Solving by Elimination

To avoid arousing suspicion, Song Qingshi deliberately gathered some night-snow ginseng first, then went to Langgan Terrace to find someone.

Langgan Terrace soared into the clouds, extravagantly luxurious. Jin Feiren was holding a small flower-viewing banquet there, having invited a dozen or so close friends to enjoy the songs and dances of beautiful people. He was delighted to see Immortal Venerable Yaowang arrive and immediately invited him to take the seat of honor. The cultivators nearby were also eager to make a connection with the foremost physician in the Immortal Realm.

Song Qingshi was terrified of talking to strangers. With his gaze on his nose and his mind on his heart, his head blank, he silently recited his courses on human anatomy, physiology and hygiene, laboratory-mouse breeding, and the like twice over. At last, he recovered the calm of a top medical student.

The original owner of this body cultivated two divine flames: the Mystic Red Lotus Flame for alchemy, and Netherworld Ghostfire for killing.

Song Qingshi put on a cold expression that kept people at a thousand paces' distance. He released Netherworld Ghostfire into his palm, making the flame dance ceaselessly across his fingertips and change into different shapes. Spirit Severing and Body Integration ancestors were the treasures that anchored their respective sects and rarely entered the world; Nascent Soul cultivators were already big shots who could swagger through the Immortal Realm. Besides, the immortal path was perilous, and no one could guarantee they would never need a divine physician to save their life. Thus, cultivators of both the immortal and demonic paths were unwilling to lightly offend the lord of Medicine King Valley, and cared little for his eccentric temperament. Seeing the Netherworld Ghostfire and realizing he was in a poor mood, the cultivators kept their distance. Even the maidservants and immortal attendants did not dare approach, terrified that one careless move would anger their lord and leave them tainted by that killing flame.

Song Qingshi successfully cleared a large, peaceful space around himself and snuffed out the cultivators' thoughts of currying favor. Then he released the powerful divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator, swiftly sweeping over every beauty at the banquet and scrutinizing them, hoping to identify the protagonist shou among them. Yet there were plump beauties and slender ones, each exquisite in their own way; everyone had different standards of beauty, and Song Qingshi's were not especially reliable. His eyes were soon dazzled. He only felt that every last one of them was beautiful—even the maid pouring wine was graceful and lovely, prettier than television stars. He could not tell who surpassed whom.

A stubborn academic ace never admitted defeat! Even the Goldbach Conjecture would not rattle him!

Song Qingshi tried solving the problem by elimination. First, he established that the protagonist shou was a man and excluded all the beautiful women at the banquet. Then he made a list for focused observation, boldly seeking proof and cautiously forming hypotheses, crossing off the beauties who did not meet the criteria one by one.

The twin brothers playing the qin and drums were extraordinarily beautiful, soft as jade and fragrant as blossoms. When they smiled, their tenderness was like water; they were like two identical lotus flowers blooming on one stalk.

There could not be two protagonist shous. Cross them out.

The youth pouring wine was adorably cute, too, with a sweet voice and a talent for acting spoiled. He had the immortal elders at the banquet indulging him in every possible way, obedient to his every wish. One even fed the precious immortal fruit from the banquet into his mouth, calling him "baby" over and over.

The protagonist shou's fate was supposed to be tragic. Cross him out.

The beauty performing a water-sleeve dance onstage had a flat chest, a slim waist, and flirtatious eyes flying everywhere. It was a little hard to tell whether they were male or female.

The protagonist shou probably did not look like that...

...

The immortal music shifted to something lascivious, and the beautiful people's singing and dancing grew ever bolder, full of provocation.

After getting drunk, the young sect master of Moonhidden Sect behaved disgracefully. Holding his wine cup, he moved to put an arm around a beauty's shoulders and forced him to drink with him.

He was a body-refining cultivator, and in his drunkenness he could not control his strength. He nearly crushed the beauty's shoulder. The beauty cried out in agony, and the wine cup fell from his hand and shattered on the ground. His face turned pale with fright; trembling, he hurriedly knelt to apologize. "This slave was wrong."

The young sect master of Moonhidden Sect shook his head in disappointment. "How boring."

Jin Feiren said apologetically, "The young sect master is right. A useless beauty like this is of no use being kept."

Realizing he was in danger, the beauty's eyes flooded with tears. He desperately kowtowed and begged for mercy until his forehead was covered in blood.

The young sect master of Moonhidden Sect smiled. "What a racket."

"Tonight is my banquet. How can I let him disturb everyone's refined enjoyment?" Jin Feiren took out a red bead and turned it in his hand. The beauty's pleas abruptly ceased. Then the beauty himself rose to his feet, his face full of struggle and reluctance, but like a puppet under someone else's control, he walked step by step to the edge of the high platform and leaped off without hesitation.

Song Qingshi stared in shock. He did not understand what had happened.

Noticing the astonishment written across his face, the young sect master of Moonhidden Sect asked with amusement, "Is this Immortal Venerable Song's first time seeing a slave branded with the Joyous Union Brand?"

Song Qingshi nodded instinctively.

The young sect master of Moonhidden Sect explained, "The Joyous Union Brand is a method created by Immortal Venerable Huanxi. A master may imprint it on a slave's back, and then the slave's body and soul are in the master's hands to manipulate as they please. Without the master's order, the slave cannot even seek death. Just now, Manor Lord Jin used the divine-sense bead to command that piece of trash to jump from the platform, so he would not disturb everyone's peace here."

Having heard that, Song Qingshi finally unearthed information on the Joyous Union Brand from the original owner's memories. It was a seal used by cultivators of the Immortal Realm to control slaves. It could be branded on cultivators of low attainment or on mortals. Once branded, a person could not betray their master even if they were treated worse than pigs or dogs. Some cultivators used the seal to torture or slaughter slaves, making them struggle in hell for their amusement. Beautiful slaves suffered even more unspeakable fates. It was an exceptionally vicious thing.

And yet...

Purchasing mortal slaves and branding them with this seal was a legal transaction in the Immortal Realm.

The human realm's spiritual energy was thin; mortals had brief lifespans, and even the occasional person with a spiritual root usually had only a weak one. Achieving Foundation Establishment was already as difficult as ascending to heaven. Some kindhearted cultivators accepted mortals as disciples, giving them a chance to ascend to immortality. Ten thousand years ago, there had also been a mortal named Moyuan. His gifts had been peerless, and through sheer dedication to the sword dao he had cultivated all the way to Nascent Soul, created unparalleled sword arts, and become capable of matching Spirit Severing ancestors. He was known as the Sword Venerable. But the path of cultivation was a struggle with Heaven for one's life, difficult at every step. Failure while undergoing heavenly tribulation was commonplace, as was killing for treasures; it was hard to restrain cultivators' conduct with morality.

Weakness was the original sin. Mortals were like ants, their lives and deaths at the mercy of Immortal Realm cultivators, who could toy with them as they pleased.

Even though Sword Venerable Moyuan had wished to protect them, all he could do was have the renowned righteous sects of the Immortal Realm establish a rule: mortals who successfully achieved Foundation Establishment counted as cultivators and could no longer be used as slaves or playthings. But demonic sects and wicked cultivators never cared for rules. Forget mortal cultivators—even Immortal Realm cultivators who fell into their hands came to no good end. Their evil deeds were too numerous to record and impossible to fully recount.

Although Jin Feiren was exceptionally fond of beauty and used vicious, endlessly inventive methods to torment slaves, Jinfeng Mountain Manor was counted among the renowned righteous sects. Every slave here had been born a mortal and purchased through trade; however much others might dislike it, they could not interfere.

Alongside his disgust, Song Qingshi felt a little relieved that the System had not arranged a mortal identity for him. Otherwise, he would never have survived two chapters, much less gone on to save the protagonist shou.

Fortunately, this was only a virtual world...

Novels were all crooked and heretical; only textbooks were the righteous path of the human world! The professor had been right to confiscate the senior girls' novels during class! If he ever had the chance to become a professor, he would not let his students read novels either! So they would not have their values poisoned!

Song Qingshi sighed to himself.

...

All the beautiful people at the banquet served their distinguished guests trembling with fear, terrified of making another mistake.

Pearls befouled, vermilion hairpins and jade shattered.

This extravagant feast finally reached its climax.

Disciples of Jinfeng Mountain Manor obscured the glow of the night-luminescent pearls in the hall, allowing darkness to shroud all of Langgan Terrace.

The guests lifted their heads in surprise, only to see several spell-fired fireworks streak across the dark, blossoming in midair into a glittering golden phoenix that danced gracefully. It announced that the true performance of the Myriad Beauties Banquet was about to begin. Jin Feiren raised his wine cup and again invited his guests to enjoy the spectacle.

Song Qingshi marveled at the phoenix dance's beauty and watched it for a long while before noticing a youth in white had appeared beside Jin Feiren.

The youth was clean-featured and handsome, like emerald bamboo in the mountains or a bright moon in the sky. A layer of cold frost veiled his lowered eyes. His dark hair fell like a waterfall and was tied with only a single ribbon; he wore no other adornment, yet he effortlessly held everyone's gaze and made it linger.

The tall, handsome manor lord smiled as he lightly scratched the youth's palm with his finger, speaking tenderly and promising him treasures to coax a smile from him.

But the youth turned his head aside. No matter how Jin Feiren teased and coaxed him, he would not grant him even a glance.

Jin Feiren forcibly turned his face back. With just one hand, he twisted both the youth's arms behind his back and pulled him hard into his embrace, delicately kissing his forehead and the bridge of his nose... then biting down heavily on his lips, as though he wanted to tear him apart and swallow him whole. The youth struggled in pain. Jin Feiren released him with a smile, leaned close to his ear, and softly asked, "Do you still want to learn the rules?"

The youth went rigid for a moment, stopped struggling, and obediently sat in Jin Feiren's lap.

Was this the protagonist shou?

Song Qingshi watched furtively for a long time. At last he overcame his social anxiety and prepared to test the waters, but Immortal Venerable Lingbao, who was on particularly close terms with Jin Feiren, had already gone over and asked with a smile, "Is this the new treasure the manor lord has acquired? A pure yin constitution, a single water spiritual root? Will you let this venerable one sample his flavor tonight?"

Jin Feiren looked at the shame and indignation on the youth's face, gave him a squeeze, and refused with a smile. "He may be a plaything, but he suits my tastes very well, so it would not be convenient to give him away. Later, I will send my friend several peerless beauties, all with excellent constitutions and perfectly untouched."

Immortal Venerable Lingbao examined him carefully for a moment. "Your treasure is actually still a virgin?"

Jin Feiren said, "I am unwilling to treat him like an ordinary slave."

In the Immortal Realm, beautiful slaves could scarcely escape being played with. The lucky ones could become concubines; the unlucky ones were much the same as courtesans and boy courtesans, receiving guests and seeing them off, serving them with their bodies. No matter how outrageous it became, it was only a master's romantic escapade. At most, people would laugh and curse a few times about how absurdly—or interestingly—he played.

Tonight, Song Qingshi had made up for a lifetime's worth of dirty talk. He now understood everything he ought to understand and everything he ought not.

Watching Jin Feiren personally pour wine for the youth, he was not certain whether this was the protagonist shou. Though the youth in white seemed more captivating than the other beautiful people present, the System had said that the protagonist shou needed rescuing because his fate was tragic. Jin Feiren was quite fond of this youth now, while every beauty at the banquet had it several times worse than he did...

Song Qingshi's head ached from solving the problem...

At that moment, the phoenix's dance ended in the sky and it descended among the banquet guests trailing streams of light.

As the radiance faded, an enormous bird stand carved from gold appeared on Langgan Terrace. Upon it sat a peerless beauty. Golden anklets inlaid with seven treasures circled his snow-white ankles, tethered by slender golden chains to either side of the stand. His upper body was draped in nearly transparent gauze like thin clouds, faintly revealing the seductive scene within, adorned with gold beads and precious jade. Below, he wore a long skirt of gold-and-red feathers shaped like a phoenix's tail. His slightly curled long hair hung loose, studded with large and small pearls formed from merfolk tears. The seductive Joyous Union Brand on his back was hidden amid his hair, appearing and disappearing in the light breeze. He was as beautiful as a richly painted phoenix, or a peony in all its worldly splendor.

He held a long emerald-jade flute in his hand, his thin lips slightly parted, his allure innate. Dark-gold phoenix eyes, smiling yet not smiling, greeted everyone in the hall with a single glance. The tiny red tear-mole beneath the corner of his eye made every heart itch unbearably. Song Qingshi sat up straight. He recognized the beauty in red from the riverbank.

The red-clad beauty's gaze swept over Song Qingshi, paused ever so slightly, then slid past as though he did not know him.

Song Qingshi looked to his left at the youth in white, like a luminous moon, then to his right at the beauty in red, like a peony at the height of its bloom. He panicked. He absolutely could not tell which of the two was more beautiful, or which resembled the protagonist shou more!

Professor System's test was too difficult...

Was Song the academic ace going to fail this course?