As Wang Quan grew engrossed in chatting with the Daoist nun, two yellow oxen walking upright swished their tails and dragged over a bronze cannon.
Wang Quan sucked in a breath. "Good grief, when that little nun said a cannon salute, she meant firing an actual cannon?"
The nun beside him nodded. "When the Officiant Daoist Nun says she'll fire a cannon, she fires a cannon. No faking it."
At that moment:
The two Yellow Ox Spirits positioned the cannon with its muzzle pointed skyward.
They poured glossy black grains from gourds into the barrel, then stuffed in an iron ball the size of a head.
Wang Quan felt that the cannon resembled those from his previous life, except that the gunpowder was distinctly different in color.
"The Officiant Daoist Nun? You mean that little nun?"
The nun nodded. "That's right!"
"The Officiant Daoist Nun specializes in officiating weddings and funerals, and she's short of helpers."
"Get on her good side, and you'll definitely make money down the road!"
Wang Quan nodded.
Just then, he heard the Officiant Daoist Nun call out in a sweet, sharp voice, "The auspicious hour has arrived!"
The next second, the two Yellow Ox Spirits lit the fuse.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Boom!
A deafening cannon blast rang out.
Wang Quan's head swam as countless petals rained down from the sky.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Ox Spirits loaded more glossy black gunpowder and another iron ball.
"Prepare the bride!"
Boom!
The second cannon blast!
More petals drifted down.
The nun beside him formed seals with both hands, and the next second, flowers sprang up throughout the courtyard.
Large birds soared above Courtyard No. 95, scattering petals of every color.
"Enter!"
Boom!
The third cannon blast rang out.
Wang Quan slapped his case. More than twenty paper figures and the Paper Palanquin shot into the air, flying beneath the window opposite.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Puffs of blue smoke burst apart, and more than twenty palace maids emerged from the haze, their bodies swaying gracefully.
These palace maids were indistinguishable from real people, their eyes lively and their figures slender and graceful.
Some carried the palanquin, while others held incense burners, parasols, fans, or placards. Still others scattered petals, creating the spectacle of a noblewoman's outing.
More than a hundred handsome, muscular young martial artists leaped from the surrounding rooftops.
They had smeared essence meat over themselves, making their muscles gleam as they performed full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree loops, seven-hundred-and-twenty-degree spins, or seven or eight front and back flips in midair.
The rattleweed spirits shook their fruits furiously:
Rattle! Rattle! Rattle!
The hundred-odd handsome young martial artists dropped to one knee, one hand behind their backs and the other braced against the ground, and roared toward the sky, "We respectfully welcome Fairy Qin!"
An impulse stirred in Wang Quan. With a shift of his thoughts, the palace maids fashioned from paper figures ran through the air, spilling thousands of paper flowers from their baskets to form a path, one end connected to the window and the other resting atop the young men's heads.
The next second, the window opened, and a cold, aloof Daoist nun in white stepped out.
At the sight of her, Wang Quan fell into a daze.
Good grief!
Someone I know!
He remembered that when he had first arrived at the Drowning Lower Court over two years ago, this aloof nun had sat on a fluffy pink cloud and explained a few things to them.
Why had she suddenly taken up the flesh trade?
The next second, the paper palace maids under his mental control detected a strange quality in the aloof nun's scent.
A thought struck him. Silently reciting scripture, he cast an eye technique called the Inchlight Art.
Within a tiny span, this art could pierce all sorts of illusions and discern the true nature of things.
With the art active, he glanced at the nun, then hurriedly dispelled it, his expression turning peculiar.
At that moment, the aloof nun-Fairy Qin-advanced with delicate lotus steps and seated herself on the palanquin.
With complicated feelings, Wang Quan shifted his thoughts and controlled the paper palace maids.
The maids swayed gracefully as they walked slowly along the flower path.
At that moment:
Cricket Spirits blew their suonas furiously, Centipede Spirits struck bronze gongs, and Lark Spirits flitted wildly through the sky, their songs sweet and lilting.
There were even Bee Spirits wearing leopard-print shorts, manifesting two long legs and performing figure-eight dances.
The kneeling young men shouted again, "We respectfully welcome Fairy Qin into the sea of flowers!"
A Daoist rubbed his hands together, and pillars of smoke and sparks shot skyward, bursting into fireworks that filled the heavens.
The nun who had conjured flowers throughout the courtyard gave a soft huff, pulled down eighty or a hundred belts, and tossed them out. The belts transformed into Beauty Snakes, with women's upper bodies and serpentine tails below.
The Beauty Snakes slithered about, winding their tails around muscular men, rough martial artists, and ugly monsters while puffing out clouds of pink smoke.
The creatures touched by the pink smoke developed bloodshot eyes, their hot blood surging as they howled and yowled, making the scene even livelier.
Before long, Fairy Qin stepped down from the palanquin and walked across the young men's heads, exchanging cool, detached words with the many guests.
Wang Quan stared blankly at the scene. At that moment, he felt that these immortal cultivators were nothing like he had imagined!
The nun beside him chuckled. "You look surprised."
Wang Quan nodded. "I've always stayed in the lower court. This is my first outing, and my first time seeing anything like this."
The nun laughed softly. "We immortal cultivators aren't really that different from ordinary people."
"The only difference is that we possess powers ordinary people don't. We make a bigger spectacle of things, have stronger desires, and act with fewer restraints, that's all."
Wang Quan nodded.
The nun's eyes shifted. "Would you consider working in this line of business long-term?"
After a moment's hesitation, Wang Quan nodded. "If there's plenty of work like this, I could."
"Then come join the banquet with me!"
"These banquets aren't just an old tradition of Courtyard No. 95, but of the entire market district!"
"I'll introduce you to the Officiant Daoist Nun while we're there."
This was Wang Quan's first cultivators' banquet, and he felt it was no different from attending a feast back home.
Only the creatures attending were different.
Here, spirits and humans chatted and laughed together, while tipsy cultivators held beauties and handsome youths in their arms and discoursed expansively. Joy filled the gathering.
The Officiant Daoist Nun, who looked like a little girl, spoke. "I heard from Dream Nun that you're interested in working in the wedding and funeral business long-term?"
Dream Nun was the nun who had filled the courtyard with flowers. She winked at Wang Quan.
Wang Quan clasped his hands in greeting. "As long as it makes money."
The Officiant Daoist Nun chuckled. "I can't promise you a fortune, but earning you twenty or thirty thousand Green Beetles every so often won't be a problem."
"Paper-figure arts are your main specialty?"
Wang Quan nodded. "That's right!"
The Officiant Daoist Nun nodded. "Your paper figures are so lifelike. Are they realistic?"
The corner of Wang Quan's mouth twitched.
You damn well know they're lifelike, and you're still asking?
The next second, he caught her meaning. "They're realistic!"
The Officiant Daoist Nun's eyes shifted.
"Very few people in our lower court have trained their paper-figure arts to your level."
"And in the market district, there isn't a single one."
"You could call that a trade."
"If you ever fall on hard times, you could use paper figures to harvest yin and yang essence and sell it. That's another way to make a living."
Wang Quan... remained silent.
Just then, the Officiant Daoist Nun reached for a pig's trotter, only for a wild boar spirit beside her to reach for it too.
The Officiant Daoist Nun glared.
The wild boar spirit immediately brought the plate before her.
The Officiant Daoist Nun nodded in satisfaction. "Little piglet, what mountain are you from? Do you have a master? Want me to find you one?"
The wild boar spirit replied ingratiatingly, "Lady Officiant, I'm from Blessed Mound Mountain. I'm not planning to sell myself, and I don't want a master."
The Officiant Daoist Nun giggled. "A spirit without a master isn't a good spirit."
The wild boar spirit dared not argue, merely grabbing a pig's head nearby and gnawing away with his head lowered.
Wang Quan found the scene rather grotesque.
At that moment, Dream Nun poked him in the ribs. "Are you joining us or not? Give us a definite answer."
Wang Quan smiled. "I cultivate a moonlight-based foundational method, so I have to gather moonlight and practice at night."
"If there's a lot of nighttime work, that might be inconvenient."
The Officiant Daoist Nun sucked the grease from her slender fingers. "Weddings and funerals mostly take place during the day. They won't interfere with your cultivation."
Wang Quan smiled. "All right!"
Tilting her head, the Officiant Daoist Nun asked, "Then, do you have a title?"
Wang Quan shook his head.
A title was essentially a nickname, a Daoist name, or something similar, used to conceal one's real name.
The Officiant Daoist Nun smiled. "You're pretty good at scattering flowers. How about calling you the Flower-Scatter Daoist from now on?"
Wang Quan nodded. "Excellent!"
Before you continue