novelraw Chapter 8 : Night Raid
Chapter 8 : Night Raid
Chapter 8: Night Raid
As the night deepened, the clamor within Drunken Immortal Pavilion gradually subsided, leaving only faint traces of music and laughter.
Inside the private room, Lin Xiaowan finished washing and changed into a slightly loose, plain white sleeping robe. She did not sit cross-legged to meditate and regulate her breathing like ordinary cultivators.
She knew clearly that with her inferior spiritual root aptitude—
If she did not rely on Dual Cultivation, merely absorbing the thin spiritual energy in the air would result in progress as slow as a crawling turtle. A whole night of breathing exercises might not even compare to nourishing her spirit and restoring her strength.
She extinguished the lamp, closed the carved wooden window, and lay on her side upon the soft, spacious bed.
Her body relaxed, but her thoughts continued to turn.
Having gone a day without Dual Cultivation, a trace of regret flickered in her heart.
Through the Profound Essence Scripture, seizing another’s Primordial Yang and refining it into surging waves of spiritual energy pouring into her dantian—the pleasure and efficiency of it were truly unforgettable.
Coming to Drunken Immortal Pavilion—was it really the optimal choice?
Most of the people here were refined officials, nobles, and scholars who prided themselves on elegance. They had many rules and liked to maintain appearances… when it came to relations between men and women, they were not as direct as those in more vulgar brothels.
But upon further thought, now that she was here, it was not without advantages.
Drunken Immortal Pavilion held considerable fame.
Members of cultivation families often came here as well. Among them were not a few cultivators with spiritual roots. Compared to mortals, the quality of their Primordial Yang would be many times higher.
If she was lucky enough to encounter one or two and meet them several times, perhaps within two months she could condense her Qi Sea.
However, judging from Honggu’s requirements, before she could officially begin, she would need to pass the stage of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. As for this, Lin Xiaowan was not worried.
After all, the original owner of this body came from the Lin Family and was raised as a young lady of a great household. The foundation in these arts still remained. Handling these “lessons” here should not be difficult.
Just as her thoughts wandered—
Her ears suddenly twitched.
“Creak—”
An extremely faint sound of wood rubbing against its axis reached her ears. The carved wooden window had quietly been pushed open. Moonlight streamed into the room, and at the same time, a shadow flashed past, instantly merging with the darkness inside.
Who!?
A chill shot through Lin Xiaowan’s heart, and all the hairs on her body stood on end! Any trace of sleepiness vanished instantly.
She opened her mouth to call for the guards outside—
“Mmph—!”
Before the sound could escape, a large hand carrying the coolness of night dew suddenly reached from behind her, forcefully covering her mouth.
Her cry was completely suppressed, leaving only muffled sounds.
Lin Xiaowan’s heart trembled violently. In an instant, she understood—this intruder… was not an ordinary person! A cultivator! And with such agility far beyond mortal limits, he was definitely not someone at the first or second level of Qi Refinement!
At least the fourth layer of Qi Refinement!
As thoughts raced through the girl’s mind, a cold, sharp edge lightly pressed against the delicate skin of her neck, sending a shiver through her body.
It was a dagger. The chill of its blade seeped through her skin straight into her bones.
A deliberately lowered young male voice sounded close behind her ear, issuing a ruthless warning: “Don’t move. Don’t make a sound! Or I’ll kill you!”
At the same time, the hand covering her mouth loosened slightly. With a swift motion to the side, a faint surge of force enveloped the entire room, while also shutting the carved window.
In an instant, the private room returned to darkness.
“If you don’t want an extra cut on your neck, stay quiet.” The man’s voice sounded again, his breathing somewhat more hurried.
Lin Xiaowan forced herself to calm down. Holding her breath, she nodded lightly, indicating compliance.
Secretly, the technique of the Profound Essence Scripture had already begun to circulate. A strand of Mirage Qi started to gather within her dantian.
However, with the opponent’s cultivation clearly higher than hers and the dagger pressed against a vital point, she did not dare make the slightest move. She could only wait for an opportunity.
Not long after the man finished speaking, faint tapping sounds—“tap, tap”—came from the roof tiles above, like the landing of night birds, stopping directly above the room.
Hearing this, Lin Xiaowan could clearly feel the man behind her tense up, the cold blade pressing even harder against her neck.
Fortunately, whatever was on the roof—whether human or not—only lingered briefly before moving off in another direction.
Time passed bit by bit. Inside the room, only the nearly inaudible breathing of the two remained.
Seemingly confirming that the pursuers had temporarily gone far away, the hand covering Lin Xiaowan’s mouth finally loosened somewhat.
But the dagger at her neck did not move in the slightest.
Lin Xiaowan carefully took a breath, her throat feeling slightly dry. In an extremely soft voice, she said, “Could you… remove the dagger first? I won’t shout.”
“Don’t try anything.” The man refused decisively. His voice was weak as he forced himself to continue, “Those lackeys of the Lin Family have sharp ears. They might not have gone far.”
“This is Drunken Immortal Pavilion, a property of the Qin Family. Even the Lin Family wouldn’t dare to barge in and cause trouble, would they?”
The man let out a low snort, tinged with mockery. “Under normal circumstances, yes. Unfortunately, I am a ‘thorn in their side’ they want removed as quickly as possible. If they discover me, let alone a Qin Family property—even their main hall, they would dare to storm.”
Toward the end, his breath grew noticeably weaker, and even speaking seemed laborious.
Lin Xiaowan could feel the body pressed against her back trembling slightly in an abnormal way. Her delicate nose twitched, catching the lingering scent of blood—he was injured, and not lightly.
She said nothing more. The Mirage Qi within her abdomen did not dissipate; instead, it became even more restrained.
She could feel the man’s breathing fluctuate—sometimes hurried, sometimes prolonged—as if he was silently regulating his breath to suppress his injuries.
The room fell silent once more. After most of the night had passed, the dagger at her neck finally withdrew.
Lin Xiaowan felt the space behind her empty. She gently moved her stiff neck but did not immediately rise, maintaining her side-lying position.
Meanwhile, the man had already drifted off the bed like a ghost, taking a few steps to the window. After carefully observing for a moment, he pushed open the carved window and let out a long breath.
Moonlight poured in, casting his shadow long across the ground into a blurred silhouette.
“Ahem…” He cleared his throat and turned to look at her, his voice carrying a hint of relief after surviving a calamity. “Tonight… you saved my life. Thanks.”
Standing against the moonlight, Lin Xiaowan lifted her gaze. She could only see a tall, indistinct male figure, his face completely hidden in shadow.
Only then did she slowly sit up at the edge of the bed.
Her long, jet-black hair cascaded over her shoulders, accentuating her slender frame in the sleeping robe. Her bare calves and feet, exposed in the moonlight, were dazzlingly pale.
Looking at the shadow by the window, she gave a soft snort, her tone unreadable. “If you hadn’t held a blade to my neck at the start, perhaps I would accept that thanks a little more.”
The man seemed to pause for a moment, then let out a low laugh, his voice slightly hoarse. “For a woman of a brothel to be like you… I’m rather glad now that I didn’t slit your throat earlier. Otherwise, wouldn’t Luoyang City have lost a breathtaking sight?”
His gaze lingered on Lin Xiaowan for a moment. Even though his face could not be seen, she could feel the appraisal and admiration in his eyes. There was little lust—more like the amazement one feels when seeing a rare work of art.
“I’m leaving.” The man moved his arm, producing a faint cracking of bones. “For the sake of your cooperation tonight…”
He paused, then suddenly asked, “Hey, little beauty, want to come with me? Since we’ve met, it’s fate. What’s there to stay for in this shabby Qin Family establishment?”
Lin Xiaowan tilted her head slightly, moonlight casting a small shadow beneath her long lashes.
She did not answer. Instead, she asked, “From your tone, you do not belong to the Qin Family, yet are being hunted by the Lin Family… Could it be that you are from the Li Family in the western district?”
“The Li Family?” The man scoffed. “Those petty rich hiding in the city? I’m not one of them.” Seemingly amused, he introduced himself directly. “Ever heard of Black Wind Stronghold outside the city? I am Tu Fei, second in command of the stronghold.”
Lin Xiaowan’s eyes flickered slightly.
Black Wind Stronghold?
The largest and most mysterious bandit force outside Luoyang City. It was said they occupied treacherous terrain. The three major families had joined forces to suppress them several times, only to suffer heavy losses and return without success. Their difficulty and strength were evident.
She had not expected that their second-in-command would be such a young cultivator.
She reached out to adjust her loosened collar back onto her shoulder and shook her head. “Thank you for the offer. However, being a courtesan here awaiting a price, and going to a bandit stronghold to play a similar role—there is no essential difference to me. Second Leader Tu, please do as you wish.”
Tu Fei raised his brows, not surprised.
He had only mentioned it casually. What normal person would abandon a relatively stable life to become a bandit living on the edge of death?
“Perhaps we’ll meet again if fate allows, little beauty. Remember my name—Tu Fei.”
He gave one last glance at the girl sitting quietly in the moonlight, leaving behind a line tinged with the air of the martial world. With one hand on the windowsill, he agilely flipped onto the roof.
Lin Xiaowan immediately rose and quickly walked to the window, leaning out to look.
Under the cold moonlight, a dark figure leapt swiftly across uneven rooftops, bounding from tile to tile. Within a few movements, he had already vanished into the night.
The night wind brushed against Lin Xiaowan’s face, bringing a trace of coolness.
Leaning on the windowsill, she gazed toward the direction where the figure had disappeared, secretly feeling fortunate that she had not acted rashly.
“So that is the capability of a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator—at least above the fourth layer?”
Agility and strength far beyond mortal imagination, leaping across eaves and walls as if they were flat ground… Compared to that, her current meager cultivation was like a toddling infant.