Lu Zongfeng sneered. "You aren't doubting Brother Qin Han, are you? Naturally, he would have everything properly handled."
"We already invited two of the young ladies who fell victim to him over to identify him. He was indeed that lecherous fiend White Chrysanthemum."
Wang Chong thought, If the victims identified him, there could be no mistake.
Qin Han was surrounded by dozens of people, like the moon cradled by a host of stars. Although Fang Jingru, Zhou Yuchen, and the others looked indignant, they could only silently endure having him steal their thunder. Qin Han was delighted beyond measure and thought, Good thing I had the quick wit to buy off Wang Chong with a sum of money. He really did stand by his word and let me have this great achievement. Otherwise, how could I enjoy such glory? When I return this time, my rank is sure to rise another notch. I might even be stationed in command of a region, wielding authority over its troops.
Seeing Wang Chong, his spirits soared. He walked over and threw an arm around him as though they were the closest of friends. "With two young ladies who fell victim to him identifying him, there is absolutely no doubt about this lecher's identity. His name was Sun Yanqi, and he was Lotus Fairy's lover. No wonder Lotus Fairy suffered his vile defilement. Who knows how many respectable women he harmed by such means?"
Wang Chong nodded repeatedly. Although he felt there were still questions about this affair, he truly disliked stirring up trouble where there was none.
What if exposing the truth revealed that Sun Yanqi wasn't White Chrysanthemum, but he himself was? Wouldn't that be a load of toad-spawn nonsense?
Qin Han shouted, "We brothers of the Chrysanthemum-Slaying Alliance endured a thousand hardships, traveling beneath the stars and moon, and finally slew the lecherous fiend White Chrysanthemum! This is a cause for great celebration. Tonight, no one leaves sober!"
Fang Jingru gave a faint, wry smile, but he knew he could not lose face at this moment. He, too, shouted, "I've already sent people to nearby Longyang City to buy a hundred jars of fine wine. No one need worry about not drinking their fill!"
What these young heroes had in greatest abundance was family standing, and what they lacked least was money. To celebrate killing White Chrysanthemum, they bought up every sort of merchandise in Pengshan County within half an hour, and kept sending people to nearby large cities for fine wine and delicious food. The inn soon grew lively. Even the original guests had their bills paid by some generous young gentleman, and everyone shared in the glory. Not a soul was displeased.
By evening, fragrant carriages were arriving in Pengshan County. Someone had booked an entire pleasure house in a nearby large city and summoned dozens of women, singing like orioles and dancing like swallows, to entertain everyone with song and dance.
Wang Chong truly had not expected that, despite never having visited a hostess karaoke club on Earth, he would get to experience such extravagant debauchery in this ancient-style world.
He really was rather unused to it. He had neither any particular prejudice against such women of the pleasure quarters nor any fondness for them, and only wished to keep a respectful distance. Thus, rather than joining the others in their revelry, he quietly slipped out and used his lightness skill to reach the highest spot in Pengshan County.
This place had been built by a wealthy man of the county and had accumulated a great many books over several generations, including quite a few rare treasures.
Wang Chong liked its quiet, for one thing, and for another, he wanted to read some books to learn about this world. To read through the night, he had even brought enough lamp oil and two oil lamps, a jar of fine wine, and some dishes he had picked up to go with his drink.
He lit the oil lamps and, against the backdrop of night, had just begun leafing through a volume of notes written by a learned predecessor a hundred and fifty years earlier when he heard a soft laugh. A tall, slender woman with eyebrows sweeping into her temples glided into the room. With a gentle smile, she asked, "Why aren't you enjoying yourself with everyone else, Young Master Wang?"
Wang Chong replied, "I'm not very fond of such occasions, so I came here to read and relieve my boredom."
Chu Qiuzi felt reassured and secretly delighted. Although visiting pleasure houses to drink was commonplace for scholars and young martial heroes alike, who would like the men of her household frequenting such places?
She took a gourd from behind her back and said, "I happened to prepare a gourd of Blue Blossom Brew. It's a secret vintage of Iron Pear Mountain Manor that you absolutely cannot buy elsewhere. Let it accompany your nighttime reading, Young Master Wang Chong."
Wang Chong thanked her and watched as Chu Qiuzi took out two large tallow candles and gently lit them, instantly brightening the room. On Earth, these two candles would have cost a few dozen yuan at most, shipping included, with all sorts of fragrances mixed in and molded into various fancy shapes. In this world, however, they were difficult to buy even with money. Unless one belonged to an immensely wealthy or powerful household, one simply could not afford to use them.
As Chu Qiuzi moved, a delicate fragrance faintly wafted over. Wang Chong thought, So this is reading by night with a red-sleeved beauty tending the incense?
On Earth, if a girl were willing to keep a man company while he played games, who knows how many men would devote themselves heart and soul, becoming traitors to the ranks of bachelors? Even after living two lives, I can hardly withstand it!
The other five of Qingcheng's six women lay on a nearby rooftop. The seventh sister, One-Flavor Immortal Huang Yan, said with a little excitement, "Second Senior Sister probably won't be returning to the inn tonight, will she?"
The fifth junior sister, Female Zhuge Luo Lingxi, burst into a giggle, but scolded her junior sister, "What nonsense are you talking? Second Senior Sister and Young Master Wang are perfectly innocent."
The youngest junior sister, Azure Bird in the Clouds Ren Wanqing, muttered, "Innocent, yes, but things between them aren't exactly clear."
Wang Chong was not a man of the martial world. Although he had arrived with a full repertoire of martial arts when he transmigrated, he still lacked certain habits. Chu Qiuzi, however, was an expert in such matters and had long since heard her junior sisters' "nonsense." She flushed slightly, but could only pretend not to know, taking a book herself to read alongside Wang Chong.
Having finished the ancient writer's notes in his hands, Wang Chong was about to take another book when he suddenly remembered that he still had two martial arts manuals. He genuinely could not quite understand them. Sun Yanqi's claim that he might make no progress even after decades of fumbling about alone without his guidance had indeed been no empty words.
He considered briefly and thought, Chu Fairy comes from Qingcheng, one of the Nine Daoist Lineages. She must be widely knowledgeable. Why not ask her for guidance?
As someone from a world of open-source knowledge, Wang Chong did not feel that martial arts manuals were things he needed to treasure like a worn-out broom simply because they were his.
Besides, the choices he now faced were: first, study them himself, possibly making no progress for decades, and perhaps even going astray in his cultivation and suffering Qi deviation; second, study them together with Chu Qiuzi, allowing him not only to master them but also to greatly improve the beauty's impression of him. Perhaps...
Mm, I mustn't think any further. Those are all plotlines webnovels aren't allowed to write.
He was not reckless, however, and first asked a probing question. "Chu Fairy, have you ever heard of the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Divine Transformations of the Thirty-Two Marks?"
Chu Qiuzi was slightly surprised. "That scripture is very famous indeed. It is one of Buddhism's four great divine arts, but it was lost over a hundred years ago."
Wang Chong asked in surprise, "How could such a formidable divine art have been lost?"
Chu Qiuzi replied, "In the present age, the Wudang Sect, from which you hail, Young Master Wang, is the greatest sect under heaven. But two hundred years ago, Xuanhuang Dao was the greatest religious order under heaven."
"At its height, Xuanhuang Dao was ten times more overbearing than the Wudang Sect. Its successive leaders all served as state preceptors of the previous dynasty, wielding such authority that a single word carried the weight of nine great cauldrons."
"Although the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Divine Transformations of the Thirty-Two Marks is one of Buddhism's four great divine arts, Xuanhuang Dao stole it long ago, and it became one of their three supreme divine arts."
Wang Chong asked, "How could such an illustrious sect let its scriptures be lost?"
...Sun Yanqi: No one identified the corpse at all...
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