Mei could feel the searing heat, even from the distance. The flames washed across the centipede, its body a black silhouette amidst.

Did he get it? The centipede shook off the flames and spat its own fire at Wang Wei.

Nevermind.

"Gahhhh!" Wang Wei yelled. "This thing is of the fire element too!"

He took out his sword, but his hands were shaking so hard, he nearly dropped it.

"Ha-haaaaaah!"

He slashed at the centipede, only for the blow to glance off with a loud clang.

"Mei Xiu! I-I can't win! It's too strong!" Wang Wei looked on the verge of tears.

A fire cultivator crying...

The centipede must not have been particularly smart, as it continuously spat flames at Wang Wei instead of biting him. Mei felt bad for him but she also wished he would stop screaming. Su Qing stood up beside her, finally gathering his courage.

"Die, stupid fire bug!"

He sent a torrent of water at the centipede from his storage jade, sending clouds of steam into the air with a loud sizzle. Finally, the centipede seemed fazed. It made a screech of pain before snatching Wang Wei's sword away, running off into the distance.

"M-my sword!" he wailed. "We can't let it get away!"

He ran after it, but was unable to match it's speed. Su Qing hesitated for a moment before taking large chunks of vine out and turning into a huge wagon with arms on its side. He grabbed Mei beside him and tossed her in, before rushing over to Wang Wei and grabbing him as well.

The boy flailed for a bit and took a moment to settle down.

"You can transform?" he asked.

"Hehe..." Su Qing said bashfully.

Sensing the wagon on its tail, the centipede started running even faster, Su Qing tried his best but could only match it's speed.

"It's too fast!" he complained.

Mei suddenly had an idea.

"Don't just stand there! Throw rocks at it! Didn't you pick up a lot back underground?"

"Eh? But they're my precious rock eggs!"

"Just throw the ugly ones! We can find more pretty ones later!"

"Fine..."

With a grumbled, the little spirit filled the wagon with rocks. Mei and Wang Wei coughed from the dust. Was his spatial storage just covered in dust after tossing so many rocks in? Mei wondered if it was really okay for her to store her library books with him...

"Put them in my hands so I can throw!" he said.

The two disciples looked at each other before placing rocks into Su Qing's hands.

This... was actually kinda fun?

With a gleeful shout, Su Qing began throwing rocks haphazardly. Loud thuds echoed as he threw rock after rock at the centipede, making it screech in panic.

The rocks however... did not even hit their target once. Su Qing's aim was so bad. Mei had enough of his nonsense and decided to throw the rocks herself.

Bang!

The rock slammed into the centipede's head, staggering it for a moment.

"Yess!" she cheered.

"Let me try too!" Wang Wei said.

"No! Nooo!" Su Qing yelled.

"What?" Mei said in annoyance.

"These are my rocks, not yours! You can't throw them!"

The two disciples were speechless.

A few minutes passed, Su Qing having thrown hundreds of rocks. Not a single one hit. Finally, the centipede seemed to have reached its destination, a cave it hurriedly scampered into.

"If you let us throw them, this wouldn't have happened!" Mei said.

"Hmph!"

Su Qing disassembled the wagon and reverted back into his puppet form.

Wang Wei walked over to the cave and peeked into it gingerly. With how big the centipede was, any cave it could fit it, they could as well.

"My sword..."

"Can't you just buy a new one?" Mei said.

He was a moneybags anyway.

"My father gave that sword to me! I can't just get a new one!"

He suddenly looked determined.

"I'm going to chase it down! If it's a centipede nest, we can just teleport away and come back later!"

With that, he rushed in.

Huh... Mei was talking out of her ass earlier, but maybe this really could help him overcome his fear.

She dragged Su Qing along, following him.

It was getting warmer and warmer...

Mei could feel gusts of warm air rushing out. Her wood cultivation made her feel a strong sense of unease. The centipede's nest was almost certainly filled with magma.

Su Qing whimpered as well.

Wang Wei looked at them with some concern.

"Maybe you can wait outside... since you two are wood aligned..." he said. "Though... maybe Su Qing could be fine, since he's a dual element spirit, haha..."

"Wait, Su Qing is dual element?" Mei asked.

The two of them looked at her with a strange look.

"Didn't you see him manipulate water before? Like back when he played around with soup?"

"Well, yes but... I thought he was just using qi sense or something."

Mei suddenly felt very silly.

"Aha!" Su Qing said. "If there's scary fire below, then we just do this!"

"Do what?" Wang Wei asked.

"Hehe!"

Su Qing unleashed a wave of water from his storage jade, sending it rushing downwards.

"Oh! That's smart!" Mei said.

Wang Wei stared blankly before alarm washed over his face.

"Wait wait wait! Don't do that!" he hurriedly tried to stop the spirit.

"What? You like the crazy fire? Hmph!"

"No! You'll cause a-"

A torrent of hot steam rushed past them, making Mei and Wang Wei scream. Realising he wasn't actually hurt by the heat, he regained his composure and yelled at Su Qing.

"I told you! Quick, plug the cave before Mei Xiu gets hurt worse!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Su Qing cried.

Moments later, the wave of steam was plugged by vine wood. At the side, Mei let out cries of pain, clutching her eyes. Wang Wei stuffed a pill into her mouth, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her out of the cave.

...

"Are you okay?" Su Qing asked. "I didn't know! I'm so sorry!"

Mei glared at him for a moment before looking away. Between the regeneration of Vital Body and the pill, she had already recovered, but she was still angry.

Why did it feel like she was always subject to pain? Were the heavens jinxing her because she learnt an art that could heal her so easily?

Maybe she should just keep a batch of painkillers on her at all times... or maybe look for Luye to help her find a pain mitigating technique.