Once the guests were seated and he was prepared to play the zither, Yuan placed his fingers on the zither and began pulling the strings, causing them to tremble and send out musical notes that massaged one's brain and transported their mind to the heavens.
Xuan Wuhan and Min Li's jaw simultaneously dropped to the ground when they heard Yuan playing the zither for the first time, looking like they'd just witnessed their ancestors crawling from their graves, and it'd only taken them a few seconds to recognize Yuan's talents.
'This guy…! He's not only talented in cultivation but he's also talented with instruments? Is there anything he's not talented in?' Xuan Wuhan cried inwardly.
'What amazing music that he's producing… Not even the expert musicians in my family can play the zither as well as he does…' Min Li thought to herself.
The two ladies quickly indulged themselves in Yuan's music, as did the disciples near that area once they heard Yuan's music, even stopping their movements to close their eyes and enjoy the music.
"Who's playing the zither? I thought it was Fairy Fei at first but the Dragon Pavilion isn't even close to this place!"
One of the disciples wandering outside asked the other disciples.
"Who else besides Fairy Fei would have the ability to play the zither to such an extent in the sect? Furthermore, I heard from some disciples that they'd spotted Fairy Fei in the Outer Court yesterday. Maybe she's playing the zither somewhere in the Outer Court!"
"If that's the case, I want to watch her performance!"
"Me too! Let's try to locate her!"
Thus, the Outer Court disciples, with their interest piqued, decided to follow the sound of the zither. Once they'd arrived at the area that housed the most important and privileged disciples in the Outer Court, these Outer Court disciples stopped and didn't dare to traverse any further.
"It's coming from this area, but normal disciples aren't allowed in this area…"
"This place is where all of the top disciples live, right? I think it'd be fine as long as we do not disturb them. After all, there is no sect rule stating that we cannot enter this place."
"You don't know? There have been many incidents where ignorant disciples would enter this place only to get beaten by the disciples living here, as they treat this place as some sort of sacred sanctuary where only the privileged are allowed to traverse. If you don't mind getting beaten, you can go ahead and enter this place."
When the other disciples heard such a thing, they immediately tossed the idea of entering this place out of their minds. Although they wanted to watch Fairy Fei's zither performance, it wasn't worth risking offending someone in this place and possibly their life as well.
"If we cannot enter this place, why don't we all just stand here and listen to the music instead? We don't really need to watch Fairy Fei perform it since we don't normally do that anyway."
"Sounds reasonable… Okay, I am staying here."
Thus, the disciples there decided to gather outside the area and quickly crowded the place.
Sometime later, inside Yuan's house, Fei Yuyan rubbed her eyes in a tired manner.
'What time is it…?' She opened her eyes and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling with a dazed face.
"Oh no! It's already way past morning! I was supposed to practice with Disciple Yuan! It's all that darn Disciple Xuan's fault that I'd overslept!" Fei Yuyan cried out loud when she saw the slightly orange sky outside, and she quickly fixed her appearance before running outside her room.
However, the entire house was dead silent, almost like she lived in this house alone.
Fei Yuyan went to knock on Yuan's door, but alas, nobody answered no matter how much she knocked.
"Where did he go?" Fei Yuyan frowned, wondering where Yuan could've gone at this time.
"Maybe he went to get food?"
With this in mind, Fei Yuyan went to wash her face before leaving the house.
However, the moment she opened the door, she could hear a heavenly sound that could only be played by a zither.
"T-This is…?" Fei Yuyan immediately turned around to look behind the building before closing the door and approaching the backyard.
Once she opened the door to the backyard, Yuan's zither music immediately flowed into her ears and caused her body to tremble with delight.
Yuan noticed Fei Yuyan's presence, but it did not distract his performance and he continued to play the song until the end.
At the end of the song, Yuan turned to look at the dazed Fei Yuyan and said to her with a smile on his face, "Good morning, Disciple Fei— or should I say good afternoon?"
Xuan Wuhan and Min Li turned to look at Fei Yuyan once they noticed her presence.
"Hm? So you're finally awake, huh? Took you long enough. Yuan has been practicing the zither this entire time without any breaks. At this rate, you'll be a burden to him in the competition," Xuan Wuhan said to Fei Yuyan while shaking her head.
"..."
Fei Yuyan immediately trembled in anger and shouted at Xuan Wuhan, "Whose fault do you think it is that I overslept?! If you didn't wake me up in the middle of the night by knocking on the door like a rude ape, I would've woken up on time!"
"W-Who are you calling an ape?! There are things you cannot say to a fellow sister no matter how angry you are!" Xuan Wuhan exclaimed.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear anything from you!" Fei Yuyan said.
"Calm down, there's no need to yell at each other." Yuan said to them with a slightly startled look on his face, and he continued while looking at Fei Yuyan, "There is still plenty of time until the day's over so it's not like you've wasted an entire day."
Fei Yuyan nodded and said in a casual voice, "I don't have the time to argue with an ape. I'm going to practice now."
"T-This bitc…" Xuan Wuhan gritted her teeth. While she wanted to yell at Fei Yuyan, she didn't want to disturb their practice, so she forcefully swallowed her anger and pretended like she never heard Fei Yuyan's insults.
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