Near noon, Wang Quan picked up the box and rose, heading straight for the Market Ward.
The Drowning Dao Lower Court stood on a mountain.
The Market Ward lay on a broad stretch of level ground at the mountain's foot.
The Market Ward had an inner and an outer district. The inner district was orderly, with most buildings arranged like courtyard residences; every shop facing the street had at least a thousand years of history.
Anything younger than a thousand years did not even qualify to set up shop there.
If the inner district was where ordinary people lived, then the outer district was a slum.
Its buildings were a jumble of shacks, thatched huts, and paper houses-a full assortment, united by filth, chaos, and squalor.
And this outer district accounted for a full ninety percent of the Market Ward's population.
The assignment the round-faced Daoist nun had mentioned was at No. 95 Courtyard in the inner district.
Wang Quan descended the mountain. The moment he stepped into the inner district, a crowd of spirits surrounded him.
"Interested in renting internal organs?"
"Interested in a crash course on fierce ghosts and zombies?"
"Interested in a brain, bone, or kidney replacement?"
"Interested in fine wine personally brewed by a female cultivator at the perfected tenth level of Qi Refining?"
"A male cultivator half a step from Foundation Establishment is bestowing children tonight! Only three slots left. Interested? You're male? That's no problem either. Bring this flyer for a better chance of being selected!"
Most of these spirits were many-legged creatures such as centipedes, octopuses, and spiders.
They handed out seven or eight flyers at once, sometimes even a dozen or more.
By the time Wang Quan came to his senses, he found himself holding dozens of flyers.
He casually tossed them away, pushed through the bustling crowd of spirits, and headed straight for his destination.
A quarter of an hour later, he reached Courtyard No. 95.
The compound covered more than a hundred mu. Most of its buildings were two stories high, housing several hundred households.
Its main gates stood wide open, with people streaming in and out.
Toad spirits hopped along carrying wine jars of every size; cricket spirits played wind instruments and beat drums; fox spirits sang and danced; turtle spirits wandered about with fine dishes on their backs. Beautiful women, handsome men, and coarse warriors threaded among them.
There were even lark spirits with wings sprouting from their backs, soaring through the air and singing softly.
Rattlepod spirits shook their fruit with a clattering rustle.
Colorful ribbons, streamers, and flags filled the courtyard.
Red cloth banners hung from the upper floors on either side of the second gate: [Congratulations on the opening of our courtyard's first dual cultivation academy] and [Visitors from every direction are welcome guests].
The horizontal banner read: [Humans, demons, and spirits-all are welcome].
Standing in the bustling courtyard, Wang Quan looked utterly bewildered.
He had never seen anything like this before.
He felt his whole view of the world beginning to crumble.
Just then, a cook shouted in the distance, "Get a few pig demons over here to bleed! We're running out of pig's blood!"
"We're short on fish roe! Get a few fish demons to breed and give us some roe to tide us over!"
A Daoist nun called out in a sweet, sharp voice, "Where are the handsome martial artists? Hurry over, rub on the greasy essential oils, and change for rehearsal!"
A Daoist priest shouted, "Applicants for flower scattering, go to the second courtyard! Selection starts now. Get moving!"
Wang Quan took a deep breath, pushed aside the spirits blocking his path, and headed straight for the second courtyard.
Though humans and demons came and went there too, it was quieter than the front courtyard.
A sign beside a side room read: [Flower-scattering station].
Wang Quan hurried over and saw more than a dozen cultivators and several dozen spirits gathered there.
Most of the cultivators wore Daoist robes and carried fly whisks, cutting elegant figures.
Most of the spirits carried baskets on their backs, filled with all kinds of petals.
A Daoist nun who looked no older than thirteen or fourteen slapped the table and glared. "Spirits, go scatter flowers from the surrounding rooftops. Three thousand Green Beetles. Are you in or not?"
The spirits protested, "Why do we have to go up on the roofs? We picked fresh flowers! Take a sniff-they smell wonderful."
"Flowers this fragrant ought to be scattered over Fairy Qin."
The young Daoist nun sneered. "You're too ugly!"
A wild boar spirit gave a strange chuckle. "Our ugliness will only make Fairy Qin's beauty shine brighter!"
The young Daoist nun rolled her eyes. "Scram. Take it or leave it."
"When you hear one cannon shot, scatter your flowers."
Helpless, the spirits could only climb onto the surrounding rooftops with their baskets, waiting for the signal to scatter their flowers.
Once the spirits left, only the dozen or so cultivators remained.
The young Daoist nun smiled. "Everyone, we need four flower scatterers beside today's leading lady."
"First of all, no one ugly or old."
"You, you, and you. Go scatter flowers from the rooftops. Five thousand Green Beetles when you're done."
"Interested?"
Hearing that they would earn two thousand Green Beetles more than the spirits, these cultivators readily agreed.
Ten people now remained.
The young Daoist nun's eyes darted about. "Show me your flower-scattering skills, one at a time."
One Daoist nun smiled, formed seals with both hands, and silently recited the Dao Language.
The next second, hundreds upon thousands of phantom flowers appeared, drifting down as lifelike as real blossoms.
The young Daoist nun nodded. "When you hear two cannon shots, use your technique to fill the second courtyard with petals. Ideally, have them all land on the guests."
"Can you do that? Twenty thousand coins if you can."
"I can!"
The young Daoist nun nodded. "Next."
A Daoist priest took out a wreath, tossed it casually into the air, and sent a stream of magical power into it.
The next second, a large bird flew out and spread its wings, scattering eighty to a hundred varieties of flowers wherever it passed.
The young Daoist nun clapped. "Go to the highest spot. When you hear one cannon shot, release the bird and fill the whole courtyard with flying flowers."
"Ten thousand Green Beetles. Will you do it?"
The priest thought for a moment. "All right!"
"Next!"
Everyone demonstrated their flower-scattering methods in turn.
Some were assigned to rooftops, others to upper floors.
The payments in Green Fly Coins varied too.
Soon, it was Wang Quan's turn.
Wang Quan tapped the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box]. The next second, twenty-two paper puppets flew out.
The paper puppets landed, bursts of blue smoke erupted, and they transformed into twenty-two women in palace attire.
These palace maids had tinkling jade ornaments, lovely faces, alluring figures, and charmingly coy demeanors.
With flower baskets over their arms, some walked through the air while others advanced across the ground with delicate, lotus-like steps, moving forward or backward.
Every movement, every frown and smile, carried grace.
The palace maids waved their hands, scattering streams of lifelike petals that gave off a delicate fragrance.
The young Daoist nun tilted her head and considered for a moment. "Can you make paper puppets that hold parasols, pull streamers, and carry a palanquin?"
Wang Quan nodded. "Yes!"
The young Daoist nun's eyes lit up. "Can the paper puppets speak?"
"Yes!"
The young Daoist nun clapped.
"When you hear three cannon shots and Fairy Qin flies out of the upper floor, have the palace maids carry a palanquin so she can land on it. Put flower scatterers and parasol bearers beside her. You'll also need to lay a path of petals descending from above, then carry the palanquin down that flower path and land on the people in the middle of the courtyard."
"Thirty thousand Green Beetles. Will you do it?"
Wang Quan answered delightedly, "Yes!"
That was ten thousand coins more than he had expected. Of course he had to accept.
A priest beside him muttered, "Why does he get thirty thousand coins while I only get ten thousand?"
The young Daoist nun sneered. "He alone does the work of more than twenty people."
"If you'd cultivated the Paper Puppet Art too, I could pay you a little more as well."
The priest fell silent.
The young Daoist nun gave everyone a rough plan for their work, then clapped her hands and said, "When the time comes, adapt as needed."
"But there's only one guiding principle: highlight Fairy Qin's nobility, elegance, and sacred, inviolable presence."
Everyone nodded.
As time passed, they all took their positions.
Following the young Daoist nun's instructions, Wang Quan hung beneath the eaves of the ground floor.
The Daoist nun skilled in illusions hung beside him.
Wang Quan greeted her with a bow. "Senior Sister, this is my first time doing anything like this. If I slip up later, I hope you'll help me patch things up."
The Daoist nun chuckled. "No problem!"
"If I slip up, help me patch things up too."
Wang Quan nodded. "Of course!"
And so the two chatted idly, exchanging a few words now and then.
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