“You’ve gotta be kidding me, what do you expect me to do?” I said.

Chen Wei stood up slowly, making sure not to injure herself any further. “The Blue Fire Sect doesn’t have a jail built to hold stage four experts. Modifying a cell to hold her would take time and we would still need to station a guard just in case.”

And if she stations a guard, Hui Ming might tell the guard about me. If we let her go, Hui Ming will tell her sect about me. I would have been able to convince her to keep a secret if she wasn’t a spy. But of course, she was a spy.

Chen Wei glanced at me and looked down to the ground. “In truth, there are multiple sects after Blue Fire land and resources. But the only one that would go so far as to send somebody as strong as she is-,” she looked back at me but didn't continue.

“Is?”

She clenched her jaw. “The only one that would go so far is the Crimson Fire Sect.” I gave her a confused look. “The Crimson Fire Sect is one of biggest sects in the city. The only sects that can claim to be able to defeat them in all out war are the top behemoth sects of the city. The Crimson Fire Sect is enormous and they’re always looking to expand.”

“Go on,” I said, intent on learning more.

“As the weakest sect in the city as of now, we are their prime target. This may be a small mountain, but it’s still a highly desirable piece of land.” She pointed at Hui Ming. “But they’ve never gone this far! Sending a fourth stage expert as a spy? Who in their right mind would do that?”

We spoke as if Hui Ming wasn’t right next to us. At this point, she was just a thorn in my side. It didn’t matter if she was a fourth stage expert, everybody was the same when tied up. “Can’t you take her for a little while? If she’s a fourth stage expert, I’m sure she has some information you want. You should interrogate her.”

“I already know I won’t get anything useful from interrogating her. There’s nothing she could tell me that I don’t already know. The same goes for the Crimson Fire Sect. Even if they somehow kidnapped one of our fourth stage cultivators, everything the fourth stage cultivator knows will be of no use to them,” she explained.

“Wait a second, why would they send a spy if they already know everything?” I asked.

“That’s part of why I was so surprised,” she said.

“Welp, don’t rope me into your politics,” I scratched my head. “Please?” I added.

“I’ll try not to,” she replied. “I’ll leave this girl with you. Anything else would result in your secret getting out.”

That made sense, but “What am I supposed to do with her?”

“I really don’t know. It looks like you have a prison that can hold her, so you can use that,” she said.

“Got it. I can’t keep her forever though, so please try to come up with a way to deal with her,” I said.

“Sure,” she said delightfully informally. “Is there anything else you need me for?”

“Nope, thanks for coming. I can take care of this for now,” I said. She nodded and left.

I knelt down next to Hui Ming. “What now?” I asked her.

I was pretty far away from her, but it was silent enough for me to hear her breath, only occasionally interrupted by rustling leaves. Her strained breathing came at an irregular pace.

I noticed her muscles pulsing, trying to break out from the vines. She gave me a dirty look and I sighed. “You are being really troublesome right now, you know that?”

“What are you going to do?” she exhaled shakily.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” I made two meshes of vines. I used on to bind her hands and the other to bind her feet. The Twentytacle Trap let go of her, but she was cuffed.

One last vine connected the vines at her feet to the giant pineapple, tying her like a dog tied to a post. The Twentytacle Trap unwrapped from her and slunk off to its original position underground.

“You can’t break these cuffs,” I said, but I still took a step back. I had to be very careful when dealing with somebody like her. I could deal with the external Qi blasts she sent at me, but I wasn’t confident about physical combat with her, even if her hands were tied.

She wouldn’t be able to touch me so long as I stayed a good distance away from her. The leash I put around her foot made sure of that. “Feel a bit better now?” I asked, now that she could move around more freely. It felt like keeping a pet dog, leash and all. I rubbed my hands against my head, pushing my thumbs against my eyelids. Was there really no better solution?