Night had already fallen.
Several bustling streets in the heart of Jinan Prefectural City were still brightly lit and thronged with people.
Under a system in which sects and great lineages governed the realm, many places had no curfew, allowing revelry to continue until dawn.
Even so, this clamor and prosperity had nothing to do with the common people at the bottom. Instead, they suffered deeply from the martial world's rampant lawlessness. After nightfall, they locked their doors and dared not venture out casually.
In the central district, in Riches Ward, inside Cloud Crane Tower.
Cloud Crane Tower stood three stories high and was exceptionally lively that evening, filled with ordinary drinkers as well as martial artists carrying sabers and swords.
Unlike the first and second floors, which were packed with guests and seething with noise, the third floor was unusually quiet, though it too was crowded, with nearly every seat occupied.
There was little conversation, only the occasional clink of cups and chopsticks. Many fierce-looking martial artists behaved like mice that had spotted a cat, moving softly and only occasionally stealing sidelong glances at several tables in the hall.
Two men sat at a table beside the window, a monk and a Daoist. Both looked quite young, no more than twenty-four or twenty-five.
The young Daoist wore a plain robe, his hair casually secured with a wooden hairpin. He studied the monk opposite him with a slight frown, hesitating to speak.
The monk wore a moon-white robe and had a clean, handsome face bearing a faint smile. He had ordered two small dishes, greens and tofu, but also the most expensive, richest wine Cloud Crane Tower offered. He poured and drank at his leisure, utterly at ease.
Besides the monk and Daoist, three men and a woman sat before