The trees of the mountain which housed the Wu Family’s mansion in Mystic Realm were full of budding flowers, so of them already opening up in early bloom, adding to the scenic views all over the area.
A detached pavilion on top of a small peak that oversaw one of such scenic spots, with a waterfall on the opposite slope, was the current gathering spot for Wu Family mbers whenever they had free ti, taking a break from ditating, training or other activities.
The beauty of the scenery surrounding the pavilion was even more elevated by the sound of a zither.
Gong Cui ca here so ti ago, and - upon realizing that it just so happened that no one was here at that ti, and confirming with Fen Baihu that Wu Long was busy with sothing outside and her sister was in Wei Lan’s garden - habitually took out her zither to just fool around by making silly childish-sounding lodies that she sang along to, making up the lyrics with whatever random thoughts that ca to her mind in real ti.
Soting like, "And I~ am here~~ sitting alooOOone~ oh! there’s a nice wiIIIIIiiind~ that picked up the flooower peEEEetals~!!! it is so refreshing and preeEEEety~! There’s fluffy clouds in the skyyYYY~!!! Let’s count those clouds~ there’s one~ two~ oh and one more there making three~, that one’s shaped like a mooOOose!!! and another cloud - four... five..."
Despite her perfect musical ear, when she was fooling around like this, she didn’t care much to sing in the right pitch or making it sound lodic, rather, she mostly picked an odd mont to sing louder at a strange pitch, and yet still managed to make it pleasant to the ear, although quite funny if one paid attention to the contents of the lyrics.
She did this pretty often, and was even asked to do it during banquets where she gladly entertained everyone with these weird but funny cheerful songs.
However, as she was doing so while looking at the scenery, she was hit by sudden inspiration, and the sounds coming from her zither gradually began to change, along with her singing becoming quieter and slower, as her attention was slowly concentrating on the view, and her mind was increasingly preoccupied with her hands that were trying out a few motives, as if she was searching for the sounds that she felt suited this view.
The playful expression she had also gradually faded, replaced by a look of deep thought.
Eventually, Gong Cui’s singing stopped completely, and after her hands found a few sound patterns, they stopped as well. Her eyes closed, while she deeply inhaled, taking in the fresh mountain air with a faint scent of the flowers, grass, moss and stones heated all day by the sun.
And when she opened her eyes, the feeling she gave off beca much calr and restrained, her fingers which were frozen slightly above the zither strings moved down, and then the first notes of an ethereal lody spread into the surroundings.
Cai Yin was the first to arrive soti after Gong Cui’s improvised performance began.
She heard the music from afar while flying toward the pavilion, and as soon as it reached her ears, she slowed down while restraining her presence as much as she could, softly landing at the opposite edge of the pavilion terrace from Gong Cui.
She could not help but marvel at the beautiful sight which included Gong Cui’s back as she sat with her zither, facing the view.
After picking a spot not far from where she landed, keeping a wide distance from the Music Daoist to not disturb her, Cai Yin carefully and soundlessly sat down.
Song Lingfei and Wu ngqi who arrived at different tis later, behaved in the exact sa way - as if they had rehearsed it which was obviously not the case - except for added nod of greeting to Cai Yin in case of Song Lingfei, and to both of them in case of Wu ngqi before sitting down.
Gong Cui didn’t notice her growing audience gathering behind her, she wouldn’t have even if they didn’t restrain their presence, since she was absorbed in the mont.
The music she was playing did not have a set progression or form, as it wasn’t a piece, but rather an expression of a feeling she got while looking at the scenery, it was flowing freely and ever-changing like the waters of the waterfall that disappeared into the mist below the cliffs, and was unpredictable like the occasional gusts of wind that made flower petals dance in the air.
At so point in ti, unknown to all three of Gong Cui’s listeners, Yuanfen was already there, beside them, seemingly as engrossed in this magical performance as them. It was the mont when the flower buds on trees all over the entire mountain began swelling, and then one by one, open up. In a matter of minutes, the whole mountain was in full bloom.
Eventually, though, the mont of inspiration passed, and Gong Cui’s music gradually slowed down, and then stopped. Though the final part of the performance wasn’t a definitive end, rather, much like the music itself it had a sense of freedom, giving a sense of being unfinished, and yet paradoxically, also complete. Even quite so ti after her fingers left the strings, it still felt like the music lingered as the final reverberations slowly faded away.
And after so ti, as the magic of that lingering feeling also gradually dissipated...
"Haa~...", she sighed with satisfaction, standing up and picking up her zither, and then sudden applause from behind her almost caused her to throw away that zither down the cliff in front of her, "Whoa~!?!?!"
She fumbled a few tis, as the instrunt slipped no matter how she grabbed it, causing all three beauties who were clapping to spring up, all ready to rush in, however, a hand suddenly stretched out from a cloud of black smoke and caught the zither, allowing Gong Cui to finally catch it as well.
Following the hand the rest of a black-haired crimson-eyed beauty proceeded to step out of the black cloud, prompting Gong Cui to turn completely round, bewildered eyes to her while she was taking off her silver mask revealing an amused expression, "Pfft~ hehehe... Sister Cui, you forced to experience a very rare feeling of regret~ I regret not having skill in the art of painting, otherwise I’d be able to capture your expression right now so that I could enjoy it forever... I’m sure if it was lifelike I also would’ve been able to get almost anything I want from Darling in exchange for such a painting"
Hong Ye’s appearance shocked not only Gong Cui, but Wu ngqi, Song Lingfei and Cai Yin who froze up in the pose of rushing forward as well, since none of them were able to detect her presence even after her hand caught the zither. Even now, when she was right in front of them, it was hard to detect her presence, which gave a paradoxical feeling since they could clearly see and hear her.
The shock was amplified since all three had recently made significant progress in their abilities.
Cai Yin thought that she should’ve definitely sensed Hong Ye’s soul fluctuations - not long ago, she was actually starting to be able to notice her presence more and more easily even if Hong Ye tried her best to hide. It was to the point that if Fen Baihu restrained her powers to Cai Yin’s cultivation realm, the latter could even detect her presence.
Song Lingfei was double-checking her spatial senses, amazed to find that it almost felt like Hong Ye didn’t occupy the space she stood in. And even after concentrating, it felt like she was phasing in and out of existence.
Wu ngqi, whose recent progress in her swordsmanship could be said to be objectively in first place among the respective skills progress of her Dao Sisters - naturally excluding Ye Ling who benefited from past life mories and thus could advance fast even if she didn’t put in much effort - was the most shocked since her senses grew incomparably sharp. In fact as a Sword Cultivator, she should be the bane of assassins whose concealing techniques often had a hard ti escaping the senses of Armant Cultivators.
"Ehehehe, I was just caught off guard since I thought I was alone... I guess I zoned off a bit~", Gong Cui bashfully laughed, lightly scratching her cheek with her index finger, and then gratefully received the zither, "Thank you..."
She then turned to the three beauties who ca closer, "But you should’ve said so if you all ca~ I was waiting for more sisters to arrive... oh! Yuanfen is also here! Hi~!"
Yuanfen, who saw Gong Cui waving at her with a wide smile also innocently smiled, and slightly awkwardly mimicked the action of waving.
"How could we when you were in the middle of such an amazing performance, Cui’er? It was so beautiful that I wasn’t able to bring myself to interrupt you", Cai Yin spoke with a warm smile.
"That’s right! It was simply magical!", Song Lingfei nodded.
"I didn’t want it to end! I’m still regretting it did end... It was so so~~ good~!!!", Wu ngqi made cute fists with both hands, raising them to her chin and very slightly hopping up and down on the spot.
Hong Ye also nodded, her tone shifting to a more sincere one, "Even I - soone who knows basically nothing about how to enjoy music - was entranced. I can’t really express what I felt, but I know it was incredible"
"Hehe, you’re making blush", Gong Cui bashfully turned from side to side while hugging her zither, and then as if sothing ca to her mind, had an ’Oh!’ expression appear on her face turning to Hong Ye, "More importantly, did you hear anything out of her yet?"
The latter’s expression changed to slight confusion, "I actually ca here to ask for advice about that... Sister Yue is still in that strange dazed mood, is it supposed to last this long? I’m a bit concerned since it’s already the second day. I didn’t bother her with questions for now since she’s still like that, but I’m dying to know what happened during her date, or as she called it...", Hong Ye made air quotes with both hands, "a productive conversation"
The ntion of Hong Yue’s outing with Wu Long in Hong Ye and Gong Cui’s conversation imdiately seized the attention of the three beauties, whose eyes began burning with intense curiosity.
"Hmm, is that so?", Gong Cui made a thoughtful expression while stashing her zither into the spatial ring and then touching her chin with the thumb and index finger, copying Wu Long’s gesture when he was devising a plan of action.
At the sa exact ti, Cai Yin made a surprised expression, "Concerned? Why would you be concerned? It’s a good thing!"
"It is?!", Gong Cui reacted with surprise first, even before Hong Ye, and then swiftly changed to an expression full of confidence, "I an... of course it is! It’s a good thing!"
She then puffed out her chest with a smug smile, "Trust , I’m an expert! As you know, I have a proven track record with the win-win-win strategy, co, let’s hear the details..."
The five beauties all sat down looking like conspirators, and seeing that, Yuanfen approached them, joining to sit with them since they were clearly doing sothing fun even if she didn’t really understand what it was. Throughout the conversation she was mimicking the expressions and mannerisms of the others with enthusiasm.
Hong Ye was sharing any of her observations about Hong Yue’s behavior, with the occasional comnts and speculations from Cai Yin and Song Lingfei, with Gong Cui and Wu ngqi both enthusiastically agreeing with those comnts and speculations.
"So it’s going smoothly...", Hong Ye muttered with a bit of surprise at hearing that the strange mood her twin was showing was actually a sign of big progress.
"Yes, of course! Besides, they just had a first date, I’m sure it was a very new experience for your sister", Song Lingfei nodded, "I rember being in a similar dazed state when I started interacting with Wu Long more"
"Fufu, that’s right. From now on Wu Long will introduce a lot of new experiences to Fairy Hong Yue, you can count on it. Of course you would not recognize her behavior as what she usually behaved like in the past. That happened with all of us", Cai Yin agreed.
"Ahahaha, and although it’s still a long way to there, he’ll give her the ultimate ’new experience’, you know what I an right?", Wu ngqi chuckled, giving a aningful smile and moving her eyebrows up and down, "I imagine you wouldn’t recognize your sister after that at all"
Her words caused all the beauties to laugh while Yuanfen who saw everyone nodding along, also nodded with a ’knowing face’.
"Hahahaha~, I know right, wait till he does his ’scale’ thing, she will be like a completely new person after hahaha~...", Gong Cui laughed along, however, her words caused the others to show confused looks, and seeing that she was now the only one laughing, she returned them a surprised look, "...haha haha ha~ hmm? What’s wrong?"
"Um... what ’scale’ thing?", Hong Ye asked while checking and seeing that she wasn’t the only one confused. For a mont, she thought that it was sothing that only she was unaware of since the way Gong Cui ntioned it was so matter-of-fact.
"You know...! The thing!", Gong Cui, in turn beca even more surprised upon seeing their expressions, asking with genuine shock, "Are you saying he never did the ’scale’ thing when he was with you? You know, with his fingers, or tongue or uhm, his thing... um..."
Her cheeks began blushing and her words a bit mumbling as her gaze turned down, her whole body language showing extre shyness, "...you know, down there..."
This only caused more confusion on the faces of Hong Ye, Wu ngqi and Song Lingfei, but a strange look appeared in Cai Yin’s eyes as she suddenly had an absurd idea.
anwhile, seeing that none of them were speaking up, Gong Cui continued, "Co on... you’re all teasing so that I say it out loud aren’t you? Really? You really don’t know? Umm, well, you know, he has that Sound Rune that he can use to move really fast, and so ti ago he started using it with his fingers... he can do any note on the music scale. I was actually surprised when he first did it, but I instantly recognized the feeling since it was the sa as my zither strings, of course, the pitch was a bit off... speaking of which for so reason he laughed when I told him about it... but after asking to help tune it he’s always very accurate... hehe, although he usually just went up the scale in order, recently he started mixing it up in a few simple tunes-... ehm... w-what’s wrong?"
As she was speaking the faces of all three started gradually showing unnatural expressions, and she soon noticed they were staring at her in a weird way while seemingly holding sothing back, causing her words to trail off and then ask.
"Pfft...", the first to lose it was Wu ngqi, "Phht~...ehahahahaha! Ahahaha! Bahahahaha!!!"
She fell backward to lie down while holding her stomach and began turning from side to side.
This broke the dam as Song Lingfei and Cai Yin exploded with laughter right after. And the longest to hold out was Hong Ye who covered her mouth and turned to the side.
"Wha-... what is it?", Gong Cui and Yuanfen were the only one left looking at others, the eyes of both quite similarly shining with pure, innocent confusion.
"Hahaha, Sister Cui pfft.... you... you really are so precious and adorable... pffhahaha~", Hong Ye struggled through laughter, wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes, but wasn’t able to continue long enough to explain.
"He’s...hahahah... he’s ahahahaha!... he’s actually using it bahahaha!!! I was wondering ahahaha what was-ahaha tha- that pattern ahahaha... that he started...uhahahaha", Wu ngqi was gasping for breath, as she realized that he was actually doing it not only with Gong Cui now, they just weren’t capable of recognizing it as she was.
And it was in this state that Wu Long and Liang Yuhan who just returned - both surprised at the commotion - found this group of beauties, along with Fen Baihu who fell off his shoulder while laughing.
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