After a gentle tap from Yuying’s finger, the middle-aged man’s body appeared as if it did not possess a single ounce of strength and slumped over into the ground, creating single thump sound.
“Seal!” Yuying’s voice could be heard as the runes on the middle-aged man’s body rearranged themselves to resemble chains.
“Even though he's only a lesser saint it'll take a bit of time before I can rewire his memories and thoughts, so, for now, I'll make it so that people can still sense his powers when they use their divine sense but he himself won't be able to use any of it.” Yuying said she began working her dark magic on the middle-aged man.
“As long as it gets done before the banquet, we will need him to be present or else those other saints will suspect that something is wrong. Also, I thought I was going to be the one to do it...” Zhang said with a sigh as he stored away the strange looking talisman he had in his hand and proceeded to retrieve the middle-aged man’s interspatial ring.
Although it would it would have been much better for Zhang to simply allow for the middle aged man to kill Han Shui and then deal with him along with the other unruly saints at the banquet, it would have been contradictory to his nature and gone against his beliefs.
Like usual if he could help someone then Zhang would go out of his way to do so even if it hindered his plans a tiny bit.
“Thank you, my lord! Thank you! Han Shui’s voice could be heard.
Looking back, he could see the previously defiant looking young man tapping the ground with his forehead as he performed one kow tow after the other.
“I only did it for I could take all of his treasure.” Zhang said with a grin.
“Here take this and leave before you get yourselves dragged into more problems.” Zhang said with a laugh as a tossed a small bag of money he had retrieved from the middle-aged man’s interspatial ring.
“Thank you, my lord, if it wasn’t for you then that sick bastard would have made me watch my family die right in front of my eyes…” Han Shui said as recalled the horrifying rumors about the lesser saint in question.
Tales of making birth brothers killing each other and stories of women forced to watch their children being torn to shreds by various demonic beasts flooded into Han Shui’s mind.
“First one to the treasure gets to keep it!” Ai’s voice could be heard as a pulse of divine sense swept through the mansion. In a flash, Ai dashed straight past Zhang at unbelievable speeds and disappeared into a path set between two building.
“Silly girl.” Lingqi said with a laugh as waved her hand and tossed a dozen or so purple colored pills at various rooftops within the confines of the mansion.
Upon impacting the rooftops these pills released an explosion of purplish colored dust that made everyone they came in contact with feel extremely drowsy and tired, so tired and drowsy that they almost instantly fell asleep.
“I'll go see what kind of herbs they have laying around you want to go have a look too?” Lingqi asked Ling who was petting a little fur ball curled up in her lap while the two of them could be seen sitting atop the roof of a building not too far from where Yuying was working.
“Sure.” Ling replied as the two of them hopped off the roof of the building.
“This way.” Lingqi said as she took in a deep breath and located the faint scent of herbs in the air.
While Lingqi, Ling, and Little White tried to locate the place where all of the herbs in the mansion were kept, Zhang could be seen bidding farewell to Han Shui then proceeding to trial Ai as a raced began between the two of them.
It was not until roughly an hour later did they gather back within the mansion’s main courtyard.
“Was there a lot of treasure?” Ling asked Zhang as she saw that he wasn't brimming with excitement like he usually was when he had just claimed a large amount of treasure.
“Any herbs, rare medicines or lost medical recipes?” Ai asked as she saw that Lingqi did not possess the usually glinting eyes that she normally had after finding a stash of rare herbs.
“All I found was a small stash of gold not worth mentioning, a few decent sized pearls and a riped piece of a painting… Although there were traces of there had been at least a thousand times more gold and dozens of other things left behind in treasury.” Zhang said in a somewhat dejected tone. Had it not been for the fact that the ripped fraction of a paint been placed on a high pedistal and looked overly importanted, Zhang would have not even bothered to collect it.
“Although there were a few herbs that are said to only grow underwater I wasn’t able to find much...” Lingqi said in an equally dejected tone as her husband.
“Since there’s nothing left to do here let’s tie up all of the people in the mansion and head back to the Blood Coral Castle before anyone notices we are gone.” Ling suggested as she looked to see if Yuying was finished rewiring the mind of the lesser saint.
“I finished up over here so we can leave whenever the rest of you are ready.” Yuying said as she walked toward where Zhang and the other beauties were standing with a new servant trailing closely behind her.
“Also it turns out that this fellow here had actually traded his vast fortune for the small piece of a painting that is currently floating about in your Interspatial ring, sweetheart. Most of your precious herbs were also traded for it too.” Yuying added with a grin as she saw the dejected looks on Zhang and Lingqi’s faces.
“Apparently, it's part of a set of eight pieces and is said to lead to hold some legendary secrets.” She also said, causing Zhang’s eyes to brighten and an adventurous smile to appear on his face.
“Treasure!” Zhang thought as his eyes twinkled.
“But we can worry about that later since we have a banquet to attend. You also need to go store away that treasure in the Blood Coral Castle that had been accumulating for five hundred years also.” Yuying said as she knew Zhang’s mind was beginning to drift into a wild fantasy.
“Okay let's go.” Zhang said in a cheerful tone.
“Meet us at the banquet and avoid talking too much to anyone else. But try to act normal and not make anyone suspicious of you until the main event happens.” Yuying said to the middle-aged man who she had just worked her magic on.
“Yes, master.” The middle-aged man said in a respectful tone as Zhang and the beauties departed the mansion after suppressing their aura and covering their faces.
In little to no time at all, Zhang and the beauties were able to blend into the large crowds prowling the city streets as they made their way to a massive castle made entirely out of blood red colored coral.
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Making their way to a shabby looking shack, Zhang and the beauties entered a small side room where they opened a hatch hidden beneath a few stone slabs.
Using a hidden tunnel that ran underneath the city streets the group quickly their way into the Blood Coral Castle.
As they walked deeper into it, the tunnel often branched off and led to a wide variety of different places within the city, the group ascended a flight of stairs that led to a large room where two silhouettes could be seen sitting cross-legged in front of a pair of screen doors.
“My lord and madams your back, I hope everything went well.” Chu Shou and Hai Xing’s voices could be heard in unison.
“Have any of our guests arrived yet?” Zhang asked,
“Not yet my lord, however, a portion of Shen Yu’s shell has been harvested and the key required to open the treasury vault along with his interspatial ring has also been retrieved from his corpse. The horns and the rest of the shell will be processed and brought to you later.” Chu Shou said as he presented a golden colored interspatial ring to Zhang.
“Take these and share the heavenly energy amongst yourselves and the others. Although there isn’t much left it’s better than nothing.” Zhang said as he waved his hands and made a small pile of a dozen or so jade like bones appeared on the ground. These of course were a few of bones belonging to the saints who had died fighting over the Rising Moon Sword countless years ago.
“Thank you, my lord, I’ll make sure to disperse them evenly, I’m sure the others will be extremely excited once they catch a glimpse of these.” Chu Shou said in a delighted tone as he saw the traces of heavenly energy that remained at the core of these jade like bones.
“Remind them that as long as they remain loyal to me then there will be plenty of heavenly energy to refine in the future.” Zhang said with a chuckle.
“We surely will, my lord.” Hai Xing said as a broad smile could be seen on her face.
“If you’ll excuse us, we have to change into a fresh set of clothes and prepare for the banquet. You know how long us women can take when picking out clothing.” Lingqi said with a laugh as she signaled for Chu Shou and Hai Xing to leave as she figured Zhang would want to inspect the contents within Shen Yu’s interspatial ring.
Soon after their subordinates departed and the screen doors leading into their room was tightly shut once more, Zhang bounded the golden colored interspatial ring to himself and emptied its contents onto the floor.
“This is more like it!” Zhang said as a large stack of shield sized plates belonging to a certain Dragon Horn Turtle, a pile of pearls as large as a person’s head and a large variety of weapons, cultivation material, books, and other things appeared on the ground.
“I’ll be taking a few of these to make some skin cream.” Lingqi said as she picked out a few massive pearls and stored them away into her interspatial ring.
“Skin cream? The stuff that you put on yourself to make your skin silky smooth and snowy white?” Ling and Yuying asked in unison as their eyes brightened.
“I can give you two a batch if you want.” Lingqi replied with a grin.
“Considering the fact that we are already sharing a husband, sharing some skin cream made of pearls couldn't be considered a big deal.” Lingqi said with a laugh as she picked up a few more pearls and stored them into her interspatial ring.
“Me too?” Ai asked.
“Yes, you too.” Lingqi answered.
After examining the items laid out before them one after the other, the group began preparing for the banquet.
Although Zhang was able to finish changing into new garments with no assistance and in little to no time at all, his wives took roughly thirty minutes to pick out their outfits, thirty minutes to help each other put on their outfits, and thirty minutes to choose and put on makeup.
Miraculously they managed to be ready just as first few guests attending arrived.
Wearing extravagant dresses that emphasized their figures and radiated their delicate features, the beauties effortlessly drew the attention of all who arrived at the banquet. Regardless whether they were mortals, saints, men or women, all eyes were glued onto Ling, Yuying, Ai, and Lingqi.
Besides the lesser saints who has already sworn allegiance to Zhang, a total of twenty lesser saints had arrived while four full saints along with their disciples and various attendants were said to be on their way.
Regardless of their intentions anyone who was somebody within the Blood Coral Cove was present or will be present at the banquet.
“I'm sure if all of these saints join under my banner then my forces would be comparable to a decent sized sect.” Zhang though as he gauged the strength of everyone present.
With simple handshakes and a few words of greeting, Zhang personally greeted and was introduced to all of the important figures of the Blood Coral Cove, while some had eager faces and gave Zhang a very warm welcome others acted cold and distant.
Before long while he was still walking around to greet guests, Zhang looked into the sky with a grin plastered on his face. Up in the air, a flying chariot decorated with carvings of dragons came into view.
Manning the chariot was a lesser saint whose skin seemed to shift from one shade to other, similar to an ability that some octopi possess. Behind this lesser saint was a young looking man radiating with power who had a pair of horns similar to those that Shen Yu possesses.
“That is Lord Long Feng, within the Blood Coral Cove, his prestige and powers are the highest. Hailing from a clan that can trace their lineage back to a grand elder within the Dragon God Palace, no one knows the limits of his powers nor does any dare to find out. There are rumors that state the only reason as to why Shen Yu had ruled over the Blood Coral Cove for so long was because Lord Long Feng was focused entirely on cultivating and allowed him to.” Hai Xing whispered into Zhang’s ear as the Lord Long Feng’s flying chariot landed in the middle of the courtyard.
The simple act of landing a flying chariot in the middle of a courtyard where a banquet was taking place instead of entering through the front door like everyone else could clearly show that Lord Long Feng was a haughty character who obviously did not place Zhang in his eye.
“Connections to the Dragon God Palace… If he thinks something like that can allow him to act unruly in front of me then he will soon find out otherwise.” Zhang thought as Lord Long Feng who looked no older than him stepped off from the flying chariot and was soon surrounded by a sea of people all of whom were trying to curry favor or building connections.