Chapter 144: The Second Rhapsody

"Brilliant!"

As the performance came to an end and Liao Yuan stepped off the stage, he was instantly greeted by a warm embrace from Fu Xiaoci.

This gesture immediately drew the attention of the entire audience.

Soon, the host, Zhang Hai, stepped onto the stage to tally the votes.

Two thousand public judges pressed the voting devices in their hands simultaneously.

At the same time, the judging panel composed of six top-tier pianists in the industry offered their critiques of this round of competition.

"Blade Slash is a theme song we are all familiar with. Although Zuo Yongsi adapted it, the core remains the same, and it still carries that classic flavor. I like it, but from the perspective of freshness, I prefer Uncle A's little story."

"Uncle A's playing is filled with mechanical aestheticism. I bet he must be a coach at some fitness club."

"A-Zuo's performance was also very perfect, but it has one minor flaw—the musical style is a bit too rigid. Every piece of yours tends to have the same feel to the listeners' ears. I hope you can overcome this in the next round."

"Uncle A is the grand pianist in today's music world most likely to go global. I firmly believe this."

"If I were a public judge, I would choose Uncle A!"

The professional judges' comments brought a certain degree of impact to the audience.

Before long, Zhang Hai received the voting data.

"In the first round, 1,347 to 533. Uncle A wins!"

Warm cheers erupted throughout the venue.

Meanwhile, in the audience section, a huge banner fluttered in the wind, bearing six gold-embossed characters: "Brother Alphabet is Invincible."

Who is Brother Alphabet?

Asdfghj!

Afterward, Zuo Yongsi took the stage once again, instantly drawing everyone's attention back to him.

The second round of the competition began.

Zuo Yongsi sat before the piano and suddenly looked out at the countless audience members across the hall.

Every single one of them wore a bold, unrestrained smile.

A chill ran through Zuo Yongsi's heart.

Just look at them. How many people are laughing at you?

They are the ones who are afraid of your success!

Zuo Yongsi took a deep breath, banished the negative emotions from his mind, raised his hands high, and brought them down heavily!

Bang! A tremendous crash echoed.

This heavy piano note drove away the commotion of the entire venue.

Everyone fell silent.

Immediately following that, Zuo Yongsi's hands moved like phantoms, rapidly and continuously leaping across the keys.

Closely linked and densely packed musical scales converged into a mighty river, surging toward everyone's eardrums.

White clouds, towering mountains, forests, flowing streams, and a figure standing barefoot!

The fresh breath of nature rushed over them in that single instant!

"What piece is this?"

"Never heard it before. Is it original?"

"It must be Zuo Yongsi's new work, not officially released yet."

"A-Zuo is getting desperate too. If he loses this round, Uncle A will reach match point, and the pressure on him will be even greater then!"

"After all, he is one of the top three contestants in the knockout stage, a championship seed expected to shine brightly in the grand finals."

"Too bad he ran into Uncle A!"

"Seriously, you don't realize the difference until you compare. This comparison makes it clear whose damage output is higher!"

"This piece is quite good. I really like it!"

"This must be a piece that surpasses the professional level and reaches the concert-performance level. Just that alone puts it ahead of most pianists."

"A-Zuo is the resident pianist for the Hong Kong Opera House with extremely strong capabilities. Who wins and who loses this match is still uncertain!"

Under Zuo Yongsi's intense performance, a sprawling landscape scroll slowly unfolded before everyone's eyes.

Within the scroll were long rivers, setting suns, beacon towers, small bridges over flowing streams, and endless layers of verdant peaks.

"What is the title of this piece?" Liao Yuan asked with great interest.

Fu Xiaoci shook her head. "I don't know."

Xu Ling'er smiled and said, "This must be a piece debuting for the first time. We'll find out after the performance."

Liao Yuan nodded thoughtfully while also feeling a trace of pressure.

The difficulty of this piece definitely exceeded the professional level, and a player with ordinary hand speed could never play such a piece. Even more rare was that the melody was exceptionally pleasing to the ear.

Before long, Zuo Yongsi's performance officially concluded.

Prompted by the host Zhang Hai, the audience finally learned the title of the piece—Ten Miles of Mountains and Rivers.

Ten Miles of Mountains and Rivers was the theme song Zuo Yongsi wrote for an animated film of the same name. Because the movie had not yet been released, it had always been kept strictly confidential.

Warm applause broke out among the audience.

Everyone could see that Zuo Yongsi had pulled out his ultimate trump card.

If he had brought out Ten Miles of Mountains and Rivers during the first round, Zuo Yongsi might very well have staged a comeback.

Unfortunately, it was ill-timed.

Liao Yuan walked onto the stage once again.

A piece that was both challenging and profound...

Liao Yuan thought of Croatian Rhapsody, but since that composition had already been played during the knockout stage, he didn't want to repeat it. Instead, Second Croatian Rhapsody came to mind.

Ah, yes, not only was there a Second Rhapsody, but a Third and Fourth Rhapsody existed as well.

Furthermore, judging by the performance style, they were equally frantic and extremely difficult.

Liao Yuan sat before the piano, completely motionless. After pondering for a full thirty seconds—just as whispers began to rise among the crowd—he finally moved.

His hands had no preparatory gestures; it was as if a machine experiencing a power outage suddenly sprang into operation, and the piano notes rang out in an instant.

The overall impression the scene gave was the absolute extreme of stillness and motion, leaving many dumbfounded.

"Paralyzed in stillness, epileptic in motion."

The moment the prelude sounded, an inexplicable ripple surged through everyone's bodies. This tremor originated from the heart, coursing through the bloodstream to every part of the body, causing everyone's scalp to tingle and goosebumps to break out all over.

Liang Qingquan, the on-site coordinator, had been sitting quietly in the guest seating enjoying the music, but the sudden onset of the prelude unexpectedly filled him with a sense of agitation. He looked around; many people were bobbing their heads and dancing to the intense piano notes. Even middle-aged men and women who usually looked extremely self-disciplined were uniformly exhibiting the symptom of "leg bouncing."

Liang Qingquan wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. Under the spell of this magical music, he suddenly felt the urge to do something, so he checked his surroundings. Finding no one paying attention to him, he raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face twice!

Hot-blooded!

This was a blood-boiling piece!

Filled with endless magic!

It made people instinctively want to achieve synchronization with the music through physical movement.

"Oh mom, so awesome!"

"Uncle A is too badass!"

"My eyes are wet, and my whole body is trembling uncontrollably!"

"Even the commentators are losing their minds from leg-shaking!"

"This piece is cut from the same cloth as War Rhapsody, yet it's distinctly different!"

"War Rhapsody expresses the tragic grandeur of war, while this piece has a much more joyful style, likely telling the story of post-disaster reconstruction joy!"

"Too amazing! This is the Uncle A I know!"

"Your friend, the Alphabet Piano Sage, has logged online! Please check!"