Soon, the wine and dishes were served, and the girls were all arranged to come over.
The girls at Starpicker Loft are all high-quality—each one is beautiful and elegant, and every single one is a cultivator, at least at the Nascent Soul stage.
The one serving Ian Song was a clever-looking young girl with a pretty oval face.
Ian wasn’t overly stiff, but he wasn’t wanton either. While enjoying the girl's service, he didn’t make any extra moves. In contrast, people like Brandon Nangong were much more uninhibited, their hands often straying to the sensitive spots of the girls around them.
"Brother Song, are you not satisfied?" Brandon Nangong asked, seeing Ian act so properly.
"No, it's fine," Ian replied with a smile.
"If you're not satisfied, I can have them switch someone else in for you," Brandon added.
Ian waved his hand. "No need, I think Miss Ying is just fine."
"That's good then."
Brandon smiled, thinking Ian was just a bit shy since it was his first time at a place like this.
"Brother Song, do you know who the most famous girl at Starpicker Loft is?" Brandon suddenly asked mysteriously.
"I'm all ears!"
Brandon continued, "The top courtesan here is called Mooncaller. She's a master of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and her dancing is breathtaking—she can captivate an entire room. Just one of her dances will leave you thinking about it for days."
"Yeah, it's just a shame that Miss Mooncaller doesn't perform every night!" Jasper Easton said with a look of regret.
Hearing the mention of Mooncaller, the rest of the wastrel heirs perked up, each one chiming in with their own stories and gossip about her.
"I heard Mooncaller is performing tonight."
Ying suddenly chimed in.
"Really?"
Hearing this, Brandon and the others got excited, their eyes practically lighting up.
"I'm pretty sure it's true," Ying nodded confidently.
“That’s fantastic!” Jasper Easton clapped and turned to Ian Song. “Brother Song, you’ve got real luck—your first trip to Starpicker Loft and you get to see Mooncaller perform.”
“Really? Looks like my luck’s not bad at all!” Ian grinned, though he was a little unimpressed inside—he’d seen all kinds of dances back in the main world.
Before they knew it, half an hour had passed.
Just then, a Starpicker Loft attendant came to announce that Mooncaller would be performing in the first-floor hall, and invited everyone to come watch.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
The group of wastrel heirs jumped up, practically charging out of the box.
The corridor outside was spacious, with tables, drinks, and snacks already laid out by the window for the box guests.
Ian and his crew grabbed two tables right away.
Suddenly, beautiful music floated through the air as more than a dozen pink-robed, veiled dancers descended from above, landing gracefully on the stage in the main hall.
The dancers moved with incredible grace, their gauzy skirts nearly see-through, showing off their alluring figures beneath. The white veils couldn’t fully hide their beauty either.
The setup gave everyone a hazy, dreamlike feeling.
As the music played, the dancers began to move. Their dance was beautiful and soft, earning plenty of cheers from the crowd.
“Someone, send these girls ten thousand flowers!”
Suddenly, someone shouted.
At Starpicker Loft, flowers had to be bought with spirit crystals—ten low-grade spirit crystals for one flower. So ten thousand flowers meant a hundred thousand spirit crystals.
The dancers got to keep thirty percent of the tip as profit.
“Young Lord Shentu has sent ten thousand flowers!” the attendant announced loudly.
“Hmph!” Jasper Easton snorted at that. “Send these girls eleven thousand flowers!”
Clearly, Jasper was butting heads with Warren Shentu again.
Strangely, Warren didn’t raise his bid this time. Instead, other guests started tipping—some sent a hundred flowers, others five thousand—but none topped Jasper and Warren.
By the end of the dance, the girls had received over fifty thousand flowers.
The dancers thanked everyone and left the stage.
Just then, a clear, ethereal qin melody rang out.
As soon as the music began, almost everyone in Starpicker Loft fell into a trance, closing their eyes to savor it.
Ian was quietly surprised—the performer’s qin skills were insanely high, way above Cece’s level, almost superhuman. The music touched the soul and subtly influenced everyone’s mind.
But a moment later, Ian frowned slightly. He sensed that the mind-altering power wasn’t just musical skill—it had to be some kind of secret art, woven seamlessly into the performance so most people wouldn’t notice.
If Ian didn’t know music and have crazy spiritual strength, he probably wouldn’t have caught it either.
Thinking that, he focused his gaze on a tightly closed room on the second floor.
The performer was inside that room.
She wore a simple goose-yellow dress and was stunningly beautiful—easily Lila Li’s equal. But her aura was icy and aloof, like ten-thousand-year-old ice. Her cultivation was late Fusion, but she hid it so well that she only showed early Soul-Split. Without Ian’s divine sight, even he wouldn’t have noticed.
Ian couldn’t help but sigh—the imperial capital really was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Even the top courtesan in a brothel was a late Fusion powerhouse.
He didn’t dare stare too long, worried she’d notice.
He withdrew his gaze and closed his eyes, choosing to just enjoy the beauty of her music.
Honestly, even without the charm art, the qin playing was incredible.
After a quarter of an hour, the music stopped, but the whole Starpicker Loft stayed in a daze—no one wanted to wake up, still lost in the aftertaste. The place was dead silent.
It took a while before someone finally broke the silence.
“Mooncaller’s qin skills just keep getting better! Someone, send her twenty thousand flowers!”
“Send ten thousand flowers to Miss Mooncaller!”
“I’ll send fifty thousand flowers!”
In no time, guests upstairs and downstairs went wild, showering Mooncaller with flowers.
Ian did the math—just in this short time, the crowd had already sent over a million flowers, worth about ten million spirit crystals, and Mooncaller hadn’t even shown her face.
“Miss Mooncaller’s music belongs in the heavens! I’ll send a hundred thousand flowers!”
Warren Shentu’s voice rang out.
“Hmph, a hundred thousand? I’ll send two hundred thousand!” Jasper Easton immediately called out.
“That’s right! Hearing Mooncaller play is our great fortune—I’ll send two hundred thousand flowers too!” Brandon Nangong joined in.
One after another, the wastrel heirs all started shouting, pledging two hundred thousand flowers each.
“I’ll send two hundred thousand as well!” Ian said with a smile, tossing a pile of spirit crystals to the waiting attendant. He couldn’t help but think the whole scene looked just like a cultivation-world livestream.