Lin Songmei’s mind was blank.

Was... was this... was this karmic retribution? Was she getting kicked out of the sect?

Having listened to Liu Xueli’s explanation, Songmei felt like a snail that just had its shell stolen, she lost her home and got robbed!

What Xueli had explained to her and Yan Mingqing was that they’d be going on a journey outside the sect. They’d still have to read through the class materials, but they’d register with the Cultivator’s Association so that they could take missions through the assignment hall’s online database.

This database was shared between all the sects, allowing for a cultivator to choose missions based on their cultivation base and area.

Although the schooling part wasn’t the critical aspect, it wasn’t as if they were going to be tested once they returned, Songmei and Mingqing were still expected to read along and have a decent amount of knowledge when they returned. Enough to make catching up not impossible.

“The true way to temper yourself is through journeys, experiences, and hardships. None of which you’ll get enough of here.” Xueli explained with a gentle smile, “Don't be too sad, okay? We’ll be able to call and stay in contact, of course. I’ll be here to give you advice whenever you two need it.”

“When will we be setting off?” Mingqing asked, her voice quivering a touch, unnoticeable to anyone who didn’t know her well, “I assume we’ll have a few days to prepare, yeah?”

“You will, yes,” Xueli nodded, leaning back against her pillow with her eyes closed, “You’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow. Don't worry though, it's not as if you’ll be going homeless, the sect owns plenty of apartment buildings, and the city that you’ve been dispatched to is one where the sect owns a building.”

“What city are we going to?” Songmei inquired while tapping her chin, having taken a seat after realizing this was going to be a long conversation, “Because I’m pretty sure... uhh... as two meridian body cultivators, we won’t be much help anywhere.”

“In this city I think you’ll be quite helpful,” Xueli shrugged from her bed, coughing a few times into a fresh white tissue, “This city is out in the country, it’s called Westriver. It’s a smaller city that is surrounded by tranquil wilderness. However, because of the unique Qi there, it’s not suitable for anyone who has already opened all their meridians.”

That sounded like some bullshit reason...

Songmei had read about this region in the past, it was situated on a plateau high up, so the Qi was rich. However, as the Qi was stubborn...? Or something like that, the Qi was just being annoying, so when someone who had opened their meridians already was cultivating the next step, to take the Qi in and make it their own, the efficiency was so bad they’d want to bury themselves underground.

Nature was weird, and Qi was weirder.

Perhaps introducing the Qi there to a good therapist would help it be less stubborn.

Everyone would benefit from a good therapist after all.

Songmei herself would probably benefit from a physical therapist in addition to a normal therapist anyway... Her back pain was flaring up these days too...

After explaining the basic information though, Xueli’s coughing roused Mingqing and Songmei out of their stupor, causing them to fall silent as Xueli began to give a few more warnings. “I won’t be there to protect you two, so you both need to stay safe, got it?”

Nods.

“Good,” Xueli mused, thinking out loud, pondering what else she wanted to warn her two disciples about. “I’ll give you a brief summary, but this is something you two should just know about now that you’re leaving the sect. It shouldn’t be relevant, but it's still good to know. I bet you already know this Mingqing, but I’ll re-explain it for Songmei.”

“The cultivation world, as you might’ve noticed, is strangely peaceful,” Xueli began, her explanation divided by bouts of hellish coughing, “This isn’t because we’re all enlightened or anything. We’re not all that different from the stuff you’d read in novels, but, most of the sects recognize we have a common enemy. Therefore, we keep conflicts between ourselves to a minimum, keeping our strength so that we can repel the demons.”

Songmei had heard about these elusive demons before through Xueli, Mingqing, or other elders’ tongues slipping.

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But before she could ask any questions, Songmei felt a finger against her lips. Xueli, with a small smile, shushed Songmei. “Wait until I’m done, then ask questions, okay? So because of... a number of reasons, we try to keep quiet about the demons, don't want more people going to their side, don’t want public hysteria if they find out our world is connected to different realms, that type of stuff. The demons, though, have a rift in the center of the central continent to their world. This rift is constantly guarded by experts from a number of clans, and is suppressed year round.”

“I won’t go into too much detail, but you might see some missions regarding these demons in Westriver,” Xueli warned with a soft tone, wiping some blood off her mouth with a tissue. “Don’t mine those missions, they’re posted in every region, all the time. However, with you two leaving the sect for a while, it's important that you two have some baseline knowledge.”

“Beyond the demons, I also want you all to be aware of the other sects.” Xueli explained, throwing her now bloodied tissue into the trash can where all the other bloodied tissues were. “Westriver is a unique city, so there will be people from all the biggest sects. Don’t fight them too much, try to make some friends, make some connections. Eventually, when you make your demon hunting squad, these people might be valuable connections, valuable pieces you could convince to join your team. Got it?”

“Yes, Xueli.”

“Mhm, of course.”

“Alright, that’s good,” Xueli smiled, leaning over to grab another tissue, “You two will do great! Don’t worry about it. Any questions?”

---------

Asking a few questions, then talking for a while about some more mundane topics, Songmei, along with Mingqing, left their master, letting her rest as they went to the supply buildings to get some more free handouts from the sect.

Songmei was ready! Ready to become a shameless gift receiver!

Scrolling through a list, as she followed Songmei, Mingqing’s eyes were nailed onto her terminal as Songmei guided her across a bridge. “So we need to pack our clothes. I’ll pack my sword since it's my own. But for you, you can get a bow plus a lot of arrows from the logistics division.”

Nodding as she followed the path with the sign labeled “Logistics” Songmei held onto Mingqing’s hand as crossed a number of bridges, coming to a stop in front of a large warehouse-like building.

The building wasn’t dilapidated or boring like other warehouses though, it had a similar theme to the other buildings in the sect, being a modern structure made of wood. In fact, the building itself wasn’t gargantuan or anything. Because it was situated on one of the larger floating islands, most of the warehouse was actually underground. The items being stored in lockers that could be kept cool away from the sun during the summer.

The aboveground warehouse wasn’t anything to scoff at though, the back area was a storage area with some more common items that people would often come by to ask for. The front area, on the other hand, was a cozy area built with warm colors and lit by lamplight. The center of the front area was filled with couches while the edges had several desks where someone could talk to a receptionist.

Coming to a stop outside of the warehouse, Songmei paused for a moment, seeing some familiar figures running over from the bridge that they had just crossed.

“Wait! A! Second!”

Turning while nudging Mingqing to make her pay attention, Songmei was greeted by the breathless figures of Cai Yufei and Lu Qiang.

“You two are going on a journey too?” Mingqing asked, curious as to why Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei had been sprinting towards them as if their life depended on it.

Songmei herself swore that she could see their shoes generating sparks with how fast they were running...

“We are,” Cai Yufei answered with a nod, “Our master wanted us to tell you that he’ll be taking you two to the city since Elder Liu is injured right now. We’ll be in the same city by the way! So cheers to seeing each other around!”

“Ahh... I see,” Songmei nodded, pushing the door open to enter, holding it open so Mingqing, Lu Qiang, and Cai Yufei could enter behind her. “Thank you in advance then. Are you two here to pick up supplies as well?”

“Yep,” Lu Qiang nodded with a grateful smile that could probably make crowds cheer, “Our master also said though that he didn’t want us to work with you all. Said that we should all carve out our own pathways. Meet our own people and stuff...”

With an exasperated sigh, Cai Yufei nodded, waving as the two groups split from each other. “I can see why our master said it... but I'm still bummed. I hope we can still get a meal together every few days though! See you!”

“Y-Yes, yes, see you!” Songmei stammered, having just processed the barrage of information that Cai Yufei and Lu Qiang delivered.

“See you as well, bye-bye!” Mingqing nodded with a small wave, squeezing Songmei’s hand as the two left. “Well... that answers some of my questions...”

“For sure...” Songmei agreed with a small nod as the two walked over to the couch waiting area. “They came and went like the wind...”

“Truly a tornado of chaos,” Mingqing chuckled before leaning into Songmei’s ear to whisper, “You saw the tension between the two though, right?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Songmei laughed as she took a seat on an empty couch, sinking into the cushions, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt the cushions envelop her. “So it’ll just be us though. Just us... huh. Are you excited?”

Sinking into the cushions beside Songmei, Mingqing blew a small raspberry before letting out a long sigh. “Well... I'm not excited but also excited at the same time, I guess... It’s a complicated feeling.”

“I get what you mean... I think...” Songmei mumbled, her empty hand finding Mingqing’s once more. “It’ll just be us again though, just like at the aptitude tests.”

“Just like then, for sure...” Minqing sighed, a tone of wistfulness in her voice, “Damn how things have changed in the past couple of months though...”