Outside Zuixian Tower, the crowd surged in an endless stream.
Though night had not yet fallen and dusk still lingered, patrons were already arriving at the entrance in unbroken succession.
A carriage parked by the street continually drew the eyes of passersby.
The steed pulling it was pitch-black from mane to tail, with a solitary horn sprouting from its brow and faint sparks of flame flickering beneath its hooves. The carriage behind it was even more magnificent and extravagant, bearing a prominent Xu family character emblazoned upon its flank. A coiling black dragon wound around the carriage body, rendered with lifelike precision—especially its piercing draconic eyes.
Surrounded by an escort of estate guards, a handsome young master in a brocade robe stepped out of Zuixian Tower. Taking a slender woman wearing a bamboo hat by the hand, he ducked into the carriage with her.
Their appearance turned the heads of the onlookers, stirring up a flurry of whispered discussion.
Standing among the crowd along the street, two men of striking demeanor also gazed toward the carriage.
One was clad in black martial attire, his features resolute and handsome.
The other wore a luxurious white robe, holding a folding fan even amid the chill of the winter wind.
The man in martial attire watched the remarkably poised Xu Changtian, then turned toward his companion in white and asked with curiosity, "Brother Li, why are all these passersby talking so much about that young master?"
Li Muchen glanced at the carriage, lightly fluttering his fan as he smiled. "Brother Qin, you've only just arrived in this area, so it's natural you wouldn't know. That man is the third young master of the Xu family, Xu Changtian."
Qin Mo muttered under his breath, "The Xu family... Which Xu family?"
Li Muchen shook his head with a chuckle. "Naturally the greatest one."
Qin Mo froze slightly and murmured, "The Chancellor's Manor?"
The Xu family of the Chancellor's Manor—he certainly knew of them.
He simply wondered whether this Xu family was connected to that gentle Miss Xu he had encountered earlier during his travels. Her identity had seemed extraordinarily mysterious.
"Let's go."
Amid the brief silence, Li Muchen clapped Qin Mo's shoulder in friendly camaraderie, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "If Brother Qin wishes to make his acquaintance, I can introduce you if an opportunity presents itself. But since you saved my life on this merchant journey, let us drink our fill tonight first!"
Qin Mo nodded gently and smiled.
Li Muchen's mention of an introduction was clearly just a polite pretext.
If Li Muchen were truly on good terms with the Xu family's Third Young Master, he wouldn't be standing here merely watching; he would have already stepped forward to speak with him.
Li Muchen hailed from a wealthy merchant family, but his clan fell far short of Xu Yuan's Xu family.
Even so, Qin Mo tactfully refrained from exposing Li Muchen's boast and walked along with him. As he moved, his hand instinctively touched his own chest.
Noticing Qin Mo's small gesture, Li Muchen assumed he was concerned about the expense, and said with a laugh, "Tonight is my treat, a welcome banquet to wash away the dust of travel for you, brother."
"Ah, that's not it." Qin Mo chuckled and shook his head. "I came to Zuixian Tower to find someone."
"Find someone?" Li Muchen paused, then smiled. "Could it be a lady who has caught your heart?"
His tone grew slightly hesitant. "Still, the women of Zuixian Tower..."
Qin Mo said softly, "I came looking for Miss Jinxuan."
"Miss Jinxuan?" Understanding dawned on Li Muchen's face, but then a strange expression crossed his features as though something else came to mind.
Qin Mo explained, "Miss Jinxuan and I once made a wager."
Li Muchen's expression grew even stranger. "A wager?"
Qin Mo drew a demon core from his robes and smiled faintly. "If I could fetch the demon core of a monster from Wind Crow Forest within this month, she would play a piece exclusively for me."
Looking at the demon core, Li Muchen's pupils contracted slightly.
Born into a merchant family, he had seen many demon cores pass through his hands.
With just a single glance, he could tell the quality of the demonic energy contained within this core was around the Seventh Rank.
With the realm in turmoil, fiends and ghosts ran rampant. The various divisions under the Directorate of Celestials lacked the strength to govern every corner of the land, while local sects and prominent families merely swept the snow from their own doorsteps. Whenever a single monster appeared, it often spelled a blood debt for an entire village.
At present, Qin Mo's breath was steady and long, but he should only be an Eighth Rank martial artist. For an Eighth Rank martial artist to slay a Seventh Rank monster across ranks was no simple feat.
A genius like this was indeed worth befriending.
However, Li Muchen's thoughts turned back to Jinxuan. He shook his head slightly, carefully choosing his words before speaking in a low voice: "Brother Qin, you might not be able to see Miss Jinxuan today... No, perhaps you won't ever see her again."
In the end, Li Muchen chose to speak the truth.
Qin Mo's gaze froze, his brows furrowing. "Brother Li, what do you mean by that?"
Li Muchen glanced at the black dragon carriage, hinting without spelling it out completely: "Because of Xu Changtian..."
Hearing this, a sense of loss gripped Qin Mo's heart. He asked softly, "Miss Jinxuan holds a special status in Zuixian Tower, doesn't she? If she is unwilling, she needn't receive guests."
Li Muchen looked around, leaning in closer to whisper, "That is indeed true. Zuixian Tower truly does not force its pure courtesans to sell themselves. But..."
Pausing, Li Muchen let out a quiet sigh. "...But Brother Qin, that Xu Changtian is the Third Young Master of the Chancellor's Manor. Even the formal debut date set for Miss Jinxuan, for which invitations were widely distributed a few days ago, was forcibly canceled by him."
"..." Qin Mo was speechless.
Through various coincidences, Qin Mo knew something of the backing behind Zuixian Tower. But they clearly wouldn't fall out with the Chancellor's Manor over a single woman.
Li Muchen hesitated for a moment, then pointed toward several guards jogging behind the newly departing black carriage. "Brother Qin, look at the guards beside that carriage."
Qin Mo narrowed his eyes and looked over. "What about them?"
"Every single one of them is at Seventh Rank or higher, and several are Sixth Rank."
"Sixth Rank or higher?" A flicker of astonishment finally flashed through Qin Mo's eyes.
The oldest of those guards was barely thirty years old. Such young Sixth Rank cultivators were merely ordinary guards here...
Li Muchen curled his lips in a somewhat bitter, ambiguous smile. "I'd wager those are only the guards out in the open. There's bound to be a consecrated retainer-level expert overseeing things from the shadows."
"A Fifth Rank Soul Condensation Realm?" Qin Mo's brow furrowed tightly as he recalled the strength of the consecrated retainers in Li Muchen's household.
Instinctively, Qin Mo peered closely toward the carriage.
Yet aside from those ordinary guards, all he could see was a stubbly, burly man driving the carriage out front.
The stubbled man wore an easygoing smile, a longsword strapped to his back, casually holding the reins in his hands.
Before Qin Mo could even register his confusion,
The next instant,
The stubbled man's gaze swept straight toward Qin Mo!
It was a warm, smiling gaze.
Yet even so, it made Qin Mo's hairs stand on end.
That look made him realize that every word of his conversation with Li Muchen just now had been heard by this burly man.
However, the man showed no intention of making a move. Instead, he grinned broadly at Qin Mo and pointed toward the carriage behind him with mischievous amusement.
"..."
Seeing this gesture, Qin Mo was stunned at first, and then his pupils shrank.
The scene from moments ago surfaced in his mind.
The woman in the bamboo hat whom Xu Changtian had led by the hand into the carriage... That had been Jinxuan?
Qin Mo's fist slowly clenched tight.
Meanwhile, the burly man merely chuckled and turned his head back, paying no further heed to Qin Mo.
It seemed that to him, toying with Qin Mo was just like teasing an ant when bored.
After Zhou Chen withdrew his gaze, he gave the reins a tug. The black horned steed stepped forward, and the carriage rolled slowly ahead.
As though having heard the laughter outside, a mellow voice drifted from within the cabin:
"Mister Zhou, why are you laughing?"
Zhou Chen gave a casual shrug.
"Nothing. I heard two people talking about Miss Su and the Third Young Master. Likely admirers of Miss Su, so I had a bit of fun teasing them."
"Is that so? Jinxuan truly is popular, isn't she?"
Xu Yuan paid it no mind upon hearing this. Instead, he instructed softly, "Mister Zhou, when you have a free moment, have someone buy a few of the recent gazettes for me."
Chapter 47