Wang Wei stared at two cultivators running past them, guards chasing.

"Again? Why are there so many of them?" he said.

Senior Han put on his 'trademark' grin. The moment he saw it, Wang Wei knew what was coming. That senior brother of his always had a fondness for explaining things... Well, not that he was complaining. It helped a lot when he struggled with alchemy.

He snuck a glance at Shaohe. While the man looked calm on the surface, Wang Wei could tell he was quite nervous, but excited at the same time. He couldn't blame him. Back then, long before the boy joined the sect, Shaohe loved talking about immortals and the like. Finally getting taken to a cultivator city must be both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

"I've not actually been there to witness it, but I heard a long time ago, the auction didn't use to make the bidders anonymous." Senior Han said. "It worked fine for a while, but eventually, people started to threaten others with their background, which hurt their profits a lot!"

As his senior brother rattled on, Wang Wei put a reassuring hand on Shaohe's shoulder, who smiled back.

"-like that! Eventually, they started to make the identities of bidders hidden and forbid them from talking! The Xing clan, however, didn't back down! They came up with a cunning plan, making their disciples talk about it outside the auction! The city lords didn't like that, however, and so-"

Wang Wei nodded as they walked. While they weren't planning to head there at the moment, the public square happened to be in their path.

"Eh? Mei Xiu is already there!" he was rather surprised.

Right now, shouldn't she be visiting her parents, like the others? Wang Wei did visit his family, but he didn't stay for long. If it were up to him, he wouldn't have visited at all, but he wanted to take his servant with him back to the sect. He was sure the sect master wouldn't mind.

Wang Wei thought of something. Could it be that Mei didn't get along with her parents as well? He widened his eyes as he began imagining her parents not feeding her properly and making her work constantly... He began to empathise with her. Not the food part, naturally, but simply the hard work and neglect.

Even in such different backgrounds, it was still possible to have such similar experiences... Wang Wei sighed, proud of himself for thinking up something so 'profound'.

"Oh!" Senior Han said, finally stopping his chatter.

Unaware of the of Wang Wei's misunderstanding, Mei noticed them and waved.

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"You're here early! Aren't you supposed to be visiting your parents right now?" Senior Han asked.

"Well... I was too excited to wait." Mei admittedly sheepishly. "I just wanted to see this place for myself! But Feng Shen has been forcing me to just sit here and wait."

From the ring, a cold snort rang out. Senior Han laughed uproariously.

How tragic... Wang Wei thought. He could 'understand' why Mei didn't want to admit she had issues with her parents...

"Don't bully my guests too much, Feng Shen." he poked at Feng Shen's ring. "Well, since you're here early, I might as well take you around on a tour for a bit."

Wang Wei, Mei and Shaohe didn't exchange many words as they walked. The talking was all done by Senior Han as he showed them around the place and introduced various shops to them. Su Qing flew alongside, whizzing around excitedly; Senior Han had put its puppet into a storage bag.

Mei seemed really excited, Wang Wei realised. Perhaps even more so than Shaohe. Maybe it was odd that he himself wasn't really that excited.

In his eyes, it wasn't really a bit deal. It was just a fancy city that happened to have cultivators.

Senior Han continued to introduce place after places, even after walking for an entire hour. His memory was truly astounding.

Wang Wei thought that for someone who seemed so diligent, his senior brother sure did waste a lot of time visiting shops all over the city and memorising all their details...

A thought came to mind, about how Senior Han once said he had memorised the characteristics for 888,888 different plants. Because apparently, 888,888 was a nice number to cap off at.

It was no wonder that he could remember all the details about the shops in the city. Still, it felt like such a waste of good memory.

Since a while ago, he had noticed Mei seemed rather annoyed. Shaohe's enthusiasm had worn off too.

Was it because of Senior Han's constant chatter? Wang Wei thought it wasn't that bad.

In reality, Mei was just very annoyed how despite being told all the cool things about the shops, 'Senior Foodie' wouldn't make a stop. And Shaohe was just tired, walking at a fast pace for so long wasn't easy for a mortal.

For some reason, Wang Wei felt rather proud of himself for being 'immune' to Senior Han's chattiness.

"So where are we going? We've been walking for quite a while now." Mei said, suddenly.

"Hmm? I was just introducing the shops to you, not going anywhere in particular." Senior Han looked puzzled.

Mei looked like she was trying to hold back frustration.

"Then take us somewhere already!"

Shaohe didn't say a word but somehow looked to be in firm agreement.

"I've barely shown you around though..." Senior Han looked disappointed.

He turned to look at Wang Wei, who gave him a meaningful look. Senior Han sighed.

"There's a nice Buddhist restaurant not far away. We can make a quick stop for lunch."

A bit late for lunch, considering it was already past 4 in the afternoon. But Mei and Shaohe looked relieved.

Before long, Wang Wei and his companions were sat around a table in a surprisingly plain-looking restaurant. He looked around and was surprised that most of the people weren't monks.

"It's my treat today! Order whatever you want." Senior Han said.

Mei had a strange smirk on her face as she heard that.

As they ate, Wang Wei thought that the food was a bit lacking compared to the octopus's spirit food, but it was very good. Shaohe seemed a bit overwhelmed as he ate, relishing in the feeling of qi surging into his meridians.

Naturally, Senior Han was talking the whole time. Mei didn't really seem to be listening as she ate happily.

It didn't take long for them to finish their food, though Senior Han took twice as long as everyone with all the chatter.