Who hid My Corpse!

"Yes."

The lowest level of music is naturally the outer song.

The order of the grand ceremony music is played from the foot of the Holy Mountain to the summit.

This process is very slow, so slow that the mountain path the Unicorn can walk in a few hours takes the chapters half a month to climb.

And there's a clear dividing line in it, which is the great hall where the Eternal notes reside.

The chapters outside of the Eternal notes are the outer song, and those within are the inner song.

For the core player, only when the first inner song is played does it signify the official start of the ceremony, and the Awakening of the Holy Sound Master will occur at this moment, until three days later when the chapters ascend to the final Seven Sounds Temple to play the final chapter.

But this is only the opinion of the core players. According to the "Holy Sound History", as long as the first piece is played, the celebration is considered to have begun.

So...

Raul opened his eyes and made a decision.

"Call them back, there's no need to watch her anymore."

The janitor was slightly confused: "No need to watch her anymore?"

"Yes, I don't want to play hide and seek and guessing games anymore," Raul said blandly. "Spread the word directly; I will personally go under the Eternal notes and use the Master's power to awaken that tuner."

"By then, everything will be revealed."

"I will personally judge her in front of the Master."

...

"The ceremony is about to begin." In the girls' dormitory, Anita sipped tea and said to Hewinia, who sat before her, "As the ceremony approaches, the power of the chapters within us will become stronger and purer."

Hewinia jotted notes while asking, "Is it because the Master is awakening?"

"Yes," Anita said. "Actually, saying the Master is awakening isn't accurate. The Master doesn't need to sleep and has never slept; it's just that He starts listening from this moment."

"...What does that mean?"

"It's literal." Anita said, "The Master is everything to us, but we are not everything to the Master. He has given us Chorus Magic, but He does not watch us all the time, just like..."

Hewinia raised an eyebrow: "Buying a ticket to watch a play every twenty years?"

"Your metaphor is indeed vivid," Anita laughed. "But if you write that directly in your paper, I don't think your tutor would be very pleased; such a description is disrespectful to the Master."

"Ah, sorry, sorry, I just said it casually!" Hewinia clasped her hands in prayer, "Please don't tell my tutor."

"Rest assured, I'm not that old-fashioned," Anita said. "Moreover, back then, I asked the headmaster the same thing."

"...Ah?"

"For children who have just been exposed to the chapters, such a metaphor is indeed the simplest and most straightforward explanation of the relationship between the player and the Master," Anita said. "Our relationship with the Master is the purest, unlike other churches' gods and believers. He grants us power, and we repay Him with chapters. It's essentially like an audience paying while the player performs. The only difference is that the Master, as the audience, has many choices, but we, as players, have only one audience—Him."

"And it's an audience that comes once every twenty years." Hewinia said softly.

"Yes." Anita nodded slightly, "So many excellent players, for their entire lives, cannot perform for the Master. It's a regrettable thing."

"Is that so?" Hewinia tilted her head, "But, Anita, you don't seem to regret it."

"Oh?"

"You are an excellent player," Hewinia said. "But you have never intended to participate in the ceremony, right? Don't you feel any regret?"

"Heh, you're asking about me now, huh?" Anita said calmly, "My reason for not participating in the ceremony is simple... not perfect enough."

"...Not perfect enough?"

"Yes." Anita said, "Players are the purest and most extreme artists. A Golden Sound Player's life allows for only one performance for the Master. If one does not strive for perfection, how can they have the face to take the stage?"

"I don't quite understand what you mean," Hewinia asked, "What counts as perfect then?"

"At the very least, it cannot violate the player's original intent," Anita said. "Someone told me if taking the stage isn't for the sake of ultimate art but for rankings or grace, such a player is unqualified. Unfortunately, most players nowadays are like this."

Hewinia understood: "This was what Principal Ulysses said to you, right?"

"Of course." Anita's face involuntarily showed a hint of a smile when she mentioned the principal, "When I first met him, he said this to me. In fact, he says this to every disciple."

"Does Principal Ulysses have a lot of disciples?"

"Hmm." Anita nodded slightly, "After the last ceremony ended, the principal relinquished all his authority and traveled the entire Holy Sound alone to find pure players like himself. Unfortunately, till today, no one could stand on the same level as him."

"Not even you?"

"Of course not." Anita shook her head, "In terms of strength or mindset, both are far off. Even... may never catch up in this lifetime."

"I see..."

Hewinia nodded thoughtfully.

The truth is, at this moment, Hewinia and Anita were in a very delicate state.

She was well aware that Anita knew her identity and that Anita also understood this, but the two of them tacitly chose not to reveal it.

Even after Hewinia left the orchestra, she found more time to be with Anita.

This was not the first time they had such a casual chat. Over the past half a month, Anita had replaced Ulysses' position and became Hewinia's new teacher. Through conversations with Anita, Hewinia gradually speculated why Ulysses and Anita had not acted against her.

...Pure and extreme chapters.

In their eyes, no matter whether it's the Taichu's two families or the Lawrence family, they're participating in the ceremony just to obtain grace, so they don't have the qualifications to stand on the same stage with them.

Especially after Ulysses' Divine Song was disrupted by them twenty years ago, cooperation was even more impossible.

The only question is whether Ulysses wants to see a true, pure chapter from Hewinia or intends to kill her after she collects everything, steal the score, and perform himself.

Hewinia couldn't be sure, but she wouldn't be foolish enough to ask.

Before the real confrontation, she would remain silent but also prepare.

At this moment, a female player quickly approached and whispered something in Anita's ear.

After listening, Anita nodded. Once the female player left, she said, "Dean Raul decided to wake the tuner from the boys' dormitory in front of the Eternal notes at the start of the ceremony."

"I recall you mentioning that a tuner cannot be awakened by external force."

"Generally speaking, that's true," Anita said. "But it's different during the ceremony. Remember what I just told you? During the ceremony, the power of our chapters will strengthen, and this gives a chance of awakening, though the success rate isn't high."

"How much?"

"Thirty percent," Anita said. "If it fails, the tuner will die. Thus, he only gets one chance, and it will begin when the Master's power is most intense but before it impacts the ceremony process, that is... after the last outer song ends, and before the first inner song begins playing."

After hearing this, Hewinia was silent for a while, then nodded slightly: "I understand."

That night.

The first outer song slowly played at the foot of the mountain.

The ceremony began.