Chapter 38

'There must be a reason for coming here, but if this World's Greatest Beauty Contest or visiting this brothel, everything is simply for entertainment...'

Cheong-ra had sought out Dang Ran-yeong because he thought he could find out the real mastermind who had harmed the sect's disciples through him. His personal interest was truly just a secondary reason. So if the above reason was correct, if Dang Ran-yeong was just a dissolute person with only a handsome face, Cheong-ra planned to immediately cancel accepting the proposal and leave.

However, in the midst of making this firm resolution, a strange delusion suddenly crept in...

'Young Master Baek Ri seems to have never doubted anything. To fearlessly follow a scoundrel like me.'

In this delusion, Dang Ran-yeong made sinister threats to Cheong-ra, who had willingly entered The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance. When Cheong-ra resisted, he would ruthlessly subdue him and then force him to play the zither in the brothel. If he refused that too, saying he had missed his last chance, he would take him to a secret place in The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance...

Opening the door and entering... Unable to imagine anything further, Cheong-ra's delusion broke off at that point again.

"Please come in! We have precious Sword South Spring wine that we brought in for Young Master Dang!"

While Cheong-ra was thinking such thoughts beneath his dignified face, the courtesan guided them with graceful steps, her clothes fluttering. The two followed the courtesan past the main gate.

After entering the gate, there were two paths, one that seemed to be used by ordinary guests, and the other guarded by martial artists, clearly for receiving important guests. Naturally, the path the courtesan guided them on was the latter.

Passing through a path lined with rocks, ponds, and strangely shaped pine trees on both sides, they arrived at the entrance of a four-story building. Unlike other buildings where boisterous laughter could be heard, this one had a quiet and serene atmosphere, as if isolated. As they climbed up the magnificent building and reached the fourth floor, the courtesan suddenly changed her coquettish attitude and bowed politely.

"This humble Yeo-jin greets the Lord Owner."

Cheong-ra's eyes showed interest at her very polite attitude, as if she had never smiled coquettishly before. Dang Ran-yeong immediately opened the door of the nearest room and asked. Beyond the open door, a space that looked like a tea room appeared.

"Where are Hwan-hong and Wi Je-ho?"

"Hwan-hong hasn't returned yet, and Master Wi Je-ho is on the fourth floor."

"Tell him to come here."

"Yes, Lord Owner. Shall I have meals brought in?"

Dang Ran-yeong, seated in a chair, glanced at Cheong-ra once and nodded. The courtesan Yeo-jin, who had retreated while bowing deeply, raised her head and looked at Cheong-ra intently before giving a profound smile. As she seemed to be waiting for him to enter, Cheong-ra moved his steps, and only then did she close the door politely and withdraw.

Cheong-ra first took off his stuffy veil and looked around. The space, filled with luxurious items befitting the magnificent and enormous building, was quite spacious to be called just a guest room.

Moreover, seeing the glittering luxury items scattered around, which would make even guests of the famous Pavilion of Golden Fragrance feel out of place, it seemed to be a place Dang Ran-yeong used. With a doubtful heart, Cheong-ra asked.

"Could it be that Young Master Dang is the owner of The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance?"

"That's right."

Cheong-ra was inwardly surprised at this answer. To be the owner of the White Jade Merchant Group and the owner of The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance at such a young age! No, it would be more appropriate to say that because he was the owner of the White Jade Merchant Group, he could be the owner of a huge brothel like The Pavilion of Golden Fragrance. Only then could Cheong-ra truly feel what it meant to have wealth ranked among the top ten in the Central Plains.

Dang Ran-yeong, seated in the chair, put his hand inside his sleeve. When a martial artist from the Tang Clan, of all people, made such a movement, Cheong-ra couldn't help but flinch reflexively. However, what Dang Ran-yeong soon pulled out from his sleeve was neither poison nor a dagger, but a live snake.

"Venomous Horned... Serpent?"

Cheong-ra asked in an astonished voice, doubting his eyes. Hearing Cheong-ra's words, the snake flicked its tongue, turned its head, and stared at him.

The tiny black snake, only about a hand span long, had a small horn on its head. It looked like the giant Venomous Horned Serpent that had attacked Disciple Lim Jeong before, but the size was completely different. Cheong-ra asked in a half-doubting voice.

"Can the Venomous Horned Serpent use shrinking techniques?"

"That's right."

When Dang Ran-yeong affirmed, Cheong-ra looked at the tiny Venomous Horned Serpent carefully once again in surprise. Come to think of it, its appearance was exactly like a miniature version of that Venomous Horned Serpent from before. Did it really use shrinking techniques? A spirit beast using martial arts, how shocked would other martial artists be if they knew! However, seeing Cheong-ra's expression, Dang Ran-yeong laughed out loud and said this.

"Did you really believe that? How naive."

"...!"

Cheong-ra, who had been completely fooled, quickly turned his head. As he glared in disbelief, Dang Ran-yeong stroked the Venomous Horned Serpent as if to show off. For a moment, Cheong-ra's ears turned red with embarrassment for falling for such an absurd story.

But thinking about it carefully, this wasn't something to just get angry about and move on. If this was the offspring of the Venomous Horned Serpent, it meant Dang Ran-yeong was controlling two spirit beasts.

"How on earth did you tame the spirit beast?"

"I'm not Hwan-hong, how could I tame a spirit beast? This little one just likes me and follows me around."

Dang Ran-yeong casually dropped information about his close associate, whether by mistake or intentionally. Cheong-ra frowned. The information that Hwan-hong, the only survivor of the annihilated Blossom Garden Sect, could handle spirit beasts was hard to believe. Especially after being teased earlier.

However, seeing the Venomous Horned Serpent rubbing its head against Dang Ran-yeong's finger affectionately, he couldn't help but believe it.

"Rin-rin, does my poison technique make me smell delicious?"

The snake flicked its tongue and licked the tip of Dang Ran-yeong's finger. It was chilling just to watch a venomous snake that could easily kill a person with just a graze of its fangs doing this. Seeing Dang Ran-yeong not fearing the Venomous Horned Serpent at all and doting on it, a suspicion arose.

'Could it be that Dang Ran-yeong has reached the realm of immunity to all poisons?'

People from the Tang Clan naturally develop resistance to poison while handling poison techniques. Among them, those who have mastered poison techniques to the extreme are said to reach the realm of immunity to all poisons. However, this was as hard to believe as the fact that this person had defeated Lightning Whip Sword Yoo Cheon-so, who was at the supreme realm.

No matter how much human talent is given by heaven, to have such wealth, strong martial prowess, and on top of that, immunity to all poisons... If all this were true, how unfair it would be.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't envious, but he didn't feel jealous. From the beginning, Cheong-ra had felt other emotions before jealousy when seeing strong people. The thought that Dang Ran-yeong was strong enough to have a body immune to all poisons only made his heart pound, making Cheong-ra newly aware of his secret preferences.

"Lord Owner, I've brought the meal. May I come in?"

A polite voice was heard, and shortly after, the door to the room opened. It had been just a moment ago that he had told the courtesan named Yeo-jin to bring the meal, but the food had already been brought. Neatly dressed servants set a table full of steaming hot food that seemed freshly cooked.

Even with the highly venomous snake raising its head on the table, the servants calmly placed the dishes without any concern. They seemed to either have extreme loyalty to Dang Ran-yeong or had been thoroughly trained.

'Moreover, these are not ordinary servants.'

Although they looked like diligent servants working in a brothel on the surface, every single movement revealed signs of martial arts training.

Anyway, even the servants were so nonchalant, so Cheong-ra couldn't be the only one afraid of the Venomous Horned Serpent, so he too sat down at the table. The Venomous Horned Serpent raised its head even higher and stared at him. As Cheong-ra was having a staring contest with the tiny snake, the door to the room opened again.

"Oh. A familiar face."

The man who entered while yawning was the one Cheong-ra had seen before in Xiangyang. He acknowledged Cheong-ra and sat down with a grin. Seeing his quite handsome face naturally made him likable.

"I'm Wi Je-ho. Nice to meet you again."

Unlike last time, Wi Je-ho didn't ignore Cheong-ra. Rather, he greeted him with a fairly friendly attitude. Cheong-ra nodded lightly.

"I'm also glad to meet you, Young Master Wi."

"Come on, we're going to be working together from now on, so there's no need for such formality."

Wi Je-ho, waving his hand with a good-natured face, then acknowledged the baby Venomous Horned Serpent.

"Rin-rin, you're cute today too."

As Wi Je-ho reached out his hand to pet it, the Venomous Horned Serpent shook its head from side to side and then bared its venomous fangs. He quickly withdrew his hand before getting bitten. Seeing the venom oozing from its fangs, any faint doubt that it might just be an ordinary snake with a horn attached completely disappeared.

Surprisingly, Wi Je-ho, seemingly unafraid of being bitten, dodged the venomous fangs here and there with marvelous hand techniques and finally managed to pet the Venomous Horned Serpent's head. This person also didn't seem to have low martial prowess, but he was using it to tease a snake.

Whether Cheong-ra looked at him strangely or not, he picked up his chopsticks with a satisfied face. The Venomous Horned Serpent, looking very displeased, flicked its tongue and crawled back into Dang Ran-yeong's sleeve.

This time too, Wi Je-ho devoured the food like a big eater with a good appetite. Unlike last time at the mansion in Xiangyang where he barely touched the food, Dang Ran-yeong also seemed to have an appetite today as his chopsticks didn't stop moving. Cheong-ra had wondered how they would eat all this, but it seemed to be the normal amount for these two. It was while Cheong-ra was eating between the two of them.

"By the way, Young Master Baek Ri, are you really thinking of participating in that?"