A silver moon hung overhead. On Tiger Platform Street, where martial arts schools and escort agencies clustered, martial artists traveling from north and south could be seen everywhere.
As a gathering place for martial artists, it had often seen people breaking the law with their fighting skills, and outlaws frequently hid there, making it a priority area for Black Bureau patrols.
But with Ye Jingtang, that living King of Hell, stationed in the Capital City, Tiger Platform Street had become remarkably orderly. Though people could hardly leave their doors unlocked at night, days might pass without a single private fight breaking out in the street.
With nothing to do, the constables making their routine patrols naturally had time on their hands. Inside an inn on Tiger Platform Street, the martial artists lodging there had gathered in the main hall to listen to a storyteller's latest tale.
Zhe Yunli wore a dark green constable robe and stood in an alley beside the inn with Ping'er, who was dressed the same way. She, too, listened with rapt attention:
"Beyond every great man stands another, and beyond every heaven lies another heaven. Today, this old man won't be telling you about our Night Great Yama, but a true immortal in the heavens..."
"What's interesting about that? I still want to hear about Night Great Yama gathering swords into a dragon above the Imperial City..."
"Ah, don't rush. Night Great Yama may be domineering, but he's as cold-faced as the King of Hell and has no weakness for women. That takes some of the flavor out of the telling. The true immortal I'm speaking of today is different. Not only does he possess extraordinary talent and godlike abilities, he's also..."
"Lecherous?"
"More than lecherous. Put him in the martial world, and he'd be counted