Chapter 393: Ascension (4k)

"What?! Someone fainted?!"

Backstage, Qian Jiang, who was in charge of the entire concert, had been very satisfied seeing the performance reach its peak effect, but as soon as he received a call from his subordinate, his eyebrows instantly furrowed and his expression immediately became solemn—

Damn! Did someone really get into trouble?!

"How many were injured? Is it serious? What exactly happened?"

Although, due to the large number of people, he had indeed arranged for drivers to be on standby outside the venue to ensure that if an accident really occurred, patients could be sent to the hospital immediately for the fastest treatment.

But if a major accident occurred, this concert would, no matter what, have a certain impact on Zhou Yi and Warner, and those competitors would not let go of this opportunity with solid evidence.

"Only one fainted, a man named Wei Yuncong, a young man in his twenties. He has already woken up and his body is fine."

The subordinate's answer made Qian Jiang instantly breathe a sigh of relief—As long as it's nothing, as long as it's nothing.

"Are you sure it was only him?"

"Yes, we are with him now."

"OK, that works. Here's the plan: you settle him down first and observe him closely to prevent any accidents. After Ah Yi's concert ends, I will notify Ah Yi to go over and visit him."

After giving a brief instruction, Qian Jiang hung up the phone and immediately summoned his confidant, giving orders: "Find a few people to pretend to be paparazzi and patients. When Ah Yi follows me to the hospital to visit this person, take photos secretly—

"Remember, the angle must be from a secret shot, the image must be blurry, don't be as steady as a professional, the photos absolutely cannot be high-definition. A secret shot must look like a secret shot; if it's as clear as a promotional photo, no one will believe it except brainless die-hard fans.

"I want that kind of ambiguous feeling that sparks imagination and discussion, understand?"

Thinking of the series of "chance encounters" and "secret shots" Chen Ze Shan had arranged for Zhang Huimei, whose album sales had recently been cold, Qian Jiang, fearing his subordinates would rely on the same path, emphasized this point again.

Chen Ze Shan did that on purpose, aiming to stir up discussion for Zhang Huimei, incite a war of words between fans and passersby, and thereby increase attention to the singer herself; Zhou Yi does not need that now.

"It can be done, but won't this have a somewhat bad impact?"

The confidant deputy hesitated a bit: "If this is dug up later, it might have a certain impact on Ah Yi's reputation."

"It doesn't matter. If it gets exposed, I'll take the blame; I will bear all the responsibility myself."

Qian Jiang was not worried at all.

As a professional manager, since the concert encountered an incident, and no major problem had erupted, naturally one must consider whether to leverage it for a wave of popularity. Coincidentally, in the world music scene, there happens to be a man who has taken marketing in this area to the extreme, serving as a reference—

Michael Jackson, the current world's number one pop king.

As long as you follow Michael Jackson's path and play this game, very few people will notice this aspect; the case study is right there.

News like "How many fans fainted from excitement at Michael Jackson's XX concert" was not uncommon during his peak; combined with his solid hard power, it played a certain positive role in spreading his fame and influence globally.

In fact, there are no few top singers whose fans fainted due to excitement or various reasons at concerts, but only Michael Jackson's news was broadcast all over the world; even in China, a country where Michael's popularity was not particularly high, people obtained related materials to hype him up.

Marketing is something completely normal for superstar kings; Qian Jiang, a native of old Hong Kong, saw this clearer than anyone. Not to mention the past Hong Kong music scene, looking at the international stage, there is not a single singer in the entire world music scene who became a pop king purely by strength without doing any marketing at all.

Not a single one.

This excellent material is now delivered right to his doorstep; since nothing bad happened, he has absolutely no reason to give it up.

If Michael Jackson can do it, why can't my Zhou Yi do it?

"Understood, I'll go arrange it."

The confidant deputy looked down at the time on his watch; arranging for "paparazzi" to go to the hospital for emergency treatment in advance was just right; going early wouldn't seem too abrupt.

On stage, after performing "Back-to-Back Embrace," Xiao Yaxuan, once put down by Zhou Yi, laughed so wildly: "Zhou Yi, why don't you just rename this concert? Let's just call it my concert."

"That's not impossible either; you can sponsor it, I accept sponsorship, as long as the payment is sufficient."

Zhou Yi, smiling broadly, finished his last words before leaving the stage; after chatting briefly, he temporarily handed the stage over to Xiao Yaxuan.

He had to go down to change clothes.

As a guest performer, Xiao Yaxuan was not confused; her medley of her early representative works "The Most Familiar Stranger" and "Suddenly I Remember You," along with the two hottest singles from her latest album "Prague Square" and "Give Me a Reason to Forget," perfectly bridged the gap when Zhou Yi was off stage, providing an emotional cooldown transition for the audience as the concert neared its end.

She even guest-hosted the live show after the medley ended—

"Honestly, when I first met Zhou Yi in Taiwan Province, I really didn't expect him to be this amazing now. The only thought in my mind when I saw this man was—wow, this man is so tall and handsome."

Xiao Yaxuan, holding the microphone tightly in one hand, publicly recounted for the first time how she and Zhou Yi first met in the dance studio; it might have been showing off, or just reminiscing, but the upward curve of her smile was impossible to suppress; this could not be faked.

The first meeting between the little diva and Zhou Yi began with screams inside the dance studio.

Hearing this, some CP fans in the audience had pink bubbles rising in their eyes.

It was also at this moment that everyone finally learned the time when Zhou Yi first systematically received professional dance training.

"When I first started dancing back then, many people said I was a genius, said my dance sense was great, the kind where heaven grants you a meal. But in my opinion, Zhou Yi is actually the genius."

Xiao Yaxuan, talking about this man's learning ability, sighed: "Sometimes I even wonder if people who study well all have such strong comprehension; you never know where the limit of his talent lies; that is the most terrifying part."

Putting aside songwriting and music production, which are fully quantifiable metrics, vocal and physical talents are solid and visible to the naked eye, as long as one's eyes are not blind.

Just the smoothness of the dance in that single song "Yeah," in Xiao Yaxuan's eyes, was almost comparable to Michael Jackson.

"In my heart, I actually have clear thresholds for various standards. For a singer like me who combines singing and dancing, Zhou Yi is the one with the strongest talent among all the singers I have encountered so far, bar none."

Xiao Yaxuan did not hide her praise for Zhou Yi, even if saying so might make some people look at her unfavorably.

But, so what?

As the leader of Zhou Yi's Praise Cult, under the gaze of eighty thousand people on site, a proud smile formed on her lips: "Just like many media outlets called him during the World Cup, I have no doubt: Zhou Yi is the next King of Pop!"

???

The audience, who had barely reacted to Xiao Yaxuan's unique way of praising, hadn't even had time to speak when, the next second, as her words fell, a majestic and oppressive horn sound suddenly rang out inside the arena!

—?!

Everyone was startled by this sudden, soaring horn sound!

This...?

The next second, all the large screens on site immediately displayed a series of shocking scenes of raging flames!

The flames, accompanied by the majestic horn sound that was neither fast nor slow, flickered between light and dark.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom boom boom!!!"

All the lights inside the 80,000-person stadium dimmed instantly. Accompanied by the blare of trumpets, the subsequent beats of the great drums struck the hearts of every fan present, making their very livers tremble—

Xiao Yanxuan, who had originally been merely a guest host, had somehow walked to the right side of the stage. Holding drumsticks in both hands, he struck the drumhead continuously, following the rhythm.

The tempo shifted gradually from calm to urgent; Xiao Yanxuan's drumming grew faster and faster. The members of the Women's Twelve Musical Workshop, who had appeared earlier, took their positions collectively, vaguely visible in the darkness before the lights reached them—until Xiao Yanxuan delivered the final strike, as if it were a signal!

The grim aura of a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses rose alongside the pipa. The light that had enveloped Xiao Yanxuan immediately transferred to the female pipa player the moment he stopped playing—dressed in red robes embroidered with golden patterns, she sat upright on a redwood chair.

The trampling of iron hooves; the slaughter of war;

On the giant screen, vivid red flame special effects, accompanied by the sound effects of reckless charging and slaughter, complemented the pipa perfectly.

This segment of pipa music was very short; though it lasted only a few dozen seconds, combined with the preceding trumpet and war drum sounds, it gave people the illusion that they had personally experienced a massive war.

In the concluding phase of the pipa music, the intense killing intent dropped sharply—immediately followed by a cheerful flute melody.

The victorious army returned to the capital; the royal army that unified the six states bore the banner of Qin. Every face overflowed with pride and self-satisfaction—having unified the divided land of Huaxia, countless people were envisioning the beautiful future of a prosperous age.

The common people danced and sang; the soldiers beamed with joy. The cheerful flute represented their current mood.

In the next moment, the melodious erhu replaced the cheerful flute.

The cheerful mood vanished completely. Only the back of the King, still seated on the Wang Zuo, could be seen—after ending the chaotic world and the endless wars, and after yearning for the future, the soldiers began to award merits, but those fallen comrades would never see this scene again.

And after the brief erhu music, the final pipa music that followed seemed to herald the arrival of the prosperous age—

Clear, beautiful, like a sound from heaven.

Just at this moment, the pipa, which had previously carried a grim aura, joined in again. Yet during the performance, it suppressed the spread of killing intent, as if playing a song of prosperity for the civil and military officials atop a magnificent palace of peace and celebration!

Bamboo flute, erhu, and even Xiao Yanxuan's drum.

One by one they joined in, yet it never created a sense of chaos; it was cheerful and harmonious, just like listening to a hymn—

A hymn that Chinese people could almost immediately empathize with!

In these current times, the treatment of ancient Chinese instruments in the domestic pop music market cannot be said to be ignored, but at the very least, it could be described as better than nothing.

Especially for many young people; most of them had little interest in these ancient instruments, thinking they were things only the older generation who sang Peking Opera would listen to, or things one could only hear while watching some historical martial arts dramas.

Especially the erhu; the deepest impression this thing left on them was begging with a bowl under the Tianqiao bridge.

But the arrangement of Zhou Yi's concert left them amazed—

Was this still the familiar pipa and guzheng they knew?

Why was it so... pop?

And that Qin on the big screen, was it Qin Shi Huang?

Qin destroyed the six states, unified the tracks of carts and the writing system, created the era of great unity on the land of Huaxia, and proclaimed himself the First Emperor—this was something written in history textbooks and folk legends that would not fade away.

After the visual hints provided by the big screen, the images that naturally changed along with the concept of the music were easily substituted by many people. This was cultural identification—no excessive explanation was needed; simply providing a scene allowed people to automatically associate it with the relevant history.

"It sounds very good, quite different from what I've heard before."

"When did Zhou Yi start playing these instruments?"

"He knew them from the beginning; did you forget songs like 'Hua Tian Cuo' and 'Dong Feng Po'?"

"..."

The audience below whispered among themselves. Many were also infected by the music, feeling an indescribable comfort for a moment—

Until the next second, accompanied by Xiao Yanxuan's final drum strike, all the lights in the venue went black again!

Suddenly, the majestic trumpet sound rang out once more. But this time, the big screen no longer showed various wars or scenes of prosperity; instead, it shifted to the modern era—

To be precise, it showed the explosive chart-topping achievements of Zhou Yi's English album in countries around the world.

The single "Yeah" topped the music charts in eighteen Western countries;

The single "Baby" topped the music charts in over thirty countries worldwide, excluding the United States and China!

The single "Wavin' Flag" was spread across more than two hundred countries and regions globally; he was the first Asian to perform publicly at the World Cup closing ceremony!

The album "The Attitude Show," up to now, had surpassed 22 million copies in total global sales! It won the weekly sales championship for more than three weeks in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and France!

In South Korea, it showed a trend of crushing dominance, directly becoming the annual sales king, surpassing a host of Korean singers to take the first place throne and maintaining it until now!

Next door in Japan, they even sincerely put up the slogan "The Music Emperor of China"!

Just like an Emperor of Great Unity ascending the throne, amidst the solemn and majestic trumpet sounds, Zhou Yi, dressed in black robes, slowly rose from the exact center of the stage—

His sharp and domineering gaze was as majestic as an Emperor on inspection!

At this moment, the trumpet sounded again!

At this second, the drums played again!

Amidst the rising and falling cheers of the fans throughout the venue, the pipa, erhu, and guzheng competed to show off their skills and offer their devotion!

"Awesome!!!"

"Zhou Yi is awesome!"

"Holy crap, why does this music really feel like an Emperor ascending the throne?!!!!!"

Someone shouted this line, and the entire venue reached a consensus within just a few dozen seconds!

Fans are mostly blind, especially those who can come to the venue to watch the concert. Amidst the waves of screams and cheers, the trumpet sounded as if it were the coronation ceremony of an Emperor in a film or TV drama.

Even more excited fans tore at their clothes with both hands, leaning back and shouting Zhou Yi's name. Many female fans, their hearts surging, screamed until they could no longer speak.

"Did you see that, Xiao Wei? This is the Music Emperor that Japan is talking about!

"The Music Emperor!!!"

A young man was very emotional, but this emotional howl, which was on the verge of cracking his voice, did not manage to carry far; it was limited to those around him.

Many people looked at this young man with strange movements and awkward slogans with utter surprise...

Buddy, if the Japanese are awkwardly hyping up a Music Emperor, that's one thing, but why are you playing along and making it real?

(End of this chapter)