Sunday. White Serenity City.
Zhang Wuji and the rest had decided to celebrate his victory in the Battle Tower in the city. Zhang Wuji and Pan Mu roamed around the streets waiting for the sun to set when Lin Yingjie and Wan Lin would join them at the Myriad Fragrance Pavilion which they had decided as the venue for the celebration. Lin Yingjie had something keeping him busy and Wan Lin, as the only third class disciple among them, had work to do. He worked at one of the herb gardens.
They ate street food, played and eventually got bored with the same scenery and were about to go to the gladiator arena when they saw a crowd infront of a small restaurant and went over to satisfy their curiosity.
As they got closer, they saw a young man wearing outer disciple green robes beating up a little boy about seven or eight years old. From his shouts and abuses, they got a rough idea of what happened. Turns out the kid had accidentally spilled some water on the disciple and he was enraged. There was also something about him having an appointment to meet a lady friend.
Zhang Wuji felt sorry for the boy and wanted to intervene but then thought that he wouldn't dare kill or seriously injure in the city so there was no need to unnecessarily make enemies. As for his heart that was unhappy with his decision, he would just give the boy some money or something to soothe it.
And if the disciple dared to kill, that would mean his background was impressive. So it was better to not interfere. He looked at Pan Mu's angry face and thought 'Not good'.
"Brother Pan let's leave. We wouldn't get the best seats of we are late." He hastily said and tried to hold his arm to pull him away from the scene. But it was too late.
"Oi get the fuck out of here. How could you beat a kid so heartlessly" Pan Mu raced ahead and slammed the disciple away. He held the kid and applied some medicinal paste on him.
"Mind your own fucking business." The disciple was pissed and was clearly going to attack.
"If you don't disappear from my sight instantly, I'll report you to the Punishment Hall." Pan Mu said sternly while taking out a token without even lifting his head.
It clearly had an effect as the disciple turned pale and left.
Zhang Wuji looked at the token. It was a black token with the word punishment written on it. He recognised the token. It was carried by qi condensation realm members of the sect working in the Punishment Hall.
"Brother Pan that was awesome. Where'd you get the token from?" He walked towards Pan Mu.
Pan Mu turned his face towards him and looked at him for a moment. Zhang Wuji all of a sudden started to feel really uncomfortable.
"My cousin works in the Punishment Hall" He said blandly. This made Zhang Wuji all fidgety. 'What the fuck is your problem. You had a fucking token. Anyone can be cool and do whatever they want with a token. And what if he had a red punishment token or maybe the sect master's token. You would've licked his feet then and there.'
They were no longer in the mood to sightsee and went to a teahouse nearby. The entered a private room and waited for their tea. In a while a lady came in readied the tea and left.
"What you did back there was risky. You could've gotten us into unnecessary trouble." Zhang Wuji couldn't take it anymore and said.
Pan Mu ignored him and poured himself a cup. This infuriated him. "This behaviour will get you killed. This is a fucking cruel world where brothers kill each other, friends betray and even parents can't be trusted." He raised his voice, almost shouting.
Pan Mu still didn't care and continued to drink his tea. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU PRETENDING TO BE DUMB FOR?!" He lost it and screamed slamming the table.
"Why are you shouting?" Panu finally said something.
"WHY?! WHY?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WHY. OFCOURSE I'M SHOUTING." Zhangu slammed again this time cracking the table and spilling the tea.
"I can see that. I'm asking why" He asked again calmly as if they were having a normal discussion.
Zhang Wuji finally lost it completely and pounced on him "MOTHERFUCKER!!!!"
In his rage he executed Eagle Claw art at his strongest. Pan Mu dodged easily and grabbed the back of his neck slamming him into the ground face first. He then put his weight on him, twisted his right arm while pressing his face into the ground and said slowly "If you don't have guts to act on what you believe, you should just give up cultivation." He got up and left leaving Zhang Wuji on the floor.
Zhang Wuji stayed there. Angry and disgusted. He did not want to get up. He did not want to go out. He did not want to show his face to anyone. He curled up into a ball and closed his eyes wishing all of this to go away.
After a while he got up. He didn't want to be seen like this. He tidied his clothes, wiped his face and walked out the room. The lady was waiting outside. He gave her the damage costs and paid the bill. He was no longer in a celebratory mood and decided to go back to the sect. He walked with his head down and exited the city.
"Brother Zhang."
When he was halfway to the sect he heard someone call him and looked up. He saw Pan Mu standing in front of him with his head bowed and hands to his sides.
"I apologise for what I said earlier. I got angry at the disciple and unreasonably took it on you. You were right. The scene could've played either way and we could've been pulled into a bad situation. I'm sorry." He sounded sincere shocking Zhang Wuji.
"No, no brother Pan. You were right. Although caution is good, if I'm afraid to take even a single step forward I might as well give up cultivation. You were absolutely right to say that. Also I'm sorry for yelling at you." Zhang Wuji bowed.
"Forget about it. Come, let's go back to the city. We're here to celebrate let's not spoil things." He put his hand over Zhang Wuji's shoulder and pulled him to the city. Zhang Wuji helplessly followed. He felt as if a weight had been lifted off his heart after apologising and was now a bit hungry. Going back to the city was not a bad idea.
....
They were now standing in front of a lavishly decorated building. On top of the open doors at the entrance was a board with Myriad Fragrance Pavilion written on it. The sides of the door were decorated with big lanterns. Faint music could be heard coming from inside.
"Brother Pan this is magnificent."
"Well ofcourse. This is the most popular place for entertainment in the whole city. I'm surprised you've never been here before. Let's enter. You're gonna love this. I guarantee."
Pan Mu pulled him by his hand and entered. They informed the lady at the entrance to direct the other two to their room when they came.
The insides of the whole building and the private rooms were similarly lavishly decorated. They entered their room and ordered some appetizers and waited for their friends while chatting.
Not long after Lin Yingjie and Wan Lin joined them. "Alright let's get this party started."
Four girls wearing revealing clothes showing their enticing figures walked in. Zhang Wuji's mind went blank. He was totally not expecting this. He panicked. This was his first time in such a scenario. He never went to a brothel. And were they going to go at it in a group? He imagined the scene and his face contorted. 'Yuck! No way I'm gonna do it in a group.'
"Brother Zhang what's wrong?" Lin Yingjie caught the change in his face instantly.
"No, nothing." 'What am I thinking. This must be like one of those bars in anime where girls accompany them in drinking. What was it called..? Whatever. I'm just overthinking.'
The girls were beautiful, the food was good. He might as well just go with the flow.
The girls sat beside each of them and poured them some wine. They talked, laughed, groped and were having fun.
"Big brother Zhang you haven't touched your wine. Do you not enjoy my company." the girl beside him, Xie Xuanxuan made a sad face with teary eyes and said with a voice that made him wanna attack her then and there.
He controlled himself with great difficulty "I don't drink wine."
"Really? You are not just saying to get rid of me are you." she made a pitiful face and added a strange tone to her voice that made one's heart race.
"Xuanxuan, brother Zhang really doesn't drink. When he was younger, he used to get sick frequently. Once when he was so sick that he was dying, a monk came and saved his life. His mother then made him swear that he would never drink and pray everyday so as to repay the monk." Lin Yingjie came to the rescue.
"A man who stands on his word. How romantic." His arm was covered by two soft mounds and he could feel her hot breath in his ears.
'What word! If I were to say something I shouldn't when intoxicated, I would be experimented on or something. Woman you are killing me.!'
At this time Lin Yingjie got up with the girl beside him and went towards the door. "Remind me when it is time to leave" he said and walked out.
"What does he mean?" he whispered to Pan Mi who was sitting beside me.
"Right it's your first time here. There are separate private rooms that offer full service. I am engaged and Wan Lin doesn't like to spend money on things that do not help him in cultivation and wouldn't take it if you were to give him."
Zhang Wuji froze for a moment before coming back to senses. 'Hehe how dare you provoke me with your body. Now see how I'm gonna ravage you' he thought and smailed evilly. He forgot about every misgiving he previously had about being new to this and got up.
He was just going to take her to a room when a thought struck him 'Wait. What of I get STDs. Is there such a thing in cultivation world? Are there condoms and stuff? Maybe I should ask someone. I obviously can't ask the girl. Wan Lin doesn't look experienced in this stuff. I could ask Pan Mu. No the girls might hear. That would be embarrassing. I could call him aside and then ask. It would be awkward but better awkward than STD.'
He was about to call out to Pan Mu when another thought struck 'I believe AIDS appeared in the 1900s. But a virus couldn't have just come out of nowhere. Maybe some experiment, maybe transmitted from some animal, maybe someone are something they shouldn't have or maybe it was always there but no one noticed. So even if he says there's no such thing as STDs it could just mean they don't know it yet. It may not effect a cultivator but body refinement realm is not exactly a cultivator. And if humans, beasts can cultivate why not viruses and bacteria. No. I shouldn't take unnecessary risks. I'll go to the library tomorrow and thoroughly research on the subject. Maybe when I take up alchemy I can ask my master or something.'
He took his decision and was about to sit down when his eyes noticed something. His blood rushed and he felt his senses blurring 'Fuck this I can't stay here.'
"Brother Pan, brother Wan I just remembered something and need to urgently go to the sect. I'll make up for it later. I need to go bye." He didn't even give them the chance to speak and left by himself. He did some much needed exercise to release his pent up frustration and hit the hay.