Free Poet

Ether Family.

One of the Primordial Two Great Families of the Holy Sound.

The family crest pinned to their chests, surrounded by seven golden musical notes, was a symbol of their extraordinary status. In their long family history, the golden notes had been possessed from the first to the seventh; if not for the relentless passage of time, the Primordial Two Great Families could have even played a divine melody of seven notes themselves.

He Wei Ni Ya never expected to encounter the Primordial Family at this time, especially since she had returned to the academy ahead of time without notifying anyone.

So, did this guy receive the news beforehand and come to wait for her, or was there some other reason?

He Wei Ni Ya's vigilance was at its highest.

What bothered her even more was why Bai Wei refused to let her use [Gaze].

This had never happened before.

Within seconds, countless questions flooded He Wei Ni Ya's mind, but she didn't show it. She simply pretended to be "a little surprised when meeting the Primordial Family" and responded politely, "Hello, Mr. Daniel."

Daniel laughed and said, "I hope I didn't scare you?"

"A little, indeed." Still unsure of Daniel's personality, He Wei Ni Ya didn't want to adopt a specific response, so she simply smiled and replied, "I didn't expect to meet you here."

"No need for honorifics, Miss He Wei Ni Ya. Although I'm a bit older than you, we can still be considered peers. And I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you wouldn't be back at the academy for a few more days, so I was quite excited to see you and couldn't wait to come and say hello. Please don't mind."

He Wei Ni Ya raised an eyebrow, looking slightly surprised. "You came to the Three Academies to find me?"

"Of course, apart from you, I don't know what else of value this academy has."

... What an arrogant answer.

But when he said it, there was not a trace of unnaturalness in his voice; it was as if he were telling the truth.

"May we talk, Miss He Wei Ni Ya?"

Daniel gestured for her to walk alone with him.

However, He Wei Ni Ya was not very willing, because she instinctively sensed danger from Daniel, especially after Daniel appeared and Bai Wei suddenly stopped responding, which made He Wei Ni Ya even more concerned.

So she politely declined. "If you're here for the Grand Ceremony, then Mr. Daniel doesn't need to waste any more of your time."

"Oh?" Daniel slowly withdrew his hand. "Is it because you accepted the Lawrence Family's invitation?"

"You already knew?"

"If you don't even know this kind of news, then you're really underestimating the Primordial Two Great Families." Daniel said with a smile. "Besides, there's no need to deliberately find out this kind of news. No one knows better than us what the Lawrence Family wants to do. If they want to outdo us at the Grand Ceremony, the Lawrence Family can't miss the only gold-tier Seventh Sound in this Grand Ceremony."

He Wei Ni Ya noticed the crucial information and immediately asked, "Am I the only one?"

At first, she wasn't sure about this. She only knew that the Seventh Sound of the gold rank was very rare, but she didn't know if the other two academies, especially the First Academy which was full of talented people, might have hidden Seventh Sound.

"Of course, Miss He Wei Ni Ya, I can tell you with absolute certainty that you are the only Gold-Rank Seventh Sound at this Grand Ceremony," Daniel said. "That's why Finnis came to you so quickly, and... he must have offered you a pretty good deal. Otherwise, you wouldn't have refused me without even thinking about it. But how should I put it? Miss He Wei Ni Ya, although our sincerity is certainly not as great as Finnis', our resources mean that if we raise our stakes a little, the Lawrence Family can't compete. So, why not give us a listen?"

After a slight hesitation, He Wei Ni Ya said, "Mr. Daniel, I have already promised Mr. Finnis, so it is indeed not appropriate to contact you without informing him."

As she spoke, He Wei Ni Ya paused for a moment, then looked up at the setting sun.

"However, it's getting late, and I think I should go back and rest. If a gentleman could take me home and chat with me, I think I wouldn't be able to refuse."

Daniel immediately understood He Wei Ni Ya's meaning, and smiled as he bowed with his hand on his chest, "Of course. Although I am not exactly a gentleman, I would be happy to escort such a beautiful lady as you home."

So the two of them set off together on their way back to the dormitory.

On the surface, this was just He Wei Ni Ya being melodramatic and making a fuss over nothing, but in reality, it was because the way back to the dormitory was much safer than the lakeside. There were hardly any people at the lakeside now, and it was near the Forbidden Forest, so if something really happened, no one would notice.

But the way back to the dormitory is different. You can see students and school staff coming and going after only a few steps.

He Wei Ni Ya breathed a sigh of relief.

Whatever Daniel's plans are, he cannot make a move in full view of everyone.

In this way, He Wei Ni Ya could feel at ease and also investigate the background of this Primordial Family descendant.

He Wei Ni Ya had assumed that Daniel would lay out his chips directly, like Finnis had, but to her surprise, Daniel's first words were...

"Miss He Wei Ni Ya, do you know the Free Poet?"

He Wei Ni Ya turned to look at Daniel: "What?"

"Free Poet," Daniel said with a smile. "Looks like you haven't heard of him. Well, that's because there haven't been any successful Free Poet in a long time."

"I haven't heard of it," He Wei Ni Ya asked. "Is it some kind of special profession?"

"No, not a profession, just a way of referring to a group of strange people," Daniel said. "Miss He Wei Ni Ya, you should know that those participating in the Grand Ceremony are all orchestras, right?"

He Wei Ni Ya nodded.

"And basically all the orchestras come from noble families. They use music passed down in their families, recruit idle musicians to form an orchestra, and then participate in the Grand Ceremony in the name of their family," Daniel said leisurely. "In the end, the ranking is based on the quality of the notes, the timbre, and the completeness of the piece. This is the case in most cases."

"Is there any other possibility?"

"Of course there are," Daniel said with a smile. "These are the Free Poet I'm talking about. They often don't come from particularly good families, and their own voices aren't that outstanding. But they are very talented, or at least they think they are very talented. So, they often abandon the conventional rules, compose their own music, find their own notes, and then take such an orchestra to compete in Grand Ceremony, just to prove one thing: that they are no worse than anyone else. You could say that's their obsession."

Hearing Daniel say this, He Wei Ni Ya couldn't help but think of Ariana, who was no longer alive.

"This is my Seven Sound Song, it's mine! It's my original creation, and I believe it's no worse than anyone else's, not even the Principal's 'The Roar' from twenty years ago. It's just missing someone to perform it, just missing an opportunity... Please, help me. As long as I can perform this piece at the Grand Ceremony, as long as I can prove that I'm no worse than those nobles, no worse than the original performers, no worse than anyone else, I'd rather die... it doesn't matter."

Ariana's dying pleas echoed in He Wei Ni Ya's mind.

"Really?" He Wei Ni Ya didn't show much emotion, but asked curiously, as if she were hearing the word for the first time, "Has anyone ever succeeded?"

"Of course there are," Daniel said. "The old songs we hear now all come from the new songs. But that was a long time ago. Once the repertoire has been developed to the point that the power of each group has been established, it will be difficult to create a space for Free Poet."

"Why?"

"It's very simple," Daniel said with a smile. "Imagine you are a silver-level note, and two people invite you to join them. One is a noble ensemble with pieces that have already won awards at Grand Ceremony, and the other is a little-known young man who claims to be very talented and has created a new piece, waiting for you to join him... Which one would you choose?"

"Would anyone really choose the second one?" Halfway through her sentence, He Wei Ni Ya looked at Daniel as if she had suddenly realized something. "Mr. Daniel, are you talking about the Primordial Family and the Lawrence Family? Using this example to make me choose you?"

"No, no, no, Miss He Wei Ni Ya, you're overthinking it." Daniel shrugged. "I wouldn't make such a self-righteous and thankless analogy. Besides, whether it's the Primordial Family or the Lawrence Family, they are actually the former. I'm just sighing."

"Sigh?"

"Yes." Daniel looked at the anxious students around him and said, "The people here are basically thinking about how to join the former and become one of the fixed movements. They want to join at all costs, even if it means taking some extreme and crooked paths. But even so, very few people think about becoming that unique Free Poet."

He Wei Ni Ya was silent for a moment, then said, "You also said that very few people succeed."

"Yes, it is indeed very rare. And almost every one of them who succeeds goes down in history," Daniel said with a smile. "The most shocking one I remember was a hundred years ago, when an orchestra composed of seven Bronze Tier notes finally qualified for the Inner Melody, but in the hundred years since, no one has ever done it again. Although many people say that the principal is the one who made countless people feel sorry for his performance of 'Seven Sound · Uproar' which was just one note short, I don't think he is. After all, the principal was born into nobility, so he was always missing something."

He Wei Ni Ya frowned slightly.

She felt something was off and didn't understand why Daniel was telling her all this.

Moreover, during their conversation, they had already walked the entire way and were standing at the entrance of the girls' Girls' Dormitory. Daniel obviously couldn't go in, which meant that their conversation was about to end.

But Daniel never offered his terms. Instead, he started talking about Free Poet, as if they were just having a casual chat.

"I had a very pleasant chat tonight, Miss He Wei Ni Ya," Daniel said with a smile. "Have a wonderful evening."

It was as if he had forgotten what he was supposed to be there for.

Seeing the slight confusion in He Wei Ni Ya's expression, Daniel smiled and said, "I haven't forgotten the important matter, Miss He Wei Ni Ya. I just feel that I haven't prepared much for tonight. You know, I had prepared a very nice gift for you, but the meeting was too sudden, and it wouldn't be appropriate to invite you empty-handed. But we still have time, don't we? I'll come to see you again tomorrow, and I hope you won't refuse me then."

After saying this, Daniel gracefully bowed to He Wei Ni Ya, and then slowly disappeared into the night alone.

During this time, He Wei Ni Ya wanted to reopen [Gaze] to investigate Daniel's background.

But it still didn't work.

However, Bai Wei spoke up at this moment, saying slowly, "Don't look anymore, this is for your own good."

Hearing Bai Wei's voice, He Wei Ni Ya finally felt a little relieved.

For a fleeting moment, He Wei Ni Ya was genuinely worried that Bai Wei was gone.

After calming down, He Wei Ni Ya asked calmly, "Can I know the reason?"

"Of course," Bai Wei said with a smile, "Because there is some kind of connection between the body parts."

Is there some kind of connection between the body parts?

He Wei Ni Ya was stunned when she heard this and didn't react immediately.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that she suddenly realized what Bai Wei meant.

"You mean..."

"Yes," Bai Wei said, "This guy also has pieces of my body on him."

He Wei Ni Ya's breathing slowed down unconsciously.

She considered countless possibilities, but this was the one she never thought of.

"Don't worry about it," Bai Wei comforted He Wei Ni Ya considerately. "My body has been cut into countless pieces. It's normal to occasionally run into one or two people who have pieces of my body."

He Wei Ni Ya: "..."

"And this guy doesn't just have my body parts." Bai Wei said calmly, "I can sense that there's something else on him. This guy is dangerous, and I don't want you to face him too soon, which is why I shielded your abilities... I was afraid that if you saw Golden Sound alone, you wouldn't be able to resist attacking him."

After listening to Bai Wei's explanation, He Wei Ni Ya nodded gently.

But she did have some mixed feelings.

As expected of the Primordial Family, they even have Visas' Corpse Pieces.

In an instant, He Wei Ni Ya felt the immense power and influence of the legendary family wash over her.

Although she really wanted to ask Bai Wei for more information, Bai Wei showed no intention of answering, so He Wei Ni Ya had no choice but to give up for the time being and return to her dormitory.

On her way back to her dormitory, He Wei Ni Ya saw a familiar person walk past her in a daze.

It's Olenna.

Her mental state was very poor, even worse than He Wei Ni Ya's, who had been ravaged by Bai Wei for two days.

She was so unsteady on her feet that she almost knocked He Wei Ni Ya over, and didn't even notice that He Wei Ni Ya was blocking her way. Normally, she would have given He Wei Ni Ya a fierce look, glaring at her without a second thought.

What's going on here?

He Wei Ni Ya frowned slightly as she turned to watch Olenna walk away.

Then they discovered that blood was seeping out from under her robe.

... What's going on here?

The pacing might be a bit slow. I originally planned to deviate from the original plan and speed things up, starting the Grand Ceremony directly in the next chapter. But halfway through, I realized that wouldn't work, as I skipped some very important parts. So, I'll stick to the plan.