The morning sunlight slipped through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a thin golden line across the corridor floor.
Lin Xiangyi stood outside his sister’s door and raised his hand to knock.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
“Xiao Meng?”
No response.
“Hmm…”
He turned to Shen Ye, who had been waiting, and said:
“I think my sister’s still sleeping in. It’ll just be the two of us.”
“Alright.”
Shen Ye acknowledged.
“I’ll leave a breakfast for her.”
“No, no, it’s fine. You just leave it, I’ll handle it.”
After a bit of back-and-forth.
Shen Ye wrapped the breakfast in plastic wrap, then wrote a reminder on a sticky note and placed it on top.
With that done, she smiled at Lin Xiangyi.
“Let’s go.”
Lin Xiangyi scratched his head awkwardly.
“Sorry you had to see that.”
He didn’t know why he hadn’t stopped Shen Ye, and he even found it reasonable to let her handle things that felt like family business.
He chalked it up to that magical approachability of hers working its charm again.
Before stepping out, Shen Ye glanced back at that closed door.
Xiao Meng, honestly. The moment you’re away from me and Master, you get this lazy.
She shook her head and turned to follow Lin Xiangyi.
Meanwhile, inside Lin Xiaomeng’s room.
“Haaah—”
The girl, who had been up all night, slumped in her chair and tilted her head back with a long sigh.
At that moment, it felt like her soul had been expelled from her body with that breath.
On her screen, a glaring notification message was displayed.
“You have been muted by an administrator for forty-eight hours.”
Each person could only have one account on the forum, which meant Lin Xiaomeng couldn’t reply to any messages on the forum during that period.
Senior Brother…
A single tear rolled down the girl’s cheek.
Xiao Meng did her best.
At a park somewhere in River City.
Lin Xiangyi and Shen Ye walked side by side along the park’s small lake.
The morning park was very quiet, with only a few bird calls echoing by the lakeshore.
Beside the lake stood an old teahouse.
It was only here that a hint of lively human bustle could be felt.
From inside, the clatter of Chinese chess pieces rang out from time to time, accompanied by shouts of “Capture!” and “Check!” mixed into the sounds of laughter, carried far away by the morning breeze.
Lin Xiangyi approached the counter of the teahouse and took out a card.
It had a large portrait of him on it, with the character “Approved” printed beside it.
“Bringing a newbie, need to do identity registration.”
The old man behind the counter looked up, his cloudy eyes calmly scanning the card in Lin Xiangyi’s hand, then said flatly:
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks.”
The two stepped into the back room.
Lin Xiangyi led Shen Ye to stand on a stone slab.
He quietly uttered a single word:
“Guiyun Guild.”
“Hum—”
With a barely audible sound, the stone slab beneath their feet lit up with dense runes, pale golden light illuminating their calm faces.
Shen Ye only felt a wave of dizziness, her stomach churning with discomfort, and she instinctively furrowed her brows.
Ugh.
Why is this discomfort still here?
When she had used the teleportation array on the mountain to come here earlier, she’d felt physical discomfort during the transfer, but at the time she’d assumed it was just because she hadn’t adjusted to her body yet and hadn’t thought much of it.
“You alright?”
Lin Xiangyi’s voice came from beside her.
Shen Ye looked up and found herself standing in a pavilion at the center of a pond, surrounded by lotus flowers, their fragrance drifting into her nose.
From each of the pavilion’s four sides, a long winding corridor extended outward, leading in different directions.
“Mm, I’m fine. Just a bit dizzy.”
“This is normal for your first spatial teleportation.”
Lin Xiangyi explained, then cast a concerned look her way.
“Want to sit for a bit before we go?”
Shen Ye shook her head.
“I’m fine.”
“Alright then, let’s go.”
The two passed through a long corridor.
The winding path curved and twisted, the scenery shifting with each step, the Jiangnan water-town vistas unfolding slowly before them.
“This is Guiyun Guild, a branch of the Jiangcheng Main Guild.”
Lin Xiangyi’s voice came from up ahead, as if influenced by the scenery, his tone carrying a hint of melodic grace.
“The guild is divided into a main guild and branch guilds, located all over the country. Each branch has a spatial teleportation point, connected to the main guild’s spatial gate.”
“Originally, the guild was an inn built by humans, providing lodging and meals for both humans and spirit beings.”
“Now, through historical evolution, it has become a gathering place for spirit masters to communicate.”
“Each branch is managed by an executor of Tier 1 or above, who serves as the guild master.”
The scenery on both sides kept changing.
From the earlier rockeries, flowing water, and lotus pond, it transformed into a secluded path through a peach blossom forest.
Shen Ye gradually became entranced.
Although she’d seen this many times before, coming to the guild as a spirit being this time, her mindset was different, and the scenery she savored was different too.
She truly wondered if, someday, all the spirit beings could see this scenery.
“Here, whether spirit being or human, after registering your identity information, you can use teleportation points all over to come to the guild.”
“Anything related to spirit masters—spirit tool trading, quest postings, personnel registration, and so on—can all be handled at the guild.”
Saying this, noticing the girl hadn’t responded for a while, Lin Xiangyi paused his steps and looked back to check if Shen Ye was keeping up.
A breeze blew past, dazzling his eyes.
The next second, a soft body collided with him.
“Ow.”
Shen Ye held her head and complained:
“Why did you stop all of a sudden? I was looking at the scenery.”
She looked up, staring straight at Lin Xiangyi.
A few peach blossom petals stubbornly lingered in her hair, like a touch of spring blooming at winter’s end, melting the ice and stirring tenderness.
Lin Xiangyi couldn’t help but freeze.
So beautiful.
He instinctively reached out to pluck those petals from her hair, only snapping back to reality when he realized the girl before him was looking at him with a strange expression.
“Ahem.”
He averted his gaze and coughed twice.
“What’s so special about this scenery? Every branch guild has one.”
“By the way, the Azure Cloud Sect you visited before can also be called Azure Cloud Guild. My senior brother is the guild master there. It’s just that we generally don’t open it to outsiders.”
“Hm?”
Shen Ye eyed Lin Xiangyi suspiciously for two seconds, but ultimately found nothing off.
“Then your senior brother is pretty kind-hearted.”
She casually praised herself.
As they talked, the two reached the end of the winding corridor, where a tall pavilion appeared before them.
A huge plaque hung on the door, carved with two characters:
Guiyun.
“We’re here.”
The two stepped into the first-floor lobby.
The hall was bustling with people coming and going—some sitting in corners drinking tea and chatting, others handling business at long tables.
Lin Xiangyi pointed at the crowd in the hall and said:
“Don’t be fooled—they all look human, but hidden among them are quite a few spirit beings. Most of them, like you, don’t reveal their identities.”
“Oh.”
Shen Ye’s gaze swept across the crowd.
She’d noticed it too.
Though some people looked no different from ordinary folks, the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from them revealed their identities.
These spirit beings who came to the guild had all concealed their traits, looking no different from humans.
Sigh.
It seems everyone’s still being cautious.
And indeed, being a spirit being is inconvenient no matter where you go.
Shen Ye sighed silently in her heart.
“Xiangyi, I want to discuss something with you.”
She tugged at Lin Xiangyi’s sleeve.