Lin Yuanxi

Less than ten minutes after the Cloud-Mist Information Matrix was established, Yang Ning experienced the benefits it brought.

On the Deep Blue Eye before him, vast amounts of information began to surface, including but not limited to the names of roadside plants, the names, ages, personalities, hobbies, cultivation techniques, and injuries of passing pedestrians.

Since not much time had passed, the collection was still incomplete, but the information was rapidly growing richer. Before long, Yang Ning believed he would be able to build big-data models for all the residents of Seacloud City!

When that time came, forget merely gathering information—Yang Ning could become the greatest intelligence merchant in all of Seacloud City!

"Eh?" Yang Ning stopped outside a flower house.

"Young sir, would you like to come in and give it a try?" The madam at the entrance immediately smiled when she saw Yang Ning. She reached out, grabbed his arm, and tried to lead him inside.

"I'm only twelve. Can I go in?" Yang Ning asked in astonishment.

"With your height and build, who would believe you were only twelve? If you said you were eighteen, no one would doubt it!" the madam said with a laugh.

As the Minister of Works, Yang Ning naturally never lacked food or money. Since he paid attention to his diet and calcium intake, he was indeed rather tall.

Coupled with being in his growth period and the effects of martial training, Yang Ning had been growing taller by the day. He had already reached 172 centimeters.

Yang Ning smiled and did not reject the madam's kindness, allowing himself to be pushed straight into this flower house named Tianxiu Workshop.

After entering, the madam beckoned with a hand. "Xiaoyu, attend to this young master. By the way, young master, how should we address you?"

"My surname is Yang!"

"Xiaoyu, take good care of Young Master Yang!"

"Alright!" The girl called Xiaoyu looked about eleven or twelve. Her appearance was ordinary, and she wore a maid's outfit, but her face held an eager smile. "Young Master Yang, is this your first visit?"

"Mm." Yang Ning nodded. "I've seen ordinary flower houses, but never one for cultivators. I came to broaden my horizons!"

"Then you must have a good look around!" Xiaoyu said with a smile. "The food and wine here are beyond anything mortal flower houses can offer. Not to mention that all the girls here are cultivators—their figures and skin are hardly something mortal women can compare to!"

What, they had only stepped onto the path of immortality and already no longer considered themselves mortals?

Still, it was normal. Even eighteenth-rate celebrities no longer considered themselves common folk, much less immortals-to-be.

"Mortal realm" was indeed how cultivators referred to the nations and villages of ordinary people. No matter how great your country was or how many troops you had, it was useless.

"Would you like to stay on the first floor or go to the second?" Xiaoyu asked. "The first floor has open seating, where you sit with everyone else, but you can watch the performances up close. The second floor has private tables and is more prestigious!"

"Second floor," Yang Ning said.

"Right away!" Xiaoyu's smile brightened as she happily headed for the stairs.

Yang Ning called after her, "No hurry, no hurry. Let me look over the furnishings here first."

As he spoke, he looked around in every direction.

Hearing this, Xiaoyu quickly slowed down as well.

As time passed, he collected more and more information.

Seacloud City seemed fated to be tied to the number eight. There were the Eight Great Mine Merchants over there, and this flower house district also had Eight Great Flower Houses. Tianxiu Workshop was one of them.

Tianxiu Workshop was not large, yet it ranked among the best because it had the advantage of its operator.

It was an enterprise under the Qianji Gate of the Taiheng Sect. The Qianji Gate inherited a heaven-grade puppet art. While studying puppetry, its disciples had created a kind of puppet dance. The moment it was introduced, it swept through the cultivator world like wildfire. Thus, the previously obscure Tianxiu Workshop rose above countless flower houses through its exclusive puppet-dance performances and became one of Seacloud City's Eight Great Flower Houses.

These days, every household had beauties. To stand out from the flock, it depended on who could come up with better tricks.

Yang Ning deliberately slowed his pace. Sure enough, when he reached the second floor, he saw that the only empty seat had just been taken. Regret immediately appeared on his face.

Xiaoyu was stunned as well, then hurriedly turned around. "Um, Young Master Yang, business is good today, and it looks like all the seats are full. Would you prefer to go downstairs, or share a table with someone?"

Besides seeking pleasure, flower houses were also excellent places for networking. Wasn't there a saying that brothers were those who had drifted through long—

The friends one made here could sometimes be more reliable than those made at school.

"Of course." Yang Ning nodded, then pointed at a nearby table. "I see there are still seats over there. Go ask them?"

A private table could seat four people. There was only one man and one woman at that table, and from their bearing, they seemed to be a young master and his maid. They had not called for any attendants.

"They should be here to drink plain tea," Xiaoyu said. "Are you sure you want to sit there?"

"I'm sure. I'm here to watch the performance too!" Yang Ning nodded firmly.

"Alright!" Xiaoyu nodded, then went over to negotiate.

Yang Ning saw Xiaoyu point in his direction and nod at that young master.

Before long, Xiaoyu jogged back with a smile. "It's settled!"

"Thank you." Yang Ning took several taels of broken silver from his pocket. "I won't need you for the rest."

"Ah, alright. Call for me if you need anything!" Xiaoyu quickly nodded, though she looked somewhat disappointed.

Serving those greasy, fat-headed pigs was painful, but not being able to serve such a handsome, dashing young brother was painful too!

"Greetings, young master. I am Yang Ning, a lost little bookboy from Ascension Academy!" Yang Ning cupped his hands politely.

"Yang Ning?" The young master had long, narrow eyes, a delicate nose bridge, and small lips, giving him the look of a boy with a girl's features. His gaze shifted. "I think I've heard that name before. Did you write a poem with the line: 'Chang'e must regret stealing the elixir; beneath blue seas and azure skies, her heart aches night after night'?"

"Oh?" Yang Ning was startled. "You've heard of my poem?"

The young master smiled. "The world regards poetry as a minor path, but I am quite fond of it. Yet there are not many in this world who can write good poetry. In all these years, only you have caught my eye!"

"Th-this..." Yang Ning hurriedly cupped his hands. "I do not deserve such praise, I do not deserve it! There are still many talented people in the world; it is merely that their ambitions lie elsewhere!"

"Perhaps." The young master nodded, then asked, "But who is Chang'e in this poem? What medicine did she steal, and why did she regret it?"

"Oh, she was a character in a little story I wrote as a child. By the time I wrote this poem, the story had already spread far and wide, so I used her directly!" Yang Ning hastily explained. "Chang'e's husband obtained an immortality elixir from an immortal, but because he could not bear to part with Chang'e, he did not take it. Yet Chang'e was curious about what effects the elixir had, so she stole and consumed it. After taking it, her body became light and flew out of her control. In the end, she flew to the moon, where she could only keep the moon rabbit company."

"The meaning of the poem is that Chang'e might regret stealing that elixir. In the end, she could not be with the one she loved and could only gaze at the blue heavens each day, lonely as she remembered the mortal world!"

"So that was what it meant!" The young master nodded, then asked again, "Then does Young Master Yang believe immortality is a bad thing?"

"I am not an immortal, so how would I know whether immortality is good or bad?" Yang Ning shook his head. "But I think that if one is still alone after gaining immortality, then immortality is merely a kind of torment."

"Is that so?" The young master nodded as though he understood, then seemed to recall something and hurriedly said, "Right, I know your name, but you do not know mine. My surname is Lin, and my given name is Yuanxi. I should be about your age. How about we address each other as brothers from now on?"

The little maid beside him visibly darkened at a speed the naked eye could see.

But Yang Ning did not look at her at all. Instead, his eyes lit up. "Yuanxi? A fine name. I once wrote a lyric poem titled 'Yuanxi,' but I have never published it. Brother Lin, would you like to hear it?"

"Unpublished?" Lin Yuanxi's eyes instantly burst with light. "Yes, I want to hear it!"

"On an eastern wind, a thousand trees bloom in the night, and stars are blown down like rain.

Fine horses and carved carriages fill the road with fragrance; phoenix flutes resound, jade vessels turn their light, and fish and dragon dances fill the night."

"This describes the sights of Seacloud City?" Lin Yuanxi did not believe this was some previously written but unpublished lyric poem of Yang Ning's. What borderland nation could possibly have fish and dragon dances all night? This was clearly Seacloud City at its most prosperous!

But why was this lyric poem named after me?

She opened her eyes and looked at Yang Ning, only to see him smiling as he recited the second half.

"Moth-like hairpins, snow-willow ornaments, strands of gold; laughing softly, their hidden fragrance drifts away.

Among the crowd I searched for him a thousand times. Then, turning my head, I found that person there, in the dim glow of scattered lanterns."

Lin Yuanxi's heart trembled. What did it mean, searched for him a thousand times among the crowd? What did it mean, turning back to find that person in the dim glow of scattered lanterns?

"Brother Yang, I-I am not that sort of person," Lin Yuanxi hurriedly explained. "Of course, I am not objecting to you."

"You do not need to explain. Neither am I!" Yang Ning said with a smile. "I said it was a lyric poem written long ago. The Yuanxi in it refers to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month; it merely happens to share your name!"

"I-is that so?" Lin Yuanxi finally nodded. For some reason, her mood calmed considerably, though a trace of disappointment surfaced as well. For a moment, she had no desire to speak.

Since she did not speak, Yang Ning did not take the initiative to ask anything. When music began playing downstairs, he eagerly turned to watch the performance.

This puppet dance was somewhat like mechanical dance from his previous life, but because it was performed by cultivators of the Body Refinement Realm, its strength, poses, and difficulty far surpassed mechanical dance.

Lin Yuanxi had utterly lost the mood to watch the show. As she thought of that lyric poem, she also wondered whether her identity had been seen through. Her mind was a tangled mess, and when she noticed Yang Ning watching with such absorption, she grew somewhat angry. Without waiting for the dance to end, she directly took the little maid and stomped down the stairs.