Mei got up groggily. It was already bright outside.

Normally, she would have been woken by Su Qing by now.

Come to think of it, it had been more than a week since she last saw that little spirit. She wondered what he was doing.

She picked up the teleportation token off the table. Its faint blue glow was hard to see in the morning glare.

Ah. Right, yesterday night, there had been an announcement about the sect master's departure. Today, there wouldn't be any lectures, as there was going to be a departure ceremony for the sect master this afternoon.

"I'm pleased to see not a single one of you is missing. I hope everyone will continue to report on time in the future."

Qiao Shun said, standing before the disciples in the hall.

While there were no lessons for the day, they were to report to the hall anyway in preparation for the departure ceremony.

Nodding, the elder went through how they should conduct themselves during the ceremony, which could be just boiled down to "keep quiet and don't be unruly". The disciples sat silently for the next hour, waiting for the start of the ceremony. Mei saw that some disciples were silently whispering to each other, afraid to rouse the elder's anger.

As the sound of a bell chiming rang through the hall, Qiao Shun placed a formation plate upon the floor, an oval portal opening in the air. Air from the hall began to rush outside, making a loud billowing sound.

"It is time. Disciples, please enter orderly."

As Mei entered with her friends, she found herself on a wooden deck of a massive ship. Above her, thick clouds hung, shielding them from the sun. Massive masts lined the ship, their sails down.

She walked a few steps, finding the wood felt oddly hollow. Then she stared at the tiny buildings in the distance.

This... this was an airship!

Excited, she gingerly stepped towards the railing and held them, looking down. A bit scary to look from so high up.

"Hey! Standing so close is a bit dangerous, isn't it!" Xiuying shouted as she walked over.

Ah. Mei nervously peeked at Qiao Shun, but he didn't seem to care. Still, she took a few steps back from the railing and to Xiuying.

Seeing the two of them walking near the railings, the rest of the group wandered over as well.

"Whoa! The sight is so beautiful over here!" Liu Qiang exclaimed, peeking his head straight over the edge.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me?" Xiuying said.

"Heheh, don't worry! My grip is very strong."

For some reason, Mei felt a bit odd, but she couldn't exactly pin down why. She stared into the distance and saw that alongside their ship, countless other airships could be seen as well.

While most of them were filled by regular disciples... to her surprise, some weren't even filled by people. Some were boarded by hundreds of various spirit beasts, and there was even a ship that was full of asuras!

For a moment, she thought she saw Si Yuan, but it was just another similar looking asura. Weirdly enough, all of them seemed to have runic marks on their skin as well.

She took a page from Liu Qiang's book and grabbed the railing before looking down as well, but more cautiously.

Below, an incredibly long black silk carpet was laid like a road. From time to time, she would see elders leap from their airships, landing on the ground to wait at the sides of the carpet.

"Hey Mei. Is it just me, or do you look a bit shiny today?" Liu Qiang suddenly interrupted her.

"Eh?"

Xiuying and Wang Wei squinted at her.

"Indeed, you do look a bit glowy today." she mused. "Is that some kind of cosmetic?"

"Eh?!"

She looked to her skin and saw it was indeed a bit shiny, thought not all that noticable without looking closely. Was that because of the Sunspot talisman? Si Yuan did say it would direct sun qi to her skin or something?

"Maybe she ate a weird pill." Wang Wei suggested.

Mei: ...

Their discussion was interrupted by a loud gong, the sound reverbing through the air.

Then the sound of drums boomed, sending vibrations she could feel through the deck.

"Hah!"

Chanting could be heard from below.

The thick clouds above began to churn, a hole opening up, sending a ray of sunlight to the start of the silk carpet. An old man, the sect master stood. Behind him, was a band, playing their instruments loudly. He walked along the silk carpet, the musicians and the hole in the clouds following him, lighting up his path.

The airships slowly began to lower, giving the disciples a better view of the sect master as he walked.

This... this was a bit too exaggerated wasn't it? Mei felt like he was being a bit of a show-off.

The elders bowed to him as he walked, and he would in turn nod to them.

Wait. The sect leader still hadn't given her the book for her cultivation!

Mei suddenly felt panicked and began waving, but to no avail. Xiuying pat her back and shook her head, but Mei ignored her.

After what felt like forever, the sect master finally reached the end of the path. He snapped his fingers, the clouds above them dispersing. Bright sunlight flooded down, lighting the whole area up.

"Disciple, Elders... no, everyone in the sect! Today is a-"

As the sunlight poured down, Mei suddenly felt rather warm. She began to grow brighter and brighter, until she was like a second sun in the sky!

"AAAAaaaaaAAAAaaaa!" she yelped.

What was going on? It felt like she had been tossed into a sauna! She could only see white!

It was bright enough that even the sect master stopped his speech to stare at the flailing girl.

"Whoa! She really did eat a weird pill!" Wang Wei exclaimed.

Somewhere in the distance, a certain asura started to sweat profusely.

Reminded of his promise by the very very bright girl, the sect master hastily took out a notebook, and flung it into the air forcefully. With a loud zooming sound, the book shot towards the ship and landed right before her, nearly crashing into her toes, but thankfully missing. He quickly waved his hands, blanketing the skies with clouds again.

Finally, Mei lost her glow. Clutching her eyes, she stumbled aimlessly for a while before tripping over the book and falling down.

"Ahem! So, as I was saying..." the sect master continued.