As soon as Heir Zhi You’s piano music began to flow, the entire venue fell into complete silence.
The nobles, high ranking warriors and lords present almost held their breath completely while listening, afraid that the sound of their breathing would disturb these wonderful notes.
Suo Lun also closed his eyes and listened quietly to Zhi You’s piece.
After the first few notes, Suo Lun could already feel that this Zhi You’s attainments in piano playing were higher than his own.
Or rather, purely in terms of playing technique, he was already comparable to those few piano princes on Earth.
Of course this was normal. After all, he had studied in the Divine Dragon Holy Temple for a full ten plus years, majoring in both martial dao and art.
In this world, Suo Lun had heard four people play the piano: Suo Ning Bing, Yi Yun, Meng Tuo Luo, and Zhi You.
Meng Tuo Luo’s attainments had originally been the highest, but after transforming into the black widow, her state of mind had been thrown into great chaos and she no longer possessed the beautiful sentiments of before. Therefore her piano skills had also declined greatly.
In that case, the Zhi You before him was almost the person with the highest piano skills Suo Lun had seen in this time.
Or rather, his technique was the highest.
Yes, technique. The way he played was incomparably gorgeous, incomparably showy, and incomparably difficult.
As for the Moonlight he had composed, to be honest, if judged purely on artistic realm, it would be hard to give it a high score. However, because of its difficulty, it could reach a very high score.
Because this piece seemed to have been born purely for showing off technique.
The gentle and slow beginning was extremely difficult to play, because even though it was slow it could not break. Every note needed to have a poetic lingering connection.
Then later the music suddenly became intense and soaring.
Suo Lun clearly felt that the lunar eclipse had arrived, that is, the so called heavenly dog eating the moon.
Zhi You’s hands instantly became so fast that they could not be seen clearly at all.
His showmanship reached its peak. That pair of hands was as ingenious as flowers playing with shadows.
The people present were not only listening as if intoxicated but also watching without blinking.
Many noble ladies had eyes that were almost drunk with light. They gazed at those long and powerful hands with infinite heat.
In the eyes of many noble ladies, what attracted them was definitely not martial skills first, but appearance, status, and temperament. And what best displayed these things was undoubtedly art, music.
Therefore, even just to attract the opposite sex, noble descendants flocked to music.
Even with his eyes closed, Suo Lun could almost see how exaggeratedly fast Zhi You’s hands were at this moment.
The heavenly dog eating the moon section of this piece was truly difficult to the extreme.
It was completely superior to the piece played in the final piano duel in the Earth movie The Pianist on the Sea.
If Suo Lun were to play it, he felt he might not be able to persist, at least not complete it as well as Heir Zhi You.
This person’s skill was truly unparalleled and left one sighing in admiration.
The following part of the piece entered darkness and sorrow.
Because the entire bright moon had disappeared, heaven and earth were plunged into darkness, and the moon had been completely swallowed by the heavenly dog.
And right at this moment!
The piano sound suddenly rose sharply, becoming soaring.
A bright light flashed.
An absolutely beautiful figure appeared in the darkness, piercing through the darkness between heaven and earth.
Without doubt, this beauty came from the most beautiful woman present, Gui Qin Shao.
Her beauty little by little swallowed the darkness, little by little tore through the night curtain, and little by little rescued the moon from the dark heavenly dog.
Finally, the bright moon defeated the darkness and hung once again in the night sky.
Its radiance shone on the beautiful woman’s face.
Instantly, it was impossible to tell whether the bright moon illuminated the beauty or the beauty set off the bright moon.
Finally, the piece ended.
The venue first fell into complete silence, then thunderous applause erupted.
Even Suo Lun clapped hard.
The first to stand up were Gui Qin Shao and Gui Xing Fu. Immediately afterwards, everyone stood up and applauded.
Zhi You rose and bowed to thank everyone.
“This piece should only exist in heaven. How many times can it be heard in the mortal world.” In the end, Gui Xing Fu’s praise expressed everyone’s heartfelt feeling.
The nobles present had originally come just to flatter, so they had already prepared words of praise in their bellies. Even if Zhi You had played poorly, they could still praise it into a flower.
However, after Zhi You finished playing, they could not find words to praise him, because it was truly played too well, far too well.
In the end, Gui Xing Fu’s praise completely spoke their hearts.
It was really played too well, so well that it broke through their understanding and left them unable to praise it in words, because it exceeded their ability.
Gui Qin Shao had originally not been very interested in things like art, but after listening she instantly had shining beautiful eyes full of amazement as she looked at Zhi You.
She had thought he was only extremely handsome, but she had not expected him to have such high artistic attainments.
These attainments could even completely infect other people’s state of mind.
…
“Earl Suo Lun, what do you think?” Zhi You asked with satisfaction.
“The heir’s playing skill is unparalleled.” Suo Lun said.
Zhi You frowned. He himself knew that his advantage lay in showmanship. However, in the top artistic world, this carried a slightly derogatory meaning.
Thus he continued to ask: “I am asking you how you find the piece I composed?”
Suo Lun said: “Very novel and bold. The bright moon shines everywhere, peaceful and tranquil. Then the heavenly dog attacks and the bright moon is swallowed by darkness. The beauty appears, her dazzling light pierces the darkness and rescues the bright moon in the sky. Finally, the bright moon in the sky seems to shine only for her alone.”
As Suo Lun explained this, he could not help being startled and felt shocked inside.
It was extremely difficult to hear the story within a piece from listening to it once.
Yet Suo Lun had listened only once and explained it without any error. This showed very high artistic sensitivity. The key was that Zhi You had a feeling of his thoughts being seen through, so amid his satisfaction he also felt indignant.
The people present had originally only felt the piece sounded good, but they had not expected there to be such a layer of meaning. They instantly sighed in even greater admiration.
So the entire piece had been composed just to highlight Gui Qin Shao’s beauty.
Moreover, it had been crafted so ingeniously using the story of the heavenly dog eating the moon and beauty rescuing it to support the whole piece.
It was truly too exquisite.
But Suo Lun was inwardly complaining: You Zhi You really have no shame in order to win a girl’s heart. You even came up with a plot like beauty rescuing the moon. This kind of romance is really too exaggerated, too cheesy.
In the eyes of true art masters, this piece had low style and was somewhat gaudy. But one had to admit that when used to chase girls, its lethality was completely unparalleled.
Raising a girl’s beauty to this level and expressing it in such a gorgeous and romantic way, even being able to rescue the moon, were there any more beautiful women in the world?
Sure enough, after hearing Suo Lun’s explanation, a trace of red flush appeared on Gui Qin Shao’s peerlessly beautiful face. This was the expression of inner joy and intoxication.
After all, no girl disliked being praised for her beauty. The key was whether the praise was refined or not.
Zhi You said: “Then why not ask Earl Suo Lun to give a score.”
Suo Lun thought for a moment and said: “The heir’s playing attainments score 9.5 points. As for this piece, I can only give it 8 points. It is too gaudy, as if it was born purely to show off technique.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhi You’s expression changed completely. Because Suo Lun had not lied, nor had he deliberately lowered the score. He had directly exposed his intention.
Everyone present felt indignant upon hearing this, especially the many noble ladies, who all questioned and mocked Suo Lun.
“Humph, Suo Lun, you are completely jealous. It would be amazing if you could play even half as well as Heir Zhi You.”
“8 points? It can completely be 10 points, even 11 points, higher than full marks.”
“A profligate descendant is just a profligate descendant. He only knows how to be jealous of the worthy and able. Our eyes are sharp and clear.”
“Suo Lun, you spendthrift, what do you understand about art? You only know how to squander the family fortune and harm good women. It serves you right that your family territory was occupied. It serves you right that you were driven out like a stray dog.” This girl was clearly a fervent fan of Zhi You and had already escalated to personal attack.
Zhi You suddenly raised his hands high and stopped everyone from mocking and ridiculing Suo Lun.
Then he laughed from extreme anger: “Good, good, good. Then I really want to appreciate how high Earl Suo Lun’s artistic realm is and how transcendent and refined his piece is. Everyone be quiet. We will wait for Earl Suo Lun to perform for us and see just how elegant it is!”
Thus everyone present reluctantly quietened down, sat back in their seats, and waited for Suo Lun’s performance with critical eyes and expressions.
However, many people were still whispering and pointing at Suo Lun, showing doubt and disdain.
They had decided that even if Suo Lun played decently, they would evaluate him as worthless. Who let Suo Lun be a stray dog now, and who let him become Heir Zhi You’s love rival?
…
Suo Lun closed his eyes.
Originally he had two choices.
The first choice was the more showy and intense Turkish March. He could simply change its name to Nu Lang March.
The second choice was Carmen Fantasy.
But Heir Zhi You had already set the theme by wanting to echo his Moonlight, so neither of the above choices would work.
To directly correspond to his Moonlight, it was simple. Master Beethoven happened to have a Moonlight Sonata.
This piece, from slow to intense, not only had high artistic realm but could also be used to show off technique.
However, if he were facing art masters from the Divine Dragon Holy Temple at this moment, this piece would undoubtedly be the most suitable to conquer their artistic souls.
Yet the audience at this time was a group of nobles and high ranking warrior lords whose artistic level was not high and who at most pretended to be cultured.
Therefore Moonlight Sonata would not be suitable.
He must choose a piece where just two notes could pierce the heart and pierce the soul, making them feel: What is this piece? It can actually move people to this extent? It can actually be this astonishing?
The effect Suo Lun wanted to achieve was a instant kill, completely obliterating Zhi You.
With just one or two notes, he would thoroughly obliterate Zhi You’s showy piece.
Thus the piece Suo Lun selected was China’s thousand year classical famous piece, the artistic treasure Spring River Flower Moon Night.
How astonishing was this piece?
At the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony, the first line sung by the dan role instantly conquered everyone, regardless of race or country.
It was true heavenly sound. No matter who heard it, even if they had never heard the piece before, the first reaction after listening was a tremble in the heart and hairs standing on end.
Damn, what the hell is this piece? It is actually this astonishing? This good to listen to?
For Zhi You’s original piece Moonlight, Suo Lun had already evaluated it earlier. Because it was showy, when listening during performance one felt: Oh, it sounds quite good.
But after listening, that flavour became fainter and fainter, feeling it was nothing special. One might even regret the praise given to the piece earlier.
After all, Zhi You was only a person who liked showing off technique, not an art master.
And the Spring River Flower Moon Night that Suo Lun was about to play had been specially arranged for piano, bringing the piece’s ethereal quality and astonishing beauty to the extreme.
The harpsichord, because of its special physical properties, was even more suitable than the piano for performing this piece.
Therefore the effect when played would be instantly soul capturing and enchanting.
Suo Lun looked at the noisy crowd and the once again lazy Gui Qin Shao and said: “The piece I will play is called Flower Moon Night.”
“Cut!” The noble girls supporting Zhi You immediately showed disdain. Heir Zhi You played Moonlight, and you play Flower Moon Night. This is shameless copying.
Suo Lun took a deep breath, gathered his dragon power and spiritual force, gently pressed the keys, and began the performance.
“Spring river tide water connects to the sea’s calm, on the sea the bright moon is born together with the tide!”
Instantly, incomparably ethereal and incomparably astonishing notes sounded.
In an instant, dead silence. All noise and all whispering completely ended.
With just a few notes, so casually and unintentionally, everyone’s hearts were instantly pierced.
This… this is too good to listen to, too astonishing!
These astonishing notes did not seem to flow from Suo Lun’s fingertips but truly flew from beyond the nine heavens.
With only fourteen notes, that kind of profound mystery and that kind of transcendent and refined charm instantly flowed into everyone’s ears.
After your ears heard it, it sounded again in your heart, then lingered and echoed!
True artistic treasures ignore race and ignore crowds. They are complete instant kills.
Even a person who understood nothing about art would feel after hearing it that this was the best.
Therefore, with fewer than twenty notes, Suo Lun’s Flower Moon Night completely obliterated Zhi You’s piece!
Yes, a complete and thorough obliteration, not even dregs left behind.
Zhi You’s gaudy piece could only tickle the ears but could not enter the heart or deceive the soul.
Facing this thousand year famous piece, this artistic treasure performed by Suo Lun, it was instantly obliterated by this transcendent and refined ethereal quality, suffering a crushing defeat.
It only needed fourteen notes!