If you asked which pleasure house in Maple Forest City could most stir a man's passions, every connoisseur of such places would give you the same answer: the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion.
It wasn't a brothel with only three parts beauty. It was the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion, which commanded three parts of all the fragrance beneath heaven.
Though it was only a branch pavilion,
from the day it opened, it swept through Maple Forest City's mediocre pleasure trade like a storm.
These days, the young masters of Maple Forest City could enjoy the pleasures of the flesh thanks to the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion's raising of the professional standards of the city's many courtesans.
It was akin to how the fifth-rank master Dong A had elevated the standard of education at Maple Forest City Dao Academy. Of course, Zhao Rucheng only dared say this in private.
The current top courtesan of the Three-Part Fragrance Pavilion was a woman named Miao Yu.
Countless men dreamed of her boudoir, wishing they could grovel on the ground and crawl beneath her skirts. But only a handful were lucky enough to enjoy her favors.
On an ornately decorated canopy bed, a naked middle-aged man wore an ecstatic expression. Yet beneath him, there was plainly nothing but a bundle of bedding.
Separated only by a string of pearls, a cushioned couch faced the canopy bed. Miao Yu propped her chin on her hand, reclining lazily, her curves exquisitely graceful. Her eyes were hazy; it was impossible to tell whether she was watching the middle-aged man's "self-amusement."
A man in black knelt before the couch, respectfully reporting something.
"So that Jiang Wang knows a remarkably profound sword art, yet before this, he had never shown it to anyone?"
Her voice was languid, like a cat just waking from sleep, teasing at the heart with an almost imperceptible touch.
The man in black remained bowed, never once raising his head. "That is correct. This subordinate is incompetent. I truly cannot find out where he learned it."
Miao Yu pondered for a moment, then lifted a finger. "You may go."
At her words, the man in black pressed his forehead to the floor. He folded his ring and little fingers, forming a triangle with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger over his heart, and softly recited, "At the bottom of the Forgotten River, in the Abyss of Yellow Springs. The Venerable God returns to the world, illuminating the mortal realm."
His whole body sank through the floor.
"A sword art never seen in all of Maple Forest City Dao Academy? Passed down by some great Martial Man who tested his sword beneath heaven? Or perhaps..." Miao Yu's gaze grew distant.
"The Dao Child..."
Her thoughts drifted further, farther, and into vaguer realms.
"At the bottom of the Forgotten River, in the Abyss of Yellow Springs. The Venerable God returns to the world, illuminating the mortal realm."
She made the same gesture and softly recited the same words.
Meanwhile, the naked man on the canopy bed continued writhing against himself, seemingly able to sink forever into his beautiful fantasy.
At that moment, in a village far away in the Yong Kingdom, a vicious-looking bald man was clutching something and gnawing at it. Blood ran down his mouth and hands.
He was eating with relish when a streak of light suddenly plummeted straight toward him.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a heaven-sent sword come to punish evil.
The bald man reached out and caught the streak of light in one swift grab. It turned into an ancient-looking longsword in his hand.
"Damn it! One day, I'll swallow your heart!" Interrupted in the middle of his meal, the bald man was clearly furious.
"Old bastard, what age are we living in, and you're still sending letters by Flying Sword!" he grumbled as he opened the letter on the sword with his bloodstained hands.
The Mo Sect's Thousand-Mile Voice Transmission Box had been widely used for years and sold extremely well. Yet some factions still refused to use it, because no one could be certain whether the Mo Sect's mechanism-makers had planted some hidden trick in the boxes.
Even if the Mo Sect members swore to heaven and earth, the strictest Heart Demon oaths had long since been found to have dozens of ways around them. What good was an oath?
"Zhuang Kingdom, Qinghe Prefecture, Three Mountains City?" He spoke each word slowly, then couldn't help spitting. "What kind of godforsaken backwater is that?"
The longsword swayed in the air, seeming to urge him on.
The bald man grew even more irritated, but the letter's sender was clearly someone he still couldn't afford to defy.
With his bloodstained finger, he crookedly drew five strokes on the paper: a simple sketch of a horse, meaning: "I'll go at once."
He casually fixed the letter back onto the sword. The blade vanished just as swiftly as it had come.
Only after the Flying Sword had disappeared did the bald man suddenly seem to remember something. "I hope the boss can read that."
He thought about it for a moment, then cast aside the little worry.
"If he can't even read that, how can he be the boss!"
As he reached the dormitory, Jiang Wang heard voices coming from inside.
After entering the inner sect, he and Ling He still shared a room with Du Yehu, so they could spar and seek the Dao together whenever they liked. Zhao Rucheng came by to stay every so often, but never for long. Although their room was much better than before, for Zhao Rucheng... it made little difference.
Hearing Jiang Wang's footsteps, Ling He quickly came out. "You're finally back. Your family has been waiting for you for ages!"
Family...
Jiang Wang's heart gave a jolt. He hurried into the room and saw a still-charming woman seated at the huanghuali table and chairs by the window. The furniture, naturally, was something Zhao Rucheng had insisted on having moved in.
Du Yehu sat beside her, stiff and awkward, answering her questions with the air of an honest, well-behaved man. She asked, he answered. He looked just like a bear of a kid trying to rein in his wild nature in front of a friend's parents.
Only this "kid" had an awfully thick beard and looked awfully old. By comparison, he seemed even older than the well-preserved woman.
When the woman saw Jiang Wang come in, she hurried to her feet, delight shining in her eyes. "Wang, it's been so long! You've grown taller and stronger!"
Jiang Wang nodded in greeting. "Hello, Aunt Song."
His birth mother had passed away when he was very young. This woman was his father's second wife. He had never been able to call her anything else and had always addressed her as Aunt.
Aunt Song wasn't a bad person, and she had never mistreated him. But only a few years after his father remarried, Jiang Wang had entered the Dao Academy's outer sect. Cultivation was demanding, and apart from holidays, he almost never went home. They had never had any conflicts, but neither had they grown especially close.
As she greeted him, Aunt Song pulled the little girl hiding behind her forward. "Come on, say hello!"
The girl was timid. Only after her mother urged her did she part her little lips and softly say, "Brother."
Aunt Song's silk clothes were bright and beautiful, adding three parts charm. The little girl was dressed just as well, but her delicate features shone naturally, drawing admiring glances.
Unfortunately, after calling out once, she immediately ducked behind her mother's back again, peeking out with half her little head as she sized up the brother she hadn't seen in so long.
Of course he loved his younger sister. Blood was thicker than water; no one could change that. But he had devoted himself to cultivation, and whenever he went home, he came and went in a hurry. It had been a long time since he had heard her call him "Brother."
Though the voice was soft and small, it rang like a pearl dropping onto a jade plate, crisp and sweet beyond words.
After enduring countless battles and witnessing bloodshed and darkness, Jiang Wang felt his heart, which he had thought long since hardened, suddenly begin to melt.
Since returning from Tangshe Town, Jiang Wang rarely showed a genuine smile. "An'an!"
Before you continue