Chapter 572 - Curse
After waking up, Yuan quietly left the bedroom and went outside the immortal caves, but it was still completely dark outside. Clearly, he'd woken up earlier than usual.
He then walked to the small pavilion located right next to the immortal caves and took a seat underneath it.
"Just who am I…?" He mumbled in a low voice.
Although he has pondered about his purpose in life many times throughout his life, he has never once questioned his identity. However, ever since he started having these dreams, he found himself questioning his identity more and more often.
'Who are my parents? Why did they abandon me?'
'Am I really the reincarnation of a powerful cultivator? Or am I merely going crazy?'
Yuan sat underneath this pavilion for an unknown amount of time, silently pondering about his own identity and his reason for existing.
Eventually, the sun began rising.
Ding~
When the sun just peeked over the horizon, Yuan heard a beautiful and familiar-sounding noise coming from somewhere not too far away from him, causing him to snap out of his daze.
"This sound… Someone is playing the zither?" Yuan subconsciously stood up and began following the direction of the sound.
After walking for a few minutes, he arrived in a secluded area behind the immortal caves, where a young woman was sitting on top of a large boulder playing with a wooden zither on her lap, her eyes completely closed.
Ding~
Yuan didn't immediately approach this young woman, as he was afraid of disturbing her, so he stood there quietly, enjoying the young woman's zither performance that was incredibly skillful, comparable to even Fei Yuyan from the Dragon Essence Temple.
The song lasted for a little over five minutes, and once the young woman stopped her performance, she turned to face Yuan's direction, but her eyes remained close.
"Who's there?" She asked in a gentle and soothing voice.
"Sorry, did I disturb you? My name is Yuan."
"Yuan? I am not familiar with your name. Are you new here?"
"Yes, you can say that."
"Then how may I help you? You have been standing there for a while now."
"Your music brought me here. You're playing the zither, right? This is my first time seeing someone playing the zither, and I doubted my hearing at first, so I came here to confirm my suspicions."
"You are familiar with the sound of a zither? How unusual."
"Yes, somewhat. I also enjoy playing the zither, after all."
"Eh? You also play the zither?" The young woman expressed surprise after learning this information.
"Yes." Yuan nodded even though he only touched the zither in Cultivation Online.
"If that's true, why don't you play a song for me, Yuan?" The young woman suddenly offered her zither to him.
It was obvious that this young woman didn't believe Yuan when he said that he also played the zither. After all, the zither is known as a cursed instrument, and she has never met anyone else that would dare to play the zither besides herself.
"Sure."
Yuan approached the young woman and accepted the zither without caring about the curse.
He then took a seat on the soft ground and placed the zither on his lap in a calm and smooth manner.
After taking a deep breath, Yuan began pulling the strings on the zither, playing a song that he'd learned from Fei Yuyan.
"…"
The young woman remained silent throughout the whole song, but it was not because she wasn't impressed. Instead, she was shocked speechless by Yuan's flawless performance.
"What do you think?" Yuan asked the young woman after his performance.
After a moment of silence, she responded in a dazed voice, "W-Where did you learn how to play the zither?"
"I learned it from a friend in Cultivation Online," he answered.
"Cultivation Online…?" The young woman tilted her head, looking a little confused, almost like this was her first time hearing about Cultivation Online.
"You don't know about Cultivation Online? It's one of if not the most popular game in the world right now." Yuan said to her with a dumbfounded look on his face.
He didn't think that there would still be people in this world that hasn't heard of Cultivation Online.
"I'm sorry, but I usually spend most of my time alone practicing the zither, so I don't know much, and I don't play video games." She shook her head.
"Well… Cultivation Online is…"
Yuan proceeded to give this young woman a brief explanation of Cultivation Online and its unique world.
"Wow, it seems like a wonderful game. So there are many zither players in Cultivation Online?"
"I think so. There were a few thousand participants at a zither competition that I also participated in."
"A zither competition, huh? I would love to participate in something like that. After all, no matter how much I enjoy playing the zither or how much passion I have for the instrument, it does get boring when nobody around me dares to even touch the zither, much less play it."
The young woman sighed, and she continued in a bitter voice, "Sometimes it feels like I am the only person in this world playing the zither. However, I am glad that's not the case since you've proven to me that there are others out there that also play the zither. Thank you, Yuan, for coming here today."
"No, I should be thanking you for proving to me that the curse isn't real. I have been told that the zither is cursed in this world, and everyone that plays it will encounter misfortune, but that doesn't seem to be the case." Yuan said to her.
However, the young woman remained silent with a perplexed expression on her face.
After a moment of silence, she said, "About that…"
She pointed at her closed eyes and said, "I don't want to scare you, but I lost my vision shortly after I started playing the zither, and I was born with perfect vision."
"What…?" Yuan muttered in a dazed manner.