The Drunken-clouds Tower had an elegant layout, showing no vulgarity of strong rouge. Both the waiters and maids, dressed in fine clothes, were with no plain appearances and talked in good taste.
Even the guests who came here to drink and have fun were mostly self-proclaimed talented and romantic men, which showed the place was really different from common brothels.
When Lin Xun entered the Drunken-clouds Tower, he found a high platform circled with white jade railings and paved with flowers. Sitting on the high platform were a group of musicians, who were respectively playing instruments, including Se (a twenty-five-stringed plucked instrument), Xiao (a vertical bamboo flute), Flute and Qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument). The melody was rising and falling like towering mountains and flowing water, giving people an ethereal feeling.
There were already full of guests in front of the high platform, who seemed to be waiting for something.
“Childe, do you have a familiar girl here?” a maid with the hair in two buns came up and asked with a smile.
Lin Xun shook his head, “I'm not here for girls.”
The maid blinked her eyes and said, “If there is no girl accompanying you, it will be boring while you drink or listen to music. How about me introducing you some decent girls?”
In her eyes, the lad in front of her looked calm and composed, but obviously it was the first time he came here. It was likely that he dared not boldly call girls for companion due to shyness.
She had seen quite a few such lads who had no experience of fun, thus feeling nothing strange about it.
To her surprise, Lin Xun just smiled and said, “I’m looking for someone.” Then he pointed to a room on the second floor, “He’s right up there.”
After a glance at that room, the maid immediately said with a more submissive expression, “Ah, you are one of Yuan Shan’s friends. Please come, you are warmly welcome here.”
Lin Xun nodded. A cheer suddenly went off from the crowd when he was about to walk upstairs. He looked up and saw that a girl dressed in white plain clothes had somewhen walked out. She had got a graceful figure and elegant face, with long black hair hanging down to her waist
In her arms was a Chinese lute. As soon as she appeared on the platform, it rendered a lot of people present cheerful, with many practitioners showing fanatical admiration.
“Miss Lou Xiaoyi finally appeared on stage. She is a famous artistic practitioner from the Mist College and her mastery of Chinese lute has reached the acme of perfection. Our boss has spent a large sum of money this time in order to invite her to perform here and she finally agreed.”
The maid cast a respectful eye at Lou Xiaoyi who was on the high platform.
After making a sound of consent, Lin Xun withdrew his sight and started to walk toward the second floor.
…
With the beauty in his arms, Yuan Shan pleasantly drank the wine, and at the same time, he sighed comfortably, “Enjoy the scenery of mountains on upstairs, snow on the top of the city wall, the moon on a boat and the rosy clouds on the lake are all eclipsed by the beauty under the lights.”
The beauty in his arms smiled bashfully, and blamed, “Smooth tongue.”
Yuan Shan let out a hearty laugh, suddenly gave a hard kiss on the beauty’s moist red lips, and then said, “It’s unfortunate that I have an urgent thing to do tonight, otherwise I must let you know what my smooth tongue can do.”
At this time, the closed door was suddenly pushed open, with a juvenile walking in.
The lad had a handsome face. As soon as he entered the room, he closed the door naturally and asked with a smile, “Yuan Shan?”
“Who let you in?” Yuan Shan frowned and sulked.
The boy smiled warmly, striking people as a harmless person. He then said, “It seems that you are Yuan Shan. Good, I don’t find the wrong person.”
Suddenly, Yuan Shan became alert. Directly pushing away the beauty in his arms, he stood up and said unkindly, “Little fellow, are you coming here to pick a fight?”
The lad smiled but said no word. He just raised his arm and a ball of black light was suddenly shot out of his sleeve.
Buzz!
A terrible and sharp whistling sound arose.
Yuan Shan’s expression instantly changed. The moment he was about to dodge, he felt the pain in his throat where a bowl-sized bloody hole was made. Then, with his sight gone, he completely lost consciousness.
Gurgle~
Yuan Shan’s body fell hard to the ground, and in the meantime, blood spurted from his throat, splashing all over the room and staining wherever it went the color of scarlet.
That prostitute’s face had long turned pale for fear upon the unexpected scene. After witnessing the sight of the horrible death of Yuan Shan, she began to scream in scare.
But as soon as she opened her mouth, she felt a pain in the back of her head and fainted.
“You intend to kill me while not even knowing me. What an idiot!” the lad muttered.
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The lad was precisely Lin Xun. The short crossbow he used just now was named “Soul Devourer”, a superior weapon given by Chu Feng, which was worth three hundred imperial gold coins and was very powerful, able to kill a strong practitioner in the Sea Spirit Realm at close point-blank range by surprise!
The only drawback was that the crossbow could only be used once.
“But your life is worth the three hundred imperial gold coins.”
Lin Xun turned around and left. After closing the door behind him, he called in a waiter and ordered, “Remember not to bother him again tonight. You’ll have a lot to suffer if you spoil his mood.”
The waiter nodded in a hurry and agreed on it.
Lin Xun walked downstairs, and a clangorous melody suddenly rose behind him when he came to the gate of the Drunken-clouds Tower.
Creating the same impression as horses galloping in the battlefield, the moment the melody came, it stimulated people’s burning indignation and aroused the urges to fight.
Lin Xun couldn’t help looking back, and saw that the girl named Lou Xiaoyi had begun to sing on the platform.
“Hair on end and shoving my hat,
in wrath I lean on the balustrade,
while the rain leaves off its pitter-pat.
Eyes fixed skyward,
I sign long and loud.
A hero’s fury fills my breast.
At thirsty, nothing achieved, unknown,
but these to me are light as dust—
I’ve fought through eight-thousand li,
holding the field, under cloud and moon.
What I do mind, is not to let
my young head turn white in vain,
and be gnawed by empty sorrow then!
With the Human Humiliation yet
unavenged, unredressed,
how can the empire’s grievance be
ever effaced from memory?
I’ll send war-chariots rough-shod
through the gorges of war zone!
To quench my thirst, I’d drink the blood
of barbarians, while laugh and chat I can.
Heroic minded, to satiate hunger,
I would make enemies’ flesh my fare.
Till our lost land is all retrieved,
Then to the Forbidden City, there
I’ll make obeisance, relieved!”
【Notes: “In a rage, I’m leaning on the railing, while the drizzle finally turns to a pause.
I look up, letting out a battle cry towards the sky, with my heart full of emotions.
The hardship, gains and losses are all belittled like dust and dirt when put in the big picture.
The road to the final success is destined to be long and hard.
Try not to idle away your time. When getting old, you’ll feel sad!”
Since the disgrace hasn’t been avenged, how can the hate for losing our land disappear?
I just wanna drive the chariots to tramp those turbulent areas.
Tired, we’ll eat the barbarians’ meat; thirsty, we’ll drink the enemies’ blood.
Wait for me to reoccupy our empire’s soil and report success to our emperor!”】
Here was a brothel, a place of luxury for fun by dissipation. But at this time a battle song full of ambition and vehemence arose, rendering the whole hall of the Drunken-clouds Tower quiet in a minute.
Many guests were shocked for they hadn’t thought that such a delicate girl as Lou Xiaoyi could sing such a song of lofty sentiments and militant pride.
Many practitioners were infected by the lyrics and could not resist the urge to join the army and fight on the frontline, with burning blood.
Lin Xun was shocked, too. He was also a bit moved by it. He could not help but ask the waiter next to him, “Who wrote this song?”
“Who else could it be? It’s definitely the Blood King, Ning Bugui!” the waiter replied proudly.
Lin Xun nodded, then turned around and left the Drunken-clouds Tower.
Boom~
Suddenly, a clap of thunder crashed in the dark sky, then flashes of lightning like silver snakes teared the sky apart.
Hua~
In an instant, strong winds blustered and a heavy rain poured down, which created a mess on the originally bustling street in a minute and there were people desperately seeking shelter from the rain everywhere.
Lin Xun strolled in the heavy rain. His clothes were soon soaked through, but he seemed totally unaware of it and buried himself in walking forward.
He was recalling the information sent by Chu Feng.
Yuan Shan, the person he killed just now, was a strong practitioner of the Gang Spirit Realm, coming from the Clan of Yuan. His own power was not very strong but he was one of the key roles who gave orders.
According to the intelligence, Yuan Shan would take action at 11 pm tonight, gather a group of practitioners from the Clan of Yuan and launch a surprise attack against Lin Xun.
But maybe even Yuan Shan himself didn’t expect that he would have been killed by Lin Xun before starting action.
“What I do mind, is not to let my young head turn white in vain, and be gnawed by empty sorrow then! Tonight seems a pretty good time to kill, and the chance should not to be missed,” Lin Xun took a deep breath, with nothing other than indifference in his eyes.
Before long, he turned into an alley. There was a dim light flickering deep in the alley, but that could barely dispel the darkness.
Lin Xun stood in front of a house from which came the light. The door was left open, and laughter could be heard even in such a night with downpour.
Lin Xun smiled silently. In his hand appeared a pitch-black saber, which was about seventy-six centimeters long and three fingers wide. Its blade seemed unadorned, but it was in fact incomparably sharp.
This saber, named Black Spirit, was exquisite among the middle-grade spiritual weapons of the Human-rank. It was also a gift from Chu Feng.
Squeak~
The door was pushed open and Lin Xun paced in.
Inside was a small courtyard in the depth of which was surprisingly a magnificent old building brightly lit and cheerful discussion and laughter came from that building.
Lin Xun paced up the steps and came to the front of the building. A figure suddenly came out when he hesitated about whether to break in directly or to hide in the dark for a chance to attack.
It was a scraggy middle-aged man, who was stunned at the sight of Lin and asked subconsciously, “Who are you?”
Lin looked up, with a smile emerging on his handsome face which was washed by the rain. “I come here to claim lives.”
Whoosh!
With his voice fading out, Lin already dashed out like a flash of black lightning, hacking with his saber towards that middle-aged man.
Unexpectedly, the scrawny middle-aged man reacted extremely fast. At the moment Lin attacked, gray lights surged all over the man’s body and a bronze shield simultaneously appeared in front of him.
However, the middle-aged man had obviously underestimated the strength of this strike from Lin. Along with a huge sound, the bronze shield was shattered like paper and the whole body of that man was shaken far away, with no idea of how many bones in his body were broken and a shrill scream let out.
The shriek acted like a signal, making furious roars suddenly come out of the originally bustling house.
“Something is wrong. It’s Old Three’s voice!”
“The enemy has come for us!”
“Shit, how dare anyone pick a fight with us in the Mist City? I’ll just want to see who the hell dares to seek trouble at such time!”
Along with the words, a sturdy figure rushed out first, but what was greeting him was a blade that appeared out of nowhere like a ghost!
Swish!
The blade cut out at an incredible speed, and the edge of the blade glimmered with illusory sky-blue luster, which looked however somewhat weird against the setting of rain at night.
The sturdy figure didn’t even have the time to dodge, only to be cut from his waist with a single strike, and the two parts of his body fell with a thump on the ground of the courtyard, with blood gushing out.
“Old Nine!”
In a roar, four or five figures had already rushed out and saw the figure of Lin who was standing next to the stone pillar in front of the door.
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