Mei walked forward, grabbing a book from a shelf. Around her, were rows and rows of bookshelves.

She sighed, thinking back what had just happened.

After the testing and some explanations, she and the other disciples were led to a rather tall building. When she saw it, Mei felt a huge sense of awe. That had to be at least 12 storeys high! She had never seen one so big.

"Eh?! We get to live here?" she recalled exclaiming.

She was a bit disappointed to find that they were just assigned rooms, but that made sense. It was very luxurious compared to her home anyway.

While Mei was more than satisfied with the living conditions, Wang Wei was sulky about it. She half expected him to say something like: "Hey! This is ten times smaller than my room! How do I even live in this?" but he just kept quiet.

Li Jie told them lectures would start the next day and that they could do whatever they wanted for today, but they should all change into the sect's attire.

As she was about to wrap up, she heard a familiar voice.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

She turned around to see Wang Wei. Now that he was dressed in the white-robed attire of the sect, Mei felt like he looked a lot more normal, like a typical boy.

"Oh. Me neither," she said.

She wondered why he was even talking to her.

"You can read?" he asked, looking around the bookshelves.

"Huh? Why wouldn't I be able to?" 

She grumbled mentally about 'stupid nobles looking down on peasants'.

"My mother said that peasants don't get to learn to read because they don't need it."

Mei frowned.

"She's speaking nonsense then."

"She wasn't," he grabbed a book from the shelf. "I think most likely, one or both of your parents used to be middle-classed. That would explain why they knew how to read and could teach you."

"Hmm."

She didn't really interact with other people much, so she didn't realise that, but what he said made sense. Her dad who taught her did seem quite knowledgable. She figured he probably didn't talk about it because it would be embarrassing to him. He was that type of person.

Ah. Her parents must be really worried about her right now. She felt guilty for not realising that sooner.

Wang Wei smiled.

"They must really care about you if they spent all that time to teach you that, huh?"

"Why are you even talking to me about this anyway?" she said defensively. "It's none of your business."

Wasn't he just some kind of spoilt brat? She grumbled. Why was he trying to act mature all of a sudden anyway?

"Who knows?" he smirked. "We're fellow sect members now, so let's get along."

"I don't need your pity. I hate it when people pity me," she said.

"It's not that," he said. "Really. I guess I just felt like I could relate."

"Well, if you say so," she said, walking off.

"Oh, and you should do something about your hair and bathe properly!" he said. "You're going to stand out looking like that!"

"Tsk."

She only took the book out to take a closer look at it, but because of Wang Wei, she walked away with it. She really didn't want to head back and put it back since he was still there, but she didn't want to irresponsibly put it on a random shelf or table either.

Oh well. Might as well just borrow it.

What was it about anyway?

[Basic Cultivation For The Disabled]

Mei's face darkened.

"I'll look like such a weirdo for borrowing this..." she thought.

She went to the fiction category and picked another book labelled "The Young Monk's Journey" to place over it, then headed to the counter.

To her surprise, there was just a huge crow standing on it.

"Borrowing?" it asked her.

Mei froze.

"You can talk?"

"Yes. Don't be so surprised. Borrowing?"

"Uh... yes." 

She figured it was some kind of spirit beast. Maybe it was cheaper than hiring a person?

Light came from the crow, condensing into some kind of circle with intricate patterns. In the centre of it, a closed book was depicted. It latched onto her hand.

"Eek!"

"As an outer disciple, you need to return the books in 7 days. The seal will be invisible, but if you focus on it, you will know how much time you have left."

Mei realised both of the books lit up with the seals too, but as the crow said, the light quickly faded.

"Oh. Thanks."

Using seals instead of a library pass... She had always enjoyed spending her nights reading cultivation stories after a hard day of farming, but she had never heard of seals being used that way.

 

---

 

Back in her room, she sat on the bed. It was soft and springy. She didn't like that.

"Hard beds are more comfortable." she mused.

She pulled the mattress off the bed in a fell swoop, giving her a bit of a surprise. Right. After the cleansing, she was a lot stronger. She decided to hoist the whole thing over her head for fun, but almost tipped over from the weight. In the end, it was way too bulky.

She sat on the wooden bed frame and started reading the monk novel.

It was rather boring.

She already went through half of it, but there was barely any conflict. The main character spent his days cultivating peacefully and occasionally went around to help mortals. He didn't even train in any combat arts!

Were her days going to be like that? Mei hoped not.

Since she was going to be a cultivator now, she wanted adventure! Combat arts! She thought about how cool it would be to use all kinds of powerful daos.

She started punching and kicking in the air, doing pretend martial arts and making weird sounds.

"Hiya! Hah! Hoo!"

If someone saw that, she would be embarrassed to death. But there wasn't anyone watching her, so she felt free to.

Afterwards, she picked up the disabled cultivation book. That had to be more interesting than the monk novel.

 

---

 

To be a cultivator, one must be willing to persist no matter the hardships.

That is what I believe in.

Heaven is fair, always leaving a path.

Even with disabilities, I don't believe you will be unable to match your peers. I hope this book will aid your path.

-Si Hao

 

---

 

Mei felt like the introduction was a bit pretentious.