Huang Shijia was engrossed in the Piano Score, while Zhang Liping stared blankly at Zhao Yuan. For a moment, the dance studio fell into a strange silence.
A good while later, Huang Shijia suddenly looked up and exclaimed excitedly, "What a piece! This is truly a magnificent piece! Xiaozhang, do you have a Guqin in this dance studio? My hands are itching, I can't hold back anymore!"
As he spoke, Huang Shijia held the Piano Score in one hand, while his other hand danced restlessly in front of him. He was clearly desperate to play the piece.
Although he had already imagined the score as a melody in his mind, he still longed to hear it played aloud.
Zhang Liping shook her head. "I don't have any instruments in my dance studio." Suddenly, her gaze fell upon the long case on Yao Jie's back. "Young man," she asked, "what instrument are you carrying?"
"Me?" Yao Jie hadn't expected Zhang Liping to speak to him. He froze for a second before answering, "I'm carrying a Guqin."
Huang Shijia was overjoyed. He dashed over to Yao Jie in a single bound. "Wonderful! Could I possibly borrow it for a moment?"
"Yes, of course! It would be my honor." Yao Jie was flattered and flustered. He quickly took off the long case, opened it, and took out a Guqin.
"Thank you."
Huang Shijia took the Guqin, sat down on the spot, and placed it across his lap. After a few simple tuning adjustments, he turned his gaze back to Zhao Yuan's Piano Score, ready to play from it.
'What? Elder Huang is actually going to play this tattered Piano Score? Wait... no, I think I just heard Elder Huang call it a magnificent piece. Could he have been talking about this? But how is that possible? Isn't this kid a total novice who's never even studied the Guqin? How could a score he wrote be any good?'
Yao Jie felt like his brain was completely short-circuiting.
At the same time, Huang Shijia sat upright and proper, his ten fingers plucking, stroking, flicking, and pressing the strings.
As he played, a melodious and moving tune filled the air. It was an Immortal Spirit song, yet lively; ethereal, yet carefree. The music flowed into the ears of everyone present, and all of them, including Zhao Yuan, became intoxicated by the beautiful sound.
Everyone closed their eyes involuntarily. The exquisite music gave them the feeling of floating like an immortal. It was as if their bodies were lifted by the mystical notes, soaring through a sea of clouds, vying with the sun and moon for brilliance, and dancing with the stars...
It was a wondrous feeling, unlike anything they had ever experienced before!
Only when Huang Shijia finished the piece did everyone awaken from this wondrous state, a unanimous sense of loss rising in their hearts.
How they wished that wondrous feeling could have continued, never to stop!
The dance studio was utterly silent. No one spoke, each person savoring the memory of that mystical feeling.
After a long while, Huang Shijia finally sighed with emotion. "This melody is undeniably a divine work, a masterpiece that surpasses all previous Guqin compositions. It is a work of genius, unprecedented and likely never to be surpassed!"
He stood up, his face streaked with tears.
They were tears of excitement, tears of joy!
For a Guqin master, what could be more exciting, more joyous, than seeing and playing a world-shaking composition?
After returning the Guqin to Yao Jie, Huang Shijia turned to Zhang Liping and asked, "Xiaozhang, who did you say composed this piece?"
Zhang Liping pointed at Zhao Yuan and said, "It was composed by this student, Zhao Yuan."
"Did you really compose this piece?" Huang Shijia asked.
"Yes," Zhao Yuan nodded, confirming it.
Huang Shijia suddenly did something that shocked everyone—he bowed deeply to Zhao Yuan.
"Mr. Huang, what are you doing?" Zhao Yuan quickly sidestepped, not daring to accept the bow. Never mind Huang Shijia's status; just based on his age alone, Zhao Yuan felt he couldn't possibly receive such a gesture. It felt like it would shorten his own life!
After bowing, Huang Shijia stepped forward and gripped Zhao Yuan's hands tightly.
"Thank you, student Zhao Yuan! Thank you for letting me see such a beautiful piece of music! Confucius said, 'If one hears the Dao in the morning, one may die content in the evening.' That is exactly how I feel right now. Having seen this Piano Score and played this melody, my life is complete. I have no regrets!"
"You're... you're welcome."
Zhao Yuan was left somewhat flustered by Huang Shijia's reaction. Before this, while he knew the Cloud Flying Immortal Melody was excellent, he never expected it to move a national treasure of a Guqin master like Huang Shijia to this extent.
Nearby, when Yao Jie saw this, his jaw almost hit the floor.
Recalling the melody he had just heard, Yao Jie really wanted to slap himself twice.
'A piece so shocking and brilliant that it made Elder Huang quote Confucius about dying content... and I actually called it a piece of trash. I was truly blind!'
At the same time, his heart was also filled with suspicion. 'This kid, Zhao Yuan... didn't he say he'd never learned to play the Guqin? So how could he write such a world-shaking piece? Could it be... he plagiarized it from someone else?'
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Zhao Yuan had plagiarized it, and he shouted his thoughts aloud, "Elder Huang, Teacher Zhang, don't be fooled by him! There's no way he composed this piece. He plagiarized it!"
"What did you say? Plagiarism?" Huang Shijia turned around, his brow furrowed. "Do you have any proof? You can't just make baseless accusations and slander people!"
"I have proof, I have proof," Yao Jie said hurriedly. "He said it himself just now, that he has never learned the Guqin. Tell me, how could someone who can't even play the Guqin possibly write such a world-shaking Piano Score?"
Zhao Yuan had anticipated this situation and was already prepared for it.
He didn't deny it. Instead, he nodded and said, "Mm, you're right. I did plagiarize it. In fact, not only did I plagiarize this Piano Score, but I've also plagiarized many others."
He asked Chen Jiao for a pen and paper and, in front of everyone, began to write rapidly.
In the "Miscellaneous Knowledge" section of the Information Leaf, the Piano Scores were as numerous as ox hairs. Not only were there pieces personally composed by Wu Peng, but also ones he had collected—all of them classics that had never before appeared in the mortal world!
Soon, a complete Piano Score was written out.
"Here, take a look. What do you think of this piece? I plagiarized this one, too."
After handing the Piano Score to Huang Shijia and the others, Zhao Yuan didn't stop. He lowered his head and continued writing. "I'll plagiarize a few more for you."
One score after another was born from his hands!
This time, it wasn't just Yao Jie. Everyone, including Huang Shijia, was left utterly dumbfounded.
Because every single Piano Score Zhao Yuan produced was a world-shaking masterpiece!
To compose even one such piece in a lifetime would be enough to ensure one's name went down in history. Yet Zhao Yuan was churning them out like they were common cabbages!
This was simply terrifying!
Although Zhao Yuan insisted he was plagiarizing all these scores, no one believed him. On the contrary, everyone unanimously agreed that he must have composed them himself.
One or two might have been believable, but so many world-shaking masterpieces? You couldn't plagiarize them even if you wanted to!
If these Piano Scores had truly existed before, they would have been known to the world long ago. How could they have remained obscure until now? It could only mean that Zhao Yuan himself had composed them all!
Looking at Zhao Yuan, a single word suddenly popped into everyone's mind: Demon!
That's right. In their eyes, Zhao Yuan wasn't a genius, but a Demon. Because a mere genius couldn't possibly compare to him!