Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 197 - 196 Divine Skill Initially Accomplished

Zhang Xiaoke seemed bent on causing a big scene, but the others didn’t react much.

Tang Zhifei was the first to look at Lin Yujing, "Can Yu Jing do it?"

"Um..."

This time, Lin Yujing wasn’t actually hesitating.

Instead, her mouth was covered by Zhang Xiaoke.

"She can!" Zhang Xiaoke clung to Lin Yujing and answered for her.

Lin Yujing struggled hard to break free, spit several times, and wiped her mouth before she half-heartedly said, "It’s impossible for a noob to handle so many instruments, the performance won’t be good."

"I’m stable here, don’t use me as a shield." Li Zheng waved his hand with a smile, "What about you, other than piano and Sound of Nature, do you have any other skills?"

Lin Yujing shivered at his words and was too embarrassed to speak.

The others also looked at Li Zheng with uneasy faces.

"What’s wrong with Sound of Nature?" Li Zheng looked around and said, "Lin Yujing sings well, and it’s just the truth."

"You shouldn’t say it out loud though..." Zhang Xiaoke reminded, "That kind of praise is uncomfortable."

Li Zheng chuckled and displayed his fingers, "What’s that? Everyone has a title. I, myself, am known as the ’Finger of God.’

"Oh? What about me?" Jiang Qinghua asked.

"Desperate Flute Player." Li Zheng replied smoothly.

"And me? And me?" Zhang Xiaoke got excited.

"Um..." Li Zheng thought on the spot, "Dog Dancing Girl?"

"Screw off!!!"

"Alright, don’t mind these fancy titles." Li Zheng soothed them and then looked at Tang Zhifei, "So it’s settled then, can we have ten minutes of showtime?"

Naturally, Tang Zhifei was afraid of trouble, but she shouldn’t dampen the students’ artistic passion. After weighing the options, she nodded, "I’ll talk to the principal about it, but you need to have a preview of the act by the 30th."

"Cough..." Jiang Qinghua behind them coughed lightly, waving his hand and smiling, "That’s kind, and I appreciate it, but I’d rather not join you, and besides, the flute really doesn’t fit with you guys."

"No, you must join us." Li Zheng grabbed Jiang Qinghua, "And I truly believe that the triangle is the soul of the band."

"Exactly." Zhang Xiaoke also fanned the flame, "Have you heard the theme song of ’Shadow of Fire’? Doesn’t it start with a flute? It’s so exciting."

"That’s not a flute, it’s a shakuhachi." Jiang Qinghua’s gaze deepened, "The shakuhachi is an ancient Wu Yue musical instrument in my country, similar to the bamboo flute, which I also happen to collect. That song you mentioned, I practiced it in middle school. It’s actually not as difficult as ’[Seriously Falling Snow]’, mainly it’s the explosive breath control and the aesthetic that’s tough."

"Come on then!"

"But... I..." Jiang Qinghua looked back and forth between Li Zheng and Lin Yujing, seeming conflicted.

As a Flute Player, he naturally had the heart to perform.

As the class president, he should also step up when the school needed him.

But, he had made a resolution never to be the third wheel again.

Just let them sing their mushy songs.

Why drag my melancholic flute into this?

Lin Yujing, watching Jiang Qinghua’s constipated expression, started to get annoyed.

It was because of this, they didn’t even manage to have barbecue yesterday.

Even dreams weren’t sweet anymore.

"You come!" Lin Yujing forcefully smacked the table, "I’m less nervous with more people."

"This..." Jiang Qinghua, faced with everyone’s hopeful eyes, couldn’t bear to refuse them any longer. He reached into his backpack, pulled out the long flute, and forced a smile, "Given the circumstances, I, the Desperate Flute Player, won’t decline."

Why was it forced?

Because he knew.

The ’desperate’ didn’t spell doom for others.

It was his own doom.

Facing Li Zheng and Lin Yujing.

Once, he had longed to be involved but would repeatedly face disappointment.

Now, he just wanted to escape with his life, but they wouldn’t let him.

Difficult.

He, the Desperate Flute Player, indeed found it difficult.

...

Twenty minutes later, the team of four rushed to the music classroom, ready to have a preliminary rehearsal.

By then, the group of instructors had dispersed, leaving only a skinny "Little Glasses" Teacher Guan cleaning up.

The term "Little Glasses" actually referred to his appearance, not his profession.

The teacher’s appearance looked like a malnourished super housebound network manager who stayed in an underground internet cafe all day.

After some inquiry, they discovered he was the unknown music teacher, Tan Hui.

So Lake Ying actually had a music teacher?

Upon further questioning, it turned out he didn’t really exist.

No, it wasn’t Schrödinger’s theory; he literally didn’t exist.

More accurately, he only existed in the junior high school section.

Lake Ying Middle School’s junior high division was two kilometers away, where Teacher Tan spent 95% of his time, only called here today for program selections by the principal to adjust some equipment.

Now that the program assessment was finished and everyone else had left, he still had to tidy up the speakers and musical instruments, loosen some strings, before he could leave.

Having stumbled upon a legitimate music teacher, Zhang Xiaoke seized the chance to strike up a conversation after some pleasantries.

After listening for a few minutes to their program ideas, Tan Hui burst into laughter.

"That’s quite ambitious," Tan Hui played the dust off his piano case and smiled, rubbing his chin, "Forget all the strings, if you can even get all the instruments in this room to sound right, I’ll stay up all night composing for you."

"Oh?" Li Zheng widened his eyes, "The arrangements, I was just thinking about them, haven’t mentioned them yet. Teacher Tan, how are you so understanding?"

"You’re blowing smoke," Tan Hui slumped into the chair, sinking into it, "If I didn’t also like ’Digital Monster,’ I really wouldn’t bother listening to you bragging."

Considering his completely unartistic posture, he might actually have been a network manager.

And it was obvious that this man was not very well-informed, being a somewhat marginal character; otherwise, he would never dare to speak to Li Zheng, the ’Light of Lake Ying,’ ’Chem Competitions Champion,’ ’Shaolin Xu Zhu,’ ’Finger of God,’ ’Study Demon Sect Demon Lord,’ like this.

Seeing his attitude.

Li Zheng also found it inconvenient to say anything.

As a top figure, speaking up himself at this time would seem very demeaning.

This was a time when the importance of disciples and followers truly showed.

"Teacher Tan, do you really not know?" Zhang Xiaoke began to gesture vividly, "The person in front of you is ’Light of Lake Ying,’ ’Chem Competitions Champion’… Li Zheng! As for the person beside him, she is ’Sound of Nature’ ’God of the Testing Room’… Jingjing!"

"Oh oh oh, you all seem quite impressive." Tan Hui responded casually, still sprawled in his chair, lazily picking his ear, "But I’m a music teacher... why are you telling me all this?"

"Fine, then there’s nothing to discuss," Zhang Xiaoke turned to Li Zheng with a pout, "Go ahead, master."

Without her prompting, Li Zheng had already tuned his guitar and cradled it in his arms.

Indeed, during the warm-up before today’s selection, he had casually practiced a solo piece but no one noticed it.

"Is ’Flight of the Bumblebee’ okay?" Li Zheng asked, strumming the strings.

Hearing this piece, Tan Hui swallowed and sat up a bit straighter.

"You… play a little first, let me hear it."

"Okay." Li Zheng took a deep breath and positioned his left hand on the high notes.

Better to keep it steady, not too fast.

3.

2.

1.

Li Zheng’s eyes widened suddenly as his hands began to twitch rapidly like those of the Piano Demon.

A series of bizarre melodies burst forth swiftly.

"Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun~~~"

Amid the swirling high-octave runs, Tan Hui was so startled that his body stiffened up like an ancient mummy, suddenly coming back to life.

Before he could say anything, the crisp sound of a piano suddenly mingled in.

Almost as if another bee had buzzed into the fray!

Tan Hui whipped his head around only to find Lin Yujing had already taken her place at the piano, seamlessly joining in.

The twin piano melodies synchronized in concert made Tan Hui start to suspect that they had practiced for a year just to frighten people like this.

Just as Tan Hui was about to get up to listen more closely, a solitary, proud man nearby suddenly pulled out a bamboo flute from nowhere.

What?

And even that!

How much lung capacity would that even require?

Tan Hui stared intently.

The man lifted the flute to his lips but stiffened suddenly, and tremulously withdrew it.

Was he trying to show off his abilities?

After repeating this three or four times, the man inevitably seemed a bit wronged, almost on the verge of tears.

Yes, he was indeed trying to show off his abilities.

"Damn it... too fast..." Jiang Qinghua wiped his mouth and despondently put away his flute.

Meanwhile, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing almost simultaneously hooked out the final notes and ended with a flourish of their hands.

In just over a minute, "Flight of the Bumblebee" had been played to completion.

Long after the last notes had faded, Tan Hui finally rubbed his hair back into place and looked squarely at Li Zheng and Lin Yujing. "Ah... you guys could’ve just said you were arts students..."

"Oh teacher, didn’t we already say so? Weren’t you listening?" Zhang Xiaoke jumped in and pointed to Li Zheng, speaking again, "This one is, the ’Light of Lake Ying—Chem Competitions...’"

"Alright, alright, alright... proving your musical skills is enough." Tan Hui quickly raised his hand and said, "If you want to mix some tunes, just say it directly…"

...

Thus, after school that day, Li Zheng missed another appointment with Qiao Bixia and did not go to the basketball court.

Fortunately, although Tan Hui seemed unreliable, he was a man of his word and truly started rehearsing with the small band, even managing to arrange a ten-minute performance by the next noon.

Of course, his willingness to help was entirely unrelated to any quest for school glory.

Purely because he was an old two-dimensional space fan and had been hooked the moment he heard Zhang Xiaoke talk about the idea; after seeing their level of performance, he immediately clicked with the four and even joined in later to fill the gap at the drum set.

It was just unfortunate that with the drum set, there was no longer a need for a triangle.

...

For most of the next half week, Li Zheng alternated between studying physics and rehearsing with the band.

Thanks to Old Li who had brought two sacks of tutoring books from ’Sweeping Monk,’ Li Zheng completed a reintroduction to basic physics, ranging from mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism to atomic physics and the theory of relativity.

Facing quantum mechanics was still a long way off.

After all, his mathematics ability was still severely lacking, and handling quantum physics rashly could easily lead to mysticism.

For this reason, whenever Li Zheng had free time, especially while going to the bathroom, he mostly studied mathematics and incidentally finished learning linear algebra, probability theory, and mathematical statistics.

It sounds easy, but this was actually the amount of several semesters’ teachings, and even for Li Zheng, it took five whole days, pouring in thousands of hours to finally get through it all.

On December 30, at nine in the evening, Li Zheng finally put down the last of the secret books he had bought from the Sweeping Monk.

He placed it next to his desk, atop a stack of books nearly as tall as a person.

The Sweeping Monk did not deceive; those dozens of pounds of books seemed messy, but all were useful.

From competition tutoring by famous teachers to university physics and experimental physics to supplements in mathematics, they were all comprehensive foundational resources.

According to the Sweeping Monk himself, he studied these secret manuals from ninth grade all the way to eleventh grade.

By now, Li Zheng’s foundation was firmly laid, and he should have slowed down in his practice to digest on his own.

Yet, he still instinctively glanced at the other side of his desk where the stack of books lay.

These were exercise books he had bought himself, a total of 27 volumes.

Sitting at the very top was the legendary "500 Russian Middle School Physics Competition Problems," also known as Russia 500.

Though branded as a heretical text, it was actually quite classic.

After all, by following this heretical path and giving up on regular textbooks, as long as he thoroughly worked through these 500 problems, he could easily rank second in the province.

Now, looking at this legendary Russia 500, Li Zheng naturally felt a bit itchy in his hands.

He casually picked it up, flipped through it, and felt it wasn’t too difficult.

Li Zheng couldn’t help but lick his lips and unsteadily picked up a pen.

He decided to work on a few problems before going to bed.

9:50 PM.

Li Zheng was staring blankly on the spot.

Unintendedly.

He finished them all!

It wasn’t that his self-control was lacking; rather, the set of questions was crafted too cunningly, much like an online game, filled with immediate gratification and subsequent temptations. Every time one task was completed, he would think about the second one; pulling one ’wife’ led to another popping up; after managing one round, he instinctively clicked "next round."

Russia 500 only intensified this feeling.

As soon as one problem was solved, there came the solution and analysis immediately after.

How could he not look?

This was followed by innovative solutions.

Who wouldn’t want to know?

Next, there was another problem to consolidate the type, closely related to the previous knowledge points.

How could he not consolidate it?

Every time he started a problem, Li Zheng would tell himself it must be "the last one."

But after each analysis, he instinctively turned to the "next problem."

In such a cycle, he inadvertently completed all 500 problems.

If he remembered correctly, Qinghua took almost two months and seemed to have only done just over 100 problems...

Because of this, Li Zheng thought this set of problems was difficult.

But in actuality, they were quite manageable.

Plus, they were all classic templates, even many of the real competition questions in China were derived from these 500.

The martial arts of the Persian Headquarters of the Demon Sect sound very wicked, but when actually practiced, they had a somewhat authentic flavor.

By now, having solidly laid his foundation and fully grasped the skills of the Demon Sect, when Li Zheng looked at the panel again, he had made new breakthroughs.

[Mathematics: 168?181?]

[Physics: 215?258???]

No wonder it’s called major physics, it went much smoother than chemistry.

In his free time, he further honed his mathematics, not bad at all.

However, he still needed to guard against arrogance and rashness.

Before his next decisive battle with Lin Yujing, he must gather up to 300 points.

At that moment, Li Zheng glanced once again at the stack of books.

Hopefully, the remaining 26 exercise books would help him perfect his divine skills.