"There was a time when I used to think exactly the same." Li Meirong breathed in deeply. She then smiled softly and patted Feng Huang's head. "Tell me more about the golden core. I only know the basics from the scrolls I have read."

Feng Huang might have lived in seclusion for most of her life, but she was very knowledgeable when it came to cultivation. She closed her eyes and cleared her throat, assuming a mentor's presence. "When a cultivator establishes a golden core, you could say that, at that point, the cultivator has taken their first steps towards immortality. The core is your ability to merge the essence within you along with your spirit. You can now harness spiritual energy, and store it inside you. This way, for example, you will not be so easily drained of power as you were before."

"Like keeping a container of gasoline in the trunk."

"What?" Feng Huang blinked one eye open.

"Never mind," Li Meirong made a motion with her empty hand, waving her fingers up and down. "Continue."

Feng Huang gave Li Meirong an odd look, but kept going. "As you know, the core formation stage has its own ranks, and at peak stage, a cultivator manages to successfully form his or her own core." She pointed one foot towards Li Meirong and said, "This means that you are at the peak of core formation. I can no longer tell your level because you outrank me, and cultivators can only accurately tell the level of those whose ranks are below them. But if I were to concentrate hard enough, then I am able to detect a faint yellow aura shimmering around your body, though not much more."

"Is it the same aura that scares all the spirit beasts away from me?" asked Li Meirong.

"Yes and no. Maybe it's a mix of both. Anyhow, it would be wise to conceal the aura, so others wouldn't be able to accurately measure your strength. My barrier technique can work not only as a physical shield, but a spiritual one. It can be suffused inside the spiritual veins and allow you to conceal your presence."

Offering to show an example of how to hide the aura, Feng Huang encased herself in shimmering sparks of light, and slowly, those sparks were absorbed into her entire frame until all that was left was a faint glow that gradually vanished beneath her rough skin and shell.

Li Meirong hurried and copied Feng Huang's actions. After absorbing the light into her skin, she let out a small groan. "Do you know that for months now I have been looking for ways to conceal my aura? Couldn't you tell me sooner?"

Feng Huang gave Li Meirong a blank face. "You never asked."

Li Meirong pinched the space between her eyebrows and puffed out her cheeks in frustration. "Right, I didn't ask you."

"So what did you do this time in order to ascend?" Feng Huang switched the conversation onto a different subject. She was awfully curious about the wonders this girl managed to come up with.

"I got struck by lightning."

"Oh."

Noticing the irritable tone in the clipped reply Li Meirong provided, Feng Huang wisely changed the subject again. "By the way, where are we?" she asked, staring around the stable house with a disdainful look on her face. "Chou said you wanted to attend those boring human classes again, but I think we're at the wrong place, unless you're going to study with dumb birds."

The cranes trilled and cawed in indignant refusal. A few of them opened their sharp breaks in a threatening manner and flapped their wide wings, as if to express their righteous anger.

Li Meirong gave Feng Huang a disapproving look. In her dark eyes, a pair of pupils sharpened, spreading firmness of mind. Her mouth drew into a thin line right before she answered, "We're at the Sword Bearer's division. The classes can wait. I have a 'friend' who's dying to meet me."

Feng Huang looked up at Li Meirong's limpid eyes, which shone from within a calm and withdrawn countenance. "You don't seem to look like you're going to visit a friend. It looks like you're going to beat up somebody." She paused a moment before inquiring, "And where's that Fox Spirit of yours, anyway?"

The sharpness in Li Meirong's eyes was abruptly exchanged by a troubled expression marked with a deep frown. "I forgot Snowball!"