Chapter 30

A guard had come in and put a thin and elegantly carved iron collar around her neck, attached to a similarly thin chain, sealing both by tapping them with a small, circular disc. Both chain and collar were somehow reinforced or strengthened, and Fu Yilan was unable to rip them apart. The guard that had chased her let her grab her things, then pulled her along to follow him. She had not gotten the chance to put her clothes back on, only allowed to roughly wipe herself down, while her soft sword and talismans had been taken. Her umbrella dragged behind her, scraping against the floor as they walked through the hallways. Each step down the stairs had it clacking against the marble.

They were walking next to each other, him having one hand on the chain, the other on his saber. Fu Yilan let her hips sway, activating Bewitching Fox Steps. This was her last chance. An unbreakable chain and a stage seven leading her around would ensure that she would truly have to work here. Hoping he would let her go when the price had been paid.  Fu Yilan could feel that she was slowly worming her way into his mind, his eyes drifting over and struggling to break free. It wouldn’t worked while she was being chased, but now she was in a different position. She was one of the house’s whores-to-be, a slut that had been captured and was now naked next to him.

Fu Yilan made her chest jiggle more with each step and knew that the guard was staring. She started moving around him, slowly, letting her hands drift down to his crotch. It was no longer her being led. Their positions had reversed. She pulled him towards an unimpressive-looking door that didn’t have a room number on it. Instead, there were stacks of clothes and bed sheets neatly arranged on shelves. Fu Yilan gently pushed him against a wall and kept dancing in front of him. His bulge was throbbing; his dick clearly filled to bursting. The grip on his chain had gotten weaker as his eyes stuck to her movements.

Fu Yilan pushed him to the ground as she mounted him. He didn’t resist in the slightest. Her heart was pounding; the stakes were high. She pulled off his robes and pants underneath, letting his member jump at her. It wasn’t exposed to the air for long. Sliding him into her pussy, she gently removed the chain from his hand the moment he pushed inside. He was panting now, the pleasure almost overwhelming.

Him being only at the seventh stage, Fu Yilan managed to draw several drops of vital yang qi from him, hopefully weakening him enough to need a moment after cumming to get his bearings. It didn’t take much longer to climax after that, and Fu Yilan frantically searched through all the small pockets while his brain was flooded with pleasure, unable to reason properly, to finally find the small disc. Her collar unlocked and she let him finish pumping his load before she grabbed her four things again and rushed off. Everything else the guard had she wasn’t sure of its effects, except for a small silver bell she quickly hid between some sheets. She didn’t see any use in carrying it with her.

She was back to fleeing. She was at the door when her brain noticed that she didn’t have a plan at all. She had no escape talismans and even if she did, she was unsure if it would even be able to break through the outside wall in time. Or at all, running through the brothel naked didn’t seem like that smart a choice. While the women weren’t wearing much here, they were all dressed, so nudity would likely draw a lot of attention. Her head whipped around and she ran to the clothes hung up, choosing one of the skimpiest ones. A short dress that barely covered her ass. Become a tree to hide in the forest. The dress was put on quick, but not quick enough, because the guard was already starting to stir. He had been severely dazed after she used her everything on him, both draining as well as maximizing the pleasure. Her own heels were on in a second and then she was gone, running down the hallway. Her head was on a swivel, looking for the hidden walkway that had taken her up, but from this side she couldn’t spot it at all.

Going down one more fancy flight of stairs, she had reached a more common part of the building, no longer reserved for the highest-class prostitutes. She was getting closer to where she was trying to go. Down and down she went, flowing past scantily dressed women, while slowing down to a regular jog when moving past the weaker, regular guards, easily enchanting them with the Bewitching Fox Steps before rushing off again. So far, no bell sound, at least.

Finally, she had reached the dining area. Throwing open a double door, Fu Yilan decided to do away with subtlety and just rush to the ground floor. Jumping into the middle of the four-story dining creation, her Flowing Steps let her jump from protruding beam to waving flag to elegantly carved railing. Her umbrella was under one arm, while her dress, wrapped around the beads and the beetle, were under the other. She fluttered down to the floor with more speed than it looked like from the outside. Fu Yilan’s dark hair was fluttering behind her as she smoothly flowed to the ground, a spiraling pattern leading her down.

Customers started clapping when they saw her, misunderstanding the situation. The guards that saw her were unsure what to do. If it truly was a show, they didn’t want to be the ones to ruin the moment. After all, she was dressed like one of their women and had a body and face to go along with the outfit. Then, her guard burst through the doors at the top behind her where she’d exited, looking around, then down.

“Stop her!!”

The entire hall froze, but when the guards started moving, it was already too late. She had reached the ground and was out the door by the time they had drawn their blades. Cold night air greeted her, the sky lightening from the first rays of the morning sun. Fu Yilan laughed, unrestrained and beautiful.

The streets were empty this time of day, though the first trickle of workers was already flowing through the veins of the city. Fu Yilan knew the guards were behind her, so she took three graceful, bounding steps to reach the top of one of the houses. The river and docks were in the distance; she could only hope that she could stay ahead of her pursuers for long enough.

Within cities, it was frowned upon to run over the rooftops, because other cultivators might take offence at having to walk below another. Today, she didn’t care. Speed was of the essence, and Fu Yilan had to get to the docks as quickly as possible. Her mind was racing as she floated across the rooftops, Flowing Steps not making a single roof tile shatter or even crack. Her pursuers were less stealthy and elegant. She could hear one even fall through a roof she had landed on elegantly, expecting it to carry his weight as well. Others were rushing through the streets, trying to keep up with the woman above.

Weaving around chimneys and houses that were taller than their surroundings, she was getting closer. Fu Yilan used the moment she was out of sight, hidden by a bakery’s smoke to jump to the ground, into an alleyway. She had to get on a boat, any boat. It didn’t matter where it was going, she decided, she just needed to get out of here.

The docks were already considerably livelier than the upper city streets, men clearly used to spending more time on water than land carrying large crates and heavy cargo onto ships. Fu Yilan wanted to get onto a ship that would leave soon, though. She fluttered through the mass of men, pursuers on foot clearly less agile than her.

There!

A large boat was pulling up the long walking plank and loosening the thick ropes keeping it safely in place. No matter where it was going, this was her chance. She used her Flowing Steps to jump towards the boat, foot finding an opened window below deck to kick off of. Her slender hand gripped the railing as she pulled herself onto the ship. Shouts were getting loud from below, but the ship had already started moving. Collapsing onto the deck, Fu Yilan quickly withdrew four stages of qi before anyone noticed she had snuck on. She wanted to appear weak and in need of desperate assistance. In a way she was, her sword taken and no other offensive martial art in her repertoire. Qi flowed into the Void Lotus root from her Moonlight Flower, making her seem like a first-stage cultivator, and a beautiful one at that.

“Hey, what’s a woman doing on our ship!” A man with a rag in his hand was staring at her.

Within seconds, a well-muscled man stood next to him, a third-stage cultivator. Fu Yilan clicked her teeth when she saw. With her sword, she could have killed him in a second. If she’d had one. So instead, she was appealing to his mercy and lust in equal parts.

“What you doing on here?” His eyebrow was raised, a smirk playing around his lips. A glance was sent over the railing, noticing the waving cultivators standing on the docks.

“Please, don’t give me back to them,” Fu Yilan begged, tears falling down her cheeks. “They hurt and used me. Can I maybe join you until you reach the next city? I can clean and cook. I’ll be useful!” He thought for a moment, the smirk staying on his face, only growing wider.

“Yes, you’ll be useful. Fine. Follow me. I’ll show the captain what I scooped up.” They walked over the slightly rocking deck, every man they passed taking their sweet time staring at her.

“Keep looking and I’ll have you dangling off the side of the ship by your ears, you understand?!” he shouted, and suddenly the planks seemed so much more interesting to them.

The captain had a pleasant room at the back of the ship, animal hides breaking up the monotony of walls and floors that were otherwise all wood. A desk that seemed nailed to the ground stood in a corner, facing the wall. On the other side stood a wide bed, clearly meant for more than one person.

“Little girly here snuck on deck right as we were leaving, Captain.” He was at the third stage as well, yet more refined than the burly counterpart that seemed to be his second in command. A neatly trimmed moustache and goatee quivered with a sigh as he looked at her.

“So, she snuck on board without permission, probably fleeing from someone. I don’t even want to ask who we angered by not returning their whore.” Then he grinned. “She is a fine piece of meat though. I’m sure she’ll sell well in Twoguard City.” The second in command chuckled.

“My thoughts exactly, captain.”

“Keep an eye on her. Only in the first stage, but obviously slippery enough to escape her previous owners.” Fu Yilan could only roll her eyes. Wherever she went, men would be the same.

They locked her into a small cell beneath deck. Judging by the lines carved into the wall, it had held prisoners before. It wasn’t their first time doing this. The man cleaning this area and keeping an eye on her took every chance he got to sneak a look at her through the bars, but Fu Yilan wasn’t in the mood to seduce him. Just sitting her was enough of a break for her at the moment. It had been an eventful night. The rocking of the boat was soothing as she stared at the ceiling. The air was stuffy and reeked of sweat, but she would hold out. She knew she wouldn’t be staying in here for too long anyway.

She got one meal at noon, apparently the bare minimum to keep a prisoner and soon-to-be slave fed. It was bland soup with an old slice of bread. Unidentified clumps swam within, but Fu Yilan ate it anyway.