Chapter 40: Dust Settles!

  "Alright, disciples who are feeling unwell, please withdraw from the stage for now!" Liu Yuanchen let out a long sigh and walked to the front of the stage, saying this to the disciples below.

  Some of the weaker disciples, who were deeply affected by Xiao Yun's song, felt like they had been greatly pardoned after hearing Liu Yuanquan's words and quickly left with their tails between their legs, not daring to linger any longer. There was also a large number of disciples who, although still feeling somewhat unwell, stayed behind to see the final outcome.

  "Below is the first place in Class A, Elite Academy's disciple Xu Wanjun." Only after the departing disciples had left did Liu Yuanchen announce.

  Xu Wanjun opened her eyes, exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, and the red glow on her face gradually faded away. Her gaze lingered on Xiao Yun's face for a moment, as if unsure of what to do, before she finally hugged her qin and went on stage.

  "Battle Song 'Ask the Sword'!"

  The newspaper reported the name of the song, and Xu Wanjun calmed down a bit, still with some boiling blood, and began her own solo.

  Clang, clang, clang, the sound of killing and slaughter filled the air, as if countless sword auras in the heavens and earth were resonating with it. The spiritual energy fluctuated wildly, making those who heard it feel as if they were standing in an ocean of swords. The piano's tone was sharp and icy cold, sending shivers down people's spines without feeling cold. It gave people an illusion that Xu Wanjun only needed to lightly pluck the strings once, and she could easily take off her own head.

  "Is this what they mean by 'a beauty who has brought ruin to a house'?"

  Looking at Xu Wanjun on the stage, who was completely absorbed in her own world and ignored everything outside, reaching a state of selflessness, Xiao Yun's heart was slightly surprised. This piece should have already reached the level of lingering sound. She had heard Lin Chuyin mention it before, and it seemed that this was the "Ask Sword" melody.

  A pale white sword energy, swallowed but not spat out at the fingertips, only needs to be flicked casually, and the sword energy can pass through the strings of the zither, shooting out with the sound of the zither, its power is absolutely not to be underestimated.

  The sound of the qin was decisive and murderous, Xiao Yun found it hard to imagine that such a gentle-looking woman could create a piece with such intense killing intent.

  The disciples under the stage, all of whom were stirred up by Xu Wanjun's violin sound, as if their blood was boiling, transformed into a sword, with its tip pointing forward, sweeping away everything in its path.

  "Clang!"

  The sound of the guqin suddenly stopped, but the sound still lingered in everyone's ears for a long time, never stopping. Everyone was trapped in the world of killing and fighting created by Xu Wanjun's "Ask the Sword", and it took a while to slowly come back to their senses.

  "Sister Xu is indeed formidable, this is a haunting melody, and it's even a war song!"

  "Yes, indeed, Master Xu is truly the number one among our generation, and she can actually compose a melody like 'Liang Qu'!"

  "What a wonderful sword song, the power of this battle song is certainly extraordinary!"

  ……

  The audience was filled with applause, and among the young generation, Xu Wanjun was already the only one who could compose a melody that lingered on, coupled with her exceptional talent, it was simply breathtaking.

  After experiencing Xiao Yun's previous song that almost tortured people to death, listening to Xu Wanjun's song is simply comparable to heavenly music.

  Xu Wanjun stepped down, and the seven elderly musicians and Xie Mu gathered together to discuss, presumably to re-rank the top ten.

  Xiao Yun didn't hold out much hope either, a good chance at the championship was just ruined like that. However, he also didn't feel any regret in his heart, this should be a good thing for himself, not necessarily having to fight for that empty title. Moreover, Mu Tian'en said there's still an opportunity waiting for him, but he doesn't know what kind of opportunity it is.

  At this moment, among the ten people who had just come on stage to perform, probably only Xiao Yun and Lin Chuoyin's hearts were calm enough. For Xiao Yun, he had already given up competing for first place and only hoped that his ranking would be lower. As for Lin Chuoyin, even in the worst-case scenario, she was still able to maintain her tenth-place ranking, and no matter how poor her piano skills assessment score was, it had no impact on her.

  "Shao Shixiong, what was the name of that piece you just played? Was it 'Terror'?" a disciple sitting in the back row behind Xiao Yun called out to him in a low voice.

  Xiao Yun turned his head to look, it was a stout fat man, wearing the uniform of an elite academy disciple, and when he smiled, the fat on his face wrinkled into a lump.

  "That's right."

  Xiao Yun smiled wryly and up until now, he still hadn't figured out the situation.

  That fatty chuckled and said, "My name is Qian Zhi-Jun, Xiao Shixiong, that tune of yours is too overbearing, can you teach me?"

  "Huh?" Xiao Yun was taken aback, "You want to learn?"

  Fatso nodded like a garlic press, "Xiao Shixiong, that tune is very much to my taste, I hope you can teach me."

  "This, we'll talk about it later!" Xiao Yun said tactfully. This piece is not something that just anyone can learn, and even he himself couldn't say he's fully mastered it, let alone teach it to others.

  Qian Zhijun's face was filled with disappointment, and he wanted to say something more. At this time, several elders on the stage had already discussed it and Liu Yuanquan walked to the front of the stage with a scroll, hurrying everyone to be quiet.

  ——

  "The assessment of qin skills is complete, and after the approval of Master Zhang and Master Mu, the final ranking of this Elite Conference has been announced!" Liu Yuanzhan said, unrolling the scroll, "Tenth place, Elite Academy's Ye Xiaojiao, Ninth place, Elite Academy's Hu Guangfeng, Eighth place, Outer Academy's Lin Chuyin,……"

  As soon as the voice fell, Lin Chunyin felt that there were two gazes cast towards her from the crowd. Even if she didn't go looking for them, she knew which two people those gazes belonged to. Having actually risen to eighth place, a rise of two positions, proved that her piano skills had been recognized. Among these ten people, she wasn't the worst after all.

  "Fifth place, Elite Academy's Meng Xiaobao, fourth place, Foreign Academy's Xiao Yun, third place, Elite Academy's Gu Changfeng, second place, Elite Academy's Lu Jianfeng, and the champion of this Elite Conference is Elite Academy's Xu Wanjun."

  "Fourth place!"

  Xiao Yun smiled wryly, this score was actually much better than he had expected. In his opinion, his performance in the piano skills exam was too poor, and he didn't even finish playing a single piece before being driven off the stage by Mu Tian'en. It was definitely a terrible performance, so even if he only got tenth place it would be normal, but unexpectedly he got fourth place instead.

  Although she didn't make it into the top three, Xiao Yun was still satisfied and wasn't too disappointed.

  In fact, Xiao Yun didn't know that when Xie Tianxi and others were discussing the ranking, most of the time was spent on him. Firstly, Xiao Yun's piano skills were unquestionable and absolutely outstanding, but he just happened to play a very common song that couldn't be more ordinary.

  If it were just a common tune, giving it a low score would be uncontroversial. However, Xiao Yun's rendition of this common tune somehow brought out the power of a battle hymn, almost shattering the Lingtai Temple where the disciples were gathered, and even affecting these high-ranking musicians. Clearly, it couldn't be judged simply as a common tune. In terms of its mysteriousness and lethality, Xiao Yun's piece was even more impressive than Xu Wanjun's "Ask the Sword". They couldn't imagine what would have happened if they had let Xiao Yun finish playing that "Anxious" melody.

  After careful consideration, several people were unable to reach a consensus, and in the end, it was Mu Tianen who made the final decision, giving Xiao Yun a fourth place, excluding him from the top three. Although this decision is somewhat unfair to Xiao Yun, it seems that for his own good, there is no other choice but to do so.

  Many disciples were somewhat surprised when they heard the result, especially Xu Wanjun and Lu Jianfeng. Whether it was Lu Jianfeng's love song or Xu Wanjun's battle song "Ask Sword", they both knew in their hearts that compared to Xiao Yun's song "Apprehensive", at least in terms of power, they were far inferior.

  "I wonder what some of the masters are thinking? Don't they look down on his identity as an outer courtyard disciple?" Xu Wanjun furrowed her brow, turned her head to look at Xiao Yun, but saw that Xiao Yun's face still had a joyful expression, seemingly not feeling any injustice in the evaluation.

  Lu Jianfeng didn't think too much about it, at least he had regained his second place and became the person closest to Xu Wanjun again, without letting a lowly outer courtyard disciple surpass him.

  No one raised any objections, so Liu Yuanchen invited the top three disciples to come on stage and presented them with what he called "awards" in front of all the other disciples.

  The third place winner, Gu Changfeng, was a refined-looking young man who appeared to be around 26 or 27 years old. He wasn't particularly handsome, but he had an exceptional temperament. The prize he received was three mid-grade elixirs, the Lingdan Gathering Elixir.