Online Cultivation
episode 196

“Murid Fei, Disciple Xuan! Wake up!" Elder Shan walked into the room while shouting their names, shocking them to wake up.

“M-Master? What are you doing in our room?” Fei Yuyan asked him with a sleepy face, clearly still half asleep.

“It's morning! Aren't you going to meet Master Zou today?” Elder Shan reminded him.

Fei Yuyan's eyes widened when she saw Yuan standing by the door, and she woke up almost instantly, “I'm sorry! I overslept!"

Fei Yuyan quickly got off the bed with a reddened face, feeling embarrassed looking messy by Yuan.

Xuan Wuhan also got out of bed and quickly improved his appearance.

Some time later, Elder Shan asked them, "Are you ready?"

"Yes .." Fei Yuyan nodded.

After the women improved their appearance and washed their faces, they started walking towards the Zou Family home which took almost two hours on foot.

As they approached the Zou Family, Yuan could hear many people playing the zither, sounding somewhat in tune with each other.

"The Zou family has a zither lesson for those who want to play the zither," Fei Yuyan told Yuan after realizing that her interest was piqued.

"Let's go inside."

Moments later, they arrived at the gate, where a young guard stood.

“We are here to see Senior Zou. We already told him before that we will appear today, ” Fei Yuyan said to the guard, who was instantly stunned by her beauty.

"WW-What's your name?" The guard asked her in a nervous voice.

"Fei Yuyan."

“A-I'll be back soon!”

The guard turned around and ran away, acting like a shy kid who ran away from his crush.

A few minutes later, the guard returned with a white-robed old man.

"Greetings, Senior Zou." Fei Yuyan clasped her hands and bowed to her respectfully.

"It's been a long time, Disciple Fei." Senior Zou nodded his head at him.

He then turned to look at the two elders standing behind him and bowed to them, "Welcome to the Zou Family, fellow Daoists."

"Thank you for seeing us even though you yourself are a busy person, Mr. Zou."

Elder Xuan and Elder Shan returned the bow with their own bows.

"of course. I will not miss this opportunity for the world.” Senior Zou said with a smile on his face before he turned to look at Yuan, who was still wearing his black jade mask.

“So you can definitely play my Soul Ensnaring Zither, huh? May I know your name?” Senior Zou asked him.

"You can call me Yuan" he replied.

“Sitar Serves Souls? Why does this name sound so familiar?” Elder Xuan asked Elder Shan.

"The Soul-Traping Zither. If I'm right, it used to belong to the Lyre Goddess before she ascended from Lower Heaven, and it's also known as ‘alat damned’ because no one has been able to play it since he left it." Elder Shan explained to him.

“So And we're here today because Disciple Yuan seems to be able to play it?” elder Xuan muttered.

"Why am I not surprised?" Elder Shan said with a smile on his face.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the peaceful courtyard behind this main building.

"It's the Soul-Snaring Zither" Senior Zou said as he pointed towards the beautiful black zither sitting on the round jade table in the courtyard.

“This instrument has been with my family since Dewi Sitar left her 25,000 years ago, and has been waiting for a new owner ever since.”

He then turned to look at Yuan and continued with a serious expression on his face, "Young man .. can you really play the Soul Ensnaring Zither?"

Yuan nodded with a serious face.

Senior Zou did not say anything more and took a step to the side, giving Yuan a clear path to the zither with a clear indication.

Seeing this, Yuan walked up to the round jade table and sat down in front of the Soul-Snaring Zither.

Although it had been less than a day since the last time he saw the instrument, it felt much longer for Yuan.

After taking a deep breath, Yuan placed his fingers on the zither and closed his eyes, recalling the song played by the Kecapi Goddess.

Ting~

The strings on the Soul Ensnaring Zither trembled, emitting a heavenly sound that instantly caused Senior Zou's eyes to widen in shock.

‘B-He really plays sitar!’ Senior Zou stared at Yuan's fingers and looked at his flawless hand movements with a gawking expression.

Very quickly, Senior Zou as well as everyone who was there became fascinated by the appearance of the Yuan zither.

‘Surga... It has only been a few days since I last heard his zither music and it has improved by leaps and bounds” to the point where I can't even compare it to his performance a few days ago!’ Elder Shan cried inwardly.

‘This is ... zitar art Disciple Yuan? Is there something she can't do perfectly?’ Elder Xuan sighed inwardly.

‘Murid Yuan ..’ Fei Yuyan looked at Yuan with a confused expression on her face. Although the black jade mask covered Yuan's face, he could still see Yuan's handsome face, and the longer he stared at her, the hotter his face became.

A few minutes later, Yuan stopped playing the zither, and he turned to look at the confused Senior Zou.

"What do you think?" Yuan decided to ask.

“Do I need to answer that question?” A bitter smile appeared on Senior Zou's face.

Despite having over 100 years of experience with the zither, he still felt inferior in front of Yuan who looked like a very young man. If he knew that Yuan had only been playing zither for about a week, perhaps he would even vomit blood now from shock.

A short while later, Senior Zou suddenly lowered his head and said to Yuan in a sincere voice, “Thank you for allowing me to experience the Zither Soul-Snaring brilliance, because I'm sure that I'll never be able to watch someone play it right” at least not in this lifetime.”