"Blackie, what are you doing?" Guang Ai yelled. "If they get away, you're not getting any treats!"

The dog paused, turning back to look at her. Xiuying and the other began running faster.

As he heard her words, the dog felt a bit dissatisfied. That owner of his was being really unreasonable! Every time he didn't do something she wanted, she would threaten his treats. He needed to show her that threat wouldn't always work on him!

Blackie put on his best aloof look, turning away from Guang Ai and strutting towards Mei.

"BLACKIE! NO TREATS FOR A WEEK!"

A jolt of shock ran through the dog, but he stood strong. If he gave up now, it would be all for nought! She would be solidified as the leader of the pack! Watching the beast tamer shout angrily at her dog, her 2 teammates couldn't help but be reminded of an angry mother with rebellious kids...

Blackie approached the unconscious Mei, only to be stopped by a wooden puppet jumping out from behind a tree. It stood protectively before his chew toy, adopting a defensive stance! Blackie stared at its literally sculpted muscles, stunned. He could never understand what went on in the minds of humans...

"Stop!" the puppet said.

While Su Qing was so afraid he hid behind a tree instead of fighting, he couldn't just stand by while Mei was helpless!

Hearing it talk, Blackie was a bit surprised Eh, that didn't matter. What mattered, however, was that this would be a much better chew toy!

"Awwoooooooooo!"

Blackie pounced, chomping down on the puppet. But just as fast, he recoiled. That puppet was even harder than stone! Vibrations reverberated through his skull from the force of the bite. If this was back in the real world, Blackie had no doubt his teeth would have been chipped!

Faced with an opponent he couldn't even scratch, Blackie was frightened. The dog began to run away, howling.

"Blackie! What are you doing?" Guang Ai shouted.

The terrified Su Qing was very confused but decided not to question it. He picked up Mei and ran away as quickly as he could. Before long, he disappeared into the woods.

When Mei opened her eyes again, she felt herself carried by stiff and overly hard arms. It was very uncomfortable, making her back feel rather sore. Groaning as she looked up, seeing that Su Qing was carrying her in his arms.

"...what happened?" she asked.

She tried to get up and off his arms, stumbling and nearly falling to the ground; Su Qing barely managed to catch her in his panic. It was only now that she realised her entire body was numb all over.

"Careful!" Su Qing said.

After making sure she was fine, the spirit explained all the events that happened sheepishly, leaving her stunned. Conveniently, he left out the part where he was too busy hiding to help.

To think she was immediately taken out of the fight! That was rather embarrassing... Why was Guang Ai allowed to bring such an overpowered pet into the tournament anyway? Did the sect master not care about fairness?

Though, then again, Mei did make Su Qing's puppet out of unfairly strong wood, so she was guilty of that too. At this rate, the winner was just going to be a lucky bastard who got his or her hands on a foundational level artefact.

Wait... her core ring!

Mei was filled with regret. Earlier, before heading off to the hall, she left her ring back in her room. She figured the sect master would actually have some sense, so she didn't want to get it confiscated. Stupid sect master...

Hearing Su Qing say that her entire team just ran away, she felt a little hurt. That said, she probably would have done the same too, and it wasn't like her life was actually at risk, so she couldn't really blame them.

Mei grumbled to herself as Su Qing carried her, walking through the forest aimlessly. From her position, she could only see the canopies above her and the skies. Urgh, the sunlight was blinding her. She closed her eyes with a sigh.

For a moment, she considered asking Su Qing to hold her in a different pose so she could see properly, but a thought came to mind.

Couldn't she just use soulsense?

It was then when Mei froze, having come to yet another realisation. Earlier, while she was still with her friends, couldn't she have just used soulsense to find the animals? AAAAaaaaa, she was such an idiot!

Stupid! So stupid! But Mei figured there wasn't any point in beating up herself over it. It was probably somehow the sect master's fault anyway. Using soulsense was a bit tiring with her current cultivation too, so she was most definitely justified in her decision not to use it often.

Having made enough excuses to feel better, Mei tried to activate soulsense, only to realise her qi reserves were depleted. For some reason, her body arts continued to be active even after she lost consciousness, which was how she even survived Blackie's second attack. Naturally, she ran out of qi after a while.

"Su Qing... feed me pills..." she said, weakly.

"Okay!"

The little spirit began popping pill after pill into her mouth, nearly choking her. Mei wished she had water to swallow them with.

Shortly the pills took effect, sending a refreshing feeling rushing through her meridians; her body began to feel less numb as well, as some of them were Recovery Pills. Mei wondered how injured she would be in the real world. From how she was unable to move, maybe broken bones all over? She shuddered at the thought.

She paused for a moment, before activating soulsense.

Around her, countless motes of lights appeared, the souls of the grass and trees. With how many there were, she could practically just see the landscape with soulsense alone, despite it only detecting souls.

In the distance, there was a glowing figure of a huge unknown beast.

"Su Qing, there's a monster there," she said, pointing towards it.

"Hmm? I know!" the little spirit nodded.

Oh, right. Soulsense was probably how spirits mainly saw. Mei felt a bit silly.

Wait...

If that's the case, Su Qing should have spoken up when they were looking all around for beasts! Mei got that he was afraid of fights, but even so... She decided she needed to teach him to be braver when she had time.