With two peak masters out of the sect, Wang Tong, the peak master left to guard the mountain gate, had to go down the mountain every few days to patrol and prevent demonic cultivators from disguising themselves as ordinary people, mixing into the crowds and harming common folk.
Some cultivators who needed to pass over Yong City on their way back to the sect would come down to play in Yong City for a couple of days. It wasn’t that they lacked self-control—it was just that Yong City had too many delicious foods and fun things. They always felt that since they had already flown over it, not coming down to eat and drink something would be like missing out.
Those cultivators who were familiar with Wang Tong and of the same generation would smile and approach to offer congratulations when they saw him leading disciples out on patrol, saying things about good news coming soon. Wang Tong grew secretly suspicious. Though he had received a flying message talisman from Master-Uncle Qiushuang about Kong Hou advancing to Nascent Soul Stage cultivation and understood what had happened, outsiders shouldn’t be aware of it. So why were they all running over to congratulate him?
Growing increasingly suspicious, Wang Tong maintained his usual carefree appearance and responded with laughs and jokes. After returning to the sect, he found Sect Master Heng Yan to discuss the matter.
“Perhaps it’s because our Yunhua Sect performed very well this time?” The hand holding Heng Yan’s teacup trembled slightly. He lowered his eyelids to avoid looking at Wang Tong. “This time Master-Uncle Qiushuang personally led the team, with Pei Huai and Qingyuan assisting, and Wu Chuan went along too. The disciples below surely wouldn’t dare be as lax as before…”
“But wasn’t the magical arts competition canceled?” Wang Tong’s doubts didn’t disperse. Even if their Yunhua Sect disciples weren’t lax, how spectacular a performance could they have at the Dao Discussion Conference?
“Ahem, who knows? We’ll only find out what really happened when they return.” Heng Yan set down his teacup and looked at Wang Tong tentatively. “Since everyone is congratulating you, it means something good happened, right?”
Wang Tong pondered for a moment and nodded: “That’s true.” After speaking, his brows furrowed. “Hongyan Zhenren died, and Kong Hou’s cultivation suddenly increased dramatically…”
“Senior Martial Brother, I feel uneasy. I have a feeling something major is about to happen.”
Heng Yan could only pick up his teacup and take a large gulp of water, using silence to indicate he knew nothing about anything.
“Liuguang Sect’s conduct is truly honorable—they helped us conceal Kong Hou’s situation very thoroughly.” Wang Tong thought of how his disciple had some romantic feelings for Zhongxi Zhenren, yet Zhongxi Zhenren treated her as a junior martial sister. He couldn’t help but feel heartache for his disciple. “Though I don’t particularly like that Zhongxi Zhenren.”
Nearly dropping the teacup in his hand, Heng Yan couldn’t help but ask: “What’s wrong with Zhongxi Zhenren?”
“Nothing’s wrong—it’s probably just that our fates don’t align well.” How could Wang Tong reveal his disciple’s little secret thoughts? He waved his hand. “But regardless, this person’s character is beyond question.”
Heng Yan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed his junior martial brother’s impression of Zhongxi Zhenren hadn’t fallen to rock bottom yet.
After two days and one night on the flying palace, Huan Zong discovered that apart from Wu Chuan, no other disciples rose early to practice with their swords. Instead, whenever they passed through towns with distinctive characteristics, Yunhua Sect disciples would run off to taste delicacies and buy things, as if they were out traveling.
“Kong Hou, among the disciples from your esteemed sect traveling together, is only Daoist Wu Chuan the one who cultivates the sword dao?” Seeing the flying palace land at another unfamiliar town, Huan Zong knew the Yunhua Sect disciples were going shopping again. Following behind everyone as they disembarked from the flying vessel, he couldn’t help asking this question that puzzled him.
“No, several of those traveling together are sword cultivators.” Kong Hou held several spirit fruits in her arms and selected two to give to Huan Zong and Lin Hu.
Huan Zong: “…”
As sword cultivators, they could actually not practice with their swords—this was far too casual.
“Everyone worked hard for such a long time. It’s good for them to relax.” Kong Hou guessed what Huan Zong was puzzled about. She turned to look at Huan Zong and Lin Hu. “Your Liuguang Sect disciples are good at everything—it’s just that they push themselves too hard. Come on, I’ll take you into the city to have some fun. I heard there are especially many fun things in this city. We shouldn’t miss out.”
Wine gatherings, art exhibitions, song meetings, music and dance troupes, plus various pastimes popular among ordinary people like horse racing and cockfighting—they were all developed to the extreme in this city.
After taking Huan Zong and Lin Hu to experience the entertainment methods of ordinary people, Kong Hou prepared to take them to attend the music and dance troupe in the evening.
“Huan Zong, those ethereal immortal-like clothes of yours are too inappropriate.” Kong Hou found an inn, and after entering the room, grabbed Huan Zong’s hand and swept her spiritual consciousness into Huan Zong’s storage ring. Storage rings recognized their masters, but the master could leave commands on the storage ring allowing others to open it. Long ago, Huan Zong had taken a strand of Kong Hou’s spiritual consciousness and attached it to his storage ring, so Kong Hou was equivalent to another master of his storage ring.
“This set!” Kong Hou found a wide-sleeved gilded robe and removed the proper white jade crown from Huan Zong’s head, replacing it with a red jade lotus pendant crown. Looking at the blood-red flowing beads hanging down beside Huan Zong’s cheeks, Kong Hou covered her chest in admiration. “There is such a beauty in this world!”
If the previous Huan Zong had been a noble and inviolable immortal, then at this moment he was a cold beauty rarely seen in the world—except the pendant crown made his beauty carry a touch of allure and a hint of wickedness.
“No, no.” Kong Hou removed the pendant crown from Huan Zong’s head. “This handsome side of you—keeping it for me alone is enough. Absolutely can’t let other women benefit.”
Lin Hu, leaning against the wall, sighed silently. If before he could still have some sense of existence, now whether he stood here or not made no difference whatsoever. Turning to walk out the door and closing it for the two of them, Lin Hu stared blankly at the gently swaying trees in the courtyard. His significance in accompanying Young Master out was reduced to nothing more than driving a carriage.
“I won’t show it to others—only to you.” Huan Zong changed to a dark gold dharma crown. The ostentatious air about him finally disappeared. Taking Huan Zong out the door, after walking just a few steps, she froze.
Huan Zong followed her line of sight and saw Lin Hu wearing purple robes with crane patterns embroidered on them. His brows twitched, barely managing not to laugh.
“Then… shall we go over now?” Kong Hou coughed and tugged Huan Zong’s hand, reminding him absolutely not to give anything away lest Senior Lin Hu feel embarrassed. The music and dance troupe sounded like a place where one could listen to music and appreciate dance, but in reality it was a place where people could dance and sing—except those dancing and singing were the guests themselves.
Upon entering, Huan Zong heard stirring drum beats and solemn qin music. Men and women either laughed or frolicked, and there were also people crying while holding wine cups, though there were no scenes as unseemly as he had imagined.
Over ten people wearing masks danced on the central stage. Ordinary guests sat in the great hall, clapping and laughing. But Huan Zong could sense that in this circular large building, there were many guests in the rooms.
“Heaven-tier room.” Kong Hou took three masks and tossed the attendant a handful of spirit stones. Today she had specifically worn a red flowing luminous gown that looked very well-matched with the gilded robe on Huan Zong’s body. Her hair was styled in a rather ostentatious startled swan bun. With the mask covering half her lovely face, only her red lips and eyes were exposed.
Transported to the Heaven-tier room by a formation array, though no one around could observe them, they could still hear laughter and roaring, along with blood-stirring music.
Seeing that Kong Hou seemed very familiar with this place, Lin Hu couldn’t help asking: “Has Miss Kong Hou often come here before?”
“Ahem, actually this is my first time too.” She pulled out a small booklet from her bosom. Lin Hu took it for a look and saw written on it “How to Make Others Think This Isn’t Your First Time at a Music and Dance Troupe.” The handwriting varied—it should be an experience summary from quite a few senior martial brothers and sisters of Yunhua Sect.
Lin Hu: “…”
He felt that in the entire cultivation world, there couldn’t be another sect more peculiar than Yunhua Sect.
“Ahem.” Kong Hou gave a dry cough. “Don’t worry, I’ve memorized the booklet backwards and forwards. I guarantee I’ll broaden your horizons.”
Lin Hu didn’t understand why Miss Kong Hou had suddenly brought them to this kind of place. Suddenly remembering that the night before departure, the Sect Master and Miss Kong Hou seemed to have met once, he wondered what the two had discussed. He turned to look at Young Master, who even after arriving at such a lively venue still showed no emotional reaction. Lin Hu finally understood completely.
Miss Kong Hou wanted Young Master to take on the flavor of mortal life, wanted him to experience more of “living.” Otherwise, why would this young lady who usually only liked eating, drinking, and dressing up need to get senior martial siblings to record so much entertainment experience?
On the circular grand stage, a woman in a green dress wearing a mask opened her arms unrestrained and jumped around without any technique. People around her jeered, and others jumped onto the stage to join her.
More and more people appeared on the stage, but the stage probably had a spatial formation added—though more and more people jumped onto the stage, it didn’t seem crowded at all. Lin Hu even discovered that several masked guests were acquaintances he recognized. These people who usually seemed proper would actually hide in the crowd to dance?
“Cultivators have long lifespans. If they only meditate and practice with swords all day, what pleasure would there be?” Kong Hou rested her chin on one hand, watching the laughing and frolicking people on stage. “When people are alive, they should find some harmless pleasures for themselves.”
Lin Hu’s sharp eyes discovered that a certain woman wearing a silver-red dress looked somewhat like… Qiushuang Zhenren? His pupils trembled as he turned to look at Kong Hou. Had she recognized that was Qiushuang Zhenren?
Kong Hou smiled: “Senior Lin, upon entering here, one must cast aside their usual identity. We’re just a group of merrymakers singing and dancing.” She stood up and placed the mask on Huan Zong’s face, also using a spell to prevent the mask from falling. “Huan Zong, let’s go too.”
Huan Zong was rarely flustered: “I don’t know how.”
Though imperial noble children danced to music after drinking at poetry gatherings, Huan Zong had joined Liuguang Sect at a very young age and had never been exposed to such things. Seeing Kong Hou wanted to take him down to dance, he suddenly realized that his omnipotent image before Kong Hou would probably shatter from this moment on.
“It’s okay, I’m not very good either.” Kong Hou bent down and gave his lips a light kiss. “Anyway, we’re both wearing masks. Even if we dance randomly, no one will recognize us.”
The lighting artifacts on stage continuously flickered, creating a lively yet false independent space. People entering this space cast aside their usual burdens and dignity, following the happiness brought by dancing.
“Let’s go.” Kong Hou pulled Huan Zong to fly out the window and land on the stage. A female cultivator saw Huan Zong’s upright posture and reached out to pull him to dance with her. Kong Hou spun around and fell into Huan Zong’s embrace as he hastily reached out to encircle her waist.
“Elder sister.” Kong Hou smiled at the female cultivator. “This man is mine.”
The female cultivator wasn’t annoyed either and pulled over a masked man in black robes: “I’ll trade you this one.” Though the man in black robes wore a mask, his jade crown carried dharma light and his robes were embroidered with layers of talisman patterns. With his extraordinary bearing, he should be an outstanding figure in the cultivation world.
Being used as a trading object by the female cultivator, he calmly looked at her once. The female cultivator shrank her neck a bit fearfully, her overly excited brain finally regaining some clarity.
“No trade.” Kong Hou pulled Huan Zong’s hand and rushed into the crowd, leading him to step out dance moves matching the drum beats. She wasn’t skilled at dancing. Before age six she had seen the Empress dance and vaguely still remembered some steps. It couldn’t be called beautiful—she could only say she wasn’t randomly jumping around.
The Empress excelled at dance, the Emperor was obsessed with music, yet these two people couldn’t become a match made in heaven.
The music grew increasingly intense. Kong Hou pulled Huan Zong spinning, leaping, bending backward, embracing. Huan Zong encircled her waist, not letting others bump into her, his eyes showing invisible indulgence and affection.
Not knowing how much time had passed, someone in the crowd suddenly said: “It’s almost midnight.”
Kong Hou leaned in Huan Zong’s embrace and gasped twice, then pulled his hand to jump off the stage. Concealing their forms, they hurriedly left the music and dance troupe before removing their masks. Putting her hands behind her back and walking backwards, she smiled at Huan Zong: “How was it? Pretty fun, right?”
Huan Zong carefully recalled the atmosphere just now. It couldn’t be called very fun, but it wasn’t boring either. What moved him most was still Kong Hou wanting to take him to play while also protecting him from other women’s touch.
“Fun.”
“Then next time I’ll take you to other interesting places to play.” Kong Hou decided that after returning, she would go to the sect to learn some entertainment tricks.
“Watch out.” Huan Zong quickly stepped forward to encircle Kong Hou’s waist.
“Zhongxi Zhenren, Kong Hou Xianzi.” Chang De and several junior martial siblings stopped walking. Noticing Kong Hou’s hair styled in a startled swan bun and the gorgeous gilded brocade robe on Huan Zong, their expressions were somewhat subtle. “What a coincidence.”
After Kong Hou exchanged pleasantries with the Zhaohan Sect disciples for a few sentences, she made her farewells.
Chang De watched Kong Hou and Huan Zong’s hastily departing backs, remembering how Kong Hou Xianzi had hugged Zhongxi Zhenren and refused to trade. His mood was somewhat complex.
Was he going to watch helplessly as Yunhua Sect disciples led Liuguang Sect’s most outstanding sword cultivator astray?
He closed his eyes. Forget it—closing his eyes was equivalent to seeing nothing.