3: Princess Danfeng, I came here specifically to see you?

Ouyang Qing's smile remained unchanged: "What is Young Master saying? This servant doesn't understand.

This is a place for pleasure. If you like it, Qing'er can make you feel like a god!"

As she spoke, an outer garment floated away, and she herself fell into Lu Jiuyuan's arms.

Lu Jiuyuan took a step back, letting her fall pitifully onto the carpet, her purple gauze skirt spreading out like a blooming peony.

She looked up at Lu Jiuyuan, the spring-water-like tenderness in her eyes slowly freezing into ice.

"Lu Jiuyuan..." She slowly stood up, her fingers gently caressing her temples: "You killed my eldest sister, and you still come to Chunfeng Brothel to find me?

You know my identity!

It seems there's a bad apple among my sisters!"

Lu Jiuyuan's right thumb gently caressed the hilt of the Guhong Sword, its flat tip slightly lowered, seemingly casual, but ready to launch a fatal strike at any moment.

"Red Shoes' Fourth, Ouyang Qing." Lu Jiuyuan's voice was terrifyingly calm: "The Red Shoes have nine sisters in total: a female knight, a prostitute, a lunatic, a fool, and a Young Miss.

Since you want to avenge that madwoman, a few of you must die. Human nature is too cheap; if I don't kill a few, you won't back down."

Ouyang Qing suddenly laughed, her laughter crisp like silver bells, yet carrying a bone-chilling coldness: "Just you? A brute who only knows how to stab with a sword? If eldest sister hadn't been ambushed by you, how could she have..."

Before she finished speaking, her right hand suddenly flicked up, and three silver lights shot out from her hand!

Lu Jiuyuan's eyes narrowed slightly—triple speed!

The world suddenly slowed down in his eyes. He could clearly see three thin hairpins rotating through the air, precisely the ornaments from her hair.

Lu Jiuyuan's body swayed, the Guhong Sword cut out a cold light, a thrust and a flick.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Three soft sounds rang out almost simultaneously. The three hairpins were precisely struck away and embedded in the room's pillars.

"Puff!"

The Guhong Sword pierced Ouyang Qing's right shoulder, pinning her to the screen behind her.

"Ah!" Ouyang Qing let out a cry of pain, her delicate face contorted by agony.

"Your martial arts are very ordinary. How did you become a member of the Red Shoes?" Pressing the hilt of the sword, Lu Jiuyuan asked:

"Don't you know that my place is the best channel for obtaining information? The nine sisters each have their strengths, and what I excel at is intelligence.

I hid myself very well. Who betrayed my identity? Second Sister, or Third Sister?" Ouyang Qing asked,

"But you haven't had any contact with them at all, and they aren't even here."

"amitabha! Is Honest Monk here at an inopportune time?" With a Buddhist chant, a bald man wearing a tattered monk's robe and looking honest pushed the door open and entered.

And his movement to the doorway was so silent that even Lu Jiuyuan didn't hear a single sound.

Lu Jiuyuan's figure suddenly froze. The Guhong Sword remained motionless, pinning Ouyang Qing, but the corner of his eye was fixed on the seemingly simple-minded bald monk at the door.

When did he arrive?

"Honest Monk?" Lu Jiuyuan's voice carried a hint of solemnity. Honest Monk was not honest, but he was a top-tier expert: "Do monks also frequent brothels?"

Honest Monk's old face flushed red, and he stammered: "Everyone says Ouyang is very beautiful, I just wanted to come up and see! I originally wanted to endure and come a few days later, but I couldn't resist."

"Just looking?"

Honest Monk's neck was now completely red: "I'm just looking, a monk... a monk is an honest person, he cannot break his vows!"

Ouyang Qing suddenly let out a charming laugh. Blood flowed down her shoulder, staining her gauze skirt purple, adding a desolate charm:

"Great Master, you've come at just the right time. This madman wants to kill me... Drive away this madman, and Great Master can look however he wants, whether it's with clothes on or without, it's all up to you."

Honest Monk sighed with a troubled expression: "Female benefactor, do not tempt this monk. This monk cannot resist temptation.

Honest Monk has harbored lustful thoughts, which is truly wrong. I must punish myself by crawling ten miles to accept this lesson and extinguish the lust in my heart."

He turned to Lu Jiuyuan, "I beg this benefactor, please be merciful where you can. This monk will kowtow to you."

With that, he knelt directly on the ground with a thud, bowing his head without the slightest hesitation.

Whoosh! Lu Jiuyuan directly broke through the window and shot out, not accepting that kowtow.

Damn it, what bad luck to encounter the not-so-honest Honest Monk.

This old bald donkey had kowtowed hundreds of times in his life, but everyone he had kowtowed to had died.

"Since Honest Monk has appeared, Four-Eyebrows has probably already met Shangguan Danfeng and will arrive here soon."

Lu Jiuyuan casually found a rooftop, squatted under the corner eaves, and began to study the Ghost Shadow Maze. Compared to the ordinary, even fourth- or fifth-rate Internal Skill and common footwork he practiced,

this set of light-body Internal Skill was simply far too superior.

The Ghost Shadow Maze, as a light-body skill, was not considered top-tier in the Jianghu; even at Major Achievement, it was only at the level of an ordinary first-rate light-body skill.

But if that speed were multiplied by three, it would be incomparably terrifying.

"Friend, my rooftop isn't really suitable for sleeping. If you truly want to rest, why not find another place?"

A very coarse, hoarse voice came from below.

Lu Jiuyuan was startled. He hadn't heard any sound from below, and instantly activated triple speed.

Only then did he clearly hear that there was a person in the room below, and not only in that room, but also one person each in the two adjacent rooms.

All were experts! Very, very high-level experts.

"Apologies for the disturbance!" Lu Jiuyuan dropped from the rooftop, looked back, and his heart trembled. Too ugly.

As he landed, he saw the person's appearance in the room by the moonlight.

It could hardly be called a complete face. The left half of his face seemed to have been planed flat by a sharp blade; shriveled flesh grotesquely pulled the remaining half of his nose and single eye to one side, forming a bizarre slant.

His right eye socket was only a deep, dark hole, and a shocking cross-shaped scar was carved on his forehead.

Both his arms were severed at the wrists. A steel hook was attached to his right wrist, while his left wrist bore a massive iron ball, as large as a head, gleaming with a metallic, deathly sheen in the moonlight.

What the hell, how could he encounter them here? And why were they here?

"You recognize me?" The wack's hoarse voice in the room sounded again.

"Since ancient times, much love leads to endless regret; Jade-Faced Young Master Liu Yuhang!" Lu Jiuyuan nodded.

"Since ancient times, much love leads to endless regret; past events are like smoke, unbearable to recall.

I didn't expect anyone in this world to still remember me, Liu Yuhang, and remember me as such a Jade-Faced Young Master." Liu Yuhang's throat produced a hoarse sound like metal grinding: "Rare, rare! But unfortunately, the Jade-Faced Young Master died long ago; only Liu Yuhang lives."

"Seeing your strange weapon, four-sided and four-edged, with a sharpened tip and a flat blade, it must be the recently somewhat famous, fast swordsman Lu Jiuyuan, who only needs one sword to kill!"

"Only needs one sword to kill, is your sword very fast?" A refined, scholarly-looking middle-aged man, fair and clean, appeared not far away, blocking one of his escape routes, a smile on his face.

"Heartbreak Swordsman Xiao Qiuyu!" Lu Jiuyuan sighed, then the other one must be Dugu Fang.

The three master guards invited by the Great Golden Peng King could also be called first-rate experts in the entire Jianghu.

Perhaps not top-tier among the first-rate, but for most Jianghu people, they were already formidable Great Masters.

The kind that could stop children from crying at night.

"Fast and slow are relative. To some people, my fast is indeed fast. But to some people, my fast is slow." Lu Jiuyuan's right hand rested on his sword, his left hand on an embroidery needle.

"You don't even trust your own sword. Your fast! I'm afraid it's limited." Xiao Qiuyu shook his head.

"I, on the other hand, think his sword should be very fast." A thin, stick-like middle-aged man in black said.

"If it wasn't fast, how could he stab Gongsun Lan to death with one sword before she even reacted?"

"Dugu Fang!"

"This small courtyard actually gathered three top experts. My panicked escape seems to have accidentally stirred up a hornet's nest."

"You sat on the rooftop, and the three of us didn't even breathe loudly for an hour."

Liu Yuhang's hoarse voice continued: "Was it a panicked escape, or intentional? How can one truly tell?"

Lu Jiuyuan felt a layer of cold sweat break out on his back. Any one of these three people would be enough to give him a hard time; with the three of them working together, even if he fought to the death and used his cheat, he could at most kill two. As soon as a fight started, he would either die or be severely wounded.

His thoughts raced. Lu Jiuyuan sighed, moving his finger away from the embroidery needle. Fighting was absolutely out of the question; there was an eighty to ninety percent chance of death, and a ten to twenty percent chance of severe injury. What was the difference from suicide?

"Gentlemen, I actually came to find you intentionally!"