I am an incredibly handsome man, and my fiancée refuses to call off the engagement even at the cost

Dugu Xun's voice contained a great deal of emotion.

Gu Yan: "..."

He understood what Dugu Xun meant.

But even if I were a woman, so what? Even if I were a woman, I wouldn't marry him!

Dugu Xun's gaze was intense, causing Gu Yan's smile to freeze. So he called out, "Brother?"

Dugu Xun snapped out of his daze, smiled at Gu Yan, and asked, "Who taught Zirong to play the zither?"

His gaze held scrutiny and undisguised admiration. "Your skill in playing the zither can only be acquired through years of dedicated study and the tutelage of a renowned teacher. May I ask which master you studied under, Zirong?"

Gu Yan replied, "He wasn't taught by any famous or renowned teacher. He was taught by my uncle."

"Master Uncle?" Dugu Xun immediately followed up, "To be able to teach a disciple like you, your Master Uncle must be an unparalleled master, perhaps even reaching the pinnacle of the art of the zither. Zirong, may I ask your name?"

Gu Yan said, "My master... is of a detached nature and has long since ceased to concern himself with worldly affairs. When he taught me the art of playing the zither, he only said, 'The zither is the sound of the heart; pleasing oneself is enough.' He dislikes me mentioning him in front of outsiders, just like my master."

Gu Yan paused here, but his meaning was clear: Don't ask, I won't tell you. Don't ask about my master either, I won't tell you either.

Dugu Xun stared at him for a moment, then chuckled and said, "Zirong has quite a few secrets."

Dugu Xun stopped pressing the matter and instead said, "Since you don't want to talk about it, then so be it." He paused, his tone serious, "Your zither skills are enough to rank you among the top ten of everyone I know."

These words carry significant weight.

With his status as the Demon of the Qin, the people he knew were all the most prominent figures on the continent of Miro, including many masters with truly exceptional skills.

Being in the top ten is already a very high evaluation.

"Logically speaking, even if Zi Rong started practicing from the womb, she couldn't have achieved such skill in playing the zither. Are you really only eighteen years old?" Dugu Xun stared at Gu Yan, puzzled. Eighteen years old, late-stage Spirit King Realm, near-sixth-grade alchemist, and a master of the zither—what kind of monster is this?

If he were merely obsessed with playing the zither, that would be understandable. But this involves cultivation and alchemy; even with a clone technique, he'd be overwhelmed. He couldn't find any other explanation besides a monster.

Gu Yan smiled slightly: "I'll be nineteen in a few months."

Dugu Xun was slightly taken aback when he saw his smile, which was as serene and bright as the moonlight. He sighed in his heart again, "Why isn't he a woman?"

With such stunning beauty, such extraordinary talent, and such superb musical skills, how could she not be a woman?

He had been attracted to Chen Yujing before, but compared to the boy in front of him, Chen Yujing was inferior to him in every way except that she was a woman.

In terms of looks, talent, and strength, she is not even one ten-thousandth as good as the young man in front of her. That woman also has a foul and stubborn temper, has not read many books, and knows nothing about music. Compared with the young man in front of her, she is just a vulgar person, a very vulgar person.

How could he have ever fallen for such a vulgar woman? She ran away from the wedding; good riddance!

If she hadn't run away from the wedding, he would never have known such a perfect person existed in the world. But he wasn't a woman, so why was he a man? Why couldn't such a perfect person be a woman?

"What was the name of the piece you just played?" Dugu asked.

"The Flowing Water," Gu Yan replied.

"Was it composed by your martial uncle?" Dugu asked.

Gu Yan said, "My martial uncle also learned it from someone else, but he didn't tell me who taught him."

This melody has been passed down for thousands of years, undergoing countless evolutions. As for its origin, who created it? Could it be the legendary Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi? Who knows?

"The Flowing Water..." Dugu Xun repeated slowly, looking at Gu Yan with deep purple eyes full of inquiry. "I have been practicing the zither for hundreds of years and am well-versed in the evolution of ancient and modern music. I have never seen this piece before in terms of its artistic conception, structure, and fingering techniques."

With a wave of his hand, Dugu Xun summoned a guqin that was carved entirely from white jade, with emerald patterns on its body and faint starlight flowing through its strings. It appeared silently in front of Gu Yan, replacing the previous seven-stringed guqin.

Gu Yan looked down at the ancient zither in front of her. This zither was clearly a weapon of the highest level, equivalent to a heaven-reaching spiritual treasure.

"This zither is called Shuangke. Zirong, play it again," Dugu Xun said.

Gu Yan readily complied. This time, he didn't simply play the instrument as before. His fingertips surged with spiritual energy, and the Frost Harp seemed to be awakened by him. The strings trembled, and the entire sea fell silent.

The secluded ravine drips with spring water, clear and tranquil; the stream murmurs and gurgles. Every drop of water in this sea seems to recall a distant memory. As the rhythm quickens, the entire ocean seems to resonate at this moment.

In her previous life, Gu Yan studied the zither for over forty years, not merely to appear cultured, but in pursuit of the Dao.

As he played, he gradually became more and more engrossed, forgetting his situation and completely immersing himself in the melody of "Flowing Water" that flowed from the depths of his memory.

Her jade-like fingers danced rapidly across the strings of the zither, the Frosty Jade Zither conjuring extraordinary phenomena that shook the heavens and earth. The maids, dancers, servants, and guards on the entire ship trembled in fear. They gazed upon the vast, turbulent sea, its immensity seemingly capable of destroying the world.

The surging musical intent, carrying the vast spiritual power of the Frost-Bearing Zither, manifested boundless phenomena in the sky above the sea.

In the beginning of chaos, the Milky Way poured down, and in the primordial universe, stars rose and fell, were born and died in the torrent of time. Dugu Xun was completely immersed in the music, and he gained new insights from it.

Gu Yan had stopped; he had finished playing his piece.

He looked at Dugu Xun, whose eyes were closed, and suddenly his spiritual pressure surged wildly. That late-stage Spirit Emperor realm spiritual pressure swept across the entire sea, causing countless creatures to tremble in fear. On this sea, countless powerful figures turned deathly pale. Who was it? Which old monster wielded this terrifying spiritual pressure?

Hundreds of thousands of miles away, Yu Ji, holding a folding fan, felt the spiritual pressure and her face turned pale. Dugu Xun's spiritual pressure had surged from the late stage of the Spirit Emperor Realm to the peak of the late stage of the Spirit Emperor Realm, and was still rising rapidly.

Yu Ji was shocked and thought to herself: How is this possible? Dugu Xun has only been in the late stage of the Spirit Emperor Realm for a little over thirty years, how could he suddenly be at the peak of the late stage of the Spirit Emperor Realm?

Dugu Xun is the youngest Spirit Emperor on the Mi Luo Continent, while Yu Ji is much older than him. She previously conceded and called him "Senior Brother" because Dugu Xun was stronger than her, so she feigned weakness.

Yu Ji had been stuck in the early stage of the Spirit Emperor Realm for over six hundred years. She had watched helplessly as Dugu Xun entered the early stage of the Spirit Emperor Realm, caught up with her, and then surpassed her, entering the middle and late stages of the Spirit Emperor Realm. She was already driven mad with jealousy.

Now that her opponent has suddenly reached the late-stage peak of the Spirit Emperor Realm, she is on the verge of a mental breakdown.