The map that Li Yang had been given by his father wasn't terribly detailed, it had to cover a rather vast area after all so that was inevitable. But Li Tian had thought about this ahead of time and provided the two with a separate jade slip which contained more detailed maps of the areas where Li Yang's parents had acquaintances. As a result, despite Cyan Cloud city only serving as a small blip on the map, the two were able to easily locate the building that was marked.

"This... is the place?"

Mei Kongxu couldn't help but sound both confused and uncertain, her voice practically no more than a mutter as she looked at the building standing in front of them. And her tone was well justified because even Li Yang's tone was unintentionally moving in the same direction.

"I mean... It should be? I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the Third Elder actually came to a place like this, I'm more surprised that he'd actually send us here."

The wooden building, whose entrances was decorated with two crystals carved like flames, had a very simple signboard denoting what sort of business was performed there. 'Flowering Clouds Brothel.' They could detect the sweet scent wafting out from inside even before entering it, and the very faint sounds coming from beyond the double doors clearly showed that they were either already preparing for the workday or were just finishing up last nights work.

"Well... Waiting out here won't get us anywhere, so we might as well enter and see if it'll bear fruit."

Li Yang's bearing was far more casual than Mei Kongxu, whose cold exterior hesitated slightly while Li Yang nonchalantly stepped forward, if that was what one could call his slow pace. Neither of them had any experience with things like brothels, but one was more or less abandoned as a lecherous young master while the other was raised like a dignified young lady, it was obvious that they wouldn't react similarly.

But the sound of Li Yang opening the entrance made Mei Kongxu realize that she really didn't have the time to hesitate like this. Just like Li Yang said earlier, they knew so little that they had to consider every possibility as possible. As such, if they really wanted to learn the truth then they also had to consider every option as viable, no matter how strange it sounded.

She followed after Li Yang as he stepped into the building, the sweet scent actually becoming more subdued the moment they pushed open the doors. A small hallway lined with a light blue carpet greeted them, an open door leading to a circular room divided up into smaller isolated sections awaiting them at the other end of the hallway. But there was a small counter tucked away right next to this open door, a mature woman clad in light and almost see-through clothing stepping out to greet them.

"My oh my, such cute customers we're getting this time around. Would you like a separate course or are you planning on enjoying the meal together, for a small additional fee that is?"

The woman smiled enticingly, practically her entire body swaying with each step she took. He didn't have any proof, but Li Yang guessed that she probably wasn't limited to just working here as a greeter. Li Yang didn't waste any time, and although he was still a bit pale and his right eye was swimming around somewhat aimlessly, he flashed the woman a charming smile while also taking out the map he had been given.

"I would love to take you up on that offer, unknown Fairy Sister, but I fear for what my Wifey would do to my precious junior if I ran off so quickly after our wedding. We actually came because of this mark, could Fairy Sister tell me if she knows anything about it?"

The bottom corner of the paper map he had been given was branded with a symbol Li Yang had seen once before, his father had it tattooed just beneath his left armpit. It didn't resemble anything belonging to the Deepsea King sect, it instead looked like three disintegrating feathers coiling around a curved claw.

The woman smiled seductively in response to Li Yang, Mei Kongxu maintaining a cold facade since she was already used to Li Yang's playboy ways. The woman cast a sideways glance at Mei Kongxu, allowing one of her fingers to gently trace the mark before she beckoned for Li Yang and Mei Kongxu to follow her.

"Oh my, this Little Brother certainly has a glib tongue and knows how to please a girl. If your big boss loosens your leash then you can always come and find me, I'll give you an appropriate discount and teach you all sorts of fun things you can surprise your big boss with. As for your mark, I personally don't know anything about it, but my own big boss is a bit familiar with it so please follow me."

The woman turned around with a light toss of her brown hair, swaying her hips and buttocks in a seductive manner, clearly an act she was exceedingly familiar with. The three stepped into the circular room, the woman glancing back curiously when she saw that Li Yang was trailing behind. She saw his extremely slow pace, but was professional enough not to mention it and instead slow down to match his pace.

The three eventually reached one of the isolated booths, the material it was built from seemed thin, but there weren't any sounds leaking out from within. The woman knocked on the door three times in quick succession, keeping her voice somewhat low as she called out.

"Mistress Lao Qin, two cute juniors have come here to ask about your mark."

It didn't take long for there to be a response from beyond the door, the entire door was pulled open and a youthful man was tossed out, his pants still around his ankles. A rather young-looking woman with a buxom body and a head full of golden hair was the one who had tossed out the man, not even paying him an ounce of attention since her green eyes were currently sweeping over Li Yang and Mei Kongxu. Li Yang was just about to take out the map once more to show off the mark, but the woman, Lao Qin waved her hand and stopped him.

"You've inherited your father's eyes and plenty of your mother's features, it's a shame you haven't inherited more of your father's charming features. But you're still handsome, albeit in a different way from them, so they can still be proud of your appearance. Follow me, I'll bring you to a better place to talk."

Li Yang had indeed inherited most of his features from his mother, the only thing he had received from his father was his crimson eyes. But for this Lao Qin to spot that straight away spoke a great deal about how close she was to Li Yang's parents. Lao Qin spoked a few words to the woman that had guided Li Yang and Mei Kongxu over here and then curled her finger at the two as she started to head for the corner of the room, where an ascending staircase went into the wall.

The two followed after her, but she too stopped up slightly when she noticed Li Yang's slow pace. Her eyes swept over Li Yang, a faint light flashing in her pupils as she observed him. She seemed to have noticed something thanks to her observation, nodding her head appreciatively.

"Quite strict training, you're rather similar to Old Tian in that regard it seems."

If there was one person Li Yang didn't want to be compared to then it was his father, but he didn't bother stating that fact right now, there really wasn't a point in doing so. Lao Qin slowed her pace to accommodate Li Yang's walking speed and brought the two up the stairs, which led to a single door that opened up into a simple office containing two bookshelves, a desk, and five chairs.

Lao Qin brought two of the chairs over to the desk and then swiped a gem inserted into the waist of her blue robe, a teakettle and three cups appearing in her grasp. She filled up all the cups and then sat down on the chair standing behind the desk, calmly sipping her cup while gesturing towards the two other chairs and starting the conversation.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I can see the confusion in your eyes, little missy, but there's no need to think about it too much. We're not some underground spy department or the like, we just so happened to find Old Tian back when he was still Young Tian. He had been out for some tempering and ended up wounded, we nursed him back to health and allowed him to work here as one of our call boys when he seemed unwilling to return to his sect. He eventually worked up the courage to return, but he's always kept the favour in his heart so he's visited us fairly regularly over the years, usually bringing along one or two of his wives to introduce them to us. He's become quite a braggart over the years so we've heard about most of his children. You should be Li Yang, no?"

The latter part of Lao Qin's sentence was directed at Li Yang, but while she questioned him it was clear that she had already come to her own conclusion so Li Yang simply nodded his head. It was quite a strange sensation for Li Yang to hear someone else speak so casually about his father, most referred to him with extreme respect so he didn't often hear people speak about him with such a friendly tone. Lao Qin continued to talk, emptying her cup before sweeping out a hand in a welcoming gesture.

"I sent over a present for your wedding but it was just a few hundred Spirit Stones, no need to thank me for them. You can ask me whatever you like and I'll do my best to answer, but tell me, how did Old Tian take your decision to leave so quickly after the wedding?"

Li Yang didn't actually have a way of confirming her words about the gift, all the presents had been sent to his father and he was the one who handed them over, sans any nametags and congratulatory notes. But that wasn't of much importance to Li Yang, who simply smiled while putting on an overly embarrassed and bashful front.

"The Third Elder took it exceptionally well, and thank you for the wedding gift, Fairy Sister Qin. I'll make sure to engrave it in my heart, but I may be forced to repay you with my body in the future if I end up poor."

Lao Qin glanced sideways at Mei Kongxu while Li Yang spoke, but seeing that she didn't react she felt that she learned a bit more about what sort of relationship these two newlyweds were in. But the thing she latched on to the most was the way Li Yang spoke about his father, especially the undertones that naturally crept their way into his voice.

"Third Elder... Li Yang, I don't know exactly how close you and Old Tian are, but please try to understand him. He might seem distant and cold, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care. It's just that he has to carry far too many burdens, there are far too many things he has to protect and care about."

There was no denying that she knew Li Tian better than Li Yang, she had known him for much longer after all. But even if Li Tian wasn't one of her friends, she would still give similar advice. After all, it was just too sad for a father and son to not understand each other, no one gained anything from something as painful as that. But if advice like that was enough then things between Li Yang and his father would have smoothened out long ago.

"I will certainly keep that in mind, and I thank Fairy Sister for her advice. As for the questions we have, they're all related to the Pristine Tyrant. We're looking for information on him, so anything that you know about would be appreciated, especially if you know something that isn't exactly common knowledge."

The Deepsea King sect and the World-Rending Behemoth sect had all the official archives about the Pristine Tyrant, probably even information that wasn't as common. But even they didn't have all that much information, it was mostly just about some of the places he had engaged in a massacre or some battle, as well as some of the laws he showed off during those acts. Lao Qin was clearly quite surprised by the request that Li Yang put forward, using her thumb to gesture in the direction of the statue.

"Hmm, it seems like you inherited better luck than your father, cause you came to the right place. My ancestor was one of the lucky people to have survived that horrible massacre back then, she even saw the Pristine Tyrant personally. She was one of the people who helped build the grand statue that you've probably already seen."

Li Yang was personally seeing the massacred taking place right now with his left eye, so he was keenly aware of what it meant to survive something like that. Mei Kongxu was actually the first one to ask a question, and she seemed to plan on asking a bit of a trick question at first, but Lao Qin shut her down straight away.

"That grand statue, is it acc..."

"No, it's not accurate, and that was on purpose. That man was simply too human, too normal, he was like the shopkeeper next door. So they twisted his visage into something more demonic, something that would fit better with the acts he performed. That way people wouldn't start getting paranoid that everyone they saw would be the same as him, capable of the same atrocities. It's a bit idiotic if you ask me, but who am I to question the acts of the ancestors?"

That was an excuse neither of them had heard before, that they had to change the records of the man to fit the deeds he had performed. They had erected a monument to his sins, but the sins were so great that they had to alter the monument in fear of spreading paranoia, it was quite a laughable thing.

Lao Qin seemed to think about something for a second, waving her hand just as Li Yang was about to ask a question. She stood up from her seat and walked over to one of the bookshelves, her slender finger tracing along the spines of the books until she stopped on a somewhat small leatherbound notebook.

"The Pristine Tyrant, a devil who no one knows where he came from or where he died, it's all just rumours and scattered facts. This notebook contains everything my ancestor wrote down about him, some of it was written down on the day she first met him and other things were written down as she gathered information about him after he left this city. It should be more helpful than most official archives, but even that isn't saying much since the book contains preciously little."

She walked back to the desk after picking up the book, placing it down and sliding it over to Li Yang. The book showed clear signs of age, the paper so dry that it crackled when Li Yang opened it. It was old, but seeing that it had just been placed into the bookshelf like that it didn't seem to be too important to this Lao Qin so Li Yang accepted it without much fanfare.

"Thank you, Fairy Sister, I'll make sure to repay you when the opportunity presents itself."

He handed the book to Mei Kongxu, who immediately opened it and started to go through the contents. Lao Qin didn't look the slightest bit bothered about handing away the book, further solidifying Li Yang's guess. She also didn't seem intent on accepting any payment for it, waving her hand casually and moving on to the next topic.

"Talk with your father and try to see things from his position, that oughta be enough. But seeing as you're looking for things about the Pristine Tyrant, and you came here, are you planning on heading to Dead-Branch Ruin next?"

Dead-Branch Ruin was much the same as this city, a place that had experienced a massacre at the hands of the Pristine Tyrant. But that city had suffered a different fate, it had been completely destroyed in the attack, to the point where people still hadn't tried to move in and repopulate it. It wasn't terribly surprising that she would guess that they were heading there next so Li Yang simply nodded his head, Lao Qin immediately trying to dissuade them.

"You should avoid that place, rumour has it that it's haunted. I wouldn't warn you if it were just rumours, but there's a fact about that city that very few people know about, even I only know about it since my ancestor wrote it down in her book. This city only managed to survive that massacre because the Pristine Tyrant got bored and decided to leave, we would just have become another ruin if he wanted to."

This was indeed something that several of the official records were curious about, why did one city survive while the other was turned to lifeless ruins, especially when the two cities were so close to each other? Li Yang listened intently, and Mei Kongxu too halted her reading to pay attention.

"So why did Dead-Branch Ruin end up being completely destroyed while we survived? Simple, they managed to hurt him and thus angered him. The city's grand protective array managed to hit him, and it shaved off a portion of his soul. Mind you, it should have killed him, so just surviving that speaks of how terrifying he was. The soul is the foundation of all life, so for him to lose a bit of his soul in that place, and for that place to then become a place where rumours of a haunting are swirling about, you can't help but tie the two things together. And if it's tied to the Pristine Tyrant then it's best left alone, a devil like that is best left sleeping, even if it's just the memory of him."

It was an explanation so simple that it bordered on boring, one city survived while the other died simply because one angered the perpetrator while the other didn't. But it certainly led to an interesting fact, a seemingly haunted ruin where an ancient devil had lost part of his soul, it certainly sounded enticing.

And as if they had agreed on it beforehand, Li Yang and Mei Kongxu locked eyes, the two actually holding the same opinion for once. And as a result, Li Yang's lips curved up faintly, as if even a possible haunting concerning an ancient devil was worthy of disdain.

"I see, that certainly sounds disconcerting. But I'm sorry, we want answers, so I'm afraid that not even a measly ghost of the past can stop us."