"Maybe in the future when I have someone who is capable of replacing me as Sect Master, I will challenge the Stairway to Heaven again."
"Anyways, for the Stairway to Heaven, when I challenged it, I had to do 4 trials."
"For the first trial, I had to fight a stampede of magical beasts that was two levels above my cultivation."
"For the second trial, I had to traverse a thousand miles while being burdened by a powerful pressure and magical beasts."
"For the third trial, I had to confront my heart demon."
"And for the final trial, I had to fight another magical beast, but this time, it was five whole levels above my cultivation."
"Although the trials are random for everyone, many people have received the same trial before, so there's a good chance that you'll experience some of the same trials I went through."
"I see… This information will definitely be helpful to me. Thank you, Senior Song. If there's anything I can do in return, don't hesitate to ask." Yuan said to her.
"I do have one request for you. Can you do a performance before the disciples for me? I want to broaden their views. Most of them think I am the number one zither expert under heaven, but that is far from the truth, as there are plenty more skillful zither experts in the upper heavens."
"Okay. I don't mind if it's just a performance. When do you want me to do it?"
"I will need some time to prepare for it. Can you give me four— No, three days? You can even stay here as an esteemed guest if you'd like."
"Sure." Yuan nodded.
After all, he doesn't know where Xiao Hua and the others were or when they'll return, and there was no way that he'd leave them behind to challenge the Stairway to Heaven. Furthermore, he still has to return to the Dragon Essence Temple to pick Min Li up as he'd promised.
Sometime later, Senior Song led Yuan to his living quarters where he'll be spending the next three days.
"My house is this one, so if you need anything, just knock on my door. Though I usually spend most of my time at the Sect Master's headquarters, so you can find me there if I am not home."
"You are also free to wander the sect, but there are some restricted areas that can only be accessed by certain individuals."
"Do you have a place where I can learn new songs?" Yuan then asked.
"Of course. Just go to the Music Pagoda. You'll find thousands of songs there."
"Thank you."
"Also, take this with you. This is proof that you're a guest at our sect. If you're caught without it, you might be misunderstood like what happened earlier, so make sure you have it with you at all times when you leave your living quarters." Song Ling'er handed him a medallion before returning to the Sect Master's headquarters.
Once she left, Yuan looked around his living quarters before making his way to the Melody Pavilion that Song Ling'er had mentioned.
"Excuse me, do you know the way to Music Pagoda?" Yuan asked the first disciple he encountered.
And since he was living beside Song Ling'er's living quarters, it was only natural that he was located in the center of the sect with the elites.
"Who are you? I don't recognize your face. You new here?" The young man asked Yuan.
"No, I am just here as a guest," he said.
'A guest that can enter the inner courts of the sect? Just who is this guy?' The young man wondered to himself.
"The Music Pagoda is at the Outer Court. You can get there by following that path over there. As for the place itself, it's an eleven-story building. You won't miss it."
"Thank you for the information," Yuan said to him before following the path.
Sometime later, Yuan arrived at the Outer Court, where disciples could be seen walking around with all kinds of instruments in their grasp.
The most common instrument appeared to be the zither, which was expected since their Sect Master is a zither expert, but it wasn't to the point where it overwhelmed the other instruments.
There was a good variety of instruments, and Yuan began thinking of trying all of them before leaving.
Eventually, he arrived at the Music Pagoda, which was crowded with disciples.
After looking around the place, Yuan decided to enter the building, and to his surprise, it was much more spacious than he'd anticipated.
He approached one of the hundreds of shelves there and picked up a random scroll to read the contents.
It was a music sheet for the flute.
He picked up another from the same shelf, and it was also for the flute.
It was at this moment that Yuan noticed the tag at the side of the shelf that read 'Flute'.
Yuan then walked around until he found the zither tag.
Once he did, he began looking through the music sheets one by one until he read everything on the shelf.
When the disciples around him saw this, they thought that he was looking for the perfect song, but little did they know he was actually memorizing the songs so that he could try them all out later.
"There are eleven floors in this building and the first floor is already filled with hundreds of songs. It'll probably take months if I want to learn every song in this place…" Yuan mumbled to himself as he looked for the next shelf of zither music.
Meanwhile, Song Ling'er was preparing for Yuan's concert in three days.
"You want to gather all of the disciples three days from now? What is the special occasion?" One of the sect elders asked her after receiving this sudden order.
"There will be a performance on that day. I believe that it will greatly benefit the disciples, perhaps even change their lives once they witness the performance," she said.
"A performance? By whom?"
"An expert that's even better than me," she casually responded, leaving them speechless.