Old-time musicians

"Thank you, what should I do?"

Fan Ning saluted P. Boulez and Carmen Leon, the two senior leaders of the school, and made eye contact with three other colleagues who should also be newly promoted to high-level positions this year.

The two men and one woman were both middle-aged, and there was anticipation and nervousness on their faces as they responded to the kindness of their first meeting.

Viadlin explained: "This is actually an altar sign used to locate the secret realm of migration, the Spark Field. It came from the Lord of Witness, the Tower Forger, but was used by us to contain the remains of the Incinerator. Everyone adjusts your spiritual state along the way. After breaking the glass cellar in the middle of the altar, you can stand in it and fall asleep normally. We will silently recite the prayers to stabilize the mind and direction. "

At this time, his tone took on a hint of seriousness: "Perhaps you are more or less aware that the Origin Gods are extremely seriously polluted, which makes even their remains extremely risky. You are observing the 'Incinerator' ', please keep wandering within a very small known range, do not cross the invisible boundaries left by the "Tower Builders" invited by the school, and do not go to greater unknown places. This may be a bit abstract. , but everyone will naturally feel it in their dreams.”

"Stay spiritually awake as much as possible and look for clearer revelations from higher places. Under the premise of safety without peeking into the pollution side, the longer you persist, the better it is for you."

Fan Ning and the other three nodded to show their understanding.

A minute later, they slowly walked into the altar that looked like a "broken tower base".

It occupies an approximately circular area with a diameter of only more than ten meters. On a rock in the center of the altar, Fan Ning saw a hollow sealed by a small glass plate.

Inside lies a palm-sized purple needle-shaped crystal. Its lines and twists present a contradictory juxtaposition of flow and static, like a piece of "solid lightning" sealed within.

"The radiant essence of the 'key' phase? Such a large piece, the value alone may exceed the money I earned from my trip to the imperial capital. The cost of entering this secret realm of migration is also too high."

Fan Ning gently raised his hand, using invisible force to simulate the feeling of grasping. The glass immediately shattered, and the disturbed crystals burned violently in an instant, and continued to shoot out deep purple electric light towards the surrounding heights.

The cracks in the granite are changing and rotating, and the way the boulders are stacked has become more unstable. There is a feeling that they are about to slip out of place, and those gaps also give people the illusion that they will expand and deepen in the next moment.

The four people standing scattered randomly found a reliable place to sit on the ground at the altar, controlled their spirituality and slowly entered a meditative state.

Fanning had a dream about various sparks.

The dream had no apparent sense of space at first, just sparks in the arc of lightning, followed by sparks from flint banging, gears rubbing against each other, factory welding machines, sparks from the muzzle of a gun firing bullets, or... In an abstract sense, it is a spark of inspiration, or a spark between the hearts of two people who are attracted to each other.

In the fragmented scene of the "Spark Field", he understood another part of the mystery about the "Key".

"Sometimes people can see purple-gold gemstone lamps in lightning or cracks similar to lightning, or fractal petals connected with knots, or things like sparks overflowing like silver shavings and mercury paste. Higher inspirations Being able to imagine a tower-shaped pattern with cracks is an image that the Lord of Witnesses, the Tower Builder, can understand.”

"The Tower Builder" begins at the Source, the god of form and transformation, the god of shaping and dismantling. Often he can represent lightning, which means his elusive instantaneity, i.e. "He promises never to look at me." , never teach me, never seek me."

"Lightning also means energy, or beauty mixed with fear, and the initial or final process of the birth of general matter. "Tower Man" also exists at any boundary and surface, guarding or defining the universality of invisible things. Limitation can also be expressed as the secret of "what shapes me, what I shape, what divides me, what I divide, what moves away from me, what I move away from."

Gradually, Fan Ning in the dream came to a clearer and brighter place, which is the "Spark Field" of the secret realm of Yiyong - or the "Fuel Pit" or "Fire Making Room" - which is more specific. form.

But at this time, he saw the boundary of the "incinerator" that was contained therein, which was similar to the inner wall of a cave or container, so he did not know when he had entered the "incinerator".

The "candle" held by the "incinerator" is reflected in the flames and smoke everywhere. Every light and shadow contains a lookout for mystical revelations. Some of them are too vague or narrow, and some are full of dangerous errors and paradoxes. , and some are excellent angles for observing Hui Pagoda.

The dense woods, which were made of steel, drew a safe boundary. Fan Ning walked on thin ice to avoid most of the collapsed or distorted shadows he marked, and carefully burned his inspiration, controlling his own floating and observation in the dream, and there was something else. Several people were walking with him, but they gradually dispersed and drifted away.

In the waking world on the third underground floor, the altar was successfully activated.

The figures of the four people sitting on the rocks were vaguely visible through the gaps in the piles, and were shrouded in the vague purple arc.

"Teacher Viadlin, who do you think among these new high-level members this year can last longer?"

After ending the silent recitation of the Stabilizing Prayer, President P. Boulez asked aloud.

This is an extraordinary resource unique to the Guidance School, which allows those who know to access high-level hidden knowledge at an overall low risk. Of course, it requires high maintenance and operation costs, and requires at least three Proficient Ones to assist in execution. The school will only open once when at least three newly promoted high-level members are gathered.

"If nothing unexpected happens, it should be Fanning." Viadrin said matter-of-factly, "You naturally understand the unique connection between art and mysticism, and the unique advantages of artists in exploring mysteries. The direct reason for his promotion is that he played the "Keyboard Etude with Aria and Thirty Variations for a Fixed Bass Theme" based on the theme of the discussion during the poet Basani's research activities. This is a feat in art history, and it also made him indisputably promoted to "Forged Lion". I estimate that his actual inspiration strength at the moment may be close to the eighth level."

Although Viadrin's tone was not anxious, he was actually quite satisfied.

Last year, he recruited this member at the request of an old friend. At that time, he judged that his artistic talent would make the progress of the mysterious side much faster than that of ordinary people, but he really didn't expect Fanning to be able to achieve such an exaggerated speed.

The middle and low-level knowledgeable people actually have a fast growth speed of inspiration. Compared with the past confined to the appearance of the world, once they successfully enter the migration, they will receive the endless blessings of the glow. What they need to worry about most is the problem of getting lost due to blind promotion. Most people stagnate at the third or sixth level for several years.

But after being promoted to a high level, while the problem of getting lost is still serious, the growth speed of inspiration has also slowed down significantly.

As soon as Viadrin finished speaking, the three of them cast their eyes at a certain position in the altar at the same time.

There was a gap in the arc layer, and a gentleman wearing glasses had walked out of it thoughtfully.

"4 minutes and 30 seconds." Viadrin glanced at his pocket watch, "normal level for entering the seventh level."

"You still need to explore cautiously when visiting the 'basin area' when you enter the dream later." Leon added.

"Thank you for your reminder, mentors." The gentleman knew that it was not appropriate to be too polite at this time, and he had already started recording the hidden knowledge he had gained in his notebook.

Fanning in the "Incinerator" felt that his inspiration was still full and his mind was still clear. He was observing the more complete and clearer form of the Huita above through a flame like a tunnel, and trying to understand the light and shadow he felt.

"The Huita should be the core temple of the migration, the fantasy garden of the world of will, and the foundation of the residence of the Lord of Witness. It has boundaries and height differences, but the direction is unclear. Those who know can discuss the concepts, places or structures involved in the form of groups, and describe its emotions, light and shadow or smell, but they cannot draw a map for it."

"The upper layer of the Huita is the "dome", where the violent light pouring from the glow is weakened by the "main structural layer" from top to bottom, and is also blocked by the branches in the middle "glow garden", so the intensity of the lighting is alleviated, and the lower layer or the more diffuse migration layer outside depends entirely on the light from these gaps to shine."

"The "main structural layer" of the Huita from top to bottom mentioned here is the "climbing path"."

In Fanning's observation or feeling, the overall picture of the "climbing path" may be a "tree" - such as a huge, towering, lush, and sun-blocking oak tree.

The Knower should follow these tangled branches and continue to climb to the top. The closer to the glow, the more insight the nature of the phase rules and invisible forces can gain, provided that they do not fall or be incinerated by Him.

Understood in this way, the milestones of the climb are the "nodes" that converge towards the treetops one step closer each time, or the things that one first understands: "doors".

Of course, the overall picture of the "climbing path" can also be something else, such as a group of huge and magnificent "channels".

He can also imagine it as a group of channels like ant nests or blood vessels, which have countless branches and forks that transcend the logic of ordinary people's understanding. The Knower should follow these tangled channels to the end of the heart that continuously pumps blood for it.

Understood in this way, the milestones of the journey are the "caves" that connect important channels, or the things that one first understands: "doors".

The next moment, Fanning saw an unusual floating steam folded in the "incinerator" again. Although it was extremely vague, he recognized it as the "Bull Slaughtering Picture" on the popular mural of the 3rd Great Palace School with a prior impression.

"Seven doors? Seven kinds of "grids"? I seem to understand"

With the experience of upgrading in the field of art and the previous thoughts, Fanning combined its metaphorical elements with the visual revelation of Huita's "climbing path".

The inspiration has been burned out, but Fanning's thinking is rising higher and higher with the light and flame, and the analysis and interpretation of every light and shadow are clearly visible.

"A person can pass through up to seven doors in his lifetime on the "ascending path."

"The lower three doors of the Huita are the "Gate of Spiritual Knowledge", corresponding to the three realms of the Enlightened One. The "Gate of Broken Keys", "Gate of No Light", "Gate of Seven Lights" and "Gate of Coincidence" should all belong to the category of "Gate of Spiritual Knowledge."

"With the "Garden of Radiance" as the boundary, the upper three doors are the "Gate of True Knowledge". If one can find the "Garden of Radiance" and pass through one of the upper three doors, the "spiritual knowledge" mastered by the Enlightened One will begin to transition to "true knowledge", and the spirituality will gradually take on divinity, thus directly becoming a worshiper of the Lord of Witness and being able to represent some of the authority He holds in the phase."

"Such people no longer belong to the category of "knowledge seekers", but are called "order enforcers."

At this point, Fan Ning understands the mystery of the higher places above the Knower. An existence like Pogorelic of the Special Patrol Hall should have reached the realm of "order enforcer".

"Given the glow, there should be at least one door corresponding to the seven phases at the six heights of the upper and lower levels of the Hui Tower, plus the seventh unopenable 'dome door'. In this way, theoretically the base number of doors should be There are a total of forty-three, but the situation in front of me seems to be a little different."

The burning of inspiration may have passed 90%, but Fan Ning still insisted on staring at the panoramic view of Huita's transcendent "climbing path" in front of him. At this time, he gradually discovered that those "trees" or "roads" were not complete, but partially festered. of.

There are many twisted and collapsed chaotic nodes around those "branches" or "caves", which become more serious and denser as you go higher or deeper.

According to Roy's previous statement, the general internal structure of a door can be divided into "this door", "path" and "that door". These collapses not only destroy the structure, making it impossible to pass through the corresponding positions, but also change the relative position. There are even "cavities" appearing in the connection relationship between adjacent paths, or "weird doors" that are not intact.

In other words, there seems to be some problems with the top-level structure of the mysterious side of the world.

Fan Ning can only guess that this may involve the secret history of disputes and evolution of the Lord of Witness.

He was also temporarily unclear as to what rules the Knower needed to follow when choosing to climb up the door.

——The order must be from bottom to top, but according to current understanding, there are at least seven different choices for doors at each height. The door names he has heard before may only be at the first height. He is not sure. Can the enlightened person only choose a certain phase that he has studied, and follow the established "sequence" of doors from bottom to top.

But if this is the case, this "climbing path" has become so rotten that many "sequences" cannot be passed at all.

When Fan Ning carefully understood Huita, he woke up to the world.

"These two people also came out." Boulez was still observing the altar.

A man and a woman walked out of the melting arc one after another. At this point, only the last figure was left in the granite stone formation.

"At 8 minutes and 6 seconds, you have reached a relatively stable level in the seventh level." Viadlin reminded them, and then indicated that they did not need to respond too much and could digest the hidden knowledge with peace of mind.

"It seems that Fan Ning has no problem persisting for more than 10 minutes. He may indeed have reached the eighth level of inspiration intensity." Carmen Leon, another Insightr, stared at the last cluster of chaotic arcs in the air.

"If he can approach the eighth level just after being promoted," Boulez's eyes lit up, "With his potential and his understanding of Huita this time, maybe he can try to be promoted to the Deeper in a few years."

Nowadays, the Special Inspection Office's methods are becoming more and more extreme. However, they have to face the influence of 'Lion Forging' or 'Crescent Moon', especially the spread of 'Lion Forging' or 'Crescent Moon' in the realm of the Knower in the current abnormal area. Under the new situation, this gold content is definitely more than doubled.

Leon also sighed: "The school has indeed been blessed by good luck in recent years, which will undoubtedly allow us to take more initiative in the future."

After some time, the other three high-ranking knowledgeable people who had sorted out their hidden knowledge also began to stand and wait.

"Damn it, the 10 minutes promised have already been 15 minutes." Boulez also opened his pocket watch. "Logically speaking, if it takes more than 10 minutes, it can be optimistically judged that the inspiration intensity has reached level eight. Could it be that Fan Ning has just been promoted and has spirituality?" Is it already at the eighth level?"

"It's good that artistic interpretation can enhance inspiration, but with so many musicians from all over the world premiering their own works, you've never seen something so outrageous, right?"

"What's going on with that piece of music? It can be improved like this just by playing it?"