Before Chen Siyao could explain, Yang Wanqing started rattling away again. "Yaoyao, why are you like a ghost?! One second you vanished! Then you popped right back!"
"I..."
"And why couldn't I get out of the Training Pavilion?! Did Master see me slacking off instead of cultivating and punish me?!"
"Listen to me..."
"I'd just advanced my cultivation, too! I only slacked off a tiny bit! Just for one day!"
Chen Siyao looked at her best friend, speechless.
This girl's chain of logic was always... something went wrong → did I do something wrong? → Master was punishing me.
"When has my brother ever punished you?" Chen Siyao asked.
Yang Wanqing froze.
"This is a consciousness space," Chen Siyao said. "It isn't a real place. Your body isn't here. Of course you couldn't get out."
"A consciousness... space?"
"The helmet." Chen Siyao pointed to her temple. "Once you put it on, your divine sense was projected here. The Training Pavilion itself is physical, but you aren't. Your actual body is still sitting in a chair in the loft."
Yang Wanqing took three seconds to process that.
"So... Master wasn't punishing me?"
"No."
"The helmet sent my consciousness in here?"
"Yes."
"Then how do I get out?"
"Close your eyes. Feel where your real body is. Just will yourself to exit."
Yang Wanqing closed her eyes. Two seconds later...
She vanished, too.
On the loft's balcony.
Yang Wanqing's eyes snapped open, and she pulled the helmet off her face.
Breathing. Heartbeat. Wind blowing in from the connecting bridge.
The real world.
She stared at the dark silver helmet in her hands, her mouth half open. Several seconds passed before she blurted out a sentence.
"Master! This is way too cool!"
Chen Hao sat across from her. His tea had nearly gone