The suona mimicked the calls of birds with lifelike precision, all kinds of bird cries ringing continuously in people's ears!
At the same time.
Li Hongzheng stood outside the mourning hall, still recalling the legend that Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix could draw birds to the scene.
He happened to look up.
His gaze inadvertently fell upon the treetops nearby.
His expression changed at once!
He discovered that quite a few birds had already settled on the branches not far away. Along with the bird calls mimicked by Su Chen's suona, more and more birds in the distance began responding with their own cries!
He hurriedly looked into the distance and saw birds beginning to land in the woods and on the hills nearby!
More and more of them came.
Until flock after flock had been drawn over by the suona, turning the distant sky black with birds.
Soon, everyone around them noticed this strange sight as well!
At this moment, Su Chen's suona had clearly become the trigger, while even more sounds came from the calls of those birds.
Faced with such a phenomenon, Li Hongzheng was deeply shaken!
Not even his master back then had managed to produce such an effect!
The suona itself had a high pitch and powerful penetration. It was famed among instruments for its exceptionally piercing tone. Without any equipment, its sound could travel incredibly far!
If a performer could imitate bird calls with perfect realism, they might attract birds. But rather than calling it a strange phenomenon, it was better to say that the performer possessed profound skill!
Su Chen held his suona high as he stood before the mourning hall!
His hands began trembling rapidly, tapping the finger holes at an astonishing frequency!
The tune changed accordingly!
A crisp, joyful sound emerged from the bell of the suona!
Li Hongzheng understood this technique. It was flutter-tonguing!
However,
he could only recognize it; he could not perform it as Su Chen did!
Because Su Chen's flutter-tonguing frequency was too fast!
Most terrifying of all, he sustained that single breath for a full thirty seconds!
Li Hongzheng, a professional suona player from the National Theater, felt as though his throat was about to smoke just from listening.
Yet he, like everyone else present, did not dare make a sound.
They were afraid of disrupting Su Chen's rhythm!
Later, that crisp sound began to turn urgent and anxious! The birds' cries seemed to grow increasingly mournful!
Su Chen covered the suona's finger holes with both hands and lowered his body slightly. When he suddenly raised his head, the cry became as terrifying as a blood-weeping wail!
"Phoenix rebirth—the phoenix's cry?!!"
Sweat began to bead on Li Hongzheng's forehead. In Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, this was the most difficult section!
When his master had played this passage back then, he had looked utterly crazed!
It was nearly impossible not to leave gaps in the middle. A person's lung capacity was limited, after all. Even after playing the suona for a lifetime, his blind master still had to pause for a breath during this passage!
But now!
This young man had flawlessly played the entire passage in one smooth flow!
What terrifying lung capacity!?
That breathing rhythm seemed to perfectly match the performance of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!
Looking again at Su Chen's nimble fingers, they had already begun dancing at high speed.
Various short and long tones, brief melodic patterns, shifted back and forth until they finally drove the piece perfectly into its climax!
Every suona technique shifted fluidly beneath Su Chen's hands, all of them used in this passage!
The most impassioned, and also the most magnificent and fervent part of the piece, was played flawlessly by him!
Everyone was completely stunned!
Their eyes were fixed on Su Chen, while their hearing was immersed in this climactic passage as well!
In an instant.
A note more soaring than any before suddenly burst forth!
It shot straight into the heavens!!
Everyone felt their scalps go numb, heat rushing madly to the tops of their heads! Goosebumps rose all over them!
Li Hongzheng's eyes had gone blank as he repeatedly exclaimed:
"Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix. This is the true Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!"
A wave of stunned doubt rose in his heart as well!
As far as he knew, everyone in Dragon Country who had reached such a level of mastery was an elderly master!
Even those elders might not necessarily know how to play this piece!
Yet Su Chen, that young man in the mourning hall!
Not only had he mastered superb suona artistry, he could even play the long-lost Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!
That transcendent, otherworldly air, concealing an aura of divine charm—he had only ever felt it from people who could be called living ancestors!
Now, that long-lost feeling had appeared once more in this young man!
Why would someone with such attainments appear at Principal Tang's funeral!?
How could someone who played a piece lost for decades as perfectly as Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix possibly be an ordinary person?
But what connection could he have with Principal Tang, who had spent nearly her entire life rooted in this impoverished rural town?
Remembering how Principal Tang had asked before her death whether she was worthy of a performance of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, then looking at the scene before him!
Li Hongzheng did not dare think any further!!
At that moment, Principal Tang had gained several shades of mystery in his heart, beyond the respect he already felt for her!
Everyone present began looking up.
What happened next would remain unforgettable for the rest of their lives!
The distant flocks seemed to have heard some kind of summons!
They began flapping their wings, taking off from the treetops almost simultaneously.
The dark mass of birds swept toward the old school like an overwhelming tide!
A few birds that had arrived earlier landed on the school's crumbling walls and on the temporary mourning hall.
Even more birds remained in the air!
They blotted out the sky and covered the sun!
A vast and mighty spectacle!
How could there be only a hundred of them?
Seeing this, Li Hongzheng's shock could no longer be put into words. The legend his blind master had spoken of was not a legend!
It was real!!
Hot tears flowed from his eyes, streaked down his cheeks, and fell heavily to the ground.
He would never forget this moment:
On this day, at the funeral of Principal Tang Ying in Huayi Town, a young man of extraordinary bearing, dressed in plain ancient-style clothing,
played the grand piece reserved only for deceased people of great virtue and prestige!
Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!!
The final passage of the grand piece—Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!
Even Su Chen, with his Special Breathing Technique, had a slightly flushed face by now!
His fingers were beginning to tremble as well!
Yet the suona in his mouth became even more lively and soaring!
At times mournful, at times joyful, occasionally imitating bird calls!
It seemed to have reached the final climax along with the piece!
Then, with his final breath, he played the last sustained note!
That sustained note seemed to carry more than ten years of life's scenery!
It blew across mountain range after mountain range!
Across arduous mountain roads winding through countless ravines!
Across Principal Tang's tens of thousands of miles of rugged, winding life!
There was sorrow, but also fulfillment!
At last, Su Chen planted his toes on the ground!
His body arched backward like a crescent moon!
He poured all the momentum in his chest into the suona in his hands!
The pitch rose straight from the ground!
The melody surged higher with it!
The notes from the suona climbed higher than every pitch before them!
Each note rose higher than the last!
The melody was magnificent, its momentum unmatched!
At that moment, the feeling that had been suppressed in everyone's hearts seemed to erupt alongside the melody!
Sobs and whimpers.
Crying rose along with the suona!
Growing louder and louder!
As if everyone wished to pour out all their longing for Principal Tang at once!
The birds in the sky also began to descend slowly!
The flock filled Principal Tang's mourning hall!
Upon the funeral banners swaying in the wind,
upon the school's broken courtyard walls,
and upon the treetops above everyone's heads, dense masses of birds had gathered everywhere!
For nearly thirty seconds, Su Chen held that sustained note in the same posture!
His head raised, his waist arched, his face red from holding his breath!
At last, he exhausted his final breath!
The soaring suona abruptly stopped!
Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix,
was over!
The crowd's crying also gradually came to an end,
but the birds around them remained, refusing to disperse!
Their cries continued without end throughout the funeral!
Dense and incessant, chirping everywhere—nothing but bird calls!
No one stood up, just as they had feared disturbing Su Chen's suona rhythm earlier.
Now, they were equally cautious, afraid of startling these birds!
They looked at the birds covering the mountains and fields.
Such a strange spectacle!
Yet all they could think of was that young man holding the suona, head raised and waist arched.
Playing the suona with all the strength in his voice!
How could that aged, imposing presence and that vigorous, powerful piece possibly be something a young suona player could easily perform?
"This... is absolutely master-level!"
"No! Band Leader Li is already a master, but this young man's presence and attainments are far beyond Band Leader Li's!"
"Could he be... a grandmaster of traditional music!?"
"A grandmaster!?
Those are people revered as living ancestors. Why would someone like that appear at Principal Tang's funeral?"
"Principal Tang was no simple person!"
Everyone was stunned beyond measure!
It was not only Su Chen's identity; Principal Tang's mysterious past also stirred their suspicions and curiosity~
The piece had ended, yet the cries of a hundred birds continued without cease!
Su Chen slowly lowered the suona in his hands.
A performance of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix had finally come to an end, but the hope contained within it would live on endlessly! Just like Principal Tang's lifelong perseverance, what she left behind was not merely inspiration, but a legacy of hope for all impoverished students and volunteer teachers!
Attending Tang Ying's funeral was also a baptism for Su Chen!
Su Chen bowed deeply toward Tang Ying's memorial portrait.
The second special mission was considered complete.
Carrying his suona, he walked out of the mourning hall.
Under the gaze of countless students kneeling outside the mourning hall, he gradually walked farther away...
PS:
The end of a funeral was not merely the end of a life, but also the inheritance of hope.
Thank you to Hall Master Little Monk for the reward. Here is the second update late at night!
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Thank you, boss The End of All Songs, for the reward!
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A ninety-degree bow!!
Made a few revisions
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