The senior sect members had already gathered all the newbies and were already on their way to their respective peaks. In the hall, other than the elders, only Quinlan, Xiyadie, Lady Moon, and the acting leader of the Senior Disciples earlier, Liao Xu Mei.
Without saying another word, Lady Moon walked out of the room and toward the open space before the Hall of Beginnings. Xu Mei quickly followed behind her, while Quinlan and Xiyadie reluctantly followed after them.
"Well then, shall we?" Lady Moon turned around, before nodding toward Xu Mei. "Xiao Mei, you take Xiyadie. Meng Yinuo, you're coming with me."
As she finished speaking, she took out a long kiseru, a smoking pipe, and spun it around her fingers. When she chucked it before her, it suddenly became bigger, about ten times its previous size!
'So that's how they keep their flying artifacts.' Quinlan stared in amazement. 'I wonder what's the concept behind it?'
"What are you waiting for?"
When Lady Moon asked, tilting her head slightly, Quinlan noticed that Xiyadie had already boarded Xu Mei's giant sword. He quickly rushed up, carefully climbing on top of the floating smoking pipe, and balanced himself behind Lady Moon.
"W-Woah...!"
It was hard to balance, however, since the footing was rounded.
Just as Quinlan was about to fall, a hand quickly pulled his shoulder back. "Are you alright? You can hold onto me if it's hard to balance."
Quinlan, after Lady Moon pulled him back behind her, hesitated on where to place his hand. In the end, he decided to hold onto her right shoulder to keep himself balanced.
"Are you sure that's enough?" Lady Moon smiled wryly, "Well... We'll see soon enough anyway."
Using her words as a signal, both she and Xu Mei started to float up, before turning around a hundred and eighty degrees and zooming away.
"...!"
Quinlan, from the sudden acceleration, almost fell off the flying smoking pipe. In panic, he extended both hands and held onto Lady Moon's shoulders tight. A short giggle echoed as if she was expecting this exact scene to happen.
Having enough fun with Quinlan's reaction, she then warned him. "Hold tight, we'll be going even faster!"
After that, two figures zoomed in a blur, heading toward the tallest peak in the surrounding mountains.
---
Soon enough, they all reached their destination. Quinlan and Xiyadie looked around with fascination, surprised at the wondrous buildings around. Buildings were made out of crystals! It was extremely unscientific but looks astounding nonetheless.
"Does Master and Senior Sister live here?" Xiyadie asked curiously. "The walls are almost transparent... Don't you wish to have some privacy?"
"Hehe, it's a valid concern, but don't worry." Lady Moon laughed it off. "These crystals are special, they don't allow the figure of anyone with enough Qi through the walls. Though it would do so if you're level is too low."
"What a curious mineral..." Quinlan placed a hand on his chin as he took a closer look at the crystals. "This... I think I can use this..."
Before he could go deep into his own world, however, Lady Moon pulled the two of them into the crystal-like building. As they entered, the interior made them surprised once more. Everything was actually made with the same semi-transparent blue mineral as the building!
The table, chairs, and even the drawers and chandeliers were of the same material.
Lady Moon pulled the two, and let them sit on the crystal chairs, before standing across them from the table. "Welcome to my Diamond Crystal Peak! From today onwards, this place will also become your home!" She explained while extending both arms, welcoming them.
She then went "Ah!" and pulled Xu Mei to her side, introducing her.
"And this one here, Liao Xu Mei, would be your Senior Sister. She's currently the only disciple I have in this peak!"
"Hello, Yinuo, Xiyadie." Xu Mei bowed lightly. "If you have any questions or troubles, don't hesitate to ask me. As you have guessed, our Master is like this, after all."
Quinlan, hearing Xu Mei's words, nodded in understanding. They hadn't been together for long, but Quinlan had already heard about her from Yinuo. He also knows about her playful side when outside of official business.
'But more than anything, she definitely cares for her disciples as much as she would for a family member... no, maybe even more.'
Although Yinuo didn't delve deep into her stories, the longing and pain behind her tone were apparent even to an antisocial prick like him. Quinlan turned to stare at Lady Moon, scanning her entire body, and wondered.
'No matter how I look, I can't tell that she's suffering from an incurable disease...'
That was the only clue he got from Yinuo after their long, fervent discussion previously. From her words, it was a disease that was incurable with anything from the Middle World. She did find a cure for it, but that was when she was already in the Immortal Realm, which was already a hundred thousand years after Lady Moon's passing.
"Ten years..." Quinlan muttered to himself in wonder. "Within that time, Lady Moon will..."
*Clap!*
"Xiao Mei, what's with that way of putting it? Doesn't that make me look like some troublemaker?" Lady Moon puffed her cheeks cutely. "Anyway, the two of you, take these!"
Lady Moon waved her hand lightly. A spot of light appeared before Quinlan and Xiyadie, before it morphed into an accessory, a badge of some sort, with a diamond-shaped design.
"That badge proves that the two of you are members of the Diamond Crystal Peak. Always have it with you in, and outside of the sect, alright?"
"Outside?" Quinlan didn't dare miss the meaning behind this word. "Master, does this mean there are other sects out there?"
"Of course there is. What? You think we're the only sect in this wide Middle World?" Xu Mei frowned as she clarified, slipping out of Lady Moon's grasp. "In fact, our sect is around the weakest in terms of fighting prowess among all the sects in the entire Middle World. In fact, during the last inter-sect competition, we..."
"Xiao Mei, there's no need to explain those things to them yet." Lady Moon interrupted a smile that didn't look like an actual smile pasted on her face. "Rather than that, we first need to make them prepare for the sect's ranking competition!"
"..."
Hearing about various events that were about to arrive, Quinlan already felt a headache coming.