Knock knock!

Urgh... Mei got up groggily. Outside, it was still dawn, rays of orange piercing the cloudy skies.

She grumbled, walking over to open the door. Outside, Senior Han stood.

"Did you have to come so early?"

Senior Han shrugged.

It vaguely occurred to her that she used to wake up early in the morning every day.

"Let's go get breakfast." he said.

The two of them headed downstairs to the canteen, where Han Yun loaded in yet more piles of vegetable buns. The surrounding disciples didn't bat an eye, the sight already normal.

...

After a quick meal, Mei grabbed Senior Han's arm and teleported with him.

...

With a flash, the two of them appeared in a dark chamber. Mei look around curiously before something clicked.

"It's the ruins we went into while chasing the bandits!"

Heh, the Xing Clan would be mad if they knew there were intruders again.

"Yup. Well, though I wasn't here back then." he said.

"I mean with my friends and the spirits..." Mei puts her hands on her sides. "How do you even want me to help anyway, even if my soulsense is good? It's not like he's going to be close enough for me to find out."

"Haha. Why don't you make a guess?" he smiled.

Mei did a double take.

Was she imagining it, or was he back to his old cheerful self? He had been so stiff of late, it felt wrong to see him like that again.

"How would I know? What am I supposed to do, ask a bird or something... ah!"

Mei suddenly got an idea. Back beneath Sanyang Mountains, she realised she could trick the centipedes by convey imagery with soulsense.

Maybe she really could ask a bird!

Senior Han followed her as she ran out of the ruins, to a cluster of trees outside. With soulsense, she sensed a group of sparrows hidden in the midst of leaves.

She focused, channeling an image of Hong Ling to them.

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...?

She sensed a little confusion from them, before the startled birds took off. Well... it was only natural a few random birds wouldn't have seen him.

"Big Mei... you realise random animals can't use soulsense, right? They wouldn't be able to see spirits in the first place."

Mei froze.

Darn! And she thought she had a good idea there. If it wasn't for Xiao Mei telling her, she might not have realised.

But "Big Mei"? Being called that felt weird...

She stared at Senior Han sheepishly.

"Never mind, my idea didn't work." she said.

"What was your idea in the first place?"

"I thought I could ask the birds, then I realised they couldn't see spirits..."

Senior Han laughed.

"Why'd the elders ask you to look for Hong Ling anyway?" she asked defensively.

"Connections." he shrugged. "I've made many rounds to Wu before, so I've made a bit of a name for myself."

Oh yeah... she remembered the old man at the auction being pleased by a box he offered. That and him being able to convince the Vermillion Phoenix sect to lend him their robes. Even the Xing Clan seemed to respect him.

"For the past 10 days, I spent way too much effort contacting all sorts of people! That bastard Qiao Shun pushed all of this onto me. This wasn't a job for just a single person!"

Heh.

"Anyway, here's my plan. Take this."

He handed to her an flask full of golden yellow liquid.

"This is a Soul Awakening Elixir. It calls upon latent force within your soul and makes your soulsense many times stronger for a few minutes."

"I want you to drink it, then I'll fly you high above with Feng Shen. From there, he will fly at maximum speed, and we'll search like that!"

"Okay..." Mei said.

That didn't sound like a reliable plan...

"Ah, but before you drink it, attune yourself with this jade. It's a soul jade Hong Ling once used, so you'll be able to focus on his aura alone." Senior Han handed a jade to her.

"Attune...?"

"You don't know how to, despite being a spirit apprentice?"

Well, she hadn't exactly attended that many of Li Xuan's lessons...

For the next 30 mins, Senior Han coached her impatiently.

...

"Okay, I think I got it." Mei said.

She popped the flask open and gave it a sniff.

"Why does it smell like apples?" she asked.

"That's because I put flavouring in all my elixirs. Who'd want to drink disgusting bitter potions?"

Mei: ...

Seems like her initially calling him "Senior Foodie" was more accurate than she thought. Well, not that she was complaining.

She downed the flask in a single go. Mmm... it really did taste exactly like apple juice. She almost wanted more.

...

???

! ! !

A strange sensation shot through her body, her vision turning wavy.

Senior Han tossed her onto Feng Shen, but she felt like she was as light as a cloud.

"Hah. You again?" the bird scoffed.

Her soul almost seemed to scream as it bubbling with power. In the next moment, her soulsense expanded by 20 times!

"Go! Fly as fast as you can, and cover the entirety of Wu!" Senior Han shouted.

"The hell? You can't be serious! You better let me have a week- no, two weeks off for that much effort!"

"Fine!"

Senior Han put on the strongest wind barrier he could around Mei, before Feng Shen shot off.

Seconds after they zoomed into the distance, a massive sonic boom could be heard.

Mei, who had finally come to her sense was flabbergasted. They were flying so fast, all she could see around them was a distorted blur of colours!

"Focus on your soulsense! The elixir will wear off in a few minutes!"

Mei nodded.

She closed her eyes, immersing herself in soulsense. It was as if she was sitting in a dark void.

30 seconds.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Suddenly, she sensed a blur of red!

"Stop!" Mei shouted. "I think I found Hong Ling!"

Feng Shen stopped flapping, but it took nearly 20 seconds for him to turn around from the sheer momentum before flying back.

"He's over there!" Mei pointed at a carriage.

The giant bird landed before it, sending clouds of dust flying despite the silent landing. The horses buckled, the people inside screaming.

"Beast attack!" someone yelled.