Fang Yuan stepped out of the warehouse and moved toward the tavern's reception, where a slim, plain-looking young man with a headband waited.
"Senior Jiang Ya," Fang Yuan's voice was calm, controlled.
"This is your advance payment."
From the drawer, he produced a bag heavy with primeval stones, the stones glinting faintly in the dim light.
"One hundred primeval stones. You know exactly what must be done, don't you?"
Jiang Ya's lips curved into a confident smile as his eyes rested on the bag.
"Junior Brother, there's no need for concern."
"Everything has already been arranged."
"Good." Fang Yuan's eyes flicked toward the servants, who had rolled out a barrel.
A brief glance, and he understood what's inside: Fang Zheng, bound and gagged, trapped like a helpless animal.
He took a step forward, and said, "Let's go."
...
The heavy warehouse door slammed shut, its echo bouncing off the corrugated metal walls. The air smelled of dust and damp concrete.
Shen Cui frowned, her eyes scanning the cramped space.
It was stacked high with generic sacks, leaving only a narrow clearing.
"Meiying, this place is way outside the village limits," she stated, her voice tight with suspicion.
In front of her, Meiying turned around. She flashed a bright, practiced smile.
"I told you I had a surprise for you, didn't I?"
Shen Cui didn't return the smile. She crossed her arms.
"You're a Gu Master now, Meiying."
"I'm still just a mortal. Why are you bothering with me?"
Meiying's smile turned into a knowing smirk. "I might be a Gu Master, but the person who wants to talk to you is one, too." She winked, lowering her voice to a gossipy whisper.
"Who knows? Maybe soon I'll be calling you Madam."
She gave Shen Cui a quick, firm pat on the back and took a few steps away, calling into the shadows at the far end of the room.
"You two can talk now."
Shen Cui's ears turned red at Meiying's words. The meaning was obvious and direct.
'A Gu Master is interested in me?' The thought made her heart race with sudden, sharp excitement.
This was the opportunity she'd been working toward for years.
She hadn't been flirting with boys like the Fang brothers, Mo Bei, and Chi Cheng just for fun.
As the daughter of a servant in a Gu Master's household, she knew her place. She could never undergo the awakening ceremony herself; that right was reserved for those with the Gu Yue name.
Her goal was simple: if she couldn't have the power, she would marry into it.
She had even set her sights on a Gu Master who once visited Dong Tu—until her mother discovered the scheme and had her promptly reassigned to serve Dong Tu's wife instead.
But the ambition never faded.
She would marry a Gu Master, or at least a man with the Gu Yue name, so her children could have the power and wealth she was denied.
Now, it seemed her planning was paying off. Her mind was made up in an instant.
'I don't care what he looks like.'
'The second he proposes, I'm saying yes.'
Behind her, the door clicked shut as Meiying left.
The sound of slow, steady footsteps broke the silence, moving out of the shadows and into the light where she stood waiting.
Shen Cui's gaze traveled upward, taking in the figure now standing before her.
The young man was unremarkable—plain features, a slender build, utterly forgettable.
The numeral "1" emblazoned on his belt, however, was a stark proclamation of his status: a Rank 1 Gu Master.
She recognised him in an instant as a cold splash of reality washed over her face.
"Senior Brother Jiang Ya," she stated, her voice flat.
A smile spread across Jiang Ya's face.
"Cui'er," he said, his tone dripping with a familiarity she did not share.
"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."
"This…" Shen Cui's words faltered, not from fluster, but from a rapid, internal calculation.
'I am only fourteen, but Senior Jiang Ya is already twenty.'
'I don't mind the age gap, but his aptitude… is only D Grade.'
Her ambitions, meticulously crafted, were colliding with a mediocre reality. She had planned to secure a tree with deep roots, not a potted plant.
Jiang Ya took her hesitation for maidenly shyness. He pressed his advantage, his voice dropping.
"Shen Cui, will you marry me?"
Shen Cui's mind, usually a whirlwind of calculation, went blank.
"Senior Brother, I... I..." she stammered, the words a feeble defense.
Before she could form a coherent refusal, Jiang Ya closed the distance. His hand snaked behind her head, and his mouth crashed onto hers.
The kiss was not one of tenderness, but of possession.
Shen Cui's eyes flew wide.
Her hands came up, palms flat against his chest, pushing—but his other arm was already a steel band around her waist, locking her against his lean, unyielding frame.
After a long moment, he broke the kiss, his breath hot on her face.
"Shen Cui..." he panted, his voice thick with raw hunger. "I really want you."
In one fluid, shocking motion, he loosened his robe, letting it fall open.
Shen Cui scrambled backward, genuine fear piercing through her social maneuvering.
"Senior! This is... inappropriate before marriage!" The protest was a last, desperate gambit to regain control of the situation.
A predatory grin split Jiang Ya's face.
"So, you will marry me?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
Instead... he lunged.
His body, larger and far stronger, slammed into her, driving the air from her lungs as he pinned her to the cold, gritty floor.
Shen Cui fought in earnest then, her fists beating against his back, her legs kicking—but it was like a sparrow fighting a hawk.
His weight was absolute.
With brutal efficiency, he tore at her clothes.
The fabric ripped, and soon her pale, trembling body was laid bare under the dim light.
Her plump breasts heaved with panicked breaths, and the rosy flesh between her legs was exposed, vulnerable.
"I can't wait anymore," he growled, his own clothing shoved down just enough.
He positioned himself and drove into her with a single, merciless thrust.
"AARRRGGHHH!"
A raw, animalistic scream tore from Shen Cui's throat, echoing off the warehouse walls.
A sharp, tearing pain exploded within her, and a trickle of warm blood slicked her inner thighs—the proof of her violated maidenhood.
The initial searing agony soon became a brutal rhythm as Jiang Ya moved upon her, his grunts filling her ears.
The room was no longer silent. It was a cacophony of obscene sounds: the slap of skin on skin, his low moans, and her broken cries.
"Senior Brother, please... stop!" she sobbed, the words choked.
"Argh, it's so... so tight!" he groaned, lost in his own pleasure, his thrusts becoming more frantic.
"Senior!!!" she shrieked, her voice a blend of pain and overwhelming sensation as her body was rocked by his violent, unstoppable force.
...
In the adjacent storage room, separated by a thin wall of wooden planks, a low whisper cut through the muffled sounds from the other side.
"Well?" Fang Yuan's voice was a flat, uninterested monotone.
He was sprawled in a rickety chair, leaning back with an air of detached boredom.
One leg was crossed casually over the other.
In his left hand, he held a struggling Fang Zheng aloft by a fistful of hair, forcing the boy's eye to a wide crack in the partition.
Through the gap, the scene was brutally clear.
In the dim light of the other room, Shen Cui's clothes were torn and discarded on the dusty floor.
Her bare body was pressed against a grain sack, her form pale and slick with sweat.
Jiang Ya moved over her with a grunting, animalistic rhythm, his own pants pooled around his ankles.
The raw, physical sounds of their coupling—skin slapping against skin, ragged breaths, and Shen Cui's choked whimpers—filled the small space.
Fang Zheng thrashed violently, his feet scrambling for escape against the empty air.
But his brother's grip was like iron, unyielding and contemptuous.
Tears of rage and humiliation streamed down his face, his vision blurring as he was forced to watch the girl he cherished being taken with such crude possession.
He twisted his head, shooting a glance at Fang Yuan—his eyes burning with a pure, undiluted rage.
"Didn't I tell you, little brother?" Fang Yuan met that gaze, and a slow, cold smile stretched his lips.
But... it was a smile devoid of warmth, filled only with the satisfaction of a lesson being brutally delivered.
"I would show you... love." Fang Yuan's whisper was soft, yet it carried over every other sound, laced with a sinister finality.
"This is... the true, ugly face of love."