They decided to directly head to the technique department. They were again accompanied by Xiao Lu, which made for a unique sight of a beautiful young girl accompanied by an equally handsome boy followed by a graceful green and red feathered crane. As they were new at the academy, no one knew of them, which made the crowd realize that they should both be new students who were welcomed two days ago.
The duo and crane arrived at the technique department and were astonished by the sheer amount of techniques open for display there. When they headed inside, they swiftly found the section with low Huang tier techniques as they would only be able to afford those. Jiang Mang was already in the possession of two high-grade martial techniques from his master and was able to cope for the moment but Xia Ruoyin had none.
They both only had 100 Tiancai points and the lowest ice elemental techniques of low Huang tier cost 50 points each, she had just enough which relieved her before she picked two that she found suitable. She had picked one attack martial technique and one defensive martial technique. The first one was called Ice arrow, which made the user form an ice arrow before attacking. The technique's attack power was low, but the expenditure was equally low while the attack was quick and easy to use, which allowed it to be a useful attack if trained until proficiency. The second technique was called Snowfield. It allowed the user to create a field around him to slow down incoming attacks or attackers, which made evasive maneuvers easier to execute. The expenditure for the second technique was also low, but the effectivity, if used correctly, could be massive. She had chosen for the second technique to not only help herself but also help her friend and partner Jiang Mang as this technique could reduce the stress when they were under attack.
It was then Jiang Mang's turn to look for the four qi songs on his list. When he found the four qi songs, he noticed that three only had a cost of 10 Tiancai points, but the fourth cost 70 points for a total of 100 like Xia Ruoyin. The illusion and disorienting qi songs for the flute are named Immortal Paradise and Drunk Night, while the zither pieces were called Demonic Lust and Nightmare Hell. The first three pieces are common qi songs spread throughout Xuan Continent, which lowered the price. The fourth piece was unique to the Imperial Academy, but although it was a qi song ranked at low Huang tier, if mastered until it reached perfection, it could rival techniques at the mid-Huang tier. The price was thus higher than common low Huang tier techniques but was still lower priced than mid Huang tier techniques because the qi song was even more challenging to master than peak Huang tier qi songs, which made it redundant to learn if you could learn a mid Huang tier technique for a slightly higher price while learning it would be more straightforward. Jiang Mang was confused by teacher Ming's choice, but he would still buy the qi song if they recommended it to him.
The duo left the technique department with their respective techniques but also without any Tiancai points. When they returned to the musician's house, they decided to look through the techniques and qi songs together so that they could help each other if needed. They finished forming an initial understanding of their respective techniques before nightfall when they returned to their rooms. The next day, their training would officially begin for a whole month. Jiang Mang couldn't immediately sleep. He started thinking about Song Meiling, and if she would still care about their friendship. Jiang Mang also thought if he should seek her out after the Newcomer's tournament. His thoughts eventually faded when he fell asleep.
The next day, he started his training with teacher Ming, who would teach and guide him to learn the qi song Nightmare Hell. Teacher Ming started his lesson by telling about the origin and creation of the qi song: "The song was created by an ambitious musician cultivator. He had awakened a zither as his profound spirit and decided to become a musician in bars and streets. When the boy had reached the mid foundation stage at the age of fifteen, he fell in love with a girl, who was a musician cultivator. The boy and girl decided to travel through the Chu empire while honing their skills in different establishments. On a certain day, a young master of a local family clan had set his eyes on the young girl. The young girl refused but was eventually raped and killed the next day. This happened before the eyes of the young boy. The young boy swore revenge and created a mysterious qi song comparable to a mid Huang tier technique. This song is the qi song that I recommended to you and this qi song was effectively used to kill that young master in his sleep."
Jiang Mang felt that the song and story held a deep meaning for teacher Ming and thus practiced with full attention and focus. Nightmare Hell was an extremely technical song, while it was easy to learn. The effect would only come to its full potential if mastered. Usually, a qi song would be mastered if the user could harmonize their qi and play into one and target all who listened but Nightmare Hell would only be mastered if the user could target any person without disturbing the persons around them. This meant that only the target would hear the song and thus be attacked without other's notice.
Teacher Ming was the only person who had successfully mastered the qi song and had told Jiang Mang that he had to fuse himself with the song to achieve mastery. At the end of the morning training, Jiang Mang had become proficiënt in the qi song but still had no clue on how to achieve mastery. Jiang Mang resumed team practice with Xia Ruoyin in the afternoon who had started using Ice arrow and Snowfield. These two techniques enabled her and Jiang Mang more variety in combat techniques and even pushed the duo to fight evenly against one guard at the mid foundation stage. When training ended, the two returned to their respective rooms. Jiang Mang took his zither out after cleaning himself and continued his practice of Nightmare Hell. The tunes were filled with sorrow and hatred to all who listened to it, but when the qi song isn't mastered, it would only put all the listeners to sleep but not attack them with nightmares. Once mastered, the infused qi and music would be fused and controlled to form a stream of concentrated tunes filled with negative emotions which induce nightmares. Thus unlike the normal process that only requires harmonization before spreading all the sound naturally in an uncontrolled fashion, which is the common practice before the manifestation realm. Controlling your qi with or without a manifested profound spirit is like comparing the heavens with the earth. The required talent combined with rigorous training isn't worth the mastery of a single low-level qi song.