A barrel of wine rolled out of the carriage's back. Hong Ling popped out of it, before flinging it at Senior Han.

"How did you find me here?" the spirit cursed.

Han Yun reached his arms out to catch the barrel.

"I have my ways. And don't waste perfectly good wine!"

As they talked, the carriage door swung open, a man leaping out. He prostrated himself before Senior Han.

"Good sir, I'll give you everything I have! Please don't hurt me and my family..." he begged.

"It's a misunderstanding! I'm not here to rob you, I'm just chasing a... fugitive." Senior Han scratched his head. "I'll reimburse you for this later, sorry!"

"Thank you! Thank you!" the man wept.

"Um, Senior Han?" Mei said.

"Yes?"

She pointed at the shrinking red dot in the distance.

"Hong Ling is getting away."

"Hah, I'd like to see him try." Senior Han laughed. "With Feng Shen, we'll catch up in an instant!"

"Um..."

Mei pointed at Feng Shen, who was also shrinking into the distance.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Feng Shen?!" Senior Han roared.

"My two weeks break has already started!" the bird laughed, it's voice echoing in the distance.

"You little shit! Who raised you for so many years?" he yelled. "Sorry, but wait here! I'll chase Hong Ling myself!"

"Okay..." Mei said.

As Senior Han took off, shooting into the air, an oppressive force weighed on him. Just like that, he crashed face-first into the ground.

"Human! I am Xuanwu, the great guardian god of Wu! How dare you disrupt the peace of the country!"

A deep voice came from beneath the earth itself, the earth forming a turtle's head to glare at Han Yun.

Mei: ...

How unlucky was Senior Han today?

"You can't be serious... What the hell did I do?"

"From your reckless flying, you disrupted the rest and hurt the ears of millions of citizens!"

Huh? Flying could hurt people's ears? Mei didn't get it.

"I'm chasing a fugitive! Please let me catch him first before we discuss this! And why aren't you chasing the bird instead?"

"Such arrogance! You are in the wrong, and you still dare to make demands?"

Mei stood around idly, not sure what to do, until a realisation hit her. If he failed, then that meant she couldn't have him pay for her debt as promised! Over 20,000 jade was at stake! That was something she couldn't accept!

She was about to run over to grab Senior Han, but stopped. What if she was crushed to death by the pressure if she got too close? That was way too dangerous!

Never mind, teleporting herself to Hong Ling it was! Still sensing traces of Hong Ling with soulsense, she teleported towards it.

Hong Ling turned in alarm as she appeared beside him.

"You?" he said to Mei.

She reached out to grab him. She could just teleport him straight to the sect with her!

But Hong Ling slammed her to the side with a wall of qi, sending her flying. Mei hit the ground with a violent thud, bouncing off twice like a rock being skipped. Just like that, she was unconscious.

Hong Ling was about to leave quickly when he spotted something attached to her robes.

"My old jade!" he said in pleasant surprise.

He reached for it, plucking it off her robes.

"With this, I can-"

...

Xiao Mei reached out with Mei's arms and grabbed him!

"Xiao Mei?" he said in bewilderment. "You traitor!"

Teleport!

The two of them flashed away, tossed into a swirl of colours.

"Who taught you how to possess her? You owe everything to me!" Hong Ling shouted. "You'd be stuck in a prison of a dantian forever, if not for me!"

"Sorry... there's too much money at stake."

"You ingrate!"

The two of materialised in Li Xuan's room, where the elder jumped in fright.

"Hong Ling?"

She immediately cast a spell, encasing him in a soul cage.

"You bastards... Is being free to much to ask?" Hong Ling said lifelessly.

Xiao Mei felt terrible. In the end, despite being so shady, he was still her benefactor. And yet, she sold him out to cover a debt that wasn't even hers.

"Master... why is the sect so intent on catching Hong Ling anyway?" she asked.

"As I said previously, there's no need to be formal with me. As for Hong Ling..."

Li Xuan sighed.

"You might have heard he was sealed away for his crimes, right?"

"Did he do something terrible?" Xiao Mei asked, gulping.

"Well. The worst he did was mischief, albeit enough to disrupt the entire sect at times. I remember when he replaced hundreds of expensive potions in the sect with pond water..."

What.

Hong Ling banged on the cage, but couldn't seem to say anything.

"Well, I can't fully blame him through. He is a... special case."

"Special?"

"Yes. Hong Ling is a 9 element spirit."

"Seriously?!"

She never heard of a spirit having more than 3 elements!

"Yes, his existence shouldn't even be possible. I have no idea where the Sect Master found him, but he was still a young spirit back then. At that time, he still still a good, obedient child. But as he grew older, he yearned to explore the outside world."

"But as sect elders, we couldn't let him. We are restricted from descending into lower belts without first signing a heavenly contract. But paying a price like that just to supervise someone... that wasn't sustainable. Hong Ling got resentful and started causing all sorts of mayhem. Eventually, he was sealed away as punishment."

"Are spirits in the sect just not allowed to leave?" Xiao Mei asked.

"No, they can leave once they've signed the documents. But Hong Ling... Say, back when he was handed to you, do you remember how fast he could cultivate?"

"Yeah... I thought spirits couldn't even cultivate."

From Mei's memories, she remembered when Hong Ling took an attack from Detian. But instead of getting injured, he absorbed it, instantly advancing to Core Refining!

She told Li Xuan about it.

"Yes, it seems you are aware..." the elder said. "To amass power so quickly, while resisting every element..."

"And spirits aren't bound by karma, right?" Xiao Mei asked. "The sect didn't want to risk him running rogue and becoming a threat could destroy nations..."

"Exactly. A less merciful sect would have destroyed him before he could grow stronger." Li Xuan said. "Just by letting him roam the sect freely, we're already risking a lot."

"I see..."

Xiao Mei stared at Hong Ling with a complicated expression.