Shuya turned to Jin and Mei Hua, an innocent look on her face.

“So that’s that.”

“I’m still not sure I approve.”

“I doubt they care if you do, they certainly didn’t care about my opinion.”

Mei Hua raised her eyebrow and grinned. “Very cat like of them.”

Shuya gave a strained chuckle and then brightened. “But they were the last for me to introduce, so no more gifts!”

Jin looked heartily relieved, muttering, “Finally!”

“Even though I disapprove of gifting people…” Mei Hua gave a helpless chuckled. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to take good care of them.”

“Of course you will. And even if you do disapprove,” The older woman winked, “You’ll appreciate them later.”

“You gifted me people, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t appreciate them?”

Shuya’s eyes flashed slightly before turning to the crowd. Cupping her hands around her mouth she shouted at them, “You lot of shameless moochers! Are you ready?”

The Tree Spirits, who’d been getting a little bored, immediately straightened their posture. Hands up in the air, they roared back excitedly, “We’re ready!”

Shuya gave spread her arms, laughing joyfully. “Then let’s get this celebration started— let’s hear the drums!”

Thump, thump, thump!

The sound of drums sounded, startling everyone but the Tree Spirits. Jin and Mei Hua looked behind them in surprise. The sound hadn’t come from within their courtyard, but from the sizable main yard. They both widened their eyes at what they saw.

During Shuya’s introduction, Tree Spirits had sneakily been setting up the main yard. They’d apparently dragged in quite a few of the Palace Fairies. The kitchen staff had brought out long tables and packed them with food and wine, even now they were piling more onto the tables. The rest of the fairies had decorated the garden: lanterns, garlands, and banners were everywhere. Rather than being in the traditional red and gold colors, they were blue and gold.

And to one side were several male Tree Spirits next to huge drums, rhythmically hitting the hides with thick drum sticks. They’d taken their upper robs off and tied them around their waists, giving them the freedom they needed to pound on the drums.

Or possibly it was just for showing off. Several female fairies could be seen ogling them openly. At least one drummer winked cheekily at the women while the others laughed at him.

The noise caused the three cats who’d been playing to stop. Goji and Lady Cha’s ears perked and ran towards the drums, curious to see what was going on.

The white cat Old Ri, however, hissed loudly. His fur stood on end, doubling his size. He ran to the outer walls of the palace and jumped straight over the walls and howled angrily as he left, “Ridiculous nonsense! Barbarians, all of you!”

“There’s always a critic…” A random Tree Spirit commented loudly.

Shuya chuckled at his scolding. She snapped her fingers. “We’re not going to let some cat get us down though, so let’s keep going— bring out the string instruments!”

With a flutter of flower petals, female and male Tree Spirits appeared near the drummers. In there hands were several stringed instruments— guzheng, pipa lutes, erhus, and zithers*. While Jin was no expert with musical instruments, even he noted that there were instruments in the mix he’d never seen before.

The music was odd too. The drums had a fast pace to them, setting the tempo for everything else. So rather than a slow melodious sound that everyone was use to hearing, it was rapid and primal.

Jin thought this must be very unique and wondered how his youngest son was reacting. He glanced at Lu Shao and found his lips curving up slightly in humor.

———

Lu Shao was a well known music fanatic. He now had almost twenty years of teaching from a Master under his belt. Before the first note had ended, he could instantly tell there were instruments mixed in that he’d never heard before.

His eyes widened and shiver ran down his spine at the sound of the unknown instruments playing. Ye, who’d been standing next to him, saw his reaction and went to grab him to calm him down. He was just a little too slow; Lu Shao lifted his feet and sprinted out his parents courtyard toward the music.

Yan Li scratched his messy hair. “I guess we’re not gonna get a sensible word out of him for the next week.”

“Week?” Ye sighed heavily. “A month minimum… arg… he’ll be useless for anything else…”

Shi Ji gave a slight shrug and pointed in the direction his younger brother had gone. “It’s too late now, we might as well just enjoy the show.”

Even if he didn’t understand music the way Mother or his younger brother did, Shi Ji enjoyed it just as well. He wanted to see the musicians too. Without waiting, he started walking in the direction of the music, his twin and Ye following behind leisurely.

Shuya was still on the gate roof, not paying attention to Mei Hua’s sons. She called out to the musicians again in good humor, “And where’s the wind instruments? Do they plan on being showed up by the strings?”

Just like the stringed players, a burst of flower petals erupted near the drummers. Tree Spirits appeared again, already playing their respective instruments: bamboo flutes, labas, vertical fluets, and even a sheng*. As with the string instruments, there were instruments mixed in that no one had seen before.

[*Author’s Note: If you’re interested in Chinese instruments, here’s some further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_musical_instruments]

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Lu Shao had just gotten to the unknown string instruments, only to have the wind instruments appear. Like a small child suddenly faced with too many interesting choices, his body froze while his head almost swiveling right off his neck from looking around.

One of the female Tree Spirits playing an unknown instrument saw his expression and laughed. She walked over to him, her instrument in hand, and pulled him to where she’d been standing.

She’d been playing a six stringed instrument set in a wide square piece of wood with a curved corners. Her other hand held a stringed bow, which she ran across the six strings in a smoothed, practiced manner. The surrounding music drowned out her words, but you could see her mouthing, “It’s a bowed lyre*.” to Lu Shao as she showed him how to play.

[*Author’s Note: A traditional European stringed instrument: https://youtu.be/T8G1ZVLP_tc ]

Despite the wide variety of instruments present, nothing sounded in conflict. Lu Shao watched the Tree Spirit move her bow across the six strings with intense fascination, while at the same time keeping a keen ear to the music being played around him.

He’d never heard anything like this kind of music. While musical ensembles were common, there were usually strict guidelines on which instruments could be played together. It’s like the Tree Spirits had taken the rules and turned them upside down. Every instruments that existed they’d somehow found and were playing it.

It should have been chaos, but they’d found a beat and melody that integrated all the instruments into a single glorious sound. And that music, as it built on itself, had an underlying energy that soaked into everything around them. He watched in wide eyed amazement as sparkling dark blue energy surged from the musicians and spread over the walls of the palace.

In the cultivating world very few people were dedicated to music. The idea of combining qi, elemental energy, and music was therefore rare. Lu Shou was one of the few people in the world who’d managed to combine classic cultivating and music.

But right now he was seeing every single musician perform some level of what he’d spent years learning through self-study. They’d even figured out how to combine their individual qi techniques into something bigger and better than they could do alone.

Rather than be jealous or frustrated, he was overjoyed. Other than his Mother and Master, no one understood his passion for music. And his Master hadn’t understood how he’d combined his cultivation with his music. This was the first time he’d met so many people who were the same as him.

Unable to contain his excitement, he spread his hands and made a strumming motion, as his fingers slid down thin air, a pipa lute appeared. The Tree Spirit who’d been showing him her instrument, raised her eyebrows at the sudden appearance of the pipa lute in his hands. She gave a laugh and a nod, tapping her foot to encourage him to play.

As he joined in, the other Tree Spirits noticed the sudden addition of a slightly off beat instrument and the sliver of gold qi trying to mix with their dark blue qi. It didn’t mix well with theirs and seemed to be struggling to integrate itself.

Rather than being annoyed at the awkward addition, they glanced at each other and grinned mischievously. They changed their tune so Lu Shao’s off beat sound was able to blend in more naturally.

This change was noticed by the drummers, who altered their tempo. Naturally the shift of in tempo was noticed by those playing the wind instruments. They skillfully adjusted what they’d been playing to go along with the rest. Before anyone had time to notice, the entire ensemble had shifted what it was playing to include Lu Shao.

Lu Shao, for his part, saw what they’d done and was both impressed and touched. It took a very skillful player to change their music on the fly like that, and in this case an entire ensemble had done so. What’s more, they’d done it so he could be included. His eyes narrowed happily and he picked up the pace of his strumming, eager to see what else they could do.

Unnoticed to him, his golden qi had threaded through the ensemble’s dark blue. Like a strange fish swimming with the current, his qi sped through, weaving and mixing in until it vanished. A gold shimmer blended in with the blue, as if it’d always been there.

While Lu Shao was immersed in the music, the main yard had begun to fill up. The Tree Spirits inside Jin and Mei Hua’s courtyard had poured into the main yard, grabbing random people near them as they went.

Everyone could feel a strange energy in the air and even the most reluctant had an urge to move. Even Sect Leader Guanyu, who’d only started feeling better after taking a recovery pill, found himself swept up in the crowd. He’d thought this energy might be good for cultivating, but was caught by a busty Tree Spirit who forced any such thoughts right out of his mind.

Tree Spirits got into circles and started clapping along with the music. Their forced and very confused partners, at first stood around unsure of themselves. However, with a little cajoling from their Tree Spirit partners and the constant pressure to move seeming to come from the very air, they found themselves clapping along. When the Tree Spirits would put a hand up in the air, their partners did the same. When a foot was tapped and brought forward, they were followed. Soon the circle was going in and out and around.

Mei Hua watched the laughing, sometimes awkward dancing below and grabbed Jin arm.

“Let’s dance!”

Jin gave her an alarmed look. “You know perfectly well I can’t dance.”

“Bah! You know martial arts don’t you?”

“What’s that got to do with dancing?”

“It means you’ve got rhythm! You can definitely dance!”

“No, I— guh!”

He hadn’t finished when he felt a hard push and found himself falling forward. When he looked behind angrily, he saw Shuya smirking. Before he could say anything, Mei Hua had already pulled him forward with a chuckle, turning the fall into a light jump.

When they were down among the crowd, she scolded in good humor, “Don’t say you can’t before trying!”

He shook his head even as she pulled him into one of the many circles. Since Mei wouldn’t let him run away, he was forced to participate. He stood there awkwardly until the circle forced him to move or get trampled over.

There was no doubt that Jin lacked dancing skills. Even though he could copy what the others were doing, his movements were extremely stiff and his timing was always a little off.

Mei Hua had been dancing along easily while watching her husband’s clumsy movements with great amusement. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore and grabbed both of his hands and dragged him into the center of the circle.

“Jin, you need to relax.”

“I am relaxed!” He lied boldly.

She chuckled, and began running her hand gently over his chest.

“I understand why you can’t, so let me help.”

Even as she said those words, she’d already began circling around his body. Her hand was always touching him, his chest, his shoulders, his back. Each time her hand caressed him, he felt her spirit reaching out as well.

Her touch was cool, pleasant and rippled across his own spirit like a finger across a still lake. As it did, he felt his internal heat being pulled away with each caress. His legs buckled under him and he almost collapsed on the spot from the sudden release of the boiling pressure he’d lived with for hundreds of years.

Mei Hua must have anticipated this reaction, because she’d come back around and given him a tight hug. The hug disguised the fact she was keeping him from sliding down to the ground in a stupor.

“Better?” She asked with playful expression on her face.

Just like the kiss from earlier, Jin found his brain stopped working correctly. He nodded, face flushed slightly and a stupid grin on his face.

He felt great. Everything was fantastic. The world was a beautiful place. Mei was lifting him up so his feet were properly place and he couldn’t help thinking her body felt amazing too. He reached out to feel her up but she’d already stepped away. She said something to him and he realized he should be doing something.

What was he suppose to be doing again?

Oh yes, he was supposed to be dancing.

Dancing sounded like a great idea! He had no idea which leg went where, but who cared? As long as Mei reached out and let her hand glide along his entire being, he’d do anything she asked.

Even stand on his head and twirl!

What a superb idea! His drunk mind thought.

He immediately put it into action.

That night it was said that the Emperor created a whole new kind of dance. Whether it was good or bad, no one could say. But that was because no one dared talk about it, other than the Queen Consort. Who would, on occasions, tease him about his dancing skills with a twinkle in her eye.