Women who work in pleasure establishments are worldly-wise and excel at reading people.
Besides, fights and brawls were all too common in a brothel.
Although this new patron seemed to be a formidable figure, they could all tell he had no killing intent.
Thus, the courtesans who had been attending to the other Jianghu People all came over, smiling coquettishly, to wait on Du Youqian.
One poured him wine. Another peeled a grape with her slender fingers and fed it to him. A third stood behind him, gently kneading his shoulders.
Du Youqian accepted their services, but when one woman tried to pass wine to him from her own rouged lips, he calmly pushed her away.
There was no other reason. He was simply repulsed.
Now in his third life, Du Youqian no longer had any desire for beautiful women.
Any purely physical urges could be completely suppressed by his powerful Spirit.
Even Long Ruzhen, hailed as the "greatest beauty of the Southeast Martial World," had initially seemed like nothing but trouble to him. He'd never had any intention of taking her as his own.
It was only later, faced with her deep and sincere affection, that he felt he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her and finally accepted her love.
Now, even if the most beautiful woman in the world were to stand before him and use every wile to seduce him, Du Youqian would, at most, feel a flicker of physical impulse out of pure instinct.
His heart would remain unmoved, and he would certainly never allow a beautiful woman to interfere with his path on the Dao.
In Du Youqian's eyes, these women attending to his every need were nothing more than rosy-cheeked skeletons.
While enjoying their ministrations, Du Youqian listened to the scattered conversation of the Jianghu People.
Slowly, a picture began to form in his mind.
He even sensed a shadow looming behind Cyan Bamboo Castle—something these men couldn't possibly see or even imagine.
"That's enough." After probing for a few more details, Du Youqian rose to his full height. "You haven't seen me tonight."
"Yes! We haven't seen you, Senior," the Tuduo, the Scholar, and the scarred middle-aged man all replied at once, as if granted a royal pardon.
Du Youqian smiled. "You won't remember at all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Scholar was fast asleep, his head on the table.
The Tuduo had his arms around a woman, his hands roaming freely.
The scarred middle-aged man smacked his lips, savoring the aftertaste of the wine he had just drunk.
"Where were we?"
"Cyan Bamboo Castle... Cyan Bamboo Castle..." the Scholar mumbled.
The Scholar's companion spoke up. "Cyan Bamboo Castle has issued a bounty. Anyone who kills the Jade-faced Rakshasa will be gifted three Divine Soldiers..."
"...ten Small Returning Pills, ten thousand gold taels, and your choice of five secret techniques from Cyan Bamboo Castle," the Tuduo added, pushing the woman away from him impatiently. "Plus, you get to marry the Fortress Lord's daughter from his direct lineage. Tell me something I don't already know!"
"Oh, you've heard about it too?" The Scholar's companion looked sheepish. He had thought he was sharing a little-known piece of fresh news.
The scarred middle-aged man leaned in conspiratorially. "The Jade-faced Rakshasa vanished for eighteen years. Do you know where she went, or who she was with all that time?"
"With who?" The Tuduo's ears perked up, and he leaned forward.
The scarred man frowned. Just as he was about to speak the name, alarm bells suddenly went off in his mind.
It felt as though speaking that name would bring immediate disaster upon him.
He looked down, took a long swig of his wine, and changed his tune. "I don't know, actually."
The Tuduo rubbed his bald head. "I've just realized, I don't think I want to know after all."
The scarred man furrowed his brow for a long moment before suddenly asking, "Do you guys have a strange feeling?"
"What kind of strange feeling?"
The scarred man said, "I feel like I've forgotten something, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is."
The Tuduo laughed heartily. "Well, if you could remember it, it wouldn't be forgotten, would it?"
The Scholar, slumped over the table, mumbled, "Ignorance is bliss... ignorance is bliss..."
The scarred man considered this, then chuckled. "That's true. Ah, forget it. Let's drink! Drink up!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cyan Bamboo Castle, foremost among the three great northern fortresses of the Wu Kingdom.
South of Woniushan and north of the He River, dozens of Dock Fortresses of varying sizes were scattered like stars across the landscape.
They were built along the region's rivers and lakes.
These were a product of the era when the Qi Kingdom launched its war of annihilation against the Wu Kingdom.
During that war, the Wu Kingdom lost vast territories, its cities fell one by one, and nearly the entire north fell under the Qi Kingdom's control.
The reason for the word "nearly" was that a number of powerful figures in the Martial World had poured their entire fortunes into constructing formidable Dock Fortresses.
Within these fortresses, they organized production to become self-sufficient.
They took in refugees, providing them with food and military training.
These Dock Fortresses, acting as basic agricultural and military units, were like nails driven deep into the central and northern territories of the Wu Kingdom, holding on and resisting stubbornly.
It could be said that without these Dock Fortresses, it would have taken Du Youqian at least another twenty years to reclaim the entirety of the Wu Kingdom's territory.
These Dock Fortresses played a crucial, positive role in the Wu Kingdom's war of resistance.
However, once the Qi Kingdom was driven out and the Wu Kingdom began its period of recovery, these same fortresses became malignant tumors on the state.
In his effort to unite all available forces against the Qi Kingdom, Du Youqian had granted the Dock Fortresses far too many privileges.
Most of their Fortress Lords had been granted noble titles and were permitted to participate in politics.
However, the established old-guard nobility refused to include them in their circles.
In their own Dock Fortresses, these lords were absolute rulers.
But at the Imperial Court, they were seen as uncultured country squires, objects of ridicule.
The Fortress Lords were furious.
'Fine. If you won't play with us, we'll just play by ourselves. That should be fine, shouldn't it?'
Thus, after the war, they began to conceal their population numbers and resist taxation. They established their own laws within their domains, becoming, in effect, small, independent feudal kingdoms.
Imperial authority could not reach inside the Dock Fortresses.
For the already shaky Imperial Family in the early post-war period, these Dock Fortresses were one of the greatest threats.
Even Du Youqian, a minister so powerful at the time that he could blot out the sky with one hand, couldn't completely reverse the situation.
Ultimately, he adopted a strategy of divide and conquer, dismantling the Dock Fortress Lords' nascent alliance.
Through marriage alliances and other means, he propped up a few powerful Dock Fortresses while cracking down on the weaker ones.
The lords of those powerful fortresses became rising stars in the Wu Kingdom's political arena, entering the very center of power.
Meanwhile, most of the weaker Dock Fortresses were dismantled, their lords convicted of crimes, or even had their entire clans wiped out by Jianghu factions backed by the Wu Kingdom's Court.
Therefore, when discussing Cyan Bamboo Castle, one must never mistake it for a mere fortress belonging to some wealthy country bumpkin.
In fact, for generations, the direct lineage of Cyan Bamboo Castle's Fortress Lord has produced high-ranking officials at the center of the Wu Kingdom's Court.
The number of high-ranking officials and nobles at Court with whom they were on friendly terms was simply countless.
They had long since woven a vast web of connections, making them a power in the Wu Kingdom that could not be ignored.
It was rumored that Cyan Bamboo Castle had even managed to recruit an Innate Grandmaster to serve as an Honored Guest Elder.
One must understand that across the entire Wu Kingdom, the number of Innate Grandmasters could be counted on one hand.
Of course, to an ordinary person, Cyan Bamboo Castle was an unassailable behemoth.
Even members of the Imperial Family wouldn't dare to lightly provoke them.
But to an Innate Grandmaster, it was a different story, more akin to a standoff: 'I can't afford to mess with you, but you'd better not mess with me, either.'
Otherwise, if you truly angered one, they could assassinate one of your direct sons today and slay one of your cousins tomorrow.
Within a few years, they could wipe out Cyan Bamboo Castle's entire direct lineage.
Although Cyan Bamboo Castle had an Innate Grandmaster as an Honored Guest Elder, how aloof and transcendent was such an individual?
They wouldn't truly risk life and limb for you.
When facing a peer of the same caliber, an Innate Grandmaster would only make a token effort, aiming for a peaceful outcome for all involved.
'So, since Cyan Bamboo Castle knows that an Innate Grandmaster like me stands behind Long Ruzhen and Liao Leizhong, what gives them the nerve to be so ruthless?'
Standing atop Immortal Bamboo Mountain and gazing at Cyan Bamboo Castle miles away, Du Youqian's mind raced with speculation.
'Based on the intelligence I've gathered recently, the Fortress Lord of Cyan Bamboo Castle isn't an arrogant or ignorant man.'
'To dare to chop off one of Liao Leizhong's arms and display him on the Dock Wall as a show of force, and then to publicly issue a bounty for Long Ruzhen…'
'This is offending me, an Innate Grandmaster, to the point of no return.'
'Either the Fortress Lord of Cyan Bamboo Castle has suddenly gone insane, or there must be an even greater power backing him.'