Mei had no idea what kind of place the lost and found area was, so as soon as the wagon reached a street with few people, she got Su Qing to open up and hop off.

For a brief moment, the wagon tried to chase and pick Su Qing back up, but after he morphed back into a humanoid, the wagon gave up.

Welp.

For the next 5 minutes, the two of them searched for Senior Han, but to no avail.

It wasn't actually all that long, but Mei was completely out of it. She was so mentally exhausted, she felt like she might just fall asleep if she laid down. She thought to herself about how she needed to be more careful with soul sense in the future, at least until her cultivation went up.

"Urgh. Su Qing, any clue how to go back?"

"Er... I'm not sure either... ask someone?"

Shit. Mei realised she forgot what the hotel was even called.

Just as Su Qing walked over to some old lady, Hong Ling sighed.

"Did you two forget I was here?"

Mei: ...

Yeah.

"Oh, haha..." Su Qing trailed off.

"The moment you forget I'm around, you two get up to such mischief!"

Mei didn't want to hear that from him of all people.

"I tell you what. If you're looking for something fun to pass the time, I've got an even better proposal, heheh..."

"You sensed me all the way here? That's just freaky." a bird harrumphed. "Too bad that talent's being wasted on you."

Mei was speechless as she watched a squirrel crawl all over Feng Shen, grooming his feathers carefully with a brush.

From how enormous the bird was, the squirrel almost looked normal-sized, but it was in fact roughly two metres long.

Hong Ling had offered a mind recovery pill to Mei, before asking her to track down Feng Shen. It took a while, but after finding the bird, the spirit zoomed over with Mei and Su Qing in tow, landing on the branch of a massive tree that towered far above the ground. A series of new-looking wooden boards had been painstakingly carved and stuck onto the branches, forming a gigantic deck of sorts.

Even so, that was barely enough to fit the house-sized bird, who ate up 90% of the available space.

A muscly squirrel ran over before the bird, a platter of assorted roasted nuts on its back.

"Sir Feng! Your refreshments!" it cried out.

Feng Shen nodded nonchalantly.

"Oi, oi, it's the first time we've met in more than a decade, and you pay more attention to this nuisance than me?" Hong Ling laughed. "I'm hurt!"

"Mei Xiu isn't a nuisance!" Su Qing angrily shouted. "Take it back!"

"Yeah, yeah, I was just kidding."

"We know each other well enough to not waste our time on trivial formalities." Feng Shen said. "But if you insist, hello."

The bird nodded before lazily stowing the snacks away into storage space.

"Oi, you rats, I have business with these three. Scram!"

"Yes, sir!"

The two squirrels hopped off the tree in a hurry.

Hong Ling leisurely explained his plan to Feng Shen.

"I suppose I have some time to kill." the bird said, after a little thought.

"What! What are you thinking?" Xiuying yelped. "Do you realise how much danger you'd be putting us in?"

"Relax! This is only a 6th belt world, so we're not encountering anyone above Nascent Soul. Feng Shen here is a total freak, I've seen him take on 50 Nascent Soul cultivators alone before!"

"Hmph, Hong Ling, you're underestimating me. If some ragtag mechanical guardian can take me down, I'd kill myself out of shame." Feng Shen let out a cold snort.

6th belt world? Mei had no idea what they were talking about but since the rest of her friends seemed to be in on it, she didn't dare ask.

"So... what's your cultivation base?" Wang Wei asked tentatively.

"Peak Nascent Soul." Feng Shen said.

"What? Then how are you so confident?"

"Stop underestimating me!" the bird was genuinely angered.

Such a short temper...

"Why are you dragging us along anyway? I mean, I'm definitely not fine with you just taking Mei along, but why are you trying to get us in on it as well?" Xiuying asked.

"Oh, that's very simple, really." Hong Ling said. "Each of you has a guardian spirit. I'm fairly confident Feng Shen alone is more than enough, but it's just to be sure. Heck, earlier, during the assignment, I was pitting Mei against a single bandit. A single bandit! She was nearly... incapacitated by him. I've learnt my lesson, so I've overpreparing."

Eeek! Why the hell did Hong Ling have to bring that up?

Her friends turned to her with a quizzical look, Su Qing including, making her rather flustered.

"Errr... he was really, really strong! Strong enough to rival a Foundational cultivator! Ah, I was so unlucky... haha..." Mei said in a hurry, flailing around for a bit.

Mei secretly decided she would need to learn a few more arts... she had been lazing around too much in the past month.

Thankfully, they didn't ask for more details. She glared at Hong Ling, who smirked in return.

"Even so, do you think our guardian spirits would agree? They're not as irresponsible as you!" Xiuying said. "Right, Shi Xin?"

Behind her, a grey spirit materialised.

"Hmm... Xiuying, I know this might sound risky, and I understand and appreciate your concern for your sectmates, but with all of us guardians along with Feng Shen here, there truly isn't much danger." the spirit said in a gravelly voice. "I myself am quite interested in any schematics the ruins might have... they must be fairly inventive if they could make a functional mechanical guardian."

"Ehhh? But..." Xiuying trailed off.

One by one, each of the guardian spirits actually agreed, much to Mei's surprise. One of them even boasted it would take an entire sect to endanger them.

After hearing the spirits discuss, the rest of her friends seemed to relax, getting excited as well. Mei was a bit taken back.

She knew her sect was fairly powerful, but exactly how strong was it? And... from the sound of "6th belt world", it sounded like her sect might be based in a different world entirely?!