Serene Princess

The melody in the second part became more somber, but not all at once. Instead, there was a trend already in the first part, and this trend continued into the second part.

By the beginning of the third part, the melody suddenly became very slow and gentle, finally coming to a complete stop. It was as if the sky had changed from dusk to nightfall in an instant.

Liu Manman clenched her fist, was this the end of the piece?

Of course not.

After three seconds of silence, Xia Yu's fingers began to play again, and a lively melody reappeared.

Yes, it "reappeared."

Liu Manman widened her eyes and realized what she had missed earlier - it was this melody.

This melody had appeared multiple times in the prelude, the first part, and the second part, but each time it had been hidden, only revealing a small section. At this point, it was finally revealed in its entirety.

The lively melody repeated continuously.

Smoothing her furrowed brow, Liu Manman continued to enjoy the images that appeared in her mind.

With the lively melody, the night seemed to become bright all of a sudden.

No, it wasn't just brightened - this melody had been present all along.

The melody was like a small flower hidden within the scenery.

During the day, behind the sunlight, grass, and butterflies, the flower danced; at dusk, the butterflies were hidden, the sunlight faded, and the grass quieted, making the flower slightly more noticeable.

When it reached the third part, night fell, and the sun disappeared along with it. The grass went into a deep sleep and the scene plunged into darkness. The camera that was originally zooming out to capture the entire meadow suddenly zoomed in, focusing on the flower.

Only then did the audience realize that the flower, quietly growing in the corner, was so pure and clean.

In their minds, they recalled the daytime, dusk, and the swaying of the flower.

The melody didn't repeat endlessly. It became scattered once again, hiding behind the newly emerged beats.

Daylight had arrived.

Stopping his hands, Xia Yu stood up.

There was a warm round of applause from the audience.

The judges on stage excitedly discussed the performance.

The host came on stage and began the introduction that usually took place before the playing of other pieces.

This method of playing first and talking later was a great advantage for good pieces since after hearing a good piece, people would become more curious about the music and composer, but after hearing a bad piece, they would completely lose interest in learning more.

Xia Yu's piece, undoubtedly, belonged to the former.

The host checked the card in her hand and said, "Thank you, Mr. Xia Yu, for bringing us this wonderful performance. The name of this piece is Serene Princess, a very beautiful melody, composed and performed by Xia Yu…"

As she was speaking, the host wondered to herself how she had never heard of this Xia Yu before. Was there such a person in the music academy?

After briefly mentioning the information that Xia Yu had provided earlier, the host handed the microphone to the judges.

The judges looked at each other, not knowing what to say. For the previous pieces, they could point out some shortcomings and give some suggestions, but for this piece, they couldn't do that at all!

Moreover, this part of the competition has been set up for the judges to provide advice. They couldn't just exaggerate and skip over it.

They were all famous composers and performers. Before this, they had never thought that this arrangement would encounter such an embarrassing situation.

They were planning to muddle through, but the host was so enthusiastic that he kept urging them to comment.

After giving some perfunctory comments, the judges immediately let Xia Yu leave the stage.

At this point, because of cognitive inertia and the awkwardness of their hearts, the judges still couldn't recognize Xia Yu.

The same was true for a group of contestants below the stage.

Watching Xia Yu return to his seat, Old Zheng and Old Gang shook hands with each other, feeling a little dumbfounded.

Xia Yu's actions at this point can be compared to a scene.

In the contest of Mount Hua Lunjian, Old Zheng, Old Gang, and the other martial artists gathered on Mount Hua to compete against each other. Old Zheng relied on the Nine Yin Scriptures, and Old Gang relied on the Nine Yang Divine Skills, defeating all the martial artists and standing on the top of Mount Hua to begin the final showdown.

The Nine Yin changes were varied, and the Nine Yang's momentum was magnificent. Both of them were on equal footing and were fighting passionately.

At this time, there was an explosion from the sky, and Xia Yu stepped on a flying sword and arrived above their heads.

Then, Xia Yu used the "One Sword Returns Ten Thousand Swords" technique, cutting off the top of Mount Hua.

Old Zheng and Old Gang's mentality collapsed on the spot.

We were competing in martial arts, in a world of martial arts! How can you be both sword flying and the master of ten thousand swords, your world level is not right!

You, a Swords Immortal from the world of Xianxia, come to our martial arts world to compete with ordinary people for the title of world number one!

Their hearts were bitter, but they couldn't say anything.

Although Xia Yu was a Sword Immortal, he was also a person of this world. Why couldn't he participate in the competition for the world's number one?

They held the other's hand tightly, looked at each other, their faces filled with grief.

Compared to them, the emotions of the rest of the contestants were more stable.

One contestant poked another: "Didn't you say this kind of competition is a foregone conclusion and there's no chance of a dark horse?"

"Hey, how can you wrong me? When did I say such a thing!" The other party refused to admit it.

Ignoring the bickering between the two, Xia Yu looked at Old Zheng who was walking onto the stage.

After Old Zheng began to play, he felt relieved.

Listening to the people who had just boasted so much, he thought Old Zheng would play a really good piece, but it turned out to be just a level 3 music creation. It is two levels lower than his level 5 music.

After listening to Xia Yu's performance, the audience had lost interest in this kind of music. When it came to the judges' part, the judges also vented the resentment they had received from Xia Yu's performance and fiercely criticized Old Zheng.

Old Zheng came down with a face full of dust, and the contestants who went up afterward did not fare well either.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the competition ended. The host went on stage for the final summary, and after that was the ranking, and then the meeting could be adjourned.

After the meeting, it was time for Xia Yu to start the real work.

Old Zheng and Old Gang had recovered emotionally by now. They sat on Xia Yu's left and right, asking Xia Yu in unison, "Old brother, which class are you from? We'd appreciate it if you could give us some guidance when you're free."

"Class Three," Xia Yu replied.

"Freshman Piano Class Three, I'll remember that."

"No." Just as Xia Yu was about to explain, the host had already read out the rankings of this competition.

The host looked at the card in his hand: "There is no doubt that the first place goes to Area Literature Class Three..."

Halfway through his speech, the host suddenly froze.

Did their music college have an Area Literature class? Wasn't 'Area Literature' an abbreviation for regional literature studies, a modern term for Chinese literature?

So, he skipped the class part and directly announced Xia Yu's name.

At this moment, the contestant who had previously had doubts heard the two words 'Area Literature' and had a startling suspicion in his heart.

He asked Xia Yu, "Which department are you from?"

"What department?" The surrounding friends thought he had gone crazy. This was a composition and performance competition; how could there possibly be someone from another department here?