Cangxing

As Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were leaving the cove at the mouth of the Han River, all hell broke loose in the Pleasure Palace because Jiang Yue's girl attendant had already discovered that her sister Yeying was missing.

Although she liked sister Yeying and wished that she could escape from the brothel, the girl attendant didn't dare to hide the escape from Lady Chu.

Sister Yeying was valuable and even if she was caught, Lady Chu would not treat her badly, but the girl attendant had never been popular and the brothel had a lot of girls who could take her place. She shuddered to think what would happen to her if she was made to take responsibility for sister Yeying's escape.

When she thought of this, the girl attendant hastened her steps as she recalled some of the stories that were whispered among the girls in the brothel.

Before her time, there was once a girl who tried to escape to marry a poor scholar. Lady Chu had recaptured her and then sold her to a band of bandits who operated in the Northern mountains.

There was also that other girl who had escaped and managed to stay hidden for almost two months. When she was eventually caught, Lady Chu had locked her in the brothel's basement and forced her to service all the sick patrons that weren't allowed to touch the other girls.

Although the attendant was sorry for sister Yeying, she knew that she would be more sorry for herself if sister Yeying really managed to escape.

The girl found Lady Chu in the brothel's topmost room and she shivered in terror when she saw that the madam was more extravagantly dressed than usual; she was clearly ready and looking forward to the auction.

She waited for Lady Chu to notice her and when was allowed to speak, she quickly reported everything but her heart fell to the sole of her feet when she saw the madam's face turn uglier with every word she spoke.

"Useless." Lady Chu shouted in anger and the girl attendant could only watch in horror as a palm approached her body.

She had no time to evade it and even if she did, Lady Chu was already at the peak of the origin forging realm while she was only a cultivator of the first level of the origin forging realm; evading could only change her time of death by a few breaths.

Before the girl's body had landed on the ground, Lady Chu had already left the room.

"Find Yeying." She shouted to several of the brothel's guards and then walked to the lower floors to control the situation.

However, luck was not on her side because her guards had yet to find Yeying by the auction's appointed time.

"Chu Miaomiao, are you taking me for a fool?" A fifty-year-old man who was wearing a city guard's uniform shouted as he brandished a huge club.

"Captain Sha, please calm yourself, Yeying will soon be found." Lady Chu tried to placate, and took a few steps back, just in case.

"Is it true that Lady Chu has a very good relationship with the Mu family?" A flamboyantly dressed young man who seemed to be in his thirties asked as he drew a sabre.

Lady Chu took another step back as she hurriedly said, "surely you jest, young master, You."

At that moment, Lady Chu was cursing Yeying's eighteenth lineal ancestors.

Everyone knew that the young master of the Mu family was the most infatuated with Yeying and You Deliang was taking advantage of the situation to suggest that she had broken her promise to auction Yeying and instead sold her privately to the Mu young master.

"I have also heard that young master Mu was seen buying a silver grade mid-tier palm art when he was last in Fengying city." Someone added.

"The young master of the Mu clan seems to be a swordsman…" You Deliang wondered helpfully and the situation boiled over.

"Don't think you can bully me." Lady Chu said angrily as a layer of pale blue qi covered her palm.

You Deliang smiled when he saw that and then lunged.

The Pleasure Palace may be a brothel, but in Han city, there were no better places to collect information and hold secret meetings than brothels. From the moment that Lady Chu had allied with the Mu family, which was an old enemy of the You family, she had become an eyesore that the You family could not tolerate.

In the end, it didn't matter whether Yeying had escaped or was sold privately, what mattered was that the You family's brothel would rise up when the Pleasure Palace collapsed.

"Wind palm." Lady Chu screamed as she pushed her palm outwards causing a tremendous wind force to rush at You Deliang.

"You may have achieved completion with your silver grade low tier palm art, but my sabre art has already reached minor perfection."

"Tiger claw slash."

Three imposing slashes rushed forward and blocked the palm strike, forcing Lady Chu to vomit a mouthful of blood as she took a few steps back.

"Wind palm." This time, Lady Chu slapped the air three times and three small but more concentrated winds, rushed towards You Deliang but unfortunately, the other's sabre art was more powerful and he easily blocked causing Lady Chu to fall into despair.

She wasn't weak, but compared to a genius like You Deliang who had cultivated to the ninth level of the origin forging realm before the age of thirty, she had no chance.

She tried to turn pleading eyes at the gathered guests, but no matter how much they liked her; none would be willing to offend the You family for her.

After exchanging ten moves, Chu Miaomiao could not hold on and You Deliang's sabre slash penetrated her defence, severing her head from her body.

As her head fell to the ground, Lady Chu's eyes were filled with injustice, but this was the way of the world; justice was decided by the one with the harder fist.

Yar Yar

Yar Yar

Yar Yar

A loud voice travelled from afar and as the sound of a horse's hooves grew increasingly closer, two boys dove behind a cluster of short bushes.

This action had become instinct since Yu NIanzhen and Jiang Yue fled from Han city four days before and by a stroke of luck, they had somehow managed to elude all the people that were travelling on the same road. They hoped that they could do the same this time around, but wishes were not horses.

"Come out." A harsh voice shouted as hoof sounds came to a stop.

Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue didn't show themselves, which seemed to irritate the coarse man who was riding atop a class one demon horse.

In irritation, the man grabbed his horsewhip and violently beat the bush causing the two boys to scuttle but the man was already a cultivator of the origin forging realm and he had used ten per cent of his power to swing the whip.

Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were immediately hit by the whip, causing their small bodies to fly back in a parabola before landing ten metres from their previous hiding place.

The whip had torn a large strip across their chests and blood was flowing out unobstructed.

"Brats who haven't even awoken their meridians, think they can hide from me, dreaming!" The man said as he jumped down from his horse.

Although the whip cut was very painful, Yu Nianzhen couldn't be bothered about that and he immediately grabbed Jiang Yue and the two began running away from the man.

Other than small bushes here and there, there was nowhere to hide and the two could only run as fast as they could, hoping that they could somehow outrun the man or encounter a helping hand.

"Don't waste my time little beasts." The man shouted as he once again brandished his long whip.

Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue could not avoid it or defend against it and once again, the whip hit their backs causing them to fly forward before once again landing on the ground.

This time, neither had the strength to get up and Yu Nianzhen could only force his body to roll over and cover Jiang Yue who had suffered more damage from the two hits.

Jiang Yue had been stuck in the brothel for three years and, other than walking around the brothel, he hadn't had an opportunity to exercise which had made his body weak and susceptible to injuries. However, Yu Nianzhen was only slightly better.

"What do you want?" Yu Nianzhen asked as he glared at the man which made the man even angrier.

He was a cultivator of the origin forging realm!

He had already gotten used to being addressed with respect, but the little beast dared to call him 'you'.

What was the meaning of looking at him with such eyes?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got and whip lashes kept falling on Yu Nianzhen's small body until he became an unrecognisable bloody mess.

As he desperately tried to protect his head from the rain of lashes, Yu Nianzhen remembered everything he had learned about the Cangxing world.

When they weren't walking, Yu Nianzhen had taken the opportunity to read the books he had bought in Han city and combined with the original owner's memories, he had a better understanding of the world.

He knew that the Cangxing world was very different from the world in his previous life.

In this world, strength was king and the weak were insects in the eyes of the strong.

Yu Nianzhen thought that he understood this concept, but it wasn't until this moment that he realised that he had still been taking things too lightly. At the back of his mind, he had still expected a semblance of rationale and common decency, but he now realised that his expectations were unrealistic.

In this world, the strong didn't need to be reasonable when dealing with the weak!

Yu Nianzhen gritted his teeth and made a vow, "if we can survive this, I will be stronger than everybody and protect what I want to protect."

As his consciousness began to fade, Yu Nianzhen tried to use his body to cover Jiang Yue even more, but before he could fully achieve it, a large hand grabbed his hair and used it to drag him away.