The sun was already high.
Inside Carefree Cave in the Outer City, peddlers drawn from all walks of life threaded through the streets and alleys. Now and then, whispers drifted from the roadside:
"Hero Xie really dotes on his mistress. He has to come see her every day..."
"Shh! Don't talk nonsense. If someone hears you, you'll be in more trouble than you can carry away..."
On the street, a Four-Horse Carriage headed toward the branch hall on the main street, with the Scarlet Qilin Guard clearing its way.
Sitting inside the carriage, Xie Jinhuan heard the jumble of remarks outside and felt somewhat helpless.
It was still some time before the fifteenth of the seventh month, and the Directorate of Celestial Observation had found no other suspicious information. These past few days, Xie Jinhuan had stayed home strengthening his foundations, while also helping his patrons improve their Daoist cultivation. His own part was straightforward: he simply borrowed texts from the Directorate of Celestial Observation, Purple Emblem Mountain, Missing Moon Manor, and elsewhere to study the cultivation traditions of Daoism, Buddhism, shamanism, and the like. Helping his wives improve their cultivation, however, was rather taxing on a man.
After all, when the strong guided the weak in cultivation, the fastest method was joint Yin and Yang practice. And Xie Jinhuan could not guide just one of them; every girl had to be looked after. On top of that, Sister Ye's hundred-session assignment still weighed on him.
As a result, Xie Jinhuan worked straight through from morning to night. His routine basically went like this-he emerged from the immortal maiden group's room in the morning, went to Carefree Cave to inspect the demoness group's progress with their cultivation techniques, returned to the Marquis's Residence in the afternoon to drink with the