The musicians in Swallow Phoenix Brothel were a little perplexed. Why did the Sword Dance come to a halt? They repeated the tune from earlier and, without having the luxury to wallow in her thoughts, Lady Chen Shuang continued her dance.
The sword dance finally came to an end.
The red-clothed Lady Chen Shuang turned her head to look at Qin Yun before leaving.
“I wish to meet Lady Chen Shuang.” Qin Yun turned his head and spoke to the female attendant beside him. She smiled in response. “Young Master Qin, you will need to pay twenty taels of silver in order to meet Lady Chen Shuang. You are not allowed to touch her. You can be with her for an hour at most. If you agree to these terms, I will convey your intention to her and see if she is agreeable or not. Furthermore, it will also depend on whether there are any other customers who wish to meet her. It will be on a first come, first serve basis!”
“Make haste.” Tian Bo urged. “Remember to say that Young Master Qin wishes to meet her.”
“Alright, I will be going now.” The female attendant left swiftly to deliver the message.
Qin Yun waited quietly.
Twenty tales of silver were needed to meet and chat with her. On the other hand, one would need to spend a hundred tales of silver in order to do the same with Fairy Clear Autumn. This was all Qin Yun needed to know to see the differences in their status.
“Lady Chen Shuang’s sword dance is really incredible. I have met many powerful swordsmen before. They might be stronger than Lady Chen Shuang, but they lack the nuances of her sword dance. Her sword dance seemed to stab straight into my heart.”
“She’s even better with the lute. She is skilled both in the lute and sword dancing. I always felt that she should end up as one of top ten Courtesan Belle candidates for the upcoming selection.”
“She is merely second-rate in Swallow Phoenix Brothel. She’d have to compete with the many renowned courtesans of the many brothels in Grand Dominance City. It is basically impossible for her to break into the top ten.”
The surrounding guests remarked candidly.
Qin Yun continued waiting.
Soon, the female attendant briskly returned with a smile. She came to Qin Yun’s side, leaned close and whispered, “Young Master Qin, Lady Chen Shuang is willing to meet you.”
Qin Yun took a deep breath and stood up. He instructed, “Alright. Lead the way.”
“Young Master Qin, please follow me.” The female attendant led the way.
The main building was extremely large, consisting of many winding paths. After exiting the main building, they walked down a corridor that directly connected to the eastern building.
Swallow Phoenix Brothel had four other buildings named the north, south, east, and west buildings. Only distinguished guests were allowed in them. For the east and south buildings, however, the barrier to entry was a little lower. It was possible to enter by simply spending enough money. For example, Qin Yun needed to spend twenty taels of silver just to enter the east building to meet Lady Chen Shuang. This was quite an astounding amount of money. A standard house in Grand Dominance City was only worth about a hundred taels.
Creak.
The attendant pushed opened a wooden door. She said with a clear voice, “Lady Chen Shuang, Young Master Qin has arrived.”
“Please enter, Young Master Qin.” The female attendant said with a smile.
Only then did Qin Yun enter.
The female attendant shut the door from outside with a smile before leaving.
…
The moment Qin Yun entered, he saw a middle-aged woman standing on the side.
“Auntie Xue?” Qin Yun was astonished.
“Second Young Master.” The middle-aged woman smiled as well.
At that moment, an elegant figure could not help but pull open the curtains and walk out. Her eyes were welling with tears as she looked at Qin Yun.
Qin Yun’s body jolted as well. He was full of regret. Why didn’t he return earlier?
“Xiao Shuang.” Qin Yun spoke.
“Brother Yun.” Lady Chen Shuang ran at him and jumped into his arms.
Qin Yun hugged Chen Shuang and said softly, “I came back late.”
“I was very afraid, afraid that you would never return. It’s been six years. Brother Yun, you have finally returned.” Lady Chen Shuang released Qin Yun as she looked at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. “After my brother passed away, this is the happiest day of my life.”
“I only returned yesterday. Tian Bo told me about Xie Lei just today,” Qin Yun sighed. “The city is safe with the government protecting it, but outside the city, there are rivers, lakes, deep mountains, and ancient forests filled with the lairs of demons. Being an armed escort is always a job that will see blood.”
“However, our escort company was handed down for generations. My brother was determined to revitalize its prestige,” said Lady Chen Shuang.
Qin Yun nodded in silence.
Madman Xie…
With his temper, how could he be afraid of death? His arrogance naturally meant that he would aim to turn the escort company into the number one escort company in Grand Dominance County, or even one of the best in the entire Jiang Prefecture. That must have been his wish. Unfortunately, he had died early.
“Scram.” An angry bellow was heard from outside.
“Oh?” Qin Yun frowned slightly. There was a din outside that went on for a while.
…
In the corridor outside.
A fat man dressed in resplendent clothes wore a condescending look. He had two guards behind him as he stormed through the premises.
“Young Master Liu, there’s a customer in there already.” The female attendant said anxiously.
“Customer? In Grand Dominance City, there are few that make me, Liu Qi, wait. Who is this Young Master Qin? How dare he make me wait? He isn’t worthy!” The fatty roared loudly. A female manager on the other end of the corridor hurriedly dashed over. From afar, she shouted, “Young Master Liu, Young Master Liu, calm down. Why do you need to be so angry? Those subordinates don’t know anything. Let me do the talking and get Young Master Qin to leave.”
“Oh? In that case, get him to leave quickly.” The fatty bellowed. He was giving the Swallow Phoenix Brothel a chance to redeem itself.
The female manager pushed opened the door and hurriedly said, “Young Master Qin, I’m sorry. You probably heard what happened outside—”
“Scram!” Qin Yun said nonchalantly.
The female manager felt as if she was muzzled.
The fatty standing outside in the corridor sneered and strode in after hearing that. “I gave you a chance. Yet, you refuse to scram despite being asked to. It looks like I can only use force. Go. Throw that arrogant brat out of the building.”
“Yes.” One of the male guards immediately went forward.
“Young Master Liu, please don’t be mad.” Lady Chen Shuang hurriedly apologized. At the same time, she whispered to Qin Yun, “This is Young Master Liu from the Liu family, one of the three biggest family clans of the Grand Dominance County. He cannot be offended.”
The Liu family was a wealthy family in Grand Dominance County. According to what Lady Chen Shuang knew, even silver-badge constable Qin Liehu was not the Liu family’s match.
“Did you hear that? At least Lady Chen Shuang gets the picture. I won’t do anything untoward in front of her, so hurry up and get lost.” The fatty ordered.
“Liu family? Even if the Liu family’s head was here, he would not dare scream and shout at me, let alone some youngster like you.” Qin Yun glared at him. “You can simply jump off this building now to settle the matter. Otherwise, I will have to throw you down myself, and it would not be as light a punishment.”
The fatty was alarmed.
Could this be a powerful figure from somewhere? However, how could he, as a local tyrant, not have heard of him?
“Who are you?” asked the fatty.
“Disappear quickly.” Qin Yun frowned.
“Are you trying to scare me?” The fatty glared at him. “Both of you, go on up and ascertain his strength. I want to see if he’s bragging.”
“Yes.”
One of the two guards was at the seventh level of Qi Refinement while the other was at the eighth level. They were both top experts. It was a clear indication that the Liu family was very powerful!
Peng! Peng!
Just as the two guards charged forward ferociously, they transformed into two blurs that flew out of the door, across the railing, and down to the bottom of the building before they even knew what hit them.
“Oh no.” The fatty’s face drained of all color. He did not dare make any more taunts as he turned and ran.
“Down you go.”
Qin Yun went forward and lifted his foot, kicking the fatty in the ass.
“Ah!” The fatty issued a shrill scream as he went over the railing and down the building. The two guards, who were seventh and eighth Qi Refinement experts were oddly lying on the ground without being able to get on their feet. All they could do was watch helplessly as their young master fell to the ground. Blood filled the fatty’s mouth as he hurt his face.
The fatty stood up in pain and quickly yelled, “Why didn’t the two of you catch me?”
“Young Master, our bodies are completely sore. We don’t even have the strength to stand.” The two guards tried their best to get on their feet.
“Haha…”
“The Liu family’s Liu Qi.”
“How disgraceful.”
“Who was it? Who actually dared to throw him down?”
Many guests in Swallow Phoenix Brothel held onto the railing and looked down, hoping to catch a glimpse of the embarrassed Young Master Liu Qi from the Liu family. After all, Young Master Liu Qi came from a prestigious family, and indeed had the right to act arrogantly in Grand Dominance City.
At that moment, Qin Yun walked along the corridor to the railing. He looked down at the fatty’s bloodstained face.
The fatty looked up and saw the many people looking down at him. Having mustered the courage, he immediately raised his voice, “Qin, tell me your name if you dare!”
Qin Yun casually pointed his finger.
Pew!
A sword beam shot downward immediately, brushing past the fatty’s wide face and into the ground, leaving behind a seemingly bottomless hole in the granite brick-covered ground. The fatty touched his face before looking down at the charred hole. His throat involuntarily swallowed while his body quivered slightly.
The two guards at his side, who had finally stood up, were so frightened that their faces turned white.
“The discharging of Quintessential Essence.”
“One who has knocked open the gate of immortality!”
“An immortal cultivator! He’s an immortal cultivator!”
The two guards trembled in fear.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Young Master, please treat me as though I’m just a fart and spare me.” The fatty immediately forced a smile in an obsequious manner. Being born into a big family clan, he was acutely aware of how frightening an immortal cultivator was. If the clan head of the Liu family was present, he might still have the qualification to challenge the other party. A member of the younger generation of the Liu family like him, however, did not possess such qualifications.
“Didn’t you want to know my name? Listen up, Qin Manor, Qin Yun!”
Qin Yun scanned the area. A large crowd of guests had gathered to watch the commotion. They had already fallen silent after the sword beam. “Lady Chen Shuang is my younger sister. Offending her is equivalent to offending me, Qin Yun.”
Having said that, he turned to return to the room.
“Close the door.” Qin Yun instructed the female manager.
“Yes, yes.” The female manager was still reeling in fright as she hurriedly shut the door.
…