"For generations, the Hu clan has been performing many good deeds to acc.u.mulate virtues and merits. Hence, they were saved by the good grace of an Immortal this time. If not for that, how could they be spared from this deadly crisis?" While on the way, the coachman kept repeatedly talking about the scene of how the armored guards had their heads pierced, and how their blood and brains burst and sprayed in all directions. At the same time, he was praising those Immortals over and over again, mentioning how n.o.ble and righteous they were, and how benevolent they were for helping the Hu clan, who performed good deeds that could acc.u.mulate virtues and merits.
Wu Qi crossed his knees lazily and said in a flat tone, "In that case, could that mean all the eight Princes are good guys who have performed many good deeds to acc.u.mulate virtues and merits? They are the disciples of White Cloud Immortal Sect, and they"ve learned many divine abilities and have the magical power to bully ordinary civilians. Do you think that is also their blessing?"
The coachman shut his mouth immediately, not daring to answer Wu Qi. He was not brave enough to comment anything about the eight Princes, who currently had the greatest power and influence in the Gu Tai Dynasty.
Wu Qi smiled faintly and shook his head. Evidently, this was the opinion in the mind of all mortals. When an Immortal was seized with a sudden impulse and rescued an ordinary mortal who he happened to run into, that would be acclaimed as a good deed, and would be sung for many years by the mortals. However, they also forgot that perhaps the source of their calamity was actually the same group of Immortals.
At least, if not because all the eight Princes had the cultivation base of early-stage Nascent Soul realm, which gave them the overall strength to do evil, how could they cause so many troubles to the ordinary civilians in such an unscrupulous way?
The coachman sunk into a deep silence. The coach rode forward slowly, while Wu Qi knitted his brows into a tight frown, pondering on the background of Gu Tai Dynasty"s eight Princes.
They were the only eight sons of the dying old Emperor of Gu Tai Dynasty. Every single one of them had joined the White Cloud Immortal Sect, and learned many divine abilities. However, as their foundation and talents were limited, after spending nearly two thousand years in cultivating laboriously, they still had not broken through the Nascent Soul realm. Obviously, they could no longer advance further, and thus, they returned to their dynasty to fight for the throne. Since they could not attain the righteous fruit of the Heaven Immortal, at least they could sit on the dragon chair of the dynasty for thousands of years, enjoying a life of being an Emperor of a dynasty.
It happened that their father, Emperor Yuan De, whose cultivation base was also early-stage Nascent Soul realm, was seriously ill and dying. Taking the opportunity and relying on their cultivation base and magical power, the eight Princes began to gather their own cronies, plotting to seize the throne. As there was not too much of a gap between their cultivation base, and the support they had in White Cloud Immortal Sect were almost similar, thus none of them could gain an absolute advantage. As a result, the fight between them had thrown everyone in the dynasty into a state of anxiety.
Each of the eight Princes had their own t.i.tle in Gu Tai Dynasty, such as the Prince of Hu Guo[1], the Prince of Wei Guo[2], etc. However, based on the custom of the people of Gu Tai Dynasty, they addressed each of the Prince according to their age. From the eldest to the youngest, they were called the Eldest Prince, Second Prince, up to the Eighth Prince.
The armored guards who Wu Qi b.u.mped into today were from the Eighth Prince"s mansion, and seemed like it was not the first time they abducted some innocent girls on the street. Without the slightest hesitation, Wu Qi had put the Eighth Prince on the blacklist. How could someone like this be an Emperor of a dynasty? Wu Qi would not mind chopping off his head and letting this prince be a headless ghost king in h.e.l.l.
Sitting with his ankle on his knee, Wu Qi hummed a little licentious tune which he found in Le Xiaobai"s memory, as they finally arrived at the front door of Hidden Sword Pavilion. With a frown, the coachman turned to smile at Wu Qi and said, "Young Master, we"ve arrived at Hidden Sword Pavilion!" There was a look of despise hiding deep inside the coachman"s eyes. He thought to himself that Wu Qi must be a prodigal son, as he was clad in luxurious clothes, his face handsome, yet he was visiting a brothel in midday and humming such a licentious tune!
The coachman earned his living on the street, and he knew every single famous young master from influential clans in Tai City. Judging from Wu Qi"s look, he must be the son of a wealthy clan from other places, and this must be the first time he came to Tai City, yet he had come straight to a brothel. What a prodigal son! The coachman thought that if he had a son such as Wu Qi, he would have personally drowned him in a water tank!
Wu Qi jumped off the coach, then threw a 500-gram gold ingot at the coachman casually. After that, he turned to look at the coachman, smiled and said, "Do you believe I am the Immortal who killed those armored guards and saved Hu clan? Haha!" Laughing loudly and shaking his head, Wu Qi took a step forward and glided nearly one hundred feet away, das.h.i.+ng into Hidden Sword Pavilion"s front door.
The coachman looked at Wu Qi"s back with a blank expression, his eyes going wide and nearly having the eyeb.a.l.l.s popped out. After a moment of silence, he suddenly flung the whip and hit the horseback, murmuring under his breath, "Bullsh*t, I don"t believe it! You"re just a prodigal son who happened to practice a few days of martial arts! Aye, trying to fool me by telling me you are an Immortal? Alas! How would a true Immortal behave like you? An Immortal that hummed licentious tunes? No way!"
Wu Qi pulled out a folding fan from his storage ring. While waving the fan, he swaggered into the Hidden Sword Pavilion.
The Hidden Sword Pavilion was truly the largest and liveliest brothel in Tai City. It had a very lofty and majestic doorway, with decorations that looked resplendent and magnificent. Wu Qi glided into the doorway like floating clouds and flowing water. He was luxuriously clad, and there were two jade pendants made using spirit jade dangling from the side of his waist, which cost over one million gold coins each. When the pimps waiting at the doorway saw him, their eyes brightened immediately. Very quickly, they rushed up to greet him while shouting "We have a distinguished guest!" ceaselessly.
Wu Qi waved his hand generously, throwing out several dozens of heavy gold ingots to the group of pimps. He laughed and said, "My good grandsons, serve me well, for I"m here to have a good time! Now, go and prepare me a table full of delicacies! Well, I don"t need too many of them, just get me sixteen side dishes, sixteen fruit dishes, sixteen cold dishes, sixteen hot dishes, and sixteen different wines of excellent quality. Hmm, don"t bring the girls to me yet, I"ll have fun with them later tonight. Tsk, I"m having a very good mood today, so I"ll reward those who I see!"
Surely, he was rewarding everyone he saw. Escorted by a group of pimps, Wu Qi strode into the Hidden Sword Pavilion, and while on his way, no matter it was the servant that was sweeping the floor, or the maids that were serving tea, including a few servants who were cleaning the night stool, every single one of them were given a 500 gram gold ingot.
For a moment, the glistering gold ingots dazzled everyone"s eyes, while the pimps following beside Wu Qi had their faces bloomed with a big smile. A generous guest, this was an unprecedentedly generous guest, a generous guest who was capable of ruining his own clan by spending extravagantly! They had to serve a generous guest such as this with their best! Although Wu Qi was calling them grandsons, they would still have to serve him well! Why? Because of money! With a huge amount of money, they could be called with any name!!
It was from a storage bag hanging on his waist that Wu Qi pulled out so many gold ingots. The pimps had keen eyes, and they knew those who could use a storage bag must possess a cultivation base of at least Xiantian realm. On top of that, those who could afford a storage bag were either cultivators, or the direct descendants of some influential and wealthy clans. So, when a generous guest such as this came to their door, they would be deemed unworthy sons of their parents if they did not serve him well - they must rip at least a layer of his fles.h.!.+
Escorted by many pimps, Wu Qi strode into the Hidden Sword Pavilion and came to the main tower. Then he walked straight up to the fourth floor through a stairway decorated with gold and jades. Right in the center of the main tower was a courtyard stretching six floors high, circled by corridors with many exquisitely decorated little rooms. From the first floor to the sixth floor, the taller it went, the lesser rooms there were, and the size of the room became bigger, while the maids that served at the higher floor were more beautiful and cute.
All the way, Wu Qi had thrown out nearly 150 kilograms of gold ingots, and yet he was only escorted into a room located on the fourth floor and to the south of the tower. Wu Qi could not help but twitch his lips, wondering how much money one had to spend in order to stay on the sixth floor? How prestigious the status had to be?
He went into the room and sat down comfortably. The room was rather s.p.a.cious, enough to house a banquet with seven to eight tables. It was luxuriously decorated, as it was furnished with exquisite silk and fine potteries, with splendid patterns embroidered and engraved on top of them, giving the room a touch of elegance and yet not seeming ostentatious and lascivious. Also, each of the serving ladies in the room was delicate and pretty, sending forth a very strong scholarly air, not something those vulgar prost.i.tutes could compare with.
Wu Qi nodded his head silently, then sent out his divine will and covered the entire main tower.
Apart from the top floor, only a few rooms on the six floors were protected with restrictive spells which could prevent anyone from eavesdropping. However, in Wu Qi"s eyes they were nothing. Through his divine will, everything in the Hidden Sword Pavilion was made very clear to him. The conversations between over two thousand patrons who were enjoying their meals inside several hundred rooms in the tower were clearly heard by him at the same time.
Lying on a lounging chair, Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle ma.s.sage by two serving ladies, while looking at the maids coming in and out of the room to serve the dishes and wines. If it were some other ordinary people, there was absolutely no way they could find out the valuable information from the conversations of over two thousand people. However, as Wu Qi had formed his Nascent Divinity with the force of heavenly thunder, he could even listen to the conversations of over one hundred thousand people at the same time without missing any valuable information.
Those who could frequent Hidden Sword Pavilion were either people of wealthy, or had a powerful influence. They were people with fame in Tai City, or some were outsiders with strong abilities. When a group of men gathered in one place, surrounded by beautiful ladies and had their mind relaxed with fine wine, they could come out with all sorts of strange and peculiar words.
They included the events which happened recently in Tai City. For example, the Eighth Prince was visited by a few distinguished guests, and in order to entertain them, he was working hard to find beautiful teenage girls from among the common people. The Sixth Prince was suddenly accompanied by a few extremely beautiful concubines, each and every single one a supreme grade beauty with the look that could overthrow a state. There were words about how a random eunuch in the palace suddenly had his beard grown back...
Of course, the rumors about a eunuch having his beard regrown was treated as a joke among the guests in a few rooms, as no one would believe that was real. Even the person that told this rumor did not believe that. But Wu Qi believed that the rumor was, in fact, a real thing. How could a eunuch regrow his beard? Simple, it meant his little brother had regrown! Aye, it was not something impossible to let a eunuch regrow his little brother!
Wu Qi sneered and rose. While listening to all the conversations, he picked up a wine pot and walked out from the room and came to the corridor. While looking at the scenery in the main tower, he kept pouring wine into his mouth.
As he looked down into the courtyard, he saw a lofty platform. Five wheels made from different materials were placed on top of the platform.
Gold, silver, iron, rock, wood, five wheels with the diameter of three feet each were placed loftily on the platform, looking offending to the eyes. Wu Qi was struck dumb, then he burst out into a loud laughter. He pulled a serving lady to him, pointed his finger at those wheels, and asked, "Don"t tell me Hidden Sword Pavilion is also running a business of coach repairing?"
The serving lady chuckled and gave Wu Qi an amorous glance. "That"s funny for you to say that! Those wheels... hehe!"
She gave a charming smile, then explained with a blush on her face, "Those are toys that a distinguished guest asked our Master to place here. He said that anyone who can use his little brother to make all the wheels spin will be handsomely rewarded!"
Use the little brother to make the wheels spin? And there was a handsome reward?!
Wu Qi laughed. "So Old Mister Lao Ai, you"re also here to make some troubles? And together with those few familiar evil energies... Hehe!"
Wu Qi shook his head, then gulped down all the wine in the pot.
[1] Prince of Hu Guo (护国) - Protect the country, or the protector of the country.
[2] Prince of Wei Guo (卫国) - Defend the country, or the defender of the country.
Prince of Hu Guo (护国) - Protect the country, or the protector of the country.Prince of Wei Guo (卫国) - Defend the country, or the defender of the country.