Chapter 003: Performance

The Heart Song of a Grade 9 Singer truly lived up to its reputation, elevating the atmosphere in the hall to an excellent level. Being there, Du Fan felt an illusion as if he were in the legendary paradise.
Presumably, the other elves shared the same thought, for in that vast hall, with no less than a thousand elves present, it was so quiet that even the sound of clapping could be heard.
The elves were immersed in the sweet singing of the blue-haired elf. Who else but Du Fan could possibly applaud here?
The blue-haired elf suddenly stopped singing, staring at Du Fan in surprise with her mouth slightly open.
Du Fan’s actions were undoubtedly like destroying a beautiful instrument—quite inappropriate for such an occasion.
“Please continue. It was just my heartfelt reaction; I couldn’t help it,” Du Fan said, his smile not fading at all, but instead becoming even brighter.
Dozens of elves in attendance stood up in anger. After all, interrupting someone’s singing is a detestable act.
Momoia, a young sage from the Saint Lu tribe, snorted and was about to stand up to scold Du Fan when a white-haired female elf beside him stopped her.
None of the dozens of elves rushed at Du Fan. Some restrained themselves, while others were stopped by their kin. In the end, they all suppressed their anger. After all, Du Fan held the title of “guest respected by the Nature Goddess.”
Who would dare offend a guest of the Nature Goddess?
After the minor disturbance, the hall returned to its previous atmosphere. The blue-haired female elf sang her sweet melody once again, and everything seemed to be returning to normal.
Yet, due to Du Fan’s actions, the elves could no longer maintain their calmness. Even as they heard the beautiful singing, they no longer felt intoxicated.
“That human… is truly despicable,” almost all the elves thought.
“Lord Du Fan, why did you…?” Lan Ling also didn’t understand Du Fan’s actions, so she spoke up to ask.
“Shameless humans can’t stand the joy of the elf race,” Nayixiu had her own opinion about Du Fan’s behavior.
Du Fan smiled slightly. “Hahaha, don’t say that, Chief Nayixiu. I just couldn’t help myself; I was lost in the moment. I never intended to ruin that wonderful atmosphere. If anyone is to be blamed, it’s the difference in races and habits.”
Nayixiu snorted coldly and turned away, clearly signaling, “I don’t believe your lies.”
“It was just a moment of indiscretion.”

Du Fan helplessly shrugged at Lan Ling. Since Du Fan didn’t give an explanation, Lan Ling didn’t dare to press further and simply nodded, deciding to let the matter go for now. The group walked over to an empty table and sat down, continuing to listen to the singer’s beautiful voice. The blond-haired elf singer sang another song before leaving with her harp, and shortly after she left, ten elf maidens dressed in flowered skirts began dancing joyfully on stage. Before each Millennium Festival, during breaks in the meeting hall, various elf tribes would voluntarily send their best performers to stage shows. The blond-haired elf just now was sent by the Holy Ru tribe. Such talent shows weren’t just meant to pass the time for the elves; they had deeper meanings. Firstly, they served to showcase themselves to other tribes, and secondly, to enhance their tribe’s reputation. The elves longed for beauty and nature; they loved all things beautiful—singing, dancing, playing instruments, and so on. Their range of interests was extremely wide, and in terms of achievement in these areas, even humans paled in comparison to them. A tribe’s reputation was very important. Demonstrating one’s tribe’s achievements during the Millennium Festival, so that other tribes would know, was essentially sending a signal: “Our tribe is strong”—it served as a form of intimidation. Any tribe could participate, and in the end, the elves from the Ancient Tree tribe would select the best-performing tribe. Of course, there were rewards—winning tribes would have priority in applying to reside in the Ancient Tree. Residing in the Ancient Tree was the greatest honor for an elf, and showing off one’s strength to other tribes also served to elevate one’s own status. Which elf tribe would want to miss such an opportunity? Earlier, Momoya was almost angry because Du Fan interrupted the singer he had sent to perform. If this place weren’t the Ancient Tree, if Du Fan weren’t a guest personally chosen by the goddess… Of course, there were no “ifs” here, so no matter how angry Momoya was, he couldn’t do anything to Du Fan. When Du Fan heard Lan Ling explain how important these talent shows were, he was also quite shocked. Earlier, he had indeed clapped out of mischief, thinking it was fun—simple as that. Du Fan asked, “Do you Kaiyi tribe also have such shows?”

Lan Ling smiled slightly, glanced at Nai Xiu sitting beside her who was stroking her long bow, and nodded at Du Fan: “Of course. The skill we’ll perform this time is Divine Archery.”
Divine Archery? Is Nai Xiu going on stage?
Du Fan was momentarily stunned before picking up the glass filled with green wine and drinking it in one gulp.
On stage, the dance of the ten elves continued. Yet… although their movements were beautiful, in Du Fan’s eyes, he could only see ten pairs of extremely long, fair, and delicate legs moving up and down. As for the actual artistry of their dance, he couldn’t quite make out.
Soon, the elves’ dance performance ended, drawing applause from the audience—much better than when the singer from the Saint Lu tribe left the stage earlier. That poor singer had been interrupted by Du Fan and even forgot to say goodbye before leaving. By the time the audience wanted to applaud her, she had already gone far away…
To be a level-9 singer, one not only needs outstanding skills but also excellent on-the-spot reflexes.
Du Fan shook his head helplessly. He didn’t feel sorry for that level-9 singer at all. From his perspective, it wasn’t his fault to blame—after all, when he was a charlatan in the Light Church, the opposition voices were a hundred times more troublesome than the applause.
At that moment, another fully armed male elf stepped onto the stage. Wearing light armor and holding a slender long sword, he was a rare elf swordsman.
Among elves, sages are equivalent to human magicians, while archers are numerous, but swordsmen are extremely rare. It’s hard to find even one elf swordsman among thousands of elves.
The reason is that elves have rather weak constitutions. Though they have an extraordinary sensitivity to natural elements, their physical strength is naturally weaker. The Creator doesn’t create anything perfectly flawless—everything has some flaw.
By now, the elf swordsman on stage had begun his performance. His slender sword moved like flowing clouds, forming a whirl of motion. The long sword and light armor made the elves’ somewhat weak bodies appear more agile. The faint green aura surrounding the sword indicated that this elf swordsman had infused natural elements into his weapon, proving that he was an elf magic swordsman.

Elven swordsmen are already quite rare, while elven magic swordsmen are even rarer and almost never seen. It’s not that those with such aptitudes are uncommon; on the contrary, there are plenty of elves with such talents. The reason is simple—elves with such aptitudes see no need to practice swordsmanship at all. Their achievements in mastering magic are far greater than those in swordsmanship. Only those elves who prefer close combat and admire human warriors would abandon magic to focus on swordsmanship.

“What an interesting guy…”

Watching the elven magic swordsman on stage, Du Fan couldn’t help but shake his head. This elf’s swordsmanship was light and agile but lacked strength. He was a good performer, but in a real battle, he would surely lose. The elf race truly isn’t suited for close-combat professions.

The elven magic swordsman also stepped down from the stage, receiving even more enthusiastic applause than before. In Du Fan’s eyes, the swordsman’s technique was full of flaws. But for these elves who had no idea what swordsmanship really was and only enjoyed beautiful performances, the swordsman’s skills seemed unparalleled and the best in the world. Even the judges sent by the Ancient Tree Elf Tribe praised the elven magic swordsman highly…

This mindset was quite interesting, and Du Fan fully understood it. Several other tribes sent their best elf performers onto the stage, but none of their talents moved the hearts of the elves as much as the elven magic swordsman’s. Although there was applause, it was clear that the elven magic swordsman had the highest score.

“Next, Nayixiu, the chief of the Kayi Tribe!”

At that moment, Nayixiu stood up holding a long bow. She merely nodded at Lan Ling and didn’t even glance at Du Fan before walking onto the stage with a blank expression. It seemed necessary to spend some time training this cold and beautiful woman properly.

Du Fan had always held a grudge toward Nayixiu’s attitude toward him. It wasn’t his fault—compared to Nayixiu, Lan Ling’s attitude toward him was worlds apart. Nayixiu’s archery skill was the same one she used to attack Du Fan that day—the Divine Arrow Technique.

“Clang!”

Nayixiu closed her eyes slightly, drew her bow back to full tension, and raised it above her head. Suddenly, there was a clang, and the arrow on the bow disappeared. “Whoosh”—by the time the elves reacted, they realized that an arrow had been inserted into the target on the stage, shot by Nayixiu herself.

This arrow had no fancy moves; it utilized a power that surpassed common sense—this was Naixiu’s understanding of archery, the principles she had grasped.
What an amazing arrow!
Although he had once dodged this arrow, witnessing the wonder of this archery technique, Du Fan still couldn’t help raising his hand, as if to clap.
“Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!”
“What excellent archery!”