Forefather, I Bow Before You

Inside a private room at the Thousand Beauties Pavilion.

Ever since Gu Chenfeng had been invited into Su Wanyue's chamber for a private meeting,

Ouyang Cai had found the food tasteless and the wine devoid of fragrance.

Even the two courtesans beside him, doing their utmost to attend to him, failed to stir his interest.

Lady Su, the goddess he dared not defile even in his thoughts, whose beauty and talent surpassed all others in the Imperial Capital,

had actually taken the initiative to invite Third Young Master to become her first intimate guest.

Even though Third Young Master was his good brother, Ouyang Cai struggled to accept it.

Third Young Master and I are known as the "two good-for-nothings of the Imperial Capital," so why was I left out?

Am I not useless enough?

After he waited and waited in the private room, Gu Chenfeng finally returned.

Ouyang Cai practically stamped his feet with impatience. "Third Young Master, what took you so long? What did you and Lady Su do?"

Gu Chenfeng said little. He merely waved the sachet in his hand, still carrying the beauty's bodily fragrance, and remarked casually,

"Lady Su really is nice and moist!"

"..."

Ouyang Cai immediately clutched his chest, his face paling and his body swaying.

After weathering a wave of shattered illusions, he declared with heartfelt admiration,

"Third Young Master, I concede!

From now on, you're my founding forefather in the art of picking up women. Forefather, I bow before you!"

At the same time.

Inside the west chamber on the top floor.

Su Wanyue reclined on the long chair before her desk, gently rubbing a certain part of her body. Her lovely face was flushed, and indignation still lingered in her eyes.

"That bastard was so rough. He doesn't know how to cherish a fragrant flower or treasure delicate jade at all.

And he's not just crude-he's stingy too!

He couldn't even bear to give me a valuable keepsake, yet he tried imitating others by writing a poem.

Who doesn't know that the Gu Lineage's Third Young Master is an ignorant, uneducated wastrel?"

Su Wanyue seethed with resentment and indignation.

Unfortunately, with her Lifebound Gu under his control, she could only remain at his mercy.

Her injuries had yet to heal, and all her subordinates had perished.

To uncover the true culprit who had framed her, she might genuinely need to borrow the Gu Lineage's strength.

I'll cooperate with this fellow for now and find a chance to reclaim my Lifebound Gu. Perhaps I can even use him to help me complete that mission!

Having made up her mind, Su Wanyue finally turned her attention to the poem Gu Chenfeng had written on her desk.

Earlier, while Gu Chenfeng had been scribbling away here, she had not been in the mood to look.

Now that she had to maintain their relationship as a courtesan and her intimate guest,

she had no choice but to accept the poem, however clumsy it might be.

At worst, she could rewrite it herself before having it mounted.

Then Su Wanyue picked up her brush and casually glanced at the poem's opening.

"To Lady Su"

"What a vulgar title, as expected."

She looked at the first line.

"A clear wind embraces the moon, drunk in the West Tower; smiling, I ask the mortal world-has another autumn passed?"

"Hmm...?"

That single line made Su Wanyue pause, the disdain on her face quietly fading.

She unconsciously sat upright and began reading with full attention.

"A clear wind embraces the moon, drunk in the West Tower; smiling, I ask the mortal world-has another autumn passed?

I long to tell of bygone days, yet struggle to set brush to paper; the page is short, affection long, its meaning hard to hold.

Yesterday has drifted away upon the evening breeze; time and again, sorrow rises without cause.

Tell me, for whom does autumn rain blush shyly? Fallen flowers, holding tears, speak of parting's grief."

Clatter!

By the time she finished the poem, Su Wanyue was utterly transfixed, unaware even that the brush had slipped from her hand.

The scene before her suddenly grew hazy.

She seemed to see a night of clear wind and bright moonlight. After two devoted lovers had entwined in tenderness, autumn rain descended, pattering down as they parted in tears.

In the end, the man's retreating figure gradually blurred into the curtain of rain and the tears welling in the woman's eyes.

Unconsciously, even Su Wanyue's eyes grew damp, so completely had the poem's imagery moved her.

Meanwhile, Gu Chenfeng and Ouyang Cai had already left the Thousand Beauties Pavilion.

Ouyang Cai headed home.

Seeing that it was still fairly early, Gu Chenfeng made his way to the Myriad Treasures House.

He thought back over that day's visit to the Thousand Beauties Pavilion.

Although he had not found the true culprit, he had gained quite a few leads and pieces of information.

As for Su Wanyue, Gu Chenfeng did indeed intend to use her to find whoever had tried to assassinate him.

But he had also kept his guard up.

Her identity was unknown, and she had brought people into hiding in the Imperial Capital. Even if she was not targeting him, she likely had considerable ambitions.

He could slowly probe those out through their future interactions.

Sitting in the carriage, Gu Chenfeng sensed through his spiritual perception that the concealed presence was following him again.

He could not help grumbling inwardly.

Some fucking expert you are. That woman nearly got the better of me, and I didn't see you anticipating anything or stepping in.

Had the person secretly accompanying him heard Gu Chenfeng's thoughts, they would probably have been frustrated enough to cough up blood.

Even high-level martial artists could only anticipate certain dangers and killing intent by sensing fluctuations in aura.

But Su Wanyue had harbored no killing intent toward Gu Chenfeng, and her hypnotic methods had been extremely subtle, making them naturally difficult to detect.

Moreover, Gu Chenfeng had been visiting a brothel. It would hardly have been appropriate to watch him directly and witness his live erotic show.

How could they have noticed anything amiss beforehand?

Before long, Gu Chenfeng arrived at the Myriad Treasures House.

He waited some time in an elegant room on the third floor before that familiar, graceful figure finally appeared.

Today, Liu Fuyan wore a tight-fitting black gown that perfectly accentuated her tall, voluptuous figure and alluring curves.

The bold cutout design near the bottom of the skirt, in particular, carried a hint of that "black stockings" appeal.

It thoroughly pleased a certain someone!

Still, Gu Chenfeng noticed a trace of fatigue in Liu Fuyan's eyes. She seemed to be in low spirits.

"Young Master Gu, what have you come to buy from our Myriad Treasures House today? I'll still give you twenty percent off."

Upon seeing Gu Chenfeng, Liu Fuyan concealed her weariness and smiled brightly.

Gu Chenfeng said, "I'd like another batch of Clearheart Pills, as well as some Body-Tempering Elixirs."

Liu Fuyan was rather surprised to hear that Gu Chenfeng had come to buy more pills, along with body-tempering medicines.

After all, he had purchased quite a few pills only several days earlier.

She did not ask further and simply began introducing the varieties of Body-Tempering Elixirs available.

Gu Chenfeng had originally assumed that Body-Tempering Elixirs would be cheap.

The reality, however, came as a complete surprise.

Those high-quality Body-Tempering Potions that did not harm the body,

with their rare ingredients and scarce formulas, cost even more than some pills.

Most Body-Tempering Potions used by ordinary external martial artists contained impurities, and some even had side effects or toxicity.

But having chosen to practice an External Cultivation Art, these martial artists had already accepted that their cultivation would reach, at most, the Source Qi Realm.

Almost none of them cared about the long-term consequences.

Gu Chenfeng, however, intended to cultivate both internally and externally. He could not favor one at the expense of the other, so he had to choose high-quality Body-Tempering Potions.

Before long, a deal worth eighty thousand taels was concluded in the elegant room.

This time, Gu Chenfeng purchased more than forty Clearheart Pills in one go.

He also spent forty thousand taels on a batch of Body-Tempering Potions.

With the deal concluded, Liu Fuyan was grinning from ear to ear, while Gu Chenfeng's leg kept shaking from the pain of spending so much.

Too fucking expensive!

The fifty thousand taels in banknotes left over from his previous pill purchase, plus the fifty thousand Ouyang Cai had given him today,

had dwindled to just twenty thousand in the blink of an eye.

Truly, the poor studied letters while the rich practiced martial arts. The speed at which he was burning through money was frightening.

He was only in the Meridian-Opening Realm now. As his cultivation rose, his expenses would likely become even more terrifying.

The resources required to reach the Grandmaster realm would probably amount to an astronomical figure.

Gu Chenfeng felt a headache coming on.

But in his current dangerous predicament, he had to improve his cultivation regardless of the cost.

After completing the transaction, Gu Chenfeng casually asked, "Manager Liu, you seemed rather dispirited earlier. Is something troubling you?"

Liu Fuyan rubbed her brow, a bitter smile appearing on her face.

"My apologies, Young Master Gu. There is indeed some trouble at the branch.

A third-grade Alchemist who had worked with us for years was poached by another trading house in the Imperial Capital, causing us to lose quite a few customers."

Gu Chenfeng was slightly surprised that Liu Fuyan had spoken so frankly about the Myriad Treasures House's difficulties, and he could not help asking,

"The Myriad Treasures House is one of the largest trading houses in the Imperial Capital. If one Alchemist leaves, why not simply hire another?"

Liu Fuyan shook her head with a soft laugh. "You may not know this, Young Master Gu, but Alchemists are the scarcest professionals of all.

Every Alchemist, even one who has only just entered the first grade, is someone the major trading houses fight over. There are too many wolves and too little meat.

As for Alchemy Masters above the third grade, who have entered the middle three grades, only the imperial family or certain secluded sects can nurture them.

Our Myriad Treasures House headquarters does have Alchemy Masters, but they couldn't possibly be stationed here.

And the third-grade Alchemist who left was our branch's chief Alchemist.

Several kinds of pills he refined were of outstanding quality. Even if we found a replacement on short notice, they would struggle to meet his standard."

Hearing this, Gu Chenfeng roughly understood.

Most customers who could afford pills were either wealthy or influential. Price was not their main concern; quality was king.

Now that the Myriad Treasures House's chief Alchemist had left and the quality of its pills had declined, the customers naturally would not accept it.

The losses caused by these high-end customers leaving were impossible to measure. No wonder Liu Fuyan was so troubled.

Something seemed to occur to Liu Fuyan, and she looked at Gu Chenfeng with sparkling eyes.

"Young Master Gu, if you have any way of finding a skilled Alchemist, you must introduce them to me.

When the time comes, I'll be sure to repay you properly."

Seeing the hint of suggestiveness that appeared on her face,

Gu Chenfeng could not help feeling a flutter, even though he knew she was deliberately teasing him.

He inwardly paid her a little "respect."

"Of course."

A quarter of an hour later.

Carrying the pills and Body-Tempering Elixirs he had purchased, Gu Chenfeng boarded his carriage home.

He was still thinking about what Liu Fuyan had revealed during their conversation regarding an Alchemist's income.

Damn, even a first-grade Alchemist gets a guaranteed minimum of over ten thousand taels a month from their share of pill profits.

Second- and third-grade Alchemists can earn several times that. That's outrageous!

Gu Chenfeng suddenly wondered whether he ought to take on a side job.

With the rate at which he was currently burning through money, and his father having squandered the Prime Minister's Residence's fortune,

it seemed that only a career as an Alchemist could support his cultivation.

Although he had never studied alchemy, he had the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins and the Enlightenment Platform.

With heaven-defying comprehension, what couldn't he learn?

Hmm... once I've improved my cultivation a little more, I'll start looking into alchemy!