Xiao Mei stared into blank space. Throughout the past few days, she could only think about the sight of that young man on the battlefield, spheres of metal floating around him.

Yesterday, back at the airship, she remembered the sight of the sect master's back as he walked. Somehow, it reminded her of that man in her... "dreams"...

"Stop, stop that! Urgh..."

The sealed spirit let out a sigh as it watched her head back to her empty bedframe.

That girl... she does realise my voice can still reach her at this distance, doesn't she?

It scrutinised her with an imaginary squint. Hm. That human seemed to have pretty incredible spirit affinity. From the looks of it, she seemed to be wasting it though. Not a single spirit as a companion?

Weird, why did this kid have such an old-looking nascent soul? As it examined Xiao Mei, to its shock, the nascent soul stared back!

The jade spirit prepared to get some angry complaints from Mei, but she continued to read nonchalantly.

Even after it retracted its spirit sense, the nascent soul continued to stare intensely, making it feel rather uncomfortable.

"Hey. Can you stop that?"

Xiao Mei jolted.

"You can talk to me?"

The jade spirit jumped.

"You can talk?!"

"Apparently."

This... to think it would encounter one here. The spirit paused for a moment, composing itself.

"You," it said. "What is your name? I am Hong Ling."

"I guess I'm Xiao Mei."

Hong Ling laughed.

"Hah. Not very original, eh? Interesting. Very interesting! Kid. You're an awakened nascent soul, ay?"

"Uh huh."

"I've only heard of your kind in rumours. To think I'd be so fortunate! Your master doesn't seem to want to speak to me, so why don't you entertain me instead?"

...

There was no response.

Tsk. Like master, like nascent soul, ay?

"Don't be so cold, kid. You must be pretty miserable stuck in there. I get you. I've been stuck in here for at least a hundred years!"

"Didn't you say years earlier? You make it sound a lot less."

"Eavesdropped, ay? Well, that's as intended. My current sentence is only 5 years, but I've been locked here multiple times, haha! It adds up, I tell you."

"...why do you keep getting punished? Are you some kind of criminal?"

"That's not important, is it?"

Xiao Mei frowned. Admittedly, being stuck here without anyone to talk to (she didn't want to talk to Mei), she had been feeling pretty lonely. But this spirit, while he was company... he was also pretty sketchy.

"Ho! I can sense your distrust! Alright, alright, I get how you feel. As a token of our friendship... how about I teach you a certain spirit technique? I trust you'll find it... very appealing. Ahahaha!"

This didn't seem right to Xiao Mei...

Hmm...

Mei yawned as she flipped on the board, letting out creaking sounds. She was awfully sleepy today. Was it because of the sunspot talisman incident from earlier somehow?

"Hey kid!" a voice entered her head.

Gah! That spirit could reach her here still?

"Alright, alright. Sorry about earlier. I'll keep quiet, so keep the jade on your person, ay? It would be really bad if you forgot me. Qiao Shun would be very displeased. I trust we both know how disagreeable he is?"

...

"Fine. But I'll put you back if you disturb me."

"Got it, got it! Sheesh... Oh, one last thing! You can actually attach the jade to your sect robes. Very convenient!"

...Mei had a bad feeling somehow. But she also had a feeling the spirit wouldn't shut up if she didn't put him on. So she grouchily attached the jade to her robe before turning off the lights and lying on bed. Eventually, she drifted into sleep.

...

"Now!" the jade spirit called out.

Channelling qi within the jade, it sent a tiny pulse of qi into Mei's meridians, letting it enter her dantian.

Xiao Mei focused deeply, absorbing the qi and channelling it into the technique!

A suspenseful moment passed.

Then Mei reached a hand up into the air, which proceeded to fall back down and slap her due to gravity.

"Hey hey! You don't want to wake her up!"

"I know!"

After a few seconds of moving around her arms and legs aimlessly, Mei's body suddenly sat up.

"Ahahaha! Great job!" the spirit laughed.

Xiao Mei looked to her hands, dazed. This... finally, she was back in her body. Or rather... considering those memories, it would be her first time controlling one.

"Hey. Keep those eyes closed. The host wakes up easily if you open them."

Xiao Mei felt a sense of exhilaration as she lumbered around the room slowly like a zombie. She wanted to jump around, but that would probably wake Mei up, so she did very sluggish hops instead. A terrible match for the joy she was feeling.

"So. Any plans?"

Xiao Mei finally calmed down from her rush.

"Hey, Hong Ling. Was possession one of your crimes? Since you got jailed so many times..."

"Don't sweat the small details. What's important is now! Do whatever you want for maybe an hour, then quickly go back to bed."

"I know. You already told me a hundred times..."

Xiao Mei lumbered around the room before reaching the table. There... she picked up a book.

"Wait wait wait wait. You can't be serious!" Hong Ling yelled. "You have freedom! You can do whatever you want! And you choose... this?! Are you out of your mind?"

Xiao Mei: ...

"Don't judge," she mumbled.

That cliffhanger from earlier was driving her nuts.

She picked up the book... and then realised spirit sense couldn't read printed words on pages.

...

Damn it!! Her plans were foiled, just like that!

She lumbered back to bed and laid on it.

"Oi oi oi! What in the world are you doing! Hey!"

"What? You want me to head outside and get caught immediately? What do you want me to do if that happens?"

"I... tsk... never mind."

...

"You were totally hoping that would happen, right?"

"What? Why would I?"

...

"Fine fine, I admit it. You're surprising sharp, huh? Alright... I'll teach you this technique then..."

Xiao Mei gave him a sceptical stare as he rattled on about the details, but she decided to listen closely anyway.

Perhaps it was because of the boredom of being stuck here, but she found herself, amazingly enough, able to listen to lectures without drifting off. Or maybe it was just the inability to sleep.