Chapter 77 Nightmare Beast: A Sea of Hatred and a Sky of Love
"It's you!?" Bai Yuheng lowered her voice, but anyone who had heard her voice before would recognize her.
Not only was Bai Yuheng surprised, but Pei Yuan beside her was also somewhat astonished.
What's Liao Mingyuan doing here?!
Upon closer inspection, Bai Yuheng noticed that his clothes were those of a servant. She was surprised that he had discovered the problem at the brothel before they had seen him for so many days. A sense of admiration rose in her heart.
Compared to their shock, Liao Mingyuan seemed much calmer, but he was still annoyed with them. He still had some rationality left, remembering his hidden identity, and silently lowered his eyes to continue doing his work.
Bai Yuheng and Pei Yuan exchanged a glance, but without further communication, they walked straight into the Yihong Courtyard.
Brothels are usually closed for rest and recuperation during the day, and bustling with activity at night. At this moment, there are only a few pimps sitting inside, drinking some wine, eating some peanuts, and chatting.
Upon seeing guests arriving from outside, he hurriedly got up to greet them.
"Oh my! What a distinguished guest who has arrived by chance!"
Seeing that the two men were dressed in fine clothes and had an extraordinary air about them, the pimp kept praising them, and the words flowed from his mouth like water.
"I wonder if our distinguished guests came today to see a song and dance performance or..."
"That's what the pimp said cautiously."
"It's nothing serious. We're new to Jiangzhou and heard that Yihong Courtyard is the most prosperous and best, so we came straight here to check it out," Bai Yuheng said with a low voice. "Now that we see it, it truly lives up to its reputation! It has a completely different feel from the ones in the capital!"
Upon hearing that they were from the capital, the pimp immediately dared not underestimate them. He also noticed that the two men's bearing and demeanor were genuine, and the wrinkles on their faces showed a degree of sincerity in their smiles.
"Of course!" Hearing their praise, she felt proud. "Our Yihong Courtyard has been around for decades! In Jiangzhou, it's practically the only one of its kind. No other place is as big or as diverse as ours... Hehe, even the girls are top-notch! Guaranteed to be even more beautiful than the girls in the capital!"
Bai Yuheng smiled but remained silent. The old man's rat-like eyes darted around, revealing his yellow and black mottled teeth: "Please, gentlemen. You must be tired from your long journey. We happen to have two private rooms on the second floor where you can rest and recuperate. Once the girls in the building have rested, we will have someone come to serve you."
One room will suffice.
Seeing that he had arranged everything, Bai Yuheng was not stingy and tossed him a silver ingot, saying, "Is there anything taboo in this brothel? I've never been to such a big brothel before, and I want to take a look around. Don't let me go to a bad place and make us look bad and lose face."
The pimp waved his hand and said, "There's no need for so many formalities! Please feel free to go anywhere in this building. However, there are still many distinguished guests resting here, so please don't disturb them."
Bai Yuheng nodded and smiled: "Thank you for letting me know. You can go down now. I'll rest for a while and then take a stroll. There's no need to be so formal here; there aren't as many formalities as in the capital."
Seeing that he was not only generous in his spending but also spoke with great poise and politeness, without showing any contempt because of his status, the pimp felt even more favorably disposed toward the people of the capital and exclaimed, "As expected of someone from the capital, he is truly magnanimous!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Please rest well. If you need anything, just call for help. There are servants patrolling the building every fifteen minutes to ensure the safety of our distinguished guests."
"Okay, thank you."
After closing the door, Bai Yuheng and Pei Yuan exchanged a glance and used their spiritual power to explore their surroundings. They found nothing unusual, so they figured the ferocious beast aura they sensed yesterday was in the backyard.
The two changed their clothes and walked leisurely through the building, just as she had said, curious about what the largest brothel in Jiangzhou was like.
They had initially harbored some suspicion and apprehension, but that vanished as she strolled around at her leisure.
After the gaze that had been directed at her disappeared, Bai Yuheng smiled and squinted at the barrier set up in the building. Multicolored light shone in her pupils, but to an ordinary person, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Turning around, I entered the courtyard, where pavilions, towers, bridges, and flowing water, along with all sorts of exotic flowers and fruits, created a scene of extravagance.
"Alas……"
A faint, almost inaudible chirping came from the artificial hill entwined with lush flowering branches.
The golden snake within the sleeve trembled slightly, its vertical pupils flickering as it hissed and flicked its tongue, seemingly ready to pounce.
"..."
Bai Yuheng sensed the golden snake's unease and vigilance, soothed its arched back, and stroked its restless head.
She looked up and her sharp eyes seemed to see through the surface and into the hidden darkness.
"Oh my! Distinguished guest, you're here!"
It's that pimp again.
He strode over from the other end of the corridor.
As she walked quickly, she smiled and said, "I took the liberty of bringing you hot water to wash up, but I didn't expect you to be out of the house."
Bai Yuheng replied with a smile, "I just came out for a walk."
"I never expected the flowers and plants in the yard to be so lush and vibrant, each vying for attention with its own unique beauty."
Speaking of this pimp, he had something to say: "You don't know this, but the scenery in this courtyard was all arranged by His Highness Prince Gong himself. Even those rare and precious flowers and plants were planted by His Highness for Miss Shao!"
Bai Yuheng raised an eyebrow. This Prince Gong is truly extraordinary.
"Miss Shao?"
The pimp grinned, a sense of pride evident in his words. He straightened his hunched back and said, "Indeed! Our top courtesan at the Yihong Courtyard! The stunningly beautiful Miss Shao! This young lady is exceptional in both talent and appearance! Even His Highness Prince Gong said that Miss Shao is 'the best woman in Shengjing!'"
Bai Yuheng exclaimed in surprise, "So powerful? It seems I'll have to see what this Miss Shao is like tonight!"
"You can't see it. Miss Shao has long been taken by His Highness Prince Gong. Ordinary people can't see her, and even we lowly servants can't see her beautiful face!"
"That's a real shame..."
The pimp was very talkative, and Bai Yuheng chatted with him for a few more minutes.
"Hey, what's that flower over there? It looks so festive."
The pimp glanced in the direction she pointed and saw clusters of lush, bright red flowers climbing up the artificial rocks, hanging down with a certain charm. He had assumed they were some rare or precious flowers: "You, esteemed sir, have never seen these before. They're commonly known as centipede flowers, also called trumpet creeper. Unlike other rare flowers, they're everywhere here..."
Bai Yuheng seemed to be deep in thought.
With the pimp's incessant chatter in her ears, Bai Yuheng, lost in thought, remembered something.
At that time, she had just brought Pei Yuan back. The young boy's bloodlust and wolfish nature had not yet been tamed, and he gave her quite a headache during the day. However, she never had the idea of sending him away. Perhaps he was afraid or something else, because at night he was like a wounded little animal, licking his wounds alone, gloomy, sad, fearful, and suspicious...
I couldn't get a good night's sleep, night after night.
Looking at the dark circles under his eyes and his often absent-minded expression, she couldn't help but feel a pang of pity. She thought to herself that since she had brought him back, she should take full responsibility for him.
The sleeping pills Yuan Guang gave him had no effect on him.
He grabbed her hem, his still-prey-like eyes fixed on her fiercely, but his words were a plea: "Can you stay with me...?"
Bai Yuheng wanted to shake her head, after all, there is a difference between men and women, and he was not young anymore.
But when she saw the bloodshot eyes and dark circles under his eyes, and his tightly clenched, trembling hands, her heart softened instantly.
He felt compassion.
Oh well, anyway, there's no one else on Wangxian Mountain besides her and him.
It's just that the child has come to a strange place and developed a sense of dependence. She is his teacher, and a teacher for a day is a father for life. She can regard him as her own son.
Having convinced herself, she nodded, sat down by his bedside, and coaxed him to sleep.
"Master, can you tell me a story?"
Bai Yuheng frowned, intending to refuse again, but he said, "Disciple has never heard of Mother..."
Her eyelids twitched, and she interrupted, "Okay."
As she searched for a story to use, the person lying on the bed breathed a sigh of relief, a slight smile playing on their lips. They lowered their eyes, which gleamed with triumph, and lay on the covers, looking weak and helpless.
Perhaps it was then that she relaxed her guard, because at night she allowed him to enter her bedchamber, sleep peacefully beside her bed, and search for rare and wonderful stories from around the world to read to him.
One of the stories told is about a nightmare beast.
This nightmare beast is not an ordinary nightmare beast.
Ordinary nightmare beasts only consume people's dreams, whether good or bad, and only put people into a dream state without causing any harm.
However, this Nightmare Beast was raised by Emperor Lingxiao, one of the founders of the Joyful Union Sect. It only loves to consume spring dreams and stays in places of debauchery. Consuming is not enough for it. It also releases an aura that is like an aphrodisiac, which is addictive. Once you inhale this aura, you will enter a dream world, a dream world of love and desire.
It will magnify and magnify even the slightest bit of affection or desire for someone, immersing the person in its illusion forever until they die from exhaustion.
It was with the help of this symbiotic magical spirit beast that the Lingxiao Emperor broke through his cultivation level and became a "legend".
The families of those who died from her consumption attacked her, sealed the Nightmare Beast, and expelled her from the Joyful Union Sect. After that, she disappeared without a trace, and her whereabouts remain a mystery to this day.
One of the stories Bai Yuheng read to Pei Yuan was about the Lingxiao Emperor using a Nightmare Beast to fight the Sword Sect Master, engaging in passionate lovemaking with him until they lost all sense of time and place... and then falling in love and killing each other, a poignant tale of love and hate intertwined...
When Bai Yuheng first read this story, she stopped halfway through telling it. In her flustered and embarrassed state, she met Pei Yuanqing's clear eyes and instantly felt her scalp tingle.
She stammered for the first time, "This...this story isn't very good, so we won't read it..."
Having said that, he went to rummage through the pile of books, wondering as he flipped through them how such obscene and corrupting things could be mixed up in the library...
Little Pei Yuan's big eyes were filled with great curiosity: "This story is very good, Master. Your disciple really wants to know what happened to the Sword Sect Master and Emperor Lingxiao in the end."
"..."
Bai Yuheng turned to the back with a blank face, skipping over countless romantic and ambiguous words that were too explicit for children to read, and shook her head: "They probably didn't end up together. Emperor Lingxiao committed many evils and was eventually expelled from the Hehuan Sect. His whereabouts have been unknown ever since."
"As for this Sword Sect Master... because he was... cough cough, his cultivation was damaged and he was unable to break through, so he can be considered to have died peacefully at an old age."
Xiao Peiyuan didn't hear the whole story, but when he heard the ending, he frowned. He felt that this ending was not what he had imagined, but since he hadn't seen the whole story, he didn't dare to make any conclusions. He could only watch her put the book away, remembering the story and characters in his mind, thinking that he would find it to read again next time.
Although he was curious, he didn't show it on his face.
He asked, "Does Master still wish to continue?"
"..." Bai Yuheng was afraid that there might be other things in the pile of books, so she patted his head and said with a dry laugh, "Go to sleep, it's getting late, or you won't grow tall..."
Pei Yuan was very self-conscious about being a head shorter than her, and upon hearing her say that, he immediately closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.
"A distinguished person, a distinguished person!?"
What's wrong?
Bai Yuheng came to her senses, looked at the trumpet creeper, and recalled the aura she had sensed earlier. She was now basically certain.
She smiled and said, "I'm a little sleepy, I'll go back and rest first."
The pimp didn't say anything more, thinking to himself, "Am I too boring, causing this nobleman to lose his focus? In the past, many noblemen would find his stories interesting and vivid, and would even give him generous rewards!"
He couldn't help but feel ashamed; it seemed he would have to prepare another set of words...
Bai Yuheng, unaware of the pimp's thoughts, hurried back to the private room.
Pei Yuan then sat down.
"How is it going? Have you found anything?"
"I know what that ferocious beast is!"
The two spoke in unison, then both paused in surprise. Pei Yuan, with a hint of a smile in his eyes, said, "You go first."
"It's a Nightmare Beast!" Bai Yuheng's eyes gleamed as she met Pei Yuan's slightly surprised gaze. "It's that Nightmare Beast from the Joyful Union Sect!"
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