When Xiang Shaoyun saw the two women's pleasurable expressions, a smile he rarely showed formed on his face.
It was a special kind of smile—a smile usually only silkpants would have.
He once lived a life of drowning in beauties. Now that there were two beauties before him, he had an illusion he had returned to the past.
Li Yaxuan was the first to recover. She smiled and said, "Excellent tea, Junior Brother Xiang. I can't really explain it, but it feels better than Junior Sister Gong's tea." She looked at Gong Qinyin and said, "Junior Sister Gong, don't blame your senior sister for being direct."
Gong Qinyin also finally recovered from her reverie when she heard those words. She opened her eyes and said, "Senior Sister Li, I am not a narrow-minded person like that." She then looked straight at Xiang Shaoyun and asked, "Is that the feeling of having both form and soul present? For some reason, I can feel joy rushing out of my heart uncontrollably. My master said that when tasting tea, one is mainly tasting the state of mind. Shaoyun, you have actually accomplished something only my master could. It's amazing!"
The admiration in Gong Qinyin's eyes was too much; even Xiang Shaoyun started blushing.
"Don't stare at me like that. I'm shy," said Xiang Shaoyun bashfully.
The two women burst out in laughter like two blooming flowers when they heard him. The two were incredibly beautiful, and when they smiled, they seemed to overshadow even the world around them.
"Junior Brother Xiang is a funny person," said Li Yaxuan in between her giggles. She rarely saw a young man as bold as Xiang Shaoyun. Even among the Cloud Margin Pavilion members, very few young men dared to speak like that to her.
Gong Qinyin said, "Shaoyun, you are definitely good at tea making. Now, it's time you play us a song. I've only been playing zither for a year. I still have a lot to learn."
Xiang Shaoyun replied, "Can I say no?"
"No!" Gong Qinyin and Li Yaxuan said at the same time.
"But I'm afraid the two of you will become my fans after listening to my song," said Xiang Shaoyun shamelessly while rubbing his chin.
The two women were completely amused by his words.
"If you are really that good, I don't mind. What, do you think it is embarrassing to have fans as beautiful as us?" Li Yaxuan teased.
"Haha, no, that will certainly be glorious. Ok, let me play you a song then," said Xiang Shaoyun with a hearty laugh. He then walked toward the table with a zither on it. Xiang Shaoyun sat down but did not immediately start playing the zither. Rather, he lightly picked at the strings, causing a melodic tune to ring in the air.
"This is a zither of common quality, but I guess it would suffice," said Xiang Shaoyun.
Gong Qinyin argued, "This is a zither my master gave me. How is it only a common zither?"
Xiang Shaoyun smiled and did not answer. He sank into focus and relaxed his entire body as his hands slowly rested on the zither. A mask of concentration covered his face as his fingers started plucking on the strings.
A melodious tune started fluttering about in the air. Xiang Shaoyun opened with a common ballad that was light and cheerful. Li Yaxuan was slightly disappointed when she heard what he was playing.
On the other hand, Gong Qinyin was paying full attention to each of Xiang Shaoyun's motions. She could see the absolute grace he was radiating with each motion. He looked like a grandmaster of the zither.
Even so, that was not good enough to win Gong Qinyin's admiration. At most, she would only feel that Xiang Shaoyun was a better zither player than her, which was still far from the level of accomplishing the dao through the zither.
Just as the two women were feeling slightly bored, the tune suddenly changed. Impassioned tunes started resounding throughout the courtyard. A scene appeared in the heads of the two women. They saw a tiny beast in a forest. It was being attacked and bullied by numerous powerful beasts. Again and again, the little beast resisted and fought back. They also saw the scene of a battlefield, witnessing the sight of someone being stabbed in the back by a comrade, sensing the sorrow of betrayal...
Both women were completely dazed. They had never expected that a song could penetrate their hearts like that. They could clearly sense what the song was trying to portray, that this was a dog-eat-dog world. They could also clearly sense the pain of betrayal, sinking them into a bottomless abyss of sorrow.
At a certain hidden corner of the estate, Granny Mei was also fully focused on the song. An incredibly sharp glint appeared in her eyes as she listened on.
Inwardly, she cried out in alarm, Inserting intent in the zither, filling the song with the sorrow of betrayal. This is someone with a vengeful heart. Nevertheless, his dao of zither has reached an extremely high level. If he pours his astral energy into his tune, he would be able to harm others with just his tune. This kid is a rare talent!
From the initial anger, the melody transformed into an entirely different feeling. It started turning encouraging, as if the one who was bullied had transformed into a completely new person now treading a path of unyielding growth.
The mood of the melody had completely infected the two women and the hidden old lady, pulling them out from the sorrowful sensation and filling their hearts with a resolute fighting spirit.
It was clear that they were completely immersed in the melody and were able to clearly feel every emotion the song portrayed. Even Xiang Shaoyun himself was completely engrossed in his own melody.
He found himself thinking a lot as scenes from his past flipped through his mind one after another, revealing the true emotions he had kept hidden in his heart for a long time. Completely engrossed in the song, he unknowingly triggered a certain power within him.
Strands of astral energy started flowing out of his fingertips into the zither, filling each tune he played with a wondrous power to control the emotion of others. It was a power capable of trapping a person in music forever. Fortunately, Xiang Shaoyun had never cultivated mind control techniques or killing zither techniques. Otherwise, both Gong Qinyin and Li Yaxuan would be seriously harmed.
Xiang Shaoyun was completely engrossed in the world of zither, to the point he no longer heard what he was playing himself. He didn't even know to stop. At a certain estate within one of Cloud Margin Pavilion's restricted zones, a person was standing silently on a roof, gazing toward the direction of Gong Qinyin's estate.
"Is that Qinyin? No, that's not her. She has yet to reach this human zither unity stage where one can control the zither through intent. If this playing is combined with a killing technique, even Skysoar Realm cultivators can be killed before they know what was going on. Unfortunately, this player still lacks the skill of self control when playing the zither," muttered the person with a slight sigh.
They then vanished from the roof before reappearing within Gong Qinyin's courtyard.