I haven't gone to sleep yet, so technically its still my weekend! Sort of.
Though Calvin had not truly paid the situation more than a modicum of attention, he’d been tangentially aware that Cao Yunfei’s star had waned significantly in the wake of his defeat. While Calvin’s wounds had healed overnight with some minor treatments and the spiritual damage he’d sustained required only a few additional days of rest to repair, Yunfei’s injuries—though primarily self-inflicted—had been far more severe. Ariadne had gleefully told him a few weeks earlier that Yunfei had spent nearly a full week at Medical Hall and had only left because of the compounding cost rather than having made a full recovery.
Calvin had expected that Yunfei would come away from the duel worse off than he himself had, but not to such an extent. Either the apparent compatibility he’d sensed between Yunfei and his fancy weapon had been some manner of misdirection or illusion, or Yunfei’s Foundation had been even shoddier than Calvin had expected. His instincts suggested it was the latter, which was honestly rather embarrassing.
If that was the case, it was possible something vital might have fractured under the pressure of Core realm qi rather than just cracking a little, necessitating a much more extended recovery period. Or maybe Yunfei was even worse at repairing his Foundation than Calvin had accounted for. He was starting to suspect he had a somewhat skewed perspective of the difficulty of that particular process.
In any case, Ariadne had in fact been paying close attention to Yunfei’s developing circumstances, and was more than happy to fill him in. Apparently, Calvin wasn’t the only enemy Yunfei had made during his time at the sect. The moment he’d left the protections of Medical Hall, the first wave had been only too happy to descend upon him, joined by plenty of opportunistic vultures hoping for a piece of the pie or to curry favor with him and Ariadne. And wasn’t that a trip. It was still utterly bizarre to have people come up to him as though he was someone, but he was starting to get used to the attention.
There hadn’t been all that much they could do to him within the bounds of the sect, but they’d most certainly further set back his recovery. Plus, Gwen had been far from his only student, and the majority of those had chosen (or been convinced) to withdraw from arrangements, suddenly depriving Yunfei of one of his primary sources of income.
Yunfei had not taken it well. He’d already been known for indulging more than one should in his chosen vices, but these days he spent more time at one pleasure house or another than at his own rented home. He likely hadn’t even finished repairing his Foundation, though more than a month had passed since their duel, observers noting that his aura still felt severely damaged. Though, considering Ariadne’s façade, perhaps that wasn’t as much of a safe assumption as Calvin would have expected only a few hours earlier.
And on that topic, he really wanted that trick. There was a lot you could learn about someone’s cultivation just by observing their aura, and Calvin already had plenty of secrets he’d prefer to keep close to his chest. For the moment, his attunement was weak enough that it could pass for any old sort of fire, but that wasn’t going to last long. And he strongly suspected that his purple-gold fire was not the last treasure he would receive that would leave a mark on his body and qi.
Hopefully it really was a technique of some sort, and not the secret kind that Ariadne would never be willing to teach him. If it was a treasure there was some chance he’d be able to buy one or eventually receive it from the Scroll directly, but that was not necessarily a reliable option.
Having given the topic some thought, he suspected it was not some Locke family secret ability, but simply something that the rich and powerful didn’t advertise to lesser cultivators. He was pretty sure he’d felt some of Ariadne’s peers using similar techniques, though at the time he’d simply assumed his difficulty in feeling out their auras was simply caused by nerves and the presence of so many cultivators around him. He was definitely going to have to ask about it later.
Regardless, Yunfei did not prove to be a hard man to find. Barely fifteen minutes after leaving the Locke manor, the two of them stood outside the Preening Songbird, a six-story pagoda decorated with feather motifs and small statues of various birds. The door was flanked by a pair of scantily clad mortal girls, their modesties preserved by little more than strategically placed feathers and body paint. More feathers were woven into their hair and hung from chain bracelets and anklets, and one of the girls had a yellow boa draped across her arms and shoulders.
Ariadne eyed the place distastefully. Even compared to other establishments of its kind, the Songbird did not necessarily have the best reputation. Calvin was far from an expert, but he understood that even somewhere like Jin’s house—a comparably tiny establishment—was considered far superior in terms of quality and respectability.
Not that that stopped it from doing brisk business. Even on a random afternoon, disciples constantly flowed in and out and loud music and boisterous voices emanated from within. Many disciples did not particularly care about the respectability of their entertainment, only that it was cheap and thrilling, and the Songbird was only too happy to provide.
“Of course a rat like him would frequent a place like this,” Ariadne mumbled, her voice barely audible even to Calvin’s qi-enhanced senses.
Calvin shrugged. “We knew he was a cheap bastard.”
Ariadne’s expression didn’t change, her lips barely moving as she spoke. “True, but there is cheap and then there is cheap. It is shameful for a cultivator in the Foundation realm, no matter how weak or injured, to take advantage of indentured mortals in such a manner. And I sorely doubt he cares to properly modulate his strength when he couples with them.”
Calvin frowned. No, he probably didn’t. And while Yunfei’s strength had been nothing exceptional, any cultivator of his strength could crush a mortal’s bones and pulp their organs with as little effort as turning a hand. And unlike some places in the Outer sect, the Songbird was staffed nearly entirely by cheap, replaceable indentured mortals.
For what felt like the dozenth time that day, his perception of Yunfei dropped even lower into the pit he’d dug for it.
He temporarily set the thought aside, peering cautiously at the open doors and beckoning girls. He and Ariadne had begun to receive curious and suggestive looks as they’d lingered not far from the entrance. “So…do we just go in and try to find him, or…”
He trailed off, not quite sure what to do. He was somewhat leery of confronting Yunfei like this, in a busy area surrounded by servants and other disciples. Plus, well, Yunfei was probably in a private room, not just out on the floor. His plan would have been tracking Yunfei down to his home and waiting for him there, but Ariadne had led them straight here instead.
Ariadne wrinkled her nose and Calvin was momentarily distracted by the sheer cuteness of the act before he forcefully regained control of himself. He thought he was getting better at ignoring Ariande’s…everything, but sometimes it snuck up on him.
“I hope not,” she said shortly. “One moment.”
She took a step forward and Calvin’s heart skipped a beat as her aura blazed around her like a banked bonfire suddenly flaring back to life. Every eye in the street—men and women, mortals and cultivators alike—was unconsciously drawn to her, and the small crowd of people parted around her like a wolf stalking through a herd of sheep.
She approached the entrance to the pagoda and a cultivator Calvin hadn’t previously noticed emerged to meet her. They exchanged a handful of words, though Calvin was too far away and the music coming through the open doors too loud to make out any specifics. Still, Calvin could see the man’s initial resistance crumble like a stone wall built on a foundation of sand. Barely a minute later, he bowed deeply to Ariadne and whirled around, disappearing back into the establishment with orders rolling off his lips to the girls by the door.
Ariadne turned to look over her shoulder, a satisfied smile on her lips, and beckoned him with a flowing gesture. He was already half way to her by the time he realized he was moving at all. He paused for a moment mid-step, then continued onward cursing silently. Okay, maybe he wasn’t getting all that much better. Ariadne had just been holding back. Damn it.
He stopped beside her and she spoke up before he had a chance to ask any questions. “The overseer was kind enough to arrange a private room for our discussion with disciple Cao. He’s just gone off to fetch him while one of these lovely ladies shows us the way.”
The girl with the boa shifted her weight nervously, her eyes pointed firmly towards the ground even as she snuck glances at Ariadne whenever she thought the cultivator wasn’t paying attention. She clearly thought she was being subtle, but she really, really, wasn’t. Calvin didn’t blame her. He’d certainly never met anyone more worth staring at.
Eventually, she stammered out, “Please follow me, honored customers,” and they ventured into the pagoda.
The first floor of the Preening Songbird was about what Calvin had expected. The space was dimly lit, lanterns shaded with colorful silk screens coloring everything in shades of red, orange, yellow, and violet. A bar staffed by more feather-clad mortal girls dominated one wall, while most of the rest of the space was taken up by scattered booths, low couches, and small tables. Even at this time of day, a good number of those were occupied by disciples, attended to by a scattering of marginally more modestly-dressed servers.
At the center of the room was a raised stage upon which danced a further trio of women, their graceful movements drawing the eye in a pale imitation of Ariadne’s natural allure. The floor around them was littered with jade tokens and discarded garments, and they moved in time with the loud music that seemed to fill the entire room without an obvious source. They, unlike the servers, were cultivators, Calvin judged, though likely ones in the early stages of Gathering.
Their guide led them in a wide arc around the edge of the floor, Ariadne doing something to draw in her aura such that only a tiny handful of the nearby disciples paid her any attention. Even in a conservatively cut floor-length silk gown and robes, Ariadne effortlessly outshone the primped-up dancers and servers, cultivator and mortal alike. Calvin almost found it difficult to look around at all, trailing a few steps behind Ariadne as he was.
They passed through a silk curtain into a carpeted antechamber and the volume of the music dropped precipitously, fading to a soft, distant hum. In one direction was a stairway leading upward and the walls here were adorned with paintings and wall scrolls. A muscular, middle aged man in dark clothes and an open robe lounged off to one side behind a counter, a severe expression on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. He was only the second male worker Calvin had seen at the Songbird, and it was easy enough to guess what his role was.
He stared at them for a moment, then visibly shook himself and jerked his head to the side. “My chambers are at your disposal, Seniors.”
Ariadne favored him with a warm smile and he immediately smiled back, the expression looking rather out of place on his face. He hurried to his feet and opened the door behind him for them, ushering them inside. “The overseer should be down with him in just a moment. On behalf of the Preening Songbird, I apologize for this inconvenience.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Calvin could see their guide looking utterly baffled by the no doubt usually surly man’s behavior. Her reaction did not go unnoticed by the man himself, who rounded on her sharply. “Goldfinch, get back to your post.”
“Yes, master,” she squeaked, snapping to attention. She hurried off without another word, though she did throw Ariadne several retreating glances.
“I hope she wasn’t too much of a bother? The boss usually likes to have some of the newer girls working the doors. Helps them drum up some attention and get some easy experience, but sometimes it means subjecting an honored visitor to an inexperienced hostess.”
Ariadne hummed softly. “She did as she was commanded, nothing more nor less.” She smiled once again. “Now, my companion and I would appreciate some privacy while we wait.”
The man didn’t think twice about leaving them alone in what was ostensibly his usual private space. “Of course, Senior. This one shall ensure that no one disturbs you.”
And then he was gone, shutting the door behind him.
Calvin stared at Ariadne. She smiled back at him, warm and friendly, but Calvin couldn’t help but remember the flare of ice cold death that had momentarily replaced her usual seductive aura just a few short hours ago. A cold shiver ran down his spine.
“What did you say to him?” he asked after a moment. It wasn’t really at the top of his list of questions to ask her, but it was the only one he could comfortably formulate at that moment.
“To whom?” asked Ariadne, fluttering her long lashes.
“The, uh,” he blinked, “man outside. The overseer.”
“Oh, Dong Li. I just asked nicely.” She winked. “He was only too happy to accommodate us once I explained what I wanted.”
Right…
Dong Li—the junior overseer of the Preening Songbird—returned a few minutes later alongside another of the pagoda’s security cultivators and their quarry. Cao Yunfei looked a lot worse for wear than Calvin remembered him, not aided by his clearly frazzled, half-dressed state. His skin was pallid, there were bags under his eyes, and he walked with a certain stiffness that did not belong in the gait of a cultivator of their advancement.
He looked positively mulish as the trio entered the private chambers, loudly cursing the overseer and declaring that he would be taking his business elsewhere in the future, but he froze the moment he realized just who was waiting for him. His face rapidly cycled through a dozen expressions—shock, anger, amusement, fear, and more—before settling on a cruelly vindictive smirk. His whole posture shifted, gaining a harsh, aggressive edge rather than his former performative anger.
To both their surprise, he completely ignored Ariadne’s presence, attention focused wholly on Calvin. “Heh, should have guessed this was coming,” he japed. “Took the little ungrateful bitch long enough. She was already on the edge of advancement, I was starting to think you were suppressing her despite your high and mighty preaching.”
Throwing back his head, he laughed uproariously, a crazed edge bleeding into his voice. His aura flared and Calvin got a first-hand look at the damage he’d inflicted upon himself. His aura felt somewhat like an egg that had become cracked while boiling and had some of the white leak out. It was still solid, the inside firm enough to support the damaged exterior, but a portion of something vital was missing.
He stopped as suddenly as he’d begun, fixing Calvin with a dagger stare. “Well, I hope you had your fun while it lasted,” he spat. “Did the little whore have time to spread her legs for you? Did she even grow enough herbs to cover your healing, or did you think you’d be able to keep such a golden goose all to yourself? I—“
Calvin stepped forward and grabbed Yunfei by the collar of his hastily pulled on robe, jerking him forward until they were practically nose to nose. “What. Did. You. Do?” he demanded, biting out each word past rage he’d thought he’d done a more than adequate job suppressing. His skin felt hot, his qi bubbling unpleasantly and his blood like fire in his veins.
Yunfei had the gall to laugh in Calvin’s face, his breath reeking of harsh, strong alcohol—the cheapest stuff that could get even a Foundation realm cultivator drunk without needing to drink a whole barrel of it. “What do you think?” he cackled. “Did you truly think such a talent could remain a secret for long once someone else knew? Did you think you could hide her away, keep her all to yourself? No! Once she was useless to me, I sold her for the best price I could get! One last payment for all the time and effort I sank into the treacherous little cunt!”
Calvin clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached. Disgusted, he dropped Yunfei, the other boy staggering drunkenly and half-falling against the nearby wall. He turned around, not wanting to look at him lest he do something ill-advised in the heat of the moment, and found Ariadne standing behind him with a soft, concerned expression on her face. There was no trace of the other two men, the door to the room closed behind them.
She gently set a hand on Calvin’s shoulder and some of the fire cooled, banking back to a cold flicker. Calvin took a deep breath, his unconsciously flared aura settling back down just beneath his skin. “Thanks,” he mouthed.
Ariadne’s smile sharpened. “It’s what we expected. I’ll take it from here.”
Calvin was only too happy to step aside. Ariadne could be a lot more scary than he’d ever realized, but right now that suited him just fine.