Aspiring to the Immortal Path

The western gate\'s Changping Street was a famous pleasure street of Ninebind City, playing host to several dozen brothels.

The one doing the best business was Drifting Red Pavilion.

It was said that the girls of Drifting Red Pavilion were like flowers or jade. Not even mentioning their prowess in bed, there were two other extremely rare points about them. One was that they had frequent newcomers, which was very important for the frequent customers, as newcomers meant a fresh experience. The second point was that there were girls who had cultivated Immortality.

Women who had cultivated Immortality, no matter how bad they had been at it, were still cultivators. Though they had no destiny with the Heavenly Dao, a life of riches was no problem. Thus, excepting those with lascivious natures who were willing to lower themselves, it was hard to find a cultivator woman to have a one-night stand with. And girls like these normally came from only one avenue: seizure by force.

Although the six major sects maintained the peace, there were still many disturbances. Occasionally, some minor sect would offend some lofty Immortal, resulting in the entire sect being destroyed. The chief culprit would be executed, and it was common for those around them to suffer the same punishment, just like how a single man\'s rise would bring up those around him. For these reasons, some women who had cultivated Immortality would fall to the mortal world. Their past efforts would not pardon them for their sins, only grant them a higher price and more clients.

Drifting Red Pavilion was this sort of place for female cultivators. Cultivators had powerful constitutions, and mortal women often couldn\'t endure them. In a single night, a cultivator might go through ten-some women before being satisfied. Although there was some pleasure to be had in changing partners, there were also those who disliked such things, feeling like it broke up their rhythm, and there were also some women who died in the process. But female cultivators could avoid many of these problems.

Not only could they be used to bring in male cultivators, they also were a great temptation towards mortal men. Many ordinary people were willing to pay a heavy price to be with a female cultivator.

The reason was none other than showing off!

Take for example the beef butcher shop on the same street. It was said that the owner had once paid ten years\' savings in order to play with a cultivator woman of Drifting Red Pavilion, after which he bragged every day about how Immortals were nothing, as he had had sex with one before.

If even a butcher was willing to pay so much for this, the rich merchants and nobles could not be an exception.

But Dark Fiend had no interest in cultivator women.

"Most of those female cultivators are suppressed, unable to cast any spells, and were sold off against their will, so their faces are so bitter that it\'s like their mothers have been killed. Oh, wait; their mothers really are dead. It\'s like having sex with a corpse, and what\'s so good about that?" Dark Fiend mumbled to himself as he strode into Drifting Red Pavilion. Next to him, Little Twelve followed him like a ghost. No one was able to see him, but whenever anyone wanted to walk through him, they would run into something as if running into a ghost.

Little Twelve ignored him, but Dark Fiend chattered on as he walked into the pavilion. Before even sitting down, he shouted, "A bigshot is here, so why aren\'t your women here to greet your guest?"

The workers of Drifting Red Pavilion were stunned momentarily by Dark Fiend\'s aura, but they were ultimately workers with experience. They could instantly tell that Dark Fiend was a cultivator, and one of a rather high cultivation level. Although they couldn\'t tell where he was from, they did not dare to treat him negligently. They quickly went to welcome him, one of them smiling and saying, "Immortal Master, you honor us with your presence. There happen to be two female cultivators in the pavilion who are available. This lowly one will bring over Immortal Master…"

"No!" Dark Fiend waved his hand. "I don\'t want female cultivators. The looks of your Drifting Red Pavilion\'s female cultivators are average, but they\'re your top draw, so they\'ve been used up by countless men already. I want mortals, ones that look good—the prettier, the better! They need to have refreshing appearances and it\'s best if they only came recently. I want ten of them!"

Dark Fiend opened his hand, showing five fingers but shouting that he wanted ten.

The worker was clearly confused by Dark Fiend\'s request, not knowing if he wanted five or ten. Fortunately, the brothel keeper next to him said, "So Immortal Master likes fresh goods! What a coincidence! A few days ago, we just received a new female cultivator. She isn\'t old and hasn\'t taken on any clients. Today just so happens to be her debut."

"\'Today is her debut\'? There was something like this?" Dark Fiend\'s eyes flew open.

The debut was the first day a prostitute accompanied a guest. To put it simply, it was the first day she was up for sale.

It was common for mortal women to have debuts, but it was very rare for female cultivators to have them.

Dark Fiend didn\'t have an interest in female cultivators because they had average looks, had poor service, and were normally worked to the bone. But since this female cultivator was having her presentation day, at least he could rule out the last two. He quickly asked, "What about her looks?"

"Like a flower in spring, a supreme beauty of the mortal world," the brothel keeper generously praised. He seemed to be very confident in this female cultivator.

Dark Fiend stroked his chin. "Fine, fine, I\'ll see for myself. But a female cultivator\'s debut should be a grand occasion, so why is there no sign of it in this pavilion?"

A female cultivator\'s debut was a matter that could draw in many rich clients. Even the wealth of a True Person like Dark Fiend might not even be able to compare to that of these people.

But there appeared to be little sign of this in the building, as if Drifting Red Pavilion didn\'t care. This left Dark Fiend confused.

The brothel keeper smiled. "That\'s because this girl is different from others. She is simply staying with the brothel."

"\'Staying with the brothel\'?" Dark Fiend was taken aback.

"Staying with the brothel" meant that this woman hadn\'t been brought by the brothel but was a free person. To put it simply, some girl was lacking money and proposed to a brothel that she would sell her body there, and the two parties would split the proceeds.

As this woman was a free person, she had many more rights. Even in selling their bodies, they could choose who they sold it to.

The brothel keeper did not care how ugly you were so long as you had the money, but the girl might not like you. As a free person, she had the right to choose her clients, and as a result, you not only had to give her good money but also get on her good side. If the girl wasn\'t willing to be with you, you wouldn\'t be able to spend it.

For the same reason, the female cultivator was also the one who chose her debut day.

"Yes," the brothel keeper said. "She suddenly came to us and said she wanted to make a debut, which caught us off guard. Mama tried to persuade her to wait a few days so that she could inform our big clients, but she stubbornly refused…"

Dark Fiend laughed. "Excellent, wonderful! This is this old man\'s destiny."

Without those rich clients around, Dark Fiend would have a much easier time getting his hands on this beauty.

But it wasn\'t going to be all smooth sailing. There was another cultivator seated nearby, and, judging by his composure, he was probably also a Spirit Ring True Person, so he wasn\'t guaranteed to lose to Dark Fiend.

But Dark Fiend didn\'t recognize this person, and he was from Godhead Palace, so his background alone was enough to suppress the other party. Thus, he wasn\'t too worried.

The brothel keepers withdrew to find Dark Fiend a few girls to attend to him.

But Dark Fiend was starting to get antsy now that he knew a girl was having a debut, so he had little interest in these ordinary girls.

Fortunately, he didn\'t have to wait long before the time of the debut arrived.

When that girl emerged from the depths of the building, Dark Fiend was taken with a single glance.

This girl was clearly different from the others. She didn\'t wear silk or gauze, but a green jacket. She wore light make-up, and had an exquisite face that had a refreshing appearance. She was no noble daughter, but she had the beauty of a humble family\'s pretty daughter. Her gorgeous eyes were brimming with intelligence. They appeared to be like two clear pools of autumn water, yet they also drew pity, making one want to embrace her and dote upon her.

There was a small platform on one end of the hall.

The girl mounted the stage, and as she stepped to the front of the stage, the crowd below madly cheered.

"Three thousand taels of silver!" Someone was already shouting an outrageous price.

The brothel keeper on the side softly coughed. "Gentlemen, Lady Shangyue is a Mortal Shedding cultivator, not some common product that can be bought. Thus, this transaction will be measured in spirit coins, or other items whose value can be measured in spirit coins. As for the decision, that will be up to Lady Shangyue."

Everyone fell silent.

Dark Fiend was the first to break the silence. "Three thousand spirit coins."

"Five thousand," the white-faced True Person at the nearby table said.

For Spirit Ring True Persons, it wasn\'t rare to spend more than ten thousand spirit coins on a girl one had taken a liking to, so it wasn\'t unusual to raise the bid by two thousand spirit coins.

In normal circumstances, Dark Fiend might have gone back and forth with this man. However, today\'s debut was rather rushed, and there weren\'t many big clients to compete with. He would be missing out on a good opportunity if he ended up having to bid too high. Moreover, he himself had come without much planning, so he hadn\'t brought much money with him.

Thus, he immediately raised the bid to six thousand and then glared at that cultivator. If Little Twelve hadn\'t been around, he would have already used his status as a member of Godhead Palace to threaten him.

But this guy also seemed to be prepared, immediately calling out ten thousand and then smugly glancing back.

Dark Fiend knew that things were ruined. He suddenly thought about how Lady Shangyue had taken up residence here a few days ago and had yet to officially sell her services, so he concluded that this man had probably taken a fancy to this woman at that time and waited since then for this moment.

Since he was prepared, Dark Fiend probably wouldn\'t beat him out in terms of money.

As he was fretting, a voice came from behind him. "What? Not enough money?"

Dark Fiend whispered, "I didn\'t expect to run into a female cultivator having a debut."

"Then use an object as part of your bid."

"What do I have to offer?" Dark Fiend rolled his eyes.

"Don\'t you have a lot of art relics? Of course, the most suitable is the Godhead Armor."

Dark Fiend was taken aback. "What sort of joke are you playing? Didn\'t you say I wasn\'t allowed to reveal my identity on this little outing?"

"That\'s why I\'m telling you to secretly take it off and give it to the girl. If that girl sees it, she\'ll know your background and will naturally have a higher opinion of you. You also know that this girl has the right to decide."

Dark Fiend\'s eyes lit up, and he replied, "Twelfth Brother, thank you for the reminder."

He was turning his head and speaking to the air, so it looked very strange to onlookers.

But a moment later, Dark Fiend used a smokescreen art, removed his Godhead Armor, wrapped it in cloth, and sent it over.

Lady Shangyue took the bundle and opened it up, and a shocked look appeared in her eyes.

Dark Fiend showed excitement, and he smugly said, "I came today in a rush and didn\'t bring much money, so I will also offer up this item. It should be worth ten thousand spirit coins. My lady, what do you think?"

In truth, this upper-grade art relic Godhead Armor was worth at least five hundred thousand spirit coins. But this guy was sharp and knew that if he put up a high-value asset, the other party might use this opportunity to extract more money out of him, so he deliberately undervalued it.

As expected, the girl nodded. "This is enough."

Her voice was like a singing oriole, refreshing the mind and spirit.

Dark Fiend smugly laughed and then glanced at the True Person next to him.

The white-faced True Person grunted. "It\'s only ten thousand. I\'ll bid fifteen thousand."

Dark Fiend raised his hand. "Then I\'ll put up sixteen thousand."

"Twenty thousand!" the True Person shouted.

Dark Fiend continued, "Then I\'ll put up twenty-two thousand."

"Absurd!" The white-faced True Person slapped the table and shouted, "What item did you put up that you can say is worth that much?"

Dark Fiend lazily replied, "In any case, it\'s more valuable than whatever you have. If you can\'t pay, then leave."

Relying on Godhead Armor, he finally managed to overcome the other party, so he was in a great mood and spoke in a domineering tone.

The True Person\'s white face flushed red in anger. He put his hands together and bowed. "Nan Fengzi of the Five Silences Monastery pays respects to Dao Brother. What sect does Dao Brother come from?"

"\'The Five Silences Monastery\'?" Dark Fiend raised his head and pondered this name, then shook his head. "I\'ve never heard of it before."

The white-faced man was furious. While the Five Silences Monastery wasn\'t some big sect, it was rather famous in the Ninebind City region. He was the junior brother of the monastery master, above everyone else in the monastery, and his strength was rather impressive. But this dark-faced man was unexpectedly hard to deal with, and he had no idea what item had him so confident.

He had taken a liking to this Lady Shangyue several days ago, taking her like a descended celestial. When he found out that she had yet to make her debut, he became obsessed with getting her. And he also cultivated a secret art that would greatly benefit from a woman\'s virgin blood. Whether it was in terms of looks or actual benefit, he couldn\'t let this girl go.

But just when he was about to succeed, this guy had come out of nowhere. His rage could be easily imagined.

Even so, the white-faced man controlled his anger. After all, he still wasn\'t sure where this man came from.

As he was hesitating, he saw Lady Shangyue glancing at him, her eyes showing sorrow and resentment, as well as a hint of reluctance and pleading. The white-faced man\'s heart trembled.

He felt like this girl did want him, but this brute had taken out some art relic to serve as his deposit and vie over the girl. Yes, this man was probably also a True Person, and any random art relic he had would be worth one hundred thousand spirit coins. While Lady Shangyue wasn\'t willing to follow this brute, she had no choice.

But spending one hundred thousand coins for one night with her is just too expensive…

He hesitated, unable to make up his mind.

The girl shot him another sorrowful glance, and Dark Fiend began to crazily laugh. The white-faced man finally lost it and mentally said, I can\'t let this brat get too arrogant, or else I\'ll lose all my reputation.

Painfully making up his mind, he took out a sword from his Mustard Seed Bag and pointed it at Dark Fiend. Speaking through clenched teeth, he said, "Do you dare to fight with me?"

The moment he pulled out his sword, everyone ran off to the sides.

But the brothel keepers were not at all surprised. One of them ran over to a pillar and pressed a button, and the roof of Drifting Red Pavilion opened up, revealing the night sky. The intent here was to have those two fight up in the sky rather than ruining the brothel.

Several cultivators appeared, nervously staring at those two True Persons. One of them was also a Celestial Heart True Person.

Dark Fiend scowled.

He had gotten permission to come here on the promise that he wouldn\'t cause trouble, but to his surprise, someone had come to cause trouble for him. He whispered, "Hey, you saw it. He forced my hand."

These words were naturally for the twelfth Hawk.

In the darkness, a voice said, "End the battle quickly and don\'t cause too much of a ruckus. In truth, you were right. Even if Tang Jie sees it, he might not know that you\'re from Godhead Palace, and even if he does know you\'re from Godhead Palace, he might not know that you were sent to deal with him. Big Brother and the others are right to be cautious, but they\'re being a little too excessive."

"Right, right." Dark Fiend was delighted. "It\'s still Twelfth Brother who understands me. Thank you!"

He had hoped for Little Twelve\'s permission to state that he was from Godhead Palace, but to his surprise, Little Twelve had actually permitted him to fight. After suffering for five whole days, he was itching all over, so nothing could be better than having a fight. And when he heard that Little Twelve would help him out, he became even happier.

He looked at the white-faced True Person and roared, "If you want to fight, let\'s fight! You think I\'m afraid of you? Follow me!"

He shot into the clouds.

The white-faced man naturally followed, and the two really began to fight in the air.

In truth, if Dark Fiend hadn\'t given Shangyue the Godhead Armor and only showed it, then this battle essentially wouldn\'t have happened. But since he had given the Godhead Armor to Shangyue, it would be embarrassing to take it back. Moreover, he was confident that he could win without the armor, and he disdained to reveal his status to the white-faced man and directly began to brawl with him.

Those from the six major sects had always been an entire tier above their peers. Unless one was a genius wandering cultivator or prodigy of a minor sect, one couldn\'t hope to stand on par with those of the six major sects. This white-faced man wasn\'t especially strong, whereas Dark Fiend was outstanding among his peers, so as the two fought, the white-faced man was quickly suppressed.

Dark Fiend arrogantly laughed. "Foul brat, now you know how powerful your father is!"

If not for the warnings from the 12 Hawks, Dark Fiend would have stated his Godhead Palace title a long time ago, wanting nothing more than for this guy to grovel at his feet and Lady Shangyue to throw herself into his embrace without asking for money.

Even so, this man moved with a thunderclap and shot around like a bolt of lightning, so in the night sky, their battle crackled with lightning and boomed with thunder. It was impossible for it to not alarm the entire city.

Tang Jie was thinking in his room when he heard the booming outside. It was clear that people were fighting, so he went out to take a look.

He saw two figures clashing in the sky, one black and one white. The white one was clearly no match for the black one, who was exceptionally fast and strong.

Tang Jie was momentarily entranced by the battle. He saw the white one being pushed back more and more, even starting to beg for mercy, but the black-faced cultivator was unmoved. At this moment, in a flash of lightning, a third person suddenly appeared in the sky.

It was a thin and lonely figure, standing in the air and gazing into the distance.

That familiar face made Tang Jie shiver.

"Canhen!" he softly exclaimed.

Xi Canhen!

He had never imagined that he would see Xi Canhen here.

After the incident with the Wei Clan, when Tang Jie learned that Xi Canhen had left, he had sent people to search for him, but the search had been fruitless. However, when he returned to the academy, he received a letter from Xi Canhen saying that he had come upon a lucky encounter and no longer needed to be sent to Basking Moon Academy. But he would never forget the favor Tang Jie had shown him in saving him and granting him a new lease on life, and that he would find an opportunity to repay the favor, and so on.

Once Tang Jie learned that Xi Canhen was fine, he extinguished any thought of searching for him.

He thought that he would find it very hard to meet him again, but to his surprise, that chance had come today.

He was standing on the battlefield, the lightning starkly outlining his figure.

Dark Fiend saw this and said in alarm, "Twelfth Brother? Why did you show yourself?"

The young man tilted his head up. "The purpose of concealment is to draw close to the target. When it is time to kill, one must gather up all one\'s energy for a single strike, so it is no longer possible to conceal oneself. Thus, when one draws close to the target and prepares to kill, one will appear. I am now close enough to my target, so there is naturally no need to keep hiding."

"Then you should show yourself after killing," Dark Fiend chuckled. "Besides, that kid is no match for me. I don\'t need your help."

The youth shook his head.

He extended his right hand, which was wrapped in a thick layer of cloth, and used it to draw a shortsword. This sword had no hilt, simply a gray blade, but it flowed with crimson tendrils of light.

Holding this sword, the youth walked through the air toward Dark Fiend. "The one I want to kill is not him, but you!"

"What?" Dark Fiend froze.

In reply to him were two cold words:

"Sacrificial Sword!"

Whoosh!

A brilliant ray of sword energy shot through the sky toward Dark Fiend.