Yue Xiaochan pressed on, “Martial Sister, have you run into some sort of crisis?
You might as well tell me about it.” Menglan offered a tight, forced smile.
“No, the Young Sect Master is overthinking things.” Yue Xiaochan curled her lip.
“No crisis?
Then why on earth were you in such a desperate rush to throw yourself at him the second he arrived?
What’s so great about him anyway?
He’s basically a walking biohazard.” “…” Xue Mu silently picked up his chopsticks and went right back to eating his food.
Menglan’s face paled slightly.
Only now did she realize her attempted seduction hadn’t slipped past anyone.
Since the Young Sect Master knew, the Sect Master herself undoubtedly knew as well.
She couldn’t help but panic internally, wondering if this blunder would trigger severe professional consequences for her.
Yue Xiaochan, however, didn’t seem intent on punishing her.
Instead, she personally poured a cup of wine for her martial sister, softening her tone.
“Your behavior was completely out of character, Martial Sister.
You looked like you were frantically scrambling for political leverage to secure a promotion.
There must be something heavy on your mind.
Are you truly unable to share it with me?” Xue Mu let out a silent sigh in his heart.
His sympathy wasn’t directed at Menglan, but rather at Yue Xiaochan.
He had already verified that this kid was only thirteen years old.
Back in his world, assuming a child started primary school at age seven, a thirteen-year-old would barely be a middle-school freshman.
They would be completely innocent, carefree children, the type who obsessively chased pop groups and screamed over their favorite teenage idols.
Yet, Yue Xiaochan had been groomed as the designated successor to a legendary cult from God knows what age, carrying a suffocating sense of institutional destiny on her narrow shoulders.
Watching her map out a door-to-door psychological assessment to counsel her subordinates and resolve internal crises, she possessed an air of mature authority that could easily belong to a seasoned twenty-three-year-old executive.
The only time she ever showed her true age was when she was bubbling with excitement, begging him to tell her a bedtime story.
Menglan took a quiet sip of her wine.
Finally, she broke her silence.
“Young Sect Master…
the Hundred Flowers Pavilion is on the verge of bankruptcy.” Xue Mu wasn’t surprised in the slightest; he had decoded their failure the moment he walked in.
Looking out at the main hall downstairs earlier, the volume of foot traffic was downright pathetic.
The venue was so absurdly cavernous and empty that a patron actually had enough open floor space to stand in the middle of the hall and practice his boxing routines.
This was late evening—the absolute peak prime-time slot for the adult entertainment industry—yet the venue was freezing cold.
Yue Xiaochan froze.
“The ledgers from the past two months showed we were still generating a modest profit, and right now we’re only operating at a slight deficit.
How can you say it’s on the verge of bankruptcy?” Menglan explained helplessly, “The competition here in the Imperial Capital is brutally fierce.
The sheer density of upscale entertainment parlors completely eclipses any other province.
In the past, we managed to hold our ground because our sect possessed an unmatched competitive edge in charm magic, allowing us to rank as the undisputed market leader.
But now…” Yue Xiaochan frowned, thoroughly perplexed.
“Don’t we still possess that exact same advantage right now?” Menglan let out a long, exhausted sigh.
“At the end of the day, our core disciples don’t actually work the floor; we merely train the civilian hostesses in the barest, superficial basics of our magic.
The Joyous Union Sect, on the other hand…
they have their actual outer-sect disciples working the floor in person.
Whether it’s the raw potency of their charm magic or their baseline physical aesthetics, they completely outclass us on every single metric…” Yue Xiaochan gritted her teeth in absolute fury.
“Those worthless sluts from The Joyous Union Sect…
they are seriously selling their own bodies on the open market?!” “Their core doctrine is the pursuit of unrestrained, absolute indulgence,” Menglan replied quietly.
“They simply do not care about social stigma.” “But what are we supposed to do then?!
In the eyes of the public, we are lumped into the exact same category as them!
Whatever sliver of reputation our sect had left is being utterly dragged through the mud because of them!” Menglan remained silent, offering no answer.
Yue Xiaochan thought it over before pressing further.
“Even so, compared to ordinary civilian establishments, we should still hold the upper hand.
Just losing a chunk of market share to The Joyous Union Sect shouldn’t push us to the brink of total collapse.” Menglan shook her head helplessly.
“Since we are strictly forbidden from leaking our high-level sect techniques to outsiders, the superficial, basic charm tricks we teach the civilian girls were completely reverse-engineered and decoded by our competitors years ago.
Standard establishments can replicate them perfectly now.
We have officially lost all competitive advantage.” Yue Xiaochan finally fell completely silent.
Menglan let out a long, exhausted sigh.
“What I am genuinely terrified of…
is whether the sect will one day force us outer-sect disciples to personally work the floor…
Judging by Martial Aunt Qingqing’s recent attitude, she has already begun entertaining that exact notion.
That is why I was so desperately trying to secure a transfer out of here before that day ever comes.” She paused, turning to flash Xue Mu an apologetic, weary smile.
“Though I deliberately intended to exploit you for leverage, Young Master, I harbored no actual malice.
I truly hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” Xue Mu offered a small, understanding smile.
Internally, however, a wave of professional disappointment washed over him.
She had a highly explicit, incredibly urgent corporate objective.
If the timing and location had been right, it would have been nearly impossible for her to avoid sleeping with me to secure my backing.
What a waste, what a tragic waste.
Yue Xiaochan stated with absolute finality, “Martial Sister, you know perfectly well that our core philosophy is fundamentally different from those degenerates in The Joyous Union Sect!
The Star-Moon Sect would never stoop to such levels.
Being misunderstood by the public as having the exact same lack of morals as The Joyous Union Sect is sickening enough.
If we actually went out and did it ourselves, it would be catastrophic!
I will personally have a serious word with Martial Aunt Qingqing about this.” Menglan stared at her intently, her gaze heavy.
“And what if you do?
The Sect Master’s combat power may very well be unrivaled beneath the heavens, but everyone from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom still needs to eat, and we still require a massive influx of cultivation resources.
Are we supposed to copy The Rampant Way and pivot to a completely non-profit lifestyle of robbing merchants and slaughtering people for quick cash?
It took Master over a decade of brutal, calculated effort to finally open up a legal economic foothold here in the Imperial Capital, allowing us to stand out in the open daylight.
If we go down the path of violent banditry like The Rampant Way, all of her blood and sweat will be instantly wiped out.
Master will absolutely refuse to return to the days of hiding out in dark, muddy corners.
If it comes down to a choice, she might genuinely greenlight Martial Aunt Qingqing’s proposal…
after all, we are merely outer-sect disciples…” Hearing this, Xue Mu’s train of thought suddenly ground to a complete halt.
So, your Star-Moon Sect and that Hehuan Sect aren’t dark puppet-masters pulling strings from the shadows.
Instead, you are Demonic Sects operating entirely out in the open—or at least, openly licensed here in the Imperial Capital?
This realization genuinely astonished him, completely upending his preconceived notions of a secretive, underground cult.
By all logic, since they were classified as “demonic,” they should be locked in constant, bloody conflict with the orthodox factions.
For a demonic sect to open storefronts right on the main avenue should have invited an immediate, relentless crusade from the righteous sects.
Even if Xue Qingqiu was completely unrivaled beneath the heavens, her business assets should have been reduced to rubble—much like those ruined southern properties they had stressed over earlier.
For a demonic sect to run a corporate franchise, they had to pull the strings from the shadows.
Standing out in the open like this was highly abnormal.
It had to be directly tied to the unique political status of the Imperial Capital.
At the very least, it implied they had secured an official government license, meaning the righteous factions couldn’t legally launch a raid against them.
So, the imperial government is openly harboring syndicates, or to put it another way, organized crime is steadily being institutionalized and legalized?
But why was this forbidden in the past, yet perfectly acceptable now?
Xue Mu kept picking at his food, his mind whirling with calculated theories.
He refused to believe a massive political shift like this was fueled solely by Xue Qingqiu’s raw, personal combat power.
There had to be deep state secrets hidden beneath the surface—angles he could eventually dig up and exploit.
Yue Xiaochan, however, wasn’t thinking about macroeconomic politics.
Her mind was entirely consumed by a far more immediate horror: our operational foundations are facing total collapse, and our disciples might be forced into sex work?
If they actually stooped to that level, what would be the difference between the Star-Moon Sect and The Joyous Union Sect?
In the eyes of the public, absolutely none.
This was no minor administrative hiccup.
This was a catastrophic crisis that struck straight at the core of their ideological Dao!
Yet, no matter how brilliant the young girl was, her entire upbringing had been focused strictly on physical martial arts training.
Facing a complex commercial crisis was completely outside her field of expertise.
What could she possibly come up with?
Even Xue Qingqiu herself clearly didn’t have a solid solution, let alone a thirteen-year-old child.
Yue Xiaochan stared blankly into her wine cup, falling completely silent.
The private box grew suffocatingly quiet, save for the rhythmic, satisfying sounds of Xue Mu chewing on his food.
Yue Xiaochan snapped her head up, glaring at him with pure irritation.
“All you know how to do is eat, eat, eat!
How can you possibly have an appetite at a time like this?!” “It’s just scaling a basic entertainment parlor…” Xue Mu remarked in a casual, rolling tone.
“Like I said before, if you only know how to slaughter people and fight, you will never scale an enterprise.
I’d say the exact same thing to your Master.” Yue Xiaochan curled her lip in defensive mockery.
“‘Just’ scaling?
If you’re so incredibly capable, why don’t you pitch a solution?” “To be fair, even if we pivot away from adult entertainment entirely, there are plenty of other corporate models we can leverage to secure massive profit margins…” “Is that all you know how to do?
Talk?” Xue Mu finally set his chopsticks down.
He reached for a damp cloth to casually wipe his mouth, looking right into her eyes.
“Of course, if you feel a long-term corporate pivot won’t solve an immediate liquidity crisis…
then your humble servant can deploy a minor tactical maneuver right now to bring the Hundred Flowers Pavilion straight back from the dead.”