Sir, Take Me

After eating and drinking his fill, Qian Yue hastily took his leave, claiming urgent matters to attend to, leaving Li Youde to lead Chen Xian and his group on a stroll through West First Ward.

For the first time, Chen Xian truly realized the extent of the Qian Family's influence in Ask-Dao City.

Walking along, nearly one in every ten shops on East Street of West First Ward bore the Qian Family sign.

Tea houses in particular—almost one in three was a Qian Family Tea House, and even past the hour of Xu, customers streamed in and out without pause.

The wealthy of Ask-Dao City were obsessed with Shou'er Tea far beyond Chen Xian's imagination.

One cup of blood tea after another went down, and within moments, faces flushed bright red.

With such effects, the uninformed simply couldn't refuse.

Let alone that most of the clientele were elderly folks on the sunset side of life—if it could extend their days by even one, what did it matter if a single tael of tea leaves cost a hundred gold?

But the moment he thought of how those tea leaves were grown and the Blood Treasure Insects hidden within them, Chen Xian shuddered.

He was desperately short on lifespan, true, but he had no desire to drink human blood and raise parasitic worms!

"Elder Chen, this humble one has arranged lodgings at the Like-a-Dream Inn for everyone to rest."

Li Youde bowed respectfully to Chen Xian.

"Then take us to rest," Chen Xian nodded, turning to look at the group behind him, whose interest had already waned.

Sure enough, men—young or old—had little enthusiasm for shopping.

Under Li Youde's guidance, everyone checked into the inn.

"Elder Chen, if you need anything, just ask at the front desk. I've already spoken with the innkeeper."

Having arranged everything, Li Youde returned to report.

"You all rest too. It's been a long day. We'll head back to the sect tomorrow." Chen Xian handed out room keys to everyone, and they all let out a long sigh, feeling that this shopping trip was more exhausting than cultivation.

The moment he entered the room, a refined scent of agarwood greeted him.

Crystal hanging from the ceiling, rosewood for beams, white jade paving the floor, silk curtains... truly luxurious beyond compare.

No wonder they called it the Like-a-Dream Inn—sleeping here felt like being in a dream.

Chen Xian wasn't sleepy at all, so he sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed and began to cultivate. Now that he was embroiled in the muddy waters of the Blood Demon Sect, he felt a constant urgency over his insufficient cultivation.

Though he had never once made a move since joining the Sword Sect.

His instincts told him danger was closing in.

He withdrew all his senses into his body, internally observing his Sword Bone and refining his Dao Disciple awareness.

The sandalwood incense curled upward; the night stretched long as the candle burned short. The time he could maintain internal observation gradually extended from a hundred breaths to two hundred.

Creak—Just as Chen Xian was immersed in cultivation, the door suddenly opened a crack.

Then a figure slipped in, and the door closed again.

A rustling sound filled the room, like clothes being shed.

But Chen Xian had completely withdrawn his five senses, perceiving none of it.

Only when the bed curtains were pushed aside and something cool and smooth slipped into the blankets beside him did his eyes snap open.

"Who's there?!"

He barked lowly, and the aura of a sixth-layer Dao Disciple erupted violently. The crystal overhead clinked and clattered, and the candle flame on the table flickered wildly, nearly extinguished.

"Mmm..." A soft moan came from the blankets.

Chen Xian's surging momentum instantly deflated.

He turned his head to see a pair of watery eyes staring at him in fear.

Tucked in the bed was a girl who looked no more than eighteen, her slender neck slightly drawn in, her bare shoulders exposed...

Glancing at the sheer silk dress lying on the floor, Chen Xian immediately understood what had happened.

He quickly restrained his aura, a helpless look on his face.

"Who sent you?" Chen Xian got off the bed, pulled the blanket up to cover the girl's shoulders, and sat on the windowsill to ask.

"Steward... Steward Li told me... to come serve you."

The girl was terrified, answering haltingly, her bright eyes already misting over.

She was aggrieved.

And no wonder—who wouldn't be, being sent to serve a man old enough to be their grandfather?

"..." Chen Xian was speechless.

How was it that everyone in the Qian Family used the same tactics? He was an eighty-year-old man with white brows and a white beard—not exactly some immortal sage, but hardly a lecherous fiend, was he?

Besides, this girl looked no more than eighteen or twenty, young enough to be his daughter. Even if they'd sent a mature woman, he could have understood.

What was this supposed to be?

"No need to serve me. Put your clothes on and leave."

Chen Xian bent down to pick up the light dress from the floor and placed it beside her pillow.

Then he drew the bed curtain shut and turned his back to stand.

Qiao'er huddled under the covers, staring blankly at Chen Xian's silhouette through the sheer veil. She had long anticipated that tonight she would become the begonia beneath the pear blossom, but she never expected the pear blossom to be a gentleman of honor.

She reached one hand out from the bedding, touched the still-warm dress, then withdrew it.

Her nose suddenly stung, her eyes reddened, and teardrops the size of beans slid down her cheeks onto the pillow. She began to sob quietly.

Chen Xian was staring absently at the candle flame when he heard the crying behind him. He instinctively turned, then froze mid-motion.

This curtain couldn't hide a thing—what if he caught a glimpse of something that made his nose bleed?

"Little girl, why are you crying? I won't touch you. You should go back," Chen Xian asked as gently as he could.

"Qiao'er... Qiao'er can't go back... If you don't want me, even if I'm not beaten to death when I return, Steward Li will sell me off to Flower Lane."

"Wah wah wah..."

Touching on the reason, Qiao'er no longer held back her voice and cried out loud.

Chen Xian's brows knitted tightly. The Qian Family was truly inhuman.

"Then I'll give you some silver, and you can escape," Chen Xian said, taking ten banknotes from the Jade Ring—a full thousand taels.

That was a lifetime's income for an ordinary family in Ask-Dao City.

Enough for this girl to survive.

"Escape?" Qiao'er stared at the stack of banknotes in Chen Xian's hand, her breath catching.

This was a path she had never considered, because freedom was far too costly.

Her heart surged with joy for an instant, then quickly sank, as she didn't know where she could flee.

As long as she remained in Ask-Dao City, she had nowhere to run.

But if she left Ask-Dao City, how could a weak girl like her survive?

She had been an orphan since childhood, raised by the Qian Family.

Though she was skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, she knew nothing of survival skills—like the lark Steward Li hung on the beam every morning to bask in the sun, she had long forgotten how to fly.

Besides, she wasn't the first to try escaping.

The daily grueling training, strings cutting into her fingertips, brushwork swelling her joints, never enough food to maintain her figure, and the soft whip that could lash her at any moment...

Some sisters couldn't bear it and fled.

But every day, Steward Li's lark was hung on the beam at the same time to sun itself, and those sisters who escaped would always return to the Qian Family before the next sunrise.

What followed was merciless torture.

Recalling those bloody scenes, Qiao'er couldn't help but shiver, and even the bedding grew cold.

"This money is enough for a lifetime, or you could change your name and find a good family to settle down with—that's not impossible, is it?"

Hearing the silence behind him, Chen Xian continued.

Good thing he had fleeced fifty thousand taels from Qian Yue; otherwise, he wouldn't have been willing to part with this thousand.

The curtain parted a crack, and a jade-white arm reached out, grabbing Chen Xian's sleeve.

The girl's voice trembled: "Sir, take me..."