Situ Zhengnan had already issued his final ultimatum, his meaning clear: he didn't want to waste any more time, or more precisely, he didn't want to waste time on this fraud. If this fraud couldn't play Wind Spirit Bosuo, then he would personally take action to eliminate him.
Everyone knew what status Situ Zhengnan held, and they understood the meaning behind his words.
They were almost certain that this fraud's act had reached its end. How could he possibly continue?
How could he act now?
Could he really listen to Wind Spirit Bosuo just once and then play out all its Profound Mysteries?
Was that possible?
The answer was definite: impossible.
It was important to know that even the Ten Little Hidden Dragons and Situ Zhengnan himself could only play thirty-seven layers of its Profound Mysteries, and that was only after comprehending it for a very, very long time. To claim one could listen to Wind Spirit Bosuo just once and play all its Profound Mysteries—no one under heaven could do that. Even its creator, Su Hua herself, wouldn't dare boast of such ability.
Many in the crowd looked up, anticipating the spectacle to come, eager to witness what fate would befall this fraud who had defiled the fairy. Lan Feier, Shui Yunruo, Ouyang Ye, and others who had complicated relationships with Gu Qingfeng closed their eyes, unable to bear watching further. They couldn't imagine what consequences awaited Gu Qingfeng.
Sitting on the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, Gu Qingfeng didn't dawdle. He prepared to play Wind Spirit Bosuo, but then he encountered an awkward problem: he didn't have a guqin with him. He asked Huo De, but Huo De didn't have one either—he didn't dabble in Musical Arts at all, so naturally he wouldn't carry a guqin. In the end, it was Xiao Jin'er who lent her guqin to Gu Qingfeng.
Witnessing this scene, many shook their heads and sighed, lamenting what a farcical spectacle this was.
A person who didn't even have his own guqin dared boast that his mastery of Musical Arts was peerless under heaven? Dared claim he was the one who modified Little Blue Flower Language? Dared say he could listen to Wind Spirit Bosuo just once and play all its Profound Mysteries? Dared boast of playing Drunken Chant of the Azure Sea without strings? Dared boast of playing Phoenix Seeking the Male Phoenix...
This was utterly absurd.
So absurd it couldn't be more absurd.
Especially when Gu Qingfeng began playing with one hand, it felt even more absurd to the extreme—because his technique was wrong. Terribly wrong. Even the most basic starting posture was incorrect. How could he possibly play Wind Spirit Bosuo, let alone its Profound Mysteries?
Just as everyone was sighing over this farcical spectacle, something unexpected happened.
They discovered that although this fraud's starting posture and technique were wrong, the melody he played was, unbelievably, Wind Spirit Bosuo, created by Fairy Su Hua.
It really was that melody. No mistake. Many had heard Wind Spirit Bosuo before; quite a few were practicing it. Situ Zhengnan had just played it moments ago. Everyone was extremely familiar with Wind Spirit Bosuo. At this moment, witnessing Gu Qingfeng use incorrect technique to actually play Wind Spirit Bosuo, no one dared believe their eyes, nor their ears.
They wondered if they were seeing things, or hearing things.
They looked carefully, listened intently.
That fraud was indeed using a different technique to play the Wind Spirit Bosuo created by the fairy. What left everyone even more bewildered was that from the melody Gu Qingfeng played, they could sense the Profound Mystery of the Wind Spirit, and also the Profound Mystery of Bosuo.
Like a wind spirit drifting, like bosuo passing by.
Profound Mystery.
It really was Profound Mystery.
And it was the ninety-nine-fold, great perfection, utterly flawless Profound Mystery of Wind Spirit Bosuo.
Silence.
A silence deep as an abyss.
A silence dead as a tomb.
Here.
No one spoke. Every single person gathered at the Taixuan Platform, without exception—whether they were Little Hidden Dragons, Phoenix Hairpins, or heavyweight leaders of major sects—stood there dumbfounded, expressions shocked, as if they had seen ghosts or gods. Their eyes were wide, filled with astonishment.
None dared believe that what they were seeing and hearing at this moment was real.
They were all utterly stunned.
Before this, everyone had believed Gu Qingfeng was a fraud—a fraud who loved to boast, to mystify, ignorant and shameless. Everyone clearly remembered that this fraud hadn't even known of Wind Spirit Bosuo before, yet claimed he could listen to it just once and play all its Profound Mysteries.
No one had believed him.
But.
He had done exactly that.
He hadn't been boasting. He hadn't been mystifying. He truly had this ability.
Heavens!
This was Wind Spirit Bosuo, created by the fairy!
A melody recognized worldwide for its extreme difficulty. The three techniques, four spirits, and eleven spirit-seals it contained were all immensely challenging. It was no exaggeration to say that each technique, spirit, and spirit-seal required long, long periods of comprehension and practice to play. Even geniuses like Huo Dong and Situ Zhengnan, who possessed extremely high Musical Arts talent, were no exception. Many had practiced for years and still couldn't even comprehend the most basic starting posture.
Yet he, after listening just once, not only played it, but played all its Profound Mysteries.
And what he had listened to was Situ Zhengnan's version containing only thirty-seven layers of Profound Mystery. The technique he used to play wasn't even one of the three techniques of Wind Spirit Bosuo.
What did this mean?
It meant he had deduced all the Profound Mysteries based solely on the thirty-seven-layer version of Wind Spirit Bosuo. Not only deduced them, but played Wind Spirit Bosuo using a different technique.
Musical Arts talent?
Artistic genius?
No!
Even if your talent was peerless, your genius overflowing, you couldn't achieve this. Because this wasn't a matter of talent or genius at all—it was a matter of Musical Arts mastery.
No one knew what level of Musical Arts mastery a person needed to accomplish this.
Even Su Hua was no exception.
Wind Spirit Bosuo was her creation, painstakingly crafted with great effort and dedication. She understood its difficulty better than anyone.
She didn't know what level of Musical Arts mastery would allow someone to listen to Wind Spirit Bosuo just once and play all its Profound Mysteries.
She didn't know what level of Musical Arts mastery would allow someone to deduce all the Profound Mysteries from just thirty-seven layers, and using a different technique at that.
She didn't know.
And she couldn't imagine.
She stood there, gazing at the white-robed man sitting on the Four-Steed Grand Carriage who, after finishing Wind Spirit Bosuo, went right back to toying with his crystal ore. She just stared, her mind a complete blank.
If even Su Hua was like this, needless to say about everyone else.
Tu Gao, Ling Feng, Huo Dong, Ma Zhengtian, and the other Ten Little Hidden Dragons stood there, their faces growing increasingly unpleasant. Beside them, Situ Zhengnan, who had always been calm and composed, was no longer calm. His handsome face flushed pale then red, his expression filled with shock, astonishment, but mostly fury.
As one of the Twelve Royal Lords of the Nine-Hua Alliance, today should have been his moment to shine.
His earlier performance of the thirty-seven-layer Profound Mystery of Wind Spirit Bosuo had earned him ample face before Su Hua.
Now, a fraud, relying solely on his thirty-seven-layer Wind Spirit Bosuo, had played the ninety-nine-fold, great perfection version of Wind Spirit Bosuo. Where did that leave the face of this Twelve Royal Lord? He refused to believe it, refused to accept it, and refused to allow such a thing to happen.