Burning the Zither

Long ago, all things in the land of Shenzhou possessed spiritual energy.

But spiritual energy was unevenly distributed among living things. A celestial maiden used her own magic to create a pearl for a zither, then made it into an ancient instrument. Playing the zither could absorb spiritual energy from all things and transfer it to places where it was scarce.

After making the zither, the maiden traveled throughout Shenzhou. Whenever she reached a place impoverished in spiritual energy, she played it, bringing life back to the land.

Later, the maiden departed, leaving the zither behind in the mortal world.

But when people of later generations discovered the instrument, they found that it could be used to easily kill any creature possessing spiritual energy. The zither thus became an invincible weapon.

People began scheming and killing one another for the instrument. The protagonist was drawn into the struggle, and after enduring one calamity after another, came to believe that the zither was the source of it all and should simply be destroyed.

But as they set about destroying it, the protagonists finally uncovered the zither's secret. They also realized that it had originally been meant to bring beauty and life to the world, but people had turned it into a weapon for killing. The way people treated the zither was no different from “burning a zither.”