Meanwhile, deep within Kunlun's mountain sanctuary in China, Sunny Finch made her characteristically dramatic entrance with a deafening explosion of magical energy.
"Hahahaha! This lady has finally emerged!" she crowed triumphantly, hands on her hips. "You old-timers thought your little secret was so well-hidden? Well, I still managed to uncover it!"
Sunny was mid-gloat when she suddenly felt several piercing, distinctly chilling gazes fix upon her with laser focus. She shuddered involuntarily, glancing around nervously.
Every single senior instructor of Kunlun—and even the Headmaster himself—was staring directly at her with varying expressions of disapproval.
The Headmaster's voice was dangerously soft. "It appears Sunny Finch's understanding of proper respect for her elders remains... inadequate. Perhaps we should help refresh her memory on appropriate behavior."
Sunny's eyes widened in alarm. "No! Headmaster, wait—I was wrong! I'm sorry!"
It was far too late for apologies.
A piercing scream echoed throughout the misty mountains of Kunlun, disturbing flocks of birds from their roosts.
The Kunlun students, going about their daily training routines, glanced briefly toward the direction of the distant screams. None of them seemed particularly concerned—in fact, they appeared entirely accustomed to such sounds.
"That voice—isn't that Sunny?" one remarked casually.
"Who else could it possibly be?" another replied with a knowing grin. "Any other disciple making that kind of commotion would have been dragged off by the Discipline Hall ages ago for disturbing the peace."
"She sounds like she's having a rough time."
"Serves her right. Haven't seen her in months, and the very first thing she does is cause a scene and disrespect the elders."
"True, but you have to admit—Sunny's methods and results are always completely unpredictable! Nobody can argue with her effectiveness when it matters."
"Enough about that drama. More importantly—are we still drawing lots this weekend to determine who gets selected for the exchange program?"
"Yeah, I genuinely hope I get picked! I've never traveled abroad before in my entire life!"
"None of us have, really. I desperately want to experience it. I heard there are actual ghosts roaming freely at Hogwarts—I wonder if that's genuinely true. I'd love to observe one with my own eyes and test my techniques."
"Actually, you might not even need to leave Kunlun to see spirits soon. Did you notice the Discipline Hall seniors deploying in full force recently? I heard there's been significant supernatural disturbance within our protected territories."
"Tell me more—what happened exactly?"
"Apparently the National Protection Array has been malfunctioning intermittently, so some spirits in the mortal realm aren't being detected and neutralized properly anymore. One entity apparently grew powerful enough that by the time they finally noticed its presence, it had already become a genuine threat. A senior instructor had to personally descend the mountain to deal with it."
"Seriously? That's concerning."
"Should be accurate—the official news was suppressed by the administration, but rumors leaked out anyway through the younger disciples. You know how people are; everyone loves dramatic gossip."
"So how was the situation ultimately resolved?"
"How else? The senior instructor intervened directly and annihilated the entity completely. But the whole situation is genuinely strange, isn't it? Why do our spirits possess the capacity to grow in power and become dangerous, while I heard that spirits from Western territories can at most float around harmlessly, unable to stray far from their death locations? They're more like residual psychic impressions than actual threats."
"I read something in an ancient cultivation text that suggested our land here possesses something fundamentally different—some quality the Western territories lack—but the manuscript was frustratingly vague about specifics."
"Regardless of the metaphysical reasons, our territories clearly aren't entirely stable right now from a supernatural standpoint."
"That's not something we can control or influence. If there's a relatively weak spirit manifestation, the Discipline Hall handles it routinely. If it's genuinely powerful, we couldn't do anything effective anyway even if we tried. I'd much rather focus on going abroad! Those supposedly harmless Western spirits would be fascinating to study and interact with."
"Agreed completely. And most importantly, when we're abroad we supposedly won't have to attend the brutal dawn training sessions or exhausting evening cultivation classes. I genuinely want to sleep past sunrise for once in my life."
The disciple's heartfelt words drew enthusiastic nods of agreement from everyone around him. They'd all watched foreign television programs and films; student life abroad appeared remarkably comfortable and relaxed. No mandatory pre-dawn exercises, no grueling evening study sessions. Plenty of personal time for rest and recreation. How incredibly enviable!
What none of them knew was that Hogwarts was no longer the relaxed institution portrayed in those outdated programs. Their blissful ignorance would later lead the unfortunate students selected as exchange participants to feel as though they'd been transported to a training facility rather than a foreign school. The familiar brutal schedule, the hellish morning and evening intensive sessions—they would effectively go abroad without actually escaping their normal routine at all.
Back on the mountain path, Sunny Finch sat dejectedly on the ground nursing her bruises, her face sporting several fresh marks. The senior instructors had shown absolutely no mercy during her "educational correction." The beating had been thoroughly brutal, but her constitution could handle considerably worse. She was, after all, quite accustomed to such disciplinary measures by now.
After sulking appropriately for a while, she brightened considerably and skipped over to find her master.
"Master," she said with exaggerated sweetness, "now that I've finally emerged from that terrible cave, shouldn't you compensate me for all my lost vacation time?"
Her master—a dignified female instructor—laughed despite herself. "Why are you so fixated on vacation time? You don't even particularly enjoy leaving the mountain normally."
"This situation is completely different," Sunny insisted earnestly. "I want to visit Britain to see Erwin. If I'm delayed much longer, he'll start the new school term, and he won't have any free time to spend with me. So, Master, please—make up for my lost vacation by helping me repair the National Protection Array first, then I can immediately leave for Britain to find Erwin."
The instructor shook her head gently. "The National Protection Array doesn't require repair, Sunny."
Sunny blinked in confusion. "It's already been repaired? Then what was the point of all that suffering I endured inside that cave?"
"No," her master clarified. "The array remains in its current state—it hasn't been repaired at all."
Sunny's confusion deepened. "Then why won't you permit me to attempt the repair? Wasn't the entire purpose of sending me into that sealed cave to study advanced formation theory so I could emerge capable of repairing it?"
The instructor found herself at a genuine loss for words. Could she honestly tell Sunny that no matter how extensively she studied, she could never possibly surpass their current Headmaster's formation mastery? The cave experience had been solely for Sunny's personal development and advancement, not because they actually needed her to repair anything.
At that moment, the Headmaster—who had been observing from a distance—noticed his fellow instructor's obvious dilemma and spoke up diplomatically.
"Finch," he said calmly, "the National Protection Array's current malfunction wasn't caused by intentional damage or sabotage—it simply failed at its predetermined operational lifespan. The situation no longer requires your direct intervention. You mentioned wanting to visit Britain? Then pack your belongings and prepare yourself. You'll be studying at Hogwarts alongside our other exchange students for the upcoming term."
Sunny was genuinely taken aback. "Study abroad? At a foreign school?"
The Headmaster nodded confirmation. "Correct. I'll provide you with detailed information and instructions later. For now, go make your preparations."
Sunny glanced at the other senior instructors gathered nearby. None of them seemed inclined to elaborate further or contradict the Headmaster's directive. She could only depart, still thoroughly bewildered by this unexpected development. Going abroad to study sounded potentially enjoyable, though she remained filled with unanswered questions.
Before entering that sealed cultivation cave, her master had explicitly told her it contained the inherited foundational knowledge of the National Protection Array's construction, and that only students below a certain cultivation level could safely enter to study. The array had supposedly malfunctioned critically, and Sunny—with her exceptional natural talent for formation magic—had been specifically sent inside to locate the problem and develop a repair solution.
At the time, she hadn't questioned the explanation, but upon emerging, she'd immediately sensed something fundamentally inconsistent. She had indeed found extensive records about the array's construction and operation, but there was an obvious logical problem: the current Kunlun Headmaster was renowned throughout the cultivation world as the Array Master, his skills ranking among the absolute best in the entire Eastern supernatural community. Such a accomplished master must have certainly entered that same cave during his own youth as a student—wouldn't he have already obtained those exact same records and knowledge? It seemed impossible otherwise.
Therefore, Sunny felt increasingly certain she had been systematically deceived about the true purpose of her cave isolation.
However, she had unquestionably gained substantial personal benefits from the intensive study period inside, so she chose not to press the matter aggressively. This unexpected trip to study in Britain, though, was genuinely surprising and raised new questions about what the elders were actually planning.
Sunny appeared carefree and impulsive on the surface, but she certainly wasn't genuinely foolish or naive. One couldn't master the sophisticated theoretical knowledge of Eastern cultivation practices without considerable intelligence. As the acknowledged strongest practitioner of her entire generation within Kunlun, how could she possibly be simple-minded?