Ting~ Ting~ Ting~
This unknown beauty continued to play the zither despite Yuan’s sudden appearance, and Yuan stood there silently to listen to her music, feeling as though every music note was pulling his heartstrings alongside something he couldn’t really pinpoint— his soul.
After an unknown amount of time has passed, the beauty finally stopped playing the music before placing her hands on her lap and turning to look at Yuan with her beautiful eyes that resembled jewels.
"What do you think of my music?" she suddenly asked him, her clear voice sounding as beautiful as the zither music if not even more pleasant sounding.
Yuan snapped out of his daze after hearing her words, and he quickly uttered in a dazed voice, "It... It’s wonderful... I have never heard of anything like your music before, nor could I have imagined that music would be able to reach such a level."
If someone like this beauty had existed in his world, it would’ve definitely made his professional life more exciting, and the musical world would’ve also been much more lively.
The beauty smiled at his words, and then she spoke, "Do you know why you’re here?"
Yuan quickly shook his head.
"Because you have the potential to play music at the same level as me if not even better," she said.
"The Soul Ensnaring Zither... I have treated this instrument as though it was my own baby ever since I received it as a birthday present from my parents who’d unfortunately passed away shortly later."
"Then you’re... You’re the Zither Goddess?" Yuan asked her with slightly wide eyes.
"The Zither Goddess, huh? I guess you can call me that since that’s what everybody addresses me as— not that I’d asked for such a nickname."
"If you don’t mind me asking, why did you decide to leave behind the Soul Ensnaring Zither? I don’t know how long it has been since you left the Lower Heavens but I could still clearly sense a lonely feeling from the zither when I saw it." Yuan couldn’t help but ask.
"It’s important to you, right? Why would you leave something so precious and with so much memory behind?"
The Zither Goddess turned to look at the black zither in silence before speaking a moment later, "Because I wanted to quit playing the zither."
"Eh? Quit the zither? Why?" Yuan looked at her with wide eyes filled with surprise, as he didn’t expect such an answer from her.
However, the Zither Goddess did not respond to his question. Instead, she asked him, "Do you want to play this zither?"
"I... I do... But no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t get the sound out properly," he said.
Hearing his words, the Zither Goddess moved slightly to the side and said, "Come, sit here. I’ll teach you how to play this zither."
"R-Really?" Yuan did not hesitate and quickly went to sit beside her.
The Zither Goddess chuckled in a graceful manner before saying, "The Soul Ensnaring Zither is a unique instrument that can only be played with the proper technique, and I will teach you this technique right now."
"Go ahead— try to play it."
Yuan nodded and began playing the zither shortly later.
Tong...
However, the zither still played muffled noises.
"Don’t mind it and continue playing it." The Zither Goddess said to him.
Yuan nodded and focused on playing the zither despite showing no signs of progress.
Sometime later, the Zither Goddess suddenly moved, and to Yuan’s surprise, she’d placed her fair hands onto his hand without disturbing his movements, almost like their hands had become one, and she began guiding them as though they were her own hands.
A few minutes later, the muffled sound coming from the zither suddenly changed.
Ting...
Although it wasn’t as crisp and heavenly-sounding as the sound produced by the Zither Goddess, Yuan had still managed to play a clear sound with the zither!
"You’re a quick learner." The Zither Goddess suddenly said to him.
"B-But you’re the one controlling my hands..." Yuan said with an awkward smile on his face.
"That’s what it may look like from your perspective, but this is actually all your own doing. I am merely teaching you the technique, and you’re the one that’s learning and comprehending it."
Yuan nodded and continued to concentrate on playing the zither.
In just a few more minutes of practice, Yuan had managed to not only capture the essence of the technique but also incorporate his own techniques into it, creating a whole new technique out of it.
This greatly shocked the Zither Goddess, who did not expect him to learn the zither art so quickly, much less create his own technique off of it!
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’This young man is a true music prodigy... If only I had met him while I was still in the Lower Heavens...’ she sighed inwardly, feeling profound regret that she couldn’t have a rival like Yuan in her era.
Meanwhile, outside Yuan’s mind, Fei Yuyan stared at Yuan with her eyes as wide as saucers.
’H-He’s playing the zither! He’s actually playing the zither!!!’ Fei Yuyan cried inwardly as Yuan unconsciously played the zither exactly the same way he was inside his mind, producing heavenly sounds that resembled the Zither Goddess’s music.
’How did he do it?! I can’t believe it! I want to ask him but I don’t dare to disturb him!’ Fei Yuyan continued to cry inside her mind, feeling as though her soul was being pulled out of her body by Yuan’s heavenly performance.
Sometime later, Yuan suddenly stopped playing the zither, and he turned to look at the heavenly beauty sitting right beside him before asking, "What is the name of this zither art?"
A weird smile appeared on the Zither Goddess’s face, and she responded, "My zither art has no name, and since you’ve made it your own unique technique, you can name it yourself."
After taking a moment to think, Yuan then said with a handsome smile on his face, "Since I learned it from you, I shall call it the Zither Goddess’s Ethereal Arts."