As she played the "Largo" of [Winter], the Ning siblings drowsiness gradually dissipated.

Listening to the music, their outside were shivering as imaginary cold gale blasted at them but it was warm inside. However, there was an indescribable emotion within the sound that made them tasted something like emptiness. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. Very unpleasant.

When Zhu Xiao Wan finished, she was not feeling too well with the result.

Former, they were falling asleep; now the latter, they were only shivering.

The siblings and the sleeping servants faintly returned to normal a few beats later. Knitted her eyebrows, Zhu Xiao Wan turned to a manservant who happened to pass by her. Without a music sheet, she started to play the Allegro assai[1] of the [Devil's Trill Sonata] by Giuseppe Tartini.

Unfortunate for him, Zhu Xiao Wan didn't want to play light pieces anymore since the outcomes were mild. With this piece, her playing was abnormally rough. Because of the irritation, she poured in a pretty dark emotion within her into her playing, unconsciously.

Zhu Xiao Wan's playing was emitting directly towards him, hence, the manservant was having a difficult time breathing. As the sound got louder, he began to feel slightly suffocated and tried to take a deep breath, but couldn't. Soon, he was completely unable to breathe and dropped onto his knees in horror.

Ning Rou Li watched the scene worriedly and wanted to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth when it opened. She couldn't speak.

The people around that were affected by the melody were also able to feel the suffocate air, but because it wasn't aimed at them, they were still fine. The music was somewhat...It carried the same loneliness it had in the precious piece, though it was very hard to notice it. Out of everyone there, Song Hui Yao was the only one who was able to perceive it.

Not caring for the manservant's suffering, Zhu Xiao Wan continued to glide her bow across the strings as though nothing had happened. As she was playing, she observed the man's face. Only when his countenance turned blue then ash white did she stopped.

Thankfully, she ceased to carry on; her abrupted stop saved his insignificant life. If she didn't cease her playing, he would have died because of asphyxia. The manservant wobblingly climbed up to his feet and ran away without uttering a sound in fear, afraid that Zhu Xiao Wan would not let him leave.

Song Hui Yao stood up and strode towards her, "Thank you for not removing my servant."

"..." Zhu Xiao Wan was silent for a second before she quietly said, "I forgot what was after that." Turning her head to the others and dropped a sentence before returning to practice.

His brows jerked and a corner of his lips twitched vaguely. Song Hui Yao's line of sight then went to the stand and landed on the music sheets. He was starting to understand what was in these sheets.

After fully regaining their senses, Ning Rou Li went and asked, "Xiao Wan, what is this instrument?"

Zhu Xiao Wan paused and said, "It's a violin."

"Where did you get it?" Ning Hai Heng asked.

"...I don't know." She really didn't know where contractual spirits were from and especially not the instrument ones.

After a while, she left the chrysanthemum garden for the grass plain; bringing the stand and music sheets with her within the cache mouthpiece.

Song Hui Yao was the only one that followed her, the others were training as well. Continued on her practice, Zhu Xiao Wan felt some changes in the violin. A few moments later, it shone with silver-ish light. She felt changes within herself, too.

The feeling was overwhelming and her head began to throb agonizingly. Her vision went black and she saw Lianzhou within the darkness. Lianzhou was radiating its crimson light, the menacing magnetic noise it made invaded her mind without stopping. She felt like her head would explode in a matter of seconds.

Not just the contractual spirit, the Unique Pneuma was changing, too. Its power seemed to be retrieving slightly, little by little. However, its power still didn't recover entirely.

When the process was over, her sight returned and found that the glass of the violin became clearer than before; albeit it was still not completely sparkle clear.

Then she heard Song Hui Yao's voice saying, "You made a breakthrough."

"A breakthrough...?" Zhu Xiao Wan stared at him as she questioned. It was unexpected, "So I am on the Second Stage now?"

Song Hui Yao nodded his head.