Chapter 117: A Flick of the Finger Conceals the Heavens

“Xiaotong, the Yang family has given us five possible offers in all. The first is a guest appearance at the concert of Xiangxiang, last year’s Great Qin Best New Female Singer. The second is a spot on the recording of Great Qin’s Voice. The third is an audition for a supporting role in a contemporary urban film...” Zhang Xin listed the offers in detail for Su Tong.

“Do I really need to go on Great Qin’s Voice?” Su Tong asked, puzzled. When it came to vocal ability, singing, or even songwriting, he did not think he still needed a mentor.

With guidance from his god-tier system teacher, if he devoted himself to original music, Su Tong could produce new songs endlessly without relying on songs from his previous life, and their quality would not suffer. It would simply take too much time. He had far too many things to do, and naturally had no intention of investing his time and energy in music.

“Xiaotong, right now your songs are famous, but you aren’t. Hardly anyone knows who you are. Through this program, countless viewers across Great Qin will get to know you. It’s an exceptionally valuable platform. If you go, then with your ability, even if you don’t win, you’ll at least make the top three,” Zhang Xin said.

Su Tong laughed. “Sister Xin, don’t worry. I’m not going on that program.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Zhang Xin’s voice trembled slightly. “Xiaotong, you really aren’t going?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Tong replied, “Sister Xin, don’t worry. Your dream has only just begun. How could I let it die before it even had a chance to grow? If I say I won’t go, then I won’t.”

“Thank you, Xiaotong. Thank you.” Zhang Xin’s voice was thick with emotion.

Su Tong was not completely ignorant of how things worked. Great Qin’s Voice was a scripted program, and every contestant had to follow the script.

Who would advance, and how far, was more or less decided in advance.

Su Tong had the ability to win the championship, but only if he signed with the organizers or one of their partner companies during the early stages of filming.

If you refused to sign, who would go out of their way to promote you? Hadn’t viewers seen certain mentors say helpless things at the end of a contestant’s performance?

“Although Huang did a very good job, Liu’s performance was somewhat unstable, I’m more eager to see what Liu will do next, so I choose Liu.”

“I think Li has greater potential for development, so I choose Li.”

And so on.

Su Tong could already imagine what would happen. Even if the production team, under pressure from public opinion, allowed a singer of his caliber to advance farther, a mentor would surely say something like this later:

“Student Su is simply too talented. There’s practically nothing left for me to teach him—and I wouldn’t dare teach him, either...”

They would eliminate him simply because he had refused to sign.

“If this program had only just begun, there might not have been so many hidden tricks. But going on now...” Su Tong found it rather regrettable. The Yang family must have gone to considerable trouble to recommend him.

Lin Yin would also be appearing on the program. If nothing unexpected happened, she would become the champion of one mentor’s team. If her singing improved quickly enough, she might enter the top three; otherwise, she would rank last among the four team champions.

“Xiaotong, someone from the Yang family told me that if you refuse, I should tell you that you’d still better participate. They can support you all the way to the team finals,” Zhang Xin said. She felt somewhat guilty. Without her, Su Tong—with the Yang family’s support—would have advanced faster, higher, and farther.

“Wouldn’t it look rather bad if someone like me failed to win?” Su Tong said with a laugh.

Zhang Xin laughed as well. “It’ll be fine. When the time comes, we’ll be sensible and find an excuse to withdraw voluntarily. That will create another talking point—you’ll become the uncrowned king. The show is extremely popular, so go as far as you can.”

The filming schedule for Great Qin’s Voice differed from that of The Voice of China in Su Tong’s former world. Great Qin’s Voice began recording its blind auditions in October.

“Won’t the organizers lose their temper?” Su Tong asked.

“They won’t. How much does the general public know about what goes on behind the scenes? Without evidence, anyone who finds out will simply assume it’s publicity. The Yang family must have discussed this with the production team; otherwise, they wouldn’t have insisted so strongly that you go,” Zhang Xin replied.

Su Tong thought for a moment. “Then I’ll go. When do the blind auditions begin?”

“October tenth, in Magic City. We only need to arrive by the ninth,” Zhang Xin said.

“Good. That won’t be a problem.”

If he was going, then he was going. Su Tong had no particular objection. Once that matter was settled, he asked, “What about Xiangxiang’s concert? When is it?”

“Xiangxiang has three concerts, all this month—one in Sheep City, one in Magic City, and one in Imperial City. Which one would you like to attend?” Zhang Xin asked.

Su Tong thought it over. “Imperial City. I’m still in school, after all, so I’d rather spend less time traveling.”

“All right. There’s also a reality show about wilderness survival. You’d appear as a guest for one episode, also this month...”

The two of them discussed matters for a long while. In the end, they decided to turn down the wilderness-survival reality show because the schedule was too tight. Su Tong did accept the small supporting role in the film.

The audition would take place in Imperial City. If everything went well, he would follow the crew to Great Jin City, which was not far from the capital, for filming.

In the end, Su Tong settled on three engagements for the month. Once they had finished discussing everything, he hung up.

Only then did he realize that it was already nine in the evening. He was still at Yang Feifei’s home; he had come upstairs to an empty room to make the call.

He was just about to go downstairs when his father called.

Father Su had not been drinking that evening. Before leaving home, Su Tong had sent him a message while he was still working, saying that he was taking Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao out to have fun and would be back a little late, so his father should finish work, go home, and cook for himself.

The three siblings had not returned so late, and Father Su was worried. At last, he called to ask what was going on.

“Dad, we’re just about to head home. Don’t worry. I’m here, so nothing will happen,” Su Tong reassured him.

Xiao Jie and Lin Yin drove the three siblings home. As soon as Su Tong got out of the car, he saw Father Su sitting on the stone ledge beside the courtyard gate. In the darkness, the tip of his cigarette flickered faintly, and his figure looked terribly lonely.

Yang Feifei had originally wanted the three siblings to spend the night at her villa, but Su Tong was afraid their father would worry and insisted on going home.

His father was a very lonely man, with practically no friends. The few he did have were drinking buddies who disappeared as soon as the alcohol was gone, never caring what became of him afterward.

With all three children home, Father Su finally relaxed. After scolding them for a while, he returned to his room to sleep. He had spent the entire day laboring at a construction site and was exhausted.

Under normal circumstances, Father Su went to bed at nine-thirty. It was almost ten already.

The two sisters had been clinging to Su Tong these past few days, and every night they slept beside him.

They went to bed relatively early, usually at ten. Su Tong, on the other hand, rarely went to bed before eleven-thirty, so he had already moved his computer into the study.

After the two girls fell asleep, Su Tong entered the study, switched on the computer, and went online.

He intended to flourish on all fronts, so he decided to begin publishing a novel on Qichuang as well.

What kind of book should he write?

After some thought, Su Tong chose that grand and majestic work by Chen Dong: Covering the Heavens.

It was a web novel utterly different in style from Tomato’s books. Chen Dong could not exactly be called a master of prose, but his diction was undeniably ornate, dazzling, and flamboyant.

Normally, the opening chapters of a master’s novel were often disastrous when imitated by a newcomer. Such books did not follow the golden opening-three-chapters rule of online fiction and were not immediately captivating.

The opening chapters of Covering the Heavens were the same—far too slow for a new writer.

Su Tong spent an hour condensing the first seven chapters of Covering the Heavens into a single chapter of just over five thousand words.

Title: Covering the Heavens

Synopsis: In the depths of the universe, where coldness and darkness coexist, nine enormous dragon corpses drag an ancient bronze coffin through eternity.

This was an astonishing image captured by a space probe in the desolate universe.

Nine dragons pulling a coffin—had it returned to the ancient past, or arrived at the opposite shore of the starry sky?

A vast world of immortal heroes, strange and wondrous, shrouded in endless mystery. Blood burned like a volcanic eruption, passion surged like a boundless sea, and the heavens were covered in a single gesture.

Take the road to heaven, walk beneath a song, and cover the heavens with a flick of the fingers.

Chapter One: The Five-Colored Altar

...

Once the upload succeeded, Su Tong let out a sigh of relief. Revising a novel could sometimes be more exhausting than writing one. Fortunately, this was not his own work, so cutting it down did not hurt at all.

Su Tong decided to keep his Qichuang author identity secret. For the time being, he would not reveal it to his fans and would let Covering the Heavens develop naturally.

Still, if the people from League of Legends discovered his identity someday, he wondered what expressions they would wear. Just imagining it made Su Tong want to burst out laughing.

There would certainly be no editor reviewing submissions in the middle of the night, and Su Tong could not be bothered to wait. After uploading the first chapter, he simply uploaded four more in succession, for a total of five chapters.

It was only eleven-thirty. Su Tong did not feel like sleeping yet, so he decided to browse Weibo, Diandian, and a few other sites.

After logging on to Weibo, he was startled.