"The Lu Family Old Ancestor, who went by the nickname ’Capitalist Lu’..." "Capitalist Lu?" Mo Hua was startled. Qinglan nodded, "It means that he is greedy and selfish, extracting from mining cultivators ruthlessly as if he’s peeling off their skin." Qinglan sighed, "This is what my parents told me... when they were still alive..." "At that time, I was young and took it as nothing more than a story, not understanding the heartache behind it..." "It is said that several hundred years ago, the Lu Family was just an ordinary clan, owning a few mines, neither too powerful nor too weak, holding a position in South Yue City. But there were several other families more influential than the Lu Family, so the Lu Family wasn’t much..." "Until the Lu Family Old Ancestor came into power." "After he came into power, he collaborated with several other mining families to formulate the Spirit Pact, advancing and retreating together, collectively suppressing the compensation of the mining cultivators." "It used to be one five-part Spirit Stone per day..." "The Lu Family established rules and nitpicked flaws, leading to the mining cultivators receiving fewer and fewer Spirit Stones, gradually depressing it to three parts, one part, and eventually only one Spirit Stone per day..." "The mining cultivators’ lives became even harder..." "But the Lu Family earned more Spirit Stones." "Having earned Spirit Stones, they then wanted to indulge in pleasure." "South Yue City was desolate with few places for entertainment, so the Lu Family Old Ancestor thought of building his own..." "Thus Jinhua Street came into being." "Capitalist Lu, also known as the Lu Family Old Ancestor, dabbled in eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, so the gambling dens and brothels in Jinhua Street had everything one could wish for." "This is how they squandered the Spirit Stones earned through the life-risking work of the mining cultivators in the gambling dens and brothels..." The thought of her parents working hard to their deaths from starvation brought Qinglan to tears, her fingers turning white from clenching them so tightly. Mo Hua also frowned deeply as he listened. Qinglan composed herself, eyes red, and continued: "Opening Jinhua Street, getting food and drinks, setting up gambling dens were easy..." "But to open a brothel, they lacked girls." "The women of the families would never do such a thing; they wouldn’t sell themselves in brothels, at least not openly." "So the Lu Family set their sights on the mining cultivators." "They mistreated the mining cultivators, didn’t fix the Formations, didn’t cleanse the Filthy Qi, and the Spiritual Artifacts for mining were also old and worn, all for the sake of causing injuries to the mining cultivators, or even their deaths." "Injuries need to be treated, and the dead need to be buried, all requiring Spirit Stones." "Without Spirit Stones, they could only borrow." "The Lu Family then lent money at high interest rates, making the mining cultivators incur heavy debts of Spirit Stones." "When the mining cultivators couldn’t repay their debts, they had no choice but to use their children to offset the debt, selling them to the Lu Family." "Boys would be made servants or attendants." "Girls were thrown into brothels, dressed up, and sent to... entertain clients..." Qinglan found it difficult to continue, as tears welled up in her eyes again. Mo Hua felt a touch of heartache as well. He had not anticipated that the bustling prosperity of Jinhua Street was built on the suffering of the mining cultivators. The women of the brothels look joyous and smiling, yet beneath their façades flow tears of blood. The harder the mining cultivators’ lives, the more extravagant Jinhua Street became. Mo Hua asked again, "Do the other families do these things too?" Explore more at empire Qinglan nodded and then shook her head, "At first, the Lu Family and a few other families did it together..." "But the other families weren’t as ruthless as the Lu Family, not as extreme in their methods, and gradually, they were either absorbed or had to sell their mines to the Lu Family and move to other cities..." "Gradually, the Lu Family became the sole power in South Yue City..." Mo Hua frowned and said, "Such actions by the Lu Family, they must have violated the Taoist Laws, hasn’t the Taoist Court ever intervened?" Qinglan nodded, "They did, but to no avail." "The previous Court Leader, who hated evil as if it was his enemy, simply couldn’t compete with the Lu Family." "The Lu Family bribed the right people, and had him transferred away." "The successors at first made a show of action, but after frequenting the Lu Family brothels for several days and receiving a few chests of Spirit Stones, they ended up in collusion with the Lu Family." Mo Hua understood. This Court Leader must be the current Court Leader Qian. In league with the Lu Family. Mo Hua remembered something else and asked, "Has the Lu Family Old Ancestor passed away?" Qinglan nodded, her expression somewhat pleased, "Dead!" "It is said that he committed too many evils and indulged in his pleasures without restraint, which bred wicked thoughts, leading to a mishap during his cultivation and he died after living more than two hundred years." "On the day he died, the mining cultivators took their money for food and bought fireworks instead, setting them off for the whole day..." "The Lu Family couldn’t stop it." This old bastard had a fitting end, dying amidst such clamor... Mo Hua thought to himself. But having lived more than two hundred years before dying was already letting him off lightly. Mo Hua thought for a moment, then asked, "After the Lu Family Old Ancestor passed away, was it Lu Chengyun who became the next Family Head?" "Yes," Qinglan nodded. "Is Lu Chengyun bad?" Mo Hua asked. Qinglan furrowed her brows, pondered for a while, and then said: "So-so, I suppose. Not particularly good, but compared to other members of the Lu Family, he could be considered a ’good person’." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖 "He wasn’t so harsh on the Mining Cultivators." "If a Mining Cultivator died, he would still have the Lu Family compensate with Spirit Stones." "Many things weren’t as excessive as the Lu Family Old Ancestor." "Although life was still hard for the Mining Cultivators, since they had always been suffering, they were used to it, so not many people cursed him." "Unlike the Lu Family Old Ancestor…" Mo Hua nodded slightly. This was almost identical to his impression. Lu Chengyun was gentle and refined, but his schemes ran deep, taking the Lu Family’s interests as a guideline, acting stably without going too far, yet he would not forsake the benefits of the family mines to treat the Mining Cultivators kindly. Mo Hua asked further, "Sister Qinglan, have you ever seen the Elders of the Lu Family in the Hundred Flower Tower?" Qinglan nodded, "I’ve seen a few." "Do you think among them, is there anyone particularly suspicious?" Qinglan frowned slightly, "What kind of suspicious?" "I mean…" Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "Someone who understands Formations but doesn’t seem like a person from the Lu Family, or someone who sneaks around, with a different way of doing bad things than others…" After pondering for a while, Qinglan shook her head: "I wouldn’t know, I’ve only looked from a distance and haven’t really interacted with them." Then she added, "But since you mentioned suspicious, that Elder from the South Yue Sect who brought you here last time is actually quite suspicious…" Mo Hua was startled, "The South Yue Sect? Elder Su?" "Mhm mhm." Qinglan nodded, "His surname is Su." Mo Hua asked curiously, "What’s suspicious about him?" Qinglan said with puzzlement, "He clearly is a regular, yet he insists on pretending to be unfamiliar, isn’t that very suspicious?" Mo Hua’s eyes shifted as he asked softly: "Is Elder Su a regular of the Hundred Flower Tower?" "Yeah, he used to come often, almost treating the Hundred Flower Tower as his own home…" Mo Hua was astonished. He guessed Elder Su was familiar, but he hadn’t thought Elder Su would be THAT familiar… Truly… appearances can be deceiving. Qinglan glanced at Mo Hua and seemed conflicted, hesitating for a moment before finally lowering her voice and saying: "I’m telling you this, and you mustn’t tell anyone else…" Curious, Mo Hua quickly nodded. Leaning closer, Qinglan whispered: "That Elder Su, he once had a close relationship with Sister Shuixian in the building. He even wanted to buy her freedom at one point." "Later I heard that Sister Shuixian… was even pregnant with Elder Su’s child…" Mo Hua couldn’t help but open his mouth wide. He hadn’t expected Elder Su to have such a "romantic affair". "What about the child?" Qinglan shook her head, "I don’t know." "What about Shuixian?" Qinglan sighed, "She died." Mo Hua furrowed his brows. Qinglan felt regretful and a bit sad, "Sister Shuixian was a good person, beautiful, skilled with her hands, and treated people kindly…" "But somehow, she ended up dead." "It seemed Elder Su was heartbroken for a while, wanted to investigate something, but in the end, it led nowhere…" "It’s likely that nothing was discovered." Qinglan lowered her head, "People like us, our lives are cheap, dead is dead, the Taoist Court won’t care, the Lu Family don’t mind, and the brothel keepers will just regret losing a body that could earn Spirit Stones…" "Whether we live or die, they don’t take it to heart, and in this world, no one will take it to heart…" Qinglan’s voice got lower and lower, and her expression increasingly forlorn. Mo Hua felt a discomfort in his heart as well. Qinglan kept her head down. After a long while, seeing that Mo Hua also seemed downcast, she was startled, wiped away her tears, and said with a smile: "Young master, forgive me, I shouldn’t have talked about these things." After saying that, she expressed her gratitude: "Without the young master, I probably couldn’t have escaped this abyss of misery…" "I might still be in the Hundred Flower Tower, forcing a smile, serving men with my body, and then one day, dying without knowing it…" "Now I need not care about other people’s opinions, I can support myself, which is already better than anything else." Qinglan’s gaze was frank, her tone sincere. Though her eyes were red, her gaze was very determined. Mo Hua felt somewhat relieved in his heart. After leaving the inn, Mo Hua walked on the street. Looking south, there were the mines. Looking north, there was the resplendent Lu Family residence, and come nightfall, Jinhua Street would light up, a world of glitz and debauchery. Mining Cultivators toiled for them, their children became slaves and courtesans for their pleasure, tools for earning Spirit Stones. They also became bargaining chips for bribing the Taoist Court officials and wooing other powers. A cold light flickered faintly in Mo Hua’s eyes.