pentatonic scale. However, Yan Ping corrected her and revealed to Anji that these notes were independently different from the pentatonic scale used in regular music.
"There are actually twelve notes in a full music range that human ears can easily differentiate. The pentatonic and heptatonic scales work differently and do not mix. However, the closest version to the regular pentatonic scale would be to remove the fourth and seventh note from the heptatonic scale."
As it was difficult to demonstrate the full range on a Xun flute, Yan Ping picked up the erhu again and played each of the twelve notes for Anji to hear. When listening to them increase a little at a time, there was a weird twist in Anji’s gut. Some notes were pleasant, while others sounded like someone had dragged a metal chopper over a porcelain plate. At the end of the chromatic scale that combined both scales, Yan Ping played two different sets of scales for Anji to compare.
The pentatonic scale was familiar. Anji loved those five notes. However, the heptatonic scale was both familiar and distant. It sounded similar, yet a tad foreign. With just a slight shift and two additional notes, Anji felt as if the world was slightly more complete. However, it contained both happy and sad vibes instead of harmonious ones.
"I’m sure you noticed how each note affects how you feel when played. Some notes can go together," Yan Ping changed to the zither and plucked two different strings at the same time, creating a rich sound and blending two notes in a comfortable manner.
"However, some notes create dissonance."
This time, Anji had to help her shifu. She pressed down on a string at the end of the guzheng as told and waited as her shifu plucked the two exact strings again. The additional note bending and slight change made the two sounds collide uncomfortably. Anji felt the vibration from the string travel up her fingers as the clashing of different notes attacked her ears.
Shuddering, she let the string go and shook off the uncomfortable feeling crawling inside her skin. If that was the effect of sound dissonance, Anji could only imagine how damaging energy dissonance would feel.
"Awful, huh? It’s the reason why only five suitable notes can be played at any one time. Of course, identifying the combination will not be easy, and there are pairing rules. We will get to that in subsequent lessons. All you need to understand today is that sound and energy are the same. They are both vibrations, and a bad combination could result in energy backlash. If the fourth and seventh notes represent the sixth and seventh stars, you must understand that certain combinations cannot work when they are present."
It was a lot to take in. Anji nodded along for now as Yan Ping explained the general concept of the cultivation technique and cautioned Anji about the dangers present. Harmonising herself to her environment was both an advantage and a risk. Like how she could easily borrow the energy in her environment like a limitless vault, she also had to be very careful of the changes in it. Any miasma could easily corrupt her internal world because Anji had no filters like other cultivators to refine energy in their golden core.
"What if I accidentally absorb and harmonise with miasma and negative energy," Anji asked. "Will I die?"
It was a difficult question to answer, but Yan Ping decided to be honest.
"No, not right away, at least. There can be many consequences and different side effects for everyone. However, one thing for certain is how you will first lose your sense of reasoning without knowing it. Even the kindest person, when exposed to negative energy, can become cruel unknowingly while still believing they are kind. That is what darkness does to you. It is a slow-acting poison that corrodes your heart, mind and spirit before it eventually consumes you whole."
Pu Jianming might have been a good person when he left the mountain. However, Anji finally understood why her shifu was stepping in after she learned the traitor’s identity. The senior researcher who had once been a good person might be unaware of the evil they had become, and it was Yan Ping’s duty as sect master to right any disciple’s wrongs.
"Shifu, is there really no way to save someone who has been corrupted?"
As much as Anji knew that evil had to be punished, she did not wish to punish victims of true evil. If there was even the slightest hope of rehabilitating victims who had fallen into darkness, she wanted to try.
Yan Ping sat in silence for a long time. There were many theories, but nobody had proven it to be successful. Oftentimes, those who tried to help the fallen become tainted and fell to the darkness themselves. If there was no cure, prevention was the better alternative. It was what Yan Ping and the sect masters before her had always believed.
"I’m sorry, Anji. If there is a way, we haven’t found it yet. But I will bear all responsibilities should the day come and end you myself if you fall into darkness the same way Pu Jianming did. That much I can promise you. I can’t allow your family, who loves you very much, to do it, and it will be my fault for teaching you a risky cultivation technique should that happen."
Although the thought of having her teacher cut her head off in the worst scenario was a grim image, it gave Anji all the assurance and courage she needed to master this technique. Yan Ping never lied. She had no reason to.
"Thank you, shifu! This unfaithful disciple will rely on you should that day ever arrive."
Hearing Anji thank her for promising to kill her in the worst situation created a lump in Yan Ping’s throat. Even if she did not think the day would ever come, the thought of Anji’s lifeless body in her mind was traumatising enough.
Without acknowledging the thanks, the blind prophet quickly changed the subject. It was still too early to be having such thoughts.