Ludwig played with the violin a bit, familiarising himself with it. Then he tried different plays he had thought of and played for over an hour before he was satisfied and put the violin back in the box. The servants were listening to the whole time and they seemed to be surprised but also in a state of cultivation enhancement, they felt the bottleneck before them nearly full shatter.
A bow and thanks were exchanged, Ludwig didn't care about that and told them to help him put on the robe. Even if he learned it with the familiar robes he wore, he wasn't sure. As for caring that someone helped him put on things, he never had servants in his past life, but he didn't care about such things, he wasn't that frugal of a person.
After he put on the robes, he realised how soft and comfortable they were and how they slightly pulled the surrounding spiritual power towards him. 'Alas, wealth truly makes everything better. Even simple clothing becomes a tool for cultivation."
Then he sent the servants away and continued to play the violin till it was time for him to leave. He did so and arrived ten minutes earlier than he was supposed to. After a few minutes, the grand elder arrived, he bowed but the elder didn't care and used a spell.
Clouds formed below the two of them and they flew into the skies. For the first time, Ludwig could see the clan land. He was beyond surprised. He naturally knew that the Stardust Clan was a nomadic clan, but he thought they meant the steady expansion with the branches.
No, he was wrong. Although he didn't know how, he could slightly see the movement of the ground below him when he was over a hundred metre in the sky. He looked at the elder, then at the ground, and bowed.
He didn't need to ask as the elder said "Do you wish to know the reason for the movement of the clan? Why don't you guess."
Ludwig was surprised, so he took his best idea which he had seen in a game in his previous life, and guessed "Is it a spiritual beast, maybe a turtle?"
The grand elder was surprised and laughed out loud "Why do you think so?"
"I read a mortal story of a huge turtle that can carry hundreds of people!"
A nod came from the grand elder "There are indeed such turtles, and we are on one such turtle. The turtle is our family guardian beast, the Underground Mountain Diving Turtle. In truth, this turtle is one with a huge shell on it's back on which mountains can form, it normally lives underground, but our guardian beast is a special variant, it's body lives underground but the shell grew so long that it can fully be above ground while the turtle is below."
Ludwig nodded repeatedly, but he knew not to ask anymore. It was already a surprise the elder said so much, so asking more would be rude.
The journey on the cloud would be extremely special for most, but Ludwig didn't really see anything. The clouds were mostly 'dead', he felt barely anything, the movement he felt before was because he felt some fluctuations from the turtle, which was why he guessed it was living.
At most some winds came his way, if he could fly on his own it might be different, or if he advanced to the foundation building stage where his spiritual sense was enhanced, but currently it was extremely difficult for him to 'see' anything without enough spiritual power fluctuations, even the wind contained some, but he wasn't able to see anything.
He felt that the passed several spiritual power knots, which were probably veins.
After they finally stopped, the grand elder willed the cloud to land on a great peak higher than all the others they passed, the top was covered with fog which shielded everything, but they were some hundred metres away from the peak, staying around the outer circle of the top.
Below them was a large building where already many different people were moved around. Everyone made space when they saw the special cloud, the technique was a basic one, but the grand elder didn't hide his presence, so everyone knew who was on the cloud and bowed.
When the cloud finally stepped on the ground, it dissipated, and Ludwig followed behind the grand elder. Several people with strong fluctuations came their way and talked some words with the grand elder before they entered the building.
It was huge inside and many tables were positioned, if Ludwig was able to see, he would know that many festive decorations were all around. The grand elder directly went to the table right of the main table and took his seat.
Ludwig didn't dare take a seat, he saw many people looking at him, but he just stood still behind the grand elder without making any movement.
The tables were soon all taken, behind the table across the grand elders were two men, and people gradually quietened down. Red curtains fell down at the entrance, they stretched on their own till their formed a carpet of red, flowers on the sides fell on the carpet and created patterns. When the red carpet stretched all the way to the heightened main seat, the doors opened and all elders stood up from their position
In the centre, stone columns came out of the ground and a small jade platform formed. The clan head, tall and majestic, strode into the room. Behind him a young child in festive red clothes.
He strode towards the platform which was in the middle between the two tables of the grand elder and the young masters, turned and looked at his youngest son as well as all the other tables behind.
With a loud voice, he said "I thank all the elders for appearing and celebrating my youngest child's birthday!" The young child followed "Junior thanks all seniors for coming!"
All the elders cupped their hands at the clan head "We thank the clan head for the invitation! It is our honour to celebrate the future of the clan!"
The clan head went down the platform and to the main seat while the youngest too the seat one step below. The clan head took his wine glass, raised it and called "To my youngest!"
Everyone followed and soon food came, and they dined. During the whole time, Ludwig was naturally not able to drink and dine, but he didn't care. Well, he cared because the food and wine was spiritual, but it was unsuitable for him. Too strong a tonic one could say.
The food was enjoyed while musicians, dancers and other performers came onto the platform to show their profession. Most of the performers were related to one or several elders, these elders would show off with the talents of their line.
At one point, the grand elder turned and signalled, he looked at Ludwig and nodded before he sent sound transmissions to the other elders that it was his turn to send someone. The order was fixed but no one would deny such a request of the grand elder, especially since they wanted to see what talent he wanted to show off.
Ludwig went to the central platform and felt the eyes of everyone in the room.
This included the two young masters, the clan head and his youngest son. He wasn't one to feel panic because of this, but naturally this was different since each and every of these had a pressure much stronger than his own, fortunately soon the grand elder's aura enveloped him, and he could feel at ease as he took out his instrument from his storage bag.
Everyone quietened down and focused greatly on the instrument taken out.
He put his violin on his shoulder and leaned slightly, his hand other hand took the bow and made some movement slightly above the string, he took a second before he began. He played a solo from Paganini, who was called the Devils' Violinist for his talent.
Spiritual fluctuations flowed from the violin and spread throughout the room, the elegant spell was cast as Ludwig played and he listened to the music himself, the servants and younger followers of the elders fell into a trance as the music swept them.
Ludwig moved with the movement of the violin, the wave of spiritual power was mixed slightly with his soul power and he felt how his spiritual sense seemed to have encompassed the whole room and have a much greater perception than before, he could also see the feelings of those around him better, their emotions swept slightly and although they hid it mostly, he was able to perceive some of the nonchalant elders and saw how they felt towards his play.
The play went for three whole minutes and not a single sound was made besides his own. When it stopped, all around everyone smiled. His performance was the best, there were better performers but his was unique because no one had ever heard this new instrument.
Applause or showing overly emotion was not common in the cultivation world, but the clan head nodded approvingly and said aloud "What a great play! Your instrument, the violin, is truly a masterpiece and has reached the level of Great Instrument!"
Shocks came from the sides; a Great Instrument was one approved by the cultivation world to be part of the best. The predecessor of the Violin had never reached that level, now that Ludwig reached it, it meant that at least in the world of music, he would be greatly honoured!