Since nothing too bad occurred, I decide to let it slide. Thea continues to show me what she bought as we walk toward the food court to grab a snack before our next flight.

Luckily, our next flight is in a couple of hours, so that leaves us with plenty of time to dawdle.

After we eat, we manage to get to our transfer without any issues. The journey is a short one, and in no time, we arrive at Jinan Airport.

"I still can't believe how well your charm works," I tell Thea as we successfully pass through immigration. She only needed to tell security a few words, and we were let through, as if we had both official passports and a visa.

"It's a pretty useful low-level trick," she says, giving Cer a smug look.

As we head out of the airport, we grab a few snacks and Thea secures us train tickets to Mount Tai.

We embark on the train, oddly keeping the same seating arrangements from before. The only difference is that this time, the seats are facing each other. Ze is by my side on the aisle seat, and Thea is in front of me, next to Cer.

"Okay, guys," I say as I take out the map I bought at the station. "You said we need to reach Dan Miao Temple, which is here." I point to a spot on the map. "But what after? How are we going to find the entrance to P'davi? And how are we going to find that place, P'davi?"

"Don't worry about that." Thea waves her hand dismissively. "You'll see when we get there."

Somehow, that's not exactly reassuring. Especially as we'll need to hike up the mountain on foot since no car will take us up the narrow roads.

The journey to Mount Tai is unusually quiet. Cer is busy with a game he found in a magazine, Thea marvels at her new purchases, and Ze is polishing his sword. He's doing what...

I whip my head around, gawking at him.

"You can't do that in public," I hiss in a low voice.

People are already staring at him, some of them with fear in their eyes.

He doesn't reply, continuing to clean his sword with a disinterested expression. The conductor passes by to check our tickets, and although he clearly seems worried about Ze's sword, he doesn't dare voice his concern, merely giving him a reverent nod.

"I can't believe this," I mutter under my breath.

Ze's lips curl up at my annoyance.

We get off at our stop and head to the ticket booth at the base of the mountain. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of tourists around, which on one hand, makes me feel a little better about the length of journey we're about to embark on, while on the other, it makes me uneasy because that means more opportunities for the odd trio to get into trouble and attract unwanted attention.