Mei stared doubtfully at the small wooden amulet, before putting it on. Was this really going to work?

Shortly after, she felt a sense of drowsiness come over her. Right, Hong Ling did say it would help with sleep...

zzz...

Xiao Mei watched uncomfortably as Mei's body suddenly sat up from the bed, beginning to cultivate in the lotus position.

So it did work...

"Just keep calm, and cast it as I directed! Override the control mechanism!"

Nodding faintly, the "old lady" nascent soul complied, before closing her eyes in focus. The technique the jade spirit taught her was precisely for this very moment. From her fingers, waves of qi shot towards the wooden charm. A few traces of it seeped in, before being ejected, the wooden glowing with the light of the hidden seals that covered it.

"Tsk... " Hong Ling muttered.

Again and again, she tried, but to no avail.

"Alright, screw this. Let me handle this, kiddo. I count to three, and we both attack it at the same time!"

"Okay..."

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three!"

Very slightly faster than Xiao Mei's, the jade spirit's qi clashed with the seals on the charm, lighting them up. A crack was left on it, allowing her qi to enter. A moment later, Mei's body slumped to the bed face first, no longer being controlled.

As Hong Ling's qi faded away, the seals repaired themselves, leaving no trace of a crack.

"We... we did it?" Xiao Mei said, somewhat excited.

"Give it a try!"

Gingerly, "Mei" sat up from the bed, opening her eyes.

The faint light from the moon basked the books on the table. Faintly, she could see bits of dust flying about and she could hear the faint sound of disciples talking outside.

How long had it been since she had last seen and heard? Right... never.

An emotion she wasn't sure how to describe welled up within her. She stood up and walked towards the table, covered with messily placed books.

"Oi. You're not going to..." Hong Ling sounded vaguely angry.

"I'm not going to! I'm not that inconsiderate..."

While Xiao Mei thought it would be pretty funny if she just sat in the room and read till day came, she did know full well that what the jade spirit wanted was to see her go outside... and do... stuff? Probably wanted her to cause chaos and get caught, for his amusement.

Though, despite his shady antics, she was indeed grateful for his help.

"Um... t- tha-"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind." she coughed. "I just wanted to look out of the window. I haven't seen with eyes in so long..."

Despite being stuck where she was, it wasn't as if she were entirely blind. She still had spirit and soul sense to rely on, though it was not in any way the same. Sight... that brought in colours, shadows... and sound. She missed that too.

The sight of the sect at night, the windows blinking with lights. She never thought she would appreciate it so much.

Reaching for the wooden charm strung around "her" neck, Xiao Mei stared at the inscriptions with a faint smile.

"So. Any plans?" Hong Ling asked.

Xiao Mei walked briskly along the street, her eyes closed, trying to make her movement as puppet-like as she could, in case the disciples seeing her thought something was up. But then again, until a bit ago, she never knew something like that existed.

Indeed, some disciples did give her "sleepwalking" strange looks, but none of them questioned it.

"I'm thinking of going to that big tree in the middle of the sect. Seems like a good spot, since cultivation is faster there?"

She would still have to get a little cultivation done so Mei wouldn't find it suspicious.

"Ah, you mean the Heavenreach tree? It's an... interesting fellow."

"Er, probably."

"...I'm surprised you don't know. Not a bad spot."

Not a bad spot? Xiao Mei half expected him to complain about it and ask for somewhere else that would cause a commotion... maybe she was just thinking too much.

Before long, she reached the tree. As she neared the base, she found to her surprise that even now, the area was still fairly populated by disciples. For a moment, she was worried she would be found out, but she realised most of them were inner disciples wearing the same wooden charm, cultivating in their sleep...

Heheh. She wouldn't look out of place then.

Save for not a single one being outer disciples. After all, new disciples weren't rich enough to waste jade on such luxuries.

...

Wait.

Why did she even come here? What else was there to do here but cultivate?

Ahhhh! She was so occupied with the thought of covering up, that she didn't consider what there was to actually do here. Sure, there were shops, which probably were still open, but going there with the charm active was too suspicious.

Tsk...

No sense in wasting time. The best course of action was to just get the cultivation done and over with, then find somewhere else to have fun later.

She held up the wooden charm around her neck.

...

"Um, Hong Ling..."

"Hm?"

"How do I switch this thing back to normal?"

There was no way she was actually going to cultivate herself, naturally.

For a moment, there was an awkward pause.

"Haha. I have no idea. Forgive me, eh?"

...

...

Xiao Mei immediately wanted to fling the amulet out of anger but managed to hold it back. No... that would be too suspicious.

Damn it... did he break the charm's original function entirely now that it was under her control? Did that mean she was going to have to do all the cultivation the charm was supposed to do?!

$%@$! [email protected]%$! $%@$!

"Oi, oi, calm down. That tiny bit of qi you injected should fade by tomorrow. And this is my first time testing that! I'm sorry, alright?"

But even as Hong Ling apologised, she felt like she could hear faint hints of suppressed laughter. Damn it!

Fine. Whatever. Just for tonight, right?

She angrily squeezed through the sea of "sleep-cultivating" disciples, pushing towards the trunk, where the massive gash was. Since no one here was awake, no one would blame her for climbing all the way in, right? Where all the qi was leaking from, she would probably cultivate the fastest.

Finally forcing her way through all the disciples, she reached for the gash... only for a wave of qi to materialise into a barrier and slam into her, sending her flying out. She crashed into a piece of oddly shaped wood with a loud thud, knocking it away.

Still forced asleep by the talisman, Mei let out a cry of pain, but Xiao Mei didn't feel it.

For a moment, she felt the looming presence of a massive being's anger, making her blood run cold ...the soul of the tree?

"Haha! Old Heavenreach is really touchy about that wound. You're lucky she didn't get injured any worse. Those bruises should heal in a few hours with your body art."

Even though it didn't hurt, she reached for her back involuntarily. Mei's face was slightly grimaced in pain.

What was that she crashed in? She turned around and finally opened her eyes... only to see a wooden statue of a man toppled on the ground. Weirdly enough, its mouth was slightly ajar and the face was slightly scrunched up, looking rather constipated.

Picking up itself with qi sense, it shouted angrily at her.

"Hey! What's the big idea?"