The streets outside the Drunken Immortal Pavilion teemed with people, the crowds flowing without end.
Though night had not yet fallen and it was still dusk, guests were already streaming through the doors of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
A carriage parked by the roadside kept drawing the passersby's attention.
The steed was pitch-black, with a single horn growing from its head and flames flickering faintly around its hooves. The carriage behind it was even more lavishly adorned, with a large Xu emblazoned on its side and a pitch-black Coiled Dragon winding around its body, so lifelike that its pair of dragon eyes seemed especially vivid.
Amid a crowd of guards, a handsome young man in brocade robes emerged from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. He took a graceful woman wearing a veiled hat by the hand, and the two climbed into the carriage.
Their appearance drew sidelong glances and a flurry of whispers from the passersby.
Standing among the crowd by the roadside, two men of striking bearing watched the carriage as well.
One wore a black outfit suited for fighting and had a resolute, handsome face.
The other was dressed in luxurious white robes and still held a folding fan in his hand despite the winter chill.
The man in black watched Xu Changtian, whose bearing was anything but ordinary, then asked the man beside him curiously:
"Brother Li, why are all these passersby talking so much about that young master?"
Li Muchen glanced at the carriage, lightly waved his folding fan, and replied with a smile:
"Brother Qin, you're new here, so you wouldn't know. That man is the Third Young Master of the Xu Family, Xu Changtian."
Qin Mo murmured, "The Xu Family. Which Xu Family?"
Li Muchen smiled and shook his head. "Naturally, the biggest one."
Qin Mo paused, murmuring:
"The Prime Minister's Estate?"
He knew of the Xu Family, the Prime Minister's Estate, of course.
He just wondered whether this Xu Family had any connection to the gentle, refined Miss Xu he had met on his travels.
Her identity had seemed rather mysterious.
"Let's go."
As they stood in silence, Li Muchen patted Qin Mo familiarly on the shoulder and gave him the knowing smile of one man to another. "If you'd like to make his acquaintance, Brother Qin, I can introduce you when the opportunity arises. But you saved me on this trading trip, so tonight we'll drink to our hearts' content!"
Qin Mo nodded lightly and smiled.
Li Muchen's offer to introduce him was clearly just an excuse.
If Li Muchen really had a good relationship with the Third Young Master of the Xu Family, he wouldn't be standing here watching. He would have already gone over to speak with him.
Li Muchen came from a wealthy merchant family, but his family couldn't compare to Xu Yuan's Xu Family.
Still, Qin Mo kindly refrained from pointing it out. He followed Li Muchen, and as they walked, he subconsciously rubbed the front of his chest.
Seeing Qin Mo's little gesture, Li Muchen assumed he was worried about the expense and said with a smile:
"Tonight's on me. I'll welcome you properly, brother."
"Ah, that's not it." Qin Mo smiled and shook his head. "I came to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion to find someone."
"Find someone?" Li Muchen paused, then smiled slightly. "Is there a girl you have your eye on?"
His tone turned hesitant. "But the girls at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion..."
Qin Mo said softly, "I'm here to find Miss Jinxuan."
"Miss Jinxuan?" Li Muchen looked enlightened, but then seemed to think of something, and his expression turned rather odd.
Qin Mo explained, "Miss Jinxuan and I made a bet."
Li Muchen's expression grew even odder. "A bet?"
Qin Mo took a demon core from his robes and smiled faintly. "If I can bring back the demon core of the monster in Wind Crow Forest this month, she'll play a song for me alone."
At the sight of the demon core, Li Muchen's pupils contracted slightly.
Having been born into a merchant family, he had handled no small number of demon cores.
With one glance, he could tell that the demonic power contained in this one was roughly seventh rank.
The situation was turbulent now, with demons and ghosts running rampant. The various branches under the Heavenly Supervision Bureau were powerless to control the land, while local sects and Aristocratic Clans only looked after their own doorstep. When a monster appeared, it often left an entire village drenched in blood.
Qin Mo's breath was steady and long, but he seemed to be only an eighth-rank martial artist. For an eighth-rank martial artist to slay a seventh-rank monster was no simple feat.
A prodigy like him was certainly worth befriending.
But then Li Muchen remembered what had happened to Jinxuan. He shook his head slightly, carefully weighing his words before speaking softly:
"Brother Qin, you might not be able to see Miss Jinxuan today. No, perhaps you won't ever see her again."
In the end, Li Muchen chose to tell him the truth.
Qin Mo's gaze froze. He frowned. "Brother Li, what do you mean?"
Li Muchen glanced at the Black Dragon Carriage and left it at that. "Because of Xu Changtian."
Hearing this, Qin Mo felt a tangle of hope and dread. He asked softly, "Miss Jinxuan has a special status at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. If she's unwilling, she doesn't have to receive guests, does she?"
Li Muchen glanced around, then leaned closer and lowered his voice. "That's true. The Drunken Immortal Pavilion doesn't force its chaste courtesans to sell themselves, but..."
As he spoke, Li Muchen sighed faintly. "But Brother Qin, Xu Changtian is the Third Young Master of the Prime Minister's Estate. A few days ago, he sent out invitations far and wide, and even forcibly canceled the day Miss Jinxuan had set for her debut."
"..." Qin Mo.
Through a few fortuitous encounters, Qin Mo had learned something about the forces behind the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. But they clearly weren't going to turn against the Prime Minister's Estate over a single woman.
Li Muchen hesitated, then pointed toward several guards jogging alongside the rear of the Black Dragon Carriage, which had just started moving.
"Brother Qin, look at those guards beside the carriage."
Qin Mo narrowed his eyes and looked. "What about them?"
"Every one of them is seventh rank or higher, and a few are even sixth rank."
"Sixth rank or higher?" A flicker of astonishment finally passed through Qin Mo's eyes.
Even the oldest of those guards couldn't have been more than thirty. Such young sixth-rank cultivators were merely ordinary guards.
Li Muchen bared his teeth in a smile, a trace of bitterness in his voice. "I reckon those are only the guards in plain sight. There must be experts of Attendant rank stationed in secret as well."
"Fifth-rank Soul Condensation Realm?" Qin Mo frowned, thinking of the strength of the Attendants in Li Muchen's family.
Qin Mo subconsciously narrowed his eyes and looked.
But aside from the ordinary guards, all he could see was a stubbled man driving the carriage up ahead.
The stubbled man wore an easy smile, a long sword strapped to his back. He held the reins with a careless air.
Before Qin Mo could show his confusion,
the next instant,
the stubbled man's gaze swept toward him!
It was warm and smiling.
Yet even so, it made Qin Mo's hair stand on end.
That look made him realize the big man had heard every word he and Li Muchen had just said.
But the man made no move. Instead, he grinned at him and pointed mischievously at the carriage behind him.
"..."
At the man's gesture, Qin Mo first froze, then his pupils contracted slightly.
The memory of what he had just seen surfaced in his mind.
The veiled woman Xu Changtian had led into the carriage. Was that Jinxuan?
Qin Mo clenched his fist slightly.
The big man merely turned his head with a chuckle and paid Qin Mo no further attention.
It seemed that, to him, teasing Qin Mo was like amusing himself by tormenting an ant.
After Zhou Chen turned away, he tugged on the reins. The black, single-horned steed stepped forward, and the carriage rolled slowly down the street.
Perhaps hearing the laughter outside, a gentle voice came from within:
"Mr. Zhou, what are you laughing at?"
Zhou Chen shrugged casually.
"Nothing much. I heard two people talking about Miss Su and the Third Young Master. One of them must be an admirer of Miss Su. I thought it was amusing, so I teased him a little."
"Is that so? Jinxuan certainly is popular."
Xu Yuan didn't seem to mind. Instead, he calmly instructed him:
"Mr. Zhou, since we have some free time, have someone buy me a few copies of the recent gazettes."
Before you continue