20 The Problem with Cultivators

Lin Kun could have fainted if he heard that his precious brother would be spending two nights in a house filled with vulgar women. Lu Bang only took a deep breath before convincing himself to speak up. "And why would the inn turn us down?"

"Come on, you. Have you seen the influx of people?" Sun Yin smiled at him. "There are a lot of people waiting for the ships, and have you forgotten the silent ire of the people towards the cultivators? Maybe the charlatans in the streets give us smiles, but who knows what the locals would say?" She turned to Zhang Min. "Little Min here is being kind."

Zhang Min blushed at the kind words coming from an attractive lady. She had admiration towards the physical appearances of the other women in the brothel house, but seeing Sun Yin had made it all unworthy of her attention. She laced her fingers together. "You… you can stay with me. Just see me when the inns turn you down, milady."

"Hey, you!" An angry yell came from the streets. The three turned to the pacified sea of people, making a huge gibbous-shaped vacant space for a group of men standing before the cultivators. The males were supposed to be donned in elegant clothing, but their silks were tattered by Huaban's assault.

"Oh, no!" Zhang Min went behind Sun Yin as the woman faced them as the maiden stepped up to cover the young lady.

"What can we do for you, gentlemen?" Sun Yin spoke with a sleeve against her mouth.

"Don't act like a princess, you whore." One of the men gritted, enduring the humiliation he faced in the crowd. He seemed to be the leader of the goons since the others stood behind him. He waved his hand and ended up pointing at the woman. "Do you have any idea who you are dealing with?! My father will seek you out and punish you for humiliating me!"

Sun Yin's eyes sharpened at his words. She walked forward as she approached the young master. The male then cowered and staggered back as he brought his hand closer to his chest in fright. Instead of a wicked smile, a cold gaze came from Sun Yin.

"Indulging in indecency and expecting your father to fix everything if things go wrong? How can these people be in your favor?" She spoke clearly, her voice threading through his veins like ice. "Punishment? Bold of you to assume I am afraid of your father's punishment. Show him to me, and we'll discuss the terms of your forgiveness."

"…Lady Sun…" Lu Bang was forced to address her in a way it would not reveal her name. He saw her head move as if listening to him. "We have more important matters to deal with."

"Right." Sun Yin turned her gaze back at the young master. "Young Master, if you wish to continue your spoiled life, do not go bringing the worse out of others. You wouldn't know when you'd run into a monster." She motioned to walk away from the group. She was then followed by Lu Bang and Zhang Min.

The young lady was ecstatic at most. It was the first time she met cultivators outside the brothel house, and the air around them was filled with compassion and righteousness. If only she knew the esteem those two had for themselves inside.

Even though she was unpaid by the two, she still went with them and offered to tour them around the humble city of Gangkou. She grew up inside its walls and had never seen beyond the waters that it faced. Her mother was a worker in the brothel, and it had been her home since she was little. Due to restrictions, she had to work as soon as she could learn how their business flowed. Starting from a dishwasher, she became a cook, a server, and soon... one of the dancers of the dark.

She was having fun sharing her story to the visitors of the city. In fact, it was due to her professional ethics of being silent when not asked to speak. She had too many words in her mouth, and they all flowed out when she freely roamed the streets with Sun Yin and Lu Bang. It also helped that neither of them cringed at the nature of her work. Perhaps it was hard to cringe at something forced into someone's hand when something worse was chosen by those who were supposed to judge.

"Lady Sun, Lady Sun, tell me." Zhang Min stopped running her mouth about herself for a moment. "Have you crossed the sea? I had always wanted to travel north to find my father. I heard he was an honorable man, but he knew nothing of me. Is it pretty? Is it breathtaking? Are there really falls and mountains of ice?"

"Ah, yes, there are." Sun Yin giggled. "That combination was quite specific to one place. Is that where your father was from?"

"Both my parents are from that place. My mother only ran away when she felt scared to admit that their love had fruited into something." Zhang Min hummed.

Lu Bang stared at Zhang Min. "Miss Zhang, how old are you?"

Zhang Min looked behind them to see the male who was earlier uninterested in her stories. She tilted her head to the side as if averting her gaze from him. "I just turned sixteen weeks ago. Young Master Cao is my first customer, and I am the first woman he had from our brothel. Perhaps it is because our ages are close."

A shrug came from Sun Yin's shoulders. She hummed in the tune of doubt. "That boy seemed to be left alone by his father a lot. He looks like the type which could be fixed through being sent to a cultivation school."

The light on Zhang Min's eyes vanished. "Lady Sun, that's… impossible." She hugged herself as if uncomfortable with those words leaving her lips. "The city hated cultivators. They had been messing up the sea which drove more people to starve. Commerce boomed through traveling people, but the fishing industry suffered. There are days that there was simply no fish in the sea.

"It started when they sent more and more people to hunt this so-called Storm Snake. They believed they are doing favors for the cities around the area. They didn't know they are hurting us this way. Even if they did, they simply cared too little." Zhang Min sighed before looking at the maiden. "Lady Sun, what do you people really want from the Storm Snake? It's just a placid beast in the water. It keeps the people from fishing in the breeding grounds of the fishes, but it doesn't hurt the fishermen who stayed away from breeding grounds."

"Ah." Sun Yin was caught off-guard by her question.

"We used to believe that the Storm Snake protects the water. Soon, there are these cultivators who came and said it was dangerous and had to be destroyed." Zhang Min happened to kick a stone as she walked. "I don't understand why. It never hurt anyone outside its home."

Lu Bang jogged to the other side of the young lady. "Do you remember the colors of those cultivators?"

"Ah, I think it was… yellow…" Zhang Min twitched and clapped once. "It's purple with yellow lines! There's also this lightning crest on their shoulders!"

"Damn Fenglan Qiao…" Lu Bang sighed. He involuntarily patted the girl's head. "They're bad news even to other sects. They're the most arrogant and destructive." He lifted his gaze at Sun Yin. "More than the Heici Xu sect. I heard they got into trouble with their neighbor, Haiyang Cheng sect."

"Hm, if they are the ones taking care of the Storm Snake these days, then it would be an easy mission." Sun Yin giggled behind her sleeve again.

"But… it's not just them." Zhang Min pressed her pointers together and made a rather embarrassed expression. "I saw the master of the Reqi Ren sect come here in the city. Since Gangkou was the closest to the Storm Snake's home, those who wanted to rest come here. I heard them say… around three sects are competing for the Storm Snake at the moment…"

"How did you know it was the master of the Reqi Ren sect?" Lu Bang squinted at her.

"Because those men around him said so." She covered her face with her hands. "Ah, Master Ren is so handsome…"

Sun Yin turned to Lu Bang before making a rather foxy set of eyes. "Oh, little lady, you haven't seen Master Lin."

The older brother sucked in air through his nose. He could not hit Sun Yin from their distance. However, he just shook his head. "That's weird though. Why would Ren Junjie be at a brothel house?"

Zhang Min dropped her shy expression and grinned at the male. "Oh, I know! It's because the inns turned them down so they had no choice but to come to Rose Red!" She froze again before covering her face once more. "So… please come see us when you don't have anywhere else to go…"

"That sounds like you're cursing us to lose a room." "I really wished I dragged Little Kun here…"