Differences I

Lu Sheng thought for a moment, then took the initiative to approach the nearest Jianghu Person.

"Brother." A silver ingot appeared in his hand, which he held up for the man to see.

"What do you want?" The Jianghu Person stared at him warily.

"I just wanted to ask, why are so many people coming here to look for something?"

Lu Sheng wore a puzzled expression.

"You came here without even knowing that? Get lost!"

The man looked at him as though he were an idiot.

Seeing that he was turning to leave, Lu Sheng took another gold ingot from his pouch and held both out to him.

The gold made the man stop. He weighed it in his hand, then looked Lu Sheng over. Seeing that he did not look like someone here to compete for scraps, he said,

"You came to join the excitement without knowing anything? We came because we heard that last night, many experts came to exorcise spirits. They were only halfway through fighting when a strange treasure appeared, and everything fell into chaos. An expert ran off with the treasure, and everyone else chased after him. This place became ruins as well.

We came to drink a mouthful of soup from the bottom of the pot and make a fortune off the dead."

"Making a fortune off the dead?" Lu Sheng understood. These people had come specifically to dig valuables off corpses.

He did not know what had happened last night. But for it to draw so many people and forces together, it could not have been a trivial matter.

These people all know some of the inside story. People like Duanmu Wan and Yan Kai came to Nine Links City for unclear reasons. Perhaps they stand on the same level as demons and ghosts. Lu Sheng pondered as he released the man and made several more rounds of the area. He spotted several patches of black matter that looked like melted steel.

He did not linger and soon hurried back toward Lu Estate.

When he returned to Lu Estate and had just stepped through the main gate, a servant came to report to him.

"Young Master, Miss Duanmu has come again. She is waiting for you in the reception hall," the servant said quietly.

Duanmu Wan had come? Lu Sheng's heart tightened as he recalled what she had said when he had seen her before. His spirits rose, and he strode toward the reception hall.

The moment he entered, Lu Sheng saw Duanmu Wan's distinctive figure and attire. In this era, few women dared dress as she did, even in brothels and pleasure quarters.

She sat in a wooden chair, lightly sipping tea from a white porcelain cup. Her veiled hat rested to one side, and her gauzy outer garment had been undone, revealing the tight black outfit beneath.

The outfit clung so closely to her body that every inch of her curves was outlined, like a second layer of skin. Her chest, hips, and legs in particular looked almost naked, scarcely different from being bare. The surrounding maids and guards could not help but avert their eyes, their faces flushed red.

"Miss Duanmu, it has been a long time. What exactly did you mean by what you said before?" Lu Sheng got straight to the point as soon as they met. He waved away the idle attendants, then fixed Duanmu Wan with a keen gaze, making no attempt to avoid looking at her alluring attire.

Duanmu Wan smiled and raised her head, examining Lu Sheng with an odd look. "Young Master Sheng, I trust you have been well. It is cause for celebration that you survived this great calamity. You need not worry now; things are much safer."

"What do you mean, Miss?" Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. Duanmu Wan clearly knew a great deal of the inside story.

"It means nothing." Duanmu Wan set down her teacup, clapped lightly once, and rose to her feet.

Duanmu Wan smiled. "Since the people around you have withdrawn, and you did not die in that earlier disaster, you are qualified to learn a little of the truth."

"I would appreciate your guidance." Lu Sheng sharpened his focus. What he feared most was that she would refuse to speak.

Resting one hand beneath her chin, Duanmu Wan smiled. "Since Young Master Sheng did not die, you must have already encountered the demon and ghost factions. Those filthy, sinister things are not so easily dealt with. Without special methods, there is no way to survive their pursuit."

"Demons and ghosts. Could you tell me in greater detail, Miss? Where do these demons and ghosts come from, and what do they want?" Lu Sheng asked in a low voice.

"Don't be impatient." Duanmu Wan gave a soft laugh and slowly circled to Lu Sheng's side, extending a hand to gently touch his cheek.

Her movements were light and tender, like thin gauze brushing over him. Unless one paid close attention, one could hardly feel it at all—itchy, tingling, like teasing between lovers.

"Miss Duanmu, you have not yet explained the inside story." Lu Sheng took a small step back, avoiding her teasing. "If there are matters you need to keep hidden, there was no need for you to come looking for me of your own accord. I presume you have your own purpose as well?"

Duanmu Wan immediately burst into charming laughter, trembling like flowers in the wind.

Pfft! "Young Master Sheng truly is no ordinary man. The first time I saw you, I rather liked you.

Back then, I merely tried placing a small wager on you. I never expected you to truly survive. What a delightful surprise. You have no idea—after learning that you were alive, even while I was fighting between life and death, I still kept you in my heart." Duanmu Wan spoke with deep affection, her tone seemingly capable of melting even an iron-hearted man into a pool of water.

Lu Sheng suppressed the anger in his heart. Though she pressed close against him, he remained calm. "Could it be that Miss has taken a liking to this young master?"

"Who knows?" Duanmu Wan smiled, stepping back and turning gracefully in a circle.

"This servant likes you very much, Young Master. Whenever I see you, I think of the one I loved most. Alas, he died too early, and all my love and admiration have nowhere left to go." As she spoke, a trace of loneliness and self-abasement flashed through her almond-shaped eyes.

Lu Sheng was certain he had not seen wrongly. It had truly been self-abasement—that peculiar emotion found in the insecure. Yet it had appeared on the mysterious Duanmu Wan before him. Clearly, the man she mentioned possessed no ordinary status, strength, or standing.

"Now, Miss Duanmu, can you tell me what demons and ghosts truly are? And what sort of people are you?"

Duanmu Wan smiled and lightly circled behind Lu Sheng, pressing her entire body against his back.

"Whenever I see you, Young Master, I cannot help imagining that you are him. Ah..." She let out a long sigh, laden with sorrow and resentment.

"Do you know, Young Master, why people can still mostly live peaceful lives in this age, when demons run rampant and ghosts emerge one after another? Just as you lived a quiet life for more than ten years before this."

Lu Sheng's gaze sharpened. "Because someone is protecting them?"

"Yes. You could call it protection. This world is difficult enough; people should be given at least a little hope and comfort."

"This realm can be said to belong to two great powers."

"Which two?"

"Demons, and the noble families." Duanmu Wan simply raised two fingers. "Demons are monsters such as the demons and ghosts you have encountered. The noble families are spirit exorcists like myself and Yan Kai, people born with power within them."

"Born with power? Isn't it acquired through later cultivation?" Lu Sheng's heart jolted, though he still clung to a trace of hope.

"No." Duanmu Wan laughed sweetly. "I know Young Master still holds a little hope, but unfortunately, there are no cultivation methods in this world that can contend against demons. We noble families need no such methods, nor do we possess any martial arts manuals.

What we cultivate is merely the development and use of the special power we are born with, using that power to fight demons. Ordinary people can only ever remain ordinary people."

Lu Sheng fell silent.

This was the truth he least wanted to hear.

Duanmu Wan continued, "There are two ruling classes beneath heaven: demons, and noble families. Our power is something we are born with, far surpassing mortals. The gap is enormous, truly enormous. We are born with power. Even the weakest among us possess strength utterly beyond the imagination of ordinary people."

"I do not believe ordinary people have no chance at all." Lu Sheng slowly shook his head.

"Young Master is truly adorable." Duanmu Wan laughed sweetly. "You must understand: there is no spiritual energy from novels in this world, nor is there immortal qi. There is nothing in the air we breathe. The only thing we can rely on is ourselves.

Martial artists cultivate inner qi from what food becomes after being consumed. The powers and abilities we noble families are born with lie hidden deep within our bloodlines. The gap exists from birth."

She gently released Lu Sheng and walked to his side, her slender hand lightly stroking his powerful chest.

"Two great forces in Nine Links City were previously fighting over a precious treasure. One of those forces is the powerful force that controls demons and ghosts—the same force that chose the Xu Family and your Lu Estate as sacrifices."

"May I ask, Miss, what this force is called?" Lu Sheng's spirits immediately rose. Knowing they had reached the crucial point, he digested the information he had heard and hurriedly asked.

"Juan Ren Estate." Duanmu Wan gently rested her lovely head against Lu Sheng's arm. "They are called Juan Ren Estate, an old force that has occupied this place for many, many years.

They control quite a few ghosts. Earlier, they chose the head of the Lu Family, Young Master's father, as a sacrifice. The emergence of such a precious treasure requires many sacrifices—very many."

"Then since my father did not die, will they come for us again?" Lu Sheng asked in return.

"Hee hee hee... If they come for you, Young Master, then come find Wan'er~~~" Duanmu Wan suddenly laughed charmingly.

"Miss Duanmu jests." Lu Sheng freed himself from her touch and turned to face her directly. "I wonder whether you have any other inner cultivation manuals, ones other than the Life Nurturing Technique?"

He did not know whether what Duanmu Wan had told him was true. But true or false, as long as he could obtain a new and stronger inner cultivation method from her, this meeting would have been worthwhile.

"Inner cultivation manuals? Are those things useful?" Duanmu Wan smoothed her beautiful hair. "What is so fun about inner cultivation?"

"Miss Wan'er jests. What price must I pay to obtain such an inner cultivation manual? Please tell me plainly." Lu Sheng said in a low voice.