Online Cultivation
episode 177

“By the way, since I missed half of the practice today, let's do something different. I had planned to do something similar to our practice yesterday, but unfortunately .. "Fei Yuyan sighed.

And he continued, “Do you remember what I said about the final part of the last competition — where you had to follow the judges and play their songs with them? This is what we're going to do today. I'll play a song and you'll play with me.”

Yuan nodded, and he asked afterwards, "Are we going to play a new song?"

"of course. The jury will create a new song just for the competition so that no one other than themselves knows the song beforehand, because it will give an unfair advantage to the participants and we do not want it.”

“By the way, I will play the song once, and you have 10 minutes to prepare.” Fei Yuyan suddenly stopped, and she said in an awkward voice a moment later, “But you already did that even for yesterday's practice. …”

“Ah... What should we do now? I'll ask you to use a new song so I can follow you, but do you know a new song? Fei Yuyan asked Yuan, because he was the one who taught her new songs all along.

"Hmmm ..." Yuan pondered for a moment before nodding, "I think I can do it."

“Eh? Really true? You know a song that even I don't know?” Fei Yuyan looked at him with a gawking expression, as she really did not expect that from him.

Yuan nodded and said, “I know some songs from my hometown. Although I have never played it on the sitar, this is not the first time I have played the same song on different instruments.”

"That's cool! Let's listen to one of them!” Fei Yuyan said with a piqued interest, secretly wondering to herself what kind of music Yuan had prepared for her.

"Give me time. It's been a long time since I've played those songs." Yuan closed his eyes and went on to recall some of the songs he had played in the real world when he was still active as a musician.

A few minutes later, with his eyes still closed, Yuan put his finger back on the zither and started playing the song from his memory.

“I-This... What kind of music is this?” Fei Yuyan's jaw fell to the ground when she heard this song that she had never heard before, almost like in another world.

Although it is natural that songs do not sound similar to each other, they mostly follow the same theme or feeling, but the songs played by Yuan today do not follow those rules and sound unfamiliar.

As for Xuan Wuhan and Min Li, while they didn't know much about music, they instantly knew how unique this song sounded purely from the atmosphere it created.

Damn, even the disciples gathered outside the area were stunned by such a drastic change in music, feeling like they were suddenly thrown into another world.

A few minutes later, Yuan stopped his movements and turned to look at Fei Yuyan.

"What do you think?" he asked her.

"Uhh .." Fei Yuyan looked at him with a speechless gaze, clearly shocked by the unfamiliar music.

"Huh? Whatchu mean? Why am I teasing you?” Yuan looked at him with wide-eyed eyes, as he did not expect such a response from him.

“The song you just played objectively is very difficult, because it has many unique tones, and the speed you play at is also very fast! There is no way I can play something profound after hearing it once! Even the song created by the judges for the previous competition was nothing like this!” Fei Yuyan explained to Yuan her frustration.

“B-really? It didn't feel like it to me .." Yuan pondered, and he continued a moment later, "OK, right, I will try to play something that has a less unique tone and with a slower pace in general."

After taking a deep breath, Yuan started playing another song that came from his world.

"Oh?"

Fei Yuyan raised her eyebrows after listening to this song. Although it still sounded unfamiliar and otherworldly, it was not as chaotic and fast as the previous song, allowing his mind to follow it properly.

A while later, after Yuan finished his song, Fei Yuyan said to him, "OK, give me ten minutes."

Yuan nodded and patiently waited for Fei Yuyan to prepare herself.

After Fei Yuyan was ready, she looked at Yuan and nodded her head while her fingers were already on the zither.

"Three two one…"

Ting~

Yuan and Fei Yuyan started to play the zither simultaneously, and Fei Yuyan tried her best to follow Yuan's steps, but unfortunately, she did, even someone inexperienced with music like Xuan Wuhan and Min Li could find out that Fei Yuyan was left behind and made a mistake.

In the middle of the song, Fei Yuyan suddenly stopped moving her fingers and looked at the zither with a slightly reddened face, embarrassed that she could not play any further.

‘Sial! I was the one who should have taught him, not the other way around! When will our role change?! And his appearance was too perfect! I could barely play the song because the music always distracted me, tempting me to stop playing to fully focus on listening to the beautiful music! However, if I don't listen to his music, I won't be able to keep up! If this continues, I will truly be a burden in the competition!’

As soon as Fei Yuyan stopped playing the zither, Yuan also stopped before asking her, "Do you want to start over?"

After a moment of silence, Fei Yuyan nodded shyly.

Xuan Wuhan chuckled as he looked at this, "So much for the number one zither expert in the sect, Fairy Fei …"

Fei Yuyan's brows twitched after hearing Xuan Wuhan's words, but she ignored him and pretended not to hear him and prepared to play the zither again.