At those words, whether it was the hemp-robed elderly man and the little girl, the scarred man, or the attendant, every single one of them froze in place.
"What do you think you are doing..."
The little girl in pink turned to glare at Li Musheng once she came back to her senses.
The scarred man was both shocked and frightened. The shock came from the fact that setting aside whether the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion's courtesans would even look twice at the elderly man, ten steps back from that, could an old man of his age actually hold up under the strain?
As for the fear, the silver he was carrying was not enough to cover even one courtesan, and Li Musheng had just opened his mouth to book every courtesan in the entire Hundred Fragrance Pavilion. Was that not the same as asking for his life?
Yet despite the swarm of thoughts in his head, the scarred man did not dare let any of them show on his face, and could only stand there with an expression that kept shifting.
The attendant, having worked out what Li Musheng had said, suddenly let his expression go cold and narrowed his eyes at Li Musheng, saying, "Are you certain?"
Li Musheng pointed at the hemp-robed elderly man beside him, saying, "Do you see him objecting? Or would you like me to say it a second time?"
At those words, a cold smile spread across the attendant's face, and he swept a slow look over the group, saying "good" three times in a row, then, "Wait here."
The attendant then strode away quickly and disappeared from the group's sight.
The little girl in pink looked around at the large men surrounding them, and her small face immediately darkened. She gave up on paying Li Musheng any further attention, turned to the hemp-robed elderly man, and said, "Grandfather, let us go."
But before she had finished speaking, a large man with a menacing face extended a hand to block them, saying sharply, "None of you are going anywhere."
At that point, the hemp-robed elderly man finally looked at Li Musheng, and said with a furrowed brow, "Young master, this is going a bit far."
Hearing this, Li Musheng narrowed his eyes and said, "I am doing this for your benefit. At your age, this is the time for bold ideas and bold action. A little while from now you will be in the ground and there will be no more opportunities like this."
The hemp-robed elderly man's expression stalled, then he coughed twice, and said, "Young master has not yet reached Falling God Peak, yet you have already stirred up trouble with Falling God Peak's people. What exactly are you after? And you have even dragged this old one into it..."
But at that point Li Musheng raised a hand and cut him off, "What does Falling God Peak amount to?"
He patted the hemp-robed elderly man on the shoulder, saying, "With an entire pavilion full of courtesans before you, I do not believe for a moment that your eyes are as empty as you are letting on."
At those words, the little girl in pink beside them turned red with rage and fixed Li Musheng with a furious glare, saying, "You... you are truly hateful!"
Li Musheng waved a dismissive hand, saying, "Children to one side. Who asked for your opinion?"
The large men surrounding them had heard every word of Li Musheng's exchange with the group, and all they did was show their teeth in unpleasant grins.
Anyone who dared make trouble in the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion would not even know how they had died.
At that point, the little girl in pink tugged at the hemp-robed elderly man's sleeve and shot him a meaningful look.
The hemp-robed elderly man, however, was quiet for a moment, then looked at Li Musheng again, and then shook his head, saying, "There is no longer any need to leave. We have already been marked."
The little girl in pink seemed to sense something and looked up at the floors above.
On the second and third floors, a number of martial artists of considerable strength had already locked onto their group from the shadows.
The little girl's expression turned somewhat grim. At that moment the scarred man suddenly began shaking violently and slapped himself hard across the face.
He felt the urge to hang himself right where he stood, despising himself for whatever madness had possessed him to bring Li Musheng and the elderly man to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
If he did not come away with his life tonight, he would write his own name backwards for the rest of his days.
At that point, Li Musheng was entirely unconcerned, and looked toward one of the large men standing nearby, saying, "Is this how the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion treats its honored guests? Are you not going to take us to the largest private room? You people have no sense at all."
Hearing this, the large man bared a hostile expression and was about to speak.
But before he got a word out, the scarred man, trembling all over, went through a rapid shift of expression, and then suddenly hardened his face and pointed at the large men with fierce aggression, saying, "What are you all standing around like posts for? Are you deaf? Don't honored guests' words carry any weight here?"
As he spoke, he pulled a silver ingot from inside his robes and flung it directly at the nearest man's forehead.
The scarred man had made up his mind. He was throwing everything to the wind. Either way it was probably death, so he might as well enjoy himself properly before he went. At least he would not have lived for nothing.
The large man who had been struck by the ingot erupted with fury and was about to move, but the burly, bearded man leading them extended an arm to stop him, saying with a sinister air, "It has been a long time since anyone came to make trouble at the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion. Let us see how long they can keep up this bravado."
With that, the burly bearded man bent down and picked the silver ingot up from the ground, blew the dust off it, and tucked it into his own robes.
Then he glanced at Li Musheng and the others with a cold smile, saying, "Follow me, honored guests."
The last three words he said with heavy emphasis, and the mockery in his voice was thick enough to touch.
He then turned and headed up the stairs of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.
"Did anyone tell you to pick that up? I threw that silver on the ground, and you just go ahead and pocket it?"
At that, the scarred man shouted after the burly man's back, his face a picture of aggression.
This made Li Musheng, the hemp-robed elderly man, and the little girl all look at the scarred man with distinctly strange expressions.
The sudden reckless swagger the man was putting on really did look like he had lost his mind.
At the same time, the burly bearded man ahead found his eyelid twitching despite himself, and the veins on his forearm began to show faintly.
In the end, however, he let it go and simply led the way upstairs.
The scarred man spat on the ground, then turned to look at the hemp-robed elderly man beside him, saying, "Old man, when the courtesans show up, spare me a couple."
With that he strode ahead after the burly man.
Li Musheng watched the scarred man's back, rubbed his chin, and thought, well then, someone who did not know better might think he was the number one under heaven.
Then he beckoned to the hemp-robed elderly man and followed along.
The hemp-robed elderly man narrowed his eyes and exchanged a glance with the little girl beside him, sending a quiet transmission, "Leaving the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion would not be difficult, but leaving Hundred Refinements City is another matter. And our target is Hundred Refinements Peak. Given the current situation, I think we should stay and see what develops."
"If things continue to go badly, we will have no choice but to leave Hundred Refinements City in the night."
Hearing this, the little girl in pink bit her lip and looked at Li Musheng's back with eyes blazing with fury, saying, "Our perfectly good plan has been turned upside down by this person. If we cannot take our revenge because of this, I will not let him go even as a ghost."