As I walked out of the mission hall, I saw the Sect Master talking with the boy elder while looking at the corpses on the ground. Mom then walked up to me out of nowhere and saw the paper in my hand. She looked at something behind me before saying that she was going to grab me a few things from the house.

Then, without me being able to say anything, she vanished into thin air.

Turning around to look behind me, I wanted to see what Mom was looking at, but there was nothing there. I did notice that Lou Xia was looking at me weirdly and with some confusion while I was doing that. Realizing a moment later what I was doing, I stopped and pretended that nothing happened while running to the administration hall.

The administration hall itself had recently moved to the center of town where the shrine was and was decorated to look a lot more like a town hall of sorts. This meant that it was only a short distance away from the mission hall, and I was already standing in front of it a few seconds later.

Walking inside, I saw that it looked similar to before on the inside, with the only difference being more counters and more people. Lou Xia walked in behind me and paused for a second before pulling me toward one of the counters.

The person handling the counter was the same woman who had helped us during my first visit to the administration hall. Thankfully, this time, she was not asleep, so she was able to see us approaching.

The moment that she saw Lou Xia and me approaching her, I could have sworn that the hair on the back of my neck had started to rise and that something in my brain was signaling danger, but it was gone the next moment. While all of that was happening, the woman had the most fake smile on her face that I have ever seen. Lou Xia did not seem to care about this and walked right up to her, saying, “So you're awake! I guess miracles do happen.”

That distracted the woman from me and placed her attention on Lou Xia, where her smile seemed to become much more genuine. Then, what Lou Xia had said seemed to finally register for her, and her smile vanished, replaced by a frown as she asked, “Is that all you remember about me?”

Lou Xia shook her head at that with a smile on her face that stung me for some reason as she replied, “Nope, but that is the most memorable thing about you.”

That strange stinging sensation I felt earlier somewhat faded, but it also left me feeling conflicted as I was also feeling happy about what Lou Xia said. Normally, I would think that Lou Xia’s words would hurt, even between friends, and I would sympathize with the woman, but now I was happy.

The woman herself did not seem to be happy either, and she started pouting. Lou Xia then reached over the counter and knocked her over the head, asking, “What is that about? You have been around me long enough to know that I’m joking. Besides, I need you to help out Vale again so that she can get promoted to an inner sect disciple.”

That caused the sting to return with a vengeance. I then looked back at the woman, and I thought I saw a faint smile on her lips. However, when I blinked, the smile was gone, replaced by her frown again, as she asked, “Are you asking me to falsify a report? You know what’ll happen if we get caught, don’t you?”

Lou Xia face palmed at that before explaining to the woman, “No, we only need you to fill out the needed paperwork and get a watcher assigned so she can fill in the requirements earlier.”

After hearing that, the woman sighed and motioned toward me with an open hand, asking, “Can I see the mission request?” Something in the back of my head told me not to give it to her, but I needed this to be done, and we were in the open, so nothing would happen regardless. 

Taking a breath, I handed over the paper and watched as she pulled out a separate piece of paper and started writing stuff down. Once she was finished, she handed the mission request back to me and said that she would be right back before walking off. Once she was gone, Lou Xia turned to me and said, “Hey! You alright? Is there anything bothering you?”

Her question caused me to jump when I heard it. That got a slight smile out of Lou Xia as I caught my breath before responding. A second later, I said, “Yeah, I’m fine. By the way, when did you meet… Um.”

“May. Her name is May, and I met her when I officially joined the sect as an outer Disciple. We actually met during the entrance examination when I ended up helping her complete one of the trials. She later helped me during the final trial, and we both made it into the sect. From there, we kind of just got along and became friends until we ended up separating after choosing our masters upon entering the inner sect. She also needed to make some money to keep up with her cultivation, unlike me, so she got a job here in the sect. It also gives her a continuous source of contribution points, so she does not need to leave the sect if she does not want to.”

She explained this all before getting a smile on her face as she added, “Oh, and you don’t need to worry about anything as we are just friends and I will never think of her as anything but that.”

That last part was not needed, and I do not know why she said it. I mean, it is not like we were in a relationship or anything. At least, I did not think that we were. After all, the only things that we did together were her showing me around town, taking me out to eat, taking me shopping, taking me to meet her parents, and staying at her house for a while. She also helped me out with research… and collecting things from the library…

Oh.

My thoughts now started to spiral as I started thinking about all the time that I had spent with Lou Xia and whether we could be considered in a relationship or not. I was even starting to think about what we did, which could have been considered a date when May finally got back from wherever she went, bringing me out of my thoughts.

Along with my mind coming back to reality, I could feel that my cheeks seemed to be blazing at the moment. May obviously saw that, and a frown crossed her face at that moment, but it soon disappeared, replaced by a blank face as she said, “The paperwork is done, and your watcher will be waiting for you at the gate of the sect in half an hour.”

With that, she grabbed a couple of things from the counter before I could respond and walked out of the room. That left both Lou Xia and me confused for a few moments before Lou Xia shrugged and turned around to leave.

Snapping out of it, I turned and followed her. As soon as we left the building, Mom appeared in front of us, holding a backpack and a picnic basket.

When she saw me, she handed them to me and said, “I have already packed everything that you would need while outside of the sect in the backpack. It contains some of your tools, your anvil, enough transmission talismans for you to talk to me once every day, and some money fit for the mundane world. I also took the liberty to add a few books on more mundane things and some favor tokens from the surrounding sects, as well as make you some dinner that I placed in the picnic basket. Oh, and Lou Xia, make sure that nothing happens to her, or I will be having a chat with you when you get back.”

With that, Mom placed the backpack and picnic basket in my arms before disappearing again.

After that, I turned to look at Lou Xia as she looked over at me. This resulted in us staring at each other for a few seconds as I felt my cheeks start heating up again. I then quickly put the backpack and picnic basket in my inventory and started running for the sect gate as I shouted, “We should probably leave now.”