Buildings were floating everywhere like a paradise at Supreme Beauty.
Numerous prodigies sat up there, all dressing quite dashingly. The men were handsome while the women beautiful. From below looking up, they looked like a group of immortals.
Four youths, three boys and one girl, were dressed in the daoist uniform. They were young kings from the Daoist Gate. The surrounding radius was full of pure and primordial energy.
A Buddhist woman riding a silver wolf arrived with Dongfang Tianmu. She stood on top of the wolf’s head with a holy aura. Of course, her beauty was unquestionable just like a goddess. This was Chan Ling’er from a sacred ground of the Buddhist doctrine, Beastmaster Camp.
The young lord of the Xiyue, Lanshan, was proud since he was at the ninth spot on the lower list. People respected him so he sat in a prestigious position with courtesans talking to him about music.
Beiming Potian and Long Shenya were also present. Both had prestigious status and sat close together since they were cousins.
There were a total of seven heretical lords from the Senluo Temple. They wore their signature black cloak and looked quite imposing with their thunderous aura. The person sitting in the most important chair in their group was the Second Lord, Xie Honglian.
There were also five demonesses – Lu Liwei and Bi Xianxian were among them. The young males were staring at them with lustful eyes.
Dongfang Jingshui and Dongfang Jingyue also attracted a lot of attention, especially because she had obtained the jade vessel. Her cultivation soared so her aura became even thicker as if on the verge of ascending. Even Jingshui paled in comparison.
Rumor has it that she was just as pretty as Nangong Hongyan.
“You think Feiyun will show up tonight?” Jingshui quietly asked with a smile.
Jingyue was sitting on a jade seat hovering in the sky. Her skin fairer than the white snow; this was a goddess sitting above the nine firmaments. Her veil fluttered to the wind as she answered: “What does that have to do with me? The one who cares the most is his wife, the King Consort.”
She slightly pointed over so Jingshui changed his gaze. Sure enough, Princess Yue was riding an imperial carriage over.
Jingshui laughed in response: “Two women are already loud enough, now one more…”
Jingyue glared at him so he quickly shut his mouth. His attention turned and his eyes became serious. An evil cloud rushed out of his aura with the will to fight. His tiger eyes saw sixteen muses landing down from the sky as he stated: “Li Xiaonan is here too.”
The sixteen music emissaries under Xiaonan were all top ladies. Their cultivation was comparable to the young overlords.
Jingshui wasn’t the only one. Potian and Shenya were ready to fight as well, unconvinced about being placed below Xiaonan on the upper list.
Lotus flowers made out of spirit energy descended like the rain. Xiaonan slowly landed in his white embroidered robe. He was cool and calm with four beauties behind him, the world-renowned sword maids.
All girls stole glances at him. His immortal-like aura attracted all of them. Some even lamented with a sigh at his perfection.
“There she is gathering the dolichos! A day without seeing her feels as long as three months! There he is gathering the oxtail-southern-wood! A day without seeing her seems like three seasons have passed! There he is gathering the mugwort! A day without seeing her torments for three moons!”
Xiaonan revealed a handsome smile while reciting a longing poem with his eyes fixated on Dongfang Jingyue. He slowly walked over and closed his eyes while taking a deep breath to say: “Junior Sister, it has been four years since we last met at Sacred Spirit, but I feel like several thousand years have passed.”
Jingyue’s eyes remained nonchalant like a virgin sitting among the clouds: “That’s cultivation. One day in training, a thousand years in the mundane realm.”
“Junior Sister, I yet to have a place to stay at the capital. May I trouble you at the dragon lake for several days?” He continued staring at her with his sharp, shapely brows.
“Clank.” The sound of armor plates hitting each other came about.
Ling Donglai stood up and smiled sarcastically: “The famous most talented scholar is so shameless. Miss Dongfang doesn’t know you yet you still want to force the issue? A day without seeing her torments for three moons? I’m sure you say that to every woman.”
“Whoosh!” One sword maid formed a hand seal and unleashed more than one thousand sword energies straight at Donglai.
Donglai retaliated with a single palm strike. It turned into a Trinity Taiji Diagram and shattered all the energies. He sneered: “The Sacred Spirit Palace is too petty, other people aren’t allowed to even talk?”
Xiaonan remained cool and ignored Donglai. He still stared lovingly at Dongfang Jingyue: “Junior Sister, may I sit next to you?”
Jingyue held her pipa and answered: “The banquet tonight focuses on music. If you can beat me with your musical prowess, then naturally, you may sit next to me. This applies to everyone here.”
Xiaonan had a confident smile after hearing her response.
“To be able to compete against the Fourth Daughter of the Yingou is a blessing in life. I’ll start.” Xueyi Lanshan lifted his sleeve and a green ray came out. It was a set of bells.
It was divided into three levels and eight sections with eighteen main bells and forty-five secondary bells. The bells in the three sections at the top levels were main while the ones on the lower two levels and remaining five sections were secondary bells. They varied in size with beast runes carved on them while emitting a green glow and oppressive energy.
This was a set of sixty-three pseudo treasures bought from the Yingou Ward at an insane price. It had several thousand years of history and was meant to be given to Nangong Hongyan as a first-meeting gift. Alas, Lanshan wanted to use it against Jingyue for now.
He began tapping the bells. A pure and ancient musical note reverberated across the entire area. Cultivators on the ground became lost in the music.
“Sis, that Fourth Daughter of the Yingou Ward is quite wily. She’s here to steal your thunder! Looks like your biggest love rival isn’t Princess Yue but her. She acts as if she’s above everything but with just one sentence, the limelight is on her now.” Xue Wu looked at the calm Jingyue and said.
Nangong Hongyan had her zither ready and smirked: “Feng Feiyun had told me about this lady before. They loved each other deeply once but it turned out that she was only playing with his heart. Even if she doesn’t consider me an enemy, I still won’t spare her. I’ll make sure a bitch like her suffers.” [1]
Feiyun actually told Hongyan about Shui Yueting’s old tales with him. However, Yueting wasn’t from this world so he had to replace her name with Dongfang Jingyue. Thus, Hongyan had always kept this name in mind. A seed of trouble has been growing the entire time.
“That Xiyue Lanshan guy is quite gifted in the musical art.” Xue Wu said.
“The children of the top clans are meticulously groomed so they naturally won’t be inferior to anyone. That bastard Feng Feiyun is the only one who plays around and doesn’t know anything about the arts.” Hongyan pouted after not seeing Feiyun around, feeling quite disappointed inside.
Musical mastery wasn’t only about the pleasant notes to the listeners. It needed to be harmonious and resonating with the heavenly dao.
If one were to divide a melody into three levels, then Xiyue Lanshan was at the entry level, the musical stage of “a mountain is a mountain; water is water”. [2]
Though this was only the entry stage to the art of music, it was already quite amazing. He would be considered a great musical master in the mortal realm.
“Your musical level is far inferior compared to Junior Sister. Let me show you!” Li Xiaonan took out an ocarina made out of white jade. He started playing and countless musical images flew out. In the air was an illusory palace in accordance with the grand dao.
The pressure from the new song stopped Xiyue Lanshan from playing his bells any further. No melody would come out.
“Impressive! You are worthy of your fame as the number one scholar. Your musical ability is far above me. I lost, completely convinced.” Lanshan put away the set of bells and sat back down.
No one looked down on him despite his defeat. After all, his musical talents weren’t bad. Not too many people here were better than him.
Many other prodigies who wanted to compete with Jingyue were all stopped by Li Xiaonan. He defeated them one by one; his musical abilities outshined everyone here. Meanwhile, the noble ladies became big fans and viewed him as the perfect man.
Even Nangong Hongyan had the urge to play a song against him, to see which of them was better.
“Please, this is all the greatest scholar can do? Average skills, the tune is not elegant enough, and average musical ability at best, far inferior compared to me.” An arrogant voice came from another floating palace. This was the most blatant provocation, insulting Xiaonan’s song.
Feng Feiyun didn’t bother hiding his voice so those who knew him recognized that it was him.
“Shit?! Feng Feiyun is just as tone-deaf as me, where did he get the courage to criticize Li Xiaonan?” Bi Ningshuai was also hiding among the crowd. He just got a priceless set of bells in his pocket since Xiyue Lanshan was not paying attention earlier.
1. Oh lord
2. In general, this is the elementary state of this common classification for comprehension. Seeing a mountain as a mountain, only the external appearance, the outer layer of understanding, nothing deeper. I’m sure he’ll elaborate more; it’ll be easier to understand after all the three levels are introduced
