Mei received a jade slip from the elder, smiling. It was covered in simple engravings, most notably the one in the centre. It was a circle filled with various little colours circles, most likely representing various spirits.

"The jade slip is proof that you are under my tutelage and also serves as a key to the door." Li Xuan said, giving her a meaningful look.

Mei held the slip to the door, giving her a quizzical look, which was answered by a nod.

As it touched the wood, the jade began to glow gently. A satisfying click came from the door as it swung open, letting her see the interior of the building.

From the floor, to the walls, the ceiling and furniture, it was all wood, making it look almost as if they were inside a space carved within the tree's trunk.

As the elder headed in first, Mei followed her.

Li Xuan paused.

"Ah, no need to follow me. I'm kind of busy, so mind exploring on your own? If you need help, try consulting the jade slip."

"Oh, okay."

Well, that was slightly awkward. But now that she thought of it, it made sense.

She expected to get taken around by the elder because of her prior experience in the sect, but honestly, people with such statuses really shouldn't be in charge of giving tours to disciples.

As Li Xuan headed off, Mei took a closer look at the slip in her hand.

In novels she read, they were usually used to store amazing techniques, though it made sense that they could be used for storing general information too. Still seemed like a bit of a waste though.

Focusing hard, she forced her qi into the slip. Immediately, a huge wave of information started to flood into her mind, giving her a massive headache and making her drop it.

"Ahh!"

She stared it with trepidation for a moment. Then she picked it up and stuffed it into her bag. Because of the interference, she got nothing out of that except a headache. Did the elder forget that 'mere Qi Gathering' cultivators couldn't handle so much information at once? Mei was a bit frustrated.

In reality, it was just that she forced too much qi into it, making all the information flood in at once.

Mei looked around for a bit before heading down a flight of stairs. She was curious about the underground area, so she decided she would check it out first.

As she went down the spiral stairs, she noticed the walls were now made of stone instead, probably to suit the underground theme.

The stairs went down for quite a bit before she entered a cavern of sorts, surprising her. The walls and the ground were neatly polished, making her wonder if it was artificial. Little lanterns were placed around, lighting the place up well.

She still didn't see any other disciples, so she decided to try to tap into the state the elder got her into earlier.

Closing her eyes and focusing, she tried to employ spirit sense or whatever it was again. It was very difficult without the elder's help.

But for a split second, she managed, revealing several humanoid figures. Her qi had depleted by a fair amount, making her feel a little tired, but she decided to head over to the nearest figure.

There, a very stocky man sat with his legs crossed, cultivating. Somehow, his presence reminded her of earth, steady and immovable. It was as if he was trying to become one with the very rock he was sitting on.

A few brown and grey spirits floated next to him, absorbing qi from the surroundings as well. From their aura and size, Mei thought they must be rather strong.

He opened his eyes for a moment, glancing at her before closing them again.

Mei left awkwardly, figuring he didn't want to be disturbed. She went back to the stairs and headed further down.

The temperature seemed to grow hotter as she got deeper. She wiped the sweat off her face but pressed on.

The caverns further down were brightly lit. But not by lamps but huge pools of magma! Mei was taken aback.

She did head down for a little, but no way it was deep enough for natural lava, right? Plus, wouldn't that burn the roots of the tree above?

Come to think of it, the caverns were definitely unnatural, otherwise, the roots would be stabbing in through the ceiling and stuff.

She could see several disciples sitting beside or submerged in the lava, huge red, orange and shiny silver spirits floating beside them.

"Hey, you!" one of them, a man shouted.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yes, who else?" he said. "Don't even think about entering at your cultivation level! You'll be badly burnt just standing next to the lava!"

"Okay..."

Well, not that she was planning to stick around, with how hot the place was. She only went down because of curiosity. It felt as if she had been stuffed into a brick oven. Not only that, the qi that entered her pores left an unpleasant burning sensation.

She quickly headed up the stairs all the way back to the top. The weather wasn't particularly cold today, but now, it felt pleasant and cooling to her.

After a bit more walking around, she realised the section above ground were just classrooms or miscellaneous rooms, which left her quite disappointed.

Were there not cultivation areas for other elements? Mei didn't realise that the massive tree and the river were intended for wood and water cultivation.

But by now, she was rather tired so she decided to just head back to her dorm.

"I'm going to cultivate hard when I get back..." she mumbled to herself.

But after a cold shower, she didn't really feel like cultivating. So she took a trip to the library and picked an interesting novel followed by several cultivation techniques that caught her eye, to convince herself she wasn't just procrastinating.