Xiao Mei teleported back to her hometown.

She didn't think anyone in the sect would be interested in the pills, and even if they were, well... they could teleport here themselves.

She stared at her house wistfully... no, Mei's house. For a moment, she wanted to walk in and greet them; to have a talk with them, for the first time in what felt like forever. The real Mei entirely forgot to visit them. After talking big about turning their lives around. Hmph.

She shook her head and turned away.

The reason she came here, was to look for a certain shop. Back when Mei was still a peasant, she did tend to some spirit herbs. Ming Apothecary, a well known establishment in her country, had set up shops in many rural towns to purchase those herbs from farmers.

While Xiao Mei was unaware, it wasn't exactly normal for peasants to know how to tend to spirit plants. Whoever Ming was, 6 decades ago, he led a huge public campaign, teaching peasants the ways of spirit horticulture, promising them huge profits.

But as Mei would experience firsthand, there were less than desirable effects on the meridians of more talented farmers with certain spirit herbs, but Ming was indifferent.

As far as the farmers could tell, if anything, growing spirit herbs would bless them with untold strength and health! For people who would never step upon the path of cultivation, damaged meridians hardly affected them. The campaign was a huge success. Farmers were delighted by their fattened pockets, and Ming Apothecary made mountains of Jade. In the past decade, Ming even began to diversify, setting up shop in many neighboring countries.

Xiao Mei was hoping whoever was manning the store at this hour would be able to identify her pill. Ultimately, a specialty pill from a fancy shop from a fancy city should be worth a lot in a different country, right? She strolled there, heart beating nervously. Or rather, Mei's heart. Bah!

She would really hate if she had to sell for a loss.

The shop was rather small, only as big as a single room, with shelves stocked with various mortal medicines. If not for its fancy trimmings, it would probably have been more of a stall.

A tall, middle aged man was sleeping, his head leaning against the counter, drooling. Late at night, no one was here to bother him. The man was Yong Hao. As far back as Mei could remember, he had been running the store.

"Hey, sorry, but can you wake up?" Xiao Mei nudged him."

"Urgh, can't an old man have a good night's rest..." Yong Hao grumbled.

He rubbed his eyes before staring at her.

"Young miss, why are you wearing a mask like that?"

"It's not important. Can you help me appraise this pill?"

She handed it to him.

"Woken up in the middle of the night, and asked by a masked figure to help out..." he sighed. "Fine."

He yawned before reaching into his pockets and putting on a monocle, then using spirit sense on the pill, starring at it in puzzlement for a moment.

"Oh! This seems to be quite the quality pill. Young miss, where did you get this from?"

"I bought it from the White Lotus Pill Establishment from Wu." Xiao Mei said. "It's a focus pill, one of their specialties."

"Wu? That's quite the distance! So you were hoping to do a little resale while on your trip huh? Not a bad idea." he said in a tired voice.

"Though, I'm not sure why you'd visit me here of all people... in this rural place, haha. I'm just a washed up old man not even my sect wants, haha..."

With a little spirit sense, Xiao Mei could tell he was still at the 9th stage of qi gathering.

Poor guy.

She supposed that made sense. Any cultivator a sect sent to work in a mortal town for an extended time was probably just considered a wastrel.

"Wait..." Yong Hao squinted. "Sorry if I'm being rude, but you seem strangely familiar."

"Um..."

She walked back a few steps.

"Oh! You're Mei Xiu aren't you?" the man suddenly stood up.

Gah! She should have known just putting on a mask wouldn't fool him. With how much of a troublemaker Mei was, most of the people here recognised her. Let alone after rumours of her getting accepted to a sect spread. She snatched the pill back, turned around and ran!

"Wait! Don't run! Why are you running?"

Yong Hao did a flip over the counter and chased her.

Huh. He made a good point, actually. Xiao Mei was mostly running out of instinct, planning to teleport away out of sight. But it wasn't like the old man knowing her would be bad for her. Aside from if he talked to the real Mei about today, busting her...

She stopped, deciding to hear him out.

"Did you snatch that pill from someone? Why were you being all sneaky?" he asked. "And take off your mask."

"No, I bought it. As for the mask, it's, um... fashion?"

Yong Hao: ...

It wasn't like she could say she wore the mask because the lack of light helped Mei sleep better.

"Well, while I don't have the skills to appraise the pill myself, I can help you take it to one of our main branches to appraise it. Though, it might take a whi- what?"

Xiao Mei grinned suddenly grabbing his arm. Then, with a flash, she teleported him outside a Ming Apothecary directly.

It was one Mei had visited before she joined the sect.

Yong Hai stared blankly at the sight before him, flabbergasted.

"T-teleportation magic? How can you use that?"

"It's with this token!" she showed him.

"I see... for your sect to give you something this important, you must be a core disciple. I'm envious..."

Xiao Mei decided not to correct him.

Yong Hao walked into the store, while Mei waited outside. She heard someone yelling at him from inside, asking him what he was doing here, instead of tending to the store. He could only appologise over and over.

Xiao Mei felt rather guilty.

10 minutes later, he walked out, passing her back the pill.

"It's worth 160 jade." he huffed.

"Yes!"

Xiao Mei couldn't help but shout in joy.