Night had fallen. A full moon hung high in the sky, lonely and bright.
Inside the bustling wine hall of the Drunken Immortal Tower., a woman danced on the stage with long flowing sleeves. Below, a flock of beautiful girls in very little clothing drifted through the room, weaving between the tables as laughter and chatter filled the air.
BANG! A table was slammed so hard it cracked through the noise, and the rowdy hall went silent with almost eerie speed.
“Absurd. Utterly absurd! Xu Changge went to Ancient Abyss, killed one measly serpent demon, and now the Crown Prince is personally welcoming him into the capital with full state honors?!”
By the railing on the second floor, a scholar in a Confucian robe shot to his feet, having just smashed his palm onto the table. His face was flushed with drink, and his voice carried the thick force of tipsy indignation.
The moment he said it, the main hall grew even quieter. Nearly everyone turned to look at him.
“Brother Li, you’re drunk. You’re talking nonsense.” One of his companions twitched at the eyelid and hurriedly tugged at his sleeve. As he spoke, the companion quickly cupped his hands and bowed apologetically to the people below. “Sorry, sorry. Drunken rambling, that’s all. Didn’t mean to ruin everyone’s fun. Please, keep drinking, keep drinking.”
The patrons in the hall laughed and played along. Drink your wine, listen to the music, back to business as usual.
But then, seeing that no one was paying attention to him anymore, the scholar shook off his companion’s hand with a dramatic sweep of his sleeve. Fueled by alcohol, he raised his voice again, face full of righteous grief.
“I’m not drunk! His Majesty has been holed up in the palace for ages without a word. And now the Crown Prince leaves the city to greet Xu Changge in person? This is obviously the Chancellor’s faction trying to build momentum for his eldest son!”
The words fell, and the hall of the Drunken Immortal Tower became so quiet you could hear a needle hit the floor. When no one challenged him, the sensation of having all eyes on him went straight to his head. He drew a deep breath and continued even louder.
“Our Great Flame Empire has stood for over 1,300 years. Xu Yinhe sits as Chancellor and was once held up as a model for us scholars. But now his wolfish ambition is plain for all to see. Never mind his factional scheming and private dealings. There are even rumors he already commands personal troops. And yet the great officials of the court are all nothing but self-serving vermin, each one concerned only with saving his own skin! And that Xu Yinhe’s third son, Xu Changtian, is even worse than a beast. He seizes innocent women by force and tramples the common people as he pleases...”
The scholar went on and on, loudly unloading on the current chancellor, completely failing to notice that the faces of the companions at his table were growing darker and darker. A few of them had already quietly edged their stools farther away from him, as if afraid stupidity might be contagious.
Was there anything wrong with criticizing the Chancellor? Of course not. Wasn’t that half the job description of a scholar in the first place? If they did not criticize officials, who were they supposed to criticize? Every private gathering, they had a go at it at least once. If nobody ranted, where was the joy in meeting up?
But still… for Heaven’s sake, could you not do it at our private gathering instead?! Who said no one had ever remonstrated with the Chancellor? No one had spoken up? Then whose heads had been piled high back at the execution grounds in the capital?
And those martial men sent off to the northern frontier and the southern wilderness to hold the line against demon and barbarian tribes, who were they supposed to be?
After letting loose for a good while, the scholar finally exhaled hard. He looked almost addicted to the sound of his own outrage and was just gearing up for the second half when a voice suddenly drifted up from a corner of the hall.
“A scholar without even a degree dares slander a high minister of the court. Do you really think Stillwater has no Secret Investigation Office?”
The young scholar heard someone push back and immediately straightened with righteous indignation. “So what if they come? Everything I said is the truth people are too afraid to speak!”
“So what?” the other voice replied with a laugh. “How about I send word and let them come meet this brave soul who dares say what no one else dares say?”
The young scholar froze. He opened his mouth, meaning to argue, but then he glanced around cautiously. All he saw were smirks, mockery, and people waiting for him to keep making a fool of himself. Half his drunkenness vanished on the spot. His face twitched, cycling through red and purple, and in the end he sat back down without the slightest trace of dignity.
The moment people saw that, laughter broke out across the room.
Before long, the Drunken Immortal Tower was lively again, inside and out, the whole place steeped in cheerful chaos.
From the top floor, Xu Yuan watched the entire scene in silence. No matter the era, no matter the world, life was simply different for people with money or power.
The Drunken Immortal Tower was built like a vast hollow shaft, open through the center, with each floor priced higher than the one below it.
The ground floor was one tier. Nearly two hundred people packed together, listening to songs and watching the girls, mostly just there to feast their eyes.
Floors two through four were another tier. The setting was looser, quieter, a little more comfortable. You could invite two or three friends, have the Madam send over a few girls, and spend the evening drinking and laughing together.
Floors five through eight were private rooms. This was where things started getting a little less respectable. Music, flute playing, and all the other cultured entertainments usually happened here.
Floors nine through twelve were reserved suites, prepared specifically for guests staying the night.
Each of those rooms came with girls who were considered among the house’s best, each one famous enough to have her own elegant stage name.
And the thirteenth floor, the very top, was a full apartment suite. Only one in the entire building. Once a person rented it, the whole top floor became their personal domain. They could summon any girl in the Drunken Immortal Tower at will, and even the maids assigned to the top floor had been handpicked by the Madam herself. Every one of them was a first-rate beauty in both face and figure.
As a professional wastrel, Xu Yuan had naturally returned to this old familiar haunt the moment he got back to Stillwater, and just as naturally booked the very top floor for himself. What he had not expected was to stumble into such a delightful little performance.
As for being cursed at, he honestly did not care. The man was cursing Xu Changtian. What did that have to do with him, Xu Yuan?
The only thing really worth noting was just how fast news traveled in the Great Flame Empire.
Zhou Chen had only told him that morning that his eldest brother had arrived in the Imperial Capital, and by that very night the news had already spread among the scholars and young nobles of Stillwater.
Then again, it made sense. A single province of the Great Flame Empire could stretch for ten thousand miles. If they could not move information quickly and accurately, the empire probably would have split apart long ago.
As Xu Yuan was mulling over all this, completely unaware, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder. A drunken voice came from behind him.
“Third Young Master, still standing here?” Zhou Chen slurred. As both bodyguard and teacher, he had naturally followed Xu Yuan to the Drunken Immortal Tower as well, happily eating and drinking on someone else’s tab.
And when it came to places of refined decadence like this, the man was even more practiced than the Third Young Master. The moment they reached the top floor, he had casually hooked an arm around two maids and strolled straight into a room like he owned the place.
Xu Yuan turned his eyes toward the scruffy expert at his side and gave a faint chuckle. “You’re done already? That fast?”
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Zhou Chen’s tipsy face. He coughed lightly. “No. Don’t go making wild guesses. I keep my distance from women. It’s only because of my cultivation art. Being quick is perfectly normal.”
After a pause, he lifted the gourd in his hand and took a swig, then shot Xu Yuan a sideways glance as if nothing had happened. “Third Young Master, since you’re here, aren’t you going to have some fun?”
“Heh.” Xu Yuan met his gaze calmly and smiled. “Can’t you tell what state my body is in? After I started cultivating, I realized this body had already been drained badly by all the old indulgence and excess. If I keep going like this... well, anyway, not for now. If I run into problems with cultivation, I’ll come find you. As for the rest, enjoy yourself.”
With that, Xu Yuan glanced at the shapely young women standing nearby, silently recited a few lines about wine and lust doing no good for the body, then turned and left.
Zhou Chen watched Xu Yuan’s retreating figure, leaned against the railing with his wine gourd in hand, and shook his head. Then he picked out two more maids, tucked one under each arm, and started back toward his room, sighing as he went, “Tsk. I thought the Third Young Master was a kindred spirit.”
Before he could finish, Xu Yuan’s amused voice drifted over from the distance. “I have no desire to be your kind of kindred spirit.”
Zhou Chen froze for a moment. Then he turned, bared his teeth in a grin at Xu Yuan’s back, and laughed. “Hah! That just proves you are!”