Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Bath Capital, Rouge Alley
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Chen Shi led Blackie Pot into the city, drawing sidelong glances from the passersby.
Chen Shi's attire was normal, but Blackie Pot was quite eye-catching. After all, the people of Bath Capital rarely saw a dog dressed in red clothes and red pants.
Especially one that stood upright like a person, walking on its two hind legs, and even wore sunglasses.
Chen Shi coughed lightly. Blackie Pot quickly pushed up its shades and swept a glance over the crowd. The people on the street felt everything was normal and stopped making a fuss.
"Blackie Pot, behave more normally in the city."
Chen Shi instructed. His eyes flickered. Prince Zheng's Mansion harbored experts who had made all his birds lose control. Their strength was profound and unfathomable, so he wouldn't rashly barge into Prince Zheng's Mansion.
Charging straight into Prince Zheng's Mansion to assassinate the Young Master would be suicidal.
He needed to first understand who was in Prince Zheng's Mansion, what forces the Young Master commanded, and roughly what cultivation level the man had. Only after gaining some insight into these matters would he make his move.
Bath Capital's layout imitated Shenzhou's Chang'an City, divided into ten gates and ten districts, square and orderly, named after the fifty provinces. It was jokingly called Little Chang'an.
It was said that in the early years, West Ox New Continent's capital had first been in Fei County, then moved to Xinduo, and later migrated again to Bath Capital.
Then, for some unknown reason, it was abandoned and relocated to Xijing, far from the eastern coast.
Though the capital had moved, Bath Capital's scale remained astonishing. Sorcerers often said this place had the qi of an emperor and that a mighty ruler would surely emerge in the future to become West Ox New Continent's new king.
This rumor was widely circulated in Bath Capital.
Lady Shiji sniffed the faint demonic qi in the city and praised,
"This place's demon seeds must be thriving. That big fellow underground outside the city earlier was probably drawn here by the demon seed.
Quite a few evils and spirits were attracted by it too."
Chen Shi's heart stirred.
"Lady, can you sense where the demon seed is?"
Lady Shiji shook her head.
"If demon seeds were that easy to find, that little girl Ying Rumei would have located it long ago and eaten it.
Demon seeds are cunning. They know to conceal their aura and hide themselves well to avoid detection.
Strange, I can't sense Ying Rumei's aura anymore! Could that girl sense me?"
She was quite surprised. Logically, Ying Rumei shouldn't be able to detect her, yet her aura had vanished from the city.
"Lady, how do you distinguish a demon seed?"
Chen Shi asked for guidance.
"It's hard to distinguish."
Lady Shiji said,
"When I followed the Great Ming's people to land in West Ox New Continent, I encountered many demon seeds. Some were lotus flowers in wells, some clear springs in mountains, others exotic beasts, or even farm tools that turned into demons.
Once, a demon seed hid inside a person's body. That person seemed perfectly normal until the demonic transformation occurred."
Chen Shi was puzzled.
"Hidden inside a person's body? Couldn't you tell that person was a demon seed?"
Lady Shiji said,
"You couldn't tell.
Demon seeds often lurk in the host's sea of consciousness, growing quietly until the moment they burst forth.
Even the host doesn't know they harbor a demon seed. They nurture it unknowingly until it erupts.
The person I encountered sprouted three legs that rooted into the ground, growing rapidly into a demon blood tree with his head turning into a massive canopy."
She sighed regretfully.
"I had planned to devour it, but someone under the True King took it away and sealed me in the process.
Didn't they know I was on their side?"
Chen Shi felt a chill.
Parasitized by a demon seed, the host remained oblivious until it activated. By the time they realized, it was too late!
"That parasitized person, upon learning they were the host—what despair they must have felt?" he thought to himself.
He led Blackie Pot and the wooden cart into an alley. Outside the alley stood a gate tower inscribed with the words "Rouge Alley."
Chen Shi had already scouted it out. Cutting through these alleys in Rouge Alley would bring him not far from Prince Zheng's Mansion.
The alley bustled with people, though those entering and exiting Rouge Alley were mostly men, with very few women.
Rouge Alley was full of scholars. Some wore licentiate robes, others juren robes, and some were in elegant blue attire with folded fans and silk headbands, quite refined.
There were also merchants in luxurious clothes, pot-bellied, wearing jade thumb rings, trailed by several Embroidered Uniform Guards, their eyes constantly glancing up at the buildings.
Shops lined both sides of Rouge Alley, often with doors closed—or if open, only a single leaf. Upstairs, however, doors and windows were flung wide, from which drifted the clear, ethereal strains of string and woodwind music, along with girls' songs, mellifluous and enchanting.
Chen Shi looked up and saw some gorgeously dressed girls leaning against the windows, their features delicate, makeup exquisite, appearing utterly languid.
Other girls danced to the qin music upstairs, their colorful sleeves fluttering.
Whenever this happened, some scholars or merchants would knock on the doors. An old woman would open them, ushering them upstairs to chat and laugh with the girls.
Those scholars upstairs composed poetry and traded verses, spouting prose effortlessly, citing classics as they discussed qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting with mastery in all, leaving Chen Shi impressed.
"This place truly has a flourishing literary atmosphere."
Chen Shi said to Blackie Pot.
"It's a great place for scholars.
No wonder so many come here."
"This is a brothel district, a place of flowers and willows for seeking pleasure!"
Lady Shiji said with a cold laugh.
Chen Shi was stunned and hadn't yet recovered when a little girl holding candied haws pointed at Blackie Pot and shouted,
"Evil!"
"It's a dog!"
Chen Shi corrected her.
The little girl was stubborn.
"No! It's an evil!"
"It's a dog!"
"It's an evil!"
Chen Shi was about to argue further when Blackie Pot snatched her candied haws and bolted forward. The little girl furiously chased after the dog.
Chen Shi let them fool around and continued onward.
Suddenly, a woman's voice came from behind. A hand grabbed his arm, barking,
"Got you! You pushed Qian Xiangzhu off—I saw it. Come with me to Luban Gate. You're paying with your life!"
As the woman seized his arm, Chen Shi countered by twisting her wrist and locking her elbow joint.
At the same time, his other palm activated the Five Thunders Method, lightning crackling between his fingers!
This was a technique he had diligently practiced lately, specialized for dealing with golden core and nascent soul experts.
His five fingers corresponded to the heavenly, earthly, watery, dragon, and warden thunder seals. Middle and ring fingers tucked under the thumb's first joint, pinky and index extended—that was the North Emperor Seal.
The so-called North Emperor referred to the Polaris Emperor, Marshal Tianpeng, the orthodox thunder method.
He had cultivated the Five Thunders but never tested it, unsure of its power. Using it now, he inwardly regretted not snatching the little girl's candied haws first—otherwise, the bamboo skewer would already be through the assailant's skull.
He had moved as fast as he could, but spells were still slower than direct action.
The woman smiled broadly, dressed in a blue juren robe with a black silk sash at her waist.
She wore a jinshi hat—a peculiar style, entirely black with two upturned prongs at the back that bobbed with her steps, quite flashy.
"Ow! It hurts!"
The smile hadn't faded from her face as she hurriedly cried,
"Brother Chen Shi, stop! It's me, Hu Feifei. Don't you recognize me?"
Chen Shi saw it was Hu Feifei in male disguise, complete with male headwear.
He quickly dispersed the Five Thunders and released her hand, relieved he hadn't been holding the candied haws—otherwise, Miss Hu's head would be skewered on it.
Hu Feifei rubbed her wrist, oblivious that a moment's delay in calling out would have sent her soul to the afterlife. She laughed,
"Brother Chen Shi, your reflexes are too sharp! I was just joking, and you countered me."
Blackie Pot shook off the little girl and returned to Chen Shi's side, looking at Hu Feifei with sympathy.
Just now, Hu Feifei's ancestors had banged their heads raw behind Ghost Gate Pass to save her life.
Chen Shi asked puzzledly,
"Aren't you in Xinduo? How did you end up in Bath Capital?"
Hu Feifei kept rubbing her hand, complaining,
"You've got such strong grip—you've swollen my wrist... I was taking the juren exam, but Gongzhou had a demonic outbreak. Officials got eaten by demons, so no exam. But somehow, I still passed.
In Gongzhou, I fancied a scholar and planned to get with him. He passed too.
I heard he came to Bath Capital to exorcise evils and spirits, earn money for the Xijing imperial exams, so I followed."
Chen Shi walked alongside her and asked curiously,
"Which juren caught your eye?"
"Sun Zheng. You shared a room with him."
Hu Feifei said.
"Sun Zheng?"
Chen Shi thought back. At the Gongzhou relay station, there had indeed been a scholar surnamed Sun in his room, though he hadn't paid much attention.
Hu Feifei continued,
"Bath Capital has tons of evils and spirits lately—abnormally so. Sun Zheng's been exorcising them, made good money.
I've been secretly watching him. He's knowledgeable, skilled, ambitious. He'll definitely top the imperial exams next year! When he came to Bath Capital, I followed."
Chen Shi asked,
"Where's Sun Zheng now?"
Hu Feifei said wistfully,
"Brothel-hopping."
Chen Shi was stunned.
Hu Feifei kicked a pebble on the street.
"I saw him working hard and mustered courage to meet him in the city. With my fox clan charm, wasn't he easy pickings? Then I saw him enter Rouge Alley.
Hasn't come out for days."
She grew more wistful.
"He's probably lost, right?"
Chen Shi glanced back. The exit from Rouge Alley was right there.
"Right there."
He pointed outside.
"It's a metaphor! A metaphor!"
Hu Feifei argued.
"Rouge Alley has several streets! Brothels everywhere, all interconnected. He must be lost."
She sighed, then suddenly giggled.
"I've gotten over it. Sun's not my type. I don't want him! I was going to leave, but heard the city walls outside wouldn't build—something with evils underground—so I checked it out.
Saw you shove Qian Xiangzhu off.
You walked too fast, so I followed. Didn't expect you to be brothel-hopping too!"
She gave Chen Shi a playful look.
"You men can visit, so can I! We've shopped night markets, slept in Wencai Academy, taken licentiate and juren exams together. Now brothels too—quite the adventure! Which girl you fancy? I'll haggle, cut the price in half.
Save you some money!"
Chen Shi shook his head.
"I'm here to exorcise evils and spirits."
Hu Feifei was surprised.
"Evils and spirits? In the city?"
Chen Shi's eyes flickered as he smiled.
"There's a major evil in this city on the verge of maturing."
He passed through this Rouge Alley and entered another. Both sides were brothels too. He navigated with ease, leaving Hu Feifei dumbfounded.
"Brother Chen Shi, how many days have you been playing here?"
Hu Feifei caught up, chuckling.
"You live here, right? How are you so familiar with the paths?"
Chen Shi suddenly stopped and looked toward a deep manor compound.
Hu Feifei nearly bumped into his back and halted, following his gaze. The manor was serene and quiet.
Though part of Rouge Alley, this was the back street—no brothels.
It was where the brothel girls rested.
With the girls working other streets' brothels now, it felt deserted, even eerie.
Hu Feifei spotted the little girl from earlier running into the manor, puzzled.
Chen Shi said,
"Blackie Pot, the one you chased earlier—was it human or ghost?"
Blackie Pot's fur bristled.
Chen Shi said,
"That candied haw you ate—what exactly did you eat?"
He entered the deep manor compound, Hu Feifei following. Looking around, no one was in the yard except the little girl playing alone by a stone bench, muttering as if talking to someone.
In Chen Shi's eyes, however, the yard teemed with people.
Countless women.
Some sat by the well, some along the corridors, some under eaves.
Some huddled in corners, others faced white walls painted with plum blossoms.
Some practiced qin under pavilions, some danced by the pond. One pondered a half-finished chessboard, another studied etiquette intently.
They flickered in and out of existence, then reappeared drenched in blood, faces horrifying.
Their ages varied from just over twenty down to twelve.
The little girl whose candied haws Blackie Pot snatched was poking ants on the ground while chatting with a woman beside her.
The woman had a big belly, as if pregnant, gazing at her fondly.
"Mommy, bad dog stole my candied haws!"
The little girl spotted Blackie Pot and said angrily.
The pregnant woman whipped her head around, instantly radiating killing intent, yin qi surging.
Blackie Pot barked. The pregnant woman paled in terror. The yard's female ghosts were all scared half to death, scattering and hiding.
Only the pregnant ghost stayed before the little girl, fearing they'd harm her.
Chen Shi approached, left thumb pressing his middle fingernail, other three fingers extended in the ghost-inspecting seal, tapping the pregnant ghost's brow.
She lunged but froze upon contact.
Meeting Chen Shi's gaze, she found his eyes warm, without malice—unlike that vicious dog.
Chen Shi closed his eyes. Her life's experiences flooded his mind.
She had been trafficked by the Tianlao Society as a child, sold with other girls to Bath Capital's Rouge Alley. The madam bought them, housing them in this deep manor with dozens of similar girls.
They learned qin, chess, calligraphy, painting—how to please men. Mistakes brought beatings.
Some beaten to death, some drowned in the well, smashed against walls, or hanged from eaves.
She survived to receive guests, died in difficult labor pregnant—hence her form.
Her child lived, born after death, eyes opened to yin-yang, able to see ghosts and gods.
Chen Shi withdrew his hand and smiled at the little girl.
"Little sister, what's your name?"
The girl wiped her nose and grinned.
"Little Bastard."
"Little Bastard, come here!"
A woman's voice came from the gate.
"How'd you run off here?"
The girl scurried past Chen Shi. He touched her hand—warm, human.
He turned. Outside stood a middle-aged woman, tall and still alluring, with a prominent black mole at the corner of her downturned mouth.
"Big Madam."
The little girl said.
Big Madam was the title for Rouge Alley's head madam—a designation.
All brothel girls called her Big Madam.
Big Madam eyed Chen Shi, gaze flickering, and smiled.
"Chen Shi, the Young Master instructed that if we encountered you, we should pass on his regards—"