Chapter 140| Chapter 141| Chapter 142
Chapter 140: Goodbye Kao
Lu Yunxi and Long Aotian followed the little turtle through the hidden doorway and into the colossal boulder.
The cavernous interior was surprisingly expansive—roughly the size of four full school playgrounds. Tucked into the western corner was an impressive library, featuring rows of massive shelves packed tightly with ancient tomes and scrolls. The eastern corner was arranged as a modest living area, furnished with a low stone table and several intricately carved seashell chairs. The rest of the vast cavern was left completely empty, likely serving as a playground for the turtle to exercise.
Though the turtle was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, it was incredibly methodical and proper. After inviting its guests to sit, it graciously poured them each a cup of tea.
Being an underwater cavern, the brew consisted of steeped kelp rather than traditional tea leaves.
Lu Yunxi and Long Aotian took their seats on the shell chairs. Noticing that the little turtle was bustling around, preparing to whip up a platter of snacks, they quickly intervened and stopped it.
“We came to find you to ask a question,” Long Aotian began directly. “Did your elders leave behind any instructions on how to restore the cultivation world?”
The little turtle froze mid-step. “Why are you asking about that?”
Suddenly, a realization dawned in its eyes. The turtle scrambled closer, staring intently at Lu Yunxi. “Don’t tell me… are you the legendary ray of hope destined to save us?”
Lu Yunxi’s eye twitched. What was with this “ray of hope” title? It sounded like the cheesy tagline of a bad superhero movie!
However, the fact that this little turtle knew about the prophecy was completely unexpected. After all, Long Aotian possessed an entire database of inherited bloodline memories, yet he had been completely oblivious to the matter.
Since Long Aotian was soul-bound to her, he immediately sensed her confusion and stepped in to clarify. “Master, this turtle is different from me. It wasn’t born recently. It actually hatched during the peak of the cultivation era and has managed to survive through the centuries to the present day.”
“What?!” Lu Yunxi stared at the tiny creature. Forget calling it a little turtle—she should be addressing it as an ancient elder!
“Indeed. Although I am still considered a youngster among my clan, I have technically lived far longer than your Bai Ze,” the little turtle confirmed with a sagely nod.
While Lu Yunxi was busy having an existential crisis, the turtle waddled over to one of the massive bookshelves, triggered a hidden mechanism, and pulled out a heavy box crafted from a single, polished tortoise shell.
Staring at the strangely designed box set upon the stone table, she leaned in, her curiosity piqued, and reached out to examine it.
Unexpectedly, the little turtle suddenly hesitated. It snatched the box back into its short arms, clutching it tightly to its chest as it eyed her with renewed wariness. “Wait a minute! You have to prove that you actually are the ‘ray of hope’ destined to save this world. What if you aren’t the right person, and I just hand this priceless relic over to a stranger?!”
Lu Yunxi was taken aback for a moment before instinctively replying, “But I don’t even know for sure if I am…”
Logically speaking, since the central mainframe artifact had sought her out directly in her dreams, her identity as the chosen savior shouldn’t be in question. But then she remembered entities like the Flower King and this ancient turtle. What if the prophecy wasn’t unique to her? What if there were other transmigrators out there?
She had spent every waking moment meticulously hiding her otherworldly origins. It stood to reason that any other transmigrator would be doing the exact same thing. After all, what sane person would cross over into a foreign universe and immediately start shouting their secrets to the world? That was a surefire way to get targeted and killed.
The little turtle studied her conflicted expression, the intense vigilance in its eyes softening slightly. “Do you possess a spatial storage bag or a soul-bound spatial ring?”
Lu Yunxi’s heart skipped a beat.
She absolutely did possess an infinite, soul-bound spatial dimension. It was undeniably a supreme, heaven-defying artifact, and the cardinal rule of survival was that possessing a treasure was a crime. She had gone to extreme lengths to ensure no one discovered its existence, constantly carrying a mundane satchel around to maintain the illusion that she was just carrying normal items.
But judging by the current situation, the little turtle knew about it. The AI mainframe knew about it too. If eighty percent of the ancient entities in this world were aware that she held an infinite storage dimension, what was stopping someone from deciding they wanted the treasure for themselves and trying to murder her for it?
Her thoughts raced at lightning speed.
Forcing her heart rate to steady, Lu Yunxi feigned a look of complete innocence. “Spatial storage? What are you talking about? I have no idea what that is!”
However, her brief moment of panic had not escaped the turtle’s sharp eyes.
“Ah, so you really do have it!” The little turtle immediately saw through her bluff. It let out a haughty, disdainful snort. “Honestly, is that really worth hiding? Having a storage space isn’t some groundbreaking miracle. Besides, half the treasures sitting inside that dimension of yours were prepared and stocked by my elders!”
Noticing her bewildered expression, Long Aotian gently nudged her arm with his large head. “Don’t worry, Master. All divine beasts are born with their own innate, internal pocket dimensions. Many of them are incredibly massive… No divine beast is going to covet your storage space or put you in danger over it.”
Lu Yunxi, who had been mentally preparing for a life-or-death struggle against the turtle, finally snapped out of her paranoia. Her tension immediately dissolved into a profound wave of envy. She had to rely on ancient, dead cultivators to forge a magical storage space for her, yet these divine beasts were just born with their own personal pocket dimensions! How was that fair?!
The little turtle implicitly trusted the absolute authority of the spatial dimension. Knowing she was the soul-bound owner was all the proof it needed. Relieved of its burden, it slid the tortoise-shell box across the table.
Lu Yunxi carefully picked up the heavy box, examining it from every angle, but she was entirely stumped.
“Excuse me, but how exactly do I open this?”
“The locking mechanism was designed by our ancient ancestors. According to what they told me, the box will automatically unseal itself when the moment you truly need it arrives,” the little turtle explained, reciting the inherited instructions.
Lu Yunxi stared at the box, feeling utterly helpless. What exactly qualified as the moment she “truly needed it”?
Deciding not to dwell on it, she carefully stored the box into her spatial dimension and shifted the conversation back to the pressing issue of cultivation.
“You don’t need to stress over the specifics right now. You haven’t even broken through to the Grandmaster realm yet!” the little turtle said dismissively. “According to the ancestral records, once a mortal reaches the absolute pinnacle of martial arts—the Grandmaster realm—the path to cultivating spiritual immortality will naturally reveal itself to them.”
Lu Yunxi was stunned. So that’s how it works!
She had spent days agonizing over where she could possibly find a method to cultivate spiritual energy. She had assumed she would have to scour the globe for ancient ruins or hidden grottos that still harbored residual spiritual energy. Who could have guessed that simply breaking the Grandmaster ceiling in martial arts would automatically unlock the solution?
“As for the divine artifact you mentioned, I don’t know much about it,” the little turtle said, its tiny brow furrowing in thought. “We divine beasts never required the assistance of magical artifacts to cultivate, so my clan rarely paid attention to such things.”
Lu Yunxi didn’t mind the lack of information. After thanking the ancient little turtle profusely for its help, she called Long Aotian, and the two departed from the underwater cavern.
Before they left, the turtle offered one final piece of advice: “Remember to search the other continents as well. My clan wasn’t the only one to leave behind a legacy. The elders of the other supreme lineages prepared inheritances for you too.”
Sitting comfortably atop Long Aotian’s broad back, feeling the gentle ocean breeze ruffle her hair, Lu Yunxi thought back to the little turtle. She still found the encounter entirely surreal.
“Long Aotian, you said that little turtle has lived for centuries. Why does it look so incredibly tiny?” she asked. In her mind, an ancient sea turtle should have been at least the size of a dinner table.
“Master, its true physical form is incredibly massive. But maintaining a body of that size requires an astronomical amount of energy,” Long Aotian explained, his tone tinged with sympathy. “In a world completely devoid of spiritual energy, they are forced to shrink their physical vessels to conserve power. They spend the vast majority of their time in a state of deep hibernation, expending the bare minimum just to stay alive.”
Long Aotian understood that plight far too well.
While trapped inside his egg for centuries, he had been fully conscious. But as the world’s spiritual energy decayed, he had been forced to shut down his own cognitive functions and completely immobilize himself, condensing every ounce of his life force into his core just to survive the drought.
A heavy, empathetic silence fell over the human and the beast as they flew over the ocean.
When they finally touched down on the Flower Continent, the somber mood lifted. Lu Yunxi was the first to break the silence.
She gazed out over the endless, vibrant sea of blossoms stretching to the horizon, a nostalgic sigh escaping her lips. “When I first arrived on this continent, it was an ocean of flowers. It looks exactly the same now. It really brings back memories.”
Long Aotian leaned his massive head down, taking a deep sniff of the fragrant air. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise. “The flora here is incredibly robust, Master. I suspect there might even be spiritual herbs growing among them.”
“Spiritual herbs?”
“Yes! I can distinctly smell the aroma of spiritual medicine,” Long Aotian said, his tail wagging excitedly. “If we find them, do you think I could eat a few later?”
Lu Yunxi was just about to agree when the memory of the Flower King suddenly flashed in her mind.
If there was another ancient entity on this continent that had survived the collapse of the cultivation world, it was undoubtedly the Flower King. It wasn’t just a plant—it was a sentient spirit!
While she had no issue with Long Aotian grazing on random magical herbs, what if he wanted to eat the Flower King? That was absolutely out of the question. Besides, who in their right mind would want to eat a flower that could hold a conversation?
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Lu Yunxi said, gently patting his mane. “I suspect the ‘spiritual herb’ you’re smelling is the Flower King of this continent. It’s highly intelligent. If we find herbs that aren’t sentient, you can eat as many as you want.”
With that settled, she reached into her inventory and pulled out the delicate earrings Kao had gifted her.
A short distance away, a colossal, towering blossom seemed to immediately sense the familiar aura. Its drooping petals slowly unfurled into a brilliant bloom, while the thick, thorny vines surrounding it began to sway and dance excitedly in the air.
Though the shift was subtle, both Lu Yunxi and Long Aotian immediately locked onto the spiritual signature and hurried toward the source.
“Flower King! It’s been a long time!” Lu Yunxi called out happily as she approached, reaching out to gently hug one of the massive, swaying vines.
“You have returned?” a voice echoed softly.
Chapter 141: Tips
The tip of the Flower King’s vine gently brushed across Lu Yunxi’s hair, mimicking the soothing gesture of an elder dotingly patting a child’s head.
Long Aotian watched the colossal blossom with a flicker of surprise. Even within the vast library of his inherited bloodline memories, encountering a plant that possessed true sentience was an exceedingly rare phenomenon.
The Flower King shifted slightly, its massive bloom turning to gauge Long Aotian before centering its attention back onto Lu Yunxi. A large, vibrant petal momentarily leaned down, half-shrouding her face.
“So, you actually agreed to it?” Kao’s voice echoed softly, sounding noticeably drained and haggard.
“Agreed to what?” Lu Yunxi asked, thoroughly perplexed.
“To restoring the spiritual energy of this world,” the Flower King answered with a heavy sigh, its massive core slowly retreating back to its anchor point. “If you hadn’t taken up that mantle, your destiny wouldn’t have guided you back to my shores so soon.”
“Kao, you knew about the prophecy?!”
“Restoring a fractured world… is an monumental undertaking. A burden of that magnitude should never have been placed onto the shoulders of a single mortal. Unfortunately, very few of us ancient relics are left breathing in what remains of the cultivation realm.”
Evidently caught in a wave of somber nostalgia, the Flower King fell silent, coiling its massive vines neatly on the grass until it looked like nothing more than an ordinary, harmless garden blossom.
After a long pause, the entity stirred. With a sudden, graceful sweep of its vines, a lush, dense canopy of green leaves woven with smaller flowers materialized before them.
“Sit, sit. Taste some of my fresh floral dew,” the Flower King invited warmly. Its voice carried the weathered, gentle cadence of a soul that had endured the passage of millennia, speaking with deliberate, slow precision. “Centuries ago, back when the cultivation world still thrived…”
Though Lu Yunxi and Long Aotian had already heard the history from the central mainframe, listening to the narrative from the Flower King’s perspective lent the tale an entirely different flavor.
“As for that central mainframe artifact you mentioned, I do happen to know a thing or two about its origins,” the Flower King paused, its massive stems trembling slightly as if chuckling at a private joke. “Though it is a divine artifact of immense power, it possesses the fickle, innocent temperament of a young child. It simply wants to run wild and explore. Its desperate desire to form a soul-bond with you doesn’t stem from any malicious intent; it is merely trapped beneath a mountain of systemic code, completely desperate to go outside and play.”
“Trapped?” Lu Yunxi interjected. “But the mainframe can project itself, alter its appearance, and move across the server. How can it be considered trapped?”
“Ah, you must understand—for us ancient entities, existing in a world devoid of spiritual energy is exactly like a fish trying to survive outside of water. In the golden age, that divine weapon could traverse the realms entirely on its own power. But in its current, starved state, it cannot sustain independent physical manifestation. It must anchor its consciousness to a living master before it can freely roam the earth again.” The Flower King let out a wistful sigh.
“However, if you harbor genuine reservations about binding your soul to the machine, you are under no obligation to do so. You can choose to bypass the artifact entirely, funneling the spiritual power you cultivate directly into the Ley lines of the world.”
Lu Yunxi and Long Aotian listened in rapt silence, absorbing the explanation.
Suddenly, the Flower King perked up, its vines tapping rhythmically against its petals. “Oh, goodness! My ancient mind is slipping. I almost forgot! Eons ago, a traveler entrusted a specialized spatial bag to my care, explicitly stating it was meant for you!”
Lu Yunxi’s eyes widened instantly.
Between the weathered gravity of its tone and the vivid, first-hand accounts it shared, she had already deduced that the Flower King was a genuine survivor of the primordial era. But the mention of a traveler caught her off guard. The mainframe artifact had explicitly stated that the ancient grandmasters had secured their legacies inside her spatial inventory. If the divine beasts had kept their inheritances separate due to the natural divide between humans and beasts, then the individual the Flower King was referring to had to be a human cultivator!
With a sharp thud, Kao burrowed straight into the loose earth, disappearing completely from sight. A few minutes passed before the massive root system churned again, and the Flower King re-emerged into the sunlight.
Shaking the loose dirt from its vines, it extended a tendril, presenting a delicate brocade bag to her.
“This sachet holds the tokens that individual left in my keeping. If I recall correctly, he was a powerful rogue cultivator who dedicated his life to the arts of cosmic divination. I confess I never understood his cryptic riddles, but he was absolutely certain this legacy would prove invaluable to you once the hour arrived.” The Flower King strained its memory, trying to piece together the ancient conversation.
Given how many centuries had bled away since that encounter, the fact that the plant spirit could remember the request at all was a testament to its formidable will.
Lu Yunxi hesitated for a fraction of a second before accepting the pouch and pulling it open.
The brocade bag had been enveloped in a dense layer of protective golden light, but the exact microsecond her fingers brushed the fabric, the radiance dissolved into nothingness, leaving the pouch looking like a perfectly mundane velvet sack.
Even Kao let out a soft rustle of surprise. “fascinating. For generations, not a single entity could bypass the defensive ward on that seal. Yet the moment it enters your hands, it unlocks instantly.”
Reaching inside, Lu Yunxi pulled out a single, solitary slip of parchment. Though the paper had survived through countless eras, it remained immaculate—crisp, pristine, and looking as though it had been inked mere moments ago.
The moment her eyes scanned the opening lines, she gasped, instinctively throwing a hand over her mouth.
Talk about divine intervention! The text inscribed on the parchment was the precise solution to the exact roadblock she was currently facing.
[The Path of Martial Ascendancy: Breaking the Threshold from Master to Grandmaster]
Ignoring the curious glances of her pet and the plant spirit waiting for an explanation, she locked her focus onto the text, reading every word with meticulous care.
The parchment didn’t contain an exhaustive wall of text. Instead, it laid out a highly unconventional, specific checklist of tasks for her to perform: setting up a roadside stall to sell tofu, offering free medical consultations on the crowded streets, and various other mundane, domestic chores.
Lu Yunxi grew increasingly bewildered as she read down the list, until her eyes finally hit the concluding paragraph.
[…In the initial stages of martial arts, a practitioner must rely on grueling, repetitive physical conditioning and brutal combat to force their parameters to grow. However, upon reaching the absolute peak of the Master realm, further ascension cannot be forced through physical labor; it demands a profound spiritual awakening. To trigger this enlightenment, one must deliberately immerse themselves into the mundane world of mortals, tempering their soul against the rhythm of ordinary life.]
Tempering my soul against ordinary life?
She re-read the passage three times, her thoughts immediately drifting to her completely stagnant experience bar. A sudden realization struck her.
The word “enlightenment” alone made it painfully clear that this breakthrough mechanic was entirely separate from the standard, hard-grind level progression she had relied on since spawning into the game. This phase didn’t care about kill counts or stat grinding; it relied entirely on… intuition, philosophy, and perspective.
Though she couldn’t fully rationalize the concept, she committed the instructions to memory, determined to put the theory into practice.
“Excellent! Go forth and immerse yourself in the mortal realm to gather this perspective. I shall watch over the continent and secure your rear,” the Flower King agreed supportive. “I recall hearing stories in my youth about human cultivators needing to undergo worldly trials to shatter their bottlenecks.”
Long Aotian nodded his large head in agreement. “The core of the trial is to truly integrate into the fabric of ordinary society. You must live, breathe, and work exactly like a commoner to refine your state of mind.”
“It is a pity,” the Flower King murmured, its leaves rustling mournfully. “In the golden age of our realm, the cultivation world commanded dominion over countless mortal planes where disciples could seamlessly complete their worldly trials. But now…” The beast and the flower exchanged a synchronized, heavy sigh.
Lu Yunxi, however, remained entirely unfazed. A trial was a trial—it didn’t matter what setting she used to achieve it!
“Fresh flowers for sale! Beautiful blooms!”
Lu Yunxi stood at a bustling street corner, a woven wicker basket slung comfortably over her shoulder, her face bright with a welcoming smile. “Good day, sir! Would you care to purchase a fresh bouquet for the lovely lady at your side?”
The passing couples paused, looks of pleasant surprise washing over their faces as they admired the incredibly vibrant, pristine blossoms resting in her basket.
On the Flower Continent, the local demographic didn’t just utilize flora as premium culinary ingredients; they also harbored a deep cultural appreciation for domestic ornamental arrangements. Consequently, the marketplace streets were practically teeming with competitive flower vendors.
Lu Yunxi had plunged into the local trade to kickstart her trial, though her inventory was intentionally limited. She had personally combed through the endless sea of blossoms, selecting only the absolute most breathtaking specimens to sell.
She maintained a soft, relaxed smile as she watched groups of local children laughing and chasing each other down the cobblestones.
Compared to the aggressive, shouting vendors lining the square, Lu Yunxi was notably reserved. Her primary focus wasn’t on moving merchandise; she was entirely engrossed in studying the human behaviors unfolding around her, desperately hoping a stray observation would trigger an instantaneous spark of epiphany so she could ascend.
Unfortunately, the universe rarely rewarded impatience. The more desperately she chased the breakthrough, the more elusive the enlightenment became.
Letting out a slow breath, she forced herself to release her expectations and relax.
By the time she finally snapped out of her philosophical musings and checked her basket, the sky had bruised into a deep twilight without her even noticing.
Lu Yunxi prepared to pack up and head home, but she had barely taken two steps down the path when she realized a group of men had silently closed ranks around her.
Under normal circumstances, a high-tier Master possessed sensory stats sharp enough to easily map out an entire city block. But every advantage carried a hidden flaw. Because her raw parameters had reached such an absurd height, her passive danger instincts had grown somewhat dulled to minor threats—much like a colossal elephant wouldn’t waste cognitive energy tracking the movements of an ant. It wasn’t until the group had effectively cornered her inside a narrow, dead-end alleyway that she realized she was the target of an ambush.
A worldly conflict!
She was just about to effortlessly vaporize them when a thought struck her, and her eyes lit up with excitement. Was this the exact type of raw, mortal experience her trial required?
“Hehehe, well look what we have here, little lady,” a man rasped, stepping forward with a oily, sinister grin. His eyes gleamed with malice, exposing a row of stained, yellow teeth. “It’s getting awfully late. Why is a pretty thing like you wandering down these dark streets all by your lonesome?”
The gang of thugs surrounding him broke into a chorus of crude jeers and whistles.
Lu Yunxi stood perfectly still in the center of the alley, staring up at the hovering status indicators floating above their heads: [Lv. 3], [Lv. 5]. Her expression turned delightfully subtle.
“You guys are trying to play the role of street hooligans…”
Before she could even finish her sentence, a loud, booming shout shattered the tension as a second group of men stormed into the alley.
“Well, I’ll be! Look at these pathetic cowards trying to corner a defenseless girl in broad daylight! That is easily the most pathetic display I’ve seen all week!” one of the massive newcomers roared, bursting into boisterous laughter.
Unlike the first group, who were clearly scrawny, low-level thugs, these newcomers were towering, broad-shouldered individuals boasting dense, muscular physiques that practically radiated physical power.
The moment this secondary group framed the exit of the alley, the low-level hooligans began to visibly tremble, looking exactly like a cluster of terrified chickens staring down a pack of wolves.
Before Lu Yunxi could even comprehend the sudden shift in the narrative, the thugs who had been preparing to assault her turned tail and fled in a panicked scramble, entirely terrified by the massive brawny men who had materialized out of the dark.
Lu Yunxi: “…”
She cleared her throat, adjusting her basket. “My thanks to you brave gentlemen for intervening.”
Chapter 142: Sold
Lu Yunxi felt a surge of genuine gratitude toward the newcomers. While she personally had nothing to fear from a handful of street thugs, any ordinary girl caught in the same situation would have been terrified out of her wits.
“I don’t have much on me, but I picked these flowers myself. Please, take them,” she said. Remembering how much the people of the Flower Continent adored blossoms, she warmly extended the basket toward them.
“Haha, little lady, there’s no need to be so polite!” several of the men boomed, stepping forward with hearty chuckles to accept the basket.
Yet, just as both sides were exchanging pleasantries, a cloth was suddenly shoved over her mouth and nose.
Lu Yunxi: ???
The moment the fabric pressed against her face, her instincts flared, and she prepared to tear herself free. However, as she inhaled the chemical laced into the cloth—a dose potent enough to instantly fell a mature elephant—a spark of realization flashed in her mind. She immediately aborted her counterattack, went limp, and let her eyes flutter shut.
The moment she “fainted,” a burst of wild, triumphant laughter shattered the silence of the empty street. Had any local resident caught the echoing, sinister laughter lasting that long in the dead of night, they undoubtedly would have mistaken it for a vengeful spirit and barred their doors tight.
“Man, I just went out tonight to stretch my legs, but I never expected us to haul in such a prime catch!”
“She’s a real beauty, isn’t she? Hey, Boss… do you think you could let me have a go at her first? Hehehe!”
“Not a chance!” the man designated as the leader barked, glaring down at Lu Yunxi as he shut down the request without hesitation. “Are you out of your mind? A prize like this will fetch an absolute fortune on the market! Once we flip her, the coin we pull in will be more than enough to keep us brothers living like kings at the Fengyue Tower for a month or two. You’ll be able to play with whatever girl you want!”
The man who had made the pitch cast a look of lingering regret at Lu Yunxi, but his excitement quickly returned at the mention of the payout.
Exchanging sly nods and knowing grins, the crew went to work. Two of the brawny men hoisted Lu Yunxi up, carrying her deep into the labyrinthine alleys. They chatted and laughed as they walked.
“Did you guys catch it earlier? This stupid girl actually looked at us and said, ‘Thank you, brave gentlemen, for saving me!'” one of the men carrying her mocked.
“She definitely never saw the twist coming! We weren’t saving her life—we were just setting her up!” The surrounding thugs erupted into boisterous laughter. “Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone so incredibly naive. Remember how much of a headache it used to be just to track down and bag a single target?”
The “naive” Lu Yunxi: …
Are you kidding me?!
It was entirely because these absolute weaklings didn’t register on her threat radar! That was the only reason she had dropped her guard! Furthermore, when these men had executed their ambush, their auras hadn’t leaked a single shred of killing intent, tension, or malice. Their movements had been seamless and fluid, as if they had performed this exact routine thousands of times before. She hadn’t realized anything was amiss until the cloth actually touched her skin.
The thugs carried Lu Yunxi down the remote alleyways like a slaughtered wild boar. They took a highly erratic route, twisting and turning through nearly forty intersecting corridors until even Lu Yunxi lost track of their exact orientation.
At the terminus of a narrow, desolate alleyway heavily littered with chicken and duck droppings, the men finally halted and rapped sharply on a wooden door.
“Who’s scratching at this hour?!” an old woman’s raspy voice bellowed from within.
“It’s me, Ma. The fish in our net grew exceptionally fat today, so I brought one over for you to inspect,” the leader replied in a hushed tone.
With a heavy creak, the door swung open. A plump, middle-aged woman poked her head out into the alley. Her eyes swept over the men, widening slightly in surprise when she locked onto Lu Yunxi’s form. Forcing her lips into a tight smile, she stepped back. “Get inside, quick!”
The men filed into the cramped courtyard, squeezing past one another as they carried Lu Yunxi through the threshold.
Twisting a silk handkerchief between her fingers, the woman slinked closer to Lu Yunxi, her brow furrowing as she conducted a meticulous inspection.
“Look at her, Ma. Isn’t she a masterpiece? She’s infinitely more breathtaking than any of the girls you currently host in your establishment! Even your prized top courtesan couldn’t hold a candle to this one,” the leader boasted. He angled Lu Yunxi’s face up and down, left and right, presenting her exactly like a merchant showcasing a prime cut of pork. Finally, he pinched her chin to pry her jaws apart, flaunting a row of pristine, white teeth.
“The girl is undeniably beautiful… but it’s a pity she’s already fully grown,” the madam murmured. Though her eyes shimmered with immense satisfaction, she kept her expression entirely critical. “At her age, who knows how many months or years of rigorous training it will take before she’s ready to bring in a profit? And what happens if she breaks under the discipline after I’ve sunk all that coin into her? Wouldn’t that leave me with a massive deficit?”
Seeing the madam’s exaggerated sorrow, one of the younger thugs grew anxious and prepared to lower their asking price, but the leader instantly stepped on his foot to silence him.
“Ma, let’s stop playing games,” the leader said with a sly smirk, a predatory gleam in his eyes. “This girl is a visual masterpiece. If you don’t want to buy her, that’s fine—just hand her back, and my brothers and I will take her home to amuse ourselves!”
The thug who had been drooling over Lu Yunxi instantly perked up, stepping forward while rubbing his palms together. “Yes! Boss is right! It would be fantastic if we kept a beauty like this for ourselves!”
The savvier members of the gang, well aware that this was just standard haggling tactic, twitched their lips and firmly yanked their overeager companion back into line.
The two factions locked eyes, entering a tense standoff.
After a long pause, the madam finally let out a shrill, honeyed laugh. “How about this, boys? You’re always looking for beautiful company when you visit, aren’t you? Our Fengyue Tower has no shortage of lovely ladies. I’ll arrange for a selection of girls to entertain your crew free of charge for an entire evening. In exchange, you give me a generous discount on this maiden. Deal?”
The thugs exchanged a series of looks and began aggressively counter-offering. After roughly ten minutes of intense bartering, the two sides finally shook hands on a figure.
And just like that, Lu Yunxi was officially sold to an establishment known as the Fengyue Tower.
When Lu Yunxi finally blinked her eyes open, a wave of disorientation washed over her.
Thick, dusty cobwebs clung to the ceiling beams above her head, making it painfully obvious that the room hadn’t seen a broom in months. She forcibly suppressed her deep-seated urge to clean the place and shifted her gaze away from the rafters.
“Oh, you’re finally awake?”
A young, melodic voice drifted from her side. Turning her head, she found a small girl with her hair styled in two neat buns staring down at her with a bright smile, her large, round eyes brimming with undisguised awe at Lu Yunxi’s features.
Lu Yunxi pressed a hand to her forehead, slowly leveraging herself up. The sequence of events rushed back to her. Right—she had been abducted and sold by a pack of thugs! She had been feeling incredibly drained at the time, so she had simply released a localized sleeping powder over the crew and drifted off into a deep slumber herself.
She just hadn’t anticipated waking up in such a dilapidated hovel.
Surveying the uneven floorboards, the crumbling, dusty plaster on the walls, and the dense layers of spiderwebs overhead, she cautiously prepared to swing her legs out of bed. However, the moment her weight shifted, the wooden bed frame let out a violent, deafening creak, shaking so fiercely it inspired a distinct sense of panic.
Her expression turned delightfully strained. She froze mid-movement, terrified that the slightest twitch would cause the entire structure to disintegrate beneath her.
“Where exactly am I?” she asked. Is this the legendary Fengyue Tower? Talk about… unique.
The little girl beamed, answering proudly, “This is the Fengyue Tower!”
At that exact moment, Lu Yunxi was stuck in a comical deadlock—one leg extended rigidly toward the floorboards, the other hovering awkwardly on the mattress, both hands gripping the frame for dear life as she remained entirely frozen.
The little girl tilted her head, looking utterly confused. “Is something wrong, miss? Did you throw your back out again?”
“No… it’s just that rising slowly is highly beneficial for one’s physical longevity,” Lu Yunxi strained out, carefully attempting to extract herself inch by inch.
Perfect! She was almost clear! Just as she was about to let out a breath of relief—
CRACK-BANG!
The thoroughly rotted bed slats finally surrendered under her movements, shattering into a cascade of splinters. Lu Yunxi dropped straight through the frame, her rear slamming onto the floorboards amidst the debris.
Fortunately, as a Grandmaster, her physical defense parameters were high enough that she didn’t feel a thing. Her eye merely twitched as she dragged herself out from the pile of splintered timber, shaking the dust from her sleeves.
“My goodness, miss! Are you hurt?!” the little girl gasped, staring at the destruction in absolute amazement. It took her a several seconds to recover her wits.
Lu Yunxi waved her hands dismissively, brushing the wood shavings off her robes. “I’m perfectly fine. Now, what were we discussing before the structural failure?”
Seeing how effortlessly she moved, the little girl let out a sigh of relief and resumed her welcoming speech with a bright smile. “Right! Regarding our Fengyue Tower—since today is your very first day, the Madam has granted you a full afternoon of rest to settle in. However, your official duties begin first thing tomorrow morning. If you have any personal business to attend to, you need to handle it quickly today.”
Lu Yunxi stared at the girl, a wave of profound skepticism washing over her regarding the true nature of this establishment.
When she had first caught the name and the transaction details between her abductors and the madam, she had naturally assumed she was being sold into a standard, high-end brothel. But looking around this gloomy, neglected room… if this truly was a pleasure house, it felt more like a haunted mansion.
However, as the little girl continued her cheerful tour of the local operations, Lu Yunxi confirmed that this was, in fact, a red-light establishment. The entire avenue outside was lined with competitive brothels, with Fengyue Tower sitting at the absolute edge of the district.
Once the explanation concluded, Lu Yunxi’s eye twitched. “Look, I was abducted and illegally trafficked into this place. Am I permitted to just walk out the front door?”
The little girl gasped, her face draining of color. She threw a panicked look around the empty corridor, hastily stepping closer to whisper in a terrified, hushed tone, “Hush! You mustn’t say such things out loud! If the Madam catches you talking about escaping, you’ll be severely beaten!”
