"Oh, you're lost? You're one of the disciples from the Virtue sect aren't you?

"Yeah..."

"Do you remember who is your guide is? I could lead you to his or her residence."

"Um... I think his name was... Ding Zhi or something..."

The elder monk laughed.

"So Ding Zhe is your guide, I see. He's a bit eccentric, but he's a good kid."

Just like that, Mei was brought home.

Honestly, she should have thought of asking an Elder for directions sooner.

After waving the old monk goodbye, she barged into the house and immediately started looking into every room. No one, no one, no one...

Oh, Wang Wei was here.

He was hunched over his alchemy pot, throwing various weeds in. Was he seriously going to try to make pills whenever he saw any new plants? Seeing her pull the door open, he was startled, knocking the pot over.

"Eh? Mei Xiu? Weren't you culti-"

"Have you seen Su Qing?" she asked.

"Su Qing? He came to visit yesterday but then went out on his own again."

Gah! He was running off to play around, as expected!

"Okay, thanks. Bye!"

As she ran off, Wang Wei frowned. She wasn't even going to ask if he was okay when she left him alone back there?

Meanwhile, Mei was complaining to herself about Su Qing constantly going missing. She wished there was a way to contact him.

...

Maybe if she started building a stupid rock nest he'd be baited over.

Not having much else to do, she walked out of Ding Zhe's home and started gathering rocks and tossing them into a pile. The nearby monks gave her weird looks but she ignored them.

The pile wasn't coming together at all... without knowledge of formations, making a tall one was basically impossible...

Mei had no idea what Su Qing found so fun about making these.

...

"Mei Mei! Let me help!" Su Qing's voice suddenly rang out from behind.

Mei reflectively turned around and grabbed the wooden puppet that had run over, then dragged him into the house.

"What are you doing?" the little spirit squealed.

Wow, it actually worked. It had only been 20 mins! Was Su Qing able to track her or something?

"Give me the books! All of them!"

"Okay okay!"

Confused, Su Qing took out the massive pile of books and put them on the ground.

Mei looked through all the titles... One caught her eye, "Divine Blacksmith, Unrivalled Under The Heavens". Maybe this would do.

She grabbed the first two volumes and rushed off, the confused Su Qing trailing behind.

"Hey! Mr pond turtle!" Mei threw a bunch of longans into the lake.

This time, the turtle barely took interest, leaving the fish to feast happily.

"What is it? The gig is up, so I'm not eating that bland mortal food."

...what a snob.

"I have the solution to your boredom problem." Mei grinned deviously.

"The solution?"

"This! A book!" Mei held up the first volume.

The turtle squinted at the squarish block of paper.

"The heck is that? Some kind of brick alternative?"

Mei was taken aback for a moment. Right... she didn't consider how the turtle might not be able to read. This was going to be troublesome.

Thinking for a bit, she glanced around at the nearby monks. Maybe she could get one of the monks to read it to him... No! If this was indeed enough to entice the turtle to give her more goodies, the last thing she'd want is for other people to catch on!

"Um, do you mind if we talk somewhere else? I think this is best kept under swaps..." she whispered in soulsense.

"The hell? Are you dealing something shady like drugs or something?"

"What! Of course not!"

She resisted the urge to glance around. Why the hell did this stupid water lizard thing have to bring that up?

"Okay, just come along with me. If nothing, you can beat me up and report it to the elders right? Whatever I'm offering is surely more interesting than just lounging around in the lake all day!"

Turtle: ...

"I can't believe I agreed to this... and you picked a place like this?"

"Can't help it! I don't want people eavesdropping!"

After searching around, Mei found a desolate old house with a broken door, the inside caked with dust. It was clear no one had lived here in a while.

She grabbed a convenient broom propped against the wall, giving a place a brief sweep. If not for how she no longer needed to breath, she'd be coughing from the dust clouds.

Su Qing took out some water from his storage jade, helping to clean as well.

With a resigned look, the turtle began scratching a formation in the floorboards, creating a formation of sorts. It took a good 10 minutes to complete, just about time Mei and Su Qing finished roughly cleaning up.

"There, a soundproofing formation. So what exactly is this so-called 'book' you refer to?"

Mei glanced at the book she brought. Earlier, she picked it because for whatever reason, she thought a turtle might like a smithing related book since they had such hard shells, like armour. But not that she thought of it again, that was a completely nonsensical assumption.

...

"Ahem! Okay, so..."

Mei flipped the book open and began reading..

...

At first, the turtle didn't wasn't all that interested.

"This is what you brought me here for?"

"Wow! That boy is such an idiot! Why's the story even focused on him?"

...

Mei wasn't sure exactly at which point it happened, but eventually, the stubborn turtle got hooked.

"What! Such a new blacksmith was able to create a Grade 3 Artefact! Incredible!"

"He's so cool!" Su Qing chimed in.

Apparently, the little spirit was entralled as well.

"How dare they treat young Tian Xia like that! They want to suppress him just because of his superior talent? How immoral!"

"Meanies!"

The sun soon set as she read, the first book finished.

Mei had gotten a little tired from all that reading and was feeling parched.

"What! It ends there? But I want to know what happen after that evil Elder threw him into the Death Ravine!"

"Is he going to die? Is he?" Su Qing was on the verge of tears.

She glanced away awkwardly. Should she break the ruse and tell them it was just fiction?

"I'm tired now. I'll read you the next book tomorrow, but you need to pay for today's session!" Mei coughed, trying her best to put on a serious look.

"Don't worry! To tell me such classified secrets, I won't sell you short!"

Mei thought hard. From what her mom used to say, she should start high when bargaining, then work her way down...

"5 water chestnuts! The ones from yesterday!"

"Deal!"

Mei had a blank look as the turtle tossed them over.

It... it was that easy?