Drunken Spring Pavilion (1)

Outside Qingmu Pavilion, Yan Jue finished dealing with Chu Fu, but she still wasn’t satisfied. She pointed at his nose and cursed him out for a long while before storming off in a rage.

Zhou Leng watched her retreating figure and snorted before asking, “Senior Sister, did the Administrative Hall send you out this time because of that village massacre in the Northern Frontier—the one the Demonic Cult wiped out? You have to be careful if you’re going alone. It’s dangerous.”

Qi Xianqing was one of the rare Immortal Spirit Physique holders in this world. Whenever she left the mountain, she was always attacked by demon beasts.

Even more so, members of the Demonic Cult were eager to use Qi Xianqing’s blood to refine sinister treasures.

Zhou Leng didn’t know about her physique, only felt that perhaps she drew too much attention. Every task Qi Xianqing received seemed especially dangerous, and she couldn’t help worrying for her.

Zhou Leng asked, “About how long will you be gone?”

Qi Xianqing withdrew her gaze and kept walking, saying lightly, “About a month. The Five-Dragon Summit is approaching; Master wants me back as soon as possible so I can go into seclusion.”

In the moonlight, the long sword behind her glimmered faintly with a cold sheen; the inscriptions on its scabbard seemed to ripple, deep and dimensional.

Qi Xianqing was now at the peak of the Enlightenment stage. If she could break through to the Fusion Realm before the Five-Dragon Summit, then taking first place would be as easy as reaching into a bag.

Zhou Leng believed Senior Sister definitely had the ability to do that.

After all, Senior Sister had never once disappointed anyone.

Zhou Leng made a few whimpering noises and skipped over to loop her arm through Qi Xianqing’s. “Senior Sister, you have to come back safely.”

-

Yan Jue didn’t know how long she had walked before she finally arrived at the Library Pavilion on Jingang Peak, the main peak of Five Dragons Mountain.

In the original novel, the Library Pavilion stored the countless texts Five Dragons Sect had collected from across the world over thousands of years; it was a vast library.

Now standing before it and looking up, Yan Jue saw fifty-three stairs carved with a dragon spouting water. At the top stood a building with cinnabar-red walls, resembling a nine-story pagoda.

Its indigo eaves were imposing and grand, carrying a certain breathtaking weight.

Yan Jue walked in at an easy pace, moving among the bookshelves until she quickly found the beginner cultivation texts she wanted.

Just as she was about to look more closely, a strange feeling suddenly surged in her chest; a scorching heat instantly spread through her limbs and bones.

Yan Jue’s pupils shrank abruptly. A splitting headache hit her, and she reflexively reached up to touch her head.

It felt as though a pair of ears had appeared on top of her head.

Yan Jue immediately sprinted out.

The picturesque scenery on both sides blurred past. With the wind beneath her feet, Yan Jue ran until she was gasping for breath, and only after quite an effort did she finally make it to the little wooden hut where she lived.

She slammed the door shut and threw the book onto the table.

The world spun; the objects around her began to grow larger and larger.

When Yan Jue came back to her senses, she was already crouched on the floor, transformed into a fluffy red fox.

“... ”

Yan Jue felt like the heroine in a fairy tale.

She had to leave the ball before midnight, or she would reveal her true form.

Using her hind legs, she leaped onto the bed and stared at herself in the bronze mirror. The pair of jet-black ears atop her head flattened backward, and her nose wrinkled too.

This was too dangerous to keep happening. She had to think of a way out.

-

Yan Jue rested inside the little wooden hut for two days. She flipped through those few volumes of "Basics of Cultivation" several times, and after she had more or less adapted to the little bit of mystical cultivation power the original owner had left her, she packed up her things and headed down the mountain.

Yan Jue added one more item to the storage bag left behind by the original owner.

An iron sword.

Before the Enlightenment stage, if Five Dragons disciples did not have magical artifacts, they all used plain iron swords forged by the Five Dragons Mountain Handling Office.

The blade was indeed quite sharp.

Its drawbacks were that it was heavy and unremarkable.

Back when Yan Jue had lived in the modern world, she had read plenty of xianxia novels and knew roughly what it meant for ordinary sect disciples to head down the mountain on a mission.

Uphold justice; slay demons and subdue evil.

The mission Yan Jue had taken was a murder case in a brothel in Qingye Town at the foot of the mountain.

Because it was only an early-stage Foundation Establishment Realm mission, it shouldn’t have been difficult.

The elder had said the talisman’s time limit was one month.

If the killer was merely an ordinary person at the Qi Refining stage, then she was confident she could capture him within three days.

Yan Jue soon reached the foot of the mountain. As she stepped out of Five Dragons Mountain’s territory, she clearly felt a wave of spiritual power.

Something seemed to lightly brand itself onto her chest.

This was the restriction Du Ying had mentioned.

Disciples below the Enlightenment stage who wanted to leave the sect had to first complete three beginner mission talismans; otherwise, they would be branded with a mark.

Only after they had done a modest amount for the sect, and if they truly felt they had no talent for cultivation, would they possibly be released from the restraint and allowed to leave the sect smoothly.

By the time Yan Jue arrived at Qingye Town’s red-light district, it was already quite dark.

Drunken Spring Pavilion was brightly lit.

Not far away, several graceful women were singing and dancing, while below them sat a dozen or so men drinking wine.

As the largest brothel in this small town, Drunken Spring Pavilion’s main hall could accommodate a hundred customers.

Compared with that, this mere dozen or so people made the place seem somewhat deserted.

It seemed the murder case had affected business quite a bit.

Yan Jue found the madam of Drunken Spring Pavilion, who had been frowning with worry. After she explained why she had come, the gloomy lines on the madam’s face finally eased somewhat.

In her excitement, the madam actually dropped to her knees in front of Yan Jue. “Immortal, the lives of all the girls in Drunken Spring Pavilion... are... are in your hands!”

Yan Jue jumped in alarm and hurriedly helped her up. “Madam, don’t panic. Tell me the general situation first.”

“Half a year ago, our brothel’s courtesan Li, the flower queen, was brutally killed at night. The murderer ripped out her heart!!! One month after her death, five more top girls from Drunken Spring Pavilion were killed one after another.” The madam wept as she spoke. “Before we knew it, half a year had passed. No matter how tightly we guarded the place, every month a girl would still be murdered.”

“The killer’s methods are extremely cruel; almost every time, he quietly... dug out the girl’s heart.”

To prevent the brothel’s business from being affected, the madam had suppressed the matter and not reported it to the authorities.

Instead, she sent a flying letter to a nearby Taoist temple in Qingye Town, asking Five Dragons Sect to send someone to deal with it.

Yan Jue had always been timid, and the madam’s account gave her goosebumps.

So this was the world of cultivation.

Yan Jue quickly comforted herself. The reason this mission had been rated at the lowest level was mainly because the killer was an ordinary person in the early to mid Qi Refining stage.

Although there were cultivators in this world, ordinary people without spiritual roots still made up the majority.

The perpetrator of this brothel murder case was a perverted ordinary person. For Yan Jue, who was a second-stage cultivator, dealing with him could be called very easy.

After all, Yan Jue had already seen how completely she had crushed Chu Fu, who was at the Qi Refining stage.

“That killer commits murder on the second day of every month. Tomorrow night... just happens to be the second!”

The more the madam spoke, the paler her face became. “I wonder who it will be this time... ”

Before she could finish, the door over there suddenly creaked open.

Yan Jue looked over and saw a woman walking in gracefully, wearing a gauze dress with scattered floral patterns in a pale lotus pink.

The woman had a slender figure, snow-white skin, and a pair of phoenix eyes that were charming and seductive.

The two of them stopped talking.

The woman passed by them and gave Yan Jue a contemptuous look. “Madam, who is this?”

The madam said sharply, “Rou Yi, what kind of attitude is that? This is...”

Yan Jue smiled politely. “Hello, miss... I’m... I came from Wen County in the Northern Frontier and ended up stranded here. I’d like to make a living here.”

The Great Chu Dynasty was wracked by war. Many women were forced to fall into brothels. Rou Yi looked at Yan Jue and saw that her skin was fair and her brows and eyes carried some charm; understanding immediately flashed in her eyes. She snorted. “No figure, no allure, no softness. Someone like you can only be the lowest kind of whore in our house.”

With that, she didn’t even spare Yan Jue another glance and went straight back to her room.

Yan Jue: “... ”

Madam: “Please forgive her, Immortal. She’s Drunken Spring Pavilion’s most sought-after girl, and business hasn’t been good lately. The girls are all a little resentful.”

Yan Jue came back to herself and smiled faintly. “It’s fine. But please don’t tell anyone else about my identity.”

Five Dragons Sect also had enemies in the martial world. She still hoped to keep a low profile.

The madam stared at her eyes and suddenly understood. “Yes, yes.”

Yan Jue changed into the kind of gauze floral dress commonly worn by the girls of Drunken Spring Pavilion.

Her skin was already fair; after a little dressing up, she looked even more powdery and delicate, her eyes carrying a springlike softness.

She followed the madam upstairs and along the way drew lewd looks from the men.

One burly man even reached out; as she passed, he gave her buttocks a hard slap.

Yan Jue dodged sharply, her expression darkening.

The man cursed, “You little bitch, new here? Still got a pretty stubborn temper.”

Only now did Yan Jue finally understand why this mission, though obviously so simple, had been posted in the Administrative Hall for so long without anyone taking it.

A brothel.

What normal woman would want to come here?

The madam, wearing a bitter expression, lowered her voice and introduced the place to her. “Half a year ago, when our brothel’s flower queen, Lady Li, was tragically murdered, it was in Room One of the qin chamber at the far south end of the second floor. Right after that, the one next door, Room Two, the Viewing Flowers Pavilion, and then Room Three, Moonlight Hall, where another top girl named Wu was killed... ”

The two of them stopped in front of the sixth room on the north end of the second floor. On the plaque above the door were the three words: Verdant Mist Palace.

Yan Jue frowned and calculated. “Five people have already died here. The killer’s murders follow a pattern; this month it just happens to be... ”

“The sixth room, Verdant Mist Palace.”

Yan Jue had read cultivation novels before and knew that some demonic cultivators who practiced special methods often needed all sorts of strange materials.

Things like a maiden’s blood, or a woman’s heart.

Once a month they would harvest it, which was why the killings were so regular.

No matter the wind or rain, as long as it was that time, the killer would appear.

But since the talisman said the murderer was an ordinary person, maybe she was overthinking it...

The madam nodded worriedly. “Exactly. We also noticed the pattern before, and clearly stationed many people to guard the place, but for some reason that wicked man still managed to succeed.”

Yan Jue: Who is staying in Verdant Mist Palace?”

The madam replied, “To answer the Immortal, it is... Rou Yi.”

Yan Jue rubbed the storage bag at her waist and finally said the kind of line protagonists always said in dramas when they were about to uphold justice: “Then please have Miss Rou Yi move out tonight. I’ll stay in Verdant Mist Palace in her place.”

If that was the case, then tomorrow night when the killer sneaked into the room, the one he would face would not be the unarmed Rou Yi.

It would be her, a cultivator.

-

The madam called Rou Yi out. Rou Yi’s face was full of anger. “A newcomer wants to move into my room?! There are clearly so many empty rooms here! Why?”

The madam said, “Naturally because Miss Yan is prettier than you. Why don’t you piss in a puddle and take a look at what you really are? How many days has it been since you last received a client? Hurry up and get lost!”

Her words were rather harsh. Yan Jue felt a little sorry for Rou Yi and said, “Miss, it would be best if you moved downstairs. The rooms on the second floor are a bit...” dangerous.

Rou Yi turned her head, spat at her, and said, “Pretentious and fake! I know you’re secretly trying to steal my business!”

Yan Jue: “... ”

Because they were afraid of affecting business, apart from the case half a year ago when courtesan Lady Li’s murder had become known all over the city, the brothel murders of the other girls had all been concealed by the madam.

No wonder Rou Yi wasn’t afraid.

That night, business at Drunken Spring Pavilion seemed a little better than usual, with several men arriving one after another to spend the night.

Cursing all the while, Rou Yi went to the slightly smaller Morning Glow Hall nearby. Just then, she saw a cleaning old woman run over. “Miss Rou Yi, hurry downstairs. Some gentleman has specifically called for you!”

Rou Yi froze, then immediately put on a smiling face and hurried downstairs.

Yan Jue closed the door and sat on the bed.

This was her first mission since transmigrating into this world.

Although she knew the culprit was only an ordinary person, she was still nervous.

After all, the killer had five lives on his hands.

Yan Jue touched the Qiankun bag at her waist. The heavy iron sword lay quietly inside, which helped her feel a little more at ease.

A scorching demon aura churned in her chest. Yan Jue sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and silently recited "Dao Pivot: Heart-Calming Formula" several times.

That unbearable demon aura clashed for a while before gradually settling down.

During the two days she had secluded herself in the room earlier, Yan Jue had finally figured out the pattern of the demon aura inside her body.

Because the original owner was a fox demon who had attained sentience, the demon aura could not be fully suppressed. Once night fell and the demon aura surged, she would revert to her true form.

And one formula from Five Dragons Sect, the Heart-Calming Formula, could very effectively suppress the demon aura that roamed restlessly at night, preventing her from suddenly turning back into her original form at an inconvenient time.

Yan Jue then took out the volume of "True Proclamations: Basics of Foundation Establishment" from her Qiankun bag and turned to the newest chapter she had learned: Spiritual Communion.

She recited the mnemonic.

Spiritual Communion meant that all things possessed spirit; if a cultivator mastered the languages of all things, then they could control all things.

Of course, to command objects required at least mid-stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation; this was only the most rudimentary chapter.

Yan Jue recited the Spiritual Communion heart formula several times, then got out of bed and practiced a set of boxing techniques.

Everything was ready; all that was left was tomorrow.

Once again, Yan Jue felt the thrill of the cultivation world, and in her heart there was a faint nervousness before setting out to uphold justice.

After a while, she locked the door.

Yan Jue returned to bed, and in an instant she transformed into a little fox with bright red fur, sleeping flat on her back.!