A storyteller had begun his session. His opening remarks left Shi Chun marveling inwardly. He actually dared say this openly in front of everyone? That alone revealed something of the current cultivation world. He glanced at the establishment's sign: Idle Listening Hall.
He was listening with rapt attention when he heard a gulp beside him.
Wu Jinliang's voice followed. "They really are all so fair."
Those words immediately made Shi Chun turn. Following Wu Jinliang's gaze, he saw three women with fair, tender skin and unremarkable looks walking past them, laughing and chatting amid a waft of perfume. One group passed after another.
The two of them had stopped right at the bend by the head of a bridge connecting the two banks, so there were plenty of people coming and going.
Their ragged appearance drew little attention. Most people merely gave them an extra glance. Every sort of strange thing happened in the cultivation world, and to onlookers, the two were clearly injured and had probably run into some trouble.
"Chuntian, come on. Let's find a place." Wu Jinliang waggled his eyebrows and tilted his head meaningfully.
Their minds connected with a single spark of understanding. He did not need to say what sort of place; Shi Chun understood at once and frowned. "How much money do you even have? Why squander it?"
Wu Jinliang chuckled. "I've spent all these years finding out everything I need to know. Now that I've got a new lease on life, spending a little money is nothing."
Without waiting for Shi Chun's approval, he turned to ask someone for directions.
He knew Shi Chun had no taste for this sort of thing. He had originally thought it was because of Miss Miao, but now it seemed that was not the case at all. Shi Chun simply had no interest.
Before long, he had learned where to go and immediately turned back to beckon Shi Chun over.
Shi Chun had no intention of doing anything there, but he was curious about what those legendary haunts of flowers and pleasure were like. He followed, deciding to watch from the sidelines and broaden his horizons.
Still, he offered a reminder. "Shouldn't we buy some clothes first?"
There were no outsiders between them; each knew the other perfectly well. There was no need to pretend they ought to buy books first.
Wu Jinliang's smile blossomed. "No need. Where you spend money, there'll be someone to run errands and take care of little things like that."
"Heh. You really do plan far ahead." Shi Chun had to hand it to the fellow. Even back in the Land of Exile, he had already asked around about all this.
With no more idle chatter, the two looked this way and that as they searched for the pleasure quarter, broadening their horizons along the way.
Compared with their excitement when they first left the Land of Exile, their emotions had now settled firmly into place.
Before long, they arrived at Skyward City's famed Liyun Tower. The lofty building, a palace of jade and splendor, was set into the stone wall, and numerous women dressed like blooming flowers stood at the railings of its upper floors. Thick-browed, bright-eyed Wu Jinliang's smile blossomed again, as though he could have gnawed through his own great saber with his fine teeth.
But something seemed amiss outside. A crowd had gathered and blocked the entrance, clearly watching some spectacle.
Fresh out of the Prison of Life, they naturally could not pass up a spectacle.
The two squeezed through quite easily. Since they were filthy, no one wanted to brush against them. At the words "Excuse us," people turned, took one look, and instinctively stepped aside.
Reaching the foot of Liyun Tower's steps, they saw a man kneeling on the ground, facing the crowd and weeping bitterly, with one hand resting on a chest beside him.
"Fifty thousand gold. Just lend me fifty thousand gold. I'll repay it, I swear. I'll pay back double..."
The man pleading tearfully with the crowd kowtowed again and again, until his forehead bled.
Naturally, Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang were curious. Could someone's taste for Liyun Tower really have driven him to such lengths? Fifty thousand gold was outrageously expensive, surely? They immediately asked a bystander what was going on.
Only after someone explained in a low voice did they learn that the tearful, kowtowing man was named Bian Weikang, the son of Mount Wukang's sect master. Neglecting his proper duties, he had gathered a pack of disreputable friends, indulged in wine and women wherever he went, committed plenty of outrageous acts, and run up a mountain of debt.
Mount Wukang was a major sect that crafted talismans. Its specialty was the Immobilizing Talisman, widely used in combat, so it was quite wealthy.
His father, Bian Jixiong, had paid off that enormous debt for him, but his rage was beyond appeasing. Not only had he punished his son under the sect's disciplinary rules, he had expelled him from Mount Wukang in his fury. Acting as sect master, he had forbidden anyone in the sect from giving him aid or support, and publicly severed their father-son relationship.
Without money or influence, Bian Weikang had no good friends left either. His pack of disreputable companions immediately scattered like monkeys from a fallen tree.
The destitute Bian Weikang eventually drifted here and became involved with Xiang Lan'er, Liyun Tower's leading courtesan. Unfortunately, Liyun Tower held her indenture contract. The greatest problem was that Lü Taizhen, a man whose standing in Skyward City was second only to the city lord's, had taken a fancy to Xiang Lan'er and offered five hundred thousand gold to buy her. Liyun Tower was to deliver her to him tonight.
Xiang Lan'er refused, and Bian Weikang could not accept it either. After the ill-fated lovers pleaded again and again, Liyun Tower's madam finally relented. She said she could grant their wish, but she could not lose that money. If Bian Weikang could produce five hundred thousand gold before Lü Taizhen did, she would let the two have their way.
Reduced to such straits, how could Bian Weikang possibly produce five hundred thousand gold? In the end, Xiang Lan'er had brought out everything she had saved over the years and borrowed from every fellow courtesan she could. Only then had she scraped together four hundred and fifty thousand gold, which she gave to Bian Weikang, asking him to find some way to raise the rest outside.
Thus, Bian Weikang went around begging people to lend him money. But this was no small sum. Even an ordinary cultivator with a fairly good income earned only about three thousand sandalwood gold a year. What did fifty thousand gold represent? Besides, Bian Weikang's borrowing history was hardly good, and there was no one left to repay his debts for him.
More importantly, how many people in Skyward City would dare help Bian Weikang compete with Lü Taizhen for a woman?
Wu Jinliang sighed a little at the story, then looked toward Liyun Tower's entrance and muttered, "What's with everyone blocking the door? Are they going to let the place do business or not?"
Shi Chun, however, reacted differently. Ever since hearing who Bian Weikang was, his eyes had been flickering incessantly.
At that very moment, he felt tremendous sympathy for Bian Weikang and dearly wanted to befriend him. It was just a little costly right now.
Still, he thought this was a good thing. What was the point of forging a friendship with no weight to it? Was this not precisely the moment to deliver charcoal through the snow?
Unfortunately, fifty thousand gold was rather too much. Even emptying both his and Wu Jinliang's pockets would do no good. Selling Wu Jinliang probably would not fetch that much either.
Still, he did not think acquiring fifty thousand gold here would be particularly difficult. Accumulating "merit" here was much easier than in the Land of Exile. A place full of money had no shortage of money. That part was easy.
The difficult part was getting the money before that Lü Taizhen fellow...
In a refined, elegant room on Liyun Tower's top floor, the madam, Feng Chi, entered holding a short whip resembling a riding crop.
A woman in rainbow robes sat before the dressing table, her exquisite figure possessed of a thousand charms and a hundred allurements. At a glance, she was clearly an accomplished dancer. Her slender fingers were like jade, her skin surpassed snow, her face resembled a hibiscus blossom, and her eyes held the souls of stars. Hers was a beauty that could hide the moon and shame the flowers. Sadly, when no outsiders were present, her expression was as cold as frost.
This was Xiang Lan'er, Liyun Tower's leading courtesan, who was reputed to sell her art but not her body.
Holding the whip, Madam Feng Chi looked uneasy. "Holy Maiden, this is far too degrading for you. Perhaps we should find another way."
Xiang Lan'er glanced sidelong at the whip in her hand. "It's only a few lashes. That hardly counts as degrading."
Madam Feng Chi turned the whip over in her hands. Normally, it was used to discipline disobedient little wretches; she had never expected to use it on the woman before her. She could not help sighing. "A few lashes are nothing. But what virtue or ability does Bian Weikang possess to deserve the Holy Maiden giving herself to him and submitting?"
Unconcerned, Xiang Lan'er combed her lovely hair. "Don't worry. Unless I'm willing, he can't force me. Now that the Heavenly Court is declining and the Demon Altar has reappeared, this is a golden opportunity for our Demonic Path to rise again. The contest for supremacy at the Demon Altar is a great undertaking settled jointly by the three branches. Someone has to lead. Which faction ultimately opens the Demon Altar and commands all demonkind will depend on nothing more than strength and influence.
"Mount Wukang is a major talisman-crafting sect, and it is vital to our bid for supremacy. Master has high hopes for this. If I can successfully enter Mount Wukang and bring it under our control, what does it matter if I give myself to him? It's better than forever being unable to show ourselves in the light. I don't believe in some heavenly way that vanquishes demons. Who is righteous and who is evil has always been decided by the victor!"