With a quick teleport, Mei was back in the cultivator city.

Though... she was rather uneasy. She even tied and glued the teleportation token to her arm under her robe sleeves! She peeked around a wall cautiously. from an alleyway. Probably not very effective, with how the stupid turtle seemed to see everything... But then again, it probably wouldn't dare to touch her after Li Xuan's beating? What was she even afraid of?

With a little more confidence, she walked back into the open!

Before she arrived, she also asked Senior Han for help. While he wasn't willing to tag along, he did lend her the Vermillion Phoenix Robes again, along with an actual concealment mask, along with the glue to help secure her token.

She turned to a nearby glass window and admired her reflection. It was red and gold, covered in ornate carvings of fire. With how red glass was covering her eyes, blending into the decor, it was hard to tell there were even eyeholes!

So mysterious and cool!

Mei hummed to herself, in a good mood as she marched into White Lotus.

"Excuse me, can I have ten White Lotus Focus Pills, please?" she asked.

"Oh, they're-"

Suddenly, the attendant froze! It was almost as someone was whispering to her...

"Ah, I'm sorry." the attendant smiled, slightly pale. "Those pills are sold out. A clan contacted us last night and bought the last of the supply."

"I see..." Mei said.

Suspicious...

"Then what other pills do you have in stock?" she asked.

The attendant's eyes twitched.

"Um, please give me a moment!" she said, running off into one of the staff rooms.

Mei: ...

Suddenly, a group of masked men kicked the doors open, brandishing swords!

"This is a robbery! Get out!" one of them yelled.

What the...

"To dare commit a robbery in broad daylight, in such an establishment?" one of the customer harrumphed. "Courting death!"

With a proud look on his face, the middle aged man in purple robes let out his aura! Mei winced from the intensity.

"Nascent Soul!" someone else yelled.

"Useless!" one of the masked men laughed.

With a single smack, the customer crumbled to the ground. So much for his bragging...

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Mei instinctively used soulsense. Strange threads of soulsense were connected to them... wait, these men were being controlled by Xuanwu!

"Xiao Mei! I think the stupid turtle is stopping us from buying things indirectly!" she said hurriedly. "Even though it doesn't dare to hurt us!"

"Duh."

Tsk.

"Then what do we do?" Mei frowned.

"Go somewhere else. Like Xiagu."

Fair point...

She grumbled to herself before teleporting off.

----------------------------------------

Once again, she was back at the canyon town.

What now... other than the canyon below, this was just a regular mortal town. She didn't want to ask Xiao Mei again either... she had a sneaking suspicion her nascent soul wouldn't make herself useful.

Ah! She could ask Liu Qiang's dad, Shang Qiang! She quickly teleported outside his house and knocked the door.

Before long, a chubby woman opened the door, staring at her warily.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Huh? Liu Qiang's mom already forgot about her?!

Oh, wait. Mei realised she still had the mask on.

"I'm one of Liu Qiang's friends from the sect, and I want to talk to Shang Qiang about something!"

"What? Did he get into trouble again?" his mother said in alarm.

Again?

"No no, it's just, um, cultivator stuff? Nothing that important." Mei smiled awkwardly, though it wasn't visible.

"Ah, thank goodness. My husband is currently on one of his military excursions, so I'm not sure where exactly he is. Sorry about that."

"Oh..."

"It's always been like that! He'd constantly be on trips for weeks. I had to raise Liu Qiang mostly on my own!"

"Ah... sorry, I need to be going then."

"Is that so? Take care then!"

Mei hurriedly excused herself. She could already sense the middle aged lady was about to break out into an hour long rant about her life story.

She teleported off to the lift that led further down the canyon, the guards jumping as she suddenly materialised before them.

"Um, do you know where I can find a pill shop?" she asked.

The two guards stared at her cautiously for a moment, making her feel rather uncomfortable.

"What type of pill are you looking for?" one of them finally asked.

"Speciality pills?"

"...you have to be more specific."

"Any rare ones will do?"

The two guards stared at each other. Mei felt rather awkward and turned to Xiao Mei.

"What do I do?"

"How would I know? I've never bought anything at Xiagu."

Urgh...

Now that she thought of it, showing up out of nowhere and saying she'd buy any rare pills was pretty strange, wasn't it? Maybe they thought she was a robber?

"There's a famous pharmacist with a shop at Tiangou. You can probably find what you want there." one of the guards said, finally.

"What about the shops down in your sect?" Mei pointed down into the canyon.

"I'm sorry, but many of our important pills aren't sold to outsiders. It takes certain connections to buy them."

Huh. She supposed that made sense. They might end up selling pills that help to bolster rival sects if they sold carelessly? She nodded before heading off, the guards letting out a sigh of relief.

...

Tiangou... it was apparently quite the distance away.

Carriages departed on the long roads into the distance. Mei had no idea how much each ride would cost, but she really didn't want to fork up her savings for nothing, especially since she could teleport for free!

Seeing a nearby caravan, about to depart, she ran up to it and gave it a knock.

"So... this carriage, it heads to Tiangou, right?"

"Huh? Little girl, you want to board this carriage? Look elsewhere, our seats are full!" the driver huffed.

"It heads to Tiangu?"

"Of course! Can't you see Tiangu's flag on it? Are you blind?"

This stinking old man... a vein budged on Mei's forehead. Did he need to be rude about it? She walked off with a harrumph, watching as it departed.

As it begun to disappear in the distance, Mei glanced around to make sure no one was looking.

Then, with a flash, she teleported onto its roof!

Whoa!

Mei steadied herself, barely managing to grab the flagpole. Phew, she almost tumbled right off...

But still, her idea worked! She grinned to herself. One of the two horses turned around and stared at her in shock.

"Hey. Who trained you to get distracted while running? Focus!" the driver yelled.

He gave the horse a smack, and it let out an annoyed grunt.

Mei decided she was going to knock on the roof and make groaning sounds. She was going to convince him the carriage was haunted!