"Anyway, since I’ve missed half of today’s practice, let’s do something different. I had planned on doing something similar to our practice yesterday, but alas..." Fei Yuyan sighed.
And she continued, "Do you remember what I said about last competition’s final part— where you must follow the judge and play their song alongside them? This is what we’re going to be doing today. I will play a song and you’ll play alongside me."
Yuan nodded, and he asked afterward, "Are we going to play a new song?"
"Of course. The judges will create a new song just for the competition so nobody besides themselves would know the song beforehand, as that would give the participants an unfair advantage and we don’t want that."
"Anyway, I will play the song once, and you’ll have 10 minutes to prepare..." Fei Yuyan suddenly paused, and she said in an awkward voice a moment later, "But you’ve already been doing that even for yesterday’s practice..."
"Ah... What should we do now? I was going to ask you to use new songs so I can follow you but do you even know any new songs?" Fei Yuyan asked Yuan, as she has been the one teaching him new songs this entire time.
"Hmmm..." Yuan pondered for a moment before nodding, "I think I can do that."
"Eh? Really? You know songs that even I don’t know?" Fei Yuyan stared at him with a gawking look on her face, as she truly didn’t expect that from him.
Yuan nodded and said, "I know a few songs from my hometown. Although I’ve never played them on the zither, it’s not my first time playing the same song on different instruments."
"That’s great! Let’s hear one of them!" Fei Yuyan said with her interest piqued, silently wondering to herself what kind of music Yuan had prepared for her.
"Give me a moment... It’s been a while since I’ve played those songs." Yuan closed his eyes and proceeded to recall some of the songs that he’d played in the real world when he was still active as a musician.
A few minutes later, with his eyes still closed, Yuan placed his fingers back on the zither and began playing the song from his memories.
"T-This... What kind of music is this?" Fei Yuyan’s jaw dropped to the ground when she heard this song that was like nothing she has ever heard of before, almost like it was otherworldly.
While it’s only normal for songs to not sound similar to each other, they mostly followed a similar theme or feeling, yet the song played by Yuan right now did not follow such rule and sounded oddly foreign.
As for Xuan Wuhan and Min Li, while they don’t know much about music, they knew instantly how unique this song sounded purely from the atmosphere it created.
Hell, even the disciples gathered outside the area were dumbfounded by such a drastic change in music, feeling like they’d suddenly been tossed 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 stared at him with a speechless look, clearly taken aback by the unfamiliar music.
"I-It sounds great... But... How am I supposed to play that kind of song? Are you teasing me right now?" Fei Yuyan said to him.
"Huh? What do you mean? Why would I be teasing you?" Yuan looked at her with wide eyes, as he didn’t expect such a response from her.
"That song you just played is objectively extremely difficult, as it has many unique notes, and the speed you played it is also incredibly fast! There’s no way I can play something that profound after hearing it once! Even the song created by the judges for the previous competition wasn’t anything like this!" Fei Yuyan explained to Yuan her frustration.
"R-Really? It didn’t feel like that for me..." Yuan pondered, and he continued a moment later, "Okay, I will try to play something that has less unique notes and with a slower pace in general."
After taking a deep breath, Yuan began playing another song that was from his world.
"Oh?"
Fei Yuyan raised her eyebrows after listening to this song. Although it still sounds foreign and otherworldly, it wasn’t as chaotic and fast-paced as the previous song, allowing her mind to follow it properly.
Sometime later, after Yuan finished the song, Fei Yuyan said to him, "Okay, give me ten minutes."
Yuan nodded and patiently waited for Fei Yuyan to prepare herself.
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Once 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 began playing the zither simultaneously, and Fei Yuyan tried her best to follow Yuan’s pace, but alas, even someone inexperienced with music like Xuan Wuhan and Min Li could tell that Fei Yuyan was falling behind and making mistakes.
Halfway into the song, Fei Yuyan suddenly stopped moving her fingers and stared at the zither with a slightly flushed face, embarrassed that she was unable to play any further.
’Damn it! I am the one that’s supposed to be teaching him, not the other way around! When did our roles change?! And his performance is simply too flawless! I am barely able to play the song because his music would always distract me, tempting me to stop playing to fully focus on listening to his beautiful music! However, if I don’t listen to his music, I won’t be able to follow along! At this rate, I’ll really be a burden in the competition!’
Once Fei Yuyan stopped playing the zither, Yuan also stopped before asking her, "Do you want to start again from the beginning?"
After a moment of silence, Fei Yuyan nodded in a bashful manner.
Xuan Wuhan chuckled when she saw this, "So much for the number one zither expert in the sect, Fairy Fei..."
Fei Yuyan’s eyebrows twitched after hearing Xuan Wuhan’s words, but she ignored it and pretended like she didn’t hear it and prepared to play the zither again.
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