Dragon's Origin

Each grandmaster was personally received by Master Yu, while Wang Sheng did not show his face.

Wang Sheng knew very well that these musical grandmasters were much harder to get along with than those artisan grandmasters from Linglong Pavilion. Otherwise, they wouldn't be scattered all over the country in seclusion. If their tempers flared up, their peers wouldn't give them a kind look either. Wang Sheng wasn't familiar with them, and he didn't want to be rebuffed, so he wasn't that stupid.

Master Yu probably knew about the bad tempers of these friends of his, so he didn't let them contact Wang Sheng at first. These friends were undoubtedly masters of their instruments, but each of them was arrogant and looked down on others, even more so than Master Yu was at the time.

So, it was best not to contact Wang Sheng first, to avoid problems. This was the Duke's residence, Wang Sheng's territory. If those people said something disrespectful to Wang Sheng, Master Yu would be in a difficult position, and his friends probably wouldn't fare well either.

If it weren't for using the small theater in the Duke's residence, Master Yu wouldn't have stayed in the Duke's residence to receive these friends. It was too expensive to use the Royal Grand Theater, so it wasn't suitable, and he could only use the Duke's residence.

Fortunately, when these grandmasters first arrived, they immediately immersed themselves in the new instruments, new music, new notation, and theater effects, throwing themselves into it headfirst. This was the case for more than a dozen in a row, without exception.

However, despite Master Yu's best calculations, he didn't expect that among the friends who came later, some would actually question these things.

The target of the questioning was focused on Wang Sheng. The music was good, everyone agreed on that. Pianos were indeed unprecedented instruments, and everyone said they were good after trying them out. The staff notation was even more wonderful, accurately expressing all their previously vague and inaccurate music, making it even better. The problem was that these things were all proposed by Wang Sheng, which was worth considering and discussing.

If these things were made by Master Yu, these grandmasters would definitely have no objections, and would directly promote Master Yu to the realm of a super grandmaster.

After all, Master Yu himself was a grandmaster of instrument making, and any instrument he made was a masterpiece. So it wouldn't be surprising at all if Master Yu could make a piano. But if it came from the hands of someone who hardly understood music, it would be a bit abnormal.

By the same token, neither the music nor the staff notation could have been created by a barbarian. When did barbarians understand music? Didn't they only know how to paint strange patterns on their faces and bodies, then beat wood and howl around a bonfire? How dare they call that music?

They were all good things, but when Master Yu repeatedly emphasized that it was all thanks to Ever Victorious Duke Wang Sheng, especially when not only Master Yu, but also all the musicians of the Royal Symphony Orchestra praised Wang Sheng to the skies, some people exploded with displeasure.

"A barbarian-born guy, even if he has climbed the social ladder and become the Ever Victorious Duke, you don't have to praise and flatter him so much, do you?" Grandmaster Dan, a flute master from afar, questioned unhappily.

There were also several grandmasters who probably had the same thoughts in their hearts, but didn't speak out for Master Yu's sake. Now that someone had jumped out, they were naturally happy to watch the show, waiting for Master Yu to explain with a playful look.

"Ever Victorious Duke has real talent and learning," Master Yu and Grandmaster Dan were only friends in music, and didn't have deep interactions on weekdays. Master Yu himself wasn't very good at communicating with people, and only gave a simple explanation before saying nothing more. But his expression clearly showed that he wasn't joking.

"We don't believe it!" Grandmaster Dan was also an extremely conceited musician, and wouldn't argue with Master Yu. "Unless he can prove it."

"Prove what?" Master Yu was very unhappy. It was supposed to be a good thing, and he wanted to take care of these friends, but their thoughts really made Master Yu very unhappy, super unhappy.

"It doesn't have to be complicated," Grandmaster Dan looked at several companions who had the same thoughts but didn't speak, and said with a smile, "Please ask that Ever Victorious Duke to listen to one of our pieces. If he can hear what problems there are with our piece, then we will admit that he has real talent and learning. If he can't hear it, sorry, no matter how good the things are, we won't admit that they are his."

After all, they were elegant musical grandmasters, not those uncultured villagers. Grandmaster Dan's test was so refined, without a trace of worldliness.

"Let the Duke listen to your piece?" Master Yu almost laughed on the spot. Not only Master Yu, but even the musicians of the Royal Symphony Orchestra were all waiting to watch the show.

In all the time that their entire symphony orchestra had been practicing, which time hadn't they formally performed in front of the Duke, and then been pointed out a lot of problems and faults by the Duke? And even in the process of so many people playing at the same time, the Duke could point out each mistake, what position, what note. Would he not be able to hear it just because they changed a few people? Wasn't this a joke?

"Okay! Pick a piece!" Without even asking Wang Sheng, Master Yu took it upon himself to agree for Wang Sheng. Wasn't it just listening to them play a piece? It was too simple.

"These are all pieces he is familiar with, so of course it's easy to hear," Grandmaster Dan directly shook his head, and quickly took out a piece of sheet music. "This is a country tune that I recorded yesterday using staff notation. None of you have heard it. I want to see what he can hear."

Master Yu directly shook his head. These people hadn't seen Wang Sheng's power, and really thought Wang Sheng was undeservedly famous? He really wanted to see them being pointed out their shortcomings one by one by Wang Sheng in front of Wang Sheng.

Master Yu hadn't heard the new piece either, and the others hadn't contacted each other much on weekdays, so naturally they hadn't heard it either. Everyone divided up their respective instrument scores, and then began to practice separately. After they were familiar with it, they would go to Wang Sheng to verify it.

After all, they were all famous instrument grandmasters. If they really performed too poorly, they would inevitably be looked down upon by Wang Sheng. So everyone practiced very carefully. Even if it was to fight for this breath, they had to practice perfectly, so that the Ever Victorious Duke could have a good look at what a grandmaster-level musician was.

The time that everyone had been here wasn't long, and they had only just learned staff notation, and hadn't had time to learn to integrate spiritual energy into their performance. But even this was enough. Everyone wanted to see Wang Sheng's attainments in music, not anything else. It only took a day for this group of grandmasters to practice this piece until they were thoroughly familiar with it, waiting for Wang Sheng to examine it.