V3C71: Honeyed Poison, Poisoned Honey, Part 1

Since she appeared to be waking without any great incident, Wei Yi had come to the initial conclusion that wherever she was, whatever the state of her body, regardless of what had happened to her since losing consciousness, she was still alive, and thus had the possibility of recovery with a single good opportunity.

Thus, she did not need to consider whether or not she would actually awaken, or if that strange pull was actually the world trying to end her consciousness.

Instead she was able to question exactly where she would awaken, and how she would do so. For the moment, while she was no longer within the prison realm but not yet in her body, she couldn’t guess whether or not she would be in the same place where she fell, or if she had been tied up and chained somewhere, or if someone had taken the opportunity to remove her limbs and seal her somewhere in such a manner that she wouldn’t be able to regenerate due to some obscure poison or array.

Such a thing was unlikely, since she shouldn’t have been in the way of many who would have a reason to target her, nor did she imagine that she wouldn’t notice something like that even while in the purely mental state.

The opposite, some positive outcome of a person assisting her, was even less likely, since that would require not only effort but also goodwill that her current persona shouldn’t have been able to earn from anyone, save for, perhaps, that man that she had dissuaded from staying around before the massacre. Even then, he would not bother doing anything more than giving her a single recovery pill.

Due to this, awakening to a unique and pristine ceiling was very much a surprise, as was the surface that she lay upon.

It was soft, incredibly so, to the point that she felt uncomfortable due to the sheer softness of the mattress, as well as the sheets that covered her. However, they were all incredibly clean, as if they had been made just for her usage, which was highly unnecessary if that was the case.

For this reason, she immediately sat up and, as the sheets slid off her body, she was able to easily confirm that her clothes had indeed been removed, leaving her with naught but her bare skin and hair, which had fortunately remained the same brown shade that it had been made as part of her disguise. She also found her clothing at the edge of the room, carefully laid out on chairs, with the boots being placed on the ground beside them.

‘My injuries have also mostly recovered, although my killing will is still slightly exhausted, so my spiritual perception can’t reach out as far as I’d like it to…’ she noted, tossing away her sheets.

She rose from the bed, preferring to stand rather than rest, but even the carpet beneath her feet was ridiculously pleasant to stand on, akin to consuming an entire barrel of sugar and honey together, which could easily cause someone to be sick if they didn’t have the same inability to perceive the taste of food and the same powerful stomach as Wei Yi had.

Now that she had come up with that description, she also found that it perfectly suited everything else. The room was made of something akin to white marble, perfectly polished to the extent that she could perfectly see her naked reflection within each piece of it, the walls were decorated with immortal gold that would put the current state of the Yi Ancestral Hall to shame, much of the floor was covered in a beautiful carpet that had already been described, the bed was extremely intricate in terms of design and had enough space for three to lay beside one another comfortably, although the state of that was also made clear already. Several paintings hung on the walls, presenting her with various landscapes that included four-star arrays to empower their aura.

Whatever this place was, the value of this room alone was probably sufficient to purchase several of her star metal-plated gauntlets with ease, although she doubted that there was enough star metal out there to make the aforementioned gauntlets.

Frankly, just looking at all of this made her rather uncomfortable, perhaps due to never having been exposed to this degree of luxury since birth, although she honestly doubted that anyone would be entirely comfortable with living in such a place. Even if they had countless servants and maids to assist them, touching anything seemed like it would damage the place, forcing unnecessary amounts of work onto whoever was responsible for cleaning it, and even the slightest spill of wine or tea would stand out horribly.

She looked to her items, and found that all of them were near one another, including the mask, which was rather interesting to her. Whoever brought her here would surely have seen her face, after all.

‘Perhaps they think that its for my own comfort, or something like that. Either way, as much as I don’t personally mind seeing myself like this, they clearly wanted me dressed before I left the room. Let’s see…’ Wei Yi came over to the chairs and examined all of her clothing carefully, ignoring the occasional dull ache from her muscles and limbs, ‘Seems like everything is in a good state. Most things have been cleaned, but nothing has been pulled apart, nor has anything been stolen. Hm…’

To make things even more interesting, she didn’t feel a single hint of spiritual perception within the room, nor any observation arrays or simpler methods of viewing her without revealing themselves. This either meant that they were respecting her privacy – unlikely, given the fact that she was left entirely naked in the bed – or that they had no interest in looking upon her at that moment.

Whatever the case was, she would be more able to resolve it in a readier state, so she quickly put on everything that she had, deciding to wear the mask after a bit of hesitation. Whether or not anyone within the building had seen her, she might as well maintain her appearance and discuss it with whoever brought her to that bed and allowed her to rest in this room, since it was rather difficult to tell what certain individuals with a great deal of power or wealth did or why they did it. Perhaps they had intentionally avoided gazing upon her face, or perhaps it was of no interest to them.

Either way, she was able to put everything on without any difficulty, although the cleanliness of both her body and her clothes did once again put her off slightly.

Thanks to her physique, she was able to consistently clean herself whenever she wanted, so she was no stranger to the sensation of cleanliness, but she did not bathe or use soap of any kind as often, meaning that she was far less used to the kind of feeling that one would get specifically from them.

‘I can sense some people outside of the room, so I should speak with them…’

Her metal heels loudly tapped on the marble with each step that she took towards the large pair of doors, which she carefully opened and pushed open.

The corridor on the outside was exactly the same in terms of style and appearance as her room had been, but before she had much of an opportunity to examine it, a maid came from around one of the opened doors, taking a brief look at her with the seeming intent to confirm her healthiness before bowing respectfully and deeply, holding that position for several seconds before choosing to address her.

“If you are capable of walking and eating, the Master of the house would speak with you,” the maid said in a polite and polished tone, her every manner and feature being just as elegant as the rest of the house.

Her clothing was clearly of the same quality as the bedsheets had been, and they appeared to have only been worn for a few days over their entire lifetime, in sharp contrast to the Crimson Robes of the Third Arrival which had endured literal lifetimes, although they did possess both a self-repairing and self-cleaning capability. As part of the traditional look, said to have been popularised by someone likely to be an otherworldly devil from many decades before the Master of Yi City, this maid wore a black and white dress that could easily be seen either on an actual servant or on someone in a brothel, due to its design that appeared to invoke both professionalism and lust in the eyes of many.

It was quite difficult to conclude anything based on those things alone, other than that the master of the house must care to some extent about the appearances of his servants.

“Is that so? Very well, I suppose I can see him.”

Wei Yi was quite keen to learn about the exact nature of the people that she was dealing with, how they saw her, and why she had been brought here in the first place, so she chose to not speak as politely, instead speaking as if she barely cared about the matter. If the maid became upset, or showed any signs of contempt, it would be clear that she wasn’t in the house of a trustworthy ally.

However, whether due to good training, acting, or some other reason, the maid had no such response, instead bowing again and saying, “Please follow me. It can be easy to get lost on your own.”

She turned and began to walk slowly, waiting for Wei Yi to follow before she sped up to match her pace. The maid was not a cultivator in a high realm, being only in the Planar Pool realm at a low stage, but it was clear that her body had been trained well, allowing her to easily move at an unnecessarily high speed set by Wei Yi for several minutes without a single sign of exhaustion or complaint. Her body was also lacking in impurities, displaying an absence of unnecessary low-grade pill consumption.

In other words, she was highly capable, beautiful, and seemingly talented in the field of cultivation and, presumably, servitude, although that last part was not too surprising due to the traditional features of the Shun family being present.

As a family, the greatest export that the Shun District had since many decades ago were well-trained workers, servants, guards and soldiers for the people of the other districts, most of the people in the family possessing light skin, blonde hair and eyes of various light colours, including grey or silver. Much like their surname, Shun (顺), might imply, their primary focus was not on the typical form of domination, combat, or general prowess that the other families subscribed to, but rather on servitude, following and submission to greater forces for the betterment of Yi City and the world as a whole, although it was unlikely that all of them got to truly participate in such a thing.

Together, they headed through a series of corridors and rooms, all of which were based in the same kind of opulence and excess that her room had been.

Such an atmosphere made it quite tempting to steal a small ornament or two, since they would be unlikely to be missed due to the sheer size of the building – which she was slowly able to see with both how long it was taking them to walk to their destination even without unnecessary turns and circles, and due to her slowly expanding spiritual perception – and would likely be able to fund a small army all on their own.

For now, she decided that such a thing wasn’t necessary nor would it be a particularly friendly gesture towards the owner of the house. If they proved to be her foes or otherwise not on her side, she might take a thing or two before going.

In some of the corridors and rooms, she found more servants, some female dressed in the same manner as the maid that was leading her, and some male, whose outfits were also the standard for male servants, although they were notably less commonly worn in the aforementioned sexual environments.

Had either one been exaggerated in some way, she might have at the very least been able to guess the gender and outfit that the master of the house was interested in, giving her a little more to work with, perhaps explaining why she might have been found and brought to the house, but that was not present, nor did she see any obvious traces of frequent physical contact with the servants that she walked past, causing her to wonder whether anything of the sort occurred at all. Now, if the master of the house did want to ask her to work for him, or something like that, he or she would naturally make it clear to her, but she still wanted to be sure ahead of time.

After a little while, she decided to say, “Will you answer some of my questions?”

The maid did not stop walking, nor did she look back at her, and instead continued on at the same pace, answering only after they left the room they had been in.

“If you are curious about anything, the master of the house may answer them. If not, we shall be available afterwards.”

“Fine.”

They continued onwards, with Wei Yi hardly being satisfied with the answer, but understanding that she did not currently have much of an opportunity to get a different one. Unless she intended to outright torture this person – the option of scanning her memories was not currently viable since the maid was neither thinking about the things she wanted to learn nor did Wei Yi have enough energy to use the standard method properly – she wouldn’t get much out of her.

Also, there was always the chance that this was a new maid, or one that wasn’t aware of much more than the few responsibilities that she had been given, so she didn’t bother to push the topic. Depending on how the conversation with the owner of the house went, then they might speak again.

Before she had the chance to get completely tired of the opulent aesthetic, they finally arrived at what appeared to be their destination. The maid stopped before another set of double doors, walked up to the side, then bowed to her, keeping her head lowered as she said, “The master is waiting for you inside. You may enter.”

There were no door handles, so she stepped up to the large doors and pushed them open, finding herself at the very end of an enormous dining table.

It easily had enough space for a hundred people to sit on each side, and was filled to the brim with all kinds of food, preserved and kept hot or cold depending on its best state with the use of a number of arrays on the underside of the table. Each item was placed within an overly intricate white plate decorated with immortal gold, the table itself was clearly made by some of the greatest craftsmen that could be afforded, for it was one of the few things in the house that were able to contain boundless luxury without hurting Wei Yi’s eyes.

Roughly fifty chairs stood by the table on either side, giving more than enough room for anyone that wished to sit at them, and behind each chair stood either a male or female servant, alternating from chair to chair, and each one varied slightly in appearance and cultivation, although not a single one could be said to be flawed in any significant manner.

Some of the women – she didn’t bother going beyond a single glance at any of the male servants, for reasons that should be beyond evident by now – had large breasts, others were nearly flat, some were masculine, others were at the very peak of femininity, others displayed notably more of their body with their outfits, others still wore a great amount of makeup that managed to remain sensible. There were those with lithe bodies, larger bodies, wider or narrowed hips, and perhaps the only thing that she did not find was a maid with draconic blood, or at the very least not one with one of the more notorious features that such individuals tended to possess.

Finally, at the very head of the table, with two maids that had the highest realm and subjectively the best looks on either side of his high chair, sat a pudgy man garbed in excessively rich clothing, the absence of facial hair showcasing his large chin and small mouth.

He was just at the edge of her current spiritual perception range, but she was able to tell with near certainty that he was in the sixth realm from his aura, as well as the spiritual perception that she could sense clearly in this door and realised that she had observed it in quite a few places before, although it had still stayed out of the room she had awoken in perhaps due to his mental energy simply being unable to reach that far.

“Welcome,” the man said, not standing up while he raised a glass so that it would be filled by the maid on his side, “If you are able now, it would be great to have a talk with one another.”

At the same time, he gestured with his other hand to one of the male servants, prompting every single one of them to step away from their chairs and depart from the room, walking past Wei Yi on either side and shutting the door after themselves, proving that the man must have been in the sixth realm, as she had guessed. Otherwise, she doubted that he would have been able to notice the slightly longer period of time she had spent looking at the maids rather than the male servants, since the difference was just a few moments.

Once they left, he gestured towards the table, indicating none of the chairs in particular for her to sit at.

‘He’s clearly trying to present himself favourably, trying to please me with his choice of servants, so how far from him should I sit, and would any particular seat suggest that I prefer any of the maids?’ Wei Yi pondered, not needing to look around again since she had already memorised the features of everyone in the room, ‘I am already being a little arrogant, so I might as well ignore the first point and settle for the prettiest one here…’

She silently accepted his invitation and approached the front of the table, walking up to one chair.

Before her hand could even reach out to pull the chair away from the table, the maid did it for her. It was another descendant of the Shun family, possessing the standard blonde hair and soft blue eyes that would be expected of her, but the reason that she in particular drew Wei Yi’s eye was her large chest and supple behind that was quite pleasant in her eyes.

Her suspicions were confirmed the moment that a number of the other servants left the room while seemingly being unprompted to do so, with all of them being on the opposite side of the scale to the servant that remained standing behind her after she had pushed in her chair. Those with almost flat chests, masculine characteristics, or a set of other features that were blatantly opposed to that of her chosen servant removed themselves, and those that were left repositioned themselves within the room as to be spread over it evenly.

The only two that didn’t move were the two maids on either side of the master of the house, who she believed to be serving him directly and thus didn’t participate in whatever was going on.

If she had attempted to ‘select’ one of the two, she wasn’t sure exactly what the owner of the residence would do, but she suspected that she would soon be able to figure it out depending on the next actions of the man to her left. If he would invite her to bed the maid behind her as part of some deal, whether he did so directly or indirectly, he might be fine with selling off his other maids as well, and if not, then perhaps he would treat his servants with some human dignity.

“Please, help yourself to whatever you want. Shun Liu Min will bring you anything you want.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, but decided to go along with it and began to reach out for a cake that was in her vicinity, only to find Shun Liu Min reaching out for her, taking a knife and cutting off a moderate slice of the cake before carefully moving it to the plate that had already been placed before her.

After similarly acquiring a glass of some kind of juice, she did not eat immediately but instead looked to the owner of the house.

“Were you the one that found me?”

“It was. Are you wondering whether to remove your mask? If you prefer, I will look away, as it was my lovely maids that took care of you, cleaned your wounds, fed you some medicinal pills – which were digested remarkably quickly and to little effect, I might add – and saw your whole body. My Shun Liu Min was one of them,” the man said, smiling at the maid that stood behind her, “However, I don’t think that there is any reason to hide your face. You know how things are in the world of cultivation – our faces are, to some extent, malleable, but our techniques and energy is far more difficult to hide.”

“You’d still prefer to see my face, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course! I am a man and seeing the faces of women does interest me. However, I do think that it would allow us to become a little friendlier.”

As he pointed out, most cultivators, especially at the higher realms, have the ability change their face whenever they want with the use of certain techniques or pills, and he naturally didn’t know that Wei Yi was somewhat of an exception for the reasons of her physique cultivation. Meanwhile, for most, to change a thing about their cultivation, especially the element of the energy that they used, would be impossible without a miracle or two, which was also inverted for her thanks to the Truth of the Universe. Due to this, for most, revealing their face would, at most, prevent them from using it in the future if they committed some terrible crime while using it, while revealing their cultivation, anchor and searing mark quantity, amongst other matters, would force them to scatter their cultivation and begin anew if they wished to hide from the consequences of their actions.

Wei Yi could ignore such things, and would, eventually, obtain greater ability to change her appearance as well, so it was far less dangerous to show herself to this man, especially since she saw no reason for him not to just question his maids at a later point to learn about every part of her body with ease.

Since she was also rather curious to figure out exactly where he was taking this conversation, although she did have quite a few ideas already due to the particularities of his actions and words, she sighed and removed the mask, placing it on her lap.

The very second that the lower half of her face was shown, every single person in the room gasped. All of the maids that could see her with their eyes had been pretending not to be looking directly at her, but that façade broke that very instant for several of them. Some were able to look away quickly, but a few blushed and others were unable to look away, keeping their eyes on her. A few even bit or licked their lips.

It did not escape the attention of their master, but it actually seemed to please him, as he gestured for all those that had not had that kind of response to leave.

‘He will suggest that I sleep, or at the very least enjoy the company of one of them, won’t he?’ Wei Yi was able to tell right away as she raised a fork, removed a small piece of cake from the larger slice and placed it in her mouth, ‘Of course. Frankly, I don’t know what I expected, although this doesn’t necessarily confirm anyone’s intentions. There any number of drugs that can be placed in food…’

“Well. Your mask had suggested a very different situation.”

“You didn’t take a look with spiritual perception? Your sixth realm should make it easy to get past the material that I had used.”

“I wish us to be on an amicable relationship. To look at your face when you would reveal it yourself, so long as you had any interest in speaking with me, would just be a waste of your trust. Still, your face is… noble, if you understand my meaning.”

“I do not. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

Once again, he seemed not to mind, instead simply nodding as if her cold reply was perfectly understandable. This was very unusual for someone in his realm and with his degree of wealth, as both tended to foster arrogance and pride, but less strange when every other matter was considered. He was trying to achieve a positive impression, and whether this would be in order to recruit her, take advantage of her, or use her for some purpose that she was currently unaware of, it was clear that he was not acting out of the goodness of his heart.

In order to achieve such a thing, he could probably put aside some of his pride for now, especially if he intended her not to be able to speak of this matter to anyone, either due to her death or some other fate. Whatever the case was, she wasn’t too keen on remaining in his residence for any longer than necessary, especially if he happened to have some methods to harm her that she couldn’t alleviate.

“You caused quite the stir at the Ping District, from what I hear. A masked fighter using lightning and raw energy to cause quite a lot of harm to someone I know…”

“Not a friend of yours, though.”

“No. The man you hurt was Ping Waqing, and although my surname is the same as his, we never got along. It just so happens that it was also quite exciting to witness the destruction at the district, as well as the damage to the many criminal groups that had settled down there.”

“It is in your interests for those groups to perish?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t you want to have fewer enemies in your path to taking over the district? The Ping family is powerful, but without the wall of the criminals and thugs, anyone powerful enough amongst them could easily take over… Such as I, Ping Gangze,” the man smiled, a large slice of cake to match the one she had chosen being placed onto his plate, “However, I do not need you to get involved any further than you already have.”

“What do you want, then?”

“I wish to recruit you, of course. You are clearly capable, and I could easily provide you with the resources to cultivate to the fifth realm, if not higher, while also easily providing… entertainment…”

“You mean her?” Wei Yi pointed to the maid behind herself with her right hand, using her left to sip on the juice that she had been given, “What exactly would you make me do if I did agree to be recruited?”

“People under my wing get to enjoy luxury most of the time. You may visit my residence and have your own with an excellent selection of servants. If you enjoy her beauty, I could even gift you Shun Liu Min. In exchange, all I would need for you to do is act according to your strengths at certain times. You won’t even need to share all of your techniques with me, and I will instead reward you if you choose to provide any to me,” after presenting those offers, he pointed to another plate as he continued, “However, you don’t have to decide right away. I have all of these items prepared, so you can recover your energy as much as you like with whatever you like.”