The World's First Smut Story

"Hey, have you heard? A beautiful Daoist nun came to the Hundred Flowers Garden, claiming to be from the Mysterious Heaven Sect. Her Daoist name is Jin Hui..."

"No way. How could a disciple of the Mysterious Heaven Sect come out to sell herself?"

"Who cares if it's real or fake? Wearing that Mysterious Heaven Sect Daoist robe, wouldn't playing with her feel incredible? Oh, and there's another one claiming to be from the Sword Inquiry Sect, saying her name is Mu Qianqian... She really is white-robed like snow, her sword like a rainbow—quite the sight."

"Don't tell me she's Mu Jianli's junior sister."

"Who cares whether she is or not? Just pretend she is."

"True enough. I have to go meet this Miss Qianqian. I've long been drooling over the Sword Inquiry Sect's swordswomen."

"I want Jin Hui!"

Under Yue Xiaochan's ability to draw inferences from one instance, the Hundred Flowers Garden added far more than just one or two new uniforms. They practically covered every righteous sect in the martial world. Aside from the truly low-grade sects that did not even have uniforms, the righteous sects had all been hit, not even the nunneries spared.

The news that one could play with female heroes from every sect in the Hundred Flowers Garden spread from one to ten, then ten to a hundred, flashing through every corner of the Capital City in the blink of an eye. The Hundred Flowers Garden, initially cold and deserted, suddenly found its doors thronged with visitors around the hour of the pig, its threshold nearly trampled apart.

Those who came included wandering martial artists, ordinary merchants, and even court officials who had changed into plain clothes to join the excitement. Dozens of girls were nowhere near enough to meet the demand, while countless guests shoved and jostled in the main hall, nearly coming to blows...

The girls had all been trained as well, and every one of them could act. That Miss Qianqian truly looked cold and sharp-eyed, not letting anyone touch her easily. Only after a great pile of silver was stuffed over did she reluctantly allow someone to sit beside her.

There were also Buddhist nuns chanting scriptures in private rooms, Daoist nuns reading Daoist classics—everything under heaven was included, bringing the Wulin Beauties List to life.

Hiding atop the building and watching the lively scene below, Yue Xiaochan, who had personally directed this farce, beamed so broadly that her mouth nearly would not close. If business was like this every day, would not the Hundred Flowers Garden be making gold by the bucketful?

Once word spread, who knew how many people it would enrage to death? That would be even more fun.

At this moment, Yue Xiaochan truly admired Xue Mu so much that she practically threw herself at his feet. She even felt that being kissed on the ear by him earlier would not have been such a big deal... Then she suddenly remembered that Xue Mu had summoned Meng Lan and was hiding with her in his Bamboo Pavilion, doing who knew what. The smile on Yue Xiaochan's face abruptly stiffened, and an uncomfortable feeling rose in her heart. Even she did not know what emotion it was.

Logically, it was none of her business if they really got together... It was impossible for her to be talking about love with anyone at a time like this anyway. It was not bad for a sect disciple to rope in a strategist... But why did thinking about it make her more and more irritated?

Her beaming smile turned into restless fidgeting. Yue Xiaochan paced a few steps, then found herself an excuse: Meng Lan was one of the people in charge here. With Qingqing accompanying her master to find the Six Fan Gates, Meng Lan was the foremost person in charge. How could she hide away doing who knew what and leave her, the young sect master, here to watch the situation? That was not right. She had to go replace her!

Once she had made up her mind, Yue Xiaochan swept toward Xue Mu's Bamboo Pavilion like a flying arrow.

Even under the suppression of the Capital City's Non-Violation Array, with only fifty percent of her power available, Yue Xiaochan still reached her destination in the blink of an eye. Candlelight glowed in the Bamboo Pavilion, soft and unhurried, seeming especially warm beneath the quiet night.

Yue Xiaochan did not know what she was thinking either. She slowed down, silently drifted onto the edge of the Bamboo Pavilion, clutched the eaves, and peered through the window.

A sheet of paper lay spread before Xue Mu. He held a brush and was writing with vigorous strokes, somehow looking even more handsome... Meng Lan stood prettily at his side, quietly grinding ink. Her lovely face was slightly flushed as well, and her watery gaze occasionally fell upon Xue Mu's face. One could not tell what it contained, but Yue Xiaochan felt it looked like tender affection.

What a peaceful, harmonious picture—red sleeves adding fragrance, husband singing while wife followed... The discomfort in Yue Xiaochan's heart grew stronger, until she could no longer bear it and appeared before them with a whoosh.

Xue Mu did not even raise his head, continuing to write as though he had long grown accustomed to her sudden appearances. Meng Lan, however, became solemn and gave a graceful bow. "Young Sect Master."

Yue Xiaochan's eyes darted over their faces, but she seemed to find nothing suspicious. Searching for something to say, she asked, "What are you doing?"

Xue Mu spoke as he wrote, "Didn't I tell you? This method may not last. Even if your master is invincible under heaven, she can hold the fort for a while, but not for a lifetime. Besides, what if the Righteous Path boils over and the court shuts us down? So this is only a temporary measure. We still need to take the second step."

"Oh, oh." Yue Xiaochan pretended to be unconcerned as she moved to his side. "What is the second step?"

"Hmm... Earlier, when you went out stripping people's clothes, I had Meng Lan take me on a round through the bookshops. Just as you said, aside from martial-world anecdotes and history, there were only common secret manuals and such. There were even books on farming, sericulture, mining, and metallurgy, but hardly any literary works."

"What does that have to do with the second step?" Yue Xiaochan curiously lowered her head to look at what he was writing.

Xue Mu stopped his brush and shot her a glance. "Children are better off not reading this."

Yue Xiaochan snorted. "I insist on reading it."

Xue Mu's brush calligraphy was only at an introductory level, enough to write Liu Style Calligraphy neatly, and he could only recognize but not write many traditional characters. Yet when he picked up the brush, he found writing traditional characters completely effortless. He did not know whether it was another effect of the pattern on his palm. Still, this merely neat handwriting counted as fine calligraphy in this world, which did not place much importance on literary talent. At least, both Meng Lan and Yue Xiaochan found it pleasing to look at, and their first thought coincided without prior agreement: handsome man, beautiful handwriting.

Xue Mu was writing a story. In his own words, it was a short story.

He had not copied anyone else's work. Instead, he had tailored a little piece to local conditions. Naturally, he had drawn on the templates of all sorts of stories, but it mainly relied on his own writing.

The beginning of the novel was fairly normal. It told of a Wandering Swordsman wounded in a fight, rescued by a kind-hearted woman named Qianqian, who cared for him attentively for over a month without ever removing her clothes. During that month, the swordsman secretly fell in love with the gentle and kind Miss Qianqian.

Yet he gradually discovered that the place where he was staying was not quite normal. Outside, music and singing often clashed noisily with the sounds of drinking, shouting, and men and women teasing one another.

And sometimes, Qianqian's voice was among them, coquettish to the very bone.

Once his injuries healed enough for him to get out of bed, the swordsman secretly went outside for a look. He learned that this was the Capital City's famed brothel, the Hundred Flowers Garden, and that Miss Qianqian... was its top courtesan.

Xue Mu's writing was considerably better than his brush calligraphy. A single passage was written with lingering, sorrowful tenderness. The swordsman's fluttering heart for Qianqian, their sweet time together, and finally the heartache and confusion upon discovering that the woman he loved was a prostitute—the agony of not knowing whether he should leave—held Yue Xiaochan's gaze so tightly that she could not bear to put it down.

When Qianqian returned to the room once again to care for the swordsman, he tried to pull her close and seek pleasure. To his surprise, Qianqian refused.

Naturally, the swordsman was furious. "You can do it with all those men, yet before me you pretend to be a chaste and virtuous woman?"

Qianqian was deeply hurt. "Are you my customer? Do you only want to toy with me like those people do?"

The swordsman was left speechless.

That tangled, agonized state of mind finally warped one day after Qianqian entered a room with a guest. The swordsman actually began to spy on the guest and Qianqian making love. Watching the intimate affairs of the woman he loved with another man, that tangled pain was portrayed by Xue Mu with piercing precision.

What was portrayed even more vividly was the passionate scene upon the bed. Drawing on his supreme foundation of having devoured thirty thousand smut books, Xue Mu forcefully wrote this section into something incomparably sensual, sinking deep into the bones. Mixed with the swordsman's complicated emotions as he watched, the entire story instantly reached its climax.

Only then did the story bare its fangs. It was actually a damn smut story!