"Yuan, should I wear my mask as well?" Meixiu asked him before leaving the house.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot. Let’s wear our mask just in case." Yuan nodded as he wore the Black Jade Mask.
Meixiu followed and wore her Crimson Mask before following Yuan outside.
"Hmm? Disciple Yuan? Where are you going? And who’s that beside you? She doesn’t look like a disciple." Min Li noticed them and called out to him from her windows.
"Good morning, Disciple Min. I am heading to the sect master’s headquarters right now," said Yuan.
"Sect master’s headquarters? Did you do something again? Most disciples go there only when they’re in trouble with the Sect Master," Min Li said in a slightly worried voice.
"Haha... No, I am not in trouble. I’m meeting with Elder Xuan there since we’re about to leave the sect for the Mystic Realm."
"W-Wait a second... The Mystic Realm? Don’t tell me you’re going to participate in it?" Min Li stared at him with wide eyes, but after she recalled his talents, her shock almost instantly disappeared.
"That’s right." Yuan nodded.
"I-I see... Well... Good luck, I guess..." Min Li was speechless.
"Oh, and this is my friend, Meixiu. See you later, Disciple Min!"
Yuan left the place shortly after, leaving Min Li standing by the window with a dazed look on her face.
"That was Min Li, my neighbor, and a fellow disciple. She’s from a really powerful and influential family from what I heard," Yuan introduced her to Meixiu after they left.
Sometime later, they arrived at the sect master’s headquarters.
*Knock* *Knock*
Yuan knocked on the door loudly after arriving at the doorstep
"It’s me, Disciple Yuan!"
The door opened a few moments later and Elder Xuan appeared before them.
"Welcome, Disciple Yuan—" Elder Xuan stopped speaking when he noticed Meixiu standing beside him.
"Who’s this?" he then asked.
"This is my friend, Meixiu. I hope you don’t mind her tagging along with us." Yuan said to him.
"Your friend...?" Elder Xuan raised his eyebrows.
He then said, "Let’s assemble with the others for now. We’ll see what the Sect Master has to say about this."
Yuan and Meixiu followed Elder Xuan inside the building to meet with Long Yijun, the high-ranking sect elders, as well as the participants.
"We’ve been waiting for you, Disciple Yuan— Hm? Who’s that?" Long Yijun asked the moment he noticed the person with a feminine figure standing next to Yuan.
"This is my friend, Meixiu, and I’d like to bring her with me," Yuan said.
"Your friend...?" Everyone in the room turned to look at Meixiu with raised eyebrows.
"You say she’s your friend, but she’s actually your Dao Companion or something, right?" Elder Shan chuckled after a moment of silence.
"Dao Companion? What’s that?" Yuan asked in a puzzled voice, forgetting that he’d heard this term before.
"You don’t know? A Dao Companion is someone who has sworn to follow you for the rest of their lives." Elder Shan explained.
And before Yuan could even say anything, Meixiu opened her mouth and said in a calm voice, "I guess you can call me his Dao Companion."
"Eh?"
All of the eyes on her widened with shock and surprise. Yuan’s Dao Companion?! But they couldn’t sense any cultivation from her! In other words, she was a mortal! How could a mere mortal be the Dao Companion of a heaven-defying genius like Yuan?
"A-Are you really his Dao Companion? You’re not joking with us here, right?" Elder Shan asked her in a trembling voice since she personally couldn’t believe it.
Meixiu nodded her head and spoke in a serious voice, "I have promised to follow and serve Yuan for the rest of my life."
Unbeknownst to the people in the room, Meixiu was talking about their relationship in the real world. Of course, Meixiu herself has never heard of the term Dao Companion until today and misunderstood its meaning after hearing Elder Shan’s poor explanation.
"I see... if you make it sound like that, I guess you can call her my Dao Companion." Yuan also agreed, following Meixiu’s misunderstanding.
Elder Shan’s jaw dropped to the floor after hearing Yuan’s confirmation.
After a moment of awkward silence, Long Yijun cleared his throat before speaking, "S-Since she’s your Dao Companion, I guess she can tag along."
"Thank you, Sect Master." Yuan nodded, completely oblivious to the misunderstanding that had been created from this situation.
’Looks like someone had beat you to the punch, Disciple Fei...’ Elder Shan sighed inwardly, feeling a little pity for Fei Yuyan.
Elder Xuan also had similar thoughts, but he was thinking about his granddaughter, Xuan Wuhan, instead.
"Anyways, now that everyone is here, we can start making our way to the Mystic Realm." Long Yijun said.
"Disciple Yuan and his Dao Companion, Disciple Gao, Disciple Xue, Elder Xuan, Elder Shan, Elder Dai, and myself will be going to the Mystic Realm while everyone else will remain here to take care of the sect while we’re gone."
Long Yijun then turned to look at Elder Bai and said, "I’ll leave you in charge until we return, Elder Bai."
"I will protect the sect with my life on the line, Sect Master." Elder Bai nodded with a serious look on his face.
Sometime later, everyone that was going to the Mystic Realm gathered outside.
Once they were outside, the sect elders retrieved their flying treasures.
Elder Shan summoned her boat and Elder Xuan summoned his cloud treasure.
"Come over here, Disciple Yuan." Elder Shan patted her flying treasure.
Yuan didn’t say anything and entered the boat, followed by Meixiu.
"The two of you can ride with me." Elder Xuan said to Gao Dongya and Xue Jiye.
A few moments later, once everyone was on a flying treasure, they took to the skies.
"What about the Sect Master?" Yuan asked when he noticed that they’d left him behind.
"Don’t worry about him— look." Elder Shan pointed below them.
Yuan turned his head to look at the direction she was pointing, and to his surprise, there was a dragon flying towards them with Long Yijun and Elder Dai riding on its head!