Mei woke up groggily, rubbing her eyes.

Back in the Buddhist sect, huh? Honestly, she didn't really feel all that motivated.

And she still needed to make time to read to the turtle. What a pain...

She missed the days where she could just read all day back in her dorm.

After lying around for half an hour, she got up, opening the door.

"Mei Xiu, good morning!" Xiuying said cheerfully.

Mei jumped backwards, startled. Too sudden.

"Haha, sorry!" Xiuying laughed. "Anyway, join us for breakfast."

She dragged Mei to the canteen, where Liu Qiang and Ding Zhe originally fought, the rest of the group following. A monk was already seated at the table, smiling and waving to them.

"Ding Zhe!" she called out.

Liu Qiang leaned in and whispered to him with a grin.

"So... this girl monk is that girlfriend you mentioned? No wonder she sits with you every morning."

At the side, Yingyi chuckled lightly.

Ding Zhe nodded with a sigh.

The disciples and monks lined up, taking their meals from the counter.

Breakfast was a large mantou filled with mushrooms, with a bowl of vegetable porridge and a side of honeydew melon.

Mei wasn't shy to immediately dig in. While most of the food was unseasoned and plain, the melon was so sweet and juicy! So it wasn't that the monks weren't allowed to eat anything tasty, huh?

"Liu Qiang, today, I brought something special for you." Ding Zhe suddenly smirked.

"Huh?"

"Here, have some drumsticks."

The monk handed over several kiwis with white chopsticks stabbed in them, laughing.

"Very funny." Liu Qiang grunted.

He peeled one of the kiwis and took a bite, his eyes widening.

"Oh, this is actually pretty good!"

"Aren't they? These are kiwis from Sanyan-"

Mei slowly ate, watching as they bantered. Despite everything she heard from yesterday, Ding Zhe still sounded quite happy as he chattered. He had gotten so friendly with everyone in such a short time, huh?

She couldn't help but feel a little lonely.

After their meal, Ding Zhe took them to a clearing, where a peaceful stream trickled along, tiny fish hopping out to gobble insects every now and then.

Lush, tall trees grew along it, providing ample shade. Underneath the many trees, there were prayer mats placed neatly.

"Today's session will be on meditation." Ding Zhe explained. "It's not just something to calm and focus the mind. I will guide you through meditative cultivation."

"Why doesn't your girlfriend meet up with you other than during meals?" Liu Qiang asked.

"You can't be serious! Why are you so fixated on her?"

The boys laughed.

Xiuying looked rather surprised.

"I thought monks weren't allow-"

"It's before we joined the sect. Now shut it, you lot are here to learn, not for idle chatter!"

Seems like it was still a sore spot for him...

"Is meditation beneficial to spirits too?" Su Qing asked. "We don't exactly cultivate, but just refine our souls."

"Well, you can still use it to destress and focus."

"I'll try then!"

Mei yawned lightly as Ding Zhe instructed them, occasionally pointing to various acupoints. Boring...

If only she still had chestnuts so she could continue cultivating fast.

The lesson ended in a few hours. Mei didn't feel like she had learnt much. Halfway, Su Qing went off to play.

Xiuying immediately started explaing to her what they had been doing the past days, but Mei didn't pay that much attention, nodding absentmindedly.

Once she was done, Wang Wei immediately went looking for Mei, Liu Qiang following.

"Remember back when you helped me contract a spirit and it was sent to the magma chambers?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"The thing is... I can't tell it apart from the other spirits. But I'm too embarrased to ask an Elder..."

"And yet you tell Liu Qiang as well?" she asked.

She thought he would have wanted as little people to known as possible.

"Well, we're friends so it's fine, hmph!" he harrumphed. "I thought it could help with his smithing somehow if he followed."

Liu Qiang looked a little excited.

"I want to try forging something right out of actual lava!"

Hmm... Well, it seemed a little fun, so Mei agreed.

"Oh, and try this mask! I worked with Liu Qiang to make it!"

Wang Wei handed her a mask with proper glass eyeholes cut into it. Despite not having a visible cooling talisman, it was cold to the touch.

Mei put it on and looked around. Mn, this was hundreds of times better than the stupid bottle-eyed mask!

The three of them linked their hands before teleporting off.

...

It had been a long while since she had come here. This time however, the mask was stopping her from being roasted alive.

The burly earth-like man she vaguely remembered was still there on the same rock, cultivating with his spirits.

"Whoa! This place is so cool!" Liu Qiang said.

He ran his hands along the rocky walls, before running over to a nearby lava pool and dipping his hands in it.

Hopefully, he wouldn't flick his hands when they inevitably get coated... she had enough with the centipede.

Activating soulsense, she sensed the contracted spirit immediately. Well, that was fast...

"Wang Wei, that one." she pointed.

He nodded before retriving the little spirit, who seemed surprised to see him again.

"I name you Bao Hua! For your flames shall explode like flowers!"

How dramatic...

"So do we go now, or what? Since we already found him."

"Not yet for me, at least. I was thinking I might be able to learn something from observing magma. In a sense, it's almost like the mother of alchemy, isn't it?"

"What?"

"I mean as in how so many minerals, metals have been born from it. You get me?"

"Right..."

Mei decided not to question his logic.

Suddenly, she felt a large hand grasp her shoulder firmly.

"Eeek!"

It was that stone-like guy! What did he want? She didn't even hear his footsteps!

"I didn't recognise you at first due to your mask... but you are Mei Xiu, aren't you?" he spoke in a gravelly voice. "The spirits have spoken a lot about you. I think it's best we had a talk."