Lin Songmei wanted to know why they were exploring this area. 

Well, she knew that this area had been labeled “high-risk” and been red-flagged for having a lot of potential in being used for nefarious purposes... but... 

It SUCKED having to go down the ravine walls. 

Here she was, after having walked another two hours to get to a marked out area where one could climb up or down... and there wasn’t a fancy futuristic elevator, not even a dinky wooden lift!

So now, Songmei was grappling down the side of the ravine wall. Of course, Songmei had no clue at all how to do this, she grew up broke as the walls she was climbing down right now! 

She had gotten a short run-down from Han Youhong and Yan Mingqing before pretty much being chucked off the side. Though, in all honesty, she wondered if she could survive just... jumping. It was a long fall, but... she was strong, yeah!

As everyone knew, three meridian body cultivators were the peak of strength, so maybe Songmei could do some cliff jumping?

... probably not. 

It was good that her three meridian strength was good enough to let her pick up the motions quite fast and not get her hands wrecked with rope burns. Though, this was all aided by the fact she was going down, not up, and the fact she had gardening gloves on... 

“I’m down!” Songmei called out, a gleeful smile on her face as she felt her feet land onto the firm ground instead of a hard rock. “Where are you... two...” 

Trailing off near the end of her sentence as she looked around, Songmei realized that Han Youhong and Mingqing were already there. Chilling. Playing their bricklaying game together. 

Uncool... 

“Anyway...” Songmei coughed, clearing her throat and walking over to the two professional rock climbers. “Where to now? Do we just kinda... walk around?” 

“I mean... yeah,” Han Youhong sighed, closing his terminal and the bricklaying game along with it. “Sadly, that’s kinda what we’re gonna have to do since we don’t have any leads. As a general direction though, we can just kinda make our way towards the center of this area. Towards the crater site.” 

“Cool, cool, sounds good.” Songmei nodded, following along like a good duckling. Mingqing and Han Youhong were the investigation professionals, after all. She could just... hang out, and then help out where she could. 

Walking through the ravine though, its narrow path dotted with murky puddles, Songmei realized... 

Investigating this area was gonna be... very not fun, to put it in nice terms. 

The ravine was... a ravine, if anyone hadn’t realized yet. Because of that though, while walking through the twisting web-like cracks, they wouldn’t be able to do any investigation on the parts that... weren’t ravine. 

Another thing was that, of course, they had no leads. They were walking around blind, literally and metaphorically, for all they knew, the “suspicious” bad guys who have a weird supply of poop-go-crazy drug plants might not even be in the area, and with the jagged, twisting walls that seemed to lean over her like judging giants, Songmei also felt a touch of unsettledness. 

They could be looking forever through this place!

Their target could be a crack in the rock wall too... blending in better than Liu Xueli at seniors’ bingo night... 

Coughing, experiencing what felt like karmic retribution after thinking that thought, Songmei took a few deep breaths, clearing her mind as she observed the area. As an archer, she was used to reinforcing her eyes with Qi, so... maybe she’d see something, just like last time. 

Pure luck wasn’t something she wanted to rely on though. It wasn’t very... reliable one could say. It was like a gambler relying on getting a pay raise to pay back their gambing debts, in character, but also highly irresponsible nonetheless. 

Just like her!

Deciding to make a little idle conversation, Songmei turned towards Han Youhong while lacing her fingers with Mingqing. “So... tell us a little more about the other disciples who got into your sect. That’s kinda what we were talking about before getting sucked into the illusory realm.” 

“Oh yeahhh,” Han Youhong laughed, pausing his lychee jelly eating for a second while laughing. “I barely started and then it was just WHAM into a realm alone...” 

Snorting in amusement at Han Youhong’s description and aggressive hand motions, Mingqing looked over, a light of curiosity about Han Youhong’s disciple-mates also clear in her eyes. 

“Well,” Han Youhong shrugged, nonchalant about revealing the information. He deemed it fine, the three of them were all close anyway, and the two “platonic best friends” didn’t have malicious intentions. “As you know, even though there are two parts, the Pavilion of Extinguishing Shadow and the Pavilion of Radiant Light, there were only 3 direct disciples who entered the sect as a whole. Two to Extinguishing Shadow and one to Radiant Light.” 

“Interesting...” Songmei murmured under her breath, just loud enough to be heard by the random puddle she stepped in. Well, Songmei had known that a lot of people had entered Starlight Lake that year but... still, it was good to get some reference points from other sects. 

“So, obviously, I’m one of the people who entered Extinguishing Shadow,” Han Youhong explained, the lychee jelly conveyor belt starting up again. “The other one who entered Extinguishing Shadow is uhh... I don’t know... She’s fine. I don’t really talk to her. She’s very aggressive...” 

Seeing Songmei and Mingqing both perk up a bit once he said that, Han Youhong sighed, massaging his eyebrows. “Not in that way... she’s aggressive, in like a ... climbing the social ladder way. She wasn’t born into the best circumstances. Well, still better than yours, Songmei, but yeah... She really wants to find a rich person to marry...” 

Wilting like a pair of flowers, Songmei and Mingqing both let out an in sync “Oh...” before motioning for Han Youhong to continue. 

With these two acting in unison, Han Youhong couldn’t help but feel like a third-wheel once more... 

He didn’t even feel romantic or sexual feelings!

How was this possible...

“The other guy’s also... interesting.” Han Youhong began, a hesitant pause entering his voice every few words. “He’s... interesting, yeah.” 

Seeing the confused looks on Songmei and Mingqing’s faces, Han Youhong explained, “He’s an extreme Yang Cultivator, born with the rare Absolute Yang Body. Do you know him, Mingqing?” 

“Yeah... I do, who wouldn’t? He was a total character at those social gatherings when we were younger.” Mingqing sighed, massaging her eyebrows as well while chuckling. “He even fits the image perfectly. He’s got Amber eyes, blond hair, and enough size to put anyone else to shame.” 

“Size?” Songmei asked, “In which way? Height or muscles?” 

““Both.”” 

Esiyx

some grades came back today and eughhh
got yelled at by my parents a lot...
turns out it's hard to do well when writing two graded essays back to bck in different classes...

sadge is the me
didn't end up writing because i just felt... erg while trying to

yeah...
take care reader friends
thank you so much though for reading
<3