Night had just fallen. Lights blazed across the streets of Hemp Mountain, where traffic streamed back and forth like shuttles through a loom. Bustling and prosperous hardly began to describe it.
Across the sea lay Lower River, which made its living exporting agricultural products. Hemp Mountain, by contrast, was a glittering den of excess known the world over. People came seeking thrills not only from Great Chu, but from other Southern Seas nations and even farther afield.
It was best known for legalized gambling and prostitution. Even many soft narcotics were permitted here.
As a result, Hemp Mountain had flourished into a twisted place where money could buy any pleasure.
At that moment, the Light Song and Graceful Dance Tower, one of Hemp Mountain's landmarks, was livelier than ever. Fireworks kept rising to heighten the excitement, but few people watched them. Everyone was waiting for Gong Xiaohe, one of Lower River's most famous female singers.
The Light Song and Graceful Dance Tower regularly invited renowned bands and singers to perform live. It never settled for obscure acts; its guests were often stars whose names everyone knew!
Take tonight. No one had expected the tower to actually bring in Gong Xiaohe, and the atmosphere had grown all the more electric. At last, after countless eager calls, every light in the five-story building went dark. A faint thread of song drifted toward the crowd, winding around their ears like silk and leaving them aching to catch hold of that mischievous strand...
But the song was too elusive to grasp. All they could do was let it tickle their hearts...
"Such singing is practically divine! No wonder Gong Xiaohe is so famous!" Evil Virtue Daoist could not help praising her.
Da Xiang, beside him, nodded. The two had come to contact Da Xiang's