As sunlight filtered in through the windows, Mei propped herself up.

Urgh...

Last night, the only reason why she stopped eating the candies was because she started to feel queasy. She tried to go to bed afterwards, but she couldn't sleep because of how terrible she felt.

In the end, she spent the whole night cultivating with the help of the qi from the candies, managing to charge all the way to the 6th level of Qi Gathering.

She headed downstairs after a quick bathroom break.

"What's wrong? You don't look so well." Xiuying asked as Mei stumbled to the dining table, holding a plate of buns.

"Nothing."

As Mei sat with them, she noticed to her surprise that Wang Wei was with the group today.

"Wang Wei, I thought you usually doesn't eat with us?" she asked.

"Well... I just felt like it." Wang Wei said.

He paused for a moment, giving her a closer look.

"Huh, you've on the verge of reaching the 7th level!"

Mei grinned.

Just yesterday, Yingyi was the 6th! Xiuying was at the 7th, so she should be catching up with them too.

Noticing her look, Yingyi snorted.

"Hah, I'm now at the 9th level!" he said, smirking in a very annoying manner.

"How?" she asked.

"You think you're the only one who bought stuff? After you left yesterday, we spent our Jade buying pills and stuff."

...

Urgh. How did they manage to work and cultivate diligently at the same time? Don't they spend time relaxing?

There was also the possibility that Mei was just very lazy but she ignored the notion.

"Uh-huh," she said.

"Don't worry Mei, you're doing fine..." Xiuying tried to comfort her.

Mei glared at the girl who was emitting an aura very close in strength to Yingyi's. Xiuying laughed nervously, eager to change the topic.

"Sooo... what dao did you pick?"

Mei froze.

She had forgotten completely!

"Oh yeah, the stupid smith elder finally accepted me!" Liu Qiang butted in, smiling widely. "I told him that if he didn't accept me, I would complain to the sect master that he made fun of me for being fat!"

Was that really something to be proud of?

"If he didn't accept you for being fat, he probably had good reason. Go lose some weight, fatty!" Yingyi laughed.

"Yingyi..." Xiuying glared.

Mei was very glad that the banter shifted away from her. She still talked, making sure not to bring up any points that could trigger the question again. She made up her mind. Later today, she'll look for an elder immediately! The last thing she needed was for them to know she was the only one without a master...

Wang Wei was very quiet throughout the entire conversation, just focusing on his meal. Mei thought he looked somewhat sad.

The hall was closed.

"Disciples! The sect master is taking a break today!"

Li Jie, the young man who forced a Meridian Cleansing down Wang Wei's throat during the talent assessment was there, shouting.

"I will quote him!" Li Jie continued, putting on a mask that looked like the sect master. "Don't tell the disciples this, but I'm really sick of their shit! Make up some random reason why I'm taking a break today!"

Mei heard some disciples laugh.

"LI JIE!" the sect master's yell came from nowhere. "I DID NOT SAY THAT!"

"Oh no." Li Jie said unenthusiastically.

Mei finally let out a suppressed laugh.

Beside Li Jie, a rip in space opened, two hands popping out and grabbing the edges. Well, now was probably a good time to leave.

She quickly left as the sect master burst through, berating Li Jie and apologising to the disciples.

"Sorry... You don't seem very suited for this."

The man who spoke was middle-aged and had a rather docile chimp sitting on his right shoulder.

"Hnnn...."

Mei was yet again rejected, this time by the beast taming elder. Why were all the cool combat-related daos not suited to her?

She tried to think of another combat profession but was unable to.

Dejected and very frustrated, she decided to head to the task pavilion, a vegetable bun in hand. Maybe she could get inspiration there?

"What's wrong?"

The peaceful blue spirit from last time, Tian Lan floated over to her.

"You look upset," it said.

"Go away," Mei grumbled.

"It's not good to bottle up your troubles."

"Go away."

"Ahem." Tian Lan said, sounding a bit offended. "I might not look like it, but I'm a very knowledgable spirit!"

"Urgh..." said Mei. "I'm not sure what dao to follow. Happy?"

"Hmm."

The blue spirit zipped around her.

"From a quick inspection, it seems the dao of horticulture suits you very well."

Mei scrunched her face. From behind, she heard the cackling of the imaginary old woman in peasant garbs.

"I'm not going to be a farmer! Never!"

"...Understandable."

It seemed to be deep in thought.

"A carpenter?"

"NO!"

Mei rejected a few other paths it suggested.

"I'm not interested in those boring daos, I want something to do with combat!"

"You're really fussy, you know?" Tian Lan complained.

Just as she was about to lash out, Mei realised she was being kind of a brat.

"Sorry..."

"It's fine. Hm, come to think of it, you seem to have good affinity with spirits."

"Huh?"

"I didn't really think much of it at first, but it's actually very easy for me to communicate with you. You might want to try out the Spirit Master dao."

Mei perked up. That sounded cool!

"Spirit Masters can connect with spirits to pull off incredible feats of magic. Probably combat-ty enough for you."

In the end, as it said, Tian Lan ended up being able to help her. Mei felt bad for disregarding it at first.

She got up, heading down the stairs and towards the exit. Tasks can wait!

"Thanks for the help, Tian Lan!"

"Mnhm."

The spirit stared as she left.

"I probably should have mentioned most spirits don't like to fight..." it mumbled. "Oh well."