The place our carriage arrived at was Qianhua Lou (千花樓), the most famous pleasure house in Guizhou.
It was not famous because it actually had a thousand courtesans, but because it was famously expensive.
Sure enough, dozens of luxurious carriages were lined up in Qianhua Lou’s vast courtyard.
It seemed the joke that every wealthy person in Guizhou could be found here at Qianhua Lou was not entirely a joke.
We continued farther inside by carriage. Befitting a large pleasure house, martial artists of considerable skill had been stationed here and there, and those guarding the innermost courtyard were men who had reached the ranks of experts.
“Are we here to play? Or to work?”
At my question, Geugak Soma answered as if it were obvious.
“Does one not come to a pleasure house to play?”
“Is it all right to play at an important base of the Valley of Villains?”
At my words, Geugak Soma was startled.
“What do you mean?”
“The martial artists lying in ambush are no ordinary men.”
A strange light flashed through Geugak Soma’s eyes, deep in their sockets. He looked as if he wondered whether there could still be more to surprise him, yet the surprises kept piling up.
In the end, Geugak Soma admitted the truth.
“People’s tongues tend to loosen over drinks.”
Through Qianhua Lou, Geugak Soma was gathering all manner of information from the Central Plains. This place was practically an external branch of the Valley of Villains.
“Doesn’t the quality of information change according to the money spent?”
At my words, Geugak Soma merely laughed out of habit and did not elaborate.
Since magnates and people in key positions of the martial world came here often, a great deal of important information must be collected. That was how important this place was to Geugak Soma. Instead, he told me this much.
“Shall I tell you one surprising fact? Qianhua Lou earns more than the Daeho Merchant Guild you saw the other day.”
“I had no idea it would be to that extent.”
While we spoke, the carriage stopped before the innermost building.
Judging by the fact that there was not a single carriage here, this did not seem to be a place that received ordinary guests.
Geugak Soma got out, and I put on my mask and followed him down.
After we waited briefly in an extravagantly decorated room, a woman with a slender figure came inside. Her makeup was heavy, so it was difficult to tell her exact age, but she had a peculiar air about her.
“Welcome, Brother.”
The moment I heard that, I burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because I’m present for a historic moment in which Geugak Soma is called Brother.”
The woman looked at me cautiously and asked,
“I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Quick-witted as she was, she must have guessed from the way I spoke casually to Geugak Soma that my status was no ordinary one. Perhaps I was the first. The first person to mention Geugak Soma so casually in front of her.
She was the first to greet me respectfully and introduce herself.
“I am Lü Qing, the one in charge of Qianhua Lou.”
Qianhua Lou’s mistress, Lü Qing (呂情).
I knew her well.
Not only Qianhua Lou, but she was also secretly operating dozens of pleasure houses throughout the Central Plains. Her dream was to become the empress of the night who ruled over every man in the Central Plains.
The very fact that she dealt with a perilous man like Geugak Soma showed just how great her ambition was.
I lifted the mask up onto my head and greeted her.
“I am Geom Mugeuk.”
The mistress of Qianhua Lou was startled. She had recognized who I was from my name alone. The fact that Geugak Soma had come with me must have confirmed it even further.
“A truly honored guest has come.”
She bowed to me on the spot. It was understandable that she recognized me, but to bow the instant she did was an extremely clever way to conduct herself.
“I might be someone who disappears forever after today.”
At my joke that if I lost the succession struggle, she would never see me again, she smiled and said,
“Conversely, you may rule this martial world for a hundred years.”
Geugak Soma said in a pleased voice,
“Now, prepare a proper drinking table for us. And today, I intend to show our Second Young Master what true beauty is, so bring them in as you see fit.”
“Yes. Please speak among yourselves for a moment.”
When she left, Geugak Soma asked with a laugh,
“Just from looking at the mistress, do you not look forward to how many beauties this place must have?”
“I truly do.”
“Truly? I did not think the Second Young Master would be fond of women.”
“Not at all. I like women too. What man dislikes women?”
“Let us see, then.”
As he said that, Geugak Soma looked at Ian, who stood by the door with Cheongmyeon.
I could feel his will. That nasty will of his, wanting to hear from my own mouth that Ian was not beautiful.
‘It won’t be easy.’
The meal was set out first.
Since this was a table for entertaining the finest guest at the finest pleasure house, it was filled with expensive and precious dishes.
I said to Geugak Soma,
“Would it be all right if our Heart came and ate a little? You two won’t eat anyway.”
“Do as you wish.”
Ian, standing by the door, made a face that said there was no need, but I was already beckoning her over.
When Ian came and sat beside me, she sent me a voice transmission.
—Young Master! How am I supposed to swallow food while sitting at the same table as Geugak Soma?
—There are too many things you like here for you to give up.
—That is true, but still.
—If you die, die as a ghost who ate before dying.
I picked up my chopsticks and said to Geugak Soma,
“Then we’ll eat first.”
Ian, too, decided that since things had come to this, she might as well stop caring, and began eating.
Ian did not regret that choice.
“It’s delicious. How can everything be this good?”
“Let’s kidnap the cook here. Has Cook Im been getting old lately? His seasoning has been off.”
“Cook Im would be hurt if he heard that.”
“My tongue is hurt too.”
“Endure it! And these days, you eat at the Pungryu Tavern all the time anyway. When are you going to abandon that owner?”
“When the food starts getting salty?”
“Young Master!”
Geugak Soma and Cheongmyeon silently watched our informal exchange.
We were also a leader and subordinate, just like them, but the sight must have been completely different from theirs. That said, I did not think our relationship was better than theirs. Some people might prefer a relationship in which trust passes back and forth without words.
I paused my chopsticks for a moment and looked at Geugak Soma.
Before I could speak, Geugak Soma spoke first.
“I am fine, so eat.”
“It is simply a pity. If we shared something delicious, we might become closer.”
“When one shares something delicious, it makes one angry. We would probably end up on worse terms.”
I laughed, and Geugak Soma did not, as if to say it was no joke.
Just then, the mistress of Qianhua Lou entered. Four courtesans followed her in.
The women were truly beautiful. Perhaps these four were something like the Four Great Beauties of Qianhua Lou.
“Please take your time looking and choose the women who please you.”
At the mistress’s words, I answered at once.
“They are all beautiful, so tell them all to sit. Is there any need to choose?”
The mistress of Qianhua Lou looked at Geugak Soma. When Geugak Soma nodded, she had all the women sit.
“A fine choice.”
“It is the way for everyone to win.”
At my answer, the mistress smiled.
The woman seated beside me poured me wine.
“To have such beautiful ladies pour my wine—I suppose I will have to drink quite a bit today.”
I accepted and drank a cup from each of the women.
“Ian, you have a cup too.”
“I am fine.”
“No. The chance to receive wine from the beauties of Qianhua Lou will not come again in your lifetime.”
“Yes, then I will accept just one cup.”
The courtesan nearest to her poured her wine. Ian drank only a little, then set the cup down again.
As Ian and I treated them with courtesy, the looks the women gave us naturally softened.
Geugak Soma, leaning against the mistress of Qianhua Lou, was watching me.
He had wanted me to play wildly with the courtesans, so this situation displeased him.
“You said you knew how to enjoy yourself.”
“I am enjoying myself. This woman here is named Zhuhua, and she is said to be good at singing. I intend to hear a song from her later.”
“What use is it to act like a gentleman at a drinking party? Shall I have them grind ink for you?”
When I acted like a bookish gentleman, Geugak Soma dragged Ian into it for no reason. He said to the mistress of Qianhua Lou,
“The Second Young Master said that guard over there is the greatest beauty. What does our mistress think?”
Then, as though there was no need to think, her answer came immediately.
“I believe that is true.”
“True?”
Geugak Soma, who had been leaning against her, sprang upright.
“Yes. I thought the same from the first time I saw her.”
The mistress of Qianhua Lou stared intently at Ian.
“She is truly a beautiful woman. If only she lost weight.”
As expected of a woman who had seen countless women all her life, she recognized at a glance the beauty hidden beneath the flesh and swelling.
Geugak Soma, on the other hand, was astonished.
Having been told that I could see what he could not, he had been trying somehow to prove that Ian was not beautiful.
But when the mistress of Qianhua Lou responded like this, he was at a momentary loss for words.
With a genuinely regretful expression, the mistress of Qianhua Lou asked Ian,
“You are truly beautiful, so why did you gain so much weight?”
Ian said to her,
“I have a large appetite and was born lazy, so there was nothing I could do.”
But the mistress of Qianhua Lou clearly sensed that was not the case.
“Everyone has at least one story they cannot tell, do they not?”
As she said that, the mistress smiled. At that smile, Ian also gave a faint smile. For some reason, those words seemed to comfort Ian, as if the woman understood her pain.
“Thank you for looking kindly on me.”
“Not at all.”
The mistress of Qianhua Lou was certainly no ordinary woman.
Well, that was why she had become close enough to call Geugak Soma Brother, and why she was nurturing the ambition to become the empress of the night.
“Now, let us drink together!”
I raised my cup high, and Ian and the courtesans toasted with me.
After drinking and enjoying ourselves for a while, I stepped out into the inner courtyard to get some air.
It seemed I truly could not become a hero among heroes. After all, the scent of rouge, of all things, was enough to give me a headache.
Just then, someone called me from behind.
“Young Master.”
I turned and saw the mistress of Qianhua Lou.
“If the courtesans are not to your liking, please say so. Our house has many courtesans.”
“It’s all right.”
“You are truly proper, Young Master.”
“I have to be proper when Lord Geugak Soma is present. If I go out to play alone somewhere, I am a complete wreck. You could not bear to watch with both eyes open.”
The mistress of Qianhua Lou smiled meaningfully.
“Is it not because of your guard?”
“Does it seem to be because of my guard?”
“You seem to cherish her greatly.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yes, very.”
“When you go back in, please be sure to tell my guard that.”
We looked at each other and laughed.
“To be honest, I was surprised. You recognized at a glance that my guard was originally beautiful.”
“I have been good at reading people since I was young. You might say I have good intuition. In particular, when I looked at women, I would get a feeling. That woman would be beautiful if she wore her makeup like this. She would be pretty if she dressed like that. That woman’s temper will be dreadful. That woman will like men. Strangely enough, I was often right. People even said I was possessed by a ghost.”
“What about my guard?”
“Her beauty is one thing, but more than that, she seemed like someone who would accomplish great things. Someone who would become precious.”
As expected, she had an accurate eye for people.
“What about me?”
“I only know how to read women.”
She smiled slightly. Perhaps her intuition applied to men as well.
But maybe, because she knew that carelessly flaunting that intuition could endanger her life, she had limited that talent to women and carved out a new destiny for herself.
“Then shall we go back in?”
“Let us.”
She had just taken the lead and started walking.
Shwik.
A masked man who had released his concealment appeared and stabbed at the mistress of Qianhua Lou with a dagger.
She did not even have the leeway to scream.
In that urgent instant,
the fastest move I could unleash was executed.
As I surged forward with the Nether King Steps, the Black Demon Sword was drawn from my hand.
It was the fifth form of the Flying Heaven Sword Art at the eleventh star, the Quick Sword Form, the Cangtian Form.
Shaaaaaak.
Blood sprayed across her face.
When the mistress of Qianhua Lou opened her eyes, the masked man who had tried to kill her lay collapsed on the ground, his face pierced through.
When she, drenched in the masked man’s blood, turned back in shock, my sword was floating in the air. Her eyes widened.
Before her eyes, the sword was splitting apart.
Chararararak!
Four swords.
They were not real swords, but sword qi I had created. Because they were in the shape of the Black Demon Sword, it looked as though the sword had split into four.
The seventh form of the Flying Heaven Sword Art, the Youtian Form (幽天式).
At this astonishing sight, the mistress of Qianhua Lou’s mouth fell open.
The moment the energy stretching out from my body in all directions like a spiderweb detected every hidden enemy—
Swaaaaaaaa!
The four sword qis shot out like light in different directions.
At that radiant sight, an exclamation burst from the mistress of Qianhua Lou’s lips. That exclamation was followed by the sound of flesh tearing and screams cut short.
Then came silence.
A moment later, blood erupted from the empty spaces the swords had pierced.
Puaaaaaak!
The four masked men who had been hiding revealed themselves. Blood gushed from the holes pierced by the sword qi, and they collapsed at the same time.
Boom!
The next instant, someone descended there as if plunging down from above.
It was Geugak Soma.
“What happened?”
“It was an ambush targeting the mistress.”
At my words, Geugak Soma looked at the mistress of Qianhua Lou, who stood drenched in blood.
At the fact that they had targeted not him, but the mistress of Qianhua Lou, Geugak Soma laughed coldly.
A low laugh, like a beast growling.
I could feel his anger. Because he had been laughing at the drinking table only moments ago, that anger felt even greater.
It is always like this. The most cowardly and base methods are precisely the ones with such great effect.
In a voice that had instead settled into calm, Geugak Soma said to me,
“Second Young Master, since I failed to prove that Heart is ugly, would you now like to see my true world?”
Yes. This is why bloodbaths happen.