Ye Kong held the brush called Wolf Eyebrow in his palm, and only then did he discover the difference between a Spirit-Communicating Talisman Brush and an ordinary brush.

Although ordinary brushes were also made of bamboo, most had their shaft interiors blocked. Even if the shaft was hollow, it would ultimately be sealed with the brush tip.

Spirit-Communicating Talisman Brushes were different. Not only was there a large hollow cavity through the middle of the shaft, but there were also several openings that led to the brush tip. This design was clearly meant to facilitate the infusion of spiritual energy by talisman makers.

“Boy, do you know the origin of this talisman brush?” Old Ancestor Yellow Springs asked with a smile.

“That won’t stump me!” Ye Kong laughed. “I can tell from the name. Wolf Eyebrow, made from wolf eyebrows, right? Wow, how many wolves would you have to kill to make this one brush!”

Old Ancestor Yellow Springs sneered. “Never mind how many wolves. Do you know what kind of wolf these eyebrows came from? And do you know why the brush tip hair is white?”

Ye Kong was a cultivation newbie, and besides, he knew very little about Cangnan Continent. How would he know these things? He quickly put on a shameless face and asked for instruction without embarrassment.

Old Ancestor Yellow Springs’ vanity was greatly satisfied, and only then did he laugh. “These are the eyebrows of the Weixu Wolf. There’s a very special kind of wolf on Weixu Mountain, extremely formidable. However, eyebrow brushes made from ordinary wolves can only be called eyebrow brushes at best. Only the wolf king of the Weixu Wolves dares to bear the name Wolf Eyebrow, because the wolf king has an extremely long lifespan, and its eyebrows turn white with age. That’s why the brush tip is white.”

After listening, Ye Kong couldn’t help but sigh. “Different water and soil produce different people. This Cangnan Continent really is miraculous. I’ve also read quite a few records of spirit creatures, but that’s just a drop in the ocean. If it weren’t for Old Ancestor helping me, I couldn’t pick out treasures from this garbage even if I spent a year. Old Ancestor, I’m almost reluctant to let you leave, haha.”

Old Ancestor Yellow Springs was disgusted by him and cursed, “Get lost, you uncultured fool pretending to be a refined scholar! Shit is shit, and it’s not disgusting. But if there’s a flower on top of the shit, that’s what’s truly disgusting.”

Ye Kong laughed and cursed back. “People used to always say I was vulgar, haha. Now I’ve finally found someone even cruder than me.”

“Alright, alright. This old ancestor is done choosing. You should honor the benefit now, shouldn’t you?” Old Ancestor Yellow Springs couldn’t wait to claim his reward.

“Sure, tell me. But I’ll say upfront, if I can’t do it, I’ll just have to owe you.”

Old Ancestor Yellow Springs cackled. “You can definitely do it. Small matter, small matter. It’ll just cost a few taels of silver.”

Something that could be done with a few taels of silver really wasn’t a big deal. Ye Kong asked curiously, “So what is it?”

“Take this old ancestor to visit a brothel. A whorehouse, a pleasure house, anything works. This old ancestor wants women!”

Ye Kong nearly fainted. No wonder this old ancestor was called Yellow Springs. He was so lecherous it flowed endlessly like spring water that never stopped.

“Mm, this request can definitely be agreed to.” Ye Kong nodded, then continued, “But it has to be at night. Not now.”

Old Ancestor Yellow Springs knew what he was thinking and said irritably, “I already told you everything else is garbage. If you want to waste time, then waste it. This old ancestor is going to sleep first. Don’t call me!”

What Old Ancestor Yellow Springs looked down on didn’t mean he looked down on it. Some garbage could still yield treasures. Ye Kong had been an orphan during his childhood on Earth. When he was young, he’d often scavenged through garbage and frequently pulled out piles of scrap copper and iron that he could sell to the recycling station for pocket money.

First, he put away the Three-Leaf Orchid that Old Ancestor had mentioned. Although Old Ancestor said its age was too short, the outer packaging box was made of thousand-year peachwood.

In this world, peachwood had no use beyond decoration. But Ye Kong knew that on Earth, Taoist priests all used peachwood swords, and there were also peachwood talismans, all for exorcising ghosts. Whether he’d encounter ghosts in the future, Ye Kong didn’t know, but it was better to be prepared.

After putting away the peachwood box, Ye Kong rummaged through the garbage pile for quite a while. But finding treasures in this stuff was far more difficult than scavenging copper and iron from garbage heaps.

Many things, Ye Kong simply didn’t know what they were. And many things, you knew they were mirrors or fans, but whether they were cultivator items, who could tell?

What? Try activating them with spiritual energy again? Ye Kong smiled bitterly.

Last time he’d conjured up Old Ancestor Yellow Springs. He didn’t dare mess around again. These weren’t things he could contend with. He stayed in the small room until the sky darkened. From the garbage, Ye Kong discovered two martial arts manuals. They weren’t immortal techniques, just ordinary secular martial arts, though they were quite profound and rare.

Ye Kong’s heart stirred. He summoned Lu Jun and had him send someone [noodles]to take the manuals to a mounting shop to have both covers replaced.

“Eighth Young Master, it’s getting late. We’ve already prepared a feast. Why don’t you eat before returning to the manor?” Lu Yi said respectfully.

“At your place?” Ye Kong was somewhat dissatisfied. These two normally liked drinking flower wine, didn’t they? Why were they being so proper today? Damn it to hell, do they want me, Eighth Young Master, to suggest going to Treasure Spring Pavilion?

Ye Kong had never actively visited a brothel. It was perfectly normal for him to find it hard to bring up. It was like Little Barbarian, who once on those long, long nights, paced back and forth outside the hair salon countless times, and in the end… didn’t go in.

“Could it be that Eighth Young Master fears the chef at my home lacks skill? Don’t worry about that. This is the head chef from Fragrant Full Pavilion, here to help because he heard Eighth Young Master would be dining.”

Ye Kong waved his hand. “Eating, the quality of the food is very important. But you’ve forgotten that the environment for eating is also very important.”

“Environment?” Ye Kong had too many new terms. Although Lu Yi was trying hard to learn, he could never keep up with Eighth Young Master’s pace.

“It means the surroundings of a place. Environment is very important. Eating in an elegant, comfortable environment lets a person open their heart and lungs and eat heartily.” After Ye Kong said this long passage, the Lu brothers looked at each other, their expressions seemingly writing three characters: Don’t understand!

“Let me put it another way.” Ye Kong knew that speaking refined words to these rough men was useless, so he simply said, “For example, if you took a shit on a busy street with people coming and going, could you squeeze it out?”

After all, they were rough men. Listening to highbrow poetry they didn’t understand at all, but switch to vulgar stolen content talk and they immediately got it.

Lu Jun nodded. “Of course it’s more satisfying to go to the outhouse. So Eighth Young Master is teaching us the principle of doing the right thing in the right place.”

“Oh, that’s environment!” Lu Yi had a sudden realization, scratching his head. “You could’ve just said eating should be done at a restaurant. What ‘environment’? How would we understand that?”

“Then let’s go eat at Fragrant Full Pavilion.” Lu Jun started laughing.

After talking for so long, Ye Kong still hadn’t achieved his goal, so he simply said, “Fragrant Full Pavilion’s environment is good, but if there were also two beauties…”

“Eh?” The Lu brothers’ eyes immediately widened, then knowing smiles appeared on their faces. “Haha, so Eighth Young Master wants to drink flower wine. Just say so. Actually we wanted to go too… but after Eighth Young Master knocked us down a peg earlier, we… hehe, didn’t dare say so.”

Lu Yi also smiled lecherously. “Eighth Young Master, don’t pretend to be proper in the future. We’re all men… though back when I was fourteen, I still didn’t understand what women were about.”

Lu Jun scolded, “Eighth Young Master is mature beyond his years. How can you compare yourself to Eighth Young Master?”

“Then hurry up and go!!” Ye Kong could only glare and reward each brother with a kick.

Half an hour later, several small sedan chairs stopped at the back door of Treasure Spring Pavilion. Read on Jormuntl Ye Kong already knew his reputation was spread far and wide. He didn’t want to be seen by even more people and solidify this dissolute reputation.

“Honored guests…” Immediately a short turtle slave in green jacket and vest came up. When the sedan curtain lifted, his expression showed surprise. “So it’s Eighth Young Master and the elder and younger masters of the Lu family. Quick, please come inside.”

The turtle slave thought to himself, no wonder people outside say Eighth Young Master is dissolute by nature. Looks like it’s true. Starting to whore at fourteen. Better find him a young girl.

“Lead the way.” The Lu brothers were regular visitors. The group of three followed the turtle slave through the back door.

It being the back door, it was relatively quiet. They didn’t have to be harassed by those faded flowers and withered willows like last time at the front door. Following a small path paved with cobblestones, they entered Treasure Spring Pavilion.

Stepping on the vermilion-lacquered wooden stairs to the second floor, a woman in her thirties with lingering charm came forward. This was Treasure Spring Pavilion’s proprietress. Her face full of smiles, she said, “So it’s Eighth Young Master and the two young masters. Quick, come inside. Today Eighth Young Master honors us with your presence, so all expenses are covered by me, Feng Siniang.”

Taking people’s money meant eliminating disasters for them. Ye Kong understood this principle deeply, but he was unwilling to bring any trouble to this brothel. He sneered coldly. “Are you suggesting that I, Ye Kong, can’t afford to pay?”

Speaking of this Feng Siniang, she really did have something to ask of Ye Kong. Last time that Iron Bailiff was badly dealt with by Ye Kong. He didn’t dare provoke Eighth Young Master anymore, but this anger was hard to swallow.

The Dragon-Tiger Gang was Ye Kong’s enterprise. Iron Bailiff naturally couldn’t provoke them either, but he had to vent somewhere. In the end, Iron Official set his sights on Treasure Spring Pavilion.

Can’t scrape the cucumber, so I’ll scrape the squash! So Iron Official repeatedly found trouble for no reason. There were plenty of excuses, visit our sitelike what, cracking down on vice, checking for contraband, verifying identification. Of course, these were Earth terms, but Cangnan Continent just used different names. The meaning was about the same.

Treasure Spring Pavilion couldn’t take it anymore. These bailiffs all picked the busiest business hours to come, scaring away all the customers. For no reason they’d take a few customers back and beat them severely. Many regular customers didn’t dare come spend money anymore.

Treasure Spring Pavilion’s proprietress Feng Siniang knew why Iron Official was throwing his weight around, but what could she do? She thought of asking the Lu brothers for help.

But the black and white paths, the white path was always on top. That the yamen didn’t trouble the Dragon-Tiger Gang was already giving Ye Kong face. No matter how unaware they were, the Lu brothers wouldn’t be so stupid as to actively provoke the government.

This Feng Siniang was at her wit’s end when, as it happened, Ye Kong came.

The Ye family’s prestige went without saying. This Eighth Young Master was even more someone Iron Bailiff dreaded. What the Lu brothers couldn’t solve, if the Ye family’s Eighth Young Master stepped forward to solve it, wouldn’t that be a matter of minutes?

But Feng Siniang hadn’t expected Eighth Young Master to be as sharp as a ghost, completely ignoring her overtures. She could only smile bitterly and drop the matter.

Arriving at a private room, Ye Kong was displeased again. “Isn’t this the room Fan Jiulong used to reserve? What do you mean bringing us in here? Are you cursing us to meet the same end as the Fan brothers, or making us play with worn-out shoes they’ve worn?”

This Eighth Young Master really wasn’t an ordinary person. He could find fault with anything. Fine then, they’d change.

Soon, the three changed rooms. Generally speaking, singing girls didn’t have private rooms. [stolen content]Very simple, if you weren’t selling, why would you need a room?

Of course, there were exceptions. Those were singing girls who were ready to sell themselves. These women were ready to be sold to the highest bidder at any time. This was the most profitable moment of their lives, so they could have rooms.

“This room is good, very elegant. No man has done business in here before, right?” Ye Kong was quite satisfied. But he hadn’t expected that with this room change, he’d actually change into trouble.