Translated by juurensha
Edited by Noks
Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool
Fang Juexia went absent-minded as he thought of the time he had gone to the pet adoption site as a child. At that time, he had originally wanted to take a cute little dog home, so as soon as he had entered, he had headed straight for the Pomeranians.
What he didn’t expect was a little husky to stand at his side, its blue eyes staring fixedly at him, clutching non-stop at the cage and sticking out his little tongue. As soon as Fang Juexia came near, it started to joyfully thrash around, hating that it couldn’t bite open the cage and jump into his arms.
At that time, Fang Juexia had suddenly felt his heart soften. He gave up on the plan that he had prepared for a long time, took this little guy away, and because of his small black abacus bead-like eyebrows, he gave him the name Little Abacus.
If Little Abacus had back then turned into a dog yao and could talk, he should have said the same thing when he was hopping around back then—take me away ba, take me away ba.
Two heavy knocks suddenly sounded on the lounge’s door.
“Kaleido!” A staff member wearing a headset pushed open the door and half leaned into the room. “Stand by, there are still three more before you guys are on.”
“Okay!” Cheng Qiang answered just as the last member, Ling Yi’s, styling was also completed. “All of you should have your earpieces on ba, we’ve tried them all at the company, so they should be okay. There also should be no problem with the sound system of the singing program. Don’t worry about the numbers, anyway, we’re here to perform. It’s most important that you all enjoy the stage.”
Fang Juexia didn’t get any time to reply to Pei Tingsong’s words. During the time it took for them to adjust the earpieces, he glanced over at him, just to see the corners of Pei Tingsong’s mouth quirk up at him.
Pei Tingsong didn’t seem to strongly need any response, he just expressed himself directly and enthusiastically, just like he did normally. Fang Juexia had to admit that he had never encountered such a person in his life before.
People will be afraid of the unknown, but they will also be inevitably attracted by the unknown.
They were arranged to wait outside the passageway connecting the stage and the rest area, where many people were coming and going. Ling Yi took in all kinds of deep breaths and patted his chest, back, and arms like an old man in the park. “What to do, I haven’t been on a singing show for a long time. I’m a little nervous.”
Lu Yuan hugged him. “Isn’t it just a dress rehearsal? There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
Jiang Miao said with a smile, “Yes ah, the situation this time can’t be worse than that of the charity party last time, when the stereo got scrapped, and didn’t we survive that incident?”
In order to ease the atmosphere, the ensemble show’s cameraman asked them some styling related questions while carrying his camera.
“This make-up is very special, what do you guys think of it?”
“So cool.” He Ziyan drew close to the camera, and his dyed red hair with slight curls scattered in front of the forehead. “See this wound on my cheekbone? Isn’t it really lifelike? The stylist did these for us, and it’s called…” He thought for a moment, which was when Lu Yuan picked the conversation up, “War wound makeup!”
“Right, there is an abrasion on my cheekbone and a cut under my eyebrow. Everyone, please rest assured that we didn’t get into a fight, this is all make-up.”
Ling Yi giggled. “I’m the only one whose wounds came from a fight.”
Fang Juexia abruptly added, “The group doesn’t have any evidence of that.”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Ling Yi, forget it,” He Ziyan pressed his head down. “If you jump up, you can fight with my ankles.”
Jiang Miao continued to explain into the camera. “Our styling is more bold this time round; I might be the only one who is more conservative and whose hair was dyed dark brown, because the stylist thinks that I need to match with the image of a guzheng. My war wounds are mainly the wound at the corner of the mouth and the one on my hand, which may be featured later.”
“Why?” Lu Yuan asked deliberately.
“Confidential.” Jiang Miao smiled and walked over to stand in front of Pei Tingsong, who was adjusting his ear piece. Pei Tingsong faced the camera with one side of his profile, and raised his eyebrow.
“Xiao Pei’s hair color is the most eye-catching of us all this time. It’s platinum, and he’s also wearing cosmetic contact lenses.”
Pei Tingsong took the initiative to look directly into the camera lens. His left eye was a very transparent blue, but his right eye was blood red. Like He Ziyan, he had a wound near his cheekbone, and coupled with white hair and his three-dimensional facial features, he made quite an eye-catching figure.
After introducing their youngest member, Jiang Miao pulled Ling Yi over again. “Ling Yi’s hair was dyed gray blue this time. I feel like it’s very suitable, because Ling Yi is very pale. Teacher Yuan has pencil gray hair color, also very cool.”
Ling Yi nodded. “I especially like our military uniform this time. There are several sets, and aren’t they handsome?” He turned around in a circle. “This uniform is all black, and also has a kind of chain medal epaulet at the top of it. It’s more of a European design style type, but the stylists have also designed some more costumes in the Chinese style, which will be worn in future promotional performances.”
The cameraman specially asked, “How come with your six military uniforms, some are short and some are long?”
Ling Yi looked down and said, “Yes ah, me, Miaoxiao, and Teacher Yuan all have short ones, while Fire Ge, Xiao Pei, and Juexia all have longer ones, basically like overcoats.”
The cameraman turned to Fang Juexia and stated, “Juexia’s coat is actually the longest.”
Fang Juexia smiled. “Because there are some small surprises.”
“Juexia also has hair extensions!” Ling Yi walked up to him and pointed to his styled hair behind him. “You see, he dyed his hair black just so we could add black hair extensions and then tie it all up into a high ponytail. It’s very similar to the way ancient young master swordsmen wore it, right?”
Pei Tingsong looked at him. As he had thought, the contrast between his black hair and cold white skin tone had become more obvious, making Fang Juexia’s temperament seem even colder. With those ‘wounds’ on his neck and cheek, and the red drawing by his birthmark, this whole person exuded a temperament that was extremely cool and elegant.
“Will you be putting in hair extensions and taking them out every time?”
Fang Juexia shook his head. “No, while we’re carrying out promotions and performing, I will be keeping my hair long.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Just…” Fang Juexia laughed and replied, “I’ve never had such long hair before, and it even becomes a little heavy when I tie it up. I just feel like girls are very powerful; it should be hard work for them to do their hair every day, so I feel the same way now.”
Ling Yi was a little surprised. “What a strange perspective.”
Fang Juexia insisted, “It’s really not easy. I had to wear high heels once because of a punishment game, and found that it’s really hard for girls. Our society pays too much attention to girls’ appearance, and even if it’s imperceptible, it’s still a kind of pressure ba. I hope that everyone can live a more free and comfortable life.”
Just then, a staff member, with a sign hanging around their neck and standing at the other end of the corridor, waved to them, “There are still two more performances to go, Kaleido, enter.”
As instructed, they entered the backstage waiting area through the passageway. The light wasn’t strong here, though there were many people. As soon as they stepped in, Fang Juexia felt someone grab his arm, then pull him two steps to the right, which made him stick close to a person’s arm.
“I’m going to start working.” Pei Tingsong’s voice contained a smile.
His guide dog work? Fang Juexia lowered his eyes, and the corners of his mouth quirked up slightly.
Coincidentally, the ones performing on the stage right now was Seven Luminaries. Although he couldn’t see the stage, Fang Juexia had already heard the comeback song they were currently singing before, and could also hear Liang Ruo’s voice. They were singing half-live and half-lip synching, with the sound of the parts being lip-synched being very obvious. Even two years after their debut, Seven Luminaries’ live performances continued to, as always, garner criticism online. On average, they weren’t especially good at lip-synching, and when their state wasn’t good, they would have more obvious accidents onstage. But in most people’s minds, idols themselves were just inferior singers, and besides Star Chart, there were few other companies that would focus on their artists’ singing skills, focusing instead on stage performance expressiveness.
Kaleido counted as an exception. In addition to the super high-performing double lead singers, the singing skills of the other members were also quite steady. Even Lu Yuan, who had, in the beginning, entered the company bearing the identity of a dance champion, had, under Chen Zhengyun’s instruction, trained his singing skills to a level that was very laudable.
However, individual strength was one factor, but if one had no capital to pave the way, it was as rare as the hair of a phoenix or the horns of a giraffe to use strength alone to forge a path of flowers forward in this industry.
“Does anyone want to go to the bathroom?” Ling Yi suddenly wanted to go to the bathroom, but no one else wanted to. He grabbed Fang Juexia’s arm. “Juexia, will you accompany me?”
“Ah?” Without waiting for him to refuse, Ling Yi started running forward, dragging him along. The bathroom wasn’t that far from the backstage, they just had to go through a dark passageway. Being forcefully dragged to the bathroom door by Ling Yi, Fang Juexia didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, so all he did was speak through the bathroom door, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
He stood at the edge of the dark passageway, looking down and recalling lyrics. The shadows of the passageway shrouded him in darkness, and he wasn’t eye-catching. Two staff members, who were waiting in the wings, moved the stage props to the backstage area and leaned to a side to take a break. They didn’t notice Fang Juexia’s existence.
They also didn’t notice that they had lost a foam letter while moving the props. It was about the size of a book and had fallen by Fang Juexia’s feet. They listened to Seven Luminaries’ song and started to chat.
“Just listening to Seven Luminaries’ performance is really not good, you really have to see the people.”
“That can’t compete with the fact that they have so many fans ah. Hey, do you think Kaleido’s comeback this time will be a loss? I’ve just glanced through it, and their new song was already released in the early hours, at 12 am, but the number of clicks they’ve gotten is far fewer than Seven Luminaries. It’s been almost six hours ba, and they still only have 20,000 favorites on the music platform.”
“20,000 isn’t bad, this 20,000 must be the result they managed to get after acting pitiful to their fans. What die-hard fans did they have before ah?”
“But Seven Luminaries’ main song already has 120,000 favorites! And it’s still climbing up, while Kaleido’s, in comparison, is just small change. Besides, there are no passers-by who would favorite this kind of main song sung by idols.”
“How can they compare with Seven Luminaries ah, just looking at their number of fans, can we compare them? Yes, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong are very popular recently, but fans who joined because of this are more or less just fans playing around ah, would they really buy your albums just because they like your CP ah? The music platform depends mainly on potential passers-by audiences for the songs, and whoever’s album can go beyond this circle, is whoever’s album that can sell more. On top of that, Kaleido’s demo was even leaked, so like hell they can sell, they can’t be saved.”
“Also, speaking of Fang Juexia, he’s so good-looking, and his talent is on an entirely different level, but how can he be so unlucky?”
“Who the hell knows…”
The person who started answering was left stunned, because the person they were just talking about, Fang Juexia, appeared in front of them at this moment and handed over their foam letter A.
“Your prop.”
Fang Juexia was tall, and he was born with a cold face that radiated a strong sense of distance. In addition, his voice was also cold, which always gave people the feeling that he was hard to approach. These two people who just happened to be flapping their gums behind his back now felt guilty.
However, Fang Juexia actually didn’t take their discussion to heart. He had just wanted to give this prop back to them, so he had slowly stepped forward and drawn closer, based on the sound of their voices.
The other person’s face was very surprised. He pulled on his colleague’s sleeve and whispered, “Pei….Pei Tingsong.”
Pei Tingsong? Fang Juexia was just about to turn around when his shoulder was caught hold of.
“I’ve been looking for you for a long time, and of course you’re here acting as a lost and found for others ah.”
Fang Juexia was about to speak when he suddenly heard another voice. It was a woman with an impressive voice, and she called out the names of the two people directly. “Are working hours for you guys to rest and flap your gums?”
“Chief-chief director.”
When Fang Juexia turned around, a stage light shone on that spot and perfectly hit the lady in a blue suit. She looked very capable and experienced.
So this turned out to be MLH’s program director.
“If the entire props group followed the work attitude you two have, I feel like none of them should work any more.” She reprimanded them and sent them away. Ling Yi also came out of the bathroom at this time and ran around looking for them. He soon saw them and ran towards them.
Unexpectedly, the female director actually apologized to them.
“This circle is just like that. However, I’m very optimistic about the stage performance you guys will display. I was in the director’s studio at the charity party last time, and the scene of how you guys rescued that performance is still fresh in my memory.” Saying that, she then looked at Fang Juexia. “Especially you, no wonder you are the core of the team.”
Fang Juexia dropped his eyes and thanked her. Then came a call for them from a staff member through their earpieces, so they said goodbye to the director and joined the others.
If it wasn’t for the two staff members chatting with each other, Fang Juexia would not have known the number of hits their music had received so far. The company intentionally didn’t want to tell any of the group members, presumably because they were also worried that it would affect their first live performance.
However, Fang Juexia was precisely the opposite of this. After hearing those harsh words, he seemed to have become more able to integrate himself into the song, and into the stage itself.
Because Kaleido’s current situation now perfectly coincided with this song.
“Lights in place!”
“Number one in position!”
“Number two in position!”
The voice of the staff members came in one after another.
Kaleido’s background stage setting was very special. On the stage wall behind them were military orders written in calligraphy, along with many weapons, and situated right in the middle of all this was a red drum with its drum face facing forward. Half a meter in front of the drum was a black sandalwood guzheng, which was Jiang Miao’s own guzheng. On each side of the stage were three battle flags that had their six names written in calligraphy on them.
All the members stood in a line on the stage, with Ling Yi at the front. Jiang Miao made a gesture towards the director’s studio. “Kaleido in position.”
“Okay.” All the lights on the stage switched off, and the last call came from the director’s studio, “Kaleido’s Break Through recording begins!”
As the accompaniment music began, a sample of Chinese opera beats sounded out, and a jinghu began to play the first melody. In the center of the stage, an odd number of lights turned on, and the camera panned from top to bottom. When the camera focused on their faces, Ling Yi shook his wrist to snap open a folding fan, and his Beijing Opera Aria began.
“Hearing the pounding of the golden drums send the corners trembling, my ambitions to break through the gates of heaven are sent flying.” He held a red folding fan in his hand and only fanned it twice. “Why bother talking about the clown King Shan, with one sword, I can block millions of soldiers and send them all running!“
The last few words were high pitched and sweet, with the lingering notes at the end full of charm. This opening shocked the hundreds in the audience; everyone looked at each other, not expecting to actually hear such an opening on an idol stage.
“Holy crap, this is Beijing Opera ah?! Too awesome!”
“I’ve even got goosebumps!”
“This is Lady Mu Guiying Takes Command, is K’s lead singer that strong?”
“This is the song that leaked ba.”
Kaleido’s fans started their crazy support mode, shouting out the names of all the group members one by one in tune with the intervals of the accompaniment.
The accompaniment was still in the beginning beats of the Beijing Opera music, and then a clear flute sound shot through, acting like some kind of signal. Ling Yi closed the folding fan and threw it into the air.
There was a command from the director’s studio—
[Number one, follow the camera up, Number two get ready—]
When the camera panned down, the single line formation maintained by the six people was already no more, as they had separated. Jiang Miao stepped forward and sang in a long-drawn out voice, “The yellow sand everywhere lifts the blood mist sown, break through the formation to vie for the throne.“
Fang Juexia went next, coming to stand in the center of the group. His long hair, tied up high, floated with his actions, appearing free and easy, cool and ethereal, perfectly creating the opening atmosphere. “All my ways forward have been blown, all that is left is to wait for your ambush to be thrown.“
The sound of the drum began to appear in the accompaniment, and their presence gradually turned majestic. Under the drum’s rhythm, the whole group danced together, and the consistency of their movements was amazing. The rhythm grew stronger and stronger, and the climax ushered in the variation of a guzheng, which, with three strums, gave the feeling of thousands of troops crossing over.
Ling Yi walked forward. “One stone creates a thousand ripples, and two fingers create tens of thousands of sounds. Escape by the moon at night, march through snow covered grounds.”
[Number three!]
In the middle of the camera, Lu Yuan executed a forward somersault to reach the center of the stage, which attracted the audience’s cheers again. The most outstanding thing was that, during this somersault, his mic was completely on, and his voice didn’t shake at all. “It’s life or death with our backs to the water, burn all the bridges to slaughter the qilin. Behead Yama alone with a grin, with our bloody flags and banners fluttering within.”
The delicate drumbeats brought the atmosphere to its peak, and the impact presented by the image of the knife-life group dance being executed by the six of them was extremely strong. In the accompaniment, every sweep of the guzheng strings seemed to carry a very murderous air.
He Ziyan walked to the very front under the sound of a flute. The choreographed hand movements combined into a technique of twirling a sword around. When he finished, he grabbed his headset and began to rap, “Hiding my abilities and biding my time so, I’ve been waiting for this battle since long ago. Be careful if your morals don’t match up below, or every last square inch will be a mess yo.“
The choreography during the rap part was relatively casual, and He Ziyan swung his open military coat backwards, half crouched down to be the focus of the camera, and sneered, “Just be a wordless vase, and mess around less with real voices in place. I admit my besieged base, but let’s see you after karma’s grace!“
Standing up, He Ziyan shook his head to the rhythm that got faster and faster, and retreated from the edge of the stage step by step. “A thousand troops and horses have driven the six of us to a desperate place, but believe it or not, I’ll go my own way and slaughter a bloody road out of this space. Whether a hero wins or loses in this face, success or failure depends on just this race.” At last, he performed a gentleman’s bow and ended his part. “Thank you so much for making your secrets known, in the future I’ll have prestige that’s far blown.”
This part was clearly talking about the situation of the leaked song, and the eyes of the fans of other groups grew large. They didn’t expect that the lyrics of this “Break Through” song would be so targeted.
As the song started to transition, the sharp sound of a blade being unsheathed appeared in the accompaniment. Ling Yi walked forward and sang in a high voice, “A new generation has already arrived, that you dare not admit nor claim.“
He Ziyan’s melodic rap cushioned him from behind, “Whoever surrenders is whoever agrees for a naked blade to pierce through your body and name.“
Fang Juexia’s transition aria came next. From the edge of the stage, he crossed past four people, stood on the C position, and started to really dance on the fly right there and then.
[Number 1, move over! Cut over to Number 4 showing the face!]
Fang Juexia’s military coat was the only one that was tightly fastened and had a completely abstinent air. He turned his cheek and sang in a high penetrating voice, “Please hurry up and line up by my sword for death to claim.“
Just as the last note sounded, Pei Tingsong suddenly appeared in the camera’s frame, grabbed Fang Juexia’s collar in one move, and their side profiles were suddenly positioned close to each other. “Don’t blink or blame, ten steps and a person will be dead and maimed.“
Fang Juexia pushed him away and disdainfully raised up his left eyebrow.
This on-stage choreographed interaction immediately aroused a huge scream from the audience, and dozens of fans called out in an exaggerated way akin to that of hundreds of people calling out, nearly covering the sound of the accompaniment.
Five people walked to form a circle, and standing in the center of the circle, Lu Yuan raised his wrists, the white bandages wrapped around his wrists swinging. “Wait and watch me—”
Every single move of the rest of the group members was controlled by him, it was as if he had reins tied to their bodies. Six voices raised, entering a chorus—
[Feel free to question bloodless battles from dirty hidden rules
A night escape to fight against the false world to see who creates god and fools
No matter what you hear or argue, just say that heroes don’t have origins or jewels]
The rhythm of the accompaniment grew faster and faster. Everyone knelt down, only leaving Jiang Miao standing upright, who sang, “Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul.“
The whole group got up, and at the moment when the rhythm became so dense that it seemed it was about to rush to the climax of the song, the next beat suddenly turned out to be empty.
Fang Juexia, who had moved to the C position, raised his hand and positioned his fingers into the shape of a gun. In the close-up, he reached up to his temple—
“Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool.“
The most explosive electronic sound drop in the entire song appeared, and the strong rhythm caused the entire audience to boil up. The real sampled sounds of swords swinging overlapped and interlaced with the sharp electronic sounds, creating a sense of space where the glint and flash of cold steel could be felt clearly.
This part of the dance had large and interwoven movements, but each action of theirs accurately stuck to the rhythm laid out by the electric sounds, and the whole section was performed very powerfully. The atmosphere in the whole studio reached a new high, seeming just like the scene found at a music festival. At the end of the section when the music dropped, all the members sang again in unison, “Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool.“
Once again, the formation changed into a long line. With the plucking of guzheng, everyone tilted away from the line, going left to right, revealing Pei Tingsong at the very end. At some point, he had come to a stand in front of the red taiko drum, and with the accompaniment, he beat the taiko drum hard to signal the start of the battle again.
Flipping the drumstick in his hand around, Pei Tingsong flipped over the guzheng and came to the front. He shook his military coat open and began to rap, “In this world here, with open and hidden fights that scare, there are knives hidden in smiles everywhere. When we wait for advice there, getting evil insidious tasks isn’t rare.“
Fang Juexia thought that this time Pei Tingsong wouldn’t change the lyrics on the spot, but he was still too naive. This idea had swayed in his mind for less than a second before he heard Pei Tingsong’s second creation.
“The unpolished leaked song is out of tune beware, how do you like the lyrics here? If it wasn’t full of ridicule and despair, how would you know I’m the crane screaming in the marsh air.” Pei Tingsong’s steps were full of gangster spirit, and he picked up the folding fan from the ground, opened it abruptly, and fanned himself.
“Heart festering with a jealousy flare, there’s still no medicine for this evil affair. The original lone forces cut a wound with due care, and drank the hot blood to live immortal and fair.“
These changed lyrics were so sharp that they seemed to hate the fact that they couldn’t directly pierce Astar’s lungs. Pei Tingsong didn’t say a single dirty word, but he still gave them absolute hell, and Fang Juexia really had to admire that.
He held the folded fan like a knife and ferociously sliced it across his chest. Pei Tingsong’s face showed a morbid smile, and he wiped at the corner of his mouth. “But I was born an irritable bear, so I’ll bite back if you dare.” At last, he turned his back and randomly threw out the folding fan. “The sound of the guzheng unsheathes the sharp sword with a flare, to lift up your heads and break the heavens bare.“
This rap was so deadly that it almost shocked the entire audience.
“Shit, Pei Tingsong is too real!”
“He nearly started naming names…”
The musical arrangement changed again, and with the sound of horses neighing, the lead singers stepped forward again. The coordination of the dance for the song was very orderly, and their aura grew even stronger than during the first chorus. The fans below were also more vocal in their support, and when this mixed in with the war-like sounds of the accompaniment, it had the feel of delight and the unrestrained nature of people fighting their way out of a siege.
[Feel free to question bloodless battles from dirty hidden rules
A night escape to fight against the false world to see who creates god and fools
No matter what you hear or argue, just say that heroes don’t have origins or jewels
Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul
Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool]
They thought there would be another techno drop here, but didn’t expect the background sounds to suddenly quiet down. All that was left was the sound of the military drum, one beat after another resounding continuously. All of a sudden, the stage went completely dark; there was no light, and only the drumbeats continued.
When the lights lit up again, the guzheng sounded, but it wasn’t the one pre-recorded into the accompaniment, but a real performance. There were only two spotlights, and only two people left on the stage. One spotlight was on Jiang Miao, sitting in front of guzheng. The other was on Fang Juexia, who stood alone with his back to the stage.
His military overcoat had already been taken off, and all he was wearing now was a moon white wide sleeved hanfu. The audience below were surprised by this unexpected choreography.
“My God!!!”
“Ah, this look!! Amazing!”
“That’s Fang Juexia?”
With Jiang Miao’s guzheng music accompanying him, Fang Juexia began his solo dance. He raised his arms and lifted his legs, his movements as light as clouds. The string sounds were steadily getting faster, and he threw himself forward, as if jumping in to explore the sea, then jumped up again, repeating the motion twice. The amazing difficulty of the swallow style purple gold crown dance made the audience scream.
After several rolling cloud bridges, Fang Juexia came to the guzheng, lowered his hand, picked up a long sword from the stand, and danced with it, looking as elegant as an immortal.
Not good.
Fang Juexia felt that his waist was being jerked around by some force, and upon looking down, he saw that the mic box fixed on the back of his waist had fallen off, just hanging by a thread in the air. His expression didn’t change as he temporarily altered his choreography. He turned while lifting his leg up at its knee and grasped at the black cord. He shook his wrist around, and the mic box seemed to toss around in the air for an eternity before it was firmly caught by Fang Juexia.
It was a long process to him, but it appeared as just a flash for the audience. Few people discovered how amazingly Fang Juexia had saved his solo performance.
He hid his hand holding the mic box behind his back and danced with the sword in his right hand. His waist was as flexible as the soft sword in his hand, and when the sound of the guzheng gradually fell, he stabbed the long sword in front, stood on one leg, raised his left leg up high, and stood in the center of the stage like a crane.
With the movement of a few sweeping strings, the guzheng’s music started to change. Once everyone returned to the stage, Jiang Miao covered the chair he had just been sitting on, and the group gathered to hide behind Fang Juexia. Lu Yuan opened his mouth and began the transitional bridge. “Close your eyes, and listen to the sounds of the fighting that goes up to the skies. I’m sure this time I won’t be confined to difficult cries.“
Ling Yi followed after, his high pitched voice very penetrating. “There is no shortcut on the road to this famed prize, I believe only in me and never in fate’s reprise.“
The chorus reappeared. Lu Yuan, who was the main dancer, stood in the C position. Everyone was in an arrow shaped formation, and Fang Juexia was right behind him.
[Feel free to question bloodless battles from dirty hidden rules
A night escape to fight against the false world to see who creates god and fools
No matter what you hear or argue, just say that heroes don’t have origins or jewels
Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul
Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool]
The last intense EDM drop pushed the atmosphere in the entire studio to the very top. It made it seem that they weren’t recording for a song show at all, but more like the scene of a Kaleido concert. Everyone’s senses were mobilized, and they moved with the music until the end of the fire.
The rhythm slowed down, and the six people walked back towards the stage. The accompaniment changed to become the part from the beginning again, where the strings were plucked and the Beijing Opera sounds of the guzheng were played, while the background sound had faint wind and sounds of snow whistling mixed in.
With the sound of the flute, Pei Tingsong took a black military overcoat in his hand, and as the cold sound of the strings shivering were heard, he put it on Fang Juexia’s shoulders. Fang Juexia walked neither fast nor slow towards the old fashioned chair in front of the guzheng and picked up the long sword that had just been laid atop the guzheng. The others also began to circle around toward the chair, displaying their ending movements.
Jiang Miao’s voice was mild and gentle as he sang, “The yellow sand everywhere lifts the blood mist sown, break through the formation to vie for the throne.“
Pei Tingsong stood behind the chair, his eyes filled with violence. Fang Juexia turned to sit in the chair and leaned into it lazily. After wiping the blade with his fingers, he threw the sword indifferently to the ground in front of him and sang the last sentence of the whole song—
“All my ways forward have been blown, all that is left is to wait for your ambush to be thrown.“
Translated by juurensha
Edited by Noks
Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool
Fang Juexia went absent-minded as he thought of the time he had gone to the pet adoption site as a child. At that time, he had originally wanted to take a cute little dog home, so as soon as he had entered, he had headed straight for the Pomeranians.
What he didn’t expect was a little husky to stand at his side, its blue eyes staring fixedly at him, clutching non-stop at the cage and sticking out his little tongue. As soon as Fang Juexia came near, it started to joyfully thrash around, hating that it couldn’t bite open the cage and jump into his arms.
At that time, Fang Juexia had suddenly felt his heart soften. He gave up on the plan that he had prepared for a long time, took this little guy away, and because of his small black abacus bead-like eyebrows, he gave him the name Little Abacus.
If Little Abacus had back then turned into a dog yao and could talk, he should have said the same thing when he was hopping around back then—take me away ba, take me away ba.
Two heavy knocks suddenly sounded on the lounge’s door.
“Kaleido!” A staff member wearing a headset pushed open the door and half leaned into the room. “Stand by, there are still three more before you guys are on.”
“Okay!” Cheng Qiang answered just as the last member, Ling Yi’s, styling was also completed. “All of you should have your earpieces on ba, we’ve tried them all at the company, so they should be okay. There also should be no problem with the sound system of the singing program. Don’t worry about the numbers, anyway, we’re here to perform. It’s most important that you all enjoy the stage.”
Fang Juexia didn’t get any time to reply to Pei Tingsong’s words. During the time it took for them to adjust the earpieces, he glanced over at him, just to see the corners of Pei Tingsong’s mouth quirk up at him.
Pei Tingsong didn’t seem to strongly need any response, he just expressed himself directly and enthusiastically, just like he did normally. Fang Juexia had to admit that he had never encountered such a person in his life before.
People will be afraid of the unknown, but they will also be inevitably attracted by the unknown.
They were arranged to wait outside the passageway connecting the stage and the rest area, where many people were coming and going. Ling Yi took in all kinds of deep breaths and patted his chest, back, and arms like an old man in the park. “What to do, I haven’t been on a singing show for a long time. I’m a little nervous.”
Lu Yuan hugged him. “Isn’t it just a dress rehearsal? There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
Jiang Miao said with a smile, “Yes ah, the situation this time can’t be worse than that of the charity party last time, when the stereo got scrapped, and didn’t we survive that incident?”
In order to ease the atmosphere, the ensemble show’s cameraman asked them some styling related questions while carrying his camera.
“This make-up is very special, what do you guys think of it?”
“So cool.” He Ziyan drew close to the camera, and his dyed red hair with slight curls scattered in front of the forehead. “See this wound on my cheekbone? Isn’t it really lifelike? The stylist did these for us, and it’s called…” He thought for a moment, which was when Lu Yuan picked the conversation up, “War wound makeup!”
“Right, there is an abrasion on my cheekbone and a cut under my eyebrow. Everyone, please rest assured that we didn’t get into a fight, this is all make-up.”
Ling Yi giggled. “I’m the only one whose wounds came from a fight.”
Fang Juexia abruptly added, “The group doesn’t have any evidence of that.”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Ling Yi, forget it,” He Ziyan pressed his head down. “If you jump up, you can fight with my ankles.”
Jiang Miao continued to explain into the camera. “Our styling is more bold this time round; I might be the only one who is more conservative and whose hair was dyed dark brown, because the stylist thinks that I need to match with the image of a guzheng. My war wounds are mainly the wound at the corner of the mouth and the one on my hand, which may be featured later.”
“Why?” Lu Yuan asked deliberately.
“Confidential.” Jiang Miao smiled and walked over to stand in front of Pei Tingsong, who was adjusting his ear piece. Pei Tingsong faced the camera with one side of his profile, and raised his eyebrow.
“Xiao Pei’s hair color is the most eye-catching of us all this time. It’s platinum, and he’s also wearing cosmetic contact lenses.”
Pei Tingsong took the initiative to look directly into the camera lens. His left eye was a very transparent blue, but his right eye was blood red. Like He Ziyan, he had a wound near his cheekbone, and coupled with white hair and his three-dimensional facial features, he made quite an eye-catching figure.
After introducing their youngest member, Jiang Miao pulled Ling Yi over again. “Ling Yi’s hair was dyed gray blue this time. I feel like it’s very suitable, because Ling Yi is very pale. Teacher Yuan has pencil gray hair color, also very cool.”
Ling Yi nodded. “I especially like our military uniform this time. There are several sets, and aren’t they handsome?” He turned around in a circle. “This uniform is all black, and also has a kind of chain medal epaulet at the top of it. It’s more of a European design style type, but the stylists have also designed some more costumes in the Chinese style, which will be worn in future promotional performances.”
The cameraman specially asked, “How come with your six military uniforms, some are short and some are long?”
Ling Yi looked down and said, “Yes ah, me, Miaoxiao, and Teacher Yuan all have short ones, while Fire Ge, Xiao Pei, and Juexia all have longer ones, basically like overcoats.”
The cameraman turned to Fang Juexia and stated, “Juexia’s coat is actually the longest.”
Fang Juexia smiled. “Because there are some small surprises.”
“Juexia also has hair extensions!” Ling Yi walked up to him and pointed to his styled hair behind him. “You see, he dyed his hair black just so we could add black hair extensions and then tie it all up into a high ponytail. It’s very similar to the way ancient young master swordsmen wore it, right?”
Pei Tingsong looked at him. As he had thought, the contrast between his black hair and cold white skin tone had become more obvious, making Fang Juexia’s temperament seem even colder. With those ‘wounds’ on his neck and cheek, and the red drawing by his birthmark, this whole person exuded a temperament that was extremely cool and elegant.
“Will you be putting in hair extensions and taking them out every time?”
Fang Juexia shook his head. “No, while we’re carrying out promotions and performing, I will be keeping my hair long.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Just…” Fang Juexia laughed and replied, “I’ve never had such long hair before, and it even becomes a little heavy when I tie it up. I just feel like girls are very powerful; it should be hard work for them to do their hair every day, so I feel the same way now.”
Ling Yi was a little surprised. “What a strange perspective.”
Fang Juexia insisted, “It’s really not easy. I had to wear high heels once because of a punishment game, and found that it’s really hard for girls. Our society pays too much attention to girls’ appearance, and even if it’s imperceptible, it’s still a kind of pressure ba. I hope that everyone can live a more free and comfortable life.”
Just then, a staff member, with a sign hanging around their neck and standing at the other end of the corridor, waved to them, “There are still two more performances to go, Kaleido, enter.”
As instructed, they entered the backstage waiting area through the passageway. The light wasn’t strong here, though there were many people. As soon as they stepped in, Fang Juexia felt someone grab his arm, then pull him two steps to the right, which made him stick close to a person’s arm.
“I’m going to start working.” Pei Tingsong’s voice contained a smile.
His guide dog work? Fang Juexia lowered his eyes, and the corners of his mouth quirked up slightly.
Coincidentally, the ones performing on the stage right now was Seven Luminaries. Although he couldn’t see the stage, Fang Juexia had already heard the comeback song they were currently singing before, and could also hear Liang Ruo’s voice. They were singing half-live and half-lip synching, with the sound of the parts being lip-synched being very obvious. Even two years after their debut, Seven Luminaries’ live performances continued to, as always, garner criticism online. On average, they weren’t especially good at lip-synching, and when their state wasn’t good, they would have more obvious accidents onstage. But in most people’s minds, idols themselves were just inferior singers, and besides Star Chart, there were few other companies that would focus on their artists’ singing skills, focusing instead on stage performance expressiveness.
Kaleido counted as an exception. In addition to the super high-performing double lead singers, the singing skills of the other members were also quite steady. Even Lu Yuan, who had, in the beginning, entered the company bearing the identity of a dance champion, had, under Chen Zhengyun’s instruction, trained his singing skills to a level that was very laudable.
However, individual strength was one factor, but if one had no capital to pave the way, it was as rare as the hair of a phoenix or the horns of a giraffe to use strength alone to forge a path of flowers forward in this industry.
“Does anyone want to go to the bathroom?” Ling Yi suddenly wanted to go to the bathroom, but no one else wanted to. He grabbed Fang Juexia’s arm. “Juexia, will you accompany me?”
“Ah?” Without waiting for him to refuse, Ling Yi started running forward, dragging him along. The bathroom wasn’t that far from the backstage, they just had to go through a dark passageway. Being forcefully dragged to the bathroom door by Ling Yi, Fang Juexia didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, so all he did was speak through the bathroom door, “I’ll wait for you outside.”
He stood at the edge of the dark passageway, looking down and recalling lyrics. The shadows of the passageway shrouded him in darkness, and he wasn’t eye-catching. Two staff members, who were waiting in the wings, moved the stage props to the backstage area and leaned to a side to take a break. They didn’t notice Fang Juexia’s existence.
They also didn’t notice that they had lost a foam letter while moving the props. It was about the size of a book and had fallen by Fang Juexia’s feet. They listened to Seven Luminaries’ song and started to chat.
“Just listening to Seven Luminaries’ performance is really not good, you really have to see the people.”
“That can’t compete with the fact that they have so many fans ah. Hey, do you think Kaleido’s comeback this time will be a loss? I’ve just glanced through it, and their new song was already released in the early hours, at 12 am, but the number of clicks they’ve gotten is far fewer than Seven Luminaries. It’s been almost six hours ba, and they still only have 20,000 favorites on the music platform.”
“20,000 isn’t bad, this 20,000 must be the result they managed to get after acting pitiful to their fans. What die-hard fans did they have before ah?”
“But Seven Luminaries’ main song already has 120,000 favorites! And it’s still climbing up, while Kaleido’s, in comparison, is just small change. Besides, there are no passers-by who would favorite this kind of main song sung by idols.”
“How can they compare with Seven Luminaries ah, just looking at their number of fans, can we compare them? Yes, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong are very popular recently, but fans who joined because of this are more or less just fans playing around ah, would they really buy your albums just because they like your CP ah? The music platform depends mainly on potential passers-by audiences for the songs, and whoever’s album can go beyond this circle, is whoever’s album that can sell more. On top of that, Kaleido’s demo was even leaked, so like hell they can sell, they can’t be saved.”
“Also, speaking of Fang Juexia, he’s so good-looking, and his talent is on an entirely different level, but how can he be so unlucky?”
“Who the hell knows…”
The person who started answering was left stunned, because the person they were just talking about, Fang Juexia, appeared in front of them at this moment and handed over their foam letter A.
“Your prop.”
Fang Juexia was tall, and he was born with a cold face that radiated a strong sense of distance. In addition, his voice was also cold, which always gave people the feeling that he was hard to approach. These two people who just happened to be flapping their gums behind his back now felt guilty.
However, Fang Juexia actually didn’t take their discussion to heart. He had just wanted to give this prop back to them, so he had slowly stepped forward and drawn closer, based on the sound of their voices.
The other person’s face was very surprised. He pulled on his colleague’s sleeve and whispered, “Pei….Pei Tingsong.”
Pei Tingsong? Fang Juexia was just about to turn around when his shoulder was caught hold of.
“I’ve been looking for you for a long time, and of course you’re here acting as a lost and found for others ah.”
Fang Juexia was about to speak when he suddenly heard another voice. It was a woman with an impressive voice, and she called out the names of the two people directly. “Are working hours for you guys to rest and flap your gums?”
“Chief-chief director.”
When Fang Juexia turned around, a stage light shone on that spot and perfectly hit the lady in a blue suit. She looked very capable and experienced.
So this turned out to be MLH’s program director.
“If the entire props group followed the work attitude you two have, I feel like none of them should work any more.” She reprimanded them and sent them away. Ling Yi also came out of the bathroom at this time and ran around looking for them. He soon saw them and ran towards them.
Unexpectedly, the female director actually apologized to them.
“This circle is just like that. However, I’m very optimistic about the stage performance you guys will display. I was in the director’s studio at the charity party last time, and the scene of how you guys rescued that performance is still fresh in my memory.” Saying that, she then looked at Fang Juexia. “Especially you, no wonder you are the core of the team.”
Fang Juexia dropped his eyes and thanked her. Then came a call for them from a staff member through their earpieces, so they said goodbye to the director and joined the others.
If it wasn’t for the two staff members chatting with each other, Fang Juexia would not have known the number of hits their music had received so far. The company intentionally didn’t want to tell any of the group members, presumably because they were also worried that it would affect their first live performance.
However, Fang Juexia was precisely the opposite of this. After hearing those harsh words, he seemed to have become more able to integrate himself into the song, and into the stage itself.
Because Kaleido’s current situation now perfectly coincided with this song.
“Lights in place!”
“Number one in position!”
“Number two in position!”
The voice of the staff members came in one after another.
Kaleido’s background stage setting was very special. On the stage wall behind them were military orders written in calligraphy, along with many weapons, and situated right in the middle of all this was a red drum with its drum face facing forward. Half a meter in front of the drum was a black sandalwood guzheng, which was Jiang Miao’s own guzheng. On each side of the stage were three battle flags that had their six names written in calligraphy on them.
All the members stood in a line on the stage, with Ling Yi at the front. Jiang Miao made a gesture towards the director’s studio. “Kaleido in position.”
“Okay.” All the lights on the stage switched off, and the last call came from the director’s studio, “Kaleido’s Break Through recording begins!”
As the accompaniment music began, a sample of Chinese opera beats sounded out, and a jinghu began to play the first melody. In the center of the stage, an odd number of lights turned on, and the camera panned from top to bottom. When the camera focused on their faces, Ling Yi shook his wrist to snap open a folding fan, and his Beijing Opera Aria began.
“Hearing the pounding of the golden drums send the corners trembling, my ambitions to break through the gates of heaven are sent flying.” He held a red folding fan in his hand and only fanned it twice. “Why bother talking about the clown King Shan, with one sword, I can block millions of soldiers and send them all running!“
The last few words were high pitched and sweet, with the lingering notes at the end full of charm. This opening shocked the hundreds in the audience; everyone looked at each other, not expecting to actually hear such an opening on an idol stage.
“Holy crap, this is Beijing Opera ah?! Too awesome!”
“I’ve even got goosebumps!”
“This is Lady Mu Guiying Takes Command, is K’s lead singer that strong?”
“This is the song that leaked ba.”
Kaleido’s fans started their crazy support mode, shouting out the names of all the group members one by one in tune with the intervals of the accompaniment.
The accompaniment was still in the beginning beats of the Beijing Opera music, and then a clear flute sound shot through, acting like some kind of signal. Ling Yi closed the folding fan and threw it into the air.
There was a command from the director’s studio—
[Number one, follow the camera up, Number two get ready—]
When the camera panned down, the single line formation maintained by the six people was already no more, as they had separated. Jiang Miao stepped forward and sang in a long-drawn out voice, “The yellow sand everywhere lifts the blood mist sown, break through the formation to vie for the throne.“
Fang Juexia went next, coming to stand in the center of the group. His long hair, tied up high, floated with his actions, appearing free and easy, cool and ethereal, perfectly creating the opening atmosphere. “All my ways forward have been blown, all that is left is to wait for your ambush to be thrown.“
The sound of the drum began to appear in the accompaniment, and their presence gradually turned majestic. Under the drum’s rhythm, the whole group danced together, and the consistency of their movements was amazing. The rhythm grew stronger and stronger, and the climax ushered in the variation of a guzheng, which, with three strums, gave the feeling of thousands of troops crossing over.
Ling Yi walked forward. “One stone creates a thousand ripples, and two fingers create tens of thousands of sounds. Escape by the moon at night, march through snow covered grounds.”
[Number three!]
In the middle of the camera, Lu Yuan executed a forward somersault to reach the center of the stage, which attracted the audience’s cheers again. The most outstanding thing was that, during this somersault, his mic was completely on, and his voice didn’t shake at all. “It’s life or death with our backs to the water, burn all the bridges to slaughter the qilin. Behead Yama alone with a grin, with our bloody flags and banners fluttering within.”
The delicate drumbeats brought the atmosphere to its peak, and the impact presented by the image of the knife-life group dance being executed by the six of them was extremely strong. In the accompaniment, every sweep of the guzheng strings seemed to carry a very murderous air.
He Ziyan walked to the very front under the sound of a flute. The choreographed hand movements combined into a technique of twirling a sword around. When he finished, he grabbed his headset and began to rap, “Hiding my abilities and biding my time so, I’ve been waiting for this battle since long ago. Be careful if your morals don’t match up below, or every last square inch will be a mess yo.“
The choreography during the rap part was relatively casual, and He Ziyan swung his open military coat backwards, half crouched down to be the focus of the camera, and sneered, “Just be a wordless vase, and mess around less with real voices in place. I admit my besieged base, but let’s see you after karma’s grace!“
Standing up, He Ziyan shook his head to the rhythm that got faster and faster, and retreated from the edge of the stage step by step. “A thousand troops and horses have driven the six of us to a desperate place, but believe it or not, I’ll go my own way and slaughter a bloody road out of this space. Whether a hero wins or loses in this face, success or failure depends on just this race.” At last, he performed a gentleman’s bow and ended his part. “Thank you so much for making your secrets known, in the future I’ll have prestige that’s far blown.”
This part was clearly talking about the situation of the leaked song, and the eyes of the fans of other groups grew large. They didn’t expect that the lyrics of this “Break Through” song would be so targeted.
As the song started to transition, the sharp sound of a blade being unsheathed appeared in the accompaniment. Ling Yi walked forward and sang in a high voice, “A new generation has already arrived, that you dare not admit nor claim.“
He Ziyan’s melodic rap cushioned him from behind, “Whoever surrenders is whoever agrees for a naked blade to pierce through your body and name.“
Fang Juexia’s transition aria came next. From the edge of the stage, he crossed past four people, stood on the C position, and started to really dance on the fly right there and then.
[Number 1, move over! Cut over to Number 4 showing the face!]
Fang Juexia’s military coat was the only one that was tightly fastened and had a completely abstinent air. He turned his cheek and sang in a high penetrating voice, “Please hurry up and line up by my sword for death to claim.“
Just as the last note sounded, Pei Tingsong suddenly appeared in the camera’s frame, grabbed Fang Juexia’s collar in one move, and their side profiles were suddenly positioned close to each other. “Don’t blink or blame, ten steps and a person will be dead and maimed.“
Fang Juexia pushed him away and disdainfully raised up his left eyebrow.
This on-stage choreographed interaction immediately aroused a huge scream from the audience, and dozens of fans called out in an exaggerated way akin to that of hundreds of people calling out, nearly covering the sound of the accompaniment.
Five people walked to form a circle, and standing in the center of the circle, Lu Yuan raised his wrists, the white bandages wrapped around his wrists swinging. “Wait and watch me—”
Every single move of the rest of the group members was controlled by him, it was as if he had reins tied to their bodies. Six voices raised, entering a chorus—
[Feel free to question bloodless battles from dirty hidden rules
A night escape to fight against the false world to see who creates god and fools
No matter what you hear or argue, just say that heroes don’t have origins or jewels]
The rhythm of the accompaniment grew faster and faster. Everyone knelt down, only leaving Jiang Miao standing upright, who sang, “Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul.“
The whole group got up, and at the moment when the rhythm became so dense that it seemed it was about to rush to the climax of the song, the next beat suddenly turned out to be empty.
Fang Juexia, who had moved to the C position, raised his hand and positioned his fingers into the shape of a gun. In the close-up, he reached up to his temple—
“Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool.“
The most explosive electronic sound drop in the entire song appeared, and the strong rhythm caused the entire audience to boil up. The real sampled sounds of swords swinging overlapped and interlaced with the sharp electronic sounds, creating a sense of space where the glint and flash of cold steel could be felt clearly.
This part of the dance had large and interwoven movements, but each action of theirs accurately stuck to the rhythm laid out by the electric sounds, and the whole section was performed very powerfully. The atmosphere in the whole studio reached a new high, seeming just like the scene found at a music festival. At the end of the section when the music dropped, all the members sang again in unison, “Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool.“
Once again, the formation changed into a long line. With the plucking of guzheng, everyone tilted away from the line, going left to right, revealing Pei Tingsong at the very end. At some point, he had come to a stand in front of the red taiko drum, and with the accompaniment, he beat the taiko drum hard to signal the start of the battle again.
Flipping the drumstick in his hand around, Pei Tingsong flipped over the guzheng and came to the front. He shook his military coat open and began to rap, “In this world here, with open and hidden fights that scare, there are knives hidden in smiles everywhere. When we wait for advice there, getting evil insidious tasks isn’t rare.“
Fang Juexia thought that this time Pei Tingsong wouldn’t change the lyrics on the spot, but he was still too naive. This idea had swayed in his mind for less than a second before he heard Pei Tingsong’s second creation.
“The unpolished leaked song is out of tune beware, how do you like the lyrics here? If it wasn’t full of ridicule and despair, how would you know I’m the crane screaming in the marsh air.” Pei Tingsong’s steps were full of gangster spirit, and he picked up the folding fan from the ground, opened it abruptly, and fanned himself.
“Heart festering with a jealousy flare, there’s still no medicine for this evil affair. The original lone forces cut a wound with due care, and drank the hot blood to live immortal and fair.“
These changed lyrics were so sharp that they seemed to hate the fact that they couldn’t directly pierce Astar’s lungs. Pei Tingsong didn’t say a single dirty word, but he still gave them absolute hell, and Fang Juexia really had to admire that.
He held the folded fan like a knife and ferociously sliced it across his chest. Pei Tingsong’s face showed a morbid smile, and he wiped at the corner of his mouth. “But I was born an irritable bear, so I’ll bite back if you dare.” At last, he turned his back and randomly threw out the folding fan. “The sound of the guzheng unsheathes the sharp sword with a flare, to lift up your heads and break the heavens bare.“
This rap was so deadly that it almost shocked the entire audience.
“Shit, Pei Tingsong is too real!”
“He nearly started naming names…”
The musical arrangement changed again, and with the sound of horses neighing, the lead singers stepped forward again. The coordination of the dance for the song was very orderly, and their aura grew even stronger than during the first chorus. The fans below were also more vocal in their support, and when this mixed in with the war-like sounds of the accompaniment, it had the feel of delight and the unrestrained nature of people fighting their way out of a siege.
[Feel free to question bloodless battles from dirty hidden rules
A night escape to fight against the false world to see who creates god and fools
No matter what you hear or argue, just say that heroes don’t have origins or jewels
Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul
Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool]
They thought there would be another techno drop here, but didn’t expect the background sounds to suddenly quiet down. All that was left was the sound of the military drum, one beat after another resounding continuously. All of a sudden, the stage went completely dark; there was no light, and only the drumbeats continued.
When the lights lit up again, the guzheng sounded, but it wasn’t the one pre-recorded into the accompaniment, but a real performance. There were only two spotlights, and only two people left on the stage. One spotlight was on Jiang Miao, sitting in front of guzheng. The other was on Fang Juexia, who stood alone with his back to the stage.
His military overcoat had already been taken off, and all he was wearing now was a moon white wide sleeved hanfu. The audience below were surprised by this unexpected choreography.
“My God!!!”
“Ah, this look!! Amazing!”
“That’s Fang Juexia?”
With Jiang Miao’s guzheng music accompanying him, Fang Juexia began his solo dance. He raised his arms and lifted his legs, his movements as light as clouds. The string sounds were steadily getting faster, and he threw himself forward, as if jumping in to explore the sea, then jumped up again, repeating the motion twice. The amazing difficulty of the swallow style purple gold crown dance made the audience scream.
After several rolling cloud bridges, Fang Juexia came to the guzheng, lowered his hand, picked up a long sword from the stand, and danced with it, looking as elegant as an immortal.
Not good.
Fang Juexia felt that his waist was being jerked around by some force, and upon looking down, he saw that the mic box fixed on the back of his waist had fallen off, just hanging by a thread in the air. His expression didn’t change as he temporarily altered his choreography. He turned while lifting his leg up at its knee and grasped at the black cord. He shook his wrist around, and the mic box seemed to toss around in the air for an eternity before it was firmly caught by Fang Juexia.
It was a long process to him, but it appeared as just a flash for the audience. Few people discovered how amazingly Fang Juexia had saved his solo performance.
He hid his hand holding the mic box behind his back and danced with the sword in his right hand. His waist was as flexible as the soft sword in his hand, and when the sound of the guzheng gradually fell, he stabbed the long sword in front, stood on one leg, raised his left leg up high, and stood in the center of the stage like a crane.
With the movement of a few sweeping strings, the guzheng’s music started to change. Once everyone returned to the stage, Jiang Miao covered the chair he had just been sitting on, and the group gathered to hide behind Fang Juexia. Lu Yuan opened his mouth and began the transitional bridge. “Close your eyes, and listen to the sounds of the fighting that goes up to the skies. I’m sure this time I won’t be confined to difficult cries.“
Ling Yi followed after, his high pitched voice very penetrating. “There is no shortcut on the road to this famed prize, I believe only in me and never in fate’s reprise.“
The chorus reappeared. Lu Yuan, who was the main dancer, stood in the C position. Everyone was in an arrow shaped formation, and Fang Juexia was right behind him.
[Feel free to question bloodless battles from dirty hidden rules
A night escape to fight against the false world to see who creates god and fools
No matter what you hear or argue, just say that heroes don’t have origins or jewels
Don’t ask about the future, you ghoul
Listen to me break through the line with one song, fool]
The last intense EDM drop pushed the atmosphere in the entire studio to the very top. It made it seem that they weren’t recording for a song show at all, but more like the scene of a Kaleido concert. Everyone’s senses were mobilized, and they moved with the music until the end of the fire.
The rhythm slowed down, and the six people walked back towards the stage. The accompaniment changed to become the part from the beginning again, where the strings were plucked and the Beijing Opera sounds of the guzheng were played, while the background sound had faint wind and sounds of snow whistling mixed in.
With the sound of the flute, Pei Tingsong took a black military overcoat in his hand, and as the cold sound of the strings shivering were heard, he put it on Fang Juexia’s shoulders. Fang Juexia walked neither fast nor slow towards the old fashioned chair in front of the guzheng and picked up the long sword that had just been laid atop the guzheng. The others also began to circle around toward the chair, displaying their ending movements.
Jiang Miao’s voice was mild and gentle as he sang, “The yellow sand everywhere lifts the blood mist sown, break through the formation to vie for the throne.“
Pei Tingsong stood behind the chair, his eyes filled with violence. Fang Juexia turned to sit in the chair and leaned into it lazily. After wiping the blade with his fingers, he threw the sword indifferently to the ground in front of him and sang the last sentence of the whole song—
“All my ways forward have been blown, all that is left is to wait for your ambush to be thrown.“
