Bai Feng glared at the bleak brick wall across from the bed of the small cell she had been thrown into almost two hours ago, ignoring the urge to rub her still sore wrist and cuts on her hands. What she had planned and nearly done had been incredibly bold and risky but it would've worked without a hitch. It should've worked without a hitch.

Have the bigger boys get in a very public 'fight' with each other and cause a big 'ol commotion in the middle of the street where all the traders gathered. Worst that'd happen to them would be them getting chased out by some of those guards who stood like hawks in the trading streets. A nuisance to everyone else on that end of the street, but to them the perfect distraction.

Course they couldn't just jump in right after and rob him then, he'd cry murder and those damn cultivator guards would be on them quicker than the flash floods could rise in the river streets. That's where she'd pull the whole cute little girl sent by her parents to buy something very specific act and go up to him and get his attention while the sneaks did what they did best and took a few pieces of jewelry that they could pawn off later so they could actually for once have a small little stockpile of coins ready for winter.

Normally, even with all the stops, it wouldn't have worked but her ears on the streets had heard that some commotion was happening today at noon and that'd guards were going to be pulled from everywhere to help with whatever the hell they were needed for. And as luck would have it right at noon four of the six usual guards for the particular street they had in mind ran off, leaving just two of the usuals's to watch the entire street. The guards were subtle about it but they were watching and ready to pounce on this opportunity. Everything had worked out perfectly, the boys had gotten the guards to run after them, the fat merchant was giving her a stern look as she babbled out contrasting descriptions of what she had been 'told' to get, and the three best sneaks had just been about to start swiping when out of nowhere a horn got blown and two of the guards who had left came out of nowhere with some youth pointing at them.

Everything exploded into chaos by the stall as the sneaks began to run for all their worth with their loot while the pair of guards began rushing to the stall. The merchant himself wasn't about to do nothing while they ran off though and was lunging to grab the closest sneak. He would've managed to, they were just a little too close but they were her sneaks and she was not about to let even one of them get caught when she could do something about it. So she grabbed some random decorative vase he had on display and leapt over the stall to bash him over the head with it.

Bai Feng might've been small but she had beaten down older boys in the alleys in the past and really, the fat merchant was no different other than being a much bigger target and easier target compared to them. The vase shattered over his head and he went down to the ground missing her sneak as they ran off into the shadows of the alley. He wasn't out but she'd done what she needed to in order to stop him as she ran off towards the alleys on the other side of the street.

She had no illusions that she wouldn't be caught quickly no matter how quick she ran through the alleys but she could at least make sure her people got out. And as far as she could tell after they had caught her and hoisted her through the streets and towards the jail she was the only one they had.

She also caught a glimpse as she was being taken there of the youth who had been with the guards and it had taken everything she had to not start thrashing in the guard's ironclad grip when she saw him. Lu Jia, one of her own had been the one to rat them out. In the end, she had settled for a death glare, the same one she was currently giving the wall of her cell.

"Got me caught 'en nearly got the sneaks caught as well. If I get my hands on him..." Bai Feng muttered darkly to herself. She didn't even have her ring anymore since they had confiscated it. The one thing she had held onto throughout the harsh years after her parents had both passed from the plague that had struck six years ago. The emerald set in it might've been small and the bronze band it was set on dull but it still would've been worth at least a few days of food if not a week. And yet she still hadn't sold it. Instead, hiding it when she had been weak, and wearing it proudly once she had grown strong and gathered her little gang together. And now it was gone.

Bai Feng had half a mind to get up and start punching the wall she was glaring at despite how bad an idea it was when she heard the loud echoing footsteps of the guards coming closer to her cell. And just a few moments later the two guards they belonged to coming to a stop in front of it with some strange man with a disinterested look etched on his face in robes so fancy one could probably buy a house with them alone and strange sun patterns decorating it, his arms both set behind his back.

She turned her glare upon them while her eyes narrowed when they began unlocking her cell. "What, haven't you already read out my char-"

Bai Feng felt a sting in her shoulder and suddenly found that the strange man was suddenly in front of her, one hand on her shoulder and another holding something that he had just stabbed into her shoulder.

"Get off me!" Yelping in surprise and shock she attempted to shove him off of her only to find his grip on her shoulder preventing her from even moving her right arm while not even budging from the shove from her other arm.

Seemingly ignorant to her words and uncaring for her attempts to shove him off the man didn't stop until something about what he had stabbed her with satisfied him and he pulled it out, the puncture it had left disappearing in seconds after it had been taken out. "Hmm."

Bai Feng grimaced as she pulled back from the strange man while he stared at what he had stabbed her with, a strange tablet-shaped thing with a thin blade that had already receded into itself, realizing that he was far from normal as the guards stood outside the cell by the barely opened door. Just what kind of cultivator was he to have been able to move without her even noticing and why was he here? After all with what he had done, there was no way he wasn't some superior cultivator.

The question echoed within her mind as she began to grow nervous about why the strange man was here when the he suddenly spoke up, not bothering to look up while he did so. "Organize for whatever charges that may have levied against her to be dropped, alongside whatever other charges might be incoming. She shows enough talent that she qualifies for the Emperor's Decree." He looked up and his formerly disinterested look turned piercing towards her. "And make sure she at least looks and smells like she hadn't come straight from a brawl in the alleys by noon tomorrow when the carriage comes by. As it stands right now her state is an insult.

"Yes Sir Zheng!"

Bai Feng blinked in shock at the man's words while he disappeared from in front of her and back by the guards who had both just saluted where he had been just a moment ago, snapping to his new location before one hurriedly went off back towards the entrance of the prison while the other came into her cell. Sir Zheng himself walked back the way he came from. Her charges were being dropped. She apparently had enough talent too for something that a decree from the Emperor himself was something she qualified for. And something about a carriage and her looks?

Bai Feng didn't even resist as the guard dragged her along to somewhere, taking far more care with her than when they had thrown her in just a few hours ago. What had just happened?