Lin Fen scowled slightly, his sleek grey eyebrows knitting together in an outward show of concern.

He didn’t mirror the naked excitement of most of his fellow disciples at being so readily offered a chance to raise in rank and prestige so early in their tenure as inner disciples. Not to mention all the possible treasures and opportunities that would be presented to them if they worked directly under the sect’s heir.

The feline cultivator didn’t think the offer was shady or hiding ulterior motives, he’d already talked about this very topic multiple times with Yu Xiang, going so far as to make him recite word for word what the Golden Prince had told him during their meeting, and he trusted his taller companion to navigate his way past any social pitfalls the young heir might have laid for them.

Not that there were supposed to be any, or so Yu Xiang affirmed, reassuring him that brother Hui Chen, as he called him, much to the burgeoning alchemist’s discomfort, was not the type of person to beat around the bush, and what they were given was exactly what it said on the tin.

In the end, Lin Fen settled down, taking the young reincarnator’s words as the reassurance that they were meant to be. Lin trusted him, and Yu trusted the young heir, and for now, that was enough.

So what was it that had him so on edge if it wasn’t the nature of their mission?

Well, simply put, Lin Fen felt uneasy when he went to new places, especially so when such places were unexplored areas where there were bound to be hordes of hungry spiritual beasts just waiting to close their drooling jaws around their soft flesh.

The beastfolk’s expression twisted even further as his mind conjured a dozen worst case scenarios, where ancient monsters woke up from their ages long slumbers to eat them all, armies of rabid creatures drowned them in a sea of blood, or even worse, everyone but him fell in battle, leaving him alone amidst the cooling bodies…

Lin Fen shook his head, trying to dispel the fatalistic images from his mind’s eye.

His aversion towards most spiritual beasts was something he’d still not gotten a grip on, despite the passage of the years.

Yu Xiang had long ago noticed his strange complex, one especially bizarre for not just a cultivator but for a beast born one at that, but he’d never pried, subtly letting him know he was aware of the problem and that his door was always open if he wanted to talk about it.

Lin appreciated his tact, as lacking as it may be in other matters, but the young alchemist had already decided to simply bury the past behind him, alongside all the skeletons hiding in his closet.

It was for the best, and Lin Fen was just thankful that even at his lowest point his hatred for the feral beasts had never grown so blinding that he’d decided to do something drastic about his own furry appendages.

A third prehensile appendage and the enhanced senses provided by his feline bloodline were often invaluable during his longer brewing sessions, or in situations like the one he currently found himself in.

Most of their day had been spent on the flying barge and they’d lost even more daylight while waiting around for the patrolling unit to set up their entrance to the hidden realm, so it came as no surprise when a scant few hours after their arrival the sun disappeared and darkness took over the world, a single glowing full moon hanging in the center of the sky.

Something about the night and day cycle inside this space had roused Lin’s curiosity, which senior brother Chun was kind enough to sate, surprisingly enough.

“A small hidden space like this one always mirrors the real world, both temporally and environmentally, as you all should have already noticed.” He’d said stoically, bringing to mind the image of a strict and demanding teacher. “Larger ones don’t follow such basic guidelines. Even the flow of time can differ wildly in the larger recorded hidden spaces. They are like separate worlds of their own, with their own specific rules and boundaries.”

Lin Fen’s eyes shined with intrigue at the thought, deeply curious of what such bizarre habitats could do to spiritual plants.

The core disciple seemed to have caught on to his thoughts judging by his next words. “I will give you a seal of permission to peruse through the sect’s archives on the matter when we return.” He’d told him with the barest hint of approval.

The feline alchemist bowed deeply. “I would be eternally grateful, senior brother.”

Another piece of information that had roused all of their spirits, was that since this hidden space had never been explored they were bound to find some Treasures scattered through its surface.

Treasures, with a capital T, were rare existences that could not be fabricated by either humans or beasts. They were born naturally, taking the form of metals, gems, minerals, fruits, or even more diverse shapes.

And it was that last form that interested Lin Fen the most. After all, all alchemists longed to get their hands on a spiritual fruit, hoping to figure out how the plump produce of nature could hold such pure and potent spiritual energy, and use it as an ingredient to craft some supremely fine pills...

After Lin Fen snapped out of that little daydream of his, senior brother Chun told them to stop and find a place to set up camp for the night, which left them all briefly perplexed even as they carried out his orders.

“This will be your first night in a completely unknown environment. Don’t assume that your path will be just as free of conflict as it was during the day. The night is the realm of predators and opportunistic hunters, don’t just walk right into their waiting mouths.”

Lin could see what he was going for, even if with his presence they were pretty much safe from all beasts that could be found in this place. After all, this mission was just a thinly veiled excuse for Yu and Su Rong to try and mend bridges, even if most of the participants didn’t know that, but that was no reason to just rest on their laurels when they could learn something valuable from a far more experienced cultivator.

They quickly found a suitable resting place under the shade of a giant rock, almost twice as big as their home back at the sect, after which Chun Dai sent most of them out on patrol, leaving only Zhen Yin, her cousin, and Huang Lei behind to carve a temporary shelter into the massive boulder.

Lin Fen wasn’t going to complain about not having to suffer through a sleepless night, no matter how little it would impact his performance.

Curiously enough, sleep wasn’t as superfluous as food for cultivators, at this stage of their cultivation they didn’t really need to eat anymore since they could simply sustain their refined bodies through their spiritual energy, but while they could forego resting for a few days they would inevitably crash down due to exhaustion.

The young feline eared cultivator didn’t know if there would come a point in the future where he would no longer need to sleep, but as he was one to enjoy his, pardon the pun, catnaps he guessed it didn’t really matter.

And with that thought he returned his full attention to keeping a look out for any prowling spiritual beasts, moving silently some ways away from their camp, circling its perimeter alongside the dark haired young woman that had joined their little group alongside Su Rong, and which he was fairly sure was his sister.

If the perfectly matching hair and eye colors weren’t already enough then the shape of their eyes and nose would immediately mark their relation.

…Not to say that she was a mannish or ugly woman, far from it in fact as she’d started refining her physique, but she simply had a naturally frown-y expression that was painfully similar to her brother’s.

Speaking of her, after long minutes spent in total silence scanning the small clusters of trees and tooth like rocks she finally let out a sigh, her left hand rising up to scratch the back of her head awkwardly.

“Look.” She broke the silence, immediately catching the feline alchemist’s attention. “I feel like I have to apologize on behalf of my brother.” Her tone was gruff, her annoyance at having to do so in the first place clear to anyone who might have heard her.

Lin Fen shrugged his shoulders noncommittally but still acknowledging her words. One of his eyebrows rose towards his silvery bangs in a silent question and incentive to keep talking combined.

A few moments passed in awkward silence between the two inner disciples, leaving the feline alchemist momentarily perplexed.

That is, until Lin Fen suddenly realized that Yu Xiang wasn't there with him, so he couldn't act as an automatic translator for all of his gestures and body language like he was used to.

Really, this was getting ridiculous, he needed to talk to more people without leaning on his oldest companion if he didn't want his social skills to atrophy even further, lest he ends up in a similar situation to the stoic core disciple waiting back in their improvised camp.

With that happy thought sending a shiver down his spine Lin Fen finally broke the awkward silence. "No need to." There you go! Nice and easy!

The young woman cringed slightly at his words, obviously not satisfied leaving the matter alone.

In an effort to steer the conversation towards other topics Lin Fen asked the dark haired woman some he'd been wondering for a while.

"What's your name anyway?" Realizing how that sounded he then followed up immediately. "We have never been formally introduced."

She didn't seem to be offended by the question, looking instead almost relieved by the shift in topic. "My name is Su Mei." She said with a slight bow.

The young alchemist mirrored her stance. "Well, I am Fen Lin, a journeyman alchemist."

"Oh?" Su Mei exclaimed in slight surprise. "I'd heard you were an alchemist too but I didn't know if those were just rumors."

Lin Fen's eyes sparkled with delight at having found something to talk about. "Ah, a fellow practitioner!"

Su Mei chuckled at his enthusiasm, slightly taken aback by the shift in demeanor, but not enough to back down from the conversation and leave the diminutive alchemist wallowing in disappointment.

Lin Fen didn't really care how his outburst made him look, it was just so rare for him to actually get the chance to discuss his favored trade with another alchemist.

He was going to take full advantage of this occasion!