165: Chapter 165: The tone is arrogant, but the backbone is lacking.

Lu Li found her reaction immensely amusing and couldn't help teasing her.

"Oh? Is that so? Then what were you doing staring blankly at me just now? Reliving your childhood or something?"

"Who says so! I... I was just analyzing the issues with your vocal performance!"

Shen Qingxue's voice was muffled, her confidence clearly lacking.

"Then what did you figure out from your analysis?"

"I figured out that you... your breath control is still not stable enough, a few of the trailing notes in the chorus were handled too hastily, and also..."

She paused, her voice growing softer and softer.

"And?"

Lu Li asked with a smile.

"And can you stop asking!"

Shen Qingxue abruptly turned her head back and glared at him, but her cold eyes clearly carried a hint of bashful annoyance and panic.

Lu Li sensibly raised both hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine, fine, I won't ask anymore. You can continue your analysis, Your Ladyship, while I adjust the accompaniment."

He turned around to pretend to tweak the equipment, but his shoulders still couldn't help shaking subconsciously from laughter.

Shen Qingxue stared at his back for two seconds, took a deep breath to press down those messy emotions, and reopened her lyric booklet.

But her heartbeat was still very fast and she simply couldn't calm down.

"Let's go through it one more time."

Lu Li turned back, his expression having returned to seriousness.

Shen Qingxue nodded, trying to maintain some composure, and then put her headphones back on.

This time, Lu Li was even more immersed than before, and the emotions in his voice were fuller.

In the chorus, his voice rose slightly, carrying a sense of release after seeing all the vicissitudes of the martial arts world.

"The sword is unsheathed, grudges settled, who is laughing."

"I only ask to hold you in my embrace today."

"At the red dust inn, the wind is like a knife; the sudden rain falls as fate knocks."

"No matter who leads the martial arts world, I only bow down for you."

"Passing desolate villages and wild bridges, searching for ancient paths away from the world."

"Far away from the mortal world's hustle and bustle."

"Willows catkins float, hand in hand, free and unfettered."

...

Shen Qingxue closed her eyes, her fingers tapping lightly and unconsciously on her knees to the beat.

She was feeling it.

Just like tasting tea, the more you taste it, the more flavorful it becomes.

"How is it?"

Lu Li took off his headphones and turned his head to look at her.

Shen Qingxue opened her eyes, her gaze falling on his face, and was silent for two seconds.

"Very good."

She nodded gently and didn't stubbornly argue anymore.

Lu Li was stunned for a moment, then grinned.

"It's rare, being able to hear the words 'very good' from Your Ladyship's mouth. I thought 'not bad' was the only thing in your dictionary."

Shen Qingxue gave him an exasperated roll of the eyes.

"Don't get cocky. The second half of the chorus is still a bit tight. Practice it a few more times."

"You got it."

Lu Li put his headphones back on, adjusted his standing position, took another deep breath, and started over.

Over and over again.

For the rest of the time, the two of them stayed in the equipment area like this for the entire morning.

Halfway through, Shen Qingxue stood up to pour two cups of water.

She handed a cup to Lu Li to moisten his throat, then sat back down in her chair to keep listening.

When Lu Li finished singing and felt it was exceptionally good himself, he couldn't help looking at Shen Qingxue.

"That's about it, right?"

Shen Qingxue thought for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"It's fine. Practicing any further will only burden your throat. Let's record it first."

Lu Li made an OK gesture, reopened the recording software, and adjusted the parameters.

The prelude rang out.

This time, he didn't stop again, instead singing the entire song in one go.

When the last note fell, the living room fell silent for a fleeting moment.

Lu Li took off his headphones and let out a long breath.

"How is it? Done in one take?"

Shen Qingxue didn't answer immediately. Instead, she walked over to the equipment, exported the version they just recorded, and listened to it from beginning to end.

After listening to it once, she rewound and listened to it a second time.

Then she took off her headphones, looked at Lu Li, and the corners of her mouth curved up slightly.

"Not bad, very good. You can release it directly."

Lu Li grinned, took the headphones from her hand and put them away, then took out his phone and opened Douyin.

The private messages and comments in the account's backend were already so numerous that he couldn't possibly read through them all.

In the comment section of the latest teaser video, people were already arguing up a storm.

[Fuck! What time is it already, why hasn't it been released yet! Lu Li, did you ghost us again!]

[Hurry hurry, decree as haste commands! I am the Emperor of Haste!]

[Family members, I've already listened to hair like snow a hundred times. I urgently need a new song to sustain my life.]

[Lu Li, if you ghost us again, I will... I will kneel down and beg you to release it quickly!]

Lu Li looked at the comments urging for updates and curled his lips; this generation of netizens really couldn't wait at all.

Unlike before he time-traveled, when the Milk Tea Heavenly King didn't release a song for four years, he wouldn't even dare to urge him, terrified that the guy would throw down his burden and quit.

After casually glancing at the comments for a couple more times, he clicked on the publishing page and imported the audio file of red dust inn.

Then he matched it with a simple cover image.

An ink-wash style landscape painting, with the four large characters "red dust inn" written in the middle.

Finally, he added subtitles to the entire video. Nice, it couldn't be more perfect!

That way, the red dust atmosphere was maxed out.

Lu Li tapped his fingers on the screen a few times.

[red dust inn is officially online. Hope everyone likes it.]

After posting it, he found the comment with the highest likes in the comment section and added a reply.

[If you guys rush me again, next time I'll ghost for two days.]

As soon as this comment was posted, the comment section instantly exploded.

[Holy shit? Is this Lu Li himself?]

[Hahaha, this tone is definitely Lu Li, no doubt about it.]

[Holy shit! Ghost for two days? Don't you dare! If you dare to ghost, I... I really dare to beg you to release it faster!]

[I'm dying of laughter, what a classic case of big talk, no backbone.]

[Where's the song? Where's the song? How come I don't see it? Are you playing with me?!]

[To the person above, just refresh the video and it'll be there.]

Lu Li also refreshed the page along with them.

The video for red dust inn had already appeared on the homepage, its view count shooting up at a rate visible to the naked eye.

From 0 to 10,000 took less than thirty seconds.

From 10,000 to 100,000 took less than two minutes.

Lu Li stared at that jumping number, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Holy cow... this speed."

Shen Qingxue also leaned closer, looking down at his phone screen, her brows lifting slightly.

"Normal. The teaser has been fermenting for a whole day, plus the popularity accumulated by the previous few songs, these figures are within expectations."

She paused and added another sentence.

"However, whether it can stay steady later on still depends on the quality of the song itself, but we don't need to consider that at all—this song is definitely a heavy hitter."