Chapter 96: Chapter 96: The Confession
"It’s called taking advantage of a little man’s shopping trip," Shen Yuan shot back, though his tone stayed light, almost teasing. "Forty. And you throw in the knife for free since you clearly already like me too much to charge full price for it."
"Forty?!" Huang Fu’s face reddened. "You’re joking. Fifty-five, and that’s already me being generous because I don’t want your ghost haunting my shop asking for a refund."
"Thirty-five."
"Fifty."
"Thirty," Shen Yuan said, voice suddenly quieter, more deliberate. He met the old blacksmith’s eyes without blinking. "Thirty low-grade spirit stones, the knife included, and you add a handful of iron shards to the deal. I have a feeling I’ll need something to reinforce my wire techniques where I’m headed, and you have scraps sitting in that back room collecting dust."
Huang Fu stared at him for a long moment, some calculation passing behind his weathered eyes. Whatever he saw in Shen Yuan’s expression—that particular blend of calm and quiet steel—seemed to convince him further argument wasn’t worth the breath.
"...Thirty," he finally muttered, waving a hand as if swatting away a fly. "Ma Li, fetch a bag of shards from the back. The small ones, not the good stock."
"Yes, Master." Ma Li scurried off, throwing one last curious glance at Shen Yuan before disappearing behind a curtain.
Shen Yuan reached into his robes and produced a small pouch, the weight of it settling into his palm with a satisfying clink. Thirty spirit stones—none of which he had earned through his own effort.
He hadn’t needed to.
Over the past week, under the cover of night and the perfected silence of Vanishing Steps, Shen Yuan went on a robbing spree.
A servant here, careless enough to leave his pouch unguarded during a bath. A sleeping cultivator there, snoring loud enough to cover the faint rustle of fabric as nimble fingers found their mark.
No one had seen him.
No one could, after all, Shen Yuan only targeted the weapon servants. He did not care if they needed the money or not, he needed it more.
By the end of the first week, rumors had already started to spread about a fallen spirit of vengeful servant who had been raped and killed on her first day as a senior servant came back to haunt the dormitory.
The Ghost of the Outer Sect, some had taken to calling it, half in fear, half in morbid fascination.
Shen Yuan found the name rather fitting. He said nothing to correct them.
He placed the pouch on the counter with the same unbothered calm he’d worn throughout the entire negotiation. "Count it if you want. It’s all there."
Huang Fu snatched the pouch up, weighing it in his palm with practiced ease before setting it aside without bothering to count. Some trust had been built over the countless visits, even if the old man would rather die than admit it aloud.
Ma Li returned moments later with a small burlap sack, setting it down beside the weapons with a soft thud. "Iron shards, Master. About two jin’s worth."
"Good." Shen Yuan gathered the knife, the sword, and the sack of shards, tucking each away into his robes with practiced efficiency.
He gave Huang Fu a small nod of thanks—genuine, despite the theatrics of their haggling. "Always a pleasure doing business, old man."
"Get out of my shop," Huang Fu grumbled, though there was no real venom in it. As Shen Yuan turned to leave, the blacksmith’s voice dropped, quieter, almost reluctant. "...Don’t die out there, brat. I don’t sharpen blades for corpses."
Shen Yuan paused at the doorway, glancing back with the faintest curve of a smile. "Careful, old man. Keep talking like that and I might start thinking you actually like me."
He was gone before Huang Fu could throw anything at him.
...
"I should visit her too." While walking down a familiar road, Shen Yuan recalled the woman he had not met for a long time and decided to find her now.
Shen Yuan turned a corner and took a shortcut to the Fallen Blossom Pavilion.
He was not taking the way to the front door of the brothel but a secret backdoor that Candy had taught him about.
Shen Yuan’s steps slowed as he approached the mouth of the alley, the sound of raised voices carrying through the narrow gap between buildings.
A man’s voice, ragged and shaking with something between desperation and rage. "—do you have any idea what I gave up for you? Sixty-seven gold-grade spirit stones! Everything I had, everything I saved for years, and you won’t even lookat me!"
Shen Yuan paused at the corner, silver eyes narrowing slightly as he took in the scene.
A middle-aged man stood swaying in the alley’s shadows, robes dishevelled, hair unkempt, his eyes carrying the glassy, unfocused sheen of someone who had crossed well past reason into obsession. He was gesturing wildly, spit flying from his lips as he ranted, backing a figure further into the alley with every step he took forward.
The woman before him kept retreating, one hand raised defensively, her expression twisted somewhere between alarm and revulsion.
Black hair. A face Shen Yuan recognised instantly even in the dim light.
Candy.
"Why won’t you sleep with me?!" The man screamed after taking a swig of wine in his hands. "Do you have any idea what I have done for you? I left my wife for you!"
Candy did not speak a word. She just impatiently looked around as if searching for a way to get out of this mess. She was a Qi condensation realm cultivator, but so was the man before her.
Even though she could kill him in a fight, she knew it would lead back to the pavilion, and it would be bad for her job.
"I have spent days watching you go in and out with other men. I have sat in the sewer system below the brothel just so I can feel the water coming from your bathroom!"
"Even that day, a few months ago, when the nasty black water with excrement came down from the drain, I took a bath in that shit, your shit! I even tasted it! But you—"
Just as the man seemed like he was about to keen on going, narrating his disturbing exploits and disgusting Candy, a voice interrupted him, preventing him from keeping on going.
"Ugh! Can you please stop? I cannot listen to this sh— disgusting confession anymore."
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