Jing Yi awkwardly sat in the middle of the Veil of Clouds, trying to shrink into himself as much as he could. What should he do if one of them attacked him? He tried to keep an eye on each one of them but with one girl sitting in each direction, there was no way to do so. One of them would always be out of sight. Faced with this dilemma, his brows scrunched up and his lips quivered. Did he really have to confront so many mud monsters just to become a hero? He didn’t like this at all!

One of Wu Min Huan’s junior martial sisters noticed the pale face of the little boy and scurried over. She had a good impression of Jing Yi and couldn’t help but feel distressed on his behalf when she saw that he seemed about to cry.

The majority of the children were from big families and already knew some basics of cultivation. Accordingly, they had some attitude even when dealing with their future senior martial brothers and sisters. They expected to become the new geniuses of the Yun Zou Sect, after all. Why should they treat others nicely? Soon, people would hurry after them and beg to do tasks for them!

Even the other children were feeling smug after they found out that they could become cultivators. And if they didn’t, they didn’t have any outstanding characteristic that let them stay in mind. Jing Yi was the only child the disciples from the sect had remembered so far and they couldn’t help but pay more attention to him.

The martial sister that had hurried to his side took his hands and smiled gently at him in the hope of calming him down. "Jing Yi, is everything alright? You’re looking a little pale! Are you afraid of heights?"

Jing Yi shook his head. Quite the contrary! He would have loved to be able to have a look down. But the one thing he was afraid of was still in his way.

"Then what is it? Maybe I can help you!" The girl continued to smile. Children like this boy needed to be coaxed to say what was wrong. She wouldn’t give up that easily!

Jing Yi looked up at her, thankful that she wanted to help him against the mud monsters. She looked younger than Wu Min Huan by a few years but she was still about double the age of Jing Yi. In fact, he didn’t see her as a girl at all. Had she known … she probably wouldn’t have wanted to help anymore.

Jing Yi prepared to tell her everything but then he remembered Qiu Ling’s warning: He couldn’t tell anyone! Thus the poor martial sister didn’t get an answer. She looked at Wu Min Huan to plead for help.

Her senior martial brother raised his brows and came over, tousling Jing Yi’s hair. "What is it? Afraid?"

Jing Yi shook his head again but Wu Min Huan only laughed. "How about big brother accompanies you to have a look?" He didn’t believe Jing Yi. Look at this! The poor little dumpling was terrified but didn’t want to show it. Ah, he had to really look up to him, this heroic big brother!

Jing Yi’s eyes sparkled. If this big brother Wu accompanied him, he wouldn’t have to be afraid of the mud monsters! They probably wouldn’t dare to attack a hero, would they? With this solution in sight, he grabbed Wu Min Huan’s sleeve and nodded fervently.

The man laughed again and picked Jing Yi up. He winked at the junior martial sister who had called him over and she took up his place at the front of the ribbon while he brought Jing Yi to the other side.

He sat down with Jing Yi in his arms and nodded downward. "What do you say? Isn’t it beautiful? There’s no reason to be afraid!"

Jing Yi looked down, his eyes sparkling. Finally, he could see what was down there! He curiously looked around but right then, only clouds could be seen below them. Jing Yi deflated. It seemed this wasn’t as great as he had thought after all. He already wanted to turn back to Wu Min Huan and ask if he could stay with him anyway when the clouds finally opened up and uncovered the ground below.

Jing Yi’s eyes grew wide. He could still see the edge of the capital but the buildings weren’t as big as he knew them from his time there. Instead, they didn’t even seem as big as his thumb. He tried looking for the teahouse where his mother was but they were already too far away.

Instead, he noticed another building or rather another part of the city he had never seen before: A wall like the one surrounding the whole capital was encircling it and quite a few buildings stood in the middle of magnificent gardens and long roads passed through this part of the city. Jing Yi couldn’t believe what he saw. Why had Shao Hai never shown him this part?

Before he could ponder the question any longer, the capital was left behind and vanished in the distance. Jing Yi forgot about the city in the capital and observed the landscape drifting by instead. The paddies and forests didn’t look any different than the capital: Everything was small. When the Veil of Clouds finally made a turn Jing Yi could even see the Long mountain range he had needed so many days to pass with his family even though they had only traveled through the foothills. Now, that fearsome place that had almost cost all three of them their lives seemed small enough to hold it in both of his hands.

Before Jing Yi could fully comprehend what he was seeing the Veil of Clouds slowed down and descended in a large spiral. Jing Yi looked to the side and finally saw the place he would call home for the next years: The sect grounds of the Yun Zou Sect. It truly was a place not meant for the average human.

Taking in the wide expanse of land in the crook of the mountain range's neck, trying to count all the buildings there in the meadow and finally noticing the buildings that clung to the mountains themselves or had even managed to reach their tops, Jing Yi couldn’t help but feel that he had come to the right place.

If he wanted to become a hero, this was certainly the best place!