Chapter 185 - The Restoration of Conception by the Old President

♫♫♫...♪♪♪...! Gu Hai continued playing the Canon.

Gu Hai was playing Canon in D Major, the most perfect Canon. It was also the only recognized Canon back on Earth.

There was no powerful conception that was integrated by a zitherist, it was only the lingering waves of music, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, playing continuously. Most of the tones in the melody were constantly being repeated, but it did not give a bit of a monotonous feeling. The more one listened, the more pleasing it sounded; the more one listened, the more they wanted to continue listening.

There was no conception, only a melody, but his melody seemed to be the creme de la creme of countless conceptions.

The cultivators of Silvermoon City were all extremely extraordinary when it came to music. Even though there wasn't any conception, the entire tune led up to countless meaningful afterthoughts.

Under This Street's First Zither House, the cultivators who were originally preparing to make fun of Gu Hai were now slowly growing serious.

The people who had come here had heard all kinds of cla.s.sical pieces, but they had simply never heard of this tune.

Most of the people closed their eyes, immersing themselves in the music.

If there is no conception in the music, then we will just simulate our own conception in our mind while listening to this tune!

Many people were slowly intoxicated by the music.

Long Wanqing, Grandmaster Liunian, Shangguan Hen, all of them were slowly immersed in this mesmerizing piece.

Mu Chenfeng, on the other hand, had his eyes wide with shock. He kept on muttering “Impossible! What piece is this Gu Hai playing? Why have I never heard it, but it so good!?” again and again, while facing the World First's Zither House.

Young Master An's and Jiang Tianyi's faces, on the other hand, grew more and more ghastly. The two had a quite a good grasp on musical temperament. But because they were such experts, they knew that this melody was simply marvelous the first time they heard it.

Originally, such a touching piece would have been brought delight to their eyes, but at this moment, it sounded no different than screams from the h.e.l.l itself, like it was declaring a war on them.

"How is this possible? Piano!? This piece can also be played with other instruments, but why did it have to be played with the piano first!? Where did he learn such a good piece? Where does he come from?" Young Master An shouted, his face turning even uglier.

"Young Master An, in this tune, there is joy, there is sadness, I can even sense the samsara of life and death! How is this possible!? How can it achieve such an effect without any conception!? Gu Hai!? Piano!?" Jiang Tianyi face grew more unsightly as he spoke.

Countless people who understood music, after hearing the Canon, stopped doing anything and started listening to it with all their attention.

This was a baptism of soul. Listening to this melody, they seemed to have forgotten all the disturbances in the outside world. They were drowning in joy and sorrow along with the music.

In the World's First Zither building, some of the people who were buying zithers suddenly halted their footsteps at this moment.

"Guest, do you want to buy this zither?"

"Quiet!"

"Guest, you haven't paid yet!"

"I don't want it! Don't stop me!"...

One after another, the people who originally came to buy zithers stopped everything at hand and slowly made their way out of the World's First Building. Having come out of the building, they focused their gazes on the man sitting on the terrace of This Street's First Zither House wearing the strange garb: Gu Hai.

After playing it through once, Gu Hai repeated it once more.

This was the enchantment of the divine cannon, no matter how many times you listened to it, you would never get tired of it.

Under the terrace, more and more people started to crowd together.

Through the Sound Amplifying Array, the music spread in every direction through Silvermoon City.

In various places, the people, who were originally busy with their own affairs, suddenly stopped at this moment.

"Old w.a.n.g, don't play your zither, listen, listen, hurry up, what is this tune? Why do I feel sad from listening to it?"

"Bulls.h.i.+t, it's obviously a happy tune!"

"No, no, no, I am feeling a lingering love!"

"No, it's the parting of life and death!"...

Gradually, the people stopped arguing. The area covered by the Sound Amplifying Array was quite vast,a full one-tenth of the entire city.

In the rest of the city, a hubbub of voices could be heard, but in this one-tenth of the city, everything was quiet. All one could hear was the Canon.

There was no dreamy feeling brought out by any conception, only an ever-changing elegant tune. But this tune had seized countless people' mind in the blink of an eye.

In a small courtyard not too far away from the World's First ZIther House was a woman dressed in pure white, her face covered with muslin. She had quite an exquisite figure. Near to her placed was an incense burner, from which fragrant smoke was rising. Sitting amid the lingering smoke, gently stroking her guqin, the girl painted an extremely beautiful picture. If any of the cultivators were here, they would have surely recognized her, for she was Fairy Wan'er, who had been invited to play the zither by the World's First Zither House not too long ago. She was also the very same Zither Daoist whose music had put Gu Hai's mind into an illusion just after he entered the city.

When the melody of Canon came from the outside, Fairy Wan'er furrowed her brow at first. Such loud music had disturbed her creative thoughts. But in the next moment, when that surging but lingering tune was repeated, again and again, Fairy Wan'er slowly started to have an inexplicable feeling.

"This… the notes are repeating over and over, but they aren't monotonous at all. This tune is handling complex things with simplicity, it has already reached perfection! Who is it?" Fairy Wan'er stood up in surprise.

Huge as the area covered by the Sound Amplifying Array was, it could only cover one-tenth of Silvermoon City, so naturally, the music did not travel to the Silvermoon House.

Countless Zither Daoists had gathered outside the Silvermoon House, playing their own tunes, hoping that they could pa.s.s the Silvermoon House's a.s.sessment.

Meanwhile, inside an arbor within the villa, the old president was gently wiping his own guqin. But right then, his eyebrow suddenly rose in surprise.

The old president immediately stretched his hand out, plucking a string on the guqin. Suddenly, a strange note reverberated from the string.

Just as the note chimed, the expression of all the cultivators playing outside the manor changed, for their guqins weren't producing any notes!

Not a single note!

Everyone quickly played their own guqins, but not a single sound came out.

"What's going on? My guqin isn't making any notes!?"

"Me too!"

"No, the strings are vibrating. Their vibration is producing sound waves, but it's outside our listening range! Someone is playing, and his notes are resonating with our guqins!"

"Who...who can affect my playing?"...

The crowd of Zither Daoists was struck dumb with amazement. Whose music is so powerful?

While everyone was seized with panic, a Silvermoon House disciple walked out.

"President has asked everyone to please be patient. It was President who cast the Dampening Technique just now. Everyone, please don't disturb President with your noise, President is listening to music!" that Silvermoon House disciple shouted.

"Ah!? Yes!" the flabbergasted crowd of Zither Daoists nodded dazedly.

Ah, so it was Old President's Dampening Technique! That's normal, then! But whose music can make Old President cast such a conception? Why can't we hear it?

Inside an arbor within the manor...

The Old President was listening to the tune, but others simply couldn't hear it. Owing to that, an uncertain look appeared on everyone's face.

Right then, the corner of Old President's lips rose into a slight smile. He stretched his hand out, plucking the guqin.

The air shook slightly. Next, the Canon was suddenly transmitted from this rippling air.

As the melodious tune entered the crowd of Silvermoon House disciples' ears, their eyes lit up immediately.

While the Old President had started listening, Gu Hai very soon finished playing the Canon for the second time. Nonetheless, Gu Hai started playing it for the third time. But even after three times, n.o.body seemed to be tired of hearing it.

"Yun Mo, what do you feel about this tune?" the Old President asked with a smile.

"It gives me s.h.i.+vers, like it's seeping through my spine and directly rus.h.i.+ng towards the depths of my soul!" an azure-robed man, Yun Mo exclaimed in admiration.

"Oh? What do you guys think?" the Old President swept his gaze at the others.

"I feel sad, like the parting of life and death!"

"I feel happy, it feels like the dawn of love!"

"I feel happy, like the joy of being in love with someone!"...

Everyone voiced their feelings. It seemed like everyone had felt different things.

"President, I think that everyone felt differently. This song seemed to be telling a story. The previous part seemed to be about remembering something. It was like a soft whisper as if he were asking himself, remembering those moments! Some memories were happy, some were filled with the sorrow of love!

"The next part made me extremely sad, like it was telling me that those moments would never return again. Those happy memories would never come back, the love is already gone. Everything had already turned to the past, leaving grief and sorrow behind.

“The music was constantly repeating, like it was saying that it was the cycle of time, just like time, it would never return. In the long river of time, although countless things have been deposited over the years, everlasting scars were ever-present, leaving us some delicate memories. Even when life has burning low, like a flickering candle in the wind, this scar still had not been smoothed away!" Yun Mo spoke again.

The Old President nod in satisfaction at Yun Mo's explanation.

"Although the playing is still a little rusty, this song is very hard to come by! Steel Zither? So, this is a steel zither tune?" An uncertain look showed up on the Old President's face.

As he waved his hand again, Gu Hai's piano tune faded away.

Next, the Old President gently stroked his guqin as he started playing. It was still the Canon, but this time, he was using the guqin to imitated the Canon.

It was far better than Gu Hai's playing, and more importantly, there was an ethereal feeling about it.

Gradually, a true picture began to play out before everyone's eyes.

In this picture, a boy, who was orphaned from war, was adopted by a kind zitherist. Over the years, the zitherist taught him how to play the steel zither. As he grew up, he played better and better, until he became one of the most famous zitherists.

Then one day, a rich family's daughter rushed into that zitherist residence by mistake. She was very moved by his music and subsequently fell in love with the zitherist.

The girl requested the zitherist to take her as his apprentice, and teach her the zither. The zitherist accepted it with pleasure.

However, the rich family girl's mind was completely focused on the zitherist, she simply had no intention of learning the zither. Therefore, although a long time had pa.s.sed, she was still a mess. The zitherist was very disappointed, and was extremely angered by the girl's att.i.tude towards her studies. As such, he drove the girl away.

The girl was heartbroken and grievous. She vowed to the zitherist that she would definitely learn the zither and win first place locally.

After returning to the family, the rich family's daughter trained every day, without rest. She trained very hard and very earnestly. Finally, she won the first place after half a year.

With her first place finish, the girl went to the zitherist to confess, but the zitherist was conscripted and sent to the battlefield.

The rich family's daughter kept on waiting for the zitherist. This wait lasted three years.

During this time, a Village Chief's son came to fancy the rich family's daughter. Many times, he proposed marriage, but every time he failed. So, in order to stop her from having any more illusions, he set a trap; he asked someone to bring a corpse back from the battlefield and told her that this was the zitherist. Then, he sent many luxurious gifts to propose.

But the rich family's daughter simply didn't care about the marriage proposal. Rather she cried for three days and three nights straight, and on the third day, she went to the place where the zitherist taught her the zither and committed suicide.

Two months after the rich family's daughter committed suicide, the zitherist finally returned.

Originally, not long after he had chased away the rich family's daughter, the zitherist started missing her. Without her, he had been very unhappy. Only after having lost her did he came to cherish her. Originally, he had unconsciously fallen in love with her already.

In that half year, the rich family's daughter had departed, the zitherist began writing a tune. He wanted to use this tune to propose to her. In this half year, he was struck with many inspirations and as such, was able to finish one-third of the song. But suddenly, the war started and the zitherist was conscripted.

Three years in the battlefield, the zitherist had written another one-third of the song. The song was filled with the sorrow of separation and missing her.

When the battle finally came to an end, the zitherist hurried back anxiously, only to receive an unbearable bad news.

Listening to village people telling him the story of the rich family's daughter, the zitherist broke into violent lamentations. In the following week, the zitherist felt an unbearable heartache from having been separated both in life and death. Finally, a week later, he came before her grave and played the song that he was going to use to propose to her. Along with the final third part, the song included the endless yearning and the never-ending heartache of the zitherist.

When the villagers heard this tune, they looked at the zitherist playing before the rich family's daughter's grave with deep feelings. Tears continued to flow out of their eyes uncontrollably. After the zitherist finished playing that song, he too, ended his life where the rich family's daughter had!

As the picture came to an abrupt end, some of the disciples standing before the Old President had red eyes already.

Gu Hai was playing without any artistic conception. The Old President, on the other hand, had conveyed this conception, a very sad and moving story.

"Yun Mo, what do you think?" the Old President asked.

"President has used your conception to relay the whole story. Only after listening did I understand. The notes were being repeated because the zitherist kept on conveying his love and yearning for the rich family's daughter!" Yun Mo a.n.a.lyzed.

"Yes! Only tune, no conception!? Hahaha, this steel zither is indeed a bit interesting!" the Old President broke into laughter as he praised the music.

"Ah! No conception!?" Yun Mo said in astonishment.

"Does the zither need to have conception?" the Old President asked with a smile.

"But… then, this is just an ordinary tune!?" Yun Mo furrowed his brow.

"Yes, this is an ordinary tune, but its creator stood at the same peak as the grandmaster-level of Zither Daoists!" the Old President shook his head.

"Uh!?"

"The creator of this song has the qualifications to partic.i.p.ate in the Zither Conferring a.s.sembly. You go and send him a pa.s.s. Also, bring back this steel zither with you, I want to take a look!" the Old President ordered as a smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, I will go immediately. Only, he only has the tunes, do we still give him the pa.s.s, wouldn't it be somewhat...!" Yun Mo stated as he forced a smile.

"Idiot, do you still not understand? He is not just a zitherist already, go!" the Old President stated, still smiling.

"Yes!"

At This Street's First Zither House...

Gu Hai played the Canon five times and finally finished playing.

At this moment, all around, there was nothing but silence. Many people were still immersed in it.

At the sight of it, the corner of Gu Hai's lips rose into a smile. "This piece is called Canon, I have used the piano to play it five times. I presume the Zither Daoists here have already remembered it, I welcome everyone to use their own instruments to play Canon!"

Gu Hai's voice traveled in all direction through the Sound Amplifying Array.

"Canon! So, this is called Canon!"

"What a pleasing Canon!"...

Slowly, countless cultivators all around woke up from the Canon's music.

Not too far away from This Street's First Zither House, there were a few cultivators among the crowd who were furrowing their brows at this moment.

They were the Zither Daoists invited by Jiang Tianyi. Originally, they were prepared to scathingly criticize Gu Hai after he had played his piece.

But at this moment, after the Canon had ended five times, the group of Zither Daoists were there with mouths agape. They didn't know what to say.

Can we still criticize this tune?

"Everyone, it's about time, please hurry!" Jiang Tianyi's voice suddenly transmitted into their ears.

The group of Zither Daoists' faces turned ugly. But the gifts had blinded their eyes. The Zither Daoists had taken advantage of the World's First Zither House. Now, all they could do was brace themselves.

The first Zither Daoist stepped out. "Just this, it was unbearable and hopeless, I don't even know what to call it!"