Chapter 30: Ten Thousand

How should he put it? Bian Chunzhou did have a few one-sided stereotypes about houses of pleasure.

But that did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for visiting Biyu Tower and broadening his horizons. Besides, they had a mission here. Their reason was perfectly legitimate. Even if they ran into fellow disciples from Yonglu Mountain, there was nothing to feel guilty about.

Of course, Yonglu Mountain was packed with overachievers. There simply were no disciples idle enough to come down the mountain and visit a brothel.

“Stop wearing that dead-man expression. We’re already here. Whether we look the part doesn’t matter. As long as we can afford it, we’re the honored lords of this place.”

Bian Chunzhou was still trying to brainwash Chen Zui when the madam beside them perceptively hurried over to welcome them. Her perfume hit them like a wall, and Chen Zui very nearly drew his saber and slashed on the spot.

“Keep your distance. This young master is visiting Biyu Tower for the first time. Do you have anything novel worth seeing?”

Bian Chunzhou’s acting bug had taken hold. He firmly established himself as a spoiled young master from a wealthy family. Dressed in gold and silver and spending lavishly, he naturally aroused no suspicion from the madam.

“Oh my, an honored guest! Young Master, rest assured. We have clever girls, musicians—whatever sort you desire. We even have immortal maidens!”

Only after entering Biyu Tower did Bian Chunzhou discover that although most of the brothel’s patrons were ordinary men, its furnishings were quite interesting. Even the singing and dancing in the first-floor hall were enhanced with talismans. They were only the lowest-grade talismans, but the flying effects, flames, and white mist blended together beautifully.

That stage design, that musical arrangement—if brought to the modern world, it would crush the competition from an entirely higher dimension.

A cultivation-themed brothel. No wonder Biyu Tower did such booming business at night.

“Immortal maidens? Could they possibly be…” Bian Chunzhou gave an authentic performance as an ignorant country wastrel who had never seen the world.

Seeing his interest, the madam immediately waved her handkerchief and began her sales pitch.

“Exactly what you’re thinking, Young Master. Our immortal maidens are the cleverest and most considerate on this entire street. They may not be true immortals, but their methods—I guarantee you’ll be so delighted that you’ll forget all about going home!”

Ugh—his goosebumps! There were too many to pick up!

After listening for a while, Bian Chunzhou finally understood. These so-called immortal maidens were merely women playing up an immortal persona. They were not actual female cultivators who had “descended to the mortal world for work.”

Correspondingly, the establishment across the street offered “immortal young lords.” It was all the same routine, intended to satisfy ordinary people’s curiosity and voyeuristic fantasies about immortals.

It was worth mentioning that both the immortal maidens and immortal young lords sold their arts, not their bodies.

Bian Chunzhou casually tossed over two spirit stones. In truth, his heart ached terribly for his poor little fortune, but he kept his expression steady.

“Then this young master wants to meet the prettiest, cleverest, and most considerate immortal maiden you have!”

Chen Zui: …

This man had been possessed by a demon, hadn’t he? Could Chen Zui cut him once?

“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and follow.”

Chen Zui silently followed. Having received the spirit stones, the madam naturally led the way with great warmth and enthusiasm.

Before long, they passed through the decadent main hall full of pounding music and energetic dancing. She brought them to an elegant room with a pleasant scent.

By “pleasant,” Chen Zui meant that it lacked the overwhelming powder and perfume that was somehow both vulgar and pretentious. At the very least, his nose felt much better.

“Please wait a moment, Young Master. This servant will summon an immortal maiden at once.”

The two sat down. Once the madam had left, Bian Chunzhou immediately sprang up and began looking around.

Opening the window on one side of the private room offered a complete view of the singing and dancing in the hall below. Wisps of incense smoke curled through the room as well, creating a strange sense of separation, almost like “building a cottage amid the human world, yet hearing no clatter of carriage or horse.”

“They even used a sound-silencing talisman here.”

Bian Chunzhou looked ready to cry.

“So expensive! You don’t need to keep reminding me that my purse is being robbed today!”

Chen Zui showed him no sympathy whatsoever.

“You’re the one who insisted on coming in.”

Given their identities, this was only Biyu Tower. Investigating the backgrounds of two thugs hardly required so much trouble. Clearly, Bian Chunzhou had simply wanted to have some fun, which was why he had insisted on coming here and suffering this expense.

“You don’t understand. We cultivators cultivate, but we aren’t ascetic monks. Money has to be earned and spent. That’s the only way it keeps flowing.”

Although Bian Chunzhou felt the sting, he was not actually that distressed.

“Besides, we agreed not to expose our identities as disciples of Yonglu Mountain. We spent the whole day wandering around. We learned a little, but not much. I wonder how Wen Xu is doing.”

The moment Chen Zui heard him mention serious business, his head began to ache.

“We learned something today?”

How had he not known? When had that happened?

“Of course. We spent quite a lot of money around the western market today. Didn’t you hear what those stall owners said? In the past, villagers from Mist Mountain Village came into the city to sell mountain goods. Especially now, in winter, when it should be a good season to sell firewood.

“If these were ordinary pregnancies, the families would soon have more mouths to feed and plenty of expenses. There’s no reason no one would come into the city looking for work.”

Chen Zui asked, “So you’ve concluded that the pregnancies in Mist Mountain Village are abnormal?”

“That’s not all. Wen Xu went to question beggars and poor residents. We went to places frequented by ordinary townsfolk. Do you know how common families react when a woman becomes pregnant?”

Chen Zui naturally did not. His mother had never taught him such things.

“People in an entire village are becoming pregnant one after another. The village midwives couldn’t possibly handle all of them. Didn’t I pretend today that my sister-in-law was pregnant and question a midwife?

“She said no one in the midwives’ circle had received a request from Mist Mountain Village. And after we bought all those things at the silk shop, didn’t I ask the clerk whether many people had been buying red satin recently?”

“What does red satin have to do with anything?”

“Around Langyuan City, whenever a child is born, most families that can afford red silk use it as swaddling cloth. Even if they can’t buy a whole bolt, they’ll buy a square of it. Do you remember what the clerk said?”

Chen Zui thought back.

“He said many people were buying it. He also said their shop’s red satin was the brightest, and that most of the red cloth used for weddings and newborn celebrations in the city came from their store.”

“Right. But then I casually asked whether families outside the city bought much. I said I had a distant cousin who’d married into Mist Mountain Village, and I wondered whether she had conceived yet.”

Clerks in stores like that were all shrewd. The man had immediately said no one from Mist Mountain Village had visited recently.

“So you see, when people hide a happy event, there can’t be anything good behind it.”

Mist Mountain Village was merely an ordinary village outside the city. If its residents truly had become pregnant one after another, news of such joyous events would have spread long ago.

Yet they had prepared neither midwives nor red satin. Bian Chunzhou was now almost completely certain that something was wrong.

He simply did not know whether it was truly connected to the heretical cultivator responsible for “men becoming pregnant.” That was why he had dragged Chen Zui to Biyu Tower. At the very least, the two kidnappers had unquestionably been connected to this place before their deaths.

Moreover, the fact that both men had died directly inside the prison was far too suspicious.

While Bian Chunzhou was thinking, the door to the private room opened once again.

The enthusiastic madam entered with a rather tall immortal maiden. Judging by her build, she was almost as tall as Bian Chunzhou.

“Young Master, this is Miss Zanxue. She excels in both poetry and the arts, and is especially skilled in talisman techniques. Are you satisfied, Young Master?”

Now that she was close, Bian Chunzhou realized that Miss Zanxue was truly tall. Her features were refined and cool, while her expression was aloof and inscrutable.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a faint urge to kneel before her.

Help! She hadn’t used some tasteless role-playing talisman on him, had she?!

Seeing his reaction, the madam immediately understood. She tactfully closed the door to the private room.

As for a young master bringing his guard along for entertainment, that was no concern at all. Anyone who paid was an honored lord. That was a rule every establishment on this street was required to follow.

“Um, Miss Zanxue, you…”

“This lord does not play the zither, sing songs, recite poetry, or paint. If you wish to hear this lord perform those tricks meant to please men, then I fear you have found the wrong person, Young Master.”

Good heavens, she even had a character persona!

And it was the cold, commanding older-sister type?!

Bian Chunzhou considered himself eloquent, but he was unexpectedly left speechless. He could not help looking toward Chen Zui beside him.

Well. That fellow’s soul had definitely flown away to practice his saber techniques.

Suddenly, he rather missed Wen Xu. :)

“Young Master, have you ever witnessed the bitterly cold snowscape of the frozen north? If not, this lord can take you to see it.”

Who had written these lines?

Why were they so painfully cringe-inducing?

Why had his toes started digging into the floor?

And why did it have to involve talismans?!

An ice-and-snow talisman and a Blazing Fire Talisman—

No, no. He could not think about that. If he kept going, he would remember all the times his master had enslaved him as a tool!

However, Miss Zanxue had already begun her performance.

The private room had presumably been layered with an illusion array. The instant she raised her flowing sleeve, the elegant chamber transformed into the summit of a mountain amid swirling snow.

The three of them suddenly stood atop the mountain range, looking down as the vast multitude of living beings below disappeared beneath the snow.

“Young Master, do you enjoy the sight before you?”

Bian Chunzhou: “…Buh-buh-buh.”

Bian Chunzhou began missing Wen Xu again.

Just as he ransacked his brain for something to say, the ice and snow abruptly melted. The previously fierce wind and snow vanished in an instant.

Someone was shoved through the door from outside and nearly crashed into Miss Zanxue.

Bian Chunzhou instinctively reached out to steady her, but… failed to touch her at all.

She stood perfectly upright without even changing her posture.

Instead, the person who had been pushed inside stumbled badly and almost fell.

“Huh? Aren’t you—”

Bian Chunzhou also froze.

The newcomer was that unreliable spirit physician who liked extorting people. Afraid the man would expose their identities, Bian Chunzhou immediately rushed forward and covered his mouth.

“Yes, yes, yes! Cousin, don’t shout! If my mother finds out, I’ll be finished!”

The moment Spirit Physician Ming heard this, he seized the opportunity without hesitation.

“Little Cousin, that’s hardly honest of you. You want me to keep your secret? Easy. Pay today’s wine bill for me. How about it?”

The enforcer outside had clearly heard their conversation as well.

“Since you know each other, that makes things easier. Pay up.”

“How much?”

He would consider it the price of avoiding trouble.

“Ten thousand.”

Ten thousand?

What sort of wine was that? Immortal-grade? Heavenly nectar and jade dew?

“Not silver ingots. Not gold ingots. Ten thousand spirit stones, thank you kindly.”

Bian Chunzhou immediately turned cold and threw the man back outside.

“Actually, we’re not that close. He’s merely an impoverished relative who comes to sponge off my family. Tie him up and make him perform for money right here. Selling his body is fine too.”

Ten thousand spirit stones?

Why didn’t they just rob him outright?!

They could scam him, but scamming his precious little fortune was absolutely unacceptable!

This had to be a honey trap. Biyu Tower was unquestionably crooked!

He could see the truth perfectly clearly with his own two eyes!

Chen Zui: …

How much longer are you people planning to keep acting?

I’m tired just watching you.

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