Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"So, Miss's musical skills are self-taught?"

Yunping nodded: "That's how it is."

The woman scoffed, looking down at Yun Ping'er, who was a head shorter than her, with a superior air: "The art of the zither is mysterious and wonderful in every way. In the south there is the Zi Dong Zither Immortal, and in the north there is the Bing Gu Zither Demon. As for your self-taught skill, have you ever been to the Zither Sect or had your rank assessed?"

Yun Ping'er raised an eyebrow, her gaze pausing slightly as she looked at the person in front of her, as if she had thought of something: "I have never been to the Qin Sect, nor have I ever been ranked."

The woman's smile grew even wider: "Never been to the Qin Sect? Then this unparalleled art might be somewhat exaggerated?"

Upon hearing this, Yunping felt as if she had seen a savior.

She quickly chimed in, "Oh, that's exactly right. My skills are far from perfect; how could I possibly be worthy of such a renowned dancer? I'd better not embarrass myself."

Ye Yuchan rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. If she hadn't known that the old rogue was just making excuses and wanted to leave this awful place as soon as possible, she would have already given Yun Ping'er a thorough dressing-down.

If someone who claims to have attained immortality through literature is still not skilled enough, no one, not even a ghost, would believe it.

Seeing the satisfied smile on the woman's face, Yunping'er didn't bother with these troublemakers. She put down her wine glass and turned to leave.

"Well, you guys keep chatting, I'll take my leave now."

But before she had taken more than a few steps back, Xiao Chunjie's voice rang in her ears again.

"Wait a minute."

And this time, Xiao Chunjie's voice was particularly sharp.

She turned around with a smile, came to Yunping'er, put one arm around her slender waist, and pressed her whole body against Yunping'er.

At the same time, under the influence of the spiritual energy, her words echoed throughout the entire Fragrant Pavilion.

"Although my friend has never been exposed to the qin school or had a teacher, her qin skills, to put it bluntly, are absolutely unmatched by any of you here, or your teachers, or any qin master you know."

As soon as she said that, Yunping knew—

This has become a major incident.

As expected, in an instant, thousands of gazes were directed at her with malice. Almost everyone completely ignored Xiao Chunjie's exaggerated arrogance and instead pointed their anger at Yun Ping'er.

Suddenly, a storm brewed.

"This newcomer is only slightly prettier, but her cultivation is practically nonexistent. How can someone like her be better at playing the zither than all of us here?"

“Being better than us is one thing, but being better than our master, better than any other master of the zither? I’m not questioning Lord Minglian, I just think it’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that such words are used to describe someone who has no class.”

"Perhaps Lord Minglian just wants to promote her friend. She looks quite good, and I reckon she's going to recommend her to Piaoxiang Pavilion!"

"That's not right either. Even if the goal is to boost her popularity, isn't this method a bit too ostentatious?"

— There was much discussion.

Although everyone's thoughts are different, one thing is certain: most people are taking a spectator's approach, wanting to see what will happen next.

"Since you've said so, Lady Naren..."

The woman from the Ash Demon Alliance glared at Yun Ping'er with resentment, then her teasing expression intensified: "Then let your friend go up on stage and play a piece."

"Uh... I think I shouldn't throw this away..."

"Hmm?" Xiao Chunjie licked her lips, smiling as she gazed at Yun Ping'er: "What did you just say?"

Inside the Fragrant Pavilion, countless gazes converged upon it.

Yunping knew that she would probably have to argue with Xiao Chunjie for a while longer.

Ugh... this is so troublesome.

She scratched her head and glanced back at Zhang Ruoxue and Ye Yuchan with a hint of helplessness: "Well, you two find a place to sit for a while, I'll go upstairs and come right back."

Ye Yuchan nodded, then glanced curiously at Xiao Chunjie, who was walking gracefully towards the center of the stage, and asked in a low voice, "Hey old rogue, why are you so afraid of this woman? Is there some unspeakable relationship between you and her?!"

"What are you thinking... She's just someone who likes to stir up trouble and will make things worse." Yun Ping'er knew Ye Yuchan's sensitive thoughts all too well, and immediately gave the girl a sharp rebuke. "If we don't go along with her, it will cause even more trouble. Besides, it's just playing a piece of music. We'll leave after we finish."

"Oh~" Upon hearing this, Ye Yuchan immediately understood: "So he's a troublemaker!"

Zhang Ruoxue's ears perked up as she stroked the little teddy bear in her arms, who was still trembling: "So, she and you, Yu Chan, are the same kind of people."

"What kind of kind?! Do you think I'm the kind of person who likes to cause trouble? I'm pretty well-behaved, aren't I?"

Yunping'er responded with a "heh" to Ye Yuchan's shameless behavior.

……

Arriving at the center of the stage, looking at Xiao Chunjie with a smile on her face, Yun Ping'er sighed helplessly. She then sat cross-legged on the cushion in the center of the light gauze curtain, placing her hands on the zither in front of her.

To be honest, it has been quite some time since she last played the zither.

The last time I played the zither was when I was opening Ye Yuchan's acupoints and helping her cultivate the "Thousand Blades" technique.

She gently touched the zither a few times to make sure it wasn't damaged, then looked up at Xiao Chunjie.

"So, what do you want me to play?"

“I’ll play anything.” Xiao Chunjie smiled gently, but this time, her smile was genuine, as if she were truly happy. “I’m willing to dance to any piece you play.”

Yunping'er was speechless. If she were suddenly asked to play a piece of music, she really wouldn't know what to play.

Through the curtain, his gaze fell upon the woman from the Ash Demon Alliance sitting below the stage, her face etched with jealousy. Without much thought, the old rogue asked directly.

"Hey you over there, yes, you, the lady dressed like a black and white paint bucket, is there any song you'd like to hear?"

"I?"

The woman sneered. She had only wanted to observe Yun Ping'er's skill level. If she didn't play well, she would give her a good scolding.

I can't believe she actually came to my door herself? She's really fearless.

A thought suddenly struck her, and she immediately remembered a piece of music she had seen long ago.

It was an extremely difficult piece, described as terrifying by his own piano teacher.

It is said that even some eighth-level master musicians cannot play this piece completely because the changes in the musical techniques and the variations in the string tones are too strange and complicated. To put it bluntly, it is simply not something a human can play!

The composer of this piece was a legendary qin master of the Tianjue era, said to be the most accomplished qin player besides Emperor Wen.

Taking a sip of sake, she exclaimed, "In that case, let me play a piece called 'Heartbreak and Immortality'!"

"A heartbroken pursuit of immortality?"

Yunping was stunned when she heard this.

Of course, it wasn't that she hadn't heard the piece before; on the contrary, it was because she was extremely familiar with it.

Because of this piece of music, if I remember correctly...

It seems to have been composed by a musician I instructed many years ago; if I really want to go back to the source…

Although he only gave her a few pointers, he should be considered Yunping'er's apprentice in the art of playing the zither.

41. Let's start with a special tune to liven things up.

Heartbroken, I yearn for immortality.

This piece was composed by a person hailed as the "Immortal of the Qin" during the Tianjue era. To this day, countless masters of the qin have studied and pondered this extremely difficult piece.

The difficulty lies not only in the fact that its artistic conception is hard to fathom, and without careful study, it is difficult to capture the composer's state of mind and thus difficult to play the piece, but also in the fact that the zither's key and string sounds are extremely difficult to master.

Most musicians would probably find it difficult to even play this piece completely, let alone master the strings and the rhythm.

"Hey, is your friend any good?"

Sitting in her original chair, Xu Yanliu rested her chin on one hand and poured wine into her gourd with the other, her gaze filled with a hint of doubt as she looked at the pink gauze curtains.

Who knows?

Ye Yuchan casually glanced at the small snacks on the table, which had been brought to them by Xiao Chunjie's maid earlier, and were exquisitely presented.

She wasn't worried about her teacher at all. After all, in his previous life, he was a person who revered immortals through literature and Taoism. If he couldn't even play the zither, one of the four arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, then the title of Emperor Wen could be thrown in the trash.

Zhang Ruoxue wasn't particularly worried about this. This girl had never worried about the old rogue. In her eyes, her master had a lot of prestige and status. If something really happened, they could just fight it out.

Ruoxue has always been a very broad-minded girl.

goo go go go...

Xu Yanliu gulped down wine, her cheeks flushed as she gazed at the graceful figure inside the curtained tent. She wiped her mouth, which was covered in wine and drool, and said, "Whether your friend plays well or not, you'd better be careful later. Most of the people in Piaoxiang Pavilion have their eyes on you."

"Hmm, I did notice that."

Ye Yuchan glanced at the dozen or so sharp, murderous gazes from the third floor above her head, then calmly stuffed the pastry in front of her into her mouth.

From the moment she started watching, there had been more than one hostile gaze fixed on her. If it weren't for the old rogue still being there and the unfamiliar world outside, Yu Chan would have already made her escape.

Xu Yanliu's intrigued gaze immediately fell on Ye Yuchan: "How about it, do you want to consider letting your older sister protect you for a while?"

"No...no need for that."

Ye Yuchan, who was being targeted by Baihe, shivered and moved her wheelchair away from Xu Yanliu. "Although they seem to dislike us, they shouldn't be so reckless as to attack us, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. Jealousy is a feeling that can be unpredictable. Besides, if they don't like you, they'll naturally want to embarrass you, like that song 'Broken Heart Chasing Immortality'."

"What's wrong with this piece of music?" Zhang Ruoxue tilted her head and asked softly.

“It’s very difficult, extremely difficult, and even more difficult.” Xu Yanliu confidently pronounced Yunping’er’s doom: “This piece is something that only true masters of the qin, or those qin players from the Qin School, can play.”

Ye Yuchan said "Oh" and didn't respond further.

Xu Yanliu frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "What's wrong? Aren't you worried?"

"It's fine. Even if she gets beaten to death for playing nonsense, it has nothing to do with me. In fact, I'd rather see her make a fool of herself." Ye Yuchan chuckled twice, looking exactly like a shameless old rogue.

"Are you really friends...?"

Xu Yanliu was astonished and began to doubt the relationship between Ye Yuchan and Yun Ping'er.

……

Inside the canopy.

Yunping stroked the strings, temporarily putting her past memories aside, and the sheet music for that piece automatically appeared in her mind.

Seeing that the music hadn't stopped for a long time, the woman from the Ash Demon Alliance grinned and said, "What's wrong, esteemed musician? Is this piece too difficult for you to play?"

She deliberately emphasized the phrase "master of the zither," seemingly to belittle Yunping'er.

Xiao Chunjie also cast a questioning glance at Yun Ping'er. In her opinion, Yun Ping'er shouldn't be so hesitant.