Yunmozhou, Quanxing.

The magnificence of the inner hall is blocked by a six-curve screen. The luminous shells and gold and silver pieces inlaid on the mother-of-pearl lacquer screen create a lifelike peony picture. The deep red, light purple, apricot yellow and pink peonies sparkle in the sun.

"Lao Li, you can run your own business, but you can't eat alone." The man was dressed in simple black clothes, with a strong back and waist like a mountain, sitting in the main seat.

A thin man who looked like a doctor nodded quickly: "Of course, no matter how foolish I am, I dare not fail to pay tribute to Quan Xing. A gentleman loves money, but he gets it in a proper way. This is the truth."

"It's good that you understand this principle," Zhang Chi looked at the account book in front of him and said calmly, "Don't be like those mercenaries who are like flies seeing blood when they see a little money."

"The helmsman's teachings, Li Zhi will keep them in mind..." Li Zhi was about to say something when he suddenly saw a girl in red walking towards him. He stood up hurriedly and said, "Greetings to the head of the Baili Sect."

The girl was wearing a bright red phoenix flower dress, with her black hair flowing down, her face like a crescent moon, and her eyes like shooting stars. On the hilt of the sword at her waist, a blood-red dragon ball was glowing red.

"Others say that there is a limit to how much you should relax and work harder, but I think you are becoming more and more unrestrained."

Zhang Chi knew that she was talking to Li Zhi, but she just smiled and said nothing.

——Yunmozhou is the estuary of five rivers and is in charge of the water transportation of Qianyuan Continent. Merchant ships coming and going for business inevitably have to spend money to bribe the immortal officials of Yunmozhou. Zhang Chi believed that he could not forge a better sword than Fushui, so he sealed the furnace and helped her manage the accounts. The Muxianzhou branch was in need of money after the war, and Quanxing had always refrained from imposing harsh policies and taxes on the people, so he could only squeeze money from the passing merchant ships.

Li Zhi in front of him was a black market businessman and a famous poison cultivator who specialized in smuggling herbs from the Yaowang Valley in Huafengzhou in the south. Most of these smugglers did not dare to take the inland waterway and could only go north from Hualonghai, and Yunmozhou was a must-go place.

Hearing this, Li Zhi smiled awkwardly: "Of course, of course..."

"I've heard that Doctor Li has traveled extensively and is well versed in medicine. Can you treat my sister?"

Zhang Chi was stunned for a moment, looked at Li Zhi and decided to give it a try, leading the two of them to the inner courtyard: "Follow me."

The inner courtyards are mostly built with bluestone as the base, birch wood as the railings, and covered with glazed tiles. The octagonal eaves are exquisitely carved, elegant and simple.

As she walked away, she asked, "Still refusing to tell me?"

"Yes." Zhang Chi's face suddenly darkened, and his voice was as dry as a taut string. "I asked the doctor to take a look yesterday. The pulse at the Guan position was floating and slippery, and the pulse at the Chi position was like water dripping from the eaves, which is the sign of a dim light."

After she drove Xiang Yao away and became an immortal official in Yunmozhou, Qu Liuguan also realized the pros and cons and personally returned Nan Shuangshuang's indenture. But although Nan Shuangshuang came back, she was depressed every day and became thinner day by day. There was no sign of poisoning on her body, and the doctor could not find out what was wrong. In the past few years, she had barely kept alive with various immortal herbs and elixirs, but it was just a drop in the bucket.

Yao Yue once forced Nan Shuangshuang to tell her what had happened, but Nan Shuangshuang just cried and refused: If you still want her to live one more day, then don't ask anymore.

The heavy curtain was hanging, and occasionally the wind blew over, blowing the apricot-yellow tassels, rippling the dragon's whiskers, like a beautiful woman's jade fingers plucking a string, soft as boneless, lingering and sad. The pretty woman's face was pale, but she seemed to be in a good mood. She was flipping through today's Immortal Alliance tabloid in her hand. When she heard the voice, she opened the curtain and smiled at the visitor.

"Yaoyue, I was just reading the news about you causing a big disturbance in Wanjian Mountain."

She suddenly remembered another person who also liked to read the Immortal Alliance tabloids, and sighed, "Sister Shuangshuang, if you want to know about me, just let Zhang Chi tell you. This tabloid is full of nonsense, so it's better not to read it."

Nan Shuangshuang hid her face and smiled: "I think what they wrote about you is quite interesting. Our Yao Yue is very impressive outside."

"Stop making fun of me," Yao Yue turned around and waved to Li Zhi who was standing beside her, "Doctor Li, come and see what's wrong with my sister."

Li Zhi walked forward, put his hand on Nan Shuangshuang's wrist for a moment, and asked her to stick out her tongue. After checking for a while, he was puzzled: "This girl is not poisoned, but her body is thin and thin, and her foundation has been damaged..." At this point, he frowned and suddenly remembered something, "Excuse me for being rude, but was the girl a prostitute before?"

Nan Shuangshuang pursed her lips and nodded. Zhang Chi was furious but Yao Yue stopped him with her hand, "Please continue, sir."

"I need to see the girl's lower eyelids to confirm."

Nan Shuangshuang stretched out her hand and pulled down her right eyelid, only to see a black blood vessel running across her eyelid. Yao Yue's eyesight was far better than that of an ordinary person, and she could even clearly see the blood vessel moving slightly. Li Zhi's face changed, and he immediately turned around and left, "My medical skills are not good, so the master should ask for someone else."

Yao Yue hurriedly chased after him, but he winked at her, and the two of them walked a long way before stopping. Li Zhi suddenly bowed to her, "Master Baili, I am willing to tell you everything I know, but you have to promise me one thing."

"Speaking."

"You are not allowed to reveal Li's name. If I am hunted down in the future, please save my life, Master."

"I promise."

Although Baili Yaoyue was known as a witch, everyone in the world knew that she valued her promises very much and would always keep her word. Seeing this, Li Zhi breathed a sigh of relief and then slowly said:

"Miss Nan was not poisoned, but someone put a Gu on her, called the Mother and Child Yinhun Gu. Few people know about this Gu, and I have only seen it on a courtesan in Huafeng Prefecture. I don't know how the mother Gu controls the child Gu, but the courtesan wrote a place name and immediately bled from all seven orifices and died. That's why I dare not speak in front of Miss Nan, for fear that she will suffer the same fate as the courtesan."

No wonder... No wonder Sister Shuangshuang has been unwilling to say...

Yao Yue's eyes tightened: "What place is it?"

"Yongning Prefecture, Lanxue Pavilion."

***

A narrow and steep stone staircase leads to the path in the flower forest. At the end of the stone staircase is a water pavilion, hidden in the mist of locust trees and willows, which makes people feel like they are in a fairyland. The luxury of the immortal official's residence and the beauty of the forest and lake are perfectly combined. The wooden window of the water pavilion is half open, and the light sunlight shines in, mixed with the fragrance of lotus flowers, which makes people feel relaxed and happy.

Under the light apricot-colored window, Xingyuan saw her. She had wide sleeves and a slim waist, and her white dress dragged on the ground, as if she had just taken a bath.

"Zhang Chi said you have been waiting for me at home for five days. Is there something urgent?"

"I..." Xing Yuan looked at her steadily. He was usually good at speaking, but now he was hesitant. After a while, his face flushed, and he asked softly, "Are you willing to... be my Taoist partner?"

The first time he saw her during the sect competition, he knew he was doomed.

——A peerless sword and an extraordinary beauty.

She saved his life when Qiongqi attacked Jiangyun Prefecture, and at that time he decided that she was the one and only. He opened the Sutra Library for her to explore, helped her to establish a sect, and helped her to negotiate with the Immortal Alliance... However, in the past few years of companionship, she was always indifferent to him. Even though the outside world spread the rumors about the two of them being intimate, he knew that the girl was alienated in her bones.

But that sense of alienation disappeared for a moment when he was facing others during the Wanjian Mountain sect assessment.

The gradually accumulating fear can make people lose their courage and become anxious about gains and losses; the sudden rise in fear is enough to make people lose their reason and forget everything.

He had to...had to be sure.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became dull. Yao Yue stroked her skirt with her fingers and looked at him in confusion.

"Did you misunderstand me somewhere? I never liked you."

Instantly, Xing Yuan's throat seemed to be tightly strangled by an invisible hand, and he felt sore and painful, but he couldn't shed tears. He once boasted that he had walked through a sea of ​​flowers without getting a single leaf on his clothes, and he sneered at his old love who tried hard to keep him.

——So this is what it feels like.

He wanted to ask what was going on, but his mind was in a mess, and his voice was blocked at the throat. He had nowhere to vent his sadness and panic, and his body was shaking: "...Is it because of that kid Wan Jianshan?"

Unexpectedly, the girl suddenly laughed, and the sound was like ice chips gently hitting clear water, chilling my heart.

"It's none of your business."

After Xing Yuan left in a daze, she looked out the window and said loudly:

"Have you heard enough in the corner?"

A young man in a long gown embroidered with snow and a rhinoceros belt embellished with jade flashed in from the window, with a wild smile on his face: "So you knew."

"I am half a step into the immortal realm, how can you hide your little bit of Taoism from me?"

The girl's complexion was like a spring morning, her long hair was like a waterfall, and a hollow golden scent ball with a crabapple pattern hung on her belt. Her unique fragrance in the air entered his nostrils, and the arrogant and unruly Ling family's son felt a hint of nervous shyness for the first time -

Ever since he heard Xing Yuan mention the disciples of Wanjian Mountain, his heart has been beating non-stop.

"I called you here because I want to ask you something." Yao Yue looked at him calmly, "Lanxue Pavilion, how much do you know?"

Lanxue Pavilion is in Yongning Prefecture, and the Ling family is the immortal official of Yongning Prefecture. It would be the most appropriate to ask Ling Wujie for help. Unexpectedly, this cheap apprentice she took in to humiliate Wanjianshan would be of great use.

Ling Wujie didn't seem to expect her to ask this. He was stunned for a moment before answering, "That's a brothel, and it's the most expensive brothel in Jiuzhou."

"What's so special about it?"

"If you want to say it's special..." He curled his lips, looking unpredictable, "His courtesan Bai Ruyu is a man, and he was ranked first on the Kyushu Heroes List, known as the most beautiful man in the world." Then he rolled his eyes quickly and disdainfully, "Just a male prostitute."

——The Nine Provinces Heroes List and Nine Provinces Beauties List are appearance evaluation lists created by Langya Pavilion. They are widely followed by the public. Some famous families will spend a lot of money to buy their children a top 20 ranking. The top ten positions are not allowed to be bought and sold. They are all real beauties. Compared with these, Yaoyue is more concerned about whether her position as the world's number one expert on the Langya Immortal List is stable.

"What realm is Bai Ruyu in, and what kind of skills is he practicing?"

"I don't know the technique. As for his realm, he is at least at the Nascent Soul stage. He has been here since Lanxue Pavilion was first established, and he can still receive guests after more than a hundred years. He must be old and ugly."

The girl smiled at him suddenly, and Ling Wujie felt that the sunlight in front of his eyes suddenly shattered, jumping in stars, and he stuttered rarely.

"Why are you asking this?"

"My dear disciple, accompany me to Lanxue Pavilion tomorrow," she blinked, "If a fight breaks out, you have to help me clean up the mess."

"Want to beat Bai Ruyu?" The young man suddenly became energetic. His dark eyes were like black jade, shining brightly. His thin lips were slightly curved. He seemed to be in a good mood. "I have had this idea for a long time!"

"Do you have any other connection?"

"It's not me, it's my father..." Ling Wujie gritted his teeth, a hint of murderousness on his face, "He loves to run to Lanxue Pavilion whenever he has something to do. I think he has been seduced by that cheap whore!"

There are both male and female prostitutes in Lanxue Pavilion, but male prostitutes are more favored. Even in the whole Yongning Prefecture, male prostitution is prevalent because of Bai Ruyu. There are noble ladies who spend a lot of money on him, and there are also young men who offer him elixirs and treasures, hoping to make him smile.

She really wanted to see what kind of person this Bai Ruyu was.