"I am... the Myriad Realms Heaven Array..."

Yet again, she felt as if it was communicating with her as she grew close. But now that she had learnt to communicate with spirits, she felt like she could understand it better. 

Was the array maintained by a super-powerful spirit?

For a moment, she was tempted to try to say "hi", but looking at the queue behind her, she decided not to waste time.

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Mei stood outside her house, fidgeting.

She knew that the free teleportation was meant for the disciples to spend time with their families. Using that for the sake of travelling outside was technically exploiting that.

It wasn't that she didn't want to visit her parents; she had been looking forward to it for a while. But, right now, she wanted to see the cultivator city! She couldn't resist the urge at all.

She felt guilty, but felt better after deciding she would visit them afterwards. According to what Senior Foodie said, it was fine for them to spend days outside the sect when using the array anyway.

Apparently, the lectures weren't even mandatory! Mei didn't even know she could just choose not to go. If she knew, there were definitely some days she would have taken breaks. This was precisely why the sect master didn't tell the disciples.

After a quick rummage, she pulled out a long string of 20 silver coins out of her bag. They clinked with a pleasant melodic sound.

It was the currency here in her country. Each coin had a neatly carved square hole in the centre. On one side, the words "The Heavenly Dragon Protects" protruded around the hole, each word on a side of the square. A majestic dragon with a lone horn curled around the square was depicted on the other side.

It was based on an old story, claiming a dragon was protecting the country. Mei had always thought it was just a legend, but now that she was a cultivator, somehow, it felt more believable.

Earlier, just as they were about to finally head out, Senior Foodie mentioned that they could trade for various currencies from different mortal countries at the currency exchanger.

The exchange rate was worse than she thought, only 10 silver for 1 Jade. She expected much more considering how mortal currency was supposed to be useless to cultivators in books she read. Still, it was quite a good sum. If any mortal heard they could get 40 silver an hour for just chopping vegetables, there would be an uproar!

She placed the string of coins and ran off, getting Su Qing to knock the door once she was a good distance away, then continued to run until she reached a clearing. 

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"Feng Shen, I'm ready to go!"

Beside her father's ring, a silver ring embedded with a piece of blue jade sat on her middle finger. Senior Foodie had lent her and her friends each a ring housing one of his spirit pets.

A huge bird the size of a house materialised out of the ring. It was cloaked in beautiful feathers the shade of azure and emerald, save for its belly, which was covered in pristine white feathers. From its somehow arrogant face, a short but sharp beak jutted.

Su Qing flew around it curiously.

Senior Foodie said the beast would be big, but Mei didn't expect anything like that and was stunned. But at the same time, it left her excited, excited about what she could do in the future. A few random people saw it and had looks of awe on their face too, making Mei feel very pleased.

"Hop on." the bird spoke into her mind.

She winced. Mei wasn't sure she was a fan of hearing someone speak in her head. But at the same time... she looked at the harness and felt worried.

"Uh, are you sure this is safe?" she asked.

"Hmph. Master Han has made precautions. It is perfectly safe."

Before she could say another word, a force picked her off the ground and put her on the harness. Straps grew from the sides and tightly bound her to it, making her lie flat down on it. Su Qing quickly flew into her bag. Well, that covered her safety concerns. But...

"It's not comfy," she grumbled. "I can't even move or sit up..."

"It's not aerodynamic if you sit upright. And with how fast I fly, you might snap in half if you aren't lying down."

Mei made a dissatisfied sound, but she couldn't complain. How far away was the cultivator city anyway?

She felt Feng Shen crouch, but just a second later, it had hopped into the clouds! And with a flap of its wings, the bird shot forward so fast, everything around her became a blur.

She had braced herself for violent wind, but a qi barrier appeared, keeping her safe from it. Only the soothing sound of rushing air got through. It would probably be terrifying if she looked down, but the bird's huge size made it hard to see what was below.

She reached beyond the harness where there was an expanse of soft fluffy feathers and ran her hands across them... Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

"Stop it. That feels weird."

"Sorry..."

Mei stopped squishing the feathers reluctantly.

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"Get up. We are here." the bird spoke into her mind.

Mei jolted awake. Telepathy was really hard to get used to...

The harness came undone, the straps quickly retracting into it. She got off carefully, wincing a little.

Despite having managed to fall asleep, being stuck in one position had made her muscles somewhat sore. She felt a little groggy too, so she leaned on Feng Shen for support. Apparently, it must not have appreciated that as it returned to the ring right then, making her crash to the ground.

"Bad bird!" Su Qing said angrily.

"We are still a short distance away from the city, but I have decided to drop you off here to reduce suspicion. Cultivators from the Vermillion generally don't ride my kind. Don't worry about getting lost, I can give directions."

It could still speak even inside the ring? Great.

"Do you have to speak into my head like that? It makes me quite uncomfortable." Mei said.

"I'm not good at speaking chinese orally. Have you tried to make birdcalls with your human vocal cords?" the bird said. "That's how it's like from my perspective."

Mei grinned. When she was small, sometimes she would try to imitate birds to amuse herself. It had been quite a few years, so she might be a bit rusty, but she would show Feng Shen!

Chirp!

"Huh. That wasn't too bad for a human." the bird sounded surprised. "Don't say that though, it's inappropriate."

What? Had the birds been swearing at her? Mei felt slightly angry. What did she do to deserve that?

In reality, she had just imitated a bird mating call, making Feng Shen a bit uncomfortable.