With a loud metallic clang, the door slammed shut.

As the sound echoed through the halls, the guards walked off, leaving Mei and Wang Wei behind prison bars. It was a cold and dark place, with not a single source of light built in. If not for Su Qing who was shaking in anger and glowing, they would barely be able to see a thing.

Well, she still had her qi lantern if it came to that though. The guards didn't confiscate their possessions for some reason.

"We really didn't do anything! He was the one trying to rob us!" Wang Wei shouted.

But none responded. There was only the sound of their distant footsteps echoing.

"Bad! Bad!" Su Qing said angrily.

It was not to the guards however, but to Mei.

Apparently, Feng Shen's attack had been so fast, Su Qing thought she had attacked the thief for no reason.

Mei sighed in resignation. She had tried to explain it to the spirit, but Su Qing's vocabulary was so limited that it was hard to explain, especially as guards tied them up and dragged them here.

She was just trying to have fun in the city. How did she get dragged into this?

Seeing how angry the spirit was, Mei was a bit worried it would just cut off the contract somehow.

"Stupid little thing!" Wang Wei shouted at it. "It's not our fault!"

"Bad!"

Getting angry at it was no use though. Mei poked at the cold, hard ground with a gloomy look on her face, an equally useless strategy.

An idea flashed across her mind, snapping her out of her train of unhappy thoughts. Of course! Why didn't she think of that earlier?

"Su Qing! Me not bad, bird bad! Bird hit him, not me!"

The little spirit froze in shock. Then it seemed rather guilty.

"Sorry... sorry... sorry..." it said sadly.

"Bird bad! Bird bad! Bird bad!" it said to Feng Shen, with renewed enthusiasm.

"SILENCE!"

Su Qing stopped, afraid.

"How ungrateful... I saved you from getting robbed, and this is how you repay me?" the bird gave a cold snort.

For a bird, Feng Shen sure liked to do cold snorts...

A light flickered from a lantern in the cell beside her, making its inhabitants visible. To her surprise, it was the two weird disciples from the Xing clan! The skinny one was lying on the ground, while the fat one was sitting and rubbing his eyes. They even had a thin mattress of sorts and a blanket. How luxurious.

"You guys are being noisy... can't you let us-" he went. "Oh! I remember you two from earlier. What did you do to get in here?"

Unlike when she met him earlier, he seemed to be quite normal now.

Mei was rather surprised. Partly because she happened to be in the cell next to them, and partly because they got jailed for just saying nonsense. The laws here must be really strict...

Wang Wei and Mei explained to them that someone tried to steal them and was beaten up by Feng Shen, but they were mistaken as robbers instead.

"I see..." he yawned and stretched. "Well, don't worry too much. If you're here with us, your crimes are small. You'll probably be let loose by tomorrow. It's also why they didn't take away your possessions."

He grinned.

"I've actually been here a total of 63 times." he turned and pointed to his buddy. "Him? 25 times."

Was that really something to be proud of? Well, that was reassuring at least.

"I've heard from my senior brother that you guys... sort of spread the word about what the chosens of your clan want?" Wang Wei said. "How much do you even get paid by your sect for that? From what I heard, it doesn't seem to have much effect anyway."

Fatty did a small yawn and laid down again.

"Yeah, I don't think it's effective either. Ever since the auctioneers started helping the bidders get away, our clan didn't have much luck catching them," he said. "I'm pretty sure the only reason our sect hands out missions like that is out of spite."

He looked around the cells, then leaned in, his hands cupped over his mouth.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, but I think the patriarch is rather petty..." he whispered. "Not that I'm complaining though, we still get paid a nice amount."

"How much?" Mei asked.

"Around 20 jade each time."

Mei felt a bit envious. Honestly, getting paid to run around and mess with people seemed a lot more fun than chopping vegetables for ages. The guards didn't take away possessions either, so she could just grab a lantern and read the books here.

Wang Wei sulked in the corner, while Mei tried to make herself comfortable on the ground. There 'wasn't much to do' anyway, so she planned to sleep until the guards let them out tomorrow. It was a lot harder than wood, so she emptied her bag and used it as a pillow of sorts.

But no matter how she tossed and turned, it was too cold for her to get sleep. She shivered.

"Do you two want blankets? I have some spares on me." fatty said. "Can't do anything about the mattress through, it won't fit through the bars."

Huh. He was a surprisingly nice person. Mei felt a bit warm at heart.

"Yeah, thanks," she said.

Fatty took 2 blankets out of a spatial bag, stuffing it through the bars. As Mei received it, she half expected them to stink a little, but they were clean and had a pleasant scent. From the feel of it, the blankets seemed to be made of wool.

She offered one to Wang Wei, but he shook his head, still grumpy.

"No need. I'm just going to do alchemy."

Her heart lurched.

"Wait, no! What if you get us into more trouble?"

The last thing she wanted was to be in the point-blank range of exploding pots and that nasty smell.

Wang Wei sighed, before taking out a huge pot. It was dark green and covered in ornate swirling patterns. It stood on 3 legs and had 2 massive handles as thick as his arm. A huge lid sat on top of it, with 3 vividly crafted hornless dragons clamping it tight to the body. If not for how discoloured and gunk covered the bottom was, it would have been quite majestic.

A pill furnace!

Mei couldn't help but feel rather awed. Well, at least she wouldn't have to worry about explosions then. It would probably still stink, however...

She watched as he carefully bathed the furnace in flames, carefully measured herbs before tossing them in. Every few minutes, he would refine the mixture and add in more herbs. The whole time, she could see strands of his qi flowing into the pot. After around 20 minutes of that process, Wang Wei clamped the lid shut with the dragons, then increased the heat massively.

His movements were so efficient and fast that Mei could only describe it as a master's. It was shocking to see in a boy so young.

It was not the end of it, however, as he continued to imbue his qi carefully as it cooked for another hour. Finally, Wang Wei opened it.

As Mei smelled a pleasant herbal aroma mixed with a burnt one, she thought he had failed. But what came out were two pills, a fragrant white one glowing brilliantly and a black one that stunk of soot. He took out a bottle of white wax and painted the white one before leaving it on the ground to cool.

Wang Wei looked a bit tired, but seeing her and the two Xing clan members looking, a proud look came over his face.

"I actually came up with this pill concocting technique myself!" he said as he popped a qi pill into his mouth. "Focus the essence of the herbs in one, and the impurities in the other! I call it the Yin-Yang Pill Technique!"

Mei was stunned. Coming up with his own technique? What was he, a protagonist from a cultivation novel?

"What nonsense are you talking about?" the skinny Xing clansman said. "That technique already exists. It's called the Lotus Duality Technique!"

"Wha-WHAT?" Wang Wei was stunned. "I... thought I came up with something original."

As fatty comforted him, Mei felt a bit bad. Alas, with how wide the world was, it was nearly impossible to come up with something original.

That night, several cells in the prison's low-security section were warm and filled with the gentle sound of a rumbling pill furnace.

The two Xing cultivators slept especially well, their cells nice and warm. Unfortunately for Mei, she was too close to the furnace, making her covered in sweat and unable to sleep.

Grudgingly, she spent that night cultivating.