Chapter 571: Even More Despair!

What?

Qin Zixie's pupils narrowed slightly.

Has he ever experienced despair?

Not at all.

His life of over ten years has been smooth sailing, never having known despair.

However, Ye Qingran's question struck his heart, and for a moment he forgot to think.

Ye Qingran, however, paid him no further heed and walked straight toward the war drums.

These war drums were arranged in seven rows of seven, perfectly orderly.

Each drum had a diameter of one zhang, extremely huge; its drumhead made of spirit goat skin, thin as a cicada's wing, yet both taut and resilient.

A drum like this, for an ordinary person, even striking it requires great force, let alone making all the drums resonate in unison when only one side is struck.

There is a one‑meter gap between each drum; under normal circumstances, striking any drum causes little movement in the others, at most a barely visible tremor from the air's vibration.

The reason Qin Zixie can, while striking only the first drum, make the others vibrate and sound together is that he possesses the ability to resonate with the spirit power of heaven and earth.

The strength of this ability varies from person to person.

Some have weak resonance, only causing a few adjacent drums to sound; others with strong resonance can make many drums echo.

A top genius like Qin Zixie can make all the drums vibrate and sound.

Of course, some lack this ability.

But the Shenzhou Academy is full of geniuses, so this does not happen.

The ability to resonate with heaven‑and‑earth spirit power is not a mere ornamental skill for show, but a means to assess a person's cultivation talent.

In other words, the stronger the resonance ability, the faster one's cultivation progresses.

Qin Zixie's making all the drums resonate demonstrates his cultivation ability; even among the cloud‑like geniuses of Shenzhou Academy, he is top‑tier.

He truly is a genius among geniuses, thus he has grounds for pride and arrogance.

However, Qin Zixie absolutely should not flaunt himself before her.

As the saying goes, brandishing a great sword before Guan Gong is only making a fool of oneself, isn't it?

Ye Qingran curled the corner of her mouth and casually picked up a drumstick from the side.

Given Ye Qingran's earlier performance in the Sculpted Valley, everyone grew increasingly hopeful about her.

"Instructor Ye was able to ascend to the thirteenth Stone Steps in the Sculpted Valley; surely she can strike forty‑nine war drums like Qin Zixie, right?"

"I think Instructor Ye is quite confident; there should be no problem."

"That's not certain! Moreover, even if Instructor Ye can strike forty‑nine drums, the result may not be as good as Qin Zixie's just now."

Just now, Qin Zixie not only struck forty‑nine drums, but the force on the later ones did not diminish much, remaining loud.

Achieving this is rare. One should know that some people can strike all drums, yet the force wanes increasingly toward the end, especially on the final drum where the sound is already weak.

Dong~

Ye Qingran's first strike already sounded.

The drumbeat thundered, exploding like a sudden thunderclap.

Ye Qingran then struck twice more before laying down the drumstick.

Seeing this, everyone was stunned.

Each person has ten chances to strike; not only can they aim for the best state each time, but they can also stack force so that when resonating with heaven‑and‑earth spirit power, the force does not decay excessively.

"Instructor Ye, you can strike ten times!"

Some disciples, thinking Ye Qingran didn't know the rule, kindly reminded her.

Ye Qingran smiled at the disciple who reminded her, "Thanks, I know."

The crowd was even more astonished.

Ye Qingran said she knew.

So, she deliberately struck only three times?

Qin Zixie clenched his rear molars, feeling insulted.

"I actually want to see how many drums you can strike!"

The drum sounds traveled forward, each drumhead beginning to vibrate, emitting a massive roar.

The tenth drum...

The twentieth drum...

The thirtieth drum...

The speed was rapid, more than twice the pace Qin Zixie had just shown.

Moreover, even toward the end, the vibration frequency and amplitude of the drumheads were almost identical to the first, and the sound was equally earth‑shaking.

"Oh my!"

"Too fast!"

From the crowd rose a wave of exclamations.

When the vibrating drums accumulated to forty, the sound was deafening.

At a glance, almost all the drums were vibrating.

That astonishing sound turned into a towering wave, resonating through the heavens.

Forty‑one...

Forty‑two...

Forty‑three...

The drums behind rang one after another, with no sign of slowing; before anyone could react, the forty‑ninth drum was already vibrating!

Boom—boom—boom~

The forty‑ninth war drum's drumhead vibrated rapidly, emitting a sound almost exactly the same as the first war drum!

Everyone was so stunned at this moment that they could not speak!

Ye Qingran not only made all the war drums sound at an incredible speed, but even the forty‑ninth drum's vibration frequency and tone did not diminish at all!

What does this mean?

It means she possesses an astonishing ability to resonate with the spirit power of heaven and earth!

This ability far surpasses Qin Zixie!

Qin Zixie's gaze has now frozen.

"How could this be possible!"

His lips turned pale, and his face was full of despair.

All the pride in his heart was shattered completely at this moment.

Ye Qingran not only achieved it, but the result was far better than his.

If he gave his own performance a perfect score, Ye Qingran's performance would be ten perfect scores, even a hundred!

He lost!

He feels that the words he just said now, upon reflection, are all jokes.

Ye Qingran glanced at Qin Zixie.

Despair?

Definitely despair!

Despair, exactly!

But, Qin Zixie, do you think this is over?

There's something even more desperate!