Piano Room, third floor.
Ed Huang pulled out a bunch of keys and opened the door to a small classroom.
"Please, Ms. Han." Ed Huang pushed open the door, greeting her warmly, while completely ignoring Ian Song who stood behind them.
Ed Huang ignored Ian Song, but Hannah Han didn’t. She thanked Ed, then quickly turned and waved at Ian: "Come in!"
"Okay, Ms. Han." Ian nodded.
"By the way, have you taken the piano grade exams? Amateur or professional?" Ed Huang suddenly asked Ian. In Yanhuang Nation, piano grades are divided into amateur and professional: amateur has nine levels, professional has ten, with the tenth called Piano Master.
The amateur grades are pretty easy to pass; getting amateur level nine isn’t hard. But professionals don’t really recognize the amateur grades—they’re just good for impressing outsiders or showing off.
"I haven’t taken any exams yet," Ian answered honestly.
"So you haven’t taken any exams." Ed’s eyes showed a trace of contempt, then he put on a proud look: "Three years ago, back in college, I passed professional level seven. Haven’t had time to test again since I started working, or I’d probably be at level eight by now."
Hearing Ed’s bragging, Ian just smiled quietly. It was obvious Ed was trying to put him down in front of Ms. Han to make himself look better.
Obviously, Hannah noticed this too, so she said to Ed, "Thank you for bringing us up here, Mr. Huang. If you’re busy, feel free to go ahead."
Either Ed didn’t catch Hannah’s hint or he pretended not to. Instead, he smiled and said, "I happen to be free right now. How about this—I’ll play a piece for Ms. Han first, then listen to Ian Song play. Afterwards, I can give him some pointers, so he’ll have a better chance in tomorrow’s audition round."
Since they were both teachers, Hannah couldn’t turn him down, so she just nodded and agreed.
Ed straightened his jacket, walked over to the piano, sat down, lifted the lid, and looked back at Hannah: "Ms. Han, the piece I’m about to play is my own original composition. I’ve never played it for anyone before—you’ll be my first audience. Hope you like it."
Ignored again. Ian curled his lips, but Hannah caught the little gesture and winked at him.
Ian couldn’t help but smile. The more time he spent with Ms. Han, the more he felt that sometimes, she was like a little girl.
Ding-dong.
The piano sounded as Ed’s fingers danced quickly across the keys, unleashing a flurry of notes. At the same time, he moved dramatically, eyes closed as if totally lost in the music—or just in love with his own playing.
To be honest, Ed’s piano skills were indeed impressive, but he was too focused on showing off. It was all flash and no substance, making his piece lose its depth.
A good piece has soul—it moves people and touches the audience’s heart. Clearly, Ed didn’t achieve that. If he had, he wouldn’t be professional level seven; he’d be level nine.
After finishing his piece, Ed looked back at Hannah expectantly and asked, "Ms. Han, what do you think of my composition?"
"It was nice, very pleasant to listen to," Hannah replied with a gentle smile.
Getting Hannah’s approval made Ed quite pleased. "That’s great! How about I play another piece I’m good at?"
"Alright then," Hannah said helplessly.
Next, Ed played a sad piece. After finishing, he again asked Hannah how he’d done.
After receiving Hannah’s polite compliment, this guy actually said he wanted to play yet another piece.
Both Hannah and Ian were speechless at this.
After Ed finished his third piece, Hannah didn’t wait for him to ask and quickly said, "Very good, Mr. Huang. Now let’s let Ian have a try—I want to see what his piano skills are really like."
Ed reluctantly left the piano bench, then patted Ian on the shoulder: "Don’t be nervous, Ian. Play well. When you’re done, I’ll give you some pointers!"
Seriously, he’s way too full of himself. Where did he get the idea I was nervous?
Ian was speechless, but didn’t bother arguing with Ed. He walked over, sat at the piano, and started thinking about what piece to play.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
"Requiem Fantasia, you’re up. Mr. Huang, you love showing off, right? Then let me show you what real showmanship looks like!"
‘Requiem Fantasia’ was also one of the system’s top ten gifted pieces. It wasn’t about beautiful melody or moving emotions, and certainly not about depth—it was pure technical show-off. At its peak, it required thirteen keys to be played at once.
But people only have ten fingers—even if you use all of them, you can’t hit thirteen keys at once.
Besides the thirteen-key sections, there were plenty of passages needing twelve or eleven keys too. This was a piece so hard it was basically impossible for one person to play.
Under Ed and Hannah’s watchful eyes, Ian flexed his ten fingers, then suddenly slammed his hands onto the keys. Instantly, a storm of notes erupted from his fingertips like a raging hurricane.
"Is this kid really playing? Or just banging on the keys?" Ed shivered instinctively, his face puzzled. But the next moment, his eyes went wide—Ian’s fingers moved faster and faster, and soon there were even afterimages above the keys.
The piece grew more and more intense and violent—even a bit harsh.
But those dense chords left Ed speechless. Ian was actually playing eleven notes at once, even twelve.
Boom!
This piece was like a raging flood—unstoppable.
And Ian’s hands kept getting faster. Soon, he hit strings of thirteen-key, even fourteen-key chords. The Piano Master skill alone couldn’t achieve this, but Ian’s physical abilities were five times normal, plus he’d cultivated inner qi, channeling it into his fingers for extra dexterity and sensitivity.
Thirteen-key and fourteen-key chords—he could actually play them!
Ed was so shocked he couldn’t speak. Hannah, who didn’t know much about piano, just thought Ian’s hand speed was amazing.
When the piece finally ended, Ian let out a heavy breath. Playing the four-minute-long ‘Requiem Fantasia’ was no easy task—it had burned up at least a tenth of his inner qi.
"Mr. Huang, what did you think of Ian’s playing?" Hannah asked Ed.
Ed finally snapped out of it, staring at Ian with a complicated look. "Strong. Way too strong. The piece he just played—even a Piano Master probably couldn’t pull it off."
"Is it really that impressive?" Hannah asked skeptically. "But I didn’t think it sounded very pleasant."
"Heh, it really doesn’t sound good, but it’s probably the most technically demanding piece in the world!" Ed laughed. After praising Ian a bit more, he left the piano room—he’d been utterly crushed. All that boasting about giving Ian pointers? With what Ian just did, Ed could practice for twenty more years and still not manage it.
"Finally, he’s gone!" Ian said with a grin.
"You did that on purpose, didn’t you?" Hannah looked at Ian.
Ian nodded.
"So why did Ed run off after hearing you play just one piece? Was it really that hard?" Hannah asked, puzzled.
Ian explained the piece’s difficulty to Hannah, and after hearing it, she was pretty shocked. "You mean you can press fourteen keys at once?"
Ian nodded again and said, "Ms. Han, that last piece really wasn’t pleasant. Let me play something beautiful for you."
As he spoke, Ian sat back down at the piano and began playing ‘Blue and White Porcelain.’