As the sun cast its light over the city once again, Mei, who continued to cultivate in her dark cell heard footsteps.
Two guards walked over, a few prisoners following behind. One of them unlocked the cell of the Xing cultivators who smiled awkwardly while the other one opened the cell she and Wang Wei were in.
"Get out," he said.
Mei looked over to her cellmate, who was still concocting pills and felt a bit unsure of what to do. Well, at least they didn't have the borrowed blankets right now. It would be a pain to if she had to find them later and return the blankets. Since neither of them ended up sleeping, Mei had returned it to the Xing clan members earlier.
Wang Wei reluctantly released control over the furnace. A loud bang came from inside it, making it shake violently, but the pot was unharmed.
"It's still too hot to put in the bag..." he mumbled.
The guard looked a bit resigned as he reached out a hand. In an instant, the air grew cold. The pot cooled in an instant with some weird crackling sounds, a thin layer of ice appearing on it. Wang Wei put it into his bag gingerly.
A short distance away, she saw the other guard lead the prisoners into the distance so she walked in the same direction, but was stopped by the guard.
"We have something to discuss, follow me."
"We really didn't try to rob him!" Wang Wei pleaded.
Mei was just about to say it was no use, but the guard interrupted.
"I know. You're invited to speak to one of the City Lords."
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Mei and Wang Wei were lead into a well-furnished office of sorts. Before them, there was an oval table made of wood. The surface had been well polished, and the smooth edges were carved into a wavey shape. There was a small bookshelf put neatly into a corner beside a cabinet with 2 strange potted plants on it.
The gentle morning sunlight shone through the large windows. She couldn't help but take a glance outside, admiring the view of the city.
An old man in simple but elegant green robes stared at them from his seat, a stern look on his face. Beside him, a strange man in sleek black clothing was tied to his chair, bandages over his head. He glared at them with hatred.
Mei took a step back, unnerved. From the sheer intensity of the glare alone, she felt pressure on her very being. It must be the killing intent she had read so much about!
From the corner of her eye, she saw Wang Wei shudder for a moment, but he walked forward with a cold look.
"This is Qin Yin, our 5th City Lord." the guard said.
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Wang Wei got into an elegant pose and clasped his hands.
"I am Wang Wei."
Realising this must be some sort of noble behaviour she wasn't aware of, Mei did her best imitation of him.
"I am Mei Xiu!"
The old man nodded, gesturing for them to take a seat. Wang Wei sat first, somehow in a very dignified way. In dismay, Mei tried to copy him yet again. How did he manage to make even such actions look so graceful? Compared to how he normally acted, the boy almost seemed like an entirely different person. Stupid noble etiquette...
A bemused look broke the stern look on Qin Yin's face.
"There's no need to be tense. If anything, I should be apologising to you two," he said. "Being newcomers to the city, you might not have known this, but we have been receiving reports of an elusive thief for years. It pains me to say this, but despite the effort of our guards, we were still unable to catch him. We have even resorted to giving him a bounty of 50,000 Jade."
50,000 JADE?! Mei was filled with excitement. They were going to be rich!
"As you must have realised by now, this scoundrel is none other than that thief! We found out after dragging him to a hospital yesterday," he said.
"Normally, we would be rewarding you with the bounty. But! Technically, you didn't capture him. It was our guards that apprehended him." a sly grin came over his face.
Seeing that expression, she realised what was going on and was filled with rage. That old bastard!
"Y-you... that's unfair!" Wang Wei broke his facade and shouted. "Stingy!"
"Now now, we'll still be rewarding you." Qin Yin smiled. "Over the years, our friend here has been stealing many, many things."
He reached out and handed them one of the thief's rings.
"We would be obligated to return them to their owners, but naturally, some of the stolen goods would have been sold or lost long ago. No one would blame us if we were unable to return some of their items."
Mei gasped. As expected of a noble. So scummy!
"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Wang Wei asked. "What if you're trying to frame us?"
The old man, still smiling, reached a thumb out to them.
"I have prepared 2 dao oaths. None of us will speak of what transpired in this room, or we shall be plagued by inner demons and struck by tribulation!"
A strange force came from his thumb. From it, she could sense all the intricacies of the oath. As strange as it was, Mei felt from the depths of her being that it was as he said. It was almost as if the heavens were backing it.
"He isn't lying. That is a true dao oath." Feng Shen said to Mei and Wang Wei both.
Gritting her teeth, Mei pressed her thumb to his, feeling a strange force wash over her. Wang Wei followed suit.
A thought or two flashed about how this was probably bad for karma, but she pushed them away, blinded by greed. It probably wouldn't be that bad...
The City Lord nodded, satisfied.
Both of them reached for the ring at the same time, then retracted their hands awkwardly.
"You first?" Mei said, just to be polite.
"Sure." Wang Wei smirked.
Dammit! He was shameless as well!
After digging around for 5 minutes, he took out a silver sword and grinned with satisfaction. Its design was simple, apart from a red gem encrusted at the sword's base, but Mei could sense a powerful aura from it, giving away that it was no ordinary item. She gritted her teeth and took the ring from him, forcing her qi into it.
In an instance, she sensed hundreds of artefacts, all of them with extraordinary auras! At least, for her current stage. From the intensity, she figured they were most likely in the Foundational stage.
She looked over all of them closely, not sure which to choose. A few minutes passed...
"Pick the flying shuttle." Feng Shen's voice suddenly came.
"What? Why would I want a sewing device?" she frowned.
"Just take it! There's a technique hidden in it."
A burst of qi from the bird entered the shuttle, making a few glowing characters appear on it.
Mei stared with awe, her eyes lighting up.
No way! Could it be some secret really powerful technique?
But after calming down a little, she sighed. That was just wishful thinking. It was probably just going to be a plain old Foundational level technique or something.
As she took the shuttle out, she looked to Feng Shen's ring with some gratitude. Maybe the bird wasn't so bad after all.