A Pawn's Passage

There was no daylight in this city built in a cave. Therefore, the more prosperous and crowded places had more red lanterns. However, the further one went to the top floor of Jade Tower, the number of red lanterns dwindled.

The end of the path only had red candles, with flames dancing erratically. Thus, it was particularly scary walking on this path, as the shadows of walking figures looked like ghosts.

Finally, Qi Xuansu and his group arrived at the highest point, which was isolated on a cliff and connected to the main part of the Jade Tower by a gorgeously decorated and illuminated arch bridge.

There was a formation on the arch bridge activated to stop others from entering.

Qi Xuansu stood still and looked across the bridge. He asked the guard. “Is Yue Lian here?”

“Yes.” The guard who led the way wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Eighth Tianyang asked, “If I remember correctly, the daily rent of this Ecstasy Palace is as high as 2,000 Taiping coins. Who is the distinguished guest here today? Also, isn’t Yue Lian no longer accepting guests? Did she decide to go back to her old trade?”

The guard’s face turned pale. After a long time, he muttered forcefully, “There is no distinguished guest today. Superintendent Liu is inside.”

……

In Ecstasy Palace, Liu Futong slowly walked on the red carpet. His shadow was reflected in the pools on both sides of the passage. Between the ripples of the water, the light and shadow flickered intermittently.

The kneeling woman in a thin tulle dress prostrated herself on the floor and saluted Liu Futong.

Liu Futong did not say a word. He merely opened his arms wide. The woman in the tulle dress quickly stood up and undressed him.

The Ecstasy Palace had received young masters of the Li family and princes from the royal family. Past superintendents dared not use this hall, but Liu Futong was an exception. That was because Liu Futong was bold, thinking he could do whatever he liked in his territory.

Liu Futong did not spend a coin for this palace. He also treated the workers in Purple Immortal Mountain as his personal slaves.

He sat at the small table and picked up the wine glass. The wine was as red as blood, a vintage from the Western Continent that was exorbitant due to the transport costs.

It was no exaggeration to say that the price of this bottle of wine was worth Zhang Yuelu’s monthly income. For reference, Zhang Yuelu was not an ordinary fourth-rank Daoist priest. She had a special allowance as the Deputy Hall Master and another subsidy from the Tiangang Hall. She even had a regular stipend from the Zhang family.

In fact, many descendants of the Zhang family were envious of the Li family. That was because the Li family did not care about their reputation and could express their desires without any scruples. However, the Zhang family’s descendants had to keep up superficial appearances of minimalism. This was probably the difference between being a known villain and a hypocrite.

Liu Futong did not seem to care about this expensive bottle of wine, as he did not take the time to savor it. He downed glass after glass like it was cheap alcohol.

At this moment, the woman slowly stood up. Her long hair cascaded down her back, and the green smoke from the incense burner wafted in front of her face, concealing her wrinkles.

The woman started dancing while her shiny black hair flowed. Her tulle dress was as thin as the wings of an insect, exposing her body in its entirety. As she twirled around, the smoke and her flowing hair made her seem like an ethereal goddess.

Liu Futong was still drinking, his eyes fixated on the woman.

Although there were no musicians around, he had already set up a musical formation. Thus, a pleasant melody of the guqin[1] and flute filled the entire hall.

The woman’s dance became faster with the beat. After a while, the rhythm slowed, so the woman’s dance became gentler and softer until the music stopped.

After the dance, the woman’s thin tulle dress fell to the ground.

Liu Futong had also finished the bottle of wine, his face slightly flushed.

The naked woman walked slowly over, climbed onto the big bed, and kneeled beside Liu Futong.

Their bodies were completely bare.

Suddenly, Liu Futong crushed the wine glass in his hand and became violent. He reached out to grab the woman’s long hair, forcing her to look up at him.

Yue Lian groaned in pain, but she dared not resist.

Liu Futong was bad-tempered, to begin with. Qi Xuansu’s arrogance earlier infuriated him. After all, he was used to being domineering and unrestrained, considering himself the emperor of this Everbright City.

He loved wine and women, with desires no different from the guests that frequented this place. He had long forgotten what the outside world looked like. The darkness and red lights in this cave replaced the blue sky and white clouds.

……

Qi Xuansu had already walked onto the arch bridge. A blue curtain of light made of countless talismans blocked his path forward.

He did not try to break the formation. Instead, he asked the guard again, “Are you sure Yue Lian is in here?”

The guard who led the way answered, “Yes.”

Qi Xuansu nodded. “Alright. You may leave.”

The guard was startled to hear this at first. After coming to his senses, he hurriedly left this place for fear of getting implicated in the confrontation that was about to come.

Qi Xuansu reached out to touch the screen of light, which rippled and caused a blue and white yin-yang symbol to appear.

Since Ecstasy Palace was catered to entertain special guests, the level of the formation was quite high. Even if Qi Xuansu was in the Guizhen stage, he still could not break the formation.

Just as Qi Xuansu was at a loss, a woman’s voice came from behind. “Senior Major Eighth, you shouldn’t be here.”

Qi Xuansu and Eighth Tianyang turned to the source of the voice at the same time and saw Su Ran slowly walking out of the shadows with a few subordinates behind her.

This woman was one of the two superintendents of Ecstasy Paradise, responsible for the Huasheng Hall branch. However, she had just been transferred here not long ago, so Eighth Tianyang did not gather much information about her.

Qi Xuansu had a deep memory of this woman whom he had met once before in the morgue. “Superintendent Su.”

“I haven’t asked for your name yet.” Unlike Liu Futong, Su Ran was gentle and courteous.

Qi Xuansu introduced himself. “My name is Wei Wugui, a subordinate of Sage Pei from the Chongyang Palace of Immortality. I happened to be passing by and received an invitation from Senior Major Eighth to participate in solving this case.”

Su Ran nodded. “Why did you think of coming to Ecstasy Palace? My subordinates informed me that a group of people seemed to be attacking this place, so I rushed over to see what was going on. I hope you can give me an explanation.”

Qi Xuansu took out the two notes he found in the tropical pitcher plant. “The serial killer left two notes. One of them with Miss Hua Qi’s name, who is already dead. Another note had Yue Lian’s name. As we know, Yue Lian is in Ecstasy Palace at this time, so we thought of coming to check out the situation. I hope you will understand, Superintendent Su.”

Su Ran took the note from Qi Xuansu and read it carefully. “I see.”

Eighth Tianyang took the opportunity to ask, “Superintendent Su, will you help us deactivate the formation? You can come in with us as well.”

Su Ran pondered for a moment before nodding. “Sure.”

After that, she took out a special square key, walked to where Qi Xuansu was standing, and raised the key.

The next moment, the key emitted a bright light, and the yin-yang symbol on the light screen began to rotate, opening a portal in the originally airtight seal.

Qi Xuansu glanced at Su Ran. His nose twitched slightly because he smelled a fragrance that made him dizzy.

Su Ran put away the key and said, “Let’s go.”

Qi Xuansu nodded silently.

Under the leadership of Su Ran, the group walked across the arch bridge and arrived at the door of the Ecstasy Palace, which was isolated on the cliff.

Since there was an airtight formation, the door was not locked and could be pushed open as long as one had enough strength.

Before entering the palace, Qi Xuansu looked back.

This was the highest point of Ecstasy Paradise, where one could overlook everything below. The red lanterns all over the city cast a red glow on people’s faces, akin to hot blood and human desires. The darkness where the light could not reach was akin to congealed blood. These were the colors of Ecstasy Paradise.

1. Traditional Chinese plucked string instrument. ☜

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