After returning to her own place, Elder Shan asked Disciple Fei, "What are you going to do now?"
"I am going to prepare myself for the competition and practice my zither arts with Disciple Yuan until then. If what he said is true— that he has never played the zither before until very recently, I believe that his skills will reach an unbelievably high level within a week before the tournament."
"W-Wait a second... Did you just say Disciple Yuan has only recently started playing the zither?" Elder Shan looked at her with wide eyes.
Disciple Fei nodded and said, "I know it’s really hard to believe such words, but I don’t see a reason for him to lie, and he doesn’t seem to be the kind of person to lie about such things."
"Hard to believe? Haha! That’s hardly true!" Elder Shan suddenly began laughing, dumbfounding her.
And she continued a moment later, "With his comprehension skills, it would be more shocking if he doesn’t learn so quickly!"
"I-Is that so?" Disciple Fei mumbled in a slightly dazed word.
"Anyway, you can leave now and prepare for the competition. I’m already being overworked by the Sect Master because of the Mystic Realm. If I don’t finish this work before your competition starts, things will get even more complicated for me!" Elder Shan sighed.
"Then I won’t bother you any longer. Thank you, Master, for your time." Disciple Fei bowed to Elder Shan before leaving the place and returning to her own home to prepare.
Elder Shan shook her head with a bittersweet smile before returning to her own work.
Meanwhile, after returning to his own home, Yuan logged off the game and proceeded to cultivate in the real world until Yu Rou returned from school.
"Brother! I have some big news!" Yu Rou came into his room shouting.
"What’s the matter?" Yuan asked.
"I just saw this from the forums as I was coming home, but there’s going to be some sort of large competition that’ll be happening in the Eastern Continent sometime next week, and it’s related to playing the zither! Rumors have it that you can obtain a Divine-rank technique if you achieve first place!" Yu Rou said to him.
"Oh, that zither competition? I know about it since I will be participating in it." Yuan responded in a calm manner.
"WHAT?!"
Yu Rou nearly tripped on herself after hearing Yuan’s unexpected words.
"Y-You’re going to participate in a music competition again?!" Yu Rou exclaimed afterward, her gaze on Yuan filled with shock and excitement.
"It’s only a competition inside the game, and I doubt I will be able to achieve any good results since I have only learned about the zither only very recently," Yuan said.
"You’re underestimating yourself, brother! Did you forget who you are? The number one musical prodigy who has mastered dozens of instruments from around the world before the age of seven! One week is more than enough for you to completely master the zither!" Yu Rou said.
"If I recall correctly, you’d even mastered the piano in less than 3 days!"
"Genius, huh? I don’t really like to associate myself with that word, but that’s probably because I have been called such a word countless times that I am tired of hearing it," Yuan sighed.
"There’s nothing you can really do about it, brother. What do you expect to do? Call you the opposite of what you are? If you’re a genius, people will naturally call you one." Yu Rou said.
And she continued, "The only other way is to not let people know that you are a genius, but brother, that’s easier said than done. How does one even hide their talents? Especially someone like you... Even an ignorant person would be able to tell that you are a genius just by your performance at something."
"Anyway, you’ll be participating in this zither competition, right? Although you can’t see my face right now, I am actually really bitter that I won’t be able to witness your brilliance in the competition, brother." Yu Rou sighed.
"Don’t worry, there will always be another chance," Yuan said.
"I hope so..."
Sometime later, after dinner, Yu Rou left Yuan’s room, but she didn’t immediately return to her own room like usual and instead took a detour to a large shed behind the main house with Meixiu follow behind her.
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"Young Lady, this place is..." Meixiu looked at this shed with a perplexed look on her face. Why did Yu Rou suddenly decide to come to this place? It has been many years since they visited this seemingly abandoned shed.
"Do you have the key for the lock?" Yu Rou asked her.
"Yes. Here is the key, Young Lady." Meixiu handed her a somewhat rusty key the next moment.
A few seconds later, Yu Rou unlocked the heavy lock that kept the doors closed for many years before walking inside and flipping a switch.
After a few flickers, the light turned on, revealing the inside of the shed that had many shelves and display cases placed inside, and sitting on these display cases were golden trophies of all sizes and shapes that were won from small contests to major competitions with all of them related to music.
"No matter how many times I come here and look at these trophies, this breathtaking scenery always leaves me speechless," Yu Rou mumbled in a low voice as she approached these display cases and looked at the golden trophies.
[Awarded to Yu Tian for taking 1st place in the 23rd National Piano Competition]
[Awarded to Yu Tian for his breathtaking performance during ’Battle of Talents’]
[Awarded to Yu Tian for ranking 1st place in the Rising Stars Grand Prix]
Over three hundred of such trophies filled the shelves and display cases inside the large shed, turning it into some sort of trophy museum. One can only imagine how long it’d take to collect all of these trophies even for a group of geniuses, let alone a single prodigy— Yu Tian— whose name occupied every single golden trophy in this room without a single one of them ranking below 1st place!