"What in the world is that bird doing?" Senior Han muttered to himself angrily. He glanced to the dark skies, which were now dotted with stars, frowning.

Mei and her friends along with Shaohe were seated at a long table, enjoying their dinner. Ning Xing had long since left for some reason, so she wasn't around.

She glanced briefly at her finger where Feng Shen's ring used to be, Senior Han having retrieved it. Not just from her, however, he had apparently lent spirit beasts to each of her friends, so he had taken back their rings as well.

For whatever reason, the inn Senior Han rented had a rooftop restaurant. Mei wasn't complaining though, she quite liked the atmosphere. The food was quite pricey, but luckily, their senior brother was footing the bill. The restaurant was packed with many cultivators, the faint sound of chatter filling the air.

Mei took a spring roll from a plate piled with a mountain of them. Originally, she had only ordered two spring rolls, vegetables and soup noodles, but after seeing Liu Qiang shamelessly order a ton of dishes without Senior Han complaining, she decided to order more after finishing her food.

As for why she ordered only spring rolls, it was because Senior Han seemed a bit touchy about meat; she didn't really want to deal with that. And after tasting the spring rolls earlier and being wowed by the taste, she didn't want to risk ordering something she didn't like.

"Hmm?" Senior Han looked surprised all of a sudden. "Feng Shen is finally back! We'll head back after finishing our food."

"That's great!" Xiuying said.

While her friends didn't need Feng Shen to return to the sect because of the Myriad Realms Heaven Array, they used Mei as an excuse to stay in the city a little longer, as she needed Feng Shen to visit her parents later. Senior Han was aware, naturally, but didn't feel the need to stop them.

Senior Han paused for another moment, before widening his eyes in shock.

"That stupid bird..."

"What happened?" Xiuying asked.

"Feng- I have something to attend to." Senior Han sighed. "We'll head out after dinner."

Did something happen to the bird? Mei wasn't sure if she should be feeling worried.

The guards nodded respectfully to Senior Han as he flew over the city gates with his juniors. After dinner, he had explained that they shouldn't be calling upon the teleportation array in public, so they were heading further into the woods where they wouldn't be seen.

"Mei Xiu, hand me your teleportation token for a bit." Senior Han said with a serious expression.

"Okay."

Taking her token, he pressed a rectangular wooden token engraved with "五", 5 to it, making it flash for a moment. When the light faded, there didn't seem to be any changes to it. The wooden token, however, had crumbled to ashes. Mei took her token back from him gingerly.

"I have given your token 5 charges. The token remembers where you've teleported, so use it to go home." he turned to her friends. "And of course, it will remember this spot as well, if you want to visit the city again. Don't forget to ask me for the vermillion robes if you come back though."

"Oh... thank you..." Mei muttered.

By now, she was pretty sure Feng Shen had gotten into big trouble. If not, why else would Senior Han be so serious all of a sudden? She didn't have the best impression of the bird, but she hoped he was fine.

While it would be a lie to say she was rather worried as she was only mildly worried, it was enough of a dampener to her mood that she felt no joy from essentially getting 250 jade's worth of teleports for free.

After exchanging a few words, Mei and her friends teleported off one by one. Senior Han looked around cautiously before leaping off the ground, flying into the distance. His speed was lacking in comparison to Feng Shen's, but nothing to scoff at.

The landscape blurred below him, trees and grass turning into a mess of green. He halted as he came into a clearing. There, a nervous looking dragon sat, an arrogant looking bird perching on its head.

"You always have to cause trouble for me, don't you?" Senior Han glared at the bird.

Feng Shen smirked.

Once again, she was before the town's well, a rather familiar sight. After a brief pause, she walked slowly along the paths, taking in the nightly breeze.

She paused suddenly, having realised something. Oddly enough, her pores didn't feel on the verge of gasping and making her feel terrible.

Hmm... Mei thought to herself for a bit.

...

Ah!

Now that she was at the peak of qi gathering and attempting to break through to the Foundational realm, it was natural that her body would stop trying to intake qi. Her qi capacity was at its limit, after all. Mei felt a bit silly for not realising something so obvious immediately.

She continued walking, her step echoing in the quiet of the night. It took a few minutes, but it only felt like a few moments to her as she neared the doors of her home.

"Mom, dad!" she shouted, before opening the door.

"Mei?" she heard her mother's surprised voice. "We thought you weren't visiting since you left those coins outside and left!"

Her father spat some water out and coughed, staring at her with wide eyes. How dramatic...

"Sorry, I guess I was just a bit uh... busy earlier? I was planning to visit the whole time." Mei smiled awkwardly.

"Ah. That's fine-"

"Mei! You..." her father stared at her with bloodshot eyes. "Why are you wearing the robes of a vermillion phoenix disciple? You..."

"Ehh?" Mei was taken aback and started stammering. "Err... erm... my senior brother uh..."

"Answer me!"

PAK!

A resounding sound echoed through the room. Her jaw dropped as she realised what had happened. Her mother had viciously slapped him! She could even see a red handprint on his face, making her wince.

"Calm the hell down! What's gotten over you, getting all worked up like that?" she glared at him.

"Sorry..."

And just like that, the situation was defused.