Tianyi would be lying to say that he wasn’t disappointed that Liu Lang didn’t come to find trouble with him. Wasn’t the script suppose to have Liu Lang indignant at someone wanting to snatch his woman and then him finding trouble? Unfortunately, reality went against Tianyi’s expectations.
But thinking about it, Tianyi also figured out the reason. For one, booking a Foundation Establishment Realm courtesan for one hundred high-tier spiritual stones was a colossal waste. This meant that the person who was offering to buy Liu Lang’s booking was someone with enough strength to easily waste one hundred high-tier spiritual stones or someone with a huge backing or force behind them. Tianyi was both. Tianyi conveniently didn’t label himself as a wastrel.
And number two, Beauty Yu Hua was just a courtesan. Speaking unkindly, she wasn’t Liu Lang’s lover or wife. They were in a relationship as customer and employee. At most, his pride as a Core Formation Master would be damage. But so what? Liu Lang was a loose cultivator; his standing was lower than those on the same realm with sects or clans backing them. He had experienced far greater humiliation in the past.
Reality proved that his discretion was correct, he even got a pill recipe in return for his strategic withdrawal. After gaining the recipe, Liu Lang retreated from the room and even the One Jade Flower Pavillion. What interest did he have in courtesan when he had a new pill recipe? And it was an advanced Core Formation Realm pill recipe!
Liu Lang returned to his estate. It was a gift from the Xi Dynasty as a show of their goodwill. Naturally, Liu Lang knew what they wanted. But he hadn’t thought much of the Xi Dynasty at first. Despite the size of the nation’s territory and protected by a Nascent Soul Grandmaster, it was surrounded by numerous sects and clans with numerous Nascent Soul Grandmasters.
It was a miracle that the Xi Dynasty had expanded to its current size without destroying itself. Liu Lang had initially scoffed at the rumor that the Xi Dynasty’s Emperor was a blood-related sibling with an Immortal of the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Now, however…
Liu Lang’s eyes narrowed as he recalled how intimate the sixth prince and the mysterious Nascent Soul Grandmaster was. He could naturally discern that the Nascent Soul Grandmaster was far younger than he was despite his higher cultivation with his years of experience. Yet such a genius was being accompanied by a talentless Qi Gathering Pupil.
If you said there was no relationship between the two, then Liu Lang didn’t believe it. Maybe it wasn’t an Immortal, but a Unity Realm Venerable or even a Transcending Mortality Sage.
Liu Lang sank into deep thought as he weighed the pros and cons of joining the Xi Dynasty. Compared to other sects and clans, the Xi Dynasty ruled by the Xi Clan heavily protected the mortals. The disparity between cultivators and mortals was the least here, so casually stealing or killing from mortals had a graver consequence. But Liu Lang was a loose cultivator and not a devilish cultivator, so he wouldn’t be affected by the stricter restriction.
He recalled the implicit hints of the treasures able to be gifted for his allegiance. Earlier, he had ridiculed what the Xi Empire had to offer him, an alchemist when they had no inheritances. But now, Liu Lang’s eyes glimmered.
Liu Lang summoned the servant of the estate and told him to send a message to the officials. He decided to give a small test. If the Xi Nation passed, then he would join. The servant took the jade slip and immediately sent it towards the official in charge of hosting Liu Lang. The jade slip directly stated the condition for him to join was the acquisition of a pill cauldron Artifact of the Nascent Soul Realm and some Core Formation pill recipes.
Firstly, if the Xi Emperor really had a relationship with an Immortal or someone close to the Immortal Realm, a pill cauldron of that rank should be no trouble. As for the pill recipes, even if he had a recipe for a Nascent Soul pill, it would be useless to him.
The central stage, separated from the ground floor by a small water mote, a mist began to shroud all visibility. Then the clear notes of flutes could be heard, followed by the plucked strings of a pipa.
One by one, beautiful dancers appeared on the stage from both sides, cutting through the mist and allowing the audience to regain clarity of the stage. Each one wore the same immaculate dress with long flowing sleeves. Despite this, the beauty of each dancer could not be more unique.
The crowd sighed in admiration at the tempting vixen whose waist was so thin two hands could wrap around it, the scholarly lady who appeared to have been born from a painting, the unsullied maiden of which mortal sins could not stain, and many more. Unseen by anyone, a drunken cultivator stared dazedly at the clean and pure maiden.
His features were upright and just, causing all those who saw him have a good impression. But right now, his state of dress was in a great mismatch against his feature. Dark bags were under his eyes, an unshaved stubble around his chin, and unkempt and slovenly clothes coupled with the stench of liquor glued to him caused him to appear incredibly desolate.
Back on the stage, these fairy maidens have been dancing a while, with the music reaching a crescendo. The dancing fairies made way for a large unoccupied spot in the center of the stage. All the audience members felt expectations well up within their chest. The audience had already wondered why One Jade Flower Pavillion suddenly decided to perform such a grand dance, but there must be a lead in each dance, yet there wasn’t one for this. This situation easily made them overthink and reach a conclusion. All the dancing maidens were all first-rate beauties, but for them to be a sideshow, who else could the main lead be but Beauty Yu Hua?
It had to be known that Beauty Yu Hua had a sky-high price. And the customer didn’t choose her; she chose the customer. Otherwise, no matter how much money was offered, Beauty Yu Hua would not choose. It was even hard for her to select a client once a month, much less needed to be said of her public performances. While they waited, the audience all pondered which bigwig had arrived for Beauty Yu Hua to publicly perform a dance.
And One Jade Flower Pavillion did not let their expectation down.
At the highest point of the music, a green figure floated down onto the stage’s center. Her clothes were a combination of green and yellow, as if woven from strands of leaf and branches, giving her the appearance of a nature nymph. Her disposition was cold and lofty as if she was a flower of high peaks, unattainable. But the more unattainable something was the more one’s heart desire it.
Once Beauty Yu Hua appeared, it was as if the ten fairy maidens’ previous dance and performance had lost all luster. There was simply no comparison. No matter how pure and clean, no matter how seductive, or how mesmerizing, all those beauties lost their glamour once Beauty Yu Hua appeared.
Tianyi sighed to himself. Compared to the dances of the modern world of Earth he was used to, the dance of women of One Jade Flower Pavillion where on another level. It was as if they dedicate their whole life to the craft. But most of all, the dancers of the modern world simply couldn’t compare to the aura these people exuded. Of course, Tianyi hadn’t gone to any famous dance performance, and these dancers were all cultivators, so they had an inherent advantage.
Just as Tianyi was enjoying himself, an accident occurred. One of the dancers, the one with the pure and clean look, tripped and fell. The momentum and rhythm of the performance instantly disappeared. The other nine fairy maidens looked at the fallen one with hints of disdain but said nothing.
They didn’t need to.
“Wei’er, how many times is this?” The pointed voice of Beauty Yu Hua could be heard. It was no wonder today was her big performance, yet it was all ruined in a single moment. And judging from her word, this wasn’t the first time that it happened.
“I-I-I’m sorry, I’ll do better next time,” The girl called Wei’er said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“Next time?” One of the fairy maidens said, her face mocking. “This isn’t the first time this happened. Out of all of us sisters, you are the only one who would mess up so badly during a performance. I won’t bother mentioning the rest, but who was it that promised that there wouldn’t be an accident during Elder Sister Yu’s performance?”
“I-I….I… didn’t mean to,” Wei’er said, the unshed tears in her eyes almost bursting, yet not quite to the point like a bubble.
The other girls all began to pile up words against Wei’er, as if they finally found an outlet for their anger, causing Wei’er to look pitiable as if the whole world was against her. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and yell back.
“It’s not like that! I’m not like you people! I didn’t want to do this. You guys forced me to.” Wei’er said, her tears finally shedding like two rivers down her face. Her appearance was that of an abused girl forced to dance for strangers, causing many of the men in the audience to have their hearts moved.
This only caused the other fairy maidens to be even more displeased. What did she mean by those words? Who did she think she was, standing on a higher moral plane than them? Beauty Yu Hua stayed quiet, letting the girls vent. Just as she was about to speak, a voice from the audience rang out.
“Isn’t it just a dance? Start over again.” The owner of the voice was the disheveled handsome drunkard. He took another chug directly from the wine jug. “Besides, the girl said that she didn’t want to. You people forced her to sell her body like this, yet you treat her like this?”
Seeing as how the situation might get out of hand, Beauty Yu Hua stepped forward and talked with the drunken man. “This gentleman, there seems to be a misunderstanding. The girls of the One Jade Flower Pavillion does not conduct in the trade of the flesh. And we did not force Wei’er to dance. We gave her a choice between entertaining guests or a servant. But Wei’er couldn’t stand being a servant, so she chose to dance instead.”
Beauty Yu Hua’s words were rational and, coupled with her calm demeanor, made her words believable, causing all those who empathized with Wei’er to lose much of their empathy.
The drunken man snorted and chugged another mouthful of wine. He derided. “Who knows how clean this place is. I don’t know what the situation is. All I can see that you are teaming to bully a weak woman.”
Beauty Yu Hua wasn’t intimidated and instead showed a cold smile. “Gentleman, you must speak reasonably. When one commits a wrong, isn’t it only natural to make up for your mistakes? This isn’t the first time Little Sister Wei’er has committed such an error. Many of the gentlemen here can be witnesses to this fact. We already tried to convince Little Sister Wei’er many times, but she stubbornly refuses. Since she still hasn’t fixed her mistakes, isn’t it only natural there would be consequences?”
“Sophistry!” The drunken man said as he stood up and smashed the wine jug onto the floor with a loud bang. “Fine, I’ll speak by your rules. I’ll buy that girl’s freedom from you people, speak how much is it?”
Many of the girls on stage all had strange expressions on the faces at the man’s words. The atmosphere instantly became queer. Finally, Beauty Yu Hua explained. “As I said, gentleman, you are misunderstanding. We do not own Little Sister Wei’er. We happened to have picked her up on the road when she was homeless and starving. We fed her to health and then let her leave, but she didn’t have any other place, so she wanted to stay.”
The man’s eyes cleared a bit before looking at Wei’er. “Is this true, miss?”
Wei’er’s tears had stopped, but her eyes still glistened as if they could start again at any moment. “I…I…this…” She could articulate any words, but despite this, her whole body expressed signs that she was forced and it was not of her will.
The man’s expression hardened, and he sneered. “I want to see what other lies you concocted!” The aura from his body changed, and the heavy pressure of a Nascent Soul Realm Grandmaster instantly descended on the surrounding.
The fairy maidens and Beauty Yu Hua’s expression all changed as they were forced to their knees. Many of them couldn’t help but glare at Wei’er, this unlucky star. Ever since she had appeared, the reputation of One Flower Jade Pavillion fell by the thousands each day. Rumors had started about how they forced their courtesans to commit acts against her will. But even when they directly wanted to chase her out, she clung to them, saying that she had nowhere else to go. And now, their little lives could be lost because of that unlucky star!
And then, like a savior descending from the heavens, the pressure disappated, and a voice could be heard saying. “This fellow daoist, the one who seems unreasonable to me, is you. The lady of One Jade Flower Pavillion was conversing with you reasonably, but you resorted to brute force the instant you couldn’t outspeak her. I don’t think it is unreasonable for a man to fight a woman. This world is where the strong reign, after all. But using your power to bully the weak, where is your honor?”
“I am not bullying them. I am seeking justice.” The man said, his voice full righteous fury.
“Justice? Fairy Wei hasn’t even spoken her part, yet you already arrived at the conclusion. I ask of you, can you predict the future?” Tianyi said. It was not like he hadn’t seen what happened, but he felt Beauty Yu Hua’s words were reasonable.
“She is too afraid to speak. I am standing up for her.” The man said, unwilling to back down.
Tianyi smiled. “How about this then, Miss Wei, nod your head if there were any falsehood in the words spoken by Miss Yu, earlier.”
Wei’er continued to stutter, not able to take any action. Just as it seemed that the Nascent Soul Grandmaster would take action again, Tianyi spoke. “Do not be afraid, Miss Wei. If you have any unspoken injustice, I can ask the emperor to provide over your case personally.”
Even with this guarantee, Wei’er refused to take any concrete action. Even those who still felt for Wei’er all felt that there was something amiss.
The man and Beauty Yu Hua both came to a tacit consensus. The audience who wanted to watched a good show were disappointed. With Beauty Yu Hua and the ten fairy maidens gone, a new performance started. It wasn’t as outstanding as the previous one, but enough to distract them. But a few wanted to eavesdrop, but thinking of the terrible strength displayed thought better of it.
Beauty Yu Hua, the ten fairy maidens, and the man all stepped into the booth. It was the largest and most lavish booth on the second floor, so with a few adjustments, everyone was easily accommodated. The twelve main characters of the earlier farce all observed Tianyi, some more openly than others.
Xi Chen, who usually was the center of attention, had to play a side role in this. But his eyes towards Tianyi were full of respect. But not because of any righteous reasons. Instead, he was thinking, How amazing, with few words, Little Cousin Tianyi invited Beauty Yu Hua and ten fairy maidens!
Finally, the man introduced himself with the air and disposition of someone used to a lofty position. “I am Boundless Mountain’s Bing Huoyuan, and this fellow Daoist is?”
Beauty Yu Hua and the ten fairy maidens all stared wide-eyed in surprise. Although they were quite far from the Central Region and be clueless on many matters, due to the Xi Emperor’s close relationship with Xi Mengfei, many of the citizens of the capital were well informed of the first-rate sects of Heaven Continent. This was much better than backwater places that only knew the name of the number one force of the continent, Buzhou Immortal Sect.
However, to Bing Huoyuan’s confusion, Tianyi didn’t show any surprise or shock. Even the little Qi Gathering Pupil beside Tianyi didn’t show any shock or reverence as was usual when he announced his name and sect.
“I am Buzhou Immortal Mountain’s Xi Tianyi,” Tianyi said with a slight smile on his face and a hint of expectation in his voice. Beauty Yu Hua and the ten fairy maiden aside from Wei’er instantly guessed Tianyi’s identity. Although they didn’t know his name, they heard that the legendary Sword Empress Xi had a son who once visited Xi. And judging by his intimacy with Xi Chen, a frequent customer of One Flower Jade Pavilion, there was nothing else that needed to be said.
The girls were shocked, but Bing Huoyuan was even more. “Vast Heaven Young Master?”