In a darkened house in one of the backstreets of the capital, a heady incense was burning. Wisps of intoxicating smoke slithered through the air and coiled around the shapely form of the scantily clad woman.

Across from her, a man sat in a leisurely repose sipping at the wine she’d poured him. Dian Nanhai

Since the incident at the Water Lily inn, the family had grounded him within the family’s compound.

No alcohol.

No women.

Not even allowed a foot outside of his courtyard.

Of course, to a hedonistic arrogant person such as he, this sort of treatment was too overbearing.

Even the father of his, who in all his years never had so much as raised a hand to him, had gone utterly scarlet purple in the face when he was lecturing Young Master Nanhai.

Intolerable!!

Dian Nanhai’s eyes burned at the mere recollection of such events. His heart twisted, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on his wine glass. If he’d had more strength surely, it would have shattered.

His cold gaze drifted once more to the voluptuous body of the harlot before him. Under his scrutiny, she merely raised one sleeve to cover her mouth and giggled coquettishly.

Usually, such a low brow woman wouldn’t satisfy a man such as he who had passed endless nights in the capital best brothels but now, with his limited budget, he was forced to slum it for a while. Just as he was preparing to extract his full money’s worth from her body, heavy boots stomped across the hall.

The door of the small residence was blown open and in filed several black armoured men.

The manager of the ‘establishment’, who had been lingering outside, was pleading with the uninterested men in a flustered manner. Their stony gazes betrayed nothing of their purpose.

Dian Nanhai’s body froze as he stared slack-jawed at the faces of these intruders.

Black Tiger Guard.

One phrase flashed across his mind, how could he not recognise the people of that accursed silk pants. Two of the men advanced towards the woman on the floor, the thin silk veils she was using as clothing shifted enticingly as she cowered slightly.

“You are the prostitute known as Miss Pleasant Peach?”

The apparent leader of the black armoured men inquired. The eyes of the woman grew wide like saucers as she shivered and shook her head. Not answering could make her a headless ghost.

“Good. Your debt’s been bought. Come with us now.”

Before any of the other party could say a thing, the two closest black guards hauled the startled woman up by her armpits and marched her out of the hovel.

Dian Nanhai and the luckless pimp could only continue sitting in stunned silence long after the armed escort had left. Unknown to them, scenes like this were playing out all across the city, even some of the smaller brothels and cathouses were raided, ransacked or closed down.

Only in one distant corner of the city were scores of scantily clad women wearing heavy makeup being escorted into a spacious courtyard.

Where, under the watchful gazes of veiled women in light pink dresses, each woman was stripped, bathed and escorted by a maid into another room for further inspection.

Ren Yao sat on a long couch, not entirely up to the standards of his previous life's throne but still reasonable, in front of him was the latest ‘courtesan’ who had been ushered in by the maids.

She stood in there completely naked; her body was devoid of scented perfume and her face without its makeup. She still exuded an elegant natural beauty.

He was delighted with the results.

Those women who chose to sell their skills and not their bodies often had an excellent, captivating base. All he’d have to do would be to build on top of that, further enhancing and refining it till it shone dazzlingly.

The woman in question was slightly startled.

She had seen lustful gazes in the eyes of her patrons before, but the eyes of this young lord seemed to contain none of that, only a hint of delight. Like he was looking at a rare treasure.

Her face reddened noticeably.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but smile wryly.

His scheme had grown so large. When he was concocting it, there was no way to know precisely how large it would become. This girl was already the one hundred and twelfth he’d seen today.

So began a procedure he was now very familiar with.

In the Azure Sky kingdom, those who seek to overcome the Will of Heaven and tread on the path of cultivation could have their potential assessed by one of the many government buildings through the use of a particular type of crystal stone.

All the sects and the large clans of the Divine Wood continent, even the Heavenly Sky continent used this technique or a similar method.

However, this wasn’t the only way.

Long before this method became commonplace, the Ancestors utilised the reading of the bones and blood of a person to determine potential.

Since he had no access to a measuring crystal, this was the method Ren Yao had to use.

With his delicate touch, he measured her pulse and felt her bone structure, then assessed whether or not she had any diseases or poisons lurking in her system from her time at the brothel.

It wasn’t unknown for girls to die at the hands of jealous lovers or the wives of clients.

Even the establishments themselves, resorted to feeding them long-lasting poisons thus blackmailing them for the antidote, to control their girls and ensuring they worked for them till death.

So far today, he had seen many girls like that.

The girl in front was no different; deep in her bones was a pervasively insidious poison. It had spread to such a degree that her bones were showing signs of corrosion and weakness.

Ren Yao frowned slightly.

If he had been in the Yellow Qi realm, he could have efficiently utilised the evil poison within his own body to mop up the one in hers however that was wishful thinking, and a whole two realms away, instead he could only rely on external methods.

He tied a small ribbon around one of her wrists and had a maid escort her out while accompanying in another girl.