Book 7: Chapter 6: Nothing Below
In dangerous places, one would always be exceptionally vigilant.
The three youngsters were extremely low profile when they walked in, not revealing their strength. However, even those who were half drunk, the crude and rough men whose faces were buried in the exposed snow white-chests of women immediately turned around to look in their direction.
“These three individuals are best not provoked.”
Most of these vicious large men inwardly came to this conclusion at the same time. They immediately returned to how they were a breath ago, as if they didn’t notice these three’s arrival at all. Some arms that were even thicker than normal people’s legs that were closer to these three youngsters even lowered their bodies out of vigilance, putting away a bit of their wildness to avoid letting the alcohol and food juices splash on these three youngsters’ bodies.
This was North Grain Cave Town.
Yunqin’s radiance and laws didn’t wish to shine here, a place where just a single unkind provocative look might very well trigger a life and death battle.
Based on the experiences of everyone who moved through this place, the more calm they looked, the more delicate one looked, the more dangerous they were.
Even though these three youngsters didn’t look like they were that well built, the unique calmness their bodies carried made even the noisy and chaotic air around them seemingly become a bit heavier. Moreover, all three of these individuals carried large wooden chests on their backs.
Together with how these three youngsters didn’t look tired from carrying the chests on their back at all, this was one of the trademark characteristics of Yunqin’s cultivators.
A place like North Grain Cave Town was filled with cultivators, their appearance not strange here at all. However, no one wanted to become enemies with cultivators whose backgrounds were unknown, even if they were cultivators themselves.
The three youngsters who no one wanted to provoke sat down in a corner.
Chen Feirong who was leaning against a stone pillar walked over to these three youngsters with a smile.
She was this wine shop’s most enchanting waitress. The leather armor covering the upper half of her body was extremely sparse, her smooth and pure white back completely exposed, a half naked maid drawn with balsam extract. Meanwhile, her two large breasts were also half exposed outside her leather armor, moreover bound by the black leather armor until they formed two suffocating arcs, her snow-white satiny long legs faintly discernible under the leather tassel cut skirt.
“What can I get the three guests over here?”
This extremely seductive and flirtatious waitress’ jade finger moved gently across her own chest, smiling as she looked at these three youngsters, the air filled with a type of undisguised desire, “Do you want alcohol, food, or me?”
While speaking, she leaned forward, as if she wanted to bring her snow-white chest up to these three’s noses. The one with the smallest frame among the three youngsters frowned, waving a hand.
The other youngsters instead smiled, saying, “Wine and food.”
“I understand, esteemed guests.” Chen Feirong giggled. She bit her red lips, and then tactfully turned around, walking up to a curtain that led into the kitchen. She undid the curtain and walked inside.
After saying some words to the kitchen, she then continued to walk forward, entering a stone room behind the kitchen.
This was a cozily furnished small room, more than ten white candles lightning up this room brightly. The ground was covered in thick animal hides, the walls full of wine racks, all types of fine wine from all over Yunqin were on them.
A fifty something year old yellow-robed elder with his dry yellow hair rolled up into a bun was sitting on a soft couch. In front of him was a small stove on top of a black block that supported a small bronze cauldron, unknown what kind of medicine was being cooked. A faint flowery medicinal fragrance wafted through the air.
“Three unfamiliar faces have entered, all of them cultivators.” Chen Feirong didn’t waste any time, putting away all of her previous seductive nature, looking at this yellow haired elder as she said, “They don’t really seem to be here to do business, it looks more like they are here to kill.”
The yellow-robed elder raised his head. His figure was shriveled, on his face an upturned nose, this making his appearance couldn’t help but seem a bit ugly and vicious. He frowned slightly, a bit unhappy as he said with a light snort, “Nothing uncommon around here.”
“If they were normal cultivators, then it really isn’t anything special,” Chen Feirong bit her lips and said, “But all three are youngsters, all around twenty years of age, one of them is a woman dressed as a man. However, there is one man who didn’t have much of a reaction after seeing me, extremely calm, as if he had already seen many things, not all that surprised. Could it be that he’s like that one from this afternoon… not having one down there?”
The yellow-robed elder’s brows jumped, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he suddenly looked behind Chen Feirong.
Chen Feirong was stunned. Her ears suddenly picked up sounds of chaos. When she turned around, her brows furrowed, her face was covered with an expression of shock.
Among the three youngsters, the youngster who didn’t show much reaction towards her appearance already moved aside the curtains, walking in right now.
Outside the curtains, the other two youngsters had their backs towards this stone room, standing still, facing more than ten shouting robust men.
The yellow-robed elder gave Chen Feirong a fierce look, and then stood up. He waved his hands towards those robust men outside.
Those robust men no longer shouted, all of them backing off.
“Youngster, I apologize for any rudeness and any misunderstandings my men have caused you in their place.” He concealed his malice as he looked at the youngster who walked in, coldly saying, “However, I do not wish for you all to cause trouble here either.”
The youngster dressed in green silk clothes smiled and said, “I can tell that the two of you are cultivators too, so I do not wish to cause trouble.”
“Then what do you all want?” The yellow-robed elder asked coldly, “If there is nothing you all want, you wouldn’t have followed her in behind her, right?”
The youngster smiled, nodding towards Chen Feirong and said, “I saw that her expression was a bit strange, fearing that there was something unfavorable for us, so that was why I wanted to secretly come in and take a look. Only, I never expected your people to be so on guard.”
After a slight pause, the youngster continued, “I know that your wine shop is this North Grain Cave Town’s oldest wine shop. Originally, I only wished to make some inquiries, asking if you all knew what kind of place ‘Wheel Market’ was… Also, just now, the one without something down there this girl spoke of, what is the meaning of that?”
The yellow-robed elder’s face sunk, coldly saying, “The reason why our wine shop here could remain standing for so many years is precisely because we don’t get involved in any disputes here. I don’t care why you all came to North Grain Cave Town, we don’t wish to get involved in any of your affairs.”
“We don’t wish to cause trouble.” The youngster looked at this yellow-robed elder seriously and said, “But I must ask seniors not to underestimate our resolution either.”
After a pause, the youngster looked at the yellow-robed elder and said, “As long as senior tells me what I want to know, I will immediately leave, and I will not tell anyone that the information I obtained was from here.”
“The world doesn’t have any walls that don’t leak wind, the only way is to watch our own mouths.” The yellow-robed elder sneered as he looked at this youngster before him, his eyes then sweeping past the bodies of the two youngsters outside. “I have never been a fan of being threatened by others. If your resolution truly is hard to shake… then everyone can just give it a try, see if I can make all of you remain here forever, or if you will force me to tell you all the things you wish to know.”
The youngster revealed a faint smile, shaking his head seriously and saying, “Senior’s age is much greater than mine, so I reckon you should understand it even better me, knowing that the reason Yunqin doesn’t manage this North Grain Cave Town isn’t because they can’t, but instead because they don’t want to. If there are enough important people who die here, regardless of whether North Grain Cave Town exists or not, senior’s shop definitely won’t remain.”
After seriously saying this, the youngster produced a leather bag, producing two golden coin shaped items. He spread them out in the center of his palm, and then extended his hand, letting this yellow-robed elder see a bit more clearly.
The yellow-robed elder took a deep breath, this making his upturned nose widen even greater, looking even more sinister. However, he didn’t hide his shock, not saying anything for a long time as he looked at Lin Xi.
In North Grain Cave Town, this type of place, for those who often interact with people from Yunqin, or even those from outside Yunqin, their eyesights would naturally be a bit more vicious than normal people’s.
He could tell that these two were true Yunqin medals from a single look.
Apart from Central Continent Imperial City and top level craftsman masters from cultivation holy lands, no one could imitate such fine diagram patterns. Moreover, in Yunqin who placed glory and honor above all, no one ever dared fake Yunqin’s medals.
If they were only two military medals, then that was one thing, but he could tell that one of them was an award representing the current emperor’s decree, the Bravery and Loyalty Medal from Imperial City!
This youngster before him was only in his twenties. To have these two medals at his age, this was enough to prove this youngster’s identity and status.
“Senior, you can examine them a bit closer.” The youngster still extended his hand, calmly saying, “These two medals are both mine, not anyone else’s… Previously, when I was first awarded a medal, I wasn’t aware of it yet, but after the second awarding, I learned that some patterns on the medals are special, the vein lines and the awarded individual’s palm lines the same. No wonder our palm lines had to be first kept in Government Sector as a stone rubbing.”
The yellow-robed elder’s gaze was retracted from the two medals in his hands. When he saw the youngster’s calm and unperturbed appearance, he said with a heavy voice, “You are actually someone from Central Continent Imperial City?”
“Regardless of where I am from, I believe senior definitely isn’t willing to risk such great danger because of a few words.” The youngster looked at the yellow-robed elder and said, “I only want to know the answer to the two questions I asked before, I don’t want to cause trouble. I must ask senior to weigh this matter in his heart.”
The decision regarding this type of thing, for this yellow-robed elder, wasn’t all that difficult.
He immediately shook his head, saying, “I have never heard of North Grain Cave Town having any Wheel Market. If I never heard of it, that either means it doesn’t exist, or that it is some type of special code word. As for the guest from this afternoon… this was because a girl under my management saw that they had quite a bit of ill-gotten gains, so she wanted to properly serve him. Normally, the wealthy guests here love being stimulated by her fine hands, but when she wanted to curry favor in the manner she was best at, directly reaching into his lower body, she grabbed nothing, there wasn’t anything there. Then, she was sent flying, one of my tables was broken and many of her bones snapped. I reckon that she’ll have to remain in bed for at least half a year.”