The rain seemed to have let up a little.
Having been a game companion for so long, a virtual male model ranked second on the must-try list, Chu Huaixu was long accustomed to women lusting after his body. When you encounter enough thirsty women, your mentality changes.
"Hah, women," he scoffed internally.
A cultivation cauldron? You want one that badly?
At first, when Chu Huaixu saw the woman holding the oil-paper umbrella, his heart had skipped a beat. After all, who knew if the constabulary had any female officers? But after a closer look, he felt that she seemed somewhat familiar.
And the more he looked, the more familiar she became!
She was definitely an NPC he had seen before in "Borrowing a Sword"!
After she spoke, even her voice felt familiar, and a guess began to form in his mind.
Of course, none of that was the point right now. Because as a veteran player of "Borrowing a Sword", a formidable character ranked second on the [Must-Try Companion List], he keenly grasped the single keyword—cultivation cauldron!
Having played so many games and read so many web novels, how could he not know what a cultivation cauldron was?
The highest, top-quality cultivation cauldron? Me?
"Damn, is my male model aura that strong now? She pegged me as a model with just one look?" Chu Huaixu began to doubt himself.
Have I really been in the business for too long? Has my aura gotten tainted...
Could she smell the scent of the trade on me from so far away?
I haven't even been acting that provocatively recently...
In fact, what Chu Huaixu found most incredible was that this kind of line was usually spoken by some man-riding demoness. If the woman before him was really who he thought she was, how could she say something so shocking?
"Could it be... that those rumors about her are all true?" Chu Huaixu felt he might be about to get the scoop on some major gossip.
Major gossip about one of the most important female characters in the entire game of "Borrowing a Sword"!
"Don't think I can't recognize you just because you're wearing a veil," Chu Huaixu said in his mind.
"One of the four [World Protagonists] of 'Borrowing a Sword,' Han Shuangjiang!"
...
...
Every game has its own story content, its own background. And since there's a story, there are naturally protagonists within that story.
In some of the game's main storylines, these [World Protagonists] often play a pivotal role, pushing the tides of the era ever forward.
A common point of complaint in many historical dramas is that as long as someone casually dons a mask that covers half their face, no one can recognize them. But in reality, you can still recognize a familiar person even when they're wearing a face mask.
Han Shuangjiang. Her name was like her person, born on the day of Shuangjiang, or Frost's Descent, in the twenty-four solar terms.
She was not only a World Protagonist in "Borrowing a Sword" but also one of the most beloved female characters, always ranking near the top. Among the four World Protagonists, she was the youngest, yet she was the one with the strongest "big sister vibe." She exuded a rich, mature aura—noble, cold, and stunning.
Paired with her astonishingly long legs, she could make certain perverts cry out, "Sister, step on me!"
You'd really fear that if she did step on them, they'd start showing it off in their mouths.
Based on her figure, the eyes and brows visible above the veil, and the timbre of her voice, Chu Huaixu was one hundred percent certain that she was Han Shuangjiang.
In his mind, the massive piece of gossip that had been debated by countless people on the game forums instantly flashed through his head. When that incident was first exposed, some threads had devolved into flame wars tens of thousands of comments long!
Since "Borrowing a Sword" was a game with a high degree of freedom, many important pieces of information had to be discovered by the players themselves. And some players, from sources unknown, had uncovered information claiming that Han Shuangjiang had been sold into a brothel as a child and groomed to be the next top courtesan.
The childhood of such people was certainly different from that of ordinary folk. Their curriculum would definitely include the four arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but it would also absolutely include physiology lessons, which took up a huge portion of their studies.
Everything a high-class technician needed to learn before starting the job, they were masters of in theory.
They understood everything, and they knew how to do everything.
They could make you... very comfortable.
Simply put, it was an innate charm.
Once these girls came of age and their bodies had developed, they would begin their careers of putting theory into practice.
In the Xuanhuang Realm, whether in the Mirror Kingdom or the Moon Kingdom, the various sects would have their own industries. It was just that in the Mirror Kingdom, less tax was paid to the royal court and more to the sects. The Moon Kingdom was the opposite.
Under normal circumstances, places like brothels would mostly be the industry of sects like the [Joyful Sect] or the [Joyful Union Sect]. Sometimes, even low-level cultivators from these sects might suddenly feel playful, or be in urgent need of money, and go work a shift at those places.
At times like these, there would truly be mortals who, embracing the pursuit of "dying under a peony flower makes one a content ghost," would wave their silver notes, paying to have their essence drained, fighting to become cultivation cauldrons, unafraid of shortening their lifespan.
Legend had it: the taste of a cultivator on duty was truly exquisite.
The year before Han Shuangjiang was to be pushed out as the top courtesan, by a stroke of luck, people from the [Joyful Sect] discovered that her cultivation talent was surprisingly good, and she was brought back to be a candidate for the title of Holy Maiden.
Then, a sudden change occurred.
The [Joyful Sect] was a subordinate sect of [Spring and Autumn Mountain], one of the four great sects of the Mirror Kingdom. Spring and Autumn Mountain was as renowned as the Dao Gate, immensely powerful.
As a subordinate sect, the Joyful Sect had committed several major taboos.
First, tax evasion!
Second, not only did it evade taxes, but it was also lawless in private. It was like they had agreed to only provide "half-service" to mortals, but they dared to secretly provide "full-service," harming the very foundation of the human body. The nature of this was extremely vile!
And so, its "business license" as a legal sect was revoked by its superior sect, and it was directly branded as a demonic and heretical path.
These dual cultivation sects were primarily about finding a Dao partner to progress together, acting as mutual cultivation cauldrons, plucking Yin to supplement Yang, and vice versa. This was not against the rules. However, once the cultivation levels of the two parties were too far apart, the weaker party would be completely reduced to a cultivation cauldron, their foundation damaged!
As for low-level cultivators and mortals, as long as they didn't go too far, the mortal would at worst feel weak for a few days, merely harming the kidneys. But some of the transgressors in the Joyful Sect were too greedy.
—How dare you secretly add extra hours!
After this scandal broke, the Joyful Sect was struck from the records. Some cultivators were sentenced to serve time, others fled...
As a candidate for Holy Maiden, Han Shuangjiang had only just been taught the sect's core technique, "Joyful Entanglement", for a few days. Her theoretical knowledge had risen several levels compared to her time in the brothel; it was like she'd upgraded from a vocational diploma to a bachelor's degree.
Later, for reasons unknown, she managed to escape from her sect.
Through these two upheavals, her body remained as pure as ice and clean as jade. Only her reservoir of temporarily "useless knowledge" kept on increasing!
The stunning beauty left just like that, becoming a memory that many of the young men in the sect would never see again, a figure they could only cherish in the depths of their hearts—their Yellow Moonlight.
...
...
"When this gossip first came out, I didn't believe it either," Chu Huaixu thought, standing in the rain.
"But now that you open your mouth and talk about cultivation cauldrons, it's hard for me not to believe it."
Isn't this just exposing yourself!
Back then, if this matter had been confirmed, her popularity among male players...
—Would have skyrocketed even higher!
A woman of contrasts, who doesn't love that?
Han Shuangjiang looked at the handsome, fox-faced man before her, also feeling somewhat perplexed. 'Why did I just blurt out my innermost thoughts as if guided by a phantom?'
But she had to admit, the heavens had indeed given this foxy-faced man an impeccable appearance. The [Joyful Sect] had no shortage of handsome men and beautiful women, but if this man were to go there, he would probably crush all the other male disciples!
It was just that, after the words left her mouth, Han Shuangjiang herself felt embarrassed.
Little did she know that Chu Huaixu was eagerly feasting on this gossip and held no prejudice against her whatsoever.
After all, you never even started the job, while I'm a real male model...
However, the look he gave her was filled with a playful curiosity.
Meeting this playful gaze, Han Shuangjiang, realizing her slip of the tongue, scoffed internally:
"Hah, men."
Just as the two stood there in silence, a light laugh suddenly came from the high heavens in the rainy night, followed by a voice descending from above:
"Oh? Why is there a fool standing in the rain?"
As the voice sounded, Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang both snapped their heads up at the same time, looking at the night sky.
They saw someone walking through the air towards them!
In the next moment, not a single drop of rain touched Chu Huaixu's body again.
But it wasn't that the rain had stopped.
No, you could say the rain had stopped!
Within this area, every single raindrop falling from the sky had frozen in mid-air!