The Celestial Continent – Kingdom of Luyao – Tianlong Summit – Zhou Family Estate
The Zhou Family Estate is as grand as I expected it to be, a massive complex ringed with tall white stone walls which are adorned with intricate carvings of animals and heroic figures, which both serve to represent MY family's heritage and as anchors for complex formation array’s that help to guard the estate against attackers.
Behind the walls are vast stretches of carefully maintained gardens, playing host to an array of exotic plants, fishes and birds, all carrying as much Qi as they did blood, existing in perfect harmony within the artificial ecology created and nurtured by the household.
It was… Refreshing to see and tempting enough that I paused to stand in my ragged, filthy robes, covered in sweat, blood and sick, to admire the scenery, the gentle movement of golden fish that passed beneath the small wooden bridge I stood upon, the flowers of exotic cyan and purple which fluttered in the gentle breeze.
I could smell the scent of honey and lilac carried by the wind, the mating call of a nearby bird, whose partner soon answered its own, and the cool mountain chill of a morning breeze that gently ran across exposed skin.
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These were pleasures that were foreign to me; it had been so long in my past life that I could even feel such things, to experience the moment; for they were but ephemeral, secondary to my goal of ascension.
Perhaps I shall take a break to watch the birds; business can be conducted at a later date, for I have all the time in the world in this youthful body.
When one of the estate's gardeners passed by on his way to prune some trees, he nearly dropped his tools in shock, his face paling and his mouth agape at the sight of the Zhou Family's second son.
The reason was not his attire, for it was common for the Zhou Scion to return home from a night of heavy drinking covered in the blood of men who had offended him, entwined with the scent of sweet alcohol and feminine perfumes from whatever brothel he had decided to waste a veritable fortune within.
No, what shook him to his core, was that Zhou Wen was smiling at a bunch of birds… And he wasn't cooking them over an open fire.
Very carefully, the tanned workman began stepping backwards, slowly evacuating the area, lest his presence disrupts whatever the Zhou Scion had going on and have him inflict untold misery upon the foolish servant who dared disturb him.
But that wasn't going to stop him from telling the others.