"I only played thirty-seven layers of the Profound Mystery within Wind Spirit Bosuo, and you had never heard it before, yet now you can play all eighty-one layers of its Profound Mystery."
Although Situ Zhengnan was inwardly furious and deeply unwilling to accept this, he did not show it. He merely stared at Gu Qingfeng with a darkened expression and demanded, "So you're saying you deduced the complete Profound Mystery of Wind Spirit Bosuo based solely on my thirty-seven layers?"
"What of it? Is that not allowed?"
Gu Qingfeng didn't even look at him. He sipped his wine while using various crystals to refine something for Little Jin'er, and chuckled, "My mastery of the Musical Arts is peerless under heaven. Did you think I was joking around with you lot?"
"With just you?"
Situ Zhengnan took a step forward, his aura growing even sharper. Simultaneously, he released his divine sense to probe Gu Qingfeng. But no matter how he probed and investigated, aside from the aura of a Purple Mansion cultivation base, he could detect nothing—no pure qi, no turbid qi, just a very pure Purple Mansion cultivation.
Although Gu Qingfeng playing the eighty-one layers of Wind Spirit Bosuo's Profound Mystery was an undeniable fact, Situ Zhengnan still refused to believe it. He stared at Gu Qingfeng, pondered for a moment, and then said gravely, "Since you claim your Musical Arts are peerless, then I shall seek instruction from you!"
Gu Qingfeng shrugged indifferently, his meaning clear: suit yourself.
"The melody Thunderous Dragon Chant—do you know it?"
No one was unaware of Thunderous Dragon Chant.
It was one of the Eight Great Thunder Melodies under heaven.
Once played, the guqin's sound was like startling thunder, akin to a dragon's long roar. Many ancient classic compositions had employed this melody.
Of course.
Not just anyone could play the Thunderous Dragon Chant melody.
Its difficulty was several times greater than that of the Wind Spirit Bosuo created by Su Hua. Forget others, even the so-called musical prodigies among the Little Hidden Dragons couldn't play it. It wasn't that they couldn't play its Profound Mystery, but that they couldn't even play the melody itself.
Yes.
They couldn't play it.
Thunderous Dragon Chant required sixteen different hand techniques, thirty-three types of spiritual focus, and sixty-four spirit incantations. Any single one of these techniques, focuses, or incantations was profoundly mysterious, wondrous, and extremely difficult. Many people could practice for a lifetime and still fail to master even one hand technique, one type of spiritual focus, or one spirit incantation of Thunderous Dragon Chant. One could imagine just how profound Thunderous Dragon Chant was.
By proposing such a top-tier melody, Situ Zhengnan was clearly trying to deliberately make things difficult.
"What!
Aren't you incredibly arrogant?
Don't you claim your mastery of the Musical Arts is peerless under heaven?
Then why can't you even play Thunderous Dragon Chant..." Seeing Gu Qingfeng continue to sit on the Four-Steed Grand Carriage refining a jumble of crystals, Situ Zhengnan was about to mock him when, suddenly, Gu Qingfeng drained his cup of wine in one gulp. Then, he slowly raised his arm, placed it on the guqin, and his five fingers danced, plucking the strings.
Gu Qingfeng just sat casually on the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, one hand refining crystals, the other caressing the guqin. He didn't even lift his head or look, his fingers dancing wildly with trailing afterimages as the sound of the guqin arose.
*Crack!*
Like startling thunder exploding, like a dragon's long roar, it entered the ears of the crowd, leaving them dumbfounded, marveling in awe, thrilling with excitement, yet also trembling with fear.
Thunderous Dragon Chant!
By the heavens!
It really was Thunderous Dragon Chant!
This person really could play Thunderous Dragon Chant! Not only could he play it, he seemed to have played its Profound Mystery as well. It absolutely was Profound Mystery.
Otherwise, the sound of Thunderous Dragon Chant couldn't possibly make one's heart and spirit tremble!
*Rumble—Crack!*
*Roar!*
—The guqin's sound was like thunder and like a dragon.
The startling thunder exploded, shaking the heavens; the dragon's roar held majesty, intimidating all directions!
Heavens!
This was the Great Perfection of Thunderous Dragon Chant! Only the eighty-one layers of Great Perfection Profound Mystery of Thunderous Dragon Chant could possess such power!
At this moment.
Everyone present seemed to go mad, shouting wildly.
No one had imagined that Gu Qingfeng, after hearing it just once, could play out all the Profound Mystery within the Wind Spirit Bosuo created by the Fairy.
Even more unimaginable was that Gu Qingfeng could even play Thunderous Dragon Chant, one of the Eight Great Thunder Melodies, and had also played out all its various Profound Mysteries. One must know that even a musical prodigy like Huo Dong couldn't play Thunderous Dragon Chant. While Situ Zhengnan could play the melody, he could only play the tune itself. As for its Profound Mystery, he was far from capable.
Situ Zhengnan had originally intended to use Thunderous Dragon Chant to make Gu Qingfeng lose face, but he never expected...
He stared at Gu Qingfeng, his eyes filled with shock and horror. The hand he had kept behind his back was trembling uncontrollably. He took a deep breath to calm his panicked heart and said again, "Ocean's Wrathful Roar!"
Unwilling to accept it, he tested again. As his words fell, the hand Gu Qingfeng was using to play Thunderous Dragon Chant suddenly transformed, afterimages trailing, the strings moving, and the guqin's sound arose. It was like a gale howling, the great sea churning, making one's heart surge and spirit sway.
Ocean's Wrathful Roar was also a world-famous melody, on par with Thunderous Dragon Chant.
Not only had Gu Qingfeng played Thunderous Dragon Chant, he had also played Ocean's Wrathful Roar, and he had played it with the full eighty-one layers of Profound Mystery as well.
"Cloud-Top Thousand Cranes!"
Situ Zhengnan's heart was unwilling, even more unable to accept it. He tested once more.
However, those who didn't believe, were unwilling, and couldn't accept this weren't limited to Situ Zhengnan. They also included Huo Dong, Tu Gao, Ling Feng, Ma Zhengtian, and the other Little Hidden Dragons. As Situ Zhengnan proposed one profoundly mysterious melody after another to test him, those Little Hidden Dragons also proposed various high-difficulty melodies to test him.
"Whirling Storm of Sand and Dust!"
"Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Sage!"
"Tiger's Roar Shakes the Mountain Forest!"
"Mountain God's Turning!"
Sitting on the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, Gu Qingfeng didn't lift his head, didn't look, his face didn't flush, his breath didn't quicken. He was neither arrogant nor impatient, neither wild nor angry. With just one hand caressing the guqin, various divine and miraculous hand techniques changed unpredictably as he played one profoundly mysterious melody after another.
Whether it was Whirling Storm of Sand and Dust, Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Sage, Tiger's Roar Shakes the Mountain Forest, or Mountain God's Turning—melodies that ordinary people usually didn't dare hope to even hear, let alone practice—were now played out by him one by one, and all were the eighty-one layers of Great Perfection.
"Sunlight Shining Upon All!"
"Golden Phoenix Facing the Sun!"
"Jade Waves Without a Ripple!"
Situ Zhengnan and the Ten Little Hidden Dragons did not stop. Their faces flushed red, eyes wide, they continued to pose questions. Not just them, elders and heir apparent disciples from various major sects also stepped forward to ask questions. Ten, a hundred, a thousand...
More and more people stepped forward to ask.
This scene was madness.
A madness that made hearts stop, a madness that made heads spin and vision blur, a madness that made minds go blank, and a madness that froze all thought.
Just how many people stepped forward to ask, no one knew.
What melodies they asked about, no one knew either.
Because at this moment, they simply couldn't pay attention to such things. The entire world in their ears was occupied by various profound melodies—countless, endless, emerging one after another, everything one could imagine.