He thereafter met with Sima Yi at Wuqiu (), with a distance of more than ten zhang between both of them, and Wang Ling told him: "If I am guilty, you can summon me to meet you. Why do you need to come here?" Sima Yi replied: "That's because you don't respond to summons." Wang Ling exclaimed: "You have failed me!" Sima Yi responded by claiming: "I would rather fail you than fail the state." Wang Ling was then escorted as a prisoner back to Luoyang. To discern Sima Yi's true intentions, Wang Ling asked him if he could receive nails for his coffin. Sima Yi had them given to him.