"Is there anyone else who remains unconvinced, doubtful, wishes to challenge me, or still believes I am a fraud?"
Seated upon the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, Gu Qingfeng continued to sip his wine while crafting trinkets for little Jin'er. His voice carried across the field, and the assembled crowd looked at one another, wide-eyed and speechless, mouths opening and closing without a word. No one knew what to say.
With a mastery of Musical Arts that could be called peerless in the world, who dared remain unconvinced?
Who dared harbor doubts?
Who still dared to challenge him?
Who would dare call him a fraud?
No one.
Absolutely no one.
Even the various Little Hidden Dragons and Phoenix Hairpins, the leaders of the great sects—faced with Gu Qingfeng's inquiry, none of them could utter a word.
"Miss Su, what about you? Do you still have any doubts?"
Gu Qingfeng raised his wine cup, took a light sip, lifted his head, and glanced at Su Hua not far away.
On Su Hua's peerlessly beautiful face, her expression held a trace of awkwardness. After a moment of contemplation, she replied, "I misunderstood you earlier, Young Lord. I sincerely apologize. Here, I, Su Hua, offer my formal apology to you."
Su Hua was utterly convinced, harboring no further doubts. All that remained was boundless curiosity and bewilderment. She asked, "Young Lord Chiyan's mastery of Musical Arts is truly peerless in the world, inspiring the utmost admiration. This humble woman admits she is far inferior. If the opportunity arises, I hope you will offer some guidance."
"Easy enough, easy enough," Gu Qingfeng said with an amused smile. "But not today. You should go about your business."
Hearing that Gu Qingfeng intended to leave, Su Hua tried to persuade him. "Since you have come, Young Lord, why not stay a while longer? Today's lecture on the Dao also touches upon Musical Arts. With your unparalleled mastery, if you could come down..." Before Su Hua could finish, Gu Qingfeng waved his hand and said casually, "We'll talk about it another time."
With that, he snapped his fingers. Fei Kui nodded in understanding and prepared to lead the Four-Steed Grand Carriage away.
Not far off, the Ten Little Hidden Dragons watched Gu Qingfeng preparing to depart, their faces growing increasingly gloomy, their gazes increasingly sharp.
Originally, they had intended to use this occasion to impress the Fairy, having even planned how to punish the fraud after exposing him—both to please the Fairy and to establish their authority before the vast crowd of the Four Great Regions.
They had never imagined things would turn out this way. Not only had they failed to expose the fraud, failed to punish him, but in the end, they themselves had been utterly humiliated before so many people.
Whether it was Ling Feng, Tu Gao, Huo Dong, or Ma Zhengtian—they were not only the widely known Ten Little Hidden Dragons of the Four Great Regions but also the heirs of major powers. They absolutely could not allow such a disgraceful event to happen to them. Absolutely not!
But what could they do, even if they refused to allow it?
This man's mastery of Musical Arts was peerless in the world.
Even if they were unwilling, they had no choice but to acknowledge this fact.
If they wanted to salvage their dignity, it was essentially impossible.
At least, not in the realm of Musical Arts.
At this moment, watching Gu Qingfeng about to leave, the Ten Little Hidden Dragons felt a sense of urgency. None of them wanted Gu Qingfeng to depart just like that, yet for the moment, they had no suitable pretext.
And then, a sharp shout rang out.
"Halt!"
The shout came from none other than Tu Gao. As his voice fell, his figure instantly appeared in front of the Four-Steed Grand Carriage, blocking its path.
"What now?"
Gu Qingfeng raised an eyebrow, glanced at him, and asked, "You still wish to challenge me?"
"This Young Master indeed wishes to continue the challenge, but not in Musical Arts—in the Martial Dao."
Tu Gao stood there with his arms crossed, like a sharp, unsheathed sword, his gaze fixed intently on Gu Qingfeng. Everyone could see the discontent and unwillingness on his face as he declared, "I've long heard that although you lack a protective treasure body, your true form stands unmoving like a mountain, unshakable by anyone... that with mere Purple Mansion cultivation, not even having condensed a Golden Core, your spiritual power is vast and boundless..."
"Brother, those are just rumors," Gu Qingfeng said with a leisurely laugh. "Look at my meager cultivation. How could I possibly be your match?"
"Rumors? Young Lord Chiyan, don't be modest."
At this moment, Huo Dong also stepped forward, smiling. "At Liu Ren Mountain, Young Lord Chiyan's single fist strike instantly annihilated a Nascent Soul expert. With three moves and two techniques, you routed over ten Nascent Soul experts from the Feng Hui Sect. A single shout intimidated over ten thousand people. That incident was no rumor. Although I did not witness it personally that day, many present here saw your might with their own eyes."
"We have all witnessed Young Lord Chiyan's mastery of Musical Arts just now and admire it greatly," Ma Zhengtian added as he approached. "We've also heard that your Martial Dao attainments are extraordinary. We all wish to continue learning from you. What does Young Lord Chiyan think?"
Clearly.
These Little Hidden Dragons, having lost face in the realm of Musical Arts, all wanted to reclaim it in the Martial Dao.
Although Gu Qingfeng had once annihilated a Nascent Soul expert with a single punch—an achievement that might seem impressive in others' eyes—to these Little Hidden Dragons, it was utterly insignificant. Each of them possessed several acquired and innate blessings, all top-tier ones. Moreover, they were all Nascent Soul cultivators of the Nine Heavens, Five Realms, Color Spirit grade. It was no exaggeration to say that any one of them could annihilate an ordinary Nascent Soul expert. Even those millennia-old Nascent Soul veterans held no fear for them.
In their minds, this Gu Qingfeng's Musical Arts mastery might be peerless, but that was limited to Musical Arts.
Even if he were a legendary, heaven-defying prodigy, he couldn't possibly master all Ten Great Immortal Arts.
After all, a person's time and energy were limited. Delving deeply into Musical Arts inevitably consumed much of one's own energy. Especially the higher one's Musical Arts attainment, the weaker their other Immortal Arts would be—this was a law. Throughout the world, almost all grandmasters of Musical Arts were like this: their Musical Arts were highly advanced, but their martial skills and spells were extremely weak. Some grandmasters of Musical Arts, even after cultivating their Primordial Spirit, had Martial Dao attainments inferior to some Golden Core experts because they spent all their time comprehending Musical Arts, with no remaining energy to cultivate anything else.
Generally speaking, even if one had the time and energy, few would cultivate multiple Immortal Arts. This was a major taboo for cultivators.
Because once one cultivated a Primordial Spirit and stepped into the Daozun realm, they began to come into contact with Immortal Art divine abilities. These required comprehension. If one's own attainments weren't profound enough, they couldn't comprehend these divine abilities.
Throughout history, many self-proclaimed geniuses cultivated several Immortal Arts, only to end up with shallow, impure mastery in all. They knew all Ten Great Immortal Arts, but only superficially—none were proficient. By the time they cultivated their Primordial Spirit, unable to comprehend any Immortal Art divine abilities, their own strength would be greatly diminished. Rather than that, it was better to specialize in one Immortal Art.
Looking across the history of this world, aside from the extremely rare, once-in-ten-millennium peerless prodigies like Lord Chixiao who were prodigiously proficient in all Ten Great Immortal Arts, most who Ascending to the Pinnacle the Immortal Dao cultivated only one or two Immortal Arts—one primary, one supplementary.
However.
There were no absolutes in fact.
There were also those proficient in several Immortal Arts, but such individuals were exceedingly rare. Even reincarnation's great power almost had none.
Of course.
Su Hua was an exception.
The world knew she was proficient in all Ten Great Immortal Arts because, according to legend, she was not only a reincarnation's great power but had also been a Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden in her previous life. Therefore, no one found it surprising that she was proficient in all Ten Great Immortal Arts.