Late at night, He Qiu took his leave from Nangong Qiongxiao, returned to his room to give a brief explanation to the maid Zi Menghan, then packed his things alone and left the Sect, descending the mountain.
Before leaving, he showed Nangong Qiongxiao’s token to the two seniors guarding the gate, and was allowed to pass.
A disciple descending the mountain to do something for their Master was, in itself, a very common matter.
It was just that the two cultivators on gate duty had, for the first time ever, seen a token engraved with “Nan Gong Elder.”
For all these years, that renowned Fairy Nan of the All-Books Pavilion had almost never given her Elder token to any disciple under her, much less had any disciple go down the mountain on an errand at Fairy Nan’s behest.
Tonight, this white-robed youth, descending the mountain in the dead of night, carrying Fairy Nan’s token—it truly was a rare sight.
“Word has it there have been quite a few Demon Sect members appearing in Tianxin City lately. Young brother, be careful going down the mountain.”
As He Qiu was leaving, that cultivator saw how young he was and kindly gave him a warning.
The youth waved a hand, and vanished into the moonlight.
Not long after, another black-robed cultivator followed out from within the Sect—
“Hey, hey, hey, sneaking down the mountain so late—what are you up to?”
“Business.”
“Whose Elder’s disciple are you? Do you have a token?”
“I do.”
“Huh? You’re also Nan Gong Elder’s disciple?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not also heading down the mountain on a mission, are you?”
“Yes.”
After showing the token, the black-robed cultivator left without further explanation.
At the gate, only the two cultivators remained, utterly bewildered. Tonight really was strange—one after another, two of Fairy Nan’s disciples were heading down the mountain.
In truth, Tianxin City at night was not quiet; it was even livelier.
This city sat at a vital transportation juncture. Because people came and went inside and out at all hours, there was practically no curfew, and it was extremely prosperous. Even at night, the lights stayed bright, and the street vendors never packed up.
Actually, at first, the City Lord did enforce a curfew, but later discovered that the curfew caused many merchants to suffer losses, and led to large amounts of goods and horses piling up until daytime before they could enter or leave the city. And since Tianxin City was an old city, there was no way to widen the roads and city gates in a short time. It truly delayed matters too much, so the curfew was abolished again.
And because many soldiers and officials rested at night, Tianxin City gradually became a mixed bag of all sorts under the cover of darkness. The rats that hid in the shadows during the day all came out of their holes at night.
He Qiu strolled along the lively small streets of Tianxin City, and couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.
Back then, when he had first left the small mountain village where he grew up and stepped into a big city for the first time, it had been just this prosperous and bustling.
At that time, there were still quite a few cultivators flying on swords in the sky, which had deeply shaken He Qiu’s heart, and ultimately led him to resolve to step onto the path of cultivation and join a Sect…
“Sigh, once night falls, everything makes me sentimental. I’m getting all emo.”
“Still, Master’s assigned task takes priority.”
Standing by a street stall, He Qiu held a candied hawthorn skewer, eating while surveying the various vendors along the street.
In fact, he had already lingered on Old Cross Street for several hours. He had probably descended the mountain around nine o’clock, and after going down, he had used Sword Flight, arriving at Tianxin City very quickly.
Of course, on the way via Sword Flight, He Qiu had no one to bicker with like Can Xue. Fortunately, these past days, he had been feeding Can Xue blood on time every morning, and she had become much more obedient. After several attempts, the Sword Flight had become faster and more stable.
He had to admit, this Sword Spirit Can Xue—as long as you were willing to coax her, her performance was excellent, and she flew incredibly fast.
And now, He Qiu had arrived at Tianxin City early, and had roughly observed the environment. By now, he was already quite familiar with the layout of Old Cross Street, and the time had already reached 1 AM.
This hour—it was the time for suspicious individuals to show their faces.
Thinking of this, He Qiu couldn’t help but sharpen his focus. He had long since locked onto several suspicious vendor stalls and taverns, and next he would focus on observing the pedestrians at these locations.
Finally, he discovered a highly suspicious brothel painted in rouge red!
According to He Qiu’s prolonged observation, during this period, no fewer than seven or eight black-robed figures had entered it. They all had their heads and faces covered, sneaking about and whispering to each other. Clearly, that brothel was absolutely not simple—it very likely concealed some secret.
After some consideration, He Qiu decided to follow them in and take a look. Since he had already accepted his Master’s investigation task, he naturally had to take it seriously.
This was absolutely not because he had been reborn into this life and had never visited a brothel, and was curious about them. He Qiu simply wanted to complete the mission, nothing more!
And so, he picked his moment and followed after them.
But just as his front foot stepped onto the stairs, and he heard the girls inside the brothel calling out to customers in a way that stirred the imagination, his back foot drew a sharp breath. He smacked his lips and halted his advance.
Sneaking in so impulsively didn’t seem right either. Going in without indulging and just watching would get him treated like a weirdo.
But if he gritted his teeth and went through with it, directly indulging and enjoying the services inside…
That wouldn’t work either!
You see, He Qiu had a Marriage Engagement with his Senior Sister An Lingran on one hand, and had just promised to marry his Little Senior Sister Luo Qianning and take responsibility for her on the other. How could a Junior Brother of such status casually enter and exit a brothel?
No, if he did that, his reputation as a “scumbag” would be confirmed beyond dispute, impossible to defend, publicly socially dead.
Ah, what a pity. To be reborn into an ancient-style world, yet have no chance to broaden his horizons~
The youth shook his head and turned to leave, to search for the next target. But just then, a hand suddenly grabbed him from behind, and a sharp voice berated:
“Hey! Kid, who are you?”
“…”
He Qiu turned around and looked stiffly at the touting man before him.
And the latter, seeing how unnatural the youth was, hesitated for a moment, then smiled with a knowing look: