The Mysterious Bathhouse

Through the spacious lobby of the public bath on the first floor, the blue-clad youth shoved Xia Qian through a series of curtains, finally stopping at a door made of lacquered rosewood.

The leading youth, wearing a mask-like smile, moved his lips:

“Brother, make sure you stand steady. The pool inside is very slippery.”

Before he could finish, the high door slowly opened, and the warm mist, carrying a refreshing scent of plum blossoms, rushed towards them.

As the mist began to clear, they saw the pool was not large, but it was so refined that it made their eyes light up.

Nine-petal lotus lamps were arranged along the pool’s edge, and the wicks were actually glowing pearls.

The water shimmered with a faint golden ripple, and upon closer inspection, the floating petals were not ordinary but rather thin ice crystals, which instead of melting, released wispy clouds of mist.

The intricately carved railings by the pool were wrapped with several unknown vines, their green leaves adorned with a few pale purple flowers, releasing a faint fragrance.

The entire space was enveloped in a warm, misty atmosphere, as if even the air had become soft.

“Oh my, the new brother is spellbound!”

The blue-clad youths rushed forward, again attempting to undress her. Xia Qian tightly clutched her waistband:

“Are you all octopus spirits!? Let go! Even if I have to strip, I’ll do it myself!”

But before she could finish, she was pulled around in three circles, and her thin silk robe slid to the ground. Someone then pushed her at the knees, and she fell with a ‘plop’ into the pool.

Having been teased this way multiple times, Xia Qian’s anger surged, but before it could ignite, the warm water lapping at her collarbone extinguished her fiery mood like a feather pillow being spun in a washing machine, softening her into fluffy clouds.

The warmth of the water instantly enveloped her body, soothing even her soul. Since waking up in the brothel, Xia Qian had been in a state of constant tension, burdened by worry, anxiety, and unease. But now, those negative emotions seemed to be washed away by the pool, replaced by an unprecedented sense of peace.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling her fatigue gradually dissipate, as if she had become a fish in the pool, with no room for worries in her seven-second memory, swimming freely without a care.

“This water can’t be laced with something strange, can it?”

Xia Qian leaned against the pool wall, muttering to herself. In the water’s reflection, the tips of her hair had a faint silver glow. Moreover, she felt a strange energy stirring within her, not strong, but undeniably strange.

Inside, it was as if millions of fireflies had awoken, gently flowing through her veins, tingling every joint.

At some point, the blue-clad youths were squatting by the pool, forming a semicircle, their squinted eyes, under the influence of the steam, looked gentler than before.

“How does it feel, brother? Is the water to your liking?”

Xia Qian opened one eye, glancing at the leading youth who asked, and replied half-heartedly.

The youth, undeterred, continued with a tone of certainty:

“As I said, brother will definitely enjoy it. Once you’ve dipped in, you can’t forget the experience. In a short while, the men who’ve absorbed the spiritual energy emerge like new, making this sacred spring water the best elixir for rejuvenation.”

“Spiritual energy?”

“Yes, the soul energy, the essence of life, the spiritual energy needed for cultivating profound arts, which can’t be easily replenished outside.”

The youth nodded, interpreting Xia Qian’s confusion as disbelief, with a hint of pride in his voice.

“In this world, only women can cultivate, and men, unable to cultivate or use any profound arts, are necessary for women to extract spiritual energy, but they can’t live without men.”

“Cultivation… profound arts?”

Xia Qian tilted her head in surprise.

“If spiritual energy is so crucial, why don’t they just come and soak themselves? Why not turn the brothel into a public bath?”

The youths, upon hearing this, were taken aback, exchanged glances, and then burst into laughter, as if they’d heard a delightful joke.

“Haha, brother, you’re quite humorous with your words. Truly, you’re a joker. Those women seeking the arcane path would love to, but only men, as ‘Spirit Cauldrons’, can gather and store spiritual energy within them. If they could absorb spiritual energy without ‘Spirit Cauldrons’, would there be a need for men in this world?”

Xia Qian, after hearing this, felt a headache coming on. ‘Spiritual energy’ or ‘vital essence’, think of them as the energy needed for cultivation. To constantly absorb and release energy, to be used as a tool for repeated extraction…

This is just using people as battery packs, right?

She had thought that the plight of male courtesans was only due to oppression and exploitation of their status, but now it seemed that the twisted one was not the brothel, but the entire world. A matriarchal world built on a fundamental power imbalance. In a world where men are purely seen as cultivation resources by women, inside or outside the brothel, they couldn’t escape their predetermined fate as tools. At least within the brothel, there were rules, and after being ravaged, one could still soak in the bath to recover. Outside, it was probably worse. As the blue-clad youth said, without a way to replenish spiritual energy, men were not even as good as rechargeable batteries, but rather disposable items, discarded like used tissues after being squeezed dry.

“Escaping and surviving are contradictory.” The words of the young man she had encountered in the bath earlier suddenly made sense to Xia Qian.

Soaking in the warm water, feeling the changes in her body, the inexplicable comfort continued to soothe her body and mind, but the ominous premonition kept building up. Her throat moved up and down with difficulty:

“So, I’m one of these supposed ‘Spirit Cauldrons’?”

“Of course, brother. You were carefully chosen and brought back by Daddy Liu, so you must be extraordinary… Ah!”

The chatty blue-clad youth suddenly fell silent, as if only now realizing what he had said. He quickly covered his mouth and then leaned in close to Xia Qian’s ear:

“Ah, please forget what I just said, and don’t mention it to Daddy Liu, okay?”

“Extraordinary?”

Xia Qian nodded thoughtfully.

Hearing this, the behavior of the business empress who wanted to keep me after a brief meeting starts to make sense. She values not a person, but a battery pack! And the special part, just a larger capacity and better value for money. So, she wanted to keep me for exclusive use, right?

A chill rose from the pit of Xia Qian’s stomach. She had said it before, no matter what world, there was no free lunch with a rich woman. Behind the showering money, there might be bizarre tortures like a steel wire scrub brush waiting for you.