Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

“Was this written by you?”

“Of course. Just look at that calligraphy! Who else could write with such bold, impressive strokes?” said Mo Nian proudly.

“Yes, well, let’s ignore that calligraphy for now. I’m very curious why you would decide to turn the original horizontal scroll into a vertical scroll[1]. As for your ‘Guests Come Like Clouds’, it’s not the worst thing I’ve read.

“I really want to know just what you were thinking with the next line, ‘A Cloudless Sky’.[2] Are you cursing yourself to have no business?” Long Chen was practically without words as he looked at the marvelous couplet written over the entrance.

Mu Xue and the others also looked oddly at that couplet. It was no wonder this restaurant looked so forlorn and empty. It was like they had done it on purpose.

“Tch, stop spouting nonsense. Do you want to eat or not? Even when I treat you to a meal, you have to be so picky. Are you treating your friend as an outsider?” Mo Nian blushed, also feeling that this couplet he had randomly scrawled out was a bit inappropriate.

He hastily brought them inside. They entered a spacious hall without a single person present.

“It really is cloudless.” Long Chen couldn’t help but laugh.

Mo Nian angrily shouted, “Hello?! Get out here and receive your customers!”

“Junior master? Oh, I mean, boss, you’ve come!” Suddenly, a person wearing a waiter’s clothes ran over.

“Where are the others?! Where’s the shopkeeper?” raged Mo Nian.

“Isn’t it about dinner time? They went to go eat at the restaurant across the street,” answered the waiter.

Mu Xue couldn’t hold back any longer and laughed. They had actually run to another restaurant to eat?

“Mo Nian, what are you playing at?” Long Chen also couldn’t help but laugh.

Mo Nian laughed mischievously. “In truth, I really only opened this restaurant to play around. There are people publicly challenging my Mo family, and even the tenants of this space joined them, refusing to pay rent, so I directly drove them out.

“This territory is my Mo Gate’s, but there have been a few clowns recently who like to come here when they’re bored. Well, since we couldn’t rent this place out, I just turned it into a restaurant to mess around.”

Long Chen was slightly surprised. Had Mo Gate really been bullied to this point? Even their tenants were beginning to oppose them?

Long Chen knew Mo Gate was different from other sects. Qing Prefecture was their territory, and they were part of many businesses, which allowed Mo Gate to keep up with its immense expenses.

That was different from the Xuantian Monastery. The Xuantian Monastery got its resources from the supermonastery, while the supermonastery got its resources from the Xuantian Dao Sect. As for how the Xuantian Dao Sect had enough money to groom so many people, he had no idea.

Other than its businesses, Mo Gate also rented some of its excess territories to other people for rent money.

But now Mo Nian said their tenants dared renege on their rent. Perhaps there were many things hiding behind the scenes.

“Boss!”

At this time, over a dozen people ran over from the restaurant across the street. Seeing Mo Nian, they hastily bowed.

“Alright, hurry up and go order some dishes and bring them back here. I’m sure you should know their best dishes after eating there for so long,” said Mo Nian.

“Yes, yes, we’ve tried everything on their menu. Don’t worry boss, we’ll go right now!”

Those people ran back to the restaurant across the street. Long Chen was unable to understand what they were doing. Did all city people like to play around like this?

“Come, let’s go upstairs. I think you’re this restaurant’s first customers.” Mo Nian laughed.

They all followed him to the top floor. The top floor only had a single table large enough for all of them to sit at.

From here, it was possible to look out over all the busy streets. The field of view was extremely wide, and it was a very relaxing place to be. Eating here was definitely extremely extravagant.

They had only just sat down when Long Chen saw some people rushing over from the opposing restaurant, all carrying large trays. Atop the trays were all kinds of delicacies.

In just a moment, these Bone Forging waiters filled the table with dishes. It went without saying that these people really had good taste. These dishes were all amazing delicacies that could make a person salivate.

Mo Nian took out dozens of jugs of fine wine from his spatial ring, and the waiters hastily filled up everyone’s cups.

“Mu Xue, let me raise a cup to your mercenary unit. I’ll definitely remember this favor,” said Mo Nian solemnly.

Although he was Mo Gate’s junior master, he knew being a mercenary was challenging. Each day, they danced on the tip of a blade, and any one of them could die at any time.

They were also hot-blooded people who liked danger, who were loyal and straightforward. Mo Nian sometimes longed for their lives.

Seeing Mo Nian stand up to offer them wine, the Muxue Mercenary Unit also stood up. They were filled with respect toward Qing Prefecture’s number one of the junior generation.

“Cheers!”

They didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. All their emotions were conveyed within this wine. Just how many people were able to have Mo Nian propose a toast to them? Let alone the mercenary world, even in all of Qing Prefecture, there were few people who had ever received such treatment.

“In truth, you should be thanking Long Chen. It’s actually quite embarrassing for us. If it hadn’t been for Long Chen, we probably wouldn’t have obtained the Hidden Ground Spider’s core, and most of us would probably be dead now.” Mu Xue couldn’t help sighing regretfully.

“You clearly knew it was dangerous, but you still went to go hunt down the Hidden Ground Spider. That makes me feel even more grateful. Come, let me raise another cup!” Mo Nian drained his cup in one gulp.

The others followed suit. Mo Nian laughed. “As a person, I don’t have any skill in oration. I’m not like some people who are capable of amazingly graceful but empty speech, so I won’t blindly spout nonsense. Let’s drink again!”

Long Chen narrowed his eyes. This little fellow was once more up to his tricks. Just when had he blindly spouted nonsense?

After three cups, Mo Nian sat back down, and only then did the Muxue Mercenary Unit’s members sit down, beginning to eat.

“Long Chen, how’s your relationship with leader Mu Xue?” Mo Nian suddenly laughed wickedly.

Mu Xue turned red. Long Chen glared at Mo Nian. “Brat, if you spout that nonsense again, I’ll smash you with your wine cup.”

“Is there really nothing between you two? How curious, it seems that doesn’t conform with your style?” said Mo Nian curiously.

Mu Xue was beginning to feel resentful, but as the Muxue Mercenary Unit’s leader, she had to calm herself back down. “Junior master Mo has misunderstood. Long Chen is a genius like you. We only ran into each other by chance. In the future, it’s fated for us to be parted.

“No matter what, Long Chen was once a member of our Muxue Mercenary Unit, someone who ate and lived with us, someone who fought with us on the battlefield. He will always be in our hearts.”

Towards the end, Mu Xue’s voice began to tremble slightly, causing each warrior of the Muxue Mercenary Unit to feel a bit depressed. The two women’s eyes turned red.

Although they had only interacted with Long Chen for a few days, he had given them a deep impression. They were unwilling to let him leave.

Unfortunately the dragon didn’t play with shrimp, and the phoenix didn’t live with sparrows. They weren’t on the same level, and it was impossible for them to be with each other forever. Thinking of their destined separation, they felt a burst of grief.

Long Chen was also silent. He wanted to say something comforting, but he was unable to say anything.

Mo Nian felt awkward and hastily said, “We should just be happy that we had this time together. Who can possibly predict what will happen on the path of cultivation?

“So you should live every day as if it were your last. Come, let’s drink again. No one can leave until we’re all drunk!”

Everyone cheered and raised their cups, gulping down their wine. Ten cups later, they were already starting to feel woozy, and they couldn’t continue drinking so fast.

The Mo Nian they were seeing today was completely different from the icily arrogant Mo Nian they normally saw. No matter who raised him a cup, he would accept, not putting on any airs.

“Hey, has there been a mistake?! What are you doing targeting me? Go target Long Chen!” Mo Nian suddenly realized something was off.

“What do you mean, target? What an ugly way to put it. You’re the boss of this place, and we’re eating your food, drinking your wine, so of course we have to express our gratitude,” said Long Chen righteously.

“Tch, I won’t talk to you. All you know how to do is talk nonsense. I really can’t beat you in that regard. All of you just wait!

“Just now, that brat Long Chen said he wanted to drink me to death! That’s definitely a provocation. So now, I challenge you to a battle!” Mo Nian pointed at Long Chen.

“Yes!” Everyone cheered.

“Alright, let’s start off with three hundred jugs each!” Mo Nian waved his hand, and a small mountain of wine jugs appeared before them.

That made them jump. Three hundred? For an ordinary person, drinking just three jugs would make them collapse. Mo Nian’s wine was peak grade, and they were already dizzy from drinking just over ten cups. It was extremely potent.

This was no ordinary wine, but a kind of medicinal wine. It was extremely helpful in stabilizing a person’s cultivation base and was very precious. Most people were unable to even buy it.

If they didn’t use spiritual qi, then an ordinary Meridian Opening cultivator would collapse from just three jugs.

“That’s a bit inappropriate. The situation isn’t like before. Didn’t your uncle say we should return home once we finished playing around?” said Long Chen.

Three hundred jugs of this wine was something Long Chen had never tried before. If he didn’t use spiritual qi to resist, then he probably wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Right now, Mo Gate was in an unstable position, and powerful enemies surrounded them. It really was unsuitable to be so unrestrained. Long Chen was on guard, and so he mentioned Mo Nian’s uncle.

“Tch, don’t mention my uncle. Don’t worry, those people are just a bunch of hopping clowns. They aren’t able to challenge my Mo Gate. Come, us brothers will drink until we’re happy!”

Mo Nian unsealed the first jug, throwing it to Long Chen. He also took a jug for himself. It seemed he was planning on competing with Long Chen in jugs.

Long Chen was helpless. Seeing Mo Nian’s excited expression, he didn’t feel right declining. Mo Nian was already starting to work on his jug, so he also raised his jug and began to gulp it down. The Muxue Mercenary Unit cheered from the side.

“Long Chen, get the hell out here! Today, I’ll turn your bones to ashes as revenge for my son!” A furious shout reverberated in their ears.

[1] English is written in horizontal scroll, as in left to right. Chinese can be written horizontally, or vertically, as in up to down.

[2] 万里无云 This is an expression that I translated as A Cloudless Sky. This is an expression meaning perfect weather for customers. Saying Customers Come Like Clouds is also a kind of expression, because when you say something is ‘like clouds’ this way, you’re saying there’s a lot of them. So you may see the expressions, experts were like clouds, or beauties were like clouds. So individually, these lines are actually quite good. It’s only when they’re together that...

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