Number One Under Heaven

An entire minute had passed, yet the heavenly voice was still lingering inside the audiences' head, unwilling to go away.

Not waiting for them to wake up, the veiled figure, Tang Yi, continued speaking, “Thank you all for coming today, I know this is sudden and will be hard for many of you to digest, but today will be our last day operating here in the Jin Long Continent.”

Her last sentence jolted everybody there awake with even more shock than before.

“What?!”

They could not help but scream.

“Our Sect has been operating within the four Continent since 12 years ago, and after today, we will finally return to the Holy Continent,” she continued.

“N-N-No way…”

Sorrow overwhelmed many people there and dozens wanted to cry, but Tang Yi’s voice was magical, preventing them from bawling their eyes out.

Qiu Heng was the same, he wanted to cry, but an invisible force was preventing him from doing so.

He looked at the girl right behind Tang Yi, the one surnamed ‘Sun’, and his eyes turned red.

Xuan Wanshan rolled her eyes at them thinking it’s an overreaction before ignoring them.

Tian Yi continued to watch with a tranquil expression on his face.

“Why?!”

Somebody shouted.

Tang Yi shook her head slowly, saying that she is unable to answer that question.

“.....”

The entire place had instantly turned gloomy, even depressing.

Pulling out a chair made from jade, Tang Yi sits on it and places the zither in her arms onto her lap.

“I do not know what else to say, so I will just play a song for you… Hopefully listening to this will lessen the sadness within the souls in the room,” she said.

Her fingers began moving towards the strings on the zither.

The movements of her hands were slow, yet it looked as if she had suddenly gained two extra arms, making it look as if there were four arms moving at once!

The people rubbed their eyes like washing dishes, but no matter how hard they rubbed, they could still see four arms!

The string on the zither trembled, sending out a ripple that contained a profound note.

Just this one note was already enough to shake the souls of everybody there, forcing them to forget about their sadness.

Tang Yi’s fingers danced around the strings, sending ripples upon ripples of music, its speed increasing and slowing at random paces, making it a unique pattern.

The audience sat there dumbfounded, not knowing how to react. The girls before her were great, even calling it perfect was not out of stretch. But Tang Yi… her mastery in the zither was even higher than perfect! It was so perfect that they did not know how to explain the feeling they were currently experiencing.

It was as if a new kind of feeling was born inside them, one they never knew existed.

“...”

Tian Yi sat there with a strange look on his face.

Hearing the notes, he was not happy, nor was he feeling sadness… he was actually confused.

He could tell that she was indeed more skillful than the previous girls by a large margin, yet he enjoyed the notes created by the previous girls better than her.

Time passed by extremely fast, what had lasted for a good five minutes actually felt like five seconds.

The music stopped, the ripples disappeared, Tang Yi’s fingers were no longer touching the silk-like strings, and she stood up to bow.

The crowd was quiet after many minutes even after she had finished. They were just that shocked.

Clap. Clap.

Someone finally began clapping, and that person was actually Xuan Wanshan!

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Thunderous claps loud enough to shake the dust off the ceiling resounded in the red room, even penetrating the closed doors and allowing the pedestrians outside to hear it.

Nobody spoke a word, only clapping with all their might.

The audience clapped and clapped, many even began feeling pain because their palms were red from excessive clapping.

The people there were not able to see it, but a gentle smile appeared behind Tang Yi’s veil.

She swept the audience with her Divine Sense and she was happy because everybody there enjoyed it---

The gentle smile behind her veil suddenly froze.

‘Eh?’

Her attention was on the ordinary-looking young man sitting in the most front row.

He was ordinary in every way, so ordinary that she would have never noticed him if it were not for the fact that he was the only one in the entire room not clapping. Because of that, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

The longer the people clapped the more apparent the frown was on that ordinary young man’s face.

‘Was it not satisfying for him? I-Is that even possible?’

Tang Yi began doubting herself, but she shook away that thought the next instant.

How was it possible for something like that to happen? She was the best of the best even within the Holy Continent, and even Heaven Realm experts could only sigh in admiration when they listen to her playing the zither, so how was it possible for someone in this Continent to not be satisfied after experiencing her zither skills?

She did not want to doubt her skills, but even after another minute, that ordinary young man really did not seem like he was planning on clapping at all!

‘Why?’ she began pondering.

Was her skill really not enough to satisfy this young man? This is a first time for her! Be they Mortals or Immortals, everybody would either clap or have a satisfied look on their face after listening to her playing the zither. There has never been a time where there was not a single individual not satisfied with her performance!

A frown slowly appeared on her face followed by a determined light flashing by her hidden eyes.

The audience suddenly stopped clapping, and it was not because they were tired, instead, it was because Tang Yi had actually sat back down on her jade chair!

“Eh?”

The girls behind her were puzzled at her actions. Why did she sit back down? They all knew that senior apprentice-sister Tang would only play one song, so why does it look like she was going to continue playing?

Even the old lady, Senior Yao, was puzzled at her actions while watching on the top floor.

“What is this girl doing?” she asked herself.

Everybody watched as Tang Yi begin moving her fingers towards the zither once again.

The audience’s face began beaming with happiness once they realized what she was going to do… she was going to play again!

Without waiting for them to sit back down, Tang Yi had already begun playing the zither, her beautiful fingers danced across the zither, the ripples reappear, and her unique rhythm began singing once again.

‘T-This sounds way better than before…?’ the girls behind Tang Yi thought to themselves.

While the audience was too inexperienced to notice it, how could they not notice such a big change? Even Senior Yao was given a good surprise by her change!

Although she was playing better than before, Tang Yi’s attention was still on the ordinary-looking young man the entire time she played the zither.

‘You are not satisfied? Good! Then I will play until you are!’ she was determined to make this ordinary young man recognize her skills, not for him, but for herself!

“......”

The entire place turned dead quiet once again.

Tang Yi had finished her second song.

The audience could still feel their hairs raising and their skin tingling even though she had finished five minutes ago!

Clap Clap Clap Clap.

Their clapping was louder than previous even though their palms were still hurting from the last song!

Even the girls behind her were clapping this time around!

The whole pagoda trembled from the clapping yet Tang Yi was still focused on the young man.

‘Why?! Why is he not satisfied?!’ her eyebrows were getting closer to each other by the second.

Not waiting for the clapping to stop this time, Tang Yi’s finger had begun moving once again!

“What?! She’s still going to play?!”

Her fellow disciples were truly bewildered this time. They thought that she had only wanted to play some more, but there seems to be something else going on in their senior apprentice-sister Tang’s mind!

The music started again even though the ripples from the previous song had not disappeared yet!

Listening to the notes, Senior Yao stood up. “She has improved again?!” she was shocked this time.

Tang Yi’s fingers danced effortlessly on the zither, her skill has increased once again!

Shocked by her performance, her fellow disciples’ jaws were already kissing the stage.

‘I do not know who you are, but I will not let you leave this place until you clap for me!’ Tang Yi thought to herself as she continued to play the zither.

“...”

The third song finally came to an end….

And the fourth song had begun playing before the audience could even begin clapping.

“?!?!?!?”

Even the audience had begun noticing that something weird was going on yet nobody complained because as long as they get to hear more of her zither playing, who cares what was going on?!

“....”

The fourth song ended, and the fifth song instantly began playing.

‘Still not satisfied? Good! Then listen to this!’

The fifth song ended, and the sixth song instantly began playing.

‘Not yet? Let me see who is better at being stubborn!’

The sixth song ended, and the seventh song instantly began playing.

‘I do not believe!’

The eighth song.

‘What if you are actually deaf…?’

The ninth song.

‘Don’t tell me you are really deaf?’

The tenth song.

‘Why the hell are you even here if you are deaf?!’

More than a dozen song was played by Tang Yi, surpassing even her fellow disciples in the amount of songs played.

Not only did she play more than them, she was even improving after every song!

Haaah. Haaah.

Tang Yi finally separated her fingers from the zither on her lap and breathed heavily.

“....”

“.......”

“..........”

After they were certain that she was done playing the zither, the entire room was filled with thunderous clapping again.

It was so loud that some could feel their eardrums hurting.... yet they ignored it and continued clapping!

They clapped for so long that some could see blood oozing out of their palms... yet they ignored it and continued clapping!

“S-Senior apprentice-sister Tang… Y-You…”

Her fellow disciples were already shocked numb and did not know what to say to her.

The Senior Yao on the top floor was smiling from ear to ear. Even though they were not able to find that person, at least their most prominent disciple was able to take another wide step in her cultivation path!

“Why…?”

An exhausted voice came from behind the veil covering Tang Yi.

“Eh? What did senior apprentice-sister Tang say?” asked one of the girls.

“WHY?!”

Tang Yi suddenly shouted, shocking the entire audience into silence.

“Why are you not satisfied? Is there something wrong with my zither playing? Do I really suck that much? Why do you look so confused? Who are you? Are you actually deaf? You are deaf, aren’t you? Yeah, you are definitely deaf, right?”

Countless questions echoed within the silent room.

“...”

‘Did senior apprentice-sister Tang go crazy?’

Her fellow disciples asked each other with Divine Sense.

‘What nonsense are you talking about?’

‘But what is she doing? Who is she directing these questions to?’

‘Does it look like I can read her mind?’

They sent messages with Divine Sense back and forth.

“What aren’t you saying anything?”

Tang Yi finally stood up and began walking towards the edge of the stage.

"Why are you not acknowledging me?"

She looked down at the ordinary-looking young man who was only a few feet away from her.

"Am I not worthy enough for your words?"

She suddenly took off her veil, revealing her shockingly beautiful fairy-like face, sending waves upon waves of admiration and love into the males' heart.

"Did I do something to offend you?"

Her emerald colored eyes stared at the young man, ignoring everything else.

“Say something... will you?”

Her voice was getting lower and lower, yet she continued to ask him questions.

“....”

Qiu Heng and Xuan Wanshan had strange looks on their face. Was she talking to them? What did they do wrong?

“I am talking to you… the one with the white robes!”

Tang Yi pointed at the one she was referring to, making everybody turn their gazes.

Her finger was pointing to an ordinary-looking young man sitting in the front row.

Xuan Wanshan and Qiu Heng’s head slowly turned to the side with stiff movements and stared at the person sitting next to them.

“T-Tian Yi…? What did you do to her?” Qiu Heng asked him in a shaking tone.

Xuan Wanshan did not even bother speaking and directly went for the facepalm while sighing.