Chapter 9: Small Dwelling in Spring Pavilion

Wan Ling exited the General's Mansion from the back quite magnanimously.

The entire capital was a rare place of prosperity and bustle, and it was currently dusk. The afterglow of the setting sun slanted across the earth, shrouding the entire Imperial City in a layer of sacred, solemn, and mysterious veil.

Strolling through the main streets of the capital, everything was novel to her eyes, but she had no intention of admiring the scenery; she simply moved forward with purpose. Because the owner of this body had never left the General's Mansion since birth, Wan Ling was truly a bit at a loss regarding this so-called "Chun Ge Xiao Ju."

"Uncle, excuse me, how do I get to Chun Ge Xiao Ju?"

Before her was a vegetable market. After walking a few steps, Wan Ling pretended to go to one side to buy vegetables, asking the uncle selling produce while flipping through the greens.

"Chun Ge Xiao Ju? That is not a place one should go. Is the young lady buying vegetables? These fresh radishes and cabbages, please buy some, lady."

Upon hearing her question, the old man's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise and even terror. He shook his head repeatedly, asking her about the vegetables in front of him as he spoke.

"I'll come back to buy them later. Uncle, I want to ask how to get to Chun Ge Xiao Ju?" Wan Ling asked several people among the uncles and aunties selling vegetables in succession, but they all seemed to be fearing something. When asked further, they said the owner of that place was very strange, a complete eccentric, and that it was best not to go. They even said that those who trespassed recklessly had their tongues stripped out alive or were driven mad.

Seeing that she couldn't get much from asking them, Wan Ling could only walk toward a shopkeeper of a nearby open shop to ask.

"Miss, inquiring for information costs money..." This shopkeeper was a middle-aged, thin man with a black mole at the corner of his mouth, looking somewhat comical. He wore a wide robe that hung loosely on his body, but the shrewdness in his eyes was unmistakable. Hearing her question, the shopkeeper, who was busy clicking an abacus and muttering figures, suddenly looked up. His eyes, deep as wellsprings and making it impossible to read his thoughts, momentarily regained a trace of strangeness before returning to calm as he lowered his head to continue clicking the abacus.

"Then how about this, Shopkeeper..." Hearing that he only wanted money, although Wan Ling's expression was one of disdain, she still took off the bracelet from her wrist and handed it to him.

"Chun Ge Xiao Ju is not a place ordinary people can go. Miss, the Pavilion Master there is an eccentric. Anyone who wishes to seek medicine from him must abide by his conditions. Mortals seek medicine for nothing more than powerful martial arts techniques or miraculous pills. He will give you the medicine, but he will also give you harsh conditions. If you do not follow them, no matter where you go, he will impose severe punishments upon you... Miss, you are so young and beautiful, what could be so troubling that you must insist on seeking him out?"

The shopkeeper weighed the bracelet in his hand, speaking to her in a low, aged voice that had experienced the vicissitudes of the world, answering her confusion about going to Chun Ge Xiao Ju.

"Hehe, that is a secret. Then may I ask, Senior, can the owner of Chun Ge Xiao Ju receive anyone who seeks an audience?"

Hearing the shopkeeper ask her purpose, Wan Ling smiled slightly. She didn't take these rumors to heart; her only concern was whether this person was easy to meet.

"That is truly hard to say. Rumor has it that the master of Chun Ge Xiao Ju is absolutely devoid of worldly desires and is obsessed with medicine. Although he is a high-level alchemist, he rarely gives face to anyone. As for whether he will receive people, it all depends on his mood. When he is in a good mood, ordinary people can naturally see him. When he is in a bad mood, even if the current Emperor wants to see him once, he won't give him face..."

Following Wan Ling's inquiry, the shopkeeper continued.

"Oh, I see. Then could the Shopkeeper tell this young lady how to get to Chun Ge Xiao Ju? I wish to go and meet that Pavilion Master..." Hearing the shopkeeper describe it in such a miraculous way, Wan Ling became even more curious about this Jue Wuchen. Just what kind of person was he, to be so arrogant that even the current Emperor couldn't get his attention...

"Go straight along this street until the end, then turn the corner. You will see a large manor with a pitch-black iron gate. That gate is the entrance to Chun Ge Xiao Ju. As for what is inside, no one can say for sure. I heard that when Jue Wuchen is in a good mood, he will come out himself to find people to administer medicine; sometimes he even offers medicine voluntarily to save people. When he is in a bad mood... sigh."

In response to Wan Ling's questioning, the shopkeeper spoke once more, only to shake his head and sigh softly, falling silent.

"In that case, thank you, Shopkeeper..." Seeing that she had asked everything she wanted to know, Wan Ling smiled faintly and cupped her hands toward the shopkeeper, then walked in the direction he had indicated...

Soon, Wan Ling arrived before the black iron gate the shopkeeper had mentioned.

"Hey, is anyone there? Excuse me, is anyone there?" She pushed the gate and found it was closed from the inside and bolted. The pitch-black, rusty gate looked so ancient; standing at the main entrance, she could faintly smell a hint of blood in the air. Combined with the deep, almost lightless alley in front of the gate, the entire manor gave off an indescribable sense of eeriness and strangeness.

Wan Ling raised her hand and pounded on the door, calling out. But after several shouts, there wasn't even a breath of wind in the entire space, and there wasn't a moment of movement from within.

After shouting several times, the sunlight behind her gradually faded. Feeling truly helpless, Wan Ling could only turn and walk to a corner by the gate. Looking at the courtyard wall before her, which was several people high, she gritted her teeth. Taking a few steps back, she grabbed the footing in front of her and climbed up with thuds. Finally, she managed to grab the edge of the high wall, letting her entire body hang there.

What met her eyes was a bamboo forest, beside which grew flowers that looked like a cross between red roses and peonies. The blood-red color was so vivid, a vividness accompanied by a moistness, giving the impression that these flowers had been watered with blood. The entire courtyard was filled with these seductive red flowers.

Although she was a woman naturally fond of flowers, looking at the vast sea of red before her, Wan Ling actually had the sensation that what lay before her were not flowers, but layers of blood.

Thinking that since she was already here, she gritted her teeth and climbed up. The moment she lunged, her body was already atop the courtyard wall. As she leaped down, her entire person fell straight toward the dense sea of flowers before her...

She had thought there would be solid ground beneath the sea of flowers, but unexpectedly, as Wan Ling entered, both her feet sank deep inside.

"Damn it, this..." Her feet seemed to have sunk into a mire, making it impossible to pull them out. As she struggled, not only her feet but even her calves began to slowly sink...

"Do not engage in futile struggles; the more you struggle, the deeper you will sink. Does the lady not understand the rules of my Chun Ge Xiao Ju? If you have a request, as long as you offer gold to ask the way, the main gate will naturally open. Yet, the lady trespassed without permission..."

As Wan Ling struggled, the flowers surrounding her actually parted automatically like a path, as if a quagmire had appeared around her. The mud in the pool was an eerie red, glowing with a deep crimson light under the dim light, giving the sensation of stepping into a pool of blood.

Just as she was struggling to exert force to jump upward, a faint voice, sounding like a sigh yet also like helplessness, rang in her ear.

"Who are you? What is this playing of ghosts and gods? If you have the ability, come out and face me... Jue Wuchen, as a physician, the principle is to save the world and its people, yet you impose such harsh conditions. Do you not feel this violates medical ethics?"

At that voice, Wan Ling consciously stopped struggling, and as she stopped, her feet ceased their descent into the mud. Looking toward the source of the voice, she could faintly see a black shadow standing with its back to her in a pavilion that had appeared near the sea of flowers at some unknown time.

Although she did not see the person's front, his words and his voice, though a sigh, carried an indescribable sense of vicissitude and even loneliness. Wan Ling sensed that the black shadow was Jue Wuchen, and she looked at the shadow coldly and asked clearly.

[Message to readers Please collect this, girls! If you like it, put it on your bookshelf for easy reading next time...]