Even the most heavenly melody must eventually come to an end.
The sound of the guqin slowly faded, lingering notes still echoing in the ears, resonant vibrations still reverberating in the heart.
Saintess Sitong and Saintess Yaoguang exchanged a glance, each seeing the surprise in the other's eyes. Clearly, neither of them had expected that
Their expectations for Jiang Chen's musical abilities had never been particularly high — they simply wanted to hear what style these two pieces were.
While the compositions themselves were impressive enough, Jiang Chen's musicianship surprised them even more. At the start, his technique had been rather rough and clumsy — by their assessment, it was clearly not the work of a true expert.
Yet after just a short while, Jiang Chen gradually found his stride. By the end, his performance could only be described as flawless.
This left them completely baffled. Jiang Chen had never been renowned for his musical talents, and from his fingering, he truly did seem like someone who had barely touched a guqin in ages.
Could it be that Jiang Chen had been playing since he was in the womb?
Saintess Sitong let out a soft sigh. "Daoist Friend Jiang Chen, you truly hide yourself far too deeply. If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I would have almost been deceived by you."
Jiang Chen gave a wry smile. "What do you mean by that?"
"Such heavenly sounds, such mastery — and you still claim to have only a passing familiarity with music?" Saintess Sitong said with a bitter laugh. "If this counts as 'passing familiarity,' then the rest of us should be too ashamed to show our faces."
Jiang Chen found this difficult to answer. He had never considered himself particularly outstanding in the way of music. That said, he was fairly satisfied with his own performance just now.
After all, in this lifetime, apart from a few exchanges with Huang'er, he had truly devoted very little thought to music.
When all was said and done, this ancient guqin had been quite cooperative and hadn't given him any trouble.
"Sister, what do you say?" Saintess Sitong looked at her companion with a smile, watching the still slightly dazed Saintess Yaoguang.
Saintess Yaoguang had previously held a prejudice against Jiang Chen. Now, though, she sat in silence, gazing at him with a deep and contemplative expression.
After a long while, she finally spoke. "Fine, I'll count it as him passing. But he clearly knows how to play very well, yet he claimed to know only the bare basics — that's not exactly forthright of him."
Jiang Chen was amused into a helpless laugh, not knowing how to argue the point. In fairness, what she said wasn't unreasonable. His playing opportunities in this lifetime had been exceedingly rare — practically nonexistent.
But the wealth of knowledge carried over from his previous life was something others simply couldn't understand.
Saintess Sitong smiled leisurely. "From what I know, Daoist Friend Jiang Chen does indeed have no habit of playing. Could it be that this refined hobby of yours only comes out when you're with Miss Yan — harmonizing as husband and wife over the strings?"
Saintess Sitong proved to be quite an open-minded person, teasing Jiang Chen without hesitation.
Jiang Chen cupped his fists. "I truly haven't devoted much thought to the way of music. But many things seem to simply exist in my memory from birth — I understand them without ever having to learn."
Saintess Sitong straightened with a solemn expression. "Rumor has it that Daoist Friend Jiang Chen is a divine being reincarnated. It seems the rumors are not unfounded. Some people are born with extraordinary talents across many disciplines, and it appears Daoist Friend Jiang Chen is exactly that kind of person.
Divine reincarnation, while rare in the higher echelons of the martial world, did have precedents. Many divine beings reincarnated with innate memories of their legacies, gifted with a wide array of talents.
Jiang Chen was only too happy to let them draw that conclusion.
Gan Ning and Wu You, witnessing how a single piece by Jiang Chen had won over two fastidious saintesses, were filled with even greater admiration for him. Senior Brother Jiang Chen excelled in both letters and martial arts, outstanding in every respect — truly someone worthy of envy.