Not waiting for Long Chen to reply, the woman started playing her zither. The melodious zither music reverberated through the air, and the sound waves spread throughout the majority of Grand Xia City.

Countless experts in the city gazed into the distance at the Heavenly Cloud Platform. That zither music seemed to possess its own will that was giving them food for thought.

“Long Chen, you’re actually skilled in music theory? How did she know that? Do you know her?” Xia Youluo suspiciously looked at Long Chen.

“I also find it strange. Even I didn’t know I was proficient in music theory!” exclaimed Long Chen with shock.

A chuckle escaped Xia Youluo’s lips, and she lightly beat him, warning, “Now’s not the time to mess around. She’ll definitely ask you for pointers once she is done, so prepare yourself.”

“No need to worry. Could such a thing pose any difficulty to me, Long Chen? She’s looking down on me far too much.” Long Chen puffed out his chest.

“You have a way to deal with her?” asked Xia Youluo with surprise.

“A tactical escape. You busy yourself while I leave.” Long Chen stood up to leave, but Xia Youluo pulled him back down.

“You’re running from a battle. How can you act like this? How will you even raise your head in the future?” demanded Xia Youluo.

“Why would I raise my head? It’s tiring.” Long Chen shrugged.

“Think of some way to handle her! You’re so smart, you can definitely deal with her, right?” said Xia Youluo expectantly.

“That’s not very likely. Of the seven apertures, I am only skilled in six. I have no assurance,” said Long Chen gravely.

“Being skilled in six of them is already extremely amazing! Wait, are you saying… you’re saying you don’t even know one[1]?!” Xia Youluo reacted after a moment.

“Exactly!” When it came to music, Long Chen truly knew nothing. So fleeing was definitely the best choice.

“But you can’t just escape, or it’ll lose the face of our Grand Xia. Right now, you’re one of the Grand Xia’s generals, so you can’t run.” Xia Youluo kept a tight hold of Long Chen as if afraid he would slip away right this instant.

Long Chen found it funny. This girl was too pure-hearted. Sometimes, she couldn’t even tell a joke and thought he really was running.

“Primal chaos split at the beginning, Yang formed the Heavens, Yin formed the Earth, Yin and Yang divided, Heaven and Earth facing…”

Just at this moment, a sweet singing sound began to accompany the zither music. That woman was actually singing while playing.

Her singing was very nice, and her song was a scripture containing the essence of the world. As her voice resounded in people’s ears, they felt their mental realms rising. She was truly powerful.

Once this song was over, everyone had to nod in praise. This song was truly amazing. If they could hear this song continuously, their mental realms would rapidly rise.

“Mister Long Chen, please give me some pointers.” The woman looked toward Long Chen. She stayed standing on the stage, refusing to get off.

Long Chen frowned. Did she really have to act like this? He didn’t recall any personal enmity between them. Why would she force him like this?

“Miss, you are forcing me!” Long Chen bitterly smiled.

“I’ve long since heard that mister Long Chen’s skill in the Music Dao is extremely profound. I truly want to hear your appraisal.” The woman looked at Long Chen sincerely, but while that sincerity might be able to trick others, it wasn’t able to trick Long Chen.

Xia Yunchong and the others were surprised to see this woman view Long Chen so highly. They hadn’t expected Long Chen to have such a skill.

Han Wenjun sneered. The higher he raised Long Chen, the better it would feel to knock him on the ground.

“Miss, where did you hear that I’m skilled in musical theory?” Long Chen smiled a smile that was not a smile at the woman.

She looked at him. For some unknown reason, her heart pounded wildly when Long Chen was staring at her. She couldn’t lie while looking at Long Chen.

However, she did have guts. She smiled and bowed toward Long Chen, lowering her head to avoid his gaze. “Mister Long Chen, you don’t need to be humble. Could it be that you refuse to give me any pointers?”

Since you want to force me like this despite the fact that we don’t have any enmity, I won’t stand on courtesy. Long Chen had never been afraid of bragging. Words began to flow from his mouth. “Alright, you’re right. My humble-self began studying literature at three and martial arts at four, at five I could recite poetry and songs, at six I could kill chickens and pigs, at seven I could slaughter dragons and tigers, at eight I saw through the mundane world of dust and began to study the various musical arts. When it comes to the Music Dao, from the heights of the heavens to the depths of the earth, the zither, the guqin, the lute, the morning bells, the evening drum, there is none that I am not skilled in…”

Long Chen’s bragging caused these people’s ears to buzz and their eyes to see stars. Some of them even had their hair stand on end.

At first, they were truly shocked by Long Chen. But then Long Chen’s words came out like a torrent, and he bragged for a full two hours without repeating a single phrase. Now they all finally realized he was just bragging.

But to be able to bring bragging to this level, it could also count as a divine ability. The most amazing thing was that Long Chen didn’t even bat an eye.

Eventually, even Long Chen ran out of bragging words and came to a stop. Everyone was silent, feeling dizzy from his bragging.

“As expected, grandmaster Long Chen truly is amazing. I prostrate myself in admiration toward you. Grandmaster Long Chen, can you give me some pointers?” The woman waited for Long Chen to finish bragging. The sneer on her face was unconcealable. She directly called him grandmaster.

The more Long Chen bragged, the more face he would lose in a bit. This was what she and Han Wenjun wanted to see.

Xia Youluo was worried. She knew Long Chen knew nothing about musical theory. He had sealed his own path.

“Do you really want me to evaluate you?” Long Chen smiled.

“Please, grandmaster Long Chen.” The woman bowed expectantly.

“Alright, then I’ll give you an evaluation. I will use two words to describe your music just now.” Long Chen raised two fingers. “Absolute trash.”

Everyone’s expressions changed, especially that woman’s. She turned ashen out of rage, and she glared at Long Chen.

“Hahaha. I’ve bitterly trained in the zither for eighteen years. It’s my first time hearing someone evaluate my music as absolute trash. Interesting,” she sneered.

“Without a master to guide you, you’d still be trash after training a hundred and eighty years. This has nothing to do with how long you train; a snail can train for eighteen thousand years and it still wouldn’t be fast.

“The reason no one has evaluated your music as trash is because those people were just fawning over you, or perhaps you don’t let many people listen to your music. All it proves is your own lack of experience. As a master of music, you use the Music Dao to peer into the Heavenly Daos. The goal is to combine the body and the Dao, to have the heart reach a natural realm, to have no faults, to have no impurities.

“But what about you? We don’t even know each other, but you followed someone else’s orders and used your Music Dao to target me. Ask yourself, do you really feel no guilt? As a person, you’re trash, so how could you possibly play a divine song? Do you think others are as brainless as you?” sneered Long Chen.

The expressions of all the Grand Han’s experts changed. This time, Long Chen’s words were direct and clearly cursing them.

“You…!” The woman’s expression also changed and she pointed at Long Chen.

“What you? Even you are in the habit of pointing at others when speaking? As expected, you’re all from the same place.

“But in order to convince you, now that I’m done speaking about your personal character, I’ll speak on your work. The zither song you played is called the Divine Sealing Soul Calming Song, while the song you sang was the Supreme Senses Chapter of the Great Wasteland Western Scripture. It recorded the comprehension left behind by a supreme existence before they ascended. However, the scripture is damaged and too difficult to understand. Only a thousandth of the original remains, and both the beginning and ending have been lost, making it so no one has been able to comprehend it. Let alone you with your Foundation Forging cultivation base, even a Life Star expert is unable to comprehend the profundities within it. The reason you sang that song was purely to show off.”

Long Chen’s words caused the people’s hearts to shake. It seemed his previous evaluation hadn’t been deliberately insulting. He had the facts to back it up.

Amongst these people, only a few had heard of the Great Wasteland Western Scripture, let alone the Supreme Senses Chapter within it. But looking at the zither-playing girl’s shocked expression, they could tell his words were spot on.

Xia Youluo also jumped in shock. Long Chen had clearly said that he didn’t know anything about music. But then how was he able to say so much?

In truth, Long Chen really had no understanding of musical theory. But the song this woman had played was something he was very familiar with. That was because someone had once sent him a section of the Divine Sealing Soul Calming Song.

That person was someone he had encountered by chance in the Eastern Wasteland, Zi Yan. That song had been extremely beneficial to the Dragonblood Legion back then, which was why he remembered each beat within it.

As for the Supreme Senses Chapter of the Great Wasteland Western Scripture, that was something he had seen in the Xuantian Dao Sect. It was not a cultivation technique, nor was it a secret art. Instead, it was an ancient text.

Back then, he had been given the approval of the Xuan Master to go through the Hidden Scripture Pavilion’s ancient texts. He had flipped through them all.

It wasn’t because Long Chen was so studious, but because he had been hoping to find records pertaining to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Regretfully, he hadn’t found anything. But due to his memory, he hadn’t forgotten the texts he had read.

It was precisely because he had read so many of those ancient texts that he had been able to swindle the Wine God Palace’s disciples of their wine. Within the ancient texts had been many profound principles that were all difficult to understand. They sounded simple, yet each word had multiple meanings, and the principles contained within them were sources of great enlightenment.

So Long Chen was familiar with the zither music and singing of this woman, which had given him his confidence. So despite knowing this had been a trap, he had still jumped into it to slap his opponent’s face.

“I heard the Divine Sealing Soul Calming Song years ago. The playing of that person was true divine ability. It was able to draw people into an artistic realm. She was thousands of times better than you. Then as for your singing, your Sound Dao[2]- cough, ah, I mean your vocal range isn’t wide enough. This kind of high difficulty scripture is out of your league. Your playing was average, your singing was average, and you were unable to form any resonance between them, nor were you able to bring people into that kind of artistic realm. Tell me, don’t you think your performance was absolute trash?” demanded Long Chen.

“Hmph, don’t try to act so above and aloof. Who doesn’t know how to nitpick? If you have any ability, put on your own performance for us to see!” raged the infuriated woman.

Long Chen smiled slightly. He had known she would say such a thing. Fortunately, he had the photographic jade Zi Yan had sent him. He was just about to show off a bit more and play it. Although it wouldn’t be a personal performance, he had slapped his opponent’s face enough already.

“Which esteemed guest is gracing my Grand Xia City with their presence?”

Just as Long Chen was about to take out the photographic jade, a majestic voice resounded throughout all of Grand Xia City. What shocked Long Chen was that this voice belonged to the Grand Xia’s emperor.

[1] This is an expression that doesn’t really translate. Basically, the expression is that he ‘doesn’t understand one aperture’, which means he doesn’t understand anything. 一竅不通

[2] Sound Dao sounds like vagina.