Mu Chen, Li Kun, and Xia Ping came out of the auction hall. The auction had lasted a few hours and now it was already late afternoon. None of them noticed the passage of time. The auction had been interesting, exceeding their expectations.

"What should we do next?" Li Kun asked once they came out.

"We now only need to buy a few more things," Xia Ping said. "And we have yet to explore the city."

Li Kun and Xia Ping were in high spirits. They thought they would have to spend a lot of time gathering the items. But the auction had solved a majority of their hassle.

"If Brother Ren was still here, he could have shown us around," Li Kun said. "Xia Ping, try contacting him again."

"Ah? Alright." Xia Ping took out his sound transmission token. After fiddling with it for a while, Xia Ping raised his head in disappointment.

"Nevermind then," Li Kun sighed. He looked at Mu Chen. "Brother Chen, are you sure you don't need anything? How about a stronger weapon?"

Mu Chen smiled. "The sword is enough. Just get your missing items, then we can go find Fengying's group."

The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was nearby. Rather than waste time finding a shop that specialized, they just decided to buy their remaining items there.

When they came out once again, someone was waiting for them. It was a group of armed guards. A staunch-looking person dressed in silver armor stood at the head of the group.

"You three, I have been waiting for you." The man in the silver armor stepped forward.

Mu Chen, Li Kun, and Xia Ping were puzzled.

"Excuse me, do we know each other?" Li Kun asked.

"You are?" Mu Chen frowned. He felt the man in silver armor was the same person he had seen outside the Drunken Moon Palace. But because his face and body were covered in armor, he couldn't tell.

The man in silver armor waved his hand. "Arrest them!"

The guards moved in unison. Before Mu Chen, Li Kun, or Xia Ping could make any sense of the situation, they were surrounded by the guards with spears pointing at them.

"W-wait. What's going on?" Li Kun raised his hands.

"Let us go!" Xia Ping cried out. "We didn't do anything." He reached for his pouch, but Mu Chen grabbed his hand.

"Why are you arresting us?" Mu Chen looked at the leader of the guards with a frown. "We didn't break any rules."

"Whether or not you broke any rules, that's not up to you to decide," the guard leader sneered. "Cuff them!"

Three guards came forward with three pairs of shackles in their hands. Each of them forced Mu Chen, Li Kun, and Xia Ping with their hands together and clasped the shackles onto their wrists.

The moment the shackles snapped on, Mu Chen felt a stream of biting cold flow down his limbs freezing his meridians which made him shiver.

Li Kun and Xia Ping's situation was even worse. Their faces had turned pale and beads of sweat formed on their forehead.

The guards didn't just stop at that. They took out a wad of cloth and stuffed it into their mouth. Then they draped sacks made of black cloth on their heads.

"Take them away," the leader said.

The guards led the three of them amidst the curious gazes of the crowd.

#

Clang! The ringing of the steel doors echoed throughout the dingy cellar.

A pair of arms roughly pushed the three teenagers into the cell. The bags covering their heads were removed, welcoming a tiny stone room.

"Get in! You will stay here until your punishment is decided." The jailor who pushed them in said while locking the bars of the cell.

"P-punishment? But we haven't done anything!" Xia Ping blinked his eyes as he got used to the dim lighting.

"Haha! Everyone who is caught says the same thing," the jailor chuckled.

"You've got the wrong people! We just came to the city." Li Kun said, standing next to Xia Ping.

"Tch! Tch! You just came to the city and already got yourself in trouble?" The jailor sneered. "Did you think the Golden Sun city is where you can run amok?"

"We didn't―"

"Save your breath!" the jailor scoffed. "You will need it when you see the magistrate. Stay put obediently here." He turned around to leave, but stopped and glanced back. "Don't even think of escaping. Those who tried to escape―you don't want to know their fates…" The jailor smiled as if he was looking forward to their attempt to escape, then he left.

Li Kun gritted his teeth after seeing the jailor strut away. "Damn! How did we end up here?" He punched the wall in frustration. "Oww!"

Xia Ping crouched on the ground, began to sob. "T-they took away everything…my pets..."

Mu Chen patted Xia Ping's back. "Don't worry, we will get them back." He thought it was lucky he had left Xiao Xue with Liu Fengying.

"If I had known we would end up like this, I wouldn't have let them arrest us without a fight." Li Kun grumbled, rubbing the knuckles of his hand which had turned red.

"Who knows? Maybe they would've just used it as an opportunity to kill us?" Mu Chen shook his head.

Li Kun slumped on the stone bench. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

Mu Chen also sat down and leaned against the wall. "Wait. What else can we do? Without any cause, they can't detain us for long. But if we do something it would instead give them a handle."

Li Kun fell silent and for the time being the only sound in the cell was Xia Ping's intermittent sobs.

At first, they thought it was just a misunderstanding. So they didn't resist their arrest as they didn't want to escalate the situation. They expected the situation would resolve once the misunderstanding was cleared. Who knew they would be directly shoved inside a dungeon under some building? All their belongings were confiscated. The worst thing was, they didn't even know why they were being detained.

Li Kun and Xia Ping's cultivation was banned and without any means to contact the people outside, they didn't have much choice.

Mu Chen vaguely sensed someone had set them up. And it was someone who had a lot of influence. A noble? But they just came to the city. They barely interacted with anyone here. How could they get onto the wrong side of some noble? The only noble they would have trouble with was Qin Huang? Was he the one pulling the strings?

Mu Chen sighed. He didn't expect they would run into trouble before even stepping into the secret realm.

Hours flew by and the day turned into night. Inside the dungeon, it was already cold and gloomy, and as the night approached it became so dark that it was barely possible to see your own hands.

"Huh?" Mu Chen who had been meditating snapped his eyes open. Just now he had heard someone speak in a low voice.

But Xia Ping had fallen asleep on the floor and Li Kun was still dozing. In this cell, aside from the rats, they were the only residents. So where was the voice coming from?

Mu Chen closed his eyes and focused his hearing and pinpointed the source of the sound. It was coming from the doorway of the dungeon. Perhaps because he was used to the empty cell, the jailor had been lax and had not locked the door to the passageway so the voice was able to travel far. With Mu Chen's superhuman hearing, he was able to pick up their dialogue.

Mu Chen concentrated and soon the voices became a bit clear. The one speaking was the jailor and another person who sounded very unfamiliar.

"...have...detained?"

"Yes...do you wish….them now?"

"It's not...time...." The other person said, "Let...suffer...once...desperate…they…more willing..."

"Sir...wise...but…"

"What?" The other person's voice rose.

"Without...record…can't hold them long…superiors know..."

"Hmph! It's just a matter of a few days," The person said, "Everyone is currently busy because of the secret realm. No one has time to spare attention to such a minor matter."

"Y-yes…" The jailor hesitated once again.

"What? There are more questions?"

The jailor mustered his courage. "Sir, you had said...you will introduce me to...to the Lord."

"Hmph! What status does the Lord have?! Can you meet him when you want?!" That man was incensed. "Just do what you are told! When the time is right, I will naturally bring you to see him. I will take leave for now, I've other matters to attend to."

The sound of footsteps faded away.

"Damn! What a big rack!" The jailor cursed under his breath.

Inside the cell, Mu Chen opened his eyes. Although he managed to eavesdrop on the conversation between the jailor and his lord, it left him even more confused. The only thing that was clear was that they had been targeted. This lord sounded like a person with a lot of power. Why would he be interested in their group? Disregarding himself, although Li Kun and Xia Ping had some influence, it was only limited to the vicinity of Falling Stones city. They were very far away from their city and in the heart of the Ming Dynasty's capital. What little influence they had, even if combined, was nothing to speak of here. Even their individual talent wasn't worth coveting―the Ming Dynasty wasn't short of talent.

"Li Kun, Xia Ping." Mu Chen stood up. "We have to escape!"

"W-what?" Li Kun woke up with a jerk. He was still half asleep and it took him some time to process what Mu Chen said. "But you...didn't you say we should wait?"

"Ah? W-what's happening?" Xia Ping had yet to wake up completely.

"Things have changed." Mu Chen told them what he had just heard.

"The person behind this is a lord?" Li Kun frowned. He was wide awake now. "Doesn't this mean he is from some noble clan?"

"Since he is called a lord, he must be some bigshot." Mu Chen nodded. Titles like these could not be used arbitrarily. The other person seemed to be in awe of this Lord, so he didn't think the two of them were joking.

"Damn! How could we attract the attention of someone like this?" Li Kun cursed.

"So we have to escape." Mu Chen said. Although he didn't know what this Lord had in mind for them, it would certainly not be anything good.

"But how?" Li Kun raised his hands. A pair of shackles dangled from his wrists. Although the shackles looked ordinary, they were incredibly tough. The cold qi had pervaded their meridians and the dantian. If they tried to use any magic art, the spiritual qi would come in conflict with the cold qi and explode, leaving them crippled.

"And even if we escaped, what if that lord comes after us again?"

"So we must not only escape but also must make sure he can't make a move on us again." Mu Chen frowned and began to pace inside the tiny cell. "Isn't Su Rong's family also a noble family? She can help."

Li Kun looked at Mu Chen in surprise. "Brother Chen, you are speaking as if we can already escape?"

"Can't we?" Mu Chen grinned. "I have a way to get rid of these restraints." Though these shackles could seal one's cultivation, they were useless on Mu Chen. He didn't have any cultivation so to speak. His reliance was not cultivation, but his physical prowess and his sword intent. Both of them were unaffected by the chain's effects.

Li Kun and Xia Ping were shocked. But they didn't doubt his words and they became excited.

"Brother Chen, then what are you waiting for?" Li Kun said. "Quick! Get rid of these."

"Brother Chen, you must first help me get back my pets!" Xia Ping said.

"Of course, it's a given that we must get our stuff back," Mu Chen said. "If possible, I would like to collect some interest." His sword was confiscated as well. Although it was ordinary, it had a lot of sentimental value. Mu Chen couldn't let go of this matter just like that.

"But it's not the time yet, we must find out their motive."