Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 993: Xiu

Beyond the archway was a massive hall, with a tall ceiling and several stories of balcony-corridors on both sides filled with shops and stalls, a chaos of banners and flags advertising the shops, limited discounts, and various types of goods hung under the ceiling and in between the two sides, along with strings of lanterns stretching between the balcony-corridors on multiple levels, as well as lanterns on the sides of nearly all columns in sight, which together brightly illuminated everything with a warm cozy light.

And all of these spaces were filled with people, as if this inner palace was a separate small kingdom of its own.

The far side of the hall stretched into distance, cutting into the heart of the mountain that the palace was built into, while to the opposite side, in some distance, were the massive main gates of the palace that Wu Long went around through the corridor.

There were many such dark and narrow corridors and side passages cutting into the solid rock sides of the main hall on all floors, with far less people, housing less popular, or perhaps some more secretive shops.

As soon as he came out of the passage, and while he was looking around with an interested look, a small group of young women in bright red, tight and sleeveless cheongsums with fake-golden embroidery and an emblem of a black crow with a crown on their backs - one of many such groups around this entrance area - began whispering and giggling among each other as they eyed him.

Many of the guests in this place were accompanied by one of these easily identifiable attendants, so it was easy to guess they were deciding who would approach him to offer him guidance through this place, since it didn’t seem from his demeanor he was familiar with it.

Fen Baihu snorted, obviously looking down on their skills to observe and judge, as she could hear all of their conversations and even thoughts simultaneously, which mainly focused on his rather plain and modestly-priced clothing with no accessories or any embellishments, and unknown looks behind the very plain and even cheap-looking wooden mask. She did commend a few with better intuition who instinctively guessed that under that mask there might be a very attractive young man, but none of them, in her opinion, were worth her praise, since none truly understood just what kind of a man they were looking at.

While they were hesitating, however, one figure swiftly moved toward Wu Long.

"...! N-newbie!", one of the more senior attendants attempted to call her back, but was stopped by others around her as a few giggles and snarky remarks were made.

"Heh, see? I told you she was arrogant", "Just a month of training, and she thinks she’s ready? I’d like to see that", "Come on, let her try, who knows she might have a fun tonight", "Guarantee you there’s no money there, but I guess she’ll gain some experience at least. I just hope she doesn’t give away her ’golden ticket’ to that guy" , "See, newbies don’t have a discerning eye for clients", were the kinds of talk that came up as they all followed her with their eyes.

Fen Baihu, however, reacted completely differently. The appearance of the young attendant caused her to widen her glowing pink eyes with shock, "Wu Long, that’s-..."

The moment her eyes stopped on the attendant, the latter also froze in place. Her colleagues interpreted that as nervousness, which raised a bout of giggles among some of the groups of women. She instantly rode that wave, showing a slightly embarrassed look at the laughter of the others, and, ’bracing herself’, once again continued her walk.

"Interesting", Wu Long also looked at her, muttering in a low voice audible only to the Celestial Fox on his shoulder, "This turned out to be a far more fruitful endeavor than I even thought..."

Fen Baihu then relaxed, the expression in her eyes changing to something resembling, ’Heh, who am I worried about here? If there’s a prey here it’s that girl over there...’

She really wanted to stay to scrutinize and judge the young woman from head to toe, but thought, or perhaps was somehow completely sure, that she would have plenty of opportunities to do so in the future, while this time it wasn’t really convenient.

So the little fox disappeared from Wu Long’s shoulder like a sweet dream, as her voice rang out in his mind, "Oh my, I seem to know that look in your eyes"

He wryly smiled under the mask, holding back the urge to shake his head as that would’ve made for quite a strange appearance to those around.

"Welcome to the Main Palace of the Crow King’s Nest, do you perhaps need the services of a guide?", the young ’newbie’ attendant spoke with a business smile.

She looked to be around Wu Long’s age, with a pretty but ordinary face, and a good figure... that is... how she looked to everyone else.

Wu Long, however, saw a stunning beauty with a seductive slender body that had curves in all the right places, long straight dark green hair and pale yellow, slightly glowing eyes with sharp vertical pupils, and snake-themed tattoos taking up the skin on both arms from shoulder to wrists.

"Yes, please, that would be excellent", he replied.

She showed a look of perking up with excited joy, "Thank you, Dear Guest. I am Xiu. I will be your guide this evening, please follow me"

And as she turned to lead the way, he followed, while she spoke up, "The Inner Palace of the Crow King’s Nest is a place of expanded horizons and possibilities, where you can obtain things you want and those you may never knew you wanted"

"Such generous promises", Wu Long chuckled with amusement at the grandness, and then added with a slightly different tone and a smirk under his mask as his eyes examined his guide from head to toe a bit more closely, "It seems to be true though, there may be things I didn’t know I wanted here..."

A slightly awkward look appeared on the attendant’s face as she blushed up to the tips of her ears, "Ehm... there are places offering very highly praised services here, I-... can guide you there but we attendants are... I mean it’s not forbidden but..."

"Hahaha, relax, I was just teasing", Wu Long chuckled, and as they passed near two groups of Xiu’s colleagues, who watched them interact, he lightly nodded to them in greeting, "Ladies..."

The moment he did, their gazes changed along with their reactions, as some of them gasped, and almost all of them showed envy toward Xiu along with a tinge of regret in their eyes. Their conversations after they passed by also changed in nature. It seemed that in that simple gesture was something that no mask or style of clothing could hide from a woman’s instinct.

"It seems that Dear Guest is very comfortable around women", Xiu spoke with a smile, but then her expression started changing, it was apparent from the look of appearing in her eyes that this comment slipped out unintentionally.

"One of my many charms"

"Along with being humble...? sst-...!", she spoke and then once again immediately sucked in a cold breath of air while covering her mouth.

"Hahaha", Wu Long laughed in a very good mood, which caused her to turn a surprised look to him.

"Dear Guest-"

"Call me Wu Long"

"...", she almost stumbled on the spot, turning to him once again with a strange, unreadable expression in her eyes, finally adding, "D-Daoist Wu, would you like to state the goal of your visit tonight so I can better assist you? If it is confidential, you can rely on our lips being sealed, but if you cannot trust us, I can give you a general overview"

"No secret, I came because I heard an important guest arrived tonight", Wu Long chuckled.

"Ah, yes, they are expected to be here quite soon. You won’t miss it, since they will be welcomed through the main gate"

"But will proceed to the main area right after, right?"

"Yes, if you wish to go to the main area, please follow me through here. Although I have to warn you, that not everyone is allowed into the main plaza at the end of this hallway"

"It’s alright, we’ll go through without problem", Wu Long chuckled, looking at the curious eyes of the beauty that turned to him once again before leading him further into the depths of the main hall.