Under normal circumstances, even for those who were Liu family members, it was incredibly difficult to hear Liu Shi Yi play a song. To be able to listen to her zither playing now was all thanks to Chu Hao.
"I'm afraid I'll embarrass myself with my playing," Liu Shi Yi's voice was as elegant as a lotus flower, gently wafting out.
An ancient zither was brought over. The body of the zither was a fiery red, crafted from the core of a three-thousand-year-old Fire Pear Tree. The strings were made from Golden Silkworm Jade Threads.
This kind of golden silkworm fed on precious jade. After consuming the jade, it would digest it for an entire year before spinning out a supple jade thread. However, after spinning the jade thread, the golden silkworm would die, making the thread exceptionally rare.
Liu Shi Yi sat down in the small pavilion in the bamboo forest. She held the zither. The moonlight tonight was cold and serene, its silver light spilling down and making her appear even more beautiful.
"Both of you, please come in," Liu Shi Yi's voice was like the sound of a pearl dropping onto a jade plate, clear and crisp.
Chu Hao walked in. With him was a tall and burly young man with a high forehead. His entire body was as solid as steel, full of explosive power.
This was a body cultivator!
"You're Chu Hao? You've won the first three rounds. You're quite lucky."
The young man's voice was arrogant and cold. He deliberately chose to look down on Chu Hao.
"I've cultivated my body since I was a child. I've endured twenty years of hardship. To cultivate my strength, my entire skeleton has been broken more than one hundred ninety times. Each time, I gritted my teeth and persevered without making a sound. My body has been pushed to its limit at least a hundred times. My will has long since become as hard as steel and unbreakable."
"In this round, I will definitely win."
"As for my name, you're not worthy of knowing it!"
Body cultivation was an extremely arduous path. To train one's body to a superhuman level required constant grueling practice. Anyone who embarked on this path must have an incredibly strong will, as hard as steel. Otherwise, they would only collapse halfway.
Very few cultivators chose this path. It not only required enduring immense hardship but was also time-consuming.
In return, body cultivators' combat power was exceptionally strong, along with their astonishingly tough will.
In terms of the strength of their will, this young man was probably superior to everyone else present.
Of course, except for Chu Hao.
"The path of body cultivation, I will walk it too," Chu Hao thought to himself. When he entered the Grandmaster Realm, he would officially begin his body cultivation.
The Great Sun Golden Body. He had already chosen his body cultivation method a long time ago.
"This zither piece is called 'Spirit Sound.' It can make people sleepy. The rules are very simple. The two of you just need to resist the zither's hypnotic sound and avoid falling asleep. Whoever perseveres longer wins. Of course, you can't use your cultivation to resist by covering your ears. You must use your will to resist."
This round was a contest of willpower and perseverance between the two contestants.
The stronger their willpower, the longer they could remain conscious.
"Begin," the arrogant young man said. As a body cultivator, he had absolute confidence in himself.
Chu Hao had no objections and nodded.
Liu Shi Yi glanced at Chu Hao, wondering how long he could last under her zither's sound.
She collected her thoughts, and her jade-like fingers were placed on the zither strings.
In the center, only the three of them were left. The others had dispersed to the sides, forming a large circle.
In the next moment, the zither strings vibrated, and the zither's sound appeared, resonating and continuous.
All around, no one spoke. Everyone was enjoying the exquisite zither sound. Even Liu Ji Ya secretly praised it.
The zither's sound was graceful, sometimes flowing like a stream, sometimes as clear as pearls falling on a jade plate, sometimes sighing like a soft whisper, and sometimes distant like a deep valley breeze.
The entire zither piece was like a lullaby of nature, needing no words to bring the soul to a place of peace.
"If I didn't use my cultivation to resist, I would have fallen asleep just now," a fifth-stage Grandmaster Realm cultivator thought in surprise.
After using their cultivation to resist, the hypnotic power of the zither's sound was reduced to only one-tenth of its original strength, and its effect on them was also reduced by one-tenth.
But even so, many people still felt sleepy and wanted to lie down and take a nap.
If they hadn't used their cultivation to resist, a large number of people would have fallen asleep already.
In the center, the arrogant young man and Chu Hao were sitting closest to the zither's sound, and they were not using any cultivation to resist.
One must know that if a cultivator doesn't use their cultivation, they are no different from an ordinary person. If an ordinary person were to sit here, they would fall asleep in three breaths and would not be woken by thunder.
The zither's sound was pleasant and lingered in the air.
After thirty breaths, some people from the Liu family with insufficient cultivation and willpower had already moved away from the zither's range to avoid falling asleep in front of everyone and embarrassing themselves.
After fifty breaths, even the arrogant young man, who had remained expressionless, had his eyelids twitching slightly.
Chu Hao looked at the arrogant young man, and a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth. Then, his eyelids also twitched, and his face was scrunched up as if in discomfort.
Clearly, Chu Hao was doing it on purpose.
"To be able to last until now, his willpower has far surpassed that of ordinary people, but if this is all he has, it's not enough to earn my respect," Liu Shi Yi thought to herself. While Chu Hao was observing the arrogant young man, she was also observing Chu Hao.
"He's about to give up too!"
The arrogant young man rejoiced in his heart.
After eighty breaths.
"Damn it, how can he still be holding on?" The arrogant young man saw that Chu Hao was also on the verge of falling asleep, but he just wouldn't fall over.
He made up his mind and bit the tip of his tongue. The sharp pain made him clear-headed for a few more moments.
After one hundred breaths, the arrogant young man's fingers had also pierced his palms, and fresh blood flowed from between his fingers.
After one hundred fifty breaths.
Chu Hao's body was swaying non-stop, and his eyes were already squinted almost shut.
The arrogant young man only had one last thread of consciousness left. Under the hypnotic zither sound, he was on the verge of falling asleep at any moment.