Li Guanqi looked up with great curiosity and saw a young man and a woman walk out of the room.
But something about the young man struck him as very strange. He had nothing but a young man's handsome looks, yet an air hung about him that was utterly at odds with them.
That air... was as though it did not belong to this person at all.
After a closer look, he realized the man in the blue brocade robe had most likely taken a Youth-Retaining Pill.
Judging by his bone age, he had to be around eighty already.
The woman, though, was truly young—she looked to be about twenty, dressed in a luxurious pink gown.
Her features were exquisite and the bridge of her nose high, but there was a tiny mole at the corner of her thin lips,
which gave her a slightly shrewish look.
Just then the woman seized the man's shoulder and snapped angrily, "Are you even a man?! Things have already gone this far between us, and you're still sneaking around?!"
"That good-for-nothing will be at my door any moment, and with my father's temper he'll force me to marry him!!"
"And at a time like this, you tell me you're leaving?"
The man's brows locked together, his face darkening. He flung her hand off and hissed,
"Keep your voice down!"
"Yun Mengxi, do you want everyone to know about us?!"
As he said it, he scanned his surroundings warily and quickly spotted Li Guanqi, who was looking up at the show. He shot him an icy glare, gave a cold snort, then turned and dragged the woman back into the room.
Watching this, Li Guanqi clicked his tongue in slight boredom—but curiosity got the better of him, and he sent out a thread of divine sense.
He regretted it within a single breath, and stood there holding the railing for a long moment.
In the end, his face flushed crimson, he muttered, "Damn... that position works too?"
"Well, I'll be damned—talk about an eye-opener."
Every time Li Guanqi thought back to what he had just seen, his heart raced and his face burned, and he muttered,
"Looks like my tempering the heart in the mortal realm still isn't enough!!"
With that, he went straight to the city's largest pleasure house and picked out nine girls!
Unfortunately, of those nine girls, one kneaded his shoulders and one pounded his legs.
Another fed him melon and sweets, and the remaining six... two played the zither and four danced.
Sitting there, Li Guanqi felt that life had lost all flavor.
But if he actually tried to do anything more, he found he didn't want to.
He simply felt that having come to this mortal world, he ought to experience devoted love and deep passion at least once.
Yet just as he lay back in his chair, eyes closed and listening to the music, a series of knocks came at the door.
Li Guanqi frowned. In his perception stood a cute little girl with a face like carved jade, wearing a green sect robe.
Pursing his lips, Li Guanqi raised a hand and had the women beside him withdraw for now.
Watching the lightly dressed women file out one after another, the girl at the door turned red to the ears with shame.
She wrinkled her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, and only when everyone had gone did she cautiously open one eye.
"Ah!"
The moment she opened it, she found the blind man right in front of her face.
Quick as a flash, Li Guanqi seized her by the hair and hoisted her up.
That annoyed her no end, and she indignantly slapped his hand away.
But the instant she did, she remembered what her master had told her before she left, and her little face fell. She stole a careful look up at Li Guanqi.
Seeing him squatting before her, smiling as he watched her, she let out a breath of relief.
But then she noticed that the blind man's gaze was off somehow, and she hurriedly threw her hands up over her chest.
At that, Li Guanqi laughed out loud. "You're just a little girl—covering up or not, it makes no difference."
The girl bristled at once. She was about to retort when she remembered her master's parting words.
She hurriedly stepped back and bowed respectfully to Li Guanqi.
"This junior is Jiang Tan, a twenty-seventh generation disciple of the Wind Thunder Sect. Today I come on my master's orders to invite Senior to honor us with his presence; three days from now the Wind Thunder Sect will hold a banquet in Senior's honor."
With that, the girl respectfully presented an invitation jade slip with both hands.
Li Guanqi pursed his lips. He hadn't expected the Wind Thunder Sect to learn of him so soon after he arrived in Dongxiao City.
They were tactful enough, though: first they sent a little Foundation Establishment realm girl with a calling card.
A bit of guesswork was all it took to see what the girl's master was after.
Nothing more than sounding out his background and currying favor.
Seeing whether he might serve as a sect enshrined elder, or an elder of some sort.
And from his bone age they could easily guess his true age.
He was never one to boast, but neither would he sell himself short.
A seventeen-year-old Nascent Soul realm cultivator would shine brilliantly in any domain.
On that point, Li Guanqi had guessed right.
He did not yet know that in the Tianji Pavilion at this very moment, an old man in charge of the rankings was scratching his head.
"That brat was only mid Core Formation not long ago, wasn't he? How the hell is he Nascent Soul already?!"
"How am I supposed to rank the Core Formation list now..."
As the old man spoke, the Nascent Soul realm cultivator below did not dare breathe too loudly.
Then the white-browed old man muttered, "Among the powers of Great Xia's Northern Region these days, where does the Great Xia Sword Sect rank?"
The man kneeling below answered at once, "Top three! Give them a few more years and the first seat will be theirs for certain!"
The old man nodded slightly and said softly, "With that cultivation method of theirs, and the influence of the Great Xia Sword Sect's reputation in the Northern Region, no one can stop their rise!"
"Honored Elder, then should we..."
The man looked up at the old man, eyes gleaming.
But at those words, the old man's eyes on the throne turned dark in an instant.
BOOM!!!
CRASH!!!
A surging pressure crashed down, and the man's head slammed into the floor with a bang!!
The old man narrowed his eyes at him and said softly,
"You're relieved of your post."
"From now on, you'll be a mole in the Shenbao Domain."
The man knelt there unable to move, blood streaming from all seven orifices, his pupils quivering, yet he did not dare resist in the slightest.
He answered at once, "Yes... Honored Elder."
The old man lifted his hand slightly, and the man was swept out of the space in an instant!
Private room in the pleasure house.
Li Guanqi toyed with the jade slip in his hand, then flipped it over and put it away.
He looked at the girl and smiled. "Well... let me think about it."
"Go back and tell your master I appreciate the gesture. If I have the chance, I'll pay a visit myself."
"If I leave in a hurry, then mountains and rivers always meet again—if we're fated, we'll meet."
The girl pursed her lips, unable to understand why her master set such store by this little blind man.
Before she came down the mountain, he had warned her again and again not to anger him.
But as far as Jiang Tan was concerned, this fellow was a lecher, and there was nothing about him worth her master's attention!
Still, seeing that he wouldn't take the bait, Jiang Tan tossed her braid and turned to leave.
The perfume and rouge in this place were so thick she was about to suffocate.
Chapter 285