Dispel the Clouds and See the Sun

1. A Glimpse of Beauty

At a pleasure house, an exotic dancer with phoenix eyes seduces the audience

It was a busy night at The Thousand Flowers Pavilion, a new and exciting pleasure house, most glamorous and alluring of all in Royal Capital; in that elegant building with tall red columns and a balcony surrounding its wide centre patio, loud exotic music, delicious fragrances, clinking of cups, cheers and roaring laughter filled the air.

All eyes, however, were at the performance of that exotic dancer, fluttering her long sleeves around her and swaying her hips seductively, light on her feet; she wore gauze robes, nearly transparent, revealing a white as jade skin and slender body with straight limbs. With golden embroidery here and there, her outfit left little to the imagination!

Her face was veiled, only her phoenix eyes showing she was indeed a rare beauty, with long silky hair in an exquisite do, its many hairpins with dangling beads flying around like rain droplets; her performance soft and spirited, the whole audience watching her graceful movements unblinkingly.

With such refined and classy acts, The Thousand Flowers Pavilion had become popular practically overnight, having taken the Royal Capital by storm when it opened just a few months ago. Every day crowds walked in, looking for wine and song; little did they know that The Thousand Flowers Pavilion was in fact a shady establishment run by ghosts!

Most of them being over malice level, hard to be spotted, luring mortals with the pleasures of the flesh, robbing of their worldly possessions, their bodies, and even of their lives; because of the very nature of pleasure houses, sudden disappearances or deaths often went unnoticed, never linked to such high-class business... till now.

That sensuous dancer did big spins around the centre patio, swirling her long silky sleeves, her hairpins with dangling beads jingling slightly; a youth dressed in black appeared by one of The Thousand Flowers Pavilion exits, and nodded: it was the signal.

Following a pirouette high in the air, suddenly and with lightning speed, the dancer shot a few of her hairpins around, expertly hitting many ghosts at the front rows flawlessly between their eyes, making them shriek and expel a thick green smoke. Another pirouette, another round of surprise attacks, passing like thunder and moving like the wind!

Her hairpins weren't ordinary ones, but fit for purpose talismans, and the dancer, a top-class martial artist, kept pirouetting left and right while tossing them, never missing her mark; the audience realised something wasn't right, and great screaming and shouting, pushing and shoving started all over.

She never stopped, not even when running out of hairpins, resorting instead to talismans thrown forcefully, getting them nailed at the ghosts around like knives; all the while, body light as a feather, she dodged sudden attacks, fighting back with any means possible.

With the corner of her eye she saw The Thousand Flowers Pavilion owner, a certain ghost called Zheng Meng, swiftly jumping off a window, getting away! Up the window she followed, on hot pursuit.

That ghost was of wrath level, strong in spiritual power as well as in martial arts; however, he realised that dancer's skills were unrivalled under heaven! Of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing is best, so he deftly jumped up a roof, running on the tiles with amazing speed and skill, thinking that'd be enough to leave that dancer behind.

He was mistaken, as she went flying across rooftops right after him, a dragon returning to the sea; jumping where he jumped, pirouetting when he pirouetted. Like two fox spirits they went from roof to roof on that elegant Royal Capital district, and that dancer was like a shadow, never leaving him! One misstep, and he'd be doomed, he just knew it.

Then it happened: with a great stride from a rooftop to another, he landed hesitantly, taking one or two seconds more, and that was enough. She grabbed him by the collar, throwing him forcefully on the ground of a mansion's backyard, holding both his wrists with an iron grip and one knee between his shoulder blades, immobilizing him completely.

Just then, someone walked out from the shadows; a tall man dressed in red.

"Hua Chengzhu, just in time!", the wrath ghost Zheng Meng exclaimed in joy.

Hua Cheng tilted his head, looking amused, "Oh? Do I know you?"

The ghost's face dropped, and, still struggling against the dancer's hold, he said, "Zheng Meng. Your loyal, er, subject. I run a pleasure house. The Thousand Flowers Pavilion in Royal Capital".

"Ah yes", Hua Cheng replied, and then hugged his arms in his usual nonchalant way, "Well, who told you to go and cause trouble outside Ghost City? Serves you right you got caught."

"Hua Chengzhu?!", the ghost screamed in disbelief, "You can't let these trashy heaven officials take me and – "

But before he could finish his protests, he was sucked in, trapped in a qiakun pouch the dancer had taken off her sleeves; putting it away again, she then got up, removed her veil and gave Hua Cheng a bright smile, "San Lang!"

Hua Cheng didn't say anything, but the way he kept looking on made Xie Lian suddenly flustered, and he hurriedly said, "I, I, it was a mission requirement. Mission requirement!"

Hua Cheng pffted a laugh, "Gege, why do your missions always involve some form of cross-dressing?" He gave Xie Lian a burning look and added, "Not that I'm complaining. You're looking so – "

Suddenly, they heard running steps approaching, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing appeared; dressed in black, carrying bow and sabre, coming straight from The Thousand Flowers Pavilion. On this mission with Xie Lian, they had continued the slaughtering of ghosts while Xie Lian was flying across rooftops, chasing Zheng Meng.

Seeing Hua Cheng, they nodded curtly, more out of respect for Xie Lian, but also in an unspoken agreement that Hua Cheng wouldn't interfere in their heavenly business.

"Your Highness", Feng Xin said, "A fucking summoning! We must go to the Great Martial – "

"Urgent matters, it seems", Mu Qing interrupted, frowning at Feng Xin disapprovingly.

"Alright", Xie Lian replied, "You guys can go, I'm coming up right after – "

They both turned to go; then Mu Qing, hesitating slightly, turned back, looked at Xie Lian and added, "Xie Lian. Remember, hum, to get changed first."

Now, Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Flying across roof tops AND looking stunning, that's Gege for you. 😍

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