V1: The Young Vixen (4)

The night had just fallen when Willow heard a knock at her door. She was surprised, it was unusual. Everybody was normally busy tending to the patrons at this time. As such, no one would come visit her.

"Enter."

A diminutive girl came inside, she looked at least 2 years younger than Willow. She was a maid. Willow wasn't unfamiliar with her, she was one of the servants of the matron.

"Miss Willow, you need to prepare yourself and change into appropriate clothing." She said after seeing her. "Madam wants you to entertain guests tonight."

Willow brow rose then settled down. She understood. It was because she already lost her virginity. In the past, she couldn't serve other patrons because of Julius' interest in her. Now, it seemed that she lost that shield.

Of course, she wasn't expected to accompany the patrons for the night just yet. Although Julius' interest likely waned, it wasn't to the point of not caring yet. If she was to accompany clients before his interest completely dissipated, the entire brothel would be razed to the ground.

"Very well, you can leave now." Willow waved dismissively.

The maid was slightly startled as she wasn't used to Willow being so cavalier. The image she had of her was that of a meek, kind and naive girl but now Willow gave her another feeling. She shook her head, her gaze confused as she left the courtyard.

Of course, Willow noticed that she broke her carefully constructed persona but she could care less. The current her didn't need to accommodate anyone except the matron and the cultivators under her. And of course Young Master Blackbird. As soon as she found where she stood in terms of strength in comparison to them, it would be the time of her escape.

An hour later, Willow was ready. She looked positively charming in the purple robe with a black flower pattern. The only jewelry she wore was the white lotus ornament binding her hair. With her perfect visuals and exquisite silhouette, she looked like an otherworldly creature.

She left her courtyard after checking herself one final time in the mirror. She headed toward the building where clients were entertained. The place was bustling with charming voices and bursts of laughter. The first floor was fully occupied. Apparently, tonight, business was booming.

Willow weaved gracefully between drunken clients and other courtesans before ascending the stairs. She passed through various corridors and arrived before a private room. There were eight such rooms in the brothel, mostly reserved for high value clients. She then knocked and went inside.

She was greeted with the smell of food and wine as soon as she came in. There were 7 patrons inside. They all had an aura of wealth. Seated in the middle of the group was a man. He was dressed in simplistic clothing as opposed to the other scions. Despite that there was no doubt that the entire room was gravitating around him.

He gave a feeling similar to Julius. A high level practitioner most likely

Each of them had a courtesan tending to their needs except him. Willow guessed that it would be her job for the night. She then moved and sat next to him after greeting them all. When she entered the room, silence descended on the place. Everybody was staring at her dazed.

They couldn't be blamed, the various changes she went through in a couple of days not only perfected her looks but also gave her an additional mesmerizing charm. Understandably, when she entered a room, people would feel like their breaths had been stolen.

Only when she sat down did the conversation resume. After listening for an instant while replenishing the simply dressed man, Willow started to grasp the topic being discussed.

The simply dressed man was Rhaoul Piercer, he was an up and coming practitioner who had just come down from the mountain. He had been accepted by the Dark Life sect 5 years ago. He was now catching up with his friends.

He was far from being at Julius' level but his talent in cultivation could be said to be above average. It was no wonder he was chosen amongst the thousands of individuals qualified to pass the entrance test of the infamous sect.

He didn't come from a big clan but his family was quite wealthy. His circle of friends reflected his background, as such all the guests in this room were among the richer folks of this region.

In other words, they were all silkpants and he was the only one that amounted to something amongst them. Naturally, Rhaoul was greeted like a hero by his peers upon his return. He was now in a different league than those good for nothing but he couldn't resist the desire to show off. Just like a merchant who came back to his village after making it big in the outside world.

"Brother Rha, you went down the mountain this time, it must be for a sect mission. Right?"

A young man with a lecherous look in his eyes and a cunning face asked in an inquisitive tone.

Everyone focused on Rhaoul at this time. Rhaoul observed their curious expressions and smiled knowingly. There was a hint of pride in his voice when he answered.

"Indeed. I came down for a mission. You must know that this mission is very important and comes with big rewards. My master fought hard to give me a quota of participation. The mission is about the appearance of a 'Sacred Treatise'."

There was a brief pause as the silk pants made use of their drunken brains to recall the background of the object mentioned. Then various shades of surprise colored their face.

"What!?" The young man who asked almost fell on his face. He didn't expect such an answer.

Willow purposefully affected a look of incomprehension on her face. The world of cultivators was very new to her. She only knew generalities on the 4 primary cultivation realms because they were common knowledge, even to plebeians. Cultivation was synonymous to status in this world after all.

Because of this, she went for the adorably clueless look. With her newfound charm in addition to her old skills, the effect was indescribable.

Rhaoul pointed to his cup for a refill but happened to see the puzzled expression on Willow's face. The other courtesans were focused on serving his 'friends' and enjoying their perverted attentions but the one assigned to him seemed somehow different. From her expression, she was trying to follow their conversation.

Such behavior was actually unprofessional. But somehow very fresh to his eyes. He felt like in addition to such otherworldly beauty, she had a somewhat clumsy temperament. Such a contrast left an endless sweet aftertaste.

A feeling of innocence, yes that was it. Very different from the artificial temperament of the other courtesans of the brothel.

Rhaoul was surprised and became interested in this woman. He spoke lightly to his fellows, while keeping his attention on Willow.

"Although you aren't that great at cultivation and spend your time wasting away in alcohol and women, I believe you should all know the most illustrious figure this region ever gave birth to."

Willow 'finally noticed' his attention and smoothly poured fragrant liquor in his cup. An abstruse light flashed in her eyes as one of the young men answered.

"That is of course the Divine Scholar. He came into power 700 years ago. At the young age of 14 he attained the Cosmos Egg realm and slayed 10 000 demons with a single word. 10 years later he stepped into the Celestial Fairy stage before leaving the Wild Garden Region. According to rumors he left 6 treatises containing the entirety of his Dao comprehensions scattered in the region. " He then looked at Rhaoul expectantly.

Rhaoul nodded both to signal Willow to stop pouring and to validate what that young master just said. He sipped a little before adding.

"It's as brother Vincent explained. I absolutely need to obtain the sacred treatise this time. Not only are those treatises peerless cultivation opportunities but they are also treasures at the level of a sect guarding formation. Enough to ensure the prosperity of any sect for centuries or even millenia."

"But of course, This sacred text has your name written upon it Brother Rha." A long haired young man tried to cozy up to Rhaoul. Vanity was one of Rhaoul hangs up, as such Rhaoul felt extremely pleased with the obvious bootlicking. Though his expression remained indifferent, the corner of his mouth rose slightly.

"""Of course this treasure is Brother Rha's.""" The other chorused after a pause while cursing in their hearts at the shameless fellow.

Willow almost rolled her eyes but with her perfect poker face kept her true feelings about their obsequiousness hidden.

"I am not telling you this story to obtain your good wishes or to gossip. I need you to use your families network to fish intel about the whereabouts of a certain family. They have 'Rong' as their surname. A supreme elder of the sect calculated that the treatise will show up in their hands." Rhaoul explained after feeding his vanity.

"Don't worry brother Rha, I believe that with the social power gathered in this room, information about this family will be found quickly." A youth spoke. He looked like a scholar and had an air of noblesse about him. His name was Nagar Lanis, he was the son of a clan with the ownership of several mines.

He was the 'leader' of the group before Rhaoul became a sect disciple. He had opened 79 spirit orifices and was far ahead of the other silkpants. The dynamic changed, Rhaoul who had 55 spirit orifices opened before leaving, now had 105 spirit orifices.

Although disgusted by that lucky and pompous bastard, Nagar was a merchant through and through, he didn't let it show. Instead he tried to further ingratiate himself with Rhaoul. Benefits were the name of the game after all.

"As long as they are in this city, consider the request completed, brother Rha." This city was basically his family's. Nothing could escape his ears in this place. Nagar was determined to be the one to find the sacred text.

"Very well, in any case, we narrowed the search between two cities. One is of course Regent City, where we are currently and The other is Scarcros City, 1000 km away from here. Some of my senior brothers and sisters went to Scarcros and others came to Regent like me, as such we need to act fast. The competition is ferocious. Without mentioning the effect of such a text on one's cultivation path, bringing it back to the sect is enough to completely change one's status." Rhaoul emphasized.

Willow was very much interested in this so-called sacred text. The reason was simple, she believed it could be of help in finding a way forward in her cultivation. She didn't have a guide and couldn't confide in anyone about her new state. Willow knew that this world was much more cruel to the weak than her previous one. If she told someone about this state of hers, she would without a doubt be captured and studied like a lab rat by frenzied cultivators.

A horrid fate!

This sacred text could potentially shine a light upon her future.

"A toast to your successful brother Rhaoul." The obsequious man spoke while raising his cup.

"Hear, hear!!!" The silkpants raised their cup as well.

After this, they drank until the morning. Occasionally, one of them would disappear in an adjacent room with a courtesan before reappearing a moment later with a glossy face and a wretched expression.

The only ones who were satisfied with drinking were Nagar and Rhaoul. Rhaoul disdained those women of the night and naturally wouldn't partake and Nagar didn't have such inclinations. More importantly, he had a fiancee. If it was merely that, it would be fine but his woman family was a cultivation family, he couldn't afford to slight her in any way. In his family apart from him and his father, the rest were mortals. One could say that they bought their way onto the cultivation path. In terms of background, they couldn't be mentioned on the same level.

As for Rhaoul, he had too much pride in his status as a sect disciple to roll down the sheets with mortals. No matter how seductive and cute the aforementioned mortal was. In addition, Nagar subtly hinted to him that Willow was the 'property' of young master Julius, the infamous flower-plucking lord.

Rhaoul looked at the courtesan serving him and felt that it was a pity. He didn't mingle with those ladies of the night but she could have been an exception. Unfortunately, she belonged to that lunatic and perverse individual, Blackbird.

Rhaoul knew of Julius of course. Every cultivator of this generation in the region knew of him. How could they not? Rhaoul was aware of even more things about that madman. After all, the guy had bedded some seniors in his sect and also fought their righteously mad dao partner.

The most remarkable was when he fought the most powerful senior in the outer sect to a standstill. That senior had opened 156 spirit orifices. At that time Rhoul had only opened 99.

Shivers.

Rhaoul wouldn't touch that girl, ever. Because it meant having to deal with the lunatic afterward.