"Although it was only briefly, I have spoken to the young lady known as Fei Yuyan before. A really talented and respectful girl. I cannot imagine someone like that lying about such a thing. What about the person who can supposedly play the Soul Ensnaring Zither? Do you know anything about his background?" Senior Zou asked the two guards.
"No, Master Zou. That person was wearing a black jade mask so we couldn’t identify him. However, he was wearing the Dragon Essence Temple’s disciple uniform, so we can only assume that he’s a disciple there."
Senior Zou nodded after a moment of silence, and then he said to the two guards, "Bring the Soul Ensnaring Zither here. I’ll see for myself whether this mysterious individual can really play the zither once owned by the Zither Goddess!"
Meanwhile, at the Royal Blossom Hotel, Elder Shan said to the three female disciples, "We’ll see you all tomorrow morning."
The female disciples stood outside their own room with reluctant expressions on their faces, clearly unhappy about how the room had been split.
However, Elder Shan ignored them and said to Yuan, "Let’s go to our room."
After opening the door, Elder Shan grabbed Yuan’s hand and forcefully pulled him into the room.
"G-Grandpa! You must protect Yuan from Elder Shan!" Xuan Wuhan said to Elder Xuan with a serious and nervous look on her face.
A bittersweet smile appeared on Elder Xuan’s face as he said, "Don’t worry, Elder Shan won’t do anything to Disciple Yuan even if I’m not there. She’s always like this, but nothing really ever happens. That’s just Elder Shan for you."
"Even if you say that, I am not convinced! Just keep an eye on Yuan until tomorrow morning, grandpa!" Xuan Wuhan urged him.
"You don’t have to keep repeating it. Sect elders are not allowed to be in a relationship with the disciples, anyway. Therefore, you can rest assured and go to sleep." Elder Xuan said.
"If you say so..."
Xuan Wuhan and the other two girls went into their room sometime later whilst Elder Xuan entered his own room.
"Elder Shan is so shameless! How can she act so s.l.u.tty before a disciple if she doesn’t intend on doing anything?!" Xuan Wuhan complained out loud the moment their door closed shut.
"Although my Master has her own flaws, don’t you dare address her with such a vulgar word, Disciple Xuan!" Fei Yuyan immediately frowned, feeling an obligation to protect Elder Shan’s image as her disciple.
Min Li shook her head at them, and she proceeded to enter one of the two available beds to sleep, completely ignoring the other two while they continued to argue with each other.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Elder Shan said to Yuan, "You will be sleeping in the same bed with me tonight, Disciple Yuan."
Yuan looked at the alluring smile on Elder Shan’s face with raised eyebrows.
And then he said, "It’s fine, Senior Shan. You can keep the bed to yourself. I won’t be needing a bed, anyway."
"What? Then where are you going to sleep? The floor? We cannot have that." Elder Shan said.
"There’s a second bed in this room, you know?" Elder Xuan said to Elder Shan after shutting the door.
Yuan then said, "No, that’s not it. I will be logged off, so I don’t need any bed."
"Logged... off?" Elder Shan looked at Yuan with her slender eyebrows raised in a puzzled manner, as this is her first time hearing of such a term.
"Yes, that’s why you can keep the bed to yourself. Anyway, it’s time for dinner. I’ll be back in the morning. Goodnight, Seniors."
After saying that, Yuan logged off the game, disappearing from their sights.
"W-What the? Where did he go?" Elder Shan mumbled in a dazed voice.
Even Elder Xuan was baffled by Yuan’s sudden disappearance.
However, before they could think too much about the situation, like some kind of phenomenon, both Elder Xuan and Elder Shan suddenly stopped caring about the matter.
"I’m going to cultivate. If you even dare to try anything funny, I’ll make you regret it." Elder Shan said to Elder Xuan as she sat on the bed in the lotus position and closed her eyes.
Elder Xuan shook his head and said, "My wife may be dead but my loyalty for her remains unwavering. I would never do anything to betray her in heaven."
He then sat on the bed in the opposite direction and also closed his eyes to cultivate.
"..."
Elder Shan did not say anything and remained silent.
Meanwhile, after dinner was served, Yuan cleared his mind before he began to cultivate.
However, to his surprise, he was unable to clear his mind, as the sound of the Zither Goddess’s music lingered inside his head.
’Zither Goddess...’
For some reason, Yuan could feel his heart beating faster when he recalled Zither Goddess’s flawless appearance, who was, without doubt, one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen in his life with the mysterious beauty during his character evaluation being another flawless beauty.
However, even though the beauty during the character evaluation was very beautiful, Yuan didn’t feel any different after meeting her, unlike the Zither Goddess, who would cause his heart to flutter whenever the image of her face appears inside his mind.
’What... is this indescribable feeling?’ Yuan couldn’t help but feel a little worried, wondering if there was something wrong with his body, or even worse, his heart.
’I cannot cultivate while my mind is like this— I should get some sleep.’ Yuan sighed inwardly before giving up cultivation for the night.
Of course, it was still difficult for Yuan to fall asleep, as Zither Goddess’s beautiful face and gentle smile would remain in his head and refuse to leave for pretty much half of the night.
And even when Yuan managed to fall asleep after much difficulty, Zither Goddess would still show up in his dream to play the zither with him until he was woken up by Yu Rou for breakfast.