'T-This guy! Why is he so good with the zither?!' Fei Yuyan cried inwardly after their practice session ended.
'We played over a hundred songs and I'd made mistakes for a third of them, but alas, this guy! This guy managed to not only repeat my songs after hearing it once, but he'd even done so flawlessly without any mistakes! How the heck is that even possible?!'
One normally wouldn't be able to pinpoint mistakes in something they're not familiar with, so it was only normal to assume that Yuan wouldn't be able to pick out her mistakes when he has never heard of the song before. However, that was not the case, and to Fei Yuyan's surprise, Yuan had managed to do just that!
"It's been years since I've last played an instrument for such a long time without many breaks. It's really refreshing," Yuan said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with a satisfied look on his face.
"You have played before?" Fei Yuyan looked at him with wide eyes, and she continued, "I thought you were new to the zither."
Yuan nodded and said, "Indeed, I am new to the zither. The first time I heard of the zither was at the Dragon Pavilion almost a week ago, much less touch one. However, I am not new to music since I used to play it professionally. As for the instruments… they're mostly nothing like the zither."
"What do you mean by playing it 'professionally'?" Fei Yuyan asked with her eyebrows lifted in a puzzled manner, as the concept of 'professional' musicians was not a thing in this cultivation world.
"It's when I play a certain instrument on a stage before tens of thousands of people, sometimes even millions," Yuan briefly explained.
"How is that any different from what we are about to do in the competition? After all, there will surely be hundreds of thousands of people watching you." Fei Yuyan asked.
Yuan shook his head and said, "The only difference is that it's not a competition. There's only you and the audience, and it's almost a routine, as we travel around the world."
"What? Travel around the world to play music for people? I don't understand what you'd get from that besides reputation because it sounds like a waste of time for me." Fei Yuyan shrugged.
Traveling around the world sounded very time-consuming, and as Cultivators, it sounded like a pain to travel around the world to play music for others, even if she loved the zither.
"Where I am from, it's nowhere as vast as the cultivation world so traveling around the world is not as crazy as it sounds."
"Where are you from, anyway?" Fei Yuyan noticed this chance to ask him about his background and directly went for it without any hesitation.
"I am from a faraway land called Earth…" Yuan said with a nonchalant look on his face.
'Earth? Never heard of such a place…' Fei Yuyan wondered to herself what kind of place was this and if it existed in the Lower Heavens or somewhere in the upper heavens.
"What about your family?" she asked him a moment later.
"My family? They're just regular people and musicians," Yuan said.
"M-Musicians? So you come from a family line of musicians?" Fei Yuyan mumbled in a dazed voice. It's no wonder he was so talented with the zither, as it appears that he was from a family who specializes in music!
Of course, Fei Yuyan had no clue that Yuan's parents were only ordinary mortals and that they've never cultivated before. If she'd known this, she would've definitely reacted a lot more differently.
After talking to Yuan some more, Fei Yuyan stood up and said, "Where's the bathroom? I am going to take a shower."
"Uh… It's over there…" Yuan pointed to a certain room in the building without thinking too much about her words.
Fei Yuyan nodded and said, "I will be right back."
Yuan nodded and said, "Then I will continue practicing the zither for a little bit longer."
Thus, Fei Yuyan went to the bathroom to clean the sweat she'd accumulated whilst Yuan played the zither, making Fei Yuyan spend more time in the bathroom than she'd anticipated because she accidentally absorbed herself in Yuan's performance.
'Third place is definitely achievable if I have someone like him as my partner!' Fei Yuyan tightly grasped her hands into fists with motivation and excitement on her face.
Sometime later, Fei Yuyan returned to the living room with a fresh appearance, looking like a fairy more than ever.
"You can use the bathroom now," she said to Yuan.
Yuan nodded, but he didn't immediately leave, as he waited until he finished the song before he stood up and walked to the bathroom.
Fei Yuyan looked at the zither that Yuan had been using for practice, and to her surprise, the ordinary zither was emitting a joyful aura, almost like it was satisfied by Yuan's performance!
'This is… I have only heard of Zither Masters being able to achieve such a thing— giving auras to the instruments they play, yet he…' Fei Yuyan stared at the zither with a shocked face.
Sometime later, once Yuan also returned with a fresh appearance, Fei Yuyan suddenly asked him, "Do you have an empty room?"
"An empty room? There are plenty in this large house, but why do you ask?" Yuan raised his eyebrows.
"In order to practice efficiently, I have decided to live here until the competition, so that is what I shall be doing. You don't mind, right?" Fei Yuyan said with a slightly nervous look on her face, clearly aware of the risks behind her decision.
"Uhh…" Yuan was speechless. She wanted to live in the same house as him? Although he didn't mind it, would they be breaking any sect rules by doing such a thing?
"Give me a moment… I want to make sure that we're not breaking any sect rules by doing this" Yuan said as he closed his eyes to recall the rulebook.
"S-Sect rules?" Fei Yuyan stared at him with a gawking look on her face, clearly in disbelief.