"Ehem, okay, let's move on."
President Kim spoke up to break the awkward silence. She then turned to Xiao Mo and pointed at the large mural of the orchid tree on the wall before saying.
"Young Master Xiao Mo, to take the test you'll need to be under the orchid tree mural."
Xiao Mo looked at the mural with a curious expression and the girls all parted as he stepped forward to approach.
After stopping underneath the mural, Xiao Mo felt a mysterious aura emanating from it. His eyes lit up in understanding and then he sent out his senses towards the mural. Immediately after, he felt a strong Intent battering against his senses.
Retrieving his senses, Xiao Mo said with amazement in his voice.
"This mural must have been created from the Intent of a very powerful being."
Standing at a distance behind Xiao Mo, President Kim responded while looking up at the mural.
"It's not exactly known what level the creator was, but several years after your ancestor Han Mo vanquished our Heavenly Demon ancestor, our first Cult Leader rose to prominence with the help of the Divine Orchid Melody."
Xiao Mo nodded when he heard the latter part of President Kim's words.
The Divine Orchid Melody is one of several Divine Arts that are below his Han Clan's Divine Origin Sword Arts and the Cult's Heavenly Asura Blade Arts.
However, among those minor Divine Techniques, the Divine Orchid Melody was notably formidable and gained significant notoriety due to its use by the first-generation Demonic Cult Leader during the war.
This Divine Orchid Melody can implant a Heart Demon in someone, taking control over them. More terrifyingly, if perfected, this Demonic Art doesn't even need to be heard; it can directly enter a person's soul, bypassing any physical barriers.
Equipped with this Demonic Art, the first-generation Cult Leader demonstrated formidable prowess in the war, akin to a divine spear stabbing towards the Central Plains from the Northern Wastelands.
Just imagine, being on that battlefield, hearing a guqin string, and then seeing thousands of soldiers betraying their comrades. Due to her strength, it was even speculated that if the first-generation Cult Leader had lived as long as the first Heavenly Demon, she would have been able to unify the Central Plains.
As Xiao Mo was recalling this piece of information, he stirred with emotions while looking at this mural. He wanted to learn this Divine Technique.
A Technique was not inherently evil or inherently good. Its nature was determined by the person who used it, and Xiao Mo's thoughts were too upright for him to suddenly turn around and use this Technique for evil.
President Kim's voice suddenly spoke, snapping Xiao Mo out of his thoughts.
"Young Master Xiao Mo, do you know the origin of this Divine Orchid Melody?"
Xiao Mo shook his head while looking at the mural. The information he had read about this Technique indicated that the first-generation Cult Leader created it, but according to President Kim's earlier words, it seemed otherwise.
Seeing Xiao Mo shake his head, President Kim explained.
"This Divine Orchid Melody wasn't actually created by our first-generation Cult Leader, but by her ex-lover."
"Eh?!"
Xiao Mo exclaimed in surprise as he turned to look at President Kim. Even Mei-Mei glanced at her with a taken aback expression.
"So, the Divine Orchid Melody was created by a man? I would never have guessed that was the case given it is currently a norm that only females study the guqin."
Xiao Mo said, but President Kim smiled bitterly as she spoke again.
"The story of the Divine Orchid Melody is somewhat sad. In her youth, the first-generation Cult Leader came from a normal mortal family and had a childhood sweetheart. But despite coming from mortal families, both she and her childhood sweetheart were born with spirit roots and were thus accepted into the Academy. However, while the first-generation Cult Leader's spirit root was a Heaven Grade spirit root, her childhood sweetheart had an ordinary spirit root. So, he was eventually kicked out of the Academy after being deemed to lack talent. However, even though that was the case, he and the first-generation Cult Leader were deeply in love so he would visit a valley near the Academy and secretly meet with the first-generation Cult Leader. But on the day he turned eighteen, he visited the valley and the first-generation Cult Leader didn't show up as they had agreed. After that, he would come to the valley every day and wait, but he would go his entire life never seeing her again."
Upon reaching here, President Kim paused, and a somewhat dissatisfied expression appeared on her face. Similar expressions were also on the faces of the girls standing off to the side.
Seeing this, Xiao Mo became curious, and he paid closer attention to President Kim as she continued.
"The truth was that all those meetings were just a means for the first-generation Cult Leader to cultivate her Cultivation Technique, the Devil Heart Sutra."
Hearing the name 'Devil Heart Sutra,' Xiao Mo's pupils constricted abruptly.
The Devil Heart Sutra was also a lesser Divine-level Technique, the difference was that it was a Forbidden Cultivation Technique rather than a Divine Art. But it was quite similar to the Divine Orchid Melody in that it was cultivated by planting a heart demon inside a person's heart.
However, the Devil Heart Sutra was a Forbidden Cultivation Technique for a reason. It was more vicious as once this heart demon was planted into someone, that person would become a cultivation cauldron, upon where their cultivation and life force would slowly be absorbed.
The culprit wouldn't even need to be in close proximity to absorb that person's cultivation and life force.
Xiao Mo released a sigh and said.
"So, she was actually using him to cultivate such a demonic skill."
However, after saying that, Xiao Mo suddenly paused and thought of something. He looked at President Kim with a surprised expression as he asked.
"Since he created the Divine Orchid Melody, he must not have been talentless. Could he have known what she was doing?"
President Kim nodded and finished the story.
"Despite having a poor spirit root, his level of comprehension was of the Heaven Grade. It was even speculated that it might have surpassed that. But during those times, one's comprehension was somewhat overlooked. After the first-generation Cult Leader stopped visiting the valley, he went there every day to play the guqin, something that the first-generation Cult Leader had once done for him. He did this every day for the next fifty years, and during that time being immersed in the guqin, he created the Divine Orchid Melody while thinking of the first-generation Cult Leader. However, after he created it, he abruptly died. The first-generation Cult Leader then found his body and the Divine Orchid Melody inside that valley. Afterward, she combined the original Divine Orchid Melody and the Devil Heart Sutra she cultivated to create the Divine Orchid Melody she became known for today."