NOVPUB
Chapter 900: Chapter 900: Playing the Zither Doesn’t Necessarily Require a Zither
Originally, the Kaitian Dominator wanted Yang Xiaotian to win four consecutive matches, including the Painting Academy, but thought it would be too much to have Yang Xiaotian fight alone against their four academies of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Therefore, he changed it to one versus three.
"Good!" Yang Xiaotian said, "However, if I do win against the three of them, I want three strands of Million-Year God Medicine!"
The Kaitian Dominator was the one who wanted him to take on three opponents, wasn’t he?
Then, he would ask for three more strands of Million-Year God Medicine.
The Kaitian Dominator looked at Yang Xiaotian and, with a smile, said, "Good, if you can beat the three of them, then why not add three strands of Million-Year God Medicine!"
Seeing that the Kaitian Dominator agreed, Yang Xiaotian asked, "How shall we compete?"
Young Master Jiusheng stepped forward and said, "Today, the two of us will casually play a melody. Whoever shows a higher mastery of the zither wins, how about that?"
"We’ll use one hour as the limit!"
Hearing Young Master Jiusheng’s method of competition, Yang Xiaotian had no objections and said, "Good!" Then he said, "During the last disciple ceremony, you lost. Today, I’ll let you play first."
Young Master Jiusheng’s face turned somewhat unnatural when Yang Xiaotian brought up his previous loss.
The incident, when mentioned by him and when mentioned by Yang Xiaotian, was perceived very differently by the surrounding disciples from the academy.
Young Master Jiusheng, looking intently at Yang Xiaotian, said, "Very well, since that’s the case, today I will offer my modest skills and play ’The Eternal Cycle of Three Lifetimes’ for everyone!"
Upon hearing that Young Master Jiusheng would play "The Eternal Cycle of Three Lifetimes," everyone at Kaitian Academy was taken by surprise, whether they were disciples, elders, Supreme Elders, or even the ancestor.
Even a host of ancestors was astonished.
’The Eternal Cycle of Three Lifetimes’ is one of the most challenging and difficult pieces to perform in the Divine Domain; even many who had been in the Realm of Zither Saints for years could not play it.
Because, during the performance of "The Eternal Cycle of Three Lifetimes," three kinds of zither sounds need to be seamlessly switched, and at its most difficult part, it requires the simultaneous perfect presentation of three zither sounds.
Just imagine what it would feel like if two sounds occur at the same time?
It would undoubtedly seem noisy to the listener.
And if three sounds occur at the same time, it would sound even more chaotic to the ears.
Thus, to successfully play "The Eternal Cycle of Three Lifetimes," the three zither sounds need to be presented simultaneously in such a way that everyone can hear them without feeling it’s a cacophony.
Amid everyone’s astonishment, Young Master Jiusheng went to the center of the front square, took out the Beast Language Zither, and sat down cross-legged, gathering his focus and calming his mind.
After a moment, Young Master Jiusheng began to play.
Soon, the sounds of the zither flowed continuously from the Beast Language Zither.
The music was sometimes slow like flowing water, and at other times, fast like raging waves.
Young Master Jiusheng had become one with the zither, but everyone noticed that he and the zither were beginning to merge with the surrounding Heaven and Earth.
Moreover, as Young Master Jiusheng merged with the surrounding Heaven and Earth, his music seemed to descend from the heavens, continually penetrating the hearts of the audience, providing them with utmost enjoyment.
"The sound of heavenly music!" 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
An ancestor exclaimed aloud.
Yang Xiaotian was also surprised—during the disciple ceremony, Young Master Jiusheng could merge himself with the zither as one, but he had not yet achieved oneness with the zither and Heaven and Earth. Unexpectedly, in less than two years, his mastery of the zither had advanced, reaching the unity of all three.
At that moment, suddenly, Young Master Jiusheng’s hands moved illusively in mid-air, forming several afterimages.
Within the afterimages, faint shadows of the Golden Buddha could be seen.
"Golden Buddha Holy Hand!"
The Golden Buddha Holy Hand, like the Heavenly Void Divine Hand, is one of the ten great playing techniques of the Divine Domain.
Last time, at the disciple ceremony, Young Master Jiusheng underestimated Yang Xiaotian and did not use the Golden Buddha Holy Hand. This time, he went all out, performing the Golden Buddha Holy Hand to its utmost limit.
Behind him, it seemed as if twenty golden Buddha hands had appeared.
It was indeed the Great Accomplishment Realm of the Golden Buddha Holy Hand.
The twenty golden Buddha hands continuously played, one note after another flying out, these notes gradually evolving to form three figures.
In these three figures, the crowd seemed to see their own past lives, present lives, and even future lives!
This sensation was absurd, yet it felt so real.
"Three Lifetimes!"
The true depth of this piece lay in its portrayal of the past, present, and future lives.
And now, Young Master Jiusheng had achieved it.
Just as everyone was immersed in the world of his zither sounds, suddenly, the heavens opened up, casting down beams of golden light. Within this golden light, sacred figures appeared.
As the sacred figures manifested, all around Young Master Jiusheng, various miraculous phenomena appeared.
"Manifesting Saint, the realm of Zither Saint!" exclaimed the people from Kaitian Academy excitedly.
In a world without immortals, Zither Saint is proclaimed as the highest realm in the Divine Domain of zither music.
A Zither Saint emerges only every several years in the Divine Domain.
Reaching the Zither Saint in the Divine King Realm, there have been but a few throughout the ancient times of the Divine Domain.
As the sacred figures emerged, Young Master Jiusheng was surrounded by a halo of holy light. With the enhancement of the holy light, his twenty golden Buddha hands glowed even brighter, astonishingly playing three types of zither music simultaneously!
Moreover, three different zither sounds resonated at the same time.
The three different zither sounds, far from causing a noisy disturbance, were distinct and layered, echoing in everyone’s hearts and giving rise to the enjoyment of three different musical tones simultaneously.
Following this, the twenty golden Buddha hands continuously played three different types of zither music simultaneously.
The three different zither sounds kept shaking everyone’s souls.
By the time Young Master Jiusheng stopped playing, everyone was still deeply immersed in the world of ’Three Lifetimes’ created by his zither music.
After a long while, people finally started awakening as if from a dream, clapping their hands and cheering, the sound of their cheers growing louder and louder.
Even the Kaitian Dominator and many ancestors were full of smiles, their eyes conveyed complete satisfaction; obviously, Young Master Jiusheng’s performance had far surpassed what the Dominator and the ancestors had initially expected.
"Good!" the Kaitian Dominator couldn’t help but nod and praise.
Young Master Jiusheng stood up, bowed to the Kaitian Dominator and said, "Thank you, Master, for your praise." Then, turning to Yang Xiaotian, he said, "Junior Mansion Master Yang, it’s your turn!"
All eyes fell on Yang Xiaotian.
"’Three Lifetimes’ is one of the most difficult pieces to play in the Divine Domain, yet the Junior Academy Head managed to perfectly interpret it to the greatest depth. Even if Yang Xiaotian possesses the Great Accomplishment Heavenly Void Divine Hand, it’s unlikely he can beat the Junior Academy Head," whispered the academy disciples among themselves.
"I said it before, during the last apprenticeship ceremony, the Junior Academy Head merely lost to Yang Xiaotian because he was careless. Otherwise, how could he possibly lose to Yang Xiaotian?"
"What do you think Yang Xiaotian will play next?"
"Surely he won’t play something low-level like ’Dragon and Phoenix Bring Auspice,’ right?"
Many disciples of the Kaitian Academy couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Hearing the mocking laughter of the Kaitian Academy disciples, Yang Xiaotian walked to the center of the square.
"Junior Mansion Master Yang, that wooden zither of yours, I think it’s best not to use it. Our Kaitian Academy has many fine zithers; you can choose any to compete with," an ancestor suggested to Yang Xiaotian with a smile.
"No need," Yang Xiaotian replied calmly, "To play music, one does not necessarily need a zither."
A Kaitian Academy disciple laughed and said, "Do you mean to say you can play without a zither?"
Some of the disciples all laughed, for they had never heard of playing music without a zither.
