Here.
Gu Qingfeng sat upon the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, one hand raising a cup to drink, the other hand stroking the guqin to play.
He raised the Taixu Cup, drinking Water-Cloud Wine.
He stroked Little Jin'er's guqin, playing every melody anyone asked for.
Truly, everyone.
Whoever asked, he would play.
If you could ask it, he could play it, and each piece was filled with Profound Mystery, every melody reaching Great Perfection.
The sky was filled with the sound of the qin, the air thick with profound mysteries, continuous and unending, ringing in the ears without cease. It was like a hundred beasts roaring in unison, like a riot of flowers vying for beauty, even more like the very language of nature itself.
No one knew how much time had passed.
No one knew.
They only knew the number of people asking questions grew fewer and fewer—a thousand, a hundred, ten…
Until finally, no one asked anymore.
Ask?
What was there left to ask?
Just moments ago, so many people had asked every melody they could think of, and even those they couldn't think of. From the classic tunes known to all, down to the obscure melodies few had ever heard, he had played them all, and every one had reached Great Perfection.
Under such circumstances, what else was there to ask?
What else could be asked?
What else was there to ask?
Nothing!
There was nothing left to ask, nothing that could be asked.
Every single person gathered at the Taixuan Platform stood there as motionless as statues, stunned, eyes wide, mouths agape, staring with shock and disbelief, as if they had personally witnessed a heavenly miracle manifesting before them.
Silence.
An unparalleled silence.
Silence pushed to its extreme.
No one spoke. No one even breathed.
The countless people across the entire venue all stared at that man in white with utterly exaggerated expressions.
He still sat upon the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, leaning casually against the carriage frame. From beginning to end, he had never once lifted his head to glance at the crowd. After finishing his playing, he simply set the guqin aside and continued drinking, continued refining the crystal stones—utterly carefree, utterly casual, utterly indifferent.
Carefree, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him from the start.
Casual, as if playing all those various melodies was as simple as eating a meal to him.
Indifferent, because he had never been serious about it from the very beginning.
Gazing at that leisurely, carefree man in white, the onlookers present could not regain their composure for a long, long time.
A fraud?
He was a fraud?
How could he possibly be a fraud?
How could a man who could play out all the Profound Mysteries of Wind Spirit Bosuo after hearing it just once be a fraud? How could a man who could play out all the Profound Mysteries of melodies like Thunderous Dragon Chant, Raging Ocean Roar, Cloud Summit Thousand Cranes, and all the rest be a fraud?
At this moment, everyone realized that the man before them was no fraud.
As for whether Little Blue Flower Language had truly been modified by him, it no longer mattered.
A man who could play out the Profound Mysteries of all the melodies under heaven no longer needed to prove whether he had modified Little Blue Flower Language. It was completely meaningless, just as a grandmaster of martial arts need not prove whether a certain fist technique was created by him.
He said he could play out all the Profound Mysteries of Wind Spirit Bosuo after hearing it once. He said it, and he did it.
He said his mastery of Musical Arts was unparalleled under heaven, that he could play out the Profound Mysteries of all melodies under heaven. Such mastery absolutely deserved the words 'unparalleled under heaven'.
Within the venue.
Lan Feier, Shui Yunruo, Huo Wuchenyue, and the other Little Phoenix Hairpins; Xiao Shanrou, Qingzhu, and the other Great Phoenix Hairpins—they had long been shocked speechless by the scene before them. Especially Lan Feier.
Earlier, because several Chixiao members from the Fengyun Branch believed Gu Qingfeng was the Monarch's heir, she had felt deeply embarrassed.
And Gu Qingfeng's claim here that his Musical Arts were unparalleled under heaven had made her feel utterly mortified. Several times, she had even felt the impulse to rush over and sever all ties with this fraud.
It was only at this moment that she realized she herself was the joke. Gu Qingfeng's breathtaking, awe-inspiring mastery of Musical Arts made her feel like an ignorant little girl, foolish to the extreme.
Feeling like a joke wasn't limited to Lan Feier. The same went for the Ten Little Hidden Dragons, and even Situ Zhengnan.
They were all outstanding talents who had emerged after the great calamity in the Four Great Domains. They had status, they had position, they had talent—they had everything one could want. Originally, they had planned to take advantage of this day of discourse to put on a good show before Fairy Su Hua. The appearance of a fraud had made them see this as a rare opportunity, and they all thought to use this chance to display their own musical talents.
Only, they had never imagined they would encounter a fraud so profound and unfathomable.
Before this fraud whose mastery of Musical Arts could be called unparalleled under heaven, the musical talents they had displayed earlier had undoubtedly become a joke. Especially Huo Dong's so-called playing of seven or eight layers of Wind Spirit Bosuo, and Situ Zhengnan's playing of thirty-seven layers.
A joke!
All of it was a joke!
This kind of joke was as laughable as a child displaying his crude fist techniques before a grandmaster of martial arts.
The Ten Little Hidden Dragons looked utterly disheveled, their faces as ugly as could be. They didn't know whether to stand or sit, to remain silent or to speak. That earlier round of probing had caused them to lose all face. Even if the Ten Little Hidden Dragons were still unwilling to concede, at this moment, they had no idea how to deal with this scene.
They were like this.
Situ Zhengnan was even worse.
He stood, but he was merely standing. His face was ashen, his lips twitched, his breathing was rapid, his hands trembled. He seemed humiliated, furious, horrified, unwilling to concede, resentful, terrified—too many, too many complex emotions mixed together, leaving him at a complete loss!
Possessing such a jumble of complex emotions and being at a loss wasn't limited to him. The same went for the famously renowned Su Hua.
Only, the complex emotions Su Hua felt here contained no anger, no humiliation, no unwillingness or resentment. What she felt was only shock, deep shock, and curiosity, an intensely powerful curiosity.
To be honest.
Initially, she too had always doubted whether her Little Blue Flower Language had truly been modified by Gu Qingfeng.
This doubt had existed ever since their time at Yunxia Sect.
Because Gu Qingfeng's words, actions, demeanor, and the spiritual aura about him made it impossible for her to connect him with a true master of Musical Arts.
She too had suspected Gu Qingfeng was a fraud.
Even if he wasn't a fraud.
At most, he might just be a Musical Prodigy with exceptionally high talent.
It was only at this moment that she realized how wildly mistaken, how utterly foolish her error had been.
She considered herself fairly capable in the field of Musical Arts mastery. But to say she could play so many melodies, and each one to Great Perfection—she could not do it. She had never even thought of such a thing. And she could not even imagine what kind of person could achieve it.
As for whether Gu Qingfeng was a Musical Prodigy, it no longer mattered.
Because even a Musical Prodigy with the highest talent could not do this.
As for how high Gu Qingfeng's mastery of Musical Arts was, it also no longer mattered.
Because even the highest mastery of Musical Arts could not do this.
As for whether Gu Qingfeng was a fraud impersonating the Monarch's heir, it mattered even less.
Because even if he really were the heir of the Chixiao Monarch, he could not do this.
As for why Gu Qingfeng, who was neither a reincarnated expert nor a soul-possessing rebirth, possessed unparalleled mastery of Musical Arts, that too no longer mattered.
Because even reincarnated great powers, or even immortals from the Nine Heavens above, similarly could not do this.