Ludwig kept reading until he finished the qi-refining chapter. There he had to stop because of restrictions placed upon it. Only if he reached the foundation building stage would he be able to keep on reading, as for how high it would go, he wasn't sure.
At the end there was a spell for the qi refining realm. It was an auxiliary spell that could form a form a connection to the ethereal world and pull spiritual power directly from it.
'The records say that the ethereal world is a special world where spiritual power is abundant, unlike the little spiritual power in the mortal world away from the spiritual veins of the cultivators, where one is only able to at most replenish spiritual power with some strain but cultivation is impossible, the spiritual power of the ethereal world is evenly distributed over the whole world, spiritual veins are only knot points since they gather the spiritual power, nonetheless there is enough spiritual power everywhere to cultivate.
Naturally this spiritual power is special in the way that it doesn't cultivate the body. The spiritual power of the physical world cultivates the body and has a slight effect on the spiritual power in the dantian, but everyone in the physical world has at least some connection to the ethereal world and are able to unconsciously pull spiritual power from it.
This meant that the spiritual power in the ethereal world was always abundant since those that consume it naturally can't consume much of it, while even those that consume it intentionally don't dare to overdo it and have too much of a gap between dantian and body cultivation.
Ludwig didn't care about this, why should he? He is a soul cultivator, and a body only makes it easier for him to affect the physical world, it is like an anchor for him, naturally he can't neglect the anchor but it doesn't matter if there is a bigger gap between the anchor and the dantian. Later on, he will also be able to enter the nether world where his soul is cultivated further, one can't expect he does all three facets of cultivation, two are already more than enough.
The spell was called 'Ethereal Awakening', but it needed a special spiritual object to start cultivating, else he might not be able to do so till he reaches the foundation building stage. Anyways, the soul seed was also a requirement to begin cultivating, so Ludwig paid it no heed just yet and began to cultivate this art. Prior he cultivated a general art with no attribute to reach the qi refining realm, it already stopped there and has no effect on his cultivation.
…
Days passed as Ludwig repeated mantras and switched to his new art. It didn't take long for him to do so, and when he finished, he was more than delighted to know how great of an impact in had on his cultivation speed.
'When I form the Soul Seed and then the Soul Spiritual Root, then my cultivation speed will fully be that of a single strange spiritual root. That is already the limit of cultivation speed that can be artificially cultivated, it's also the speed of most prodigies of the clan. At that point, cultivation speed is secondary and will at most bring me to the core formation realm. From then on, if I don't comprehend greater secrets, I fear I won't be able to strive higher only with that.'
Ludwig remembered the bits and pieces of the assassin whose ability he gained. Over the last year, he put all pieces together and was somewhat able to see the world beyond the core formation realm, he didn't know how the stage was called, but he was able to see some secrets.
Based on that, he knew that cultivation speed was only one of the components.
At least he was able to somewhat cultivate the stealth art. Although he knew he wouldn't be able to cultivate it to the peak, for one would have to put the path of assassination as the path of oneself to reach such high goals. This wasn't Ludwig's future goal, why would it be? He liked the art of stealth and assassination, but he was someone that lived in the light while doing things in the dark, not someone that hid from the eyes of others.
Anyways, even without that, it would be a great help for him till the core formation stage, and from then on it could work as a small inspiration for the stage above that. One thing he knew was that the assassin wasn't as strong as a middle-ranked clan leader, because that was his goal and he wanted to build a force with his own strength after reaching that point.
…
A few weeks passed, and Ludwig was able to learn the first spell from the general music inheritance. He looked through it initially and was happy that there were many spells, but all of them were accompanying spells.
Meaning, they would support the music played and enhance them in some way or another. The spell he comprehended was called 'Elegant Play', it was from a series of spells that ended with 'Play' and enhanced spells that fit the adjective before it, Ludwig wasn't sure why or how it happened, but it seemed as if he played more elegantly with the spell and the sound coming from the instrument gave off a more formal vibe.
The reason he decided to do so was because he wanted to use it to socialize with some potential future candidates. The teachers in the steward hall advised them to do so as early as possible, some already started and now he would too.
A few days later, just after pushing the spell to minor accomplishment, he was called to the main building of the steward hall, but unlike before where he went to the large ceremony room, he was led to the garden.
The flowers were abound, bees and butterflies stronger than him flied and buzzed freely, he was led to a small pavilion where an elderly man sat. Ludwig stepped forward, bowed and cupped his hands "I greet the Grand Elder!"
Guo Heng nodded "Be at ease, I asked you here for an opportunity. I wonder if you are interested?" Unlike one might assume, the grand elder actually didn't like overly etiquette with those of the clan, naturally that was different for outsiders.
Ludwig didn't leave the position of bowing, cupping his hands as he replied, "Everything is under the command of the Grand Elder!"
The grand elder was naturally somewhat satisfied as he said "Tomorrow there will be the birthday of the clan leader's youngest son. It's a very suitable event for your debut."
A surprised but extremely happy smiled stretched for a second across Ludwig's mouth before he readjusted himself and bowed deeper "I thank the grand elder for this chance!"
The grand elder nodded before he reminded somewhat off-handedly "You should talk well with the youngest," then he switched the topic "Don't forget to bring your little instrument and play one or two of your songs."
Ludwig was naturally delighted but before he could thank again, he was interrupted "I will have someone send you a new robe, come to the main hall tomorrow at this time." With these last words, the grand elder waved Ludwig away, who knew the cue and left without talking.
His robe wasn't very suitable for the event, at least he had gotten a new proper cover for his empty eye sockets, but the robes he wore were the standardized trainee steward robes. His own taste was still somewhat western, but for various reasons he just accepted it temporarily.
There was not much to think about this, no, his thoughts went to the play he was supposed to perform the next day. Luckily, he had already learned the elegant play spell, now he only needed to find the right play.
Naturally he had memorised most plays of the violin in the past, it wasn't because he had a mega brain but because the last few years didn't allow him to murder anyone, so he spend the little brain power he had to memorise everything.
…
The next day arrived, and two servants knocked on the door of Ludwig's home. He willed some spiritual power to open the door as he waited behind. The two came in, one with a larger square box and another with a somewhat oval box.
Ludwig told the servant to open the larger one and saw a robe set in white-turquoise colours with some water-like pattern on the lower end of the robe. He was somewhat satisfied with the colours and the pattern, but before he put it on, he asked the other servant to open the oval box.
He was surprised to find that there was actually a violin inside! The violin was the exact copy of his violin, just slightly more refined like a masterpiece violin in his old world. As he put his finger around the violin, he actually felt that the beautiful black wood contained some spiritual power and the strings, white as snow, felt like they were made of the finest sheep intestines.
'This is a spiritual instrument! I read about them in the inheritance! The spiritual power they give off now means that when I use it to play something, it would strengthen the spells I use and generally give off an even better sound containing spiritual power!'