Mei laid on the carpeted floor, staring at the ceiling.
After the meal, she and Shaohe claimed they were tired after all that walking, so Senior Foodie showed them to their accommodations.
Well, she wasn't actually tired, but she didn't mind resting for a short while.
Apparently, according to Senior Foodie, the auction was starting in 2 days, so he booked rooms for everyone in advance, 2 people per room. Mei would be with Xiuying, Liu Qiang with Yingyi and Wang Wei with him.
The room she was in was rather spacious. There were 2 beds against a wall that faced the windows, which spanned from floor to ceiling. A few couches were in front of the beds, a table in the middle. There were also a few cabinets and wardrobes on the other side of the room.
Outside, the sun was beginning to set, casting gentle light on the city. From the looks of it, Mei figured it was probably somewhen between 6-7, evening.
Though, that didn't seem right to her. She was pretty sure with all that time she spent cultivating and walking around, it should already be dark.
Perhaps she was in some kind of special state and did her cycles really quick? Her eyes lit up at the thought.
But in truth, it was just that Mei had not heard of timezones. Back in her sect, it was midnight.
After lying around for enough and getting bored, she left her room and wandered into the hall. Su Qing left its puppet slumped in the room and flew after her.
Just then, Wang Wei left his room as well, looking to her in surprise.
"You're heading out too?"
"Yeah, I'm not tired at all."
Wang Wei gave her a sympathetic look.
"Senior Han's talking can be a bit tiring sometimes, huh?"
"Hmm? It wasn't that bad." Mei said. "I was just annoyed because he kept walking past the shops and didn't let us take a look."
"It's fine, I get it." Wang Wei nodded with a knowing look.
Mei was a bit confused but decided it probably didn't matter much.
Jump from roof to roof, a figure flitted through the air.
He was dressed in sleek black clothing that clung to his figure tightly and wore a black mask covered in faint grey designs. The mask covered the entire face, with translucent glass as the eyeholes. On his hands were black gloves, but if one were to look closely, they would see the faint impression of rings underneath.
He looked at the crowds of people down below, his eyes like a hawk's as it hunts for prey.
"Tsk. Good targets are so rare lately." he thought to himself.
As he continued to sneak around, something caught his eye.
"Two Vermillion Phoenix disciples... and both only at the 9th level of Qi Gathering?"
His shocked expression quickly turned into a grin under his mask. On a few occasions in the past, he had stolen from Vermillion disciples. Each time, he had gotten amazing hauls! It was truly a rich sect.
But it was no easy feat to steal from them. They had all been in the Foundational stage and had many powerful techniques. It took a lot of preparation on his part to pull the heists off without them noticing.
Not wanting to lose track of them, he quickly hopped off the roof and into an alleyway, his body transforming as he fell. The moment his feet touched the ground, he turned into a meek young scholar in white robes with a handsome face.
The collection of rings on his hands were now invisible, leaving only 1 visible to avoid suspicion.
He walked out calmly and sized them up from afar.
One of the disciples was a young boy. He didn't seem to have anything valuable, only a shoddy storage bag that the thief sensed didn't hold much.
The other disciple was a teenaged girl with a bag slung across her shoulders.
With his mastery over the Heaven Peering Eye technique, he could see it was just an ordinary bag, even from a distance.
"Heh. As if that dud would fool anyone! How naive..."
There was no way she kept her valuables in there.
One of the rings on her right hand however, a silver one embedded with blue jade had an incredible spatial aura to it! He gulped. There was no telling what amazing goodies lay within, but even if the ring was full of junk, the ring alone would fetch an incredible price.
With the other Vermillion disciples, he often only managed to steal their side storage devices and didn't manage to get anything of that quality. But with Qi Gathering cultivators, he was more than confident. To think he was so lucky today!
Mei walked alongside Wang Wei. After a bit of discussion, they decided to see the Violet Emperor's Pill Emporium first. According to Wang Wei, Senior Foodie had talked about it constantly, giving tons of praise to it!
It was a bit of a distance away, but Mei was fine with that.
Night had come, making beautiful lights illuminate the city, be it from shops or tall poles where lanterns hung. The skies were clear tonight too, filled with shining stars.
She was more than content walking and taking in the sights.
"Fruit juice made from the freshest Skyfruit! Special offer today, only 5 Jade!"
She turned to look at the shop. In there, a plump and jolly old man with a wide grin sat behind a counter. Around a dozen people queuing. Behind him, huge glass containers each tall as a person were full of colourful fruit juice. Labels were stuck on them, each with prices around 10-23 Jade, but the Skyfruit's price tag had 20 crossed out, replaced with a huge red 5!
Mei struggled for a bit, then decided to make a stop. 5 Jade was a lot, but she really wanted to try it! Plus, it was probably good for cultivation...
"Wang Wei, let's get some juice there." she pointed to the store.
"Hmm?" he turned to look at the store. "Sure, why not?"
As they walked to the store, Mei suddenly felt a strong gust of wind behind her.
"AAHHHH!"
She turned around and saw a young scholar, facefirst on the ground. His head was bleeding and there were cracks on the pavement where it hit the ground. Beside him, Feng Shen's ring laid on the ground.
The bird had violently slammed his forehead to the ground, knocking him unconcious instantly.
"Courting death!" the bird gave a cold snort. "A mere Foundational pup of the 5th level dares to steal my ring?"
Foundational level?! Mei paled a bit before quickly picking up the ring. She didn't even feel the ring getting taken off!
Bystanders stared with shock. Even the jolly fruit juice man stopped smiling. Wang Wei turned around to see the commotion and gasped at the sight.
"I was almost robbed?" she said.
"What else? You're lucky I'm here or you would've been robbed clean!"
Mei stared at the collapsed scholar for a bit, then at the people staring at her. On the thief's right hand, a shiny ring was visible on his index finger.
"Uh..." she said.
After a few awkward seconds, an impulse came over her. She bent down and tried to yank the ring off.
"Robbery! How dare you try to rob that young man!" the fruit juice man yelled.
After struggling for a bit and failing to pull it off, Mei quickly ran away.
"Wait!" Wang Wei said, running after her.
"Guards! Guards!"
Moments later, guards appeared seemingly out of nowhere and chased.
"Stop right there!" they yelled.
