2 days later...
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After the sect master announced his plans to go into seclusion, in honour of that, the sect had begun hosting a festival!
Colourful Chinese lanterns were hung all over; and right outside the dorms of the outer disciples, the inner disciples set up many stalls, selling various snack items, along with mementoes the sect master signed personally.
In the centre of it all, a huge statue of the sect master was placed, smiling as it looked over the disciples.
If one were to look closely, the rock had been weathered slightly, some places even slightly scratched. Evidently, it wasn't a new statue.
Of course, the outer disciples' region was not the only place that had prepared to celebrate. All over the sect, similar sights could be seen, hundreds of those statues placed, be it in the region of the inner disciples or core disciples.
During this festive time, the disciples were celebrating, having fun.
Mei, however, was arduously cultivating back in the body refining room. Perhaps not the right word, given how she could read the entire time.
Using her newly acquired funds, she had even begun to furnish her room, 2 clothing racks on both sides of the room, lanterns hanging on them. She originally glued a lantern to the ceiling, but it proved to be a pain to refuel it, so she settled for the racks instead. And then immediately realised she could have just bought 2 tall lamps instead.
Even a small drawer was shoved to a corner of the room for her to place her books and to a lesser extent, refining powder, so she didn't have to keep running back to her room each time she finished reading.
In the past days, having used 7 jars of refining powder and 7 bowls of soup, Mei was now on the verge of reaching the 7th stage of body cultivation.
She flipped across the bed with a conflicted look.
If that was so, it should be fine for her to take a "break" and finally look at the festival, no?
And with that, she happily went downstairs.
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With how the festival was attracting disciples from all over, it was inevitable that the rock nest attract even more attention. Outer disciples from other dorms "invaded", joining the fun, even building several more nests.
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Even in the early hours, just as the sun was starting to rise, she could see disciples building the nests, Su Qing happily supervising. Apparently, an elder who was helping to set up the stalls had noticed as well, with how expertly drawn formations now protected every nest.
Mei stared at 9-metre tall nests and shook her head. At this rate, they were going to be taller than even the dorm itself...
By this point, contricted by the formations, the nests looked more like unstable pillars of rock than actual nests. To combat that, some disciples began to pile sticks and add grass to the base of them, but they just looked like withered bushes.
The nearest store was selling candied hawthorns, so Mei grabbed a stick. Walking around, a stall caught her eye.
The stall owner was a chubby man, but he was wearing an imitation of the sect master's robes, along with a white wig and fake beard hair. The name of the stall was written prominently in white on a black wooden board: Sect Master Recruits! Before it, a few disciples were queuing, handing a single jade to the owner.
A huge blue tank of water was inside, the edges painted to look like clouds. Inside, wooden cutouts of various disciples were swimming around with the help of seals. They were even based on real disciples, Mei spotting one of Xiuying and even Senior Han.
"Welcome!" the store owner said. "Try your luck and win prizes! The more you catch, the better the rewards!"
He passed a goldfish net to Mei. The handle was carved to vaguely resemble the sect master, and the net... was made to be his beard.
What.
Well, that definitely didn't seem like something right out of a fever dream.
Still, it seemed fun, so Mei handed him the admission fee, watching the disciples before her try.
Whenever they tried to scoop the disciples, they would all run away! ...shouldn't the disciples be looking to join the sects to begin their path to cultivation? Why run? Mei decided not to question the logic of the game.
"Hey! Please don't pluck out the beard hairs!" the owner shouted at Mei.
"Sorry."
It was hard to resist plucking at the hairs that lined the rim of the net. She settled for running a finger across it instead.
[Prizes]
10 Points: A figurine of the sect master that could walk around
7 Points: A small jar of qi pills
5 Points: 2 Jade
1 Point: A piece of paper signed by the sect master
...real useful.
When her turn came, she looked across the tank.
Depending on the rank of the depicted disciple, they would be worth more points! The one of Senior Han had 3 written on it, which was the highest of a disciple could be worth! Mei didn't know why the other disciples didn't try to catch him and the other disciples worth 3, but she went for it!
Sensing her net approaching, "Senior Han" quickly darted out of its way at an unfair speed. From the depths of the water, a small figure of Feng Shen flew out, grabbing her net and flying away into the hands of the owner!
"Oh no! The bird has taken your net away!" the stall owner laughed.
...
What a scam! There was no warning at all!
And yes, of course. An inner disciple's pet bird could defeat the sect master. And of course "Senior Han" could already tame spirit beasts despite not having cultivated yet.
"Hmph!"
She marched away, chewing the hawthorn grumpily.
"Hey! Don't be like that! I was just messing around!" the stall owner called out. "You can have the net back!"
From a distance, she heard the queuing disciples laugh. Mei couldn't could help but feel rather wronged.