A Country Within a Country

"You and I are brothers, so I'll give you a price."

Cai Ze interlaced his fingers and held up ten. "Just ten taels of silver, and I'll get you a spot. It's mainly a matter of transferring household registration records, which need to be filed with the Blood Saber Sect. Once the filing is done, brother, you'll be able to buy a house in Silver Creek with a residence permit."

Li Yuan nodded. "All right. I'll come find Brother Cai after some time and bring the silver. I'll have to trouble Brother Cai to help me."

"Easy, easy." Cai Ze laughed heartily.

Before long, Yun Niang led another young woman inside.

The woman moved gracefully around to Cai Ze's side and smiled. "This little woman is Wan'er. Greetings, Husband."

Cai Ze spread his legs. Wan'er understood at once and sat directly on his lap.

Yun Niang also sat in Li Yuan's arms.

The two men and two women drank together, cups passing back and forth.

As the wine warmed their ears and flushed their faces, Cai Ze loosened up as well.

"Brother knows about the Red Lotus Bandits, right? Let me put it this way: even if the Red Lotus Bandits break through Shanbao County, they still won't touch Silver Stream Village. Because Silver Creek is the Blood Saber Sect's core territory. It doesn't matter if they attack other villages, but if they lay a hand on Silver Stream Village, they'll be directly opposing the higher-ups of our Blood Saber Sect. They aren't that stupid."

"Your Blood Saber Sect?"

"I'm both a constable and a disciple of the Blood Saber Sect. Hahaha."

"Impressive, impressive. Brother Cai, may I ask who stands above the Blood Saber Sect?"

"You don't need to know that." Cai Ze held Wan'er beside him as he drank and smiled. "This imperial dynasty is nothing more than the largest martial world faction, but that 'largest' only refers to when it was first founded. Now, if the experts of the imperial capital can't suppress the martial world factions, and natural disasters and human calamities make life impossible for the common folk, then naturally, factions will rise against it. But that has nothing to do with our Blood Saber Sect. The County Magistrate and County Commandant eat the imperial court's rice, so it's only right for them to fight to the death. County residents without faction protection should also resist desperately; otherwise, once the Red Lotus Bandits enter the county, what wouldn't they do—burn, kill, plunder, and rape? But we don't need to concern ourselves with that. The imperial dynasty has its laws, and the martial world has its rules. Every martial world faction occupies a place of its own. Such a place is not within the imperial dynasty, but a country within a country. The Red Lotus Bandits can fight the imperial dynasty all they want, but if they invade a faction's core territory, that is a declaration of war."

"Then Brother Cai, can ten taels of silver really secure a residence spot in Silver Creek?"

"It can!" Cai Ze glanced at Li Yuan, his meaning profound. "Every sect seeks talent. Brother Li has achieved such strength at such a young age, so the Blood Saber Sect can still allow you to settle there. Others can't. Do you think I call just anyone brother?"

After a while, Cai Ze put his arm around the courtesan and headed into a small side room.

Yun Niang also seemed to have drunk too much, draping herself over Li Yuan like a drunken puddle, waiting for the young man to undress her and join her in cloud and rain.

Li Yuan thought about it, but ultimately did nothing.

Drinking for the occasion was fine.

But when it came to the real thing, he would pass.

He was not so hungry that he would eat anything, and besides, the woman at home was prettier than this one.

Moreover, if he did it, it might lower his wife's favorability and slow his gain of points. Why bother?

Li Yuan asked, "Yun Niang, will forty-eight Big Coins cover today's expenses?"

"Young Master, this servant has kept track for you. I can even save you three Big Coins." Yun Niang giggled in his arms. At such close range, she had already felt how powerful this young man's physique was. Her heart itched with excitement, and she felt both delighted and expectant.

There were many men in the pleasure quarters, but fine young men were rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

She hoped this young man would come often.

Seeing that Li Yuan did not move, Yun Niang leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "Carry this servant to bed. After we're done, this servant will tell you everything you want to know."

Li Yuan hesitated.

But this was no longer him spending money for pleasure. Yun Niang was trading information for pleasure.

Perhaps seeing his hesitation, Yun Niang suddenly asked, "Young Master has a wife, right?"

"Mm."

"This servant likes men like Young Master. Of all the men who came here before, which of them didn't have wives? Yet once they drank, which of them didn't rush to embrace this servant and climb into bed for some fun? Young Master gives this servant a different feeling." Yun Niang tittered.

Li Yuan did not believe a word of it.

Seeing that he truly would not make a move, Yun Niang found it amusing and said, "If Young Master is unwilling to be with a woman as unclean as this servant, that's fine. Then come more often in the future and request this servant by name. That should be all right, shouldn't it?"

Li Yuan said, "I usually don't come here. Today, I was accompanying Brother Cai."

Yun Niang looked deeply into his eyes and smiled. "That may not be so."

"Why not?"

"Because next time, Young Master may come as a disciple of the Blood Saber Sect."

At dusk, Cai Ze had an arm around Li Yuan's shoulders as they walked out of Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.

"Once you have all the silver, come find me in Silver Stream Village. My home is in White Cloud Alley. Enter from the entrance, and it's the second house on the left," Cai Ze instructed Li Yuan.

Afterward, the two went their separate ways.

By the time Li Yuan returned to Little Ink Village, the sky was already dark, but the village was unusually noisy.

A woman asked, "B-Brother Yuan, you just... just got back?"

Li Yuan said, "Yes. What's wrong?"

He noticed quite a few people looking at him strangely.

The woman forced a smile. "Nothing much. It's just that Ma Liu is dead. His whole body was covered in knife wounds. That Ma Liu had it coming!"

Li Yuan froze for a moment, then said heavily, "I just got back. I didn't kill him."

The people nearby said nothing more and hurried away. Clearly, they had already heard about what happened in the county today.

Yuan Ge'er now carried an additional aura around him, leaving them both fearful and eager to curry favor with him.

And the name "Yuan Ge'er" had once again become "Brother Yuan."

When Li Yuan returned home, Yan Yu also told him about Ma Liu's death.

Li Yuan said helplessly, "I really didn't kill him. I was planning to go find him tonight..."

"Then who killed him?" Yan Yu could not make sense of it.

But then, her sensitive little nose began to sniff.

A faint scent of rouge mixed with wine wafted from her man's body.

Before she could ask, Li Yuan gave a bitter smile. "Sister Yan, I went to Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion to drink with courtesans, but I didn't sleep with that woman. There was no helping it. Since we can't go to the deep mountains and old forests, I have to find a way to move to Silver Creek. Today, I finally got an opportunity and met someone who might be able to handle it for me, so of course I had to treat him to a banquet. He wanted to go to Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion. There was nothing I could do."

He confessed everything in one breath.

"You didn't sleep with her?" Yan Niang looked at him blankly.

Li Yuan said, "I only let her sit on my lap."

"Did you spend money?" Yan Niang suddenly asked.

Li Yuan said, "I did."

"Then why didn't you sleep with her?!" Yan Niang frowned as she retorted, then added, "After all, it would have been my man getting the better end of the deal."

Li Yuan said, "She wasn't as pretty as you. She was nowhere near your equal, so I couldn't bring myself to sleep with her."

Yan Niang said, "What if she were prettier than me?"

Li Yuan said, "Then she still wouldn't be as gentle as you. I still couldn't sleep with her."

Yan Niang asked again, "What if she were prettier than me and gentler than me?"

Li Yuan said, "But she still wouldn't be as sincere toward me as you are. I still couldn't sleep with her."

Yan Niang wanted to ask more.

Li Yuan asked in return, "Is that even possible?"

Yan Niang was deeply moved. She undressed her man and helped him into the bath barrel, gently scrubbing his body clean of dust in the small room lit only by dim moonlight.

"Yuan Ge'er, do you think we can move to Silver Creek?"

"We can."

Li Yuan answered lightly.

He had to take Yan Yu with him. They had to move there.

Neither Cai Ze nor Yun Niang had any reason to deceive him.

Once the Red Lotus Bandits broke through Shanbao County, there would probably be only three truly safe places.

Those three places were the core villages of the Wei Family and the Sun Family, as well as Silver Stream Village—the core territory of the Blood Saber Sect.