Chapter 566
Chapter 566 Mysterious Paintings
This towering building soared high into the sky. It was brightly lit, like a lantern in the night. Inside, there was a man-made lake. Lotus flowers were in full bloom on the lakeside, their fragrance pouring over them.
As soon as Long Chen and Mo Nian had arrived, a pretty, green-robed maiden received them.
“Do you two have an appointment?”
“Ninth floor, first rank Heaven table,” said Long Chen. That was what had been written on the invitation card Mu Xue had sent.
“Follow me.”
The maiden bowed slightly and began to lead Long Chen and Mo Nian. This gave Long Chen an extremely odd feeling.
It seemed they didn’t get much of a differential treatment here. This maiden hadn’t smiled once for them.
Passing by the small lake, a long corridor appeared in front of them. The ceiling of the corridor had been painted over, depicting all kinds of women. They were all playing musical instruments such as the zither or flute. Their bearings were all different, but they were vivid and lifelike.
This one corridor was very long, stretching several miles. There were thousands of paintings on the ceiling, and each one depicted a different woman.
“Oh?”
Long Chen suddenly paused, looking at one particular painting. That painting depicted a woman standing proudly high in the clouds, her jade hands playing the zither. Her long black hair seemed to flutter, and she seemed just like a fairy.
“What is it, Long Chen?” Mo Nian followed Long Chen’s gaze, but all he saw was an ordinary painting.
“This woman possesses a terrifying killing intent.” Long Chen was staring into the woman’s eyes, slightly bewildered.
“Killing intent? What are you talking about? I don’t see anything. Don’t bother acting profound here. If you want to act, wait until we get inside. There’s no one to see your acting here.” Mo Nian thought Long Chen was doing this intentionally and started to pull him away.
“Wait a moment. I want to look at it a bit longer.”
Long Chen stared deeply into that woman’s eyes. He could sense an extremely profound killing intent that was exceptionally icy.
On the outside, that woman didn’t seem to have an expression. She seemed calm, looking like she was just playing the zither normally. But Long Chen could sense her intense killing intent. He vainly tried to see something more.
Even after a long time, he was unable to sense anything else other than killing intent. It seemed as if it was just an ordinary painting.
“Let’s go. Don’t make everyone wait.” Mo Nian pulled on Long Chen, forcibly pulling him away.
The two of them didn’t notice that when Long Chen said there was strong killing intent in the painting, the green-robed maiden leading them had shaken ever so slightly, an expression of disbelief flashing over her eyes. However, her back was facing them, so they didn’t notice.
“Just walk up nine flights and you’ll be there.” When they reached the end of the corridor, the maiden waved her hand, her meaning that the two of them could walk on their own. Then she left.
Long Chen and Mo Nian looked at each other. This Immortal Intoxication Building’s treatment of its guests was truly lacking. They only led them halfway to their seats before leaving?
They supposed that they were truly gaining experience of the world today. The two of them reached the first floor of the main building and saw that there wasn’t a single person.
On the second floor, there was also no one. On the third floor, it was still incredibly quiet, not a single person present. Long Chen laughed. “This is definitely on the same level as your Cloudless Sky.”
“Fool, if you don’t know anything, then don’t speak. These three floors don’t have guests because there aren’t any girls to accompany you. Furthermore, the price is not discounted at all. Who would come here to eat?
“The cheapest table here costs over ten thousand spirit stones. And that’s just these three lowest floors. For the fourth to sixth floors, the cheapest table costs fifty thousand spirit stones.
“As for the ninth floor, it costs at least several hundred thousand spirit stones. The first rank Heaven table Mu Xue has ordered is the most expensive table on that floor, and it probably costs several million spirit stones!” said Mo Nian.
“What?! How is it that expensive? Then I think I’ll just not go. Tell Mu Xue to give me the money she would save from not having me eat. My heart won’t be able to bear the cost,” joked Long Chen.
“Tch, isn’t it just a few million spirit stones? It’s not like I need her to pay the bill. Brother will treat you.” Mo Nian patted himself on the chest, his meaning that his chest was bulging and that his purse was also bulging.
Long Chen had only been joking anyway. After killing Luo Zhongsheng, the Xiantian experts, and robbing the Ironblood Mercenary Unit, Long Chen was certain Mu Xue was definitely a wealthy woman now.
On the fourth floor, guests started to appear. Over half this large floor was occupied.
Long Chen swept his gaze over it and noticed an extremely odd thing. He saw an empty space beside almost every one of these guests.
He then suddenly realized that those should be prepared for the Immortal Intoxication Building’s ladies. Sweeping his gaze over the floor, he found a few ladies sitting in those spots, chatting with whom they sat beside. However, the thing that amazed him was that those men didn’t seem at all excited. In fact, they seemed to be sitting on pins and needles, and some were even sweating.
Long Chen couldn’t help laughing. Just what kind of game was this? You had to pay money to torment yourself? His laughter immediately drew everyone’s furious glares.
The majority of the people here had no one to accompany them. They thought Long Chen’s laughter was a jeer at them, so naturally they became furious. However, none of them said anything.
“Sorry, sorry, please continue.” Long Chen hastily apologized and rushed onto the next floor.
On the fifth floor, there were slightly more people, and there were also more ladies. However, compared to the number of guests, they were still very few.
As for the guests with no one beside them, they were quietly enjoying the fine wine. Just looking at that made Long Chen want to laugh. If the ladies didn’t want you, then even if you waited until the sky brightened again, would it have any use? They had essentially paid money just to be ignored. That really was an incredibly high realm of stupidity.
Continuing higher, Long Chen noticed that the people on the higher floors had higher cultivation bases. By the time they reached the eighth floor, he noticed several late Meridian Opening experts.
Furthermore, those people were all young and had definitely not surpassed twenty-five years of age. There were also many more ladies here.
However, the people those ladies sat next to were all rigid and solemn. Let alone getting a touch, they didn’t even dare to look at them.
Once they arrived on the ninth floor, they immediately saw Mu Xue waving to them in the distance.
“Haha, leader Mu Xue, it’s been a while,” called out Long Chen.
However, this caused countless disdainful gazes to fall on him. But when those people saw Mo Nian by his side, they were shocked, obviously recognizing him.
“Long Chen, you can’t shout in here.” Mu Xue quickly ran over and whispered.
“But I didn’t shout? It was just an ordinary greeting.” Long Chen felt a bit wronged.
“That’s also not good enough. When you talk here, you have to do it quietly.” Mu Xue brought them over to her table. Every member of the Muxue Mercenary Unit was already waiting for them.
When Long Chen and Mo Nian passed by a table, one of the people there glared at Long Chen and sneered, “Where did this fool who doesn’t know the rules come from? Uncouth to the peak.”
Long Chen was completely infuriated. Today, he had repeatedly run into these garbage rules. Since when did eating a meal require so many rules?! He coldly snorted towards this person’s provocation. “Where did such a dog-like person come from? Do people think that if a country bumpkin changes its shell, it wouldn’t be a bastard? After waiting for so long, you see no one bothers with you, so you take your anger out on others? If I were such a person, I would have long since thrown my head into that bowl of soup and drowned myself.”
“You…!” That person stood up in fury.
Long Chen didn’t give that person a second glance and continued forward. Mo Nian couldn’t help smiling bitterly. Long Chen’s temper had immediately offended the majority of people here. That was because most people didn’t have anyone accompanying them.
Anyone who could come here possessed an illustrious status and strength. They all had their own honor, and Long Chen’s words were a slap in the face.
However, Long Chen hadn’t named anyone, so they couldn’t say anything. Otherwise, that would be saying they were the kind of person Long Chen had cursed, and that would be even more embarrassing.
Their first rank Heaven table was semi-private. Several beautiful screens veiled them from the rest of the room. That made it appear even more prominent and dignified.
Furthermore, this table was next to the window, and it was possible to look over Qingzhou City’s nightscape. From behind the screens, as long as you didn’t shout, you wouldn’t affect anyone else in the room.
“Long Chen, hehe, we finally meet again!” Zhang Wu looked at Long Chen with excitement.
When Long Chen had blocked a Xiantian weapon’s full strength attack, that shocking majesty had made him appear like a god, and it had completely shaken all of them. These men now thought of Long Chen as a hero, so they were incomparably excited upon seeing him arrive.
“It’s been a while, brothers.” Long Chen cupped his fists towards them. Long Chen also very much liked this group of straightforward men.
However, he complained, “Leader Mu Xue, why did you have to choose this kind of place to invite me to a meal? It’s so irritating.”
Long Chen would rather set up a few tables outside the city. Then they could eat and drink to their hearts’ content, letting out their emotions as much as they wanted. That would be truly satisfying. Sitting here with a bunch of idiots, he didn’t even have an appetite.
“Long Chen, be happy. This place is Qingzhou City’s peak location. There are so many people who want to come, but they can’t. Don’t complain,” said Mo Nian disdainfully.
“We didn’t just come here because of you, Long Chen. Everyone just wanted to experience another aspect of the world. Right now, our Muxue Mercenary Unit is rising within the mercenary world. We came here to make our name resound even louder. I spent eight million spirit stones for this spot. That kind of financial power is something only we have in the mercenary world. This will be good for getting new recruits.” Mu Xue smiled.
“You want to expand?” asked Long Chen.
“Yes. To maintain our strength, we have to get fresh blood. But don’t worry, we’ll only accept trustworthy people. We won’t take in just anyone,” said Mu Xue.
That put him much more at ease. Mu Xue was truly a good leader. She handled things meticulously, rarely making any mistakes.
As they spoke, some people came over carrying all kinds of delicacies and began to fill the table. When Long Chen saw those delicacies, he no longer grumbled about this place.
Those delicacies were truly worthy of their price. Those weren’t just fine food; they were tonics and medicines. To be able to turn medicine into something that would make people drool with desire, the Immortal Intoxication Pavilion truly was filled with talent.
By the time they finished placing all the precious medicines and rare Magical Beasts’ meat on the table, the delicious smell made Long Chen feel like his saliva was about to overflow.
Just as he was preparing to take action, a burst of fragrance blew over. The Muxue Mercenary Unit’s members all became still.