Chronicles of Daoist Fan - Chapter 130

”You… you are Zui Fan?!” She couldn’t help but cry out. Unlike others, she noticed my cultivation base first.

”How…?” She dropped her sword and came before me. ”Is this because of the legacy? What else do you see in your dreams?”

When she asked this, she suddenly realized that I was a lot taller.

”Calm down. First, congratulations on reaching rank eight,” I said, not at all surprised by her behavior. I had been expecting it.

Fu Qiai stepped on a blade of grass as she inched herself higher. Then she finally noticed the difference in my facial features.

”This… I-” I couldn’t know what Fu Qiai felt but I knew she was stunned again.

”Tell me what happened.” She demanded.

For the past three months, I hadn’t really met with anybody and was only training. Fu Qiai had come a few times to meet me at the cottage when I didn’t stay at Immortal Wine Hotel.

She always brought some girls with her. However, I usually refused because I was too focused on practicing. I had finally gotten free materials to practice and I couldn’t disappoint my new master by fucking around.

Being the disciple of Master Xuang, I always had pills and various forms of intensive training to help me. Senior sister Tanya was the most helpful and I spent most of the time with her. I occasionally went to meet Sheng Yin and my little sister who had advanced to Meridian Opening earlier than me.

My relationship with the Sheng family was also going well, though they didn’t know that I was now a member of the Fu clan.

”It’s like this…” I began. However, there was no need to tell her everything. I did put some made up lies about my legacy helping me and whatnot, that there was a mysterious divine book which suddenly entered my forehead and my cultivation increased by leaps and bounds.

”Tell me about you.” I asked as we sat on the chairs the maids brought.

Fu Qiai’s petite body contrasted mine. Her height only reached my chest now. When we sat, that difference was seen again.

Fu Qiai’s lips parted. ”I have been practicing the Solidarity Sword Manual daily these days. Just as you said, it suits me the best.”

I found her a little sad today. The usual Fu Qiai would act haughty but I felt that she was lacking that aura now.

”I forgot, Lingling is joining the clan soon,” She added. Her face showed a little joy at that. I hadn’t seen that girl in a long while.

”Zui Fan, my marriage is coming up soon. I think by this winter, I wouldn’t be in Riverfall village.”

A leaf fell from the tree standing beside us as I heard her voice. The wind wasn’t as hot. Insects weren’t so active and they were starting to prepare for the cold that would come.

It was the end of summer, the third month of Rising. I didn’t know how fast the time went. Chunu should have reached nineteen by now. A year would pass with this autumn, a year since we descended to this mortal world.

”What do you think about this Fu Qiai? Can you become a cultivator before that happens?” I asked, leaning towards her.

”That’s impossible!” She immediately said, giving a negative answer.

”Then, will you accept your fate?”

”I… don’t want to marry that punk.”

I knew about her condition that even the Fu clansmen didn’t know. Fu Qiai had a lover who was brutually murdered by Cang WeiQin. According to Fu Qiai herself, he was just a normal practitioner with no background.

After learning that she had given her virginity to a lowly peasant, Cang WeiQin, who already had eyes on her, went mad and killed him. Fu Qiai kept the matter of her lover a secret from her clan.

Even if they knew, they wouldn’t have done anything as it was just one practitioner. Cang WeiQin’s master was a renowned alchemist of the Pill Fire Association, an Essence Aggregation cultivator.

That’s why the Fu clan leader accepted his marriage proposal as he felt that his daughter, although not as talented as her siblings, would still be able to live a good life under the wing of another Essence Aggregation cultivator.

”That bastard will never have his way with me.” Fu Qiai resolutely stood up and went back to practicing.

Here, what would I do? Fu Qiai was rather important to me. Once I became a cultivator, I would need girls to dual cultivate with. If she is married off, then I wouldn’t like it. I had gone through so much trouble making believable lies, how could I let a random mortal such as Cang WeiQin disrupt my plans?

I found the man weird. He was obsessed with Fu Qiai even though she hadn’t let him touch her at all.

”Meet me a week later outside the Azure Wind Arena.” I told her and left the scene.

…

CangGong courtyard. I was practicing the formations again.

This time, there were daggers instead of flags. Five daggers pinned to the ground. Of course, as I was not a cultivator, I couldn’t make them fly. However, this dagger formation gave a speed boost and better reflexes.

If I used it on the matches at Azure Wind Arena, I could be faster! These daggers were smaller than the flags I previously used. I could use even smaller materials but it would take greater mastery to use such things for formations.

My goal was to use needles but I had to practice more first before trying it. I already knew most about Inscriptions but even then it would be difficult to inscribe on something as small as needles.

At first, I thought swords were cool but thousands of needles piercing the enemy seemed more powerful to me, although it was crueler.

As for the demonic inscriptions of betwitching technique. I had learned that there was someone who just used such a thing to charm others.

Her name was… Su Ririn, an ”entertainer” at White Rose Brothel. I learned about her from the fatty Kong Bao. I had secretly visited the First Sky Martial House just some weeks ago.

…

The next day, I donned a different set of clothes and went to the western district but didn’t stop at the Immortal Wine Hotel but a different place.

Ttrnnng!

The sounds of zither danced in the air. Its player was sitting on a soft mattress inside a huge hall, her figure covered by a translucent pink curtain.

It was night time and lots of men were inside this hall, being served wine by the beautiful servants.

This hall occupied the whole of the second floor of White Rose Brothel and at its four corners were beauties playing different instruments, entertaining the visitors. Just below the hall was a market of sorts, colored by hanging red and yellow lanterns.

I was here, alone and for the first time, my face covered by a fancy mask. Despite being a brothel, this was a ”high-class” region – where shady young masters, traitorous elders, and leaders of criminal gangs met.

Suddenly, the other instruments stopped playing as the notes of zither dominated the air, following which some dancers wearing revealing clothes also entered the hall.

The woman playing the zither was said to be Su Ririn herself. However, not many had seen her face.

Rumors said that she led many men crazy, that there was something more than music in her playing. Su Ririn’s whole existence was shrouded in mystery. Some boasted spending a night with her, while some called her a demoness.

Her ”victims” reported that when she plays, she can degrade the minds of cultivators. Yes, cultivators and not just practitioners. On a starless midnight, the men and women who hear her music would be overwhelmed by lust and an orgy would start, lasting until the sun rises.

Although this sounded sketchy at first, it could be true. However, even with such rumors flying around, people never stopped coming to the White Rose Brothel.

I had been here for an hour but I saw no such mysterious power behind her playing. Still, the music was sublime.

When she plucked the strings, the notes manifested and sharply cut through the air. Sometimes, these notes were high and powerful while other times they turned soft, as if a girl was giggling.

The tune was melodic and more than ten were moving their head around, as if intoxicated. The dancers followed the tune, giving the spectators a slow view of their assets, which weren’t covered so well. Some men said the names of beauties aloud, as if they knew who were dancing.

Here, the rule was paying upfront. No one could touch the beauties of White Rose Brothel without paying an exorbitant price and that price was something young masters were happy to pay.

This place was famous for its whores after all. One could even get young, unplucked maidens but that would cost a fortune.

With the smell of wine, and this music, the beauties dancing, the laugh of men, the seductive gazes of women – the atmosphere inside the brothel turned more sensual. It was hard to notice, but something was changing every minute.

I stood up with a cup of wine and looked outside through the window. The market down below was bustling with activity, I could see the ropes hung from the wall of this brothel to the wall of another building.

The lanterns hanging on that rope gave off lights for people below, enough to avoid tripping or hitting someone.

Suddenly, the sky roared. Was it about to rain? I looked up and sipped the wine.. Ah, I couldn’t see the stars.