Yu Shengyan lowered her head to look at the longsword pressing against her neck. It was quite sharp, and but a slight movement would be enough to puncture her throat. Her expression remained indifferent as she raised her eyes to view the woman with a bright smile hung on her face, voice mild. "Revenge? It was she whose skills were inferior to another's. Why would I want revenge?" She already knew who this profoundly hostile lady before her was, but, in her opinion, everyone was no more than a passing guest no matter who they were. As soon as she swept out her sleeve, her entire person had since drifted several zhang away.
Disaffected and detached, just like a woman with no heart. Placed beneath her disdain, Fu Wanqing was suddenly a bit angry, and, disregarding whatever Yu Shengyan thought, the tip of her sword jolted. In but the blink of an eye, seventy-two attacks had already been sent outwards, firmly sealing off every way out Yu Shengyan had. She had to compare skills with her! She had to fight to her heart's content with her! That train of thought in her head, Fu Wanqing's moves came even more rapid and harsh.
Yu Shengyan only defended, never attacking. Within the sky-filling swordlight, her steps were dexterous and sleek, and however many moves Fu Wanqing stabbed out was however many moves she avoided. In a fit of bang-bang-bang breaking sounds, the interior of the room had scarcely any things remaining in it that were any kind of intact. Intense sword energy shone out from the window, and the flowerpot hanging next to it was soon about to be destroyed by Fu Wanqing's sword. Yu Shengyan swiftly outdistanced it to take the pot in hand ― and, at that very instant, Fu Wanqing's relentless strike had since been delivered. Yu Shengyan twisted her body around, just barely evading the maneuver, though not enough to avoid getting a strand of her hair cut off.
The room descended into silence, like even a pin could be heard if one was dropped. Yu Shengyan smoothed out her hair without the least bit of care. Finding a place to set the pot down, she then turned to Fu Wanqing. "Okay, I lost, Miss Fu," she said, indifferent. "You can leave."
Fu Wanqing's chest was congested with a gloomy current of energy, and she discovered that, in Yu Shengyan's presence, even her pretend smile couldn't be expressed. Tugging at the somewhat stiff corners of her mouth, she tightly gripped her sword's hilt. "This doesn't count!" she shouted. "You still haven't taken out your sword! Where is your Huaixiu?!"
"Miss Fu." Yu Shengyan's voice contained a few degrees of exasperation all of a sudden. "We have no grudges nor animosity. I won't fight with you. I also won't contend for any fame or gains, or duel with you. Too many things in this room have been damaged, and I'm afraid I can't compensate them. The owner here will be heartbroken."
Angry fire emitted from Fu Wanqing's pupils. She walked up to Yu Shengyan, gazing fixedly into her undisturbed eyes. Her two hands were clenched into fists, and gathered up into her sleeves; if they weren't, she feared that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from seizing Yu Shengyan's lapels. This woman, following her appearance, would often get on her nerves; following her appearance now, that state went even more out-of-control. "I'll compensate the stuff here! Who says there's no grudges or animosity between us? You're the Head of the Demonic Creed, I'm the only daughter of the Whitepath Alliance's leader; we were born to be against each other! Duel with me!" She nearly squeezed out that heap of words from between the gaps in her teeth.
"In that case, I should duel with you even less so." Yu Shengyan shook her head, sighing. "The figures of the Forest have quite some bias against my Jadeite Water Creed. If I fight with you, it would be all the more difficult to redeem its reputation. You should go. I won't draw my sword."
"M-Miss?" A trembling voice sounded in. The one whose hands tightly clutched the door frame was examining the miserable-looking interior of the room, shaking with fear. "O-Our Master… i-invites you over." After their stammering speech, and without looking to see who was in the room, they speedily ran away like a tiger was chasing them from behind.
In that moment, a plan formed in Fu Wanqing's mind.
"I have an errand, do as you may." Yu Shengyan left that sentence behind, then walked out of the room.
Fu Wanqing watched her back as she departed, the corners of her mouth hooked up into the wisp of a gorgeous smile.
A day of roaming in Goldmelt Grotto was better than getting a lofty rank in the human world.
They hadn't even seen the appearance of that legendary beauty yet, and those dissolute Young Masters were already the picture of insanity.
Fu Wanqing was seated inside a small pavilion on the second floor. Once she expelled the mass of people with ingratiating smiles, she gazed downstairs. Of those who could get into Goldmelt Grotto, the majority were warrior errants from jianghu. Those of immense wealth or officialdom — even if they held money and power — still feared that cold, pitiless, sharpened sword; in regards to jianghu characters, the attitude of the vast majority of ordinary folk was to avoid them if they could. Whether whitepath or blackpath, there were quiet and unknown little bandits, as well as figures whose names came out on the roads.
A woman being treated as an item for auction was seriously the absolute of despicable! Fu Wanqing smiled, but the chilliness in her eyes could nearly give someone frostbite. She looked at the flock of crazed people that threw money out recklessly, all for the sake of buying a beautiful lady's smile. She looked at the bawd that had heaps of fat lumped together all over her face. Her gaze also penetrated through that heavy curtain, looking at Yu Shengyan, the one who was being sold yet had no idea!
"A thousand taels—" A young rich boy stood up. Among the crowd's whisperings, he waved his folding fan, the plume of an easygoing smile on his face. He gestured with his hand, proceeding to say: "—of gold." After those two words came out of his mouth, everyone present hushed up. Fu Wanqing recognized him; he was the only son of Magnate Jin Guo Dayong, Guo Caifei. Guo Dayong had originally been the Chief Sentry of Soaring Might Protectancy, but later switched professions to take up the gold mining business, and his family accumulated enormous wealth in short order. He had friendships with people in jianghu, but this son of his was the spitting image of a profligate heir.
"Is there anyone else still?" Guo Caifei revealed a proud expression.
"This papa raises one copper coin!" With a mad laugh, someone that was both short and fat swept into the building like a gust of wind. His hand gave Guo Caifei's shoulder a mere light pat, and the guy went flying off like a kite with its string cut, fell down to ground, and started crying in pain for a long time without getting up. This bloke's hair resembled a clump of grass, and when he smiled, a row of black and yellow teeth was exposed, which was quite unseemly. Ugly, lecherous men relied on their own decent martial arts to rape women — and he was exactly the type of person being spoken of.
There was no evil the Four Rats of Black Mountain didn't commit; everyone there already recognized him as one of them, Thiefbrow Rat. His martial arts were mediocre, with many folks ranking above him, but the Rats were always as inseparable as shadows. One could surely be dealt with, but four was difficult to claim, and beyond that, Black Mountain was supporting their backs. For a moment, everyone observed, not daring to act rashly.
"Bah! I say, Old Four, you want to embrace someone on a kang with one copper? Dream on, why don't you!" Another spell of strange, piercing laughter came, and a thin, short man wound down against the rooftop. With a couple more noises, the other two Rats rolled out from lateral sides. They didn't have the least bit of care for the filth on themselves, casually patting it off as one bellowed, "Still not hurrying out? Could it be that y'all want to fight over a woman with papa?"
Looking left and looking right, practically everyone slipped away until no one was left all of a sudden; a group of spineless wimps. Fu Wanqing saw the direction they were departing in and swore. With Yu Shengyan's outstretched hand, wrangling these few people would be an easy matter, but when she thought of those scumbags being able to look upon the woman's features, she felt uneasy from head to toe. She swept down from upstairs to directly face the ugly quartet, her lips raised in a smile. "What if I say yes?"
That smile of hers caused the Four Rats' bodies to all go limp. Thiefbrow Rat gazed at her obsessively, laughing weirdly. "Come with papa, pretty lady! Papa doesn't want whatever hookers are in this Grotto!"
"You're nuts, Old Four! Your horniness is clouding your mind! Can't you see who this woman is?" There was one among the Rats that still had his brains. Emerging from a split second of dizziness, he hurriedly restrained the expression he displayed, then cupped his hands in greeting. "Miss Fu, let's be as well water not encroaching upon river water. You can play with yours, and we men will play with our woman."
"Heh." She chuckled, tilting her head with a blink. "And if I want that woman, too?"
The Rats' expressions went stiff, a few traces of ferocity showing on their surfaces. Thiefbrow Rat was most unable to control himself, roaring like mad. "Piss off, bitch! You don't give face, and you have no face! Do you actually take your Manor of Chivalry seriously?! You need to think clearly; an offense against our Black Mountain is an offense against Jadeite Water Creed!"
Fu Wanqing's hand moved. It flung through thin air to slap him, soaring him directly into a pillar and making him see stars. Watching her movement, the Rats couldn't hold themselves back, either, flashing weapons in succession. It was simply that they kept hesitating, like they were secretly assessing her martial arts.
"Our Whitepath Alliance and your Demonic Creed have never coexisted peacefully. Did you all forget?" She smiled gently. None of these degenerates were worthy of her drawing her sword.
"Go, brothers! Take her down, and we'll have a lot of fun!"
Death was looking down on them, but they were still muddled by lust. She blinked, leaning against a table as if she didn't take those obscenities to heart. Weapons chopped down at her from four directions, and she didn't move one bit. It wasn't at all that she couldn't escape, but because the four that made this maneuver were already dead. What deterring force were the weapons of dead people capable of having? It was just a shame that a couple drops of blood stained her clothes. Without much thought, she straight-up tore off the outer robe covering her and tossed it to the side.
"A thousand taels of gold. I'm the one that's going," she spoke as she looked at the trembling bawd.
"B-Bring Miss Fu… t-to—" Before the bawd's words could finish, Fu Wanqing flitted up the staircase.
The inside of the room was clean and elegant.
With a creak, Yu Shengyan pushed the door open and came in. When she saw Fu Wanqing, her eyes contained no sort of fluctuation, as if she had long anticipated her gathering here. Sitting opposite of her, she spoke in a mild tone. "There's the smell of blood. You've killed people."
"They deserved to die!" Fu Wanqing huffed coldly. Once she met Yu Shengyan's eyes, a smile swept across her face. She stood up, circumvented the table, then placed her hand on Yu Shengyan's shoulder. Plainly detecting the tremor of the one under her palm, she smirked, sat her butt down in Yu Shengyan's lap, and hooked her arms around her neck. "Goldmelt Grotto, Goldmelt Grotto," she said with a charming grin. "Do you know what kind of place Goldmelt Grotto is?"