Chapter 32

Guo Qingshui's eyes narrowed hazily, filled with decadent intoxication and bittersweet sorrow.

Liu Ruyan suddenly moved like a butterfly, a flash of snowy-white light flickering in her hand.

Guo Qingshui cried out and retreated again and again, narrowly avoiding that glittering swath of light. Once she steadied herself, she lowered her head in shock to look at her chest. Her collar had been sliced open by a sharp blade, and her magnificent red robe was nearly split in two down the middle.

Guo Qingshui suddenly gave a seductive smile and lightly shook her shoulders. Her red robe slowly slipped down from them. Beneath it, Guo Qingshui was wearing nothing at all. Her smooth body was instantly laid completely bare beneath the dim night.

Flawless as white jade, brimming with the tempting vitality of a young maiden's youth,

Her legs slowly parted bit by bit, while the foxlike smile on her face resembled ripples spreading across spring waters, growing ever more soul-stirring.

"Can you imagine it?"

Guo Qingshui asked in a murmur.

Imagine what?! Naturally, she meant imagining how Ning Chang'an had made her feel good, and how he had died beneath her skirts.

Liu Ruyan snorted coldly. Her skirts fluttered loudly as she swept toward Guo Qingshui like a colorful butterfly flitting among flowers. The snowy-white short sword thrust forth with unfathomable, ghostly precision.

Guo Qingshui gazed dreamily at her own full, snow-white breasts, seemingly unaware even with death looming over her.

Clang!

A longsword stabbed out from behind Guo Qingshui, blocking Liu Ruyan's killing strike.

Cao Gongyang Sword Scripture?!

Liu Ruyan retreated slightly, immediately seeing a man emerge behind Guo Qingshui in the darkness. Two vivid streams of blood beneath his nostrils stood out sharply—her beauty had aroused him so greatly that his nosebleed was pouring freely.

The man who had appeared was Cao Jing.

Cao Jing spun around and pulled Guo Qingshui into his embrace, using his sleeve to cover her exposed breasts and intimate place. With such a beauty in his arms, and a naked beauty at that, Cao Jing's breathing had already grown extraordinarily heavy. The two streaks of blood beneath his nose looked especially glaring.

Guo Qingshui suddenly whispered softly into Cao Jing's ear, "Take me away!"

She deeply feared Liu Ruyan's killing intent. Because of Young Master Tang, she could not harm Liu Ruyan in the slightest, much less use poison.

Cao Jing did not hesitate. Cradling Guo Qingshui in his arms, he vanished after several leaps. Once Guo Qingshui had left, Liu Ruyan flew down from the roof of Spring Breeze Tower and looked worriedly at Old Man Mu's pale face.

She knew that Old Man Mu was severely injured. Now, it seemed his injuries were even worse than expected.

Old Man Mu forced himself upright and smiled. "I'll be fine in half a month!"

Liu Ruyan froze in surprise. "Half a month?"

Old Man Mu nodded gloomily.

Liu Ruyan could no longer imagine just how serious an injury it had to be for Old Man Mu to require half a month of recuperation. She only knew that he was powerful, yet she did not know how he had escaped from the hands of King Mao and Divine Detective Eagle.

Half a month was already terrifyingly long.

At that very moment, all of Old Man Mu's internal organs had shifted out of place, and there were even slight tears in them. An ordinary person would likely have died long ago.

Liu Ruyan frowned and asked softly, "Guo Qingshui's poison won't be a problem, will it?"

Old Man Mu said, "It can't hurt me."

Liu Ruyan breathed a sigh of relief. "Go treat your injuries quickly."

Old Man Mu handed Liu Ruyan a long prescription, then silently departed.

At that moment, in an inn three streets away from Spring Breeze Tower, Guo Qingshui was pinned beneath Cao Jing. Her graceful body twisted, her head turned to one side as she struggled continuously. She did not struggle with much strength, yet her exquisite body kept writhing. To any man, this was practically a potent aphrodisiac; whoever took it would be consumed by lust. Such a tempting creature, naked and pinned beneath a strong man, making only token resistance and seeming to refuse while welcoming him in—what might happen next needed no explanation.

Cao Jing growled like a beast as he stripped off all his clothes and pounced on Guo Qingshui like a wolf and tiger. Guo Qingshui let out a delicate cry, her soft voice like a coquettish moan. Something burning hot and hard was already pressed against her flat lower belly.

Guo Qingshui's body was soft, and any man could find the thrill of conquest upon her. Cao Jing moved his hips like a beast, while Guo Qingshui wrapped herself tightly around him and kept moaning sweetly into his ear.

Though her body was soft and seemed free to be toyed with as one pleased, her desire burned fiercely like flames. Once ignited, it was simply impossible to contain. There were only oxen worked to death, never fields plowed barren. Cao Jing erupted again and again, but Guo Qingshui's slender brows gradually furrowed. She clearly had not felt satisfied, so she was unwilling to stop. With a sudden roll, she mounted the panting Cao Jing and began twisting her waist in an extraordinary rhythm.

Cao Jing continuously let out deep roars. His entire body trembled as fine beads of sweat seeped from his pores layer upon layer.

He felt that he had sunk into an ocean of desire, descending ever deeper until he could no longer free himself.

He had finally gotten Guo Qingshui and brought her to bed, yet he was shocked to discover that he simply could not feed this greedy cat her fill.

Guo Qingshui demanded without restraint. Only after Cao Jing had not a shred of vigor left did she stop, her face dark as she got out of bed to wash her body, streaked with traces.

After bathing, Guo Qingshui left the inn refreshed and carefree. Before leaving, she glanced at Cao Jing, who had fallen asleep in exhaustion on the bed, and cursed under her breath, "Useless man!"

Cao Jing truly was useless. He lay in bed for a full three days before leaving the inn with a wan complexion.

For those three days, he dreamed constantly. In his dreams, he and Guo Qingshui were endlessly entwined. After waking, his heart felt incomparably empty, and he began craving Guo Qingshui's body again. It seemed he had fallen under her spell, his soul forcibly lured away by her flesh.

He left the inn in a daze. A trace of Su Yueru's figure surfaced in his mind, and a sinister smile crept across his face as he said heavily, "One day, I'll taste her!"

Longyuan Province bordered Panlong Province, where the royal city of the Great Gan Dynasty was located. It had always been praised as Panlong Province's backyard. After retiring, many high-ranking court officials and nobles withdrew to Longyuan Province. On the surface, they had left Panlong Province's center of power, but in truth they remained down but not dead, still connected by countless threads to the dynasty's whirlpool of authority.

For a long time, everyone in Longyuan Province—scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants, and all walks of life—had carried a trace of imperial airs. Unlike the other great provinces, they were far prouder and deeply disliked outsiders. It was as though, apart from Panlong Province and Longyuan Province, people from every other major province were little more than country bumpkins.

Longyuan Province was also packed with martial sects. Moreover, martial schools, jianghu gangs, and official authorities shared exceedingly ambiguous ties, their roots tangled and their relations complex beyond measure. This was one of Longyuan Province's defining traits: jianghu people and the Six Doors had begun to show an indescribable trend of intermingling.

Everyone in the jianghu knew one piece of common sense—no force in Longyuan Province was easy to provoke. Do not offend them lightly; it was best to curry favor with them, and absolutely never become their enemy.

Yundu Commandery lay in the middle of Longyuan Province, not far from Panlong Province.

The Ning residence was located within Yundu Commandery of Longyuan Province.

This was Ning Chang'an's first time reaching the heartland of Longyuan Province. Previously, his travels had extended at most to the border region between Longyuan Province and Changshan Province.

It was not that he had been unwilling to set foot there. Rather, Yang Qingling and Yang Taiyi had repeatedly warned him not to cross Changshan Province and enter Longyuan Province lightly.

Yundu Commandery was the destination of his journey.

If Danyang Prefecture was a frivolous, romantic city, then Yongan Prefecture in Yundu Commandery was a grim, rigid city.

Yongan City appeared very desolate, so cold and quiet that it gave the illusion of sparse habitation.

In truth, Yongan Prefecture had no shortage of people, and every one of them was extraordinary. Retired jianghu magnates lived here, as did old generals who had spent their lives in the military and aged martial commanders with distinguished achievements. Few civil officials retired to Yongan Prefecture, but many military commanders came to cherish this place dearly in their old age.

Yongping Prefecture, which bordered Yongan Prefecture, was instead a nest of sour-faced pedants. Of course, that was how the people of Yongan Prefecture described it. Yongping Prefecture was largely inhabited by old civil officials, with no shortage of scholars and literary men.

The styles of these two cities were utterly different, as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers. It was not difficult to discern certain intentions of the Great Gan Dynasty from this. Civil and military officials fought one another and checked each other, maintaining a subtle balance beneath the surface.

Yongan Prefecture always exuded a faint air of slaughter and war. It seemed quiet and solid. Yet one must never underestimate it in the slightest. Truly ferocious beings no longer needed any superficial embellishment. Here, it was wrong to think oneself wealthy, for most people here could regard money as dung; some could no longer be measured by money at all. It was also wrong to think oneself influential, for an ordinary-looking old man might be able to deliver a letter straight before the ruler of a nation. It was even more wrong to think one's martial arts invincible beneath heaven, because one could never know whether the person passing before one was some old general or a retired jianghu legend.

While walking through Yongan Prefecture, the first thing one had to learn was humility, the second was vigilance, and the third was strength. Humility and vigilance were guarantees of survival, while strength was what allowed one to live well.

Ning Chang'an wore clothes personally sewn for him by Liu Ruyan and led his horse into the ancient, imposing Yongan Prefecture.

The layout within Yongan Prefecture differed from that of most cities. Mansions stood everywhere in this city, and they were all ancient. What filled every corner was not vitality, but an air of antiquity.

There was a district of roughly two streets in the south of the city, a gathering place for outsiders. Unlike the quiet desolation of Yongan Prefecture, these two streets were lined with inns, restaurants, teahouses, brothels, and markets—everything one could possibly need.

Many jianghu wanderers gathered in Yongan Prefecture merely to seek an opportunity. If any of the seemingly cold and quiet estates took notice of them, they would most likely gain a far more stable future than wandering the jianghu.

Having arrived somewhere completely unfamiliar, Ning Chang'an was unwilling to trust anyone. He appeared to stroll forward slowly without looking sideways, but in truth he was observing this heavy city, which was so oppressive it nearly made one unable to breathe, at every moment.

He made his way to the south of the city, settled into a modest inn, then headed along the street to Master's Tower. Master's Tower was actually a teahouse, but its tea could hardly be called good; it sold only large bowls of tea. Yet it had the audacity to call itself Master's Tower, and in Yongan Prefecture at that. It was simply showing off before an expert. Strangely enough, no matter how shamelessly it showed off before an expert, it remained standing firm, and its business was excellent.

The tea sold at Master's Tower was not good. Just how good was its business?! So good that people came from thousands of miles away to drink tea—bad tea. So good that some drank there again and again, even deciding simply to live in the teahouse and never leave. So good that other teahouses had nothing to do but envy it and pick up Master's Tower's leftover customers.