After her explosive announcement, Song Ling'er returned to her seat in a casual manner, almost like it was just another day for her.
Meanwhile, the crowd exploded into another commotion.
"Senior Fairy Song will be accepting another disciple?! But if I remember correctly, she'd mentioned that she won't be accepting any more disciples after accepting her current two disciples six years ago!"
However, not everybody was excited about Song Ling'er's announcement.
"She's really sneaky… I didn't think she would strike back so quickly…" Elder Shan felt her eyebrows twitch upon hearing Song Ling'er's announcement.
"Since she already knows that Disciple Yuan has what it takes to achieve first place if not guaranteed to take first place, she purposefully announced that she'll accept the first place as her disciple to use the crowd to pressure Disciple Yuan into accepting. What a brilliant yet shameless move!" Elder Xuan shook his head, unsure whether to laugh or cry at Song Ling'er's desperate attempt to force Yuan into joining the Heavenly Melody Academy.
"What if Disciple Yuan doesn't actually achieve first place? What then? Will she simply change her mind?" Xuan Wuhan couldn't help but that.
"No, that's not possible. Although there are two other judges there, Senior Song's judgement will easily outweigh their judgement. If she says first place belongs to Disciple Yuan, he will undoubtedly get first place! Who will dare to refute her judgement? Who has the credentials to challenge her judgement? Nobody!" Elder Xuan explained to her. "Furthermore, with Disciple Yuan's abilities, nobody would find Senior Song's judgement unfair!"
"T-This is really unfair! A scandal! How can someone as prestigious as Senior Song lower herself to such a degree just to recruit Disciple Yuan? I cannot understand this…" Xuan Wuhan sighed.
Elder Xuan and Elder Shan looked at Xuan Wuhan with weird looks. If Xuan Wuhan knew just how talented Yuan was, she would understand Song Ling'er's desperation. In fact, if the roles were reversed, their Sect Master Long Yijun would undoubtedly be doing the same thing as Song Ling'er— doing whatever he could to poach Yuan.
Sometime later, Senior Zou cleared his throat, and he spoke in a clear voice, "Now let's talk about the competition itself."
"There will be three different parts in the competition, and you will be scored from one to ten by each judge. At the end of the competition, whichever team has the most points will be declared first place."
"For the first part, we will have each of you play three music notes— no more, no less. You can play any note you want, but you only have three, so choose wisely."
Senior Zou then pointed to the participants sitting in the first row and said, "We will start from you. You have 30 seconds to prepare, starting now."
The place immediately became silent, and millions of eyes gazed upon this participant who was going first, casting an invisible pressure on this participant who felt like a mountain had suddenly appeared on his shoulders.
The participant's hands trembled as he reached for the zither on the table, and a moment later—
Ting… Ting… Tin—
Three very awkward-sounding music notes echoed in the area, immediately putting frowns on the audiences' faces.
However, none of the audience made any noise or complained, and they silently waited for the judges' verdict.
Senior Zou and Elder Jing turned to look at Song Ling'er, almost like they were waiting for her to give her verdict first, but after seeing that she hadn't moved even after a good moment, they decided to give their verdicts first.
"Zero."
Senior Zou spoke in a cold voice.
"Zero."
Elder Jing followed.
Once the other judges gave their verdict, Song Ling'er finally spoke, and her cold voice resounded clearly in the place, "There's no need for your partner to continue. The two of you may leave the premise, as you are no longer qualified to participate in this competition."
The participant nodded with a flushed face and teary eyes, yet he didn't complain. As for his partner who was staring at him with an enraged expression, he also remained silent.
After bowing to the Song Ling'er and the others, the two of them left the area with a shameful back.
"Next." Senior Zou immediately looked at the next participant.
A few seconds later, three beautiful notes resounded in the area.
"Five." Senior Zou declared.
"Six." Elder Jing followed.
"Two." Song Ling'er said in a nonchalant voice.
"..."
The audience was slightly baffled by Song Ling'er's score that was vastly lower compared to the other two judges. However, they weren't too surprised, since someone like Song Ling'er must have an extremely high standard due to her experience and background.
A few minutes later, over a dozen teams were graded, but Song Ling'er has yet to give anyone above three points.
Half an hour and hundreds of teams later, they finally reached a team that was relatively famous, as they'd ranked in the top 20s individually in the previous competition.
Three music notes later, the two judges looked at Song Ling'er.
However, she remained silent.
A few more seconds later, Senior Zou spoke, "Eight points."
"Eight points from me as well. Great job."
Everyone there turned to look at Song Ling'er and patiently waited for her judgement.
Two seconds later, she opened her mouth and mumbled, "Six points."
"Oh! Someone finally managed to score above three points, even doubling it!"
"Who is that? I don't think I know his name."
"That's Ning Xiang, he placed 11th last competition. It seems like he has practised his butt off since then, and his efforts are showing."
Ten minutes later, another team managed to receive more than 5 points from Song Ling'er. At this point, the audience and participants alike only cared about Song Ling'er's verdict and barely paid attention to Senior Zou and Elder Jing.
After some time, it was finally Song Ling'er's own disciple turn.
"Look! That's Ai Wan and Wei Kang! Senior Fairy Song's disciple! I didn't know they were going to participate in the competition!" The spectators' immediately recognized them.
"What! How is this even fair?! They'll definitely get first place! This is probably why Senior Fairy Song announced that she was accepting new disciples! Because she knew how difficult it would be to achieve first place with her disciples participating!"
The audience was stumped by their unexpected appearance.