After general Laoci stepped down from the spotlight, Bao Baozhai insisted on giving little Feng his gifts together with her sister Qing.

Even someone like general Lian who's not your average joe's was shocked by the pill one of these two beauties presented the brat who was hiding his gloom behind the half smile which he managed to maintain for a while now, then again he was stunned when he saw the boots which the other woman gave.

The general's head barely started to clear the confusions when the one armed hulk of a man with a long beard presented the brat with a sword no less in quality compared to wolf flower!

The remaining gifts from the rest of the guests weren't valuable in worth apparently but the lass next to Feng was smiling widely and giving her polite thanks.

Just when the general was about to corner the brat into a neverending stream of liquor with the help of the conniving guests, Zhu Feng pulled his bride and slithered his way into his living quarters.

The guests kept booing with pouted lips and sly eyes yet he ignored their pleas coldly, finally they went out to join the other guests in the gardens and the atmosphere was encouraging drunkenness.

That escalated from the manor gardens then the guests got bored and decided to abandon the cold groom and his bride and the whole manor and go continue their festivities in the village streets, that soon had an update and the whole village left the village and their next destination was the new market just outside their walls!

If there's a bird eye view on Sword Villa from above then it would resemble a wave hitting the shore which is the Baron's manor deep inside the village, then that wave retreating back to the sea and leaving wider area of sand exposed.

The wave in this metaphor is the people of the village who left their village almost completely devoid of people save for the guards on duty and the snoring drunks who embraced the earth after they fell from the joyous masses as they left to continue celebrating.

"I wanted to dance some more, humph."

Crossing her arms and gazing from her elevated balcony on the people as they made a ruckus in the market and the area around it, Zhu Lanfen's eyes had a sly glint in it when she said that and puckered her lips.

"Then let's dance, or did you wanted to dance with another? Wife, I'm warning you. Only look at me, only look for me. Only me and me and me to the end of time."

Grinning evilly, Zhu Feng hugged his wife's waist a bit roughly from behind and pulled her to her chest while giving his voice a colder tune.

"Stop it! I never had any other than you in my heart, and never will allow another."

Placing her hands on Zhu Feng's intruding hands, Lanfen said while looking up at his face with dreamy eyes.

"En. Good girl, now come lets go give our love to Biyu before we consumate our marriage. I can't wait anymore to eat you up, you're just too much. I can't believe that this cutie bombshell is my wife, guh I'm so lucky."

Zhu Feng carried his giggling wife and ran for their sleeping quarters where Bo Biyu is resting.

*****

"Awooo....."

"God damnit, shut up you mutt or I'll let Storm snap your darn neck."

Zhu Feng pulled a pillow over his ear and drowsily spoke while feeling warm softness squirm at his chest.

"Woof.... Grrr..... Whine...."

"Eh! What is it now Storm? Come-on girl I didn't get enough sleep lately at all.... Alright! Alright I'm up."

Looking behind the window curtains with half closed eyes to check for the time after using his elbow to raise his chest up from the addictive comfort of his soft bed and the softness of his wife right next to him, Zhu Feng rubbed his eyes while covering the nacked back of Lanfen which got completely exposed when he pushed the covers away.

"Are you guys hungry and looking for a late night snack?"

Storm and the kids were all gathered in his room which is much larger than any room that Zhu Feng ever dreamed to have, it felt more like a basketball court to him but he didn't dislike the extra space.

"Whimper...."

"No! Then why did you wake me up then? Are you guys possibly feeling lonely because we didn't get much time with one another lately?"

When Storm shook her head and rubbed her snout in his thighs it made Zhu Feng feel sad because for a time now they didn't play together him and the kids, it was either he wasn't in the mood or busy and in the times he wanted to join the wild beasts to have some pure instinctive fun they would be away hunting.

Yet he saw Storm rolling her eyes at what Feng said and it made his face redden in embarrassment, it was like she's saying : "Oh please. Get over yourself."

"Fuck you guys, if you're waking me up to prank me so you can have a laugh at me then I'll go back to sleep."

Crossing his arms and tapping with his right foot after throwing that threat, Feng saw the five wolves sitting and giving him silent yet innocent looks which made awkwardness swell in his chest.

𝘏𝘦𝘤𝘬, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭.

𝘖𝘯𝘦... 𝘛𝘸𝘰.... 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧....

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵?

𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

𝘖𝘯𝘦.... 𝘛𝘸𝘰.... 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.

As Feng started thinking that he saw Harmony scratch his neck then doubted his decision, especially when the whole family of wolves stared silently at Harmony for doing anything beside staring dumbly at Zhu Feng.

Seeing sweet Harmony lower his ears in surrender when he was the center of attention of his mother and siblings and their kind two legged friend, Zhu Feng started counting slowly in his head again then finally judged himself as a fool for doing such a childish thing and was about to return to bed to cuddle with Lanfen.

Once he turned he found the four wolves hurrying to block his way back to the bed while Storm bit his underwear and pulled him with her teeth.

"Alright! Stop pulling or you'll tear my clothes off, go on lead the way and get on with it."

The small wolfpack led him in the silent hallways of his manor and after a few twists and turns he was met with ten soldiers in black steel armor and ahead of them was a captain in bronze armor, they were guarding a huge sturdy gate completely made of metal that was brownish in color and in the deepest area of the manor.

"Lord Feng! How can we help you?"

The one ahead of the men was the one and same captain Li Canglai, frankly he and his men were surprised by this unexpected visit from their Baron in this late hour of the night, not to mention that he's almost naked save for the underwear on his waist.

Before Feng got to answer his former tormentor and current underling, the five wolves were already at the metal gate and scratching at it.

"They came again!"

Zhu Feng heared the muttering of one of the guards who was looking apprehensively at the dangerous wolves in close proximity of his body.

Even if he was told many times that he shouldn't provoke them and he'll be safe anywhere unless he had wicked intentions towards their Baron Zhu or his loved ones, it still wasn't easy to compose himself nearby one of them not to mention the whole pack.

"Captain Li it's alright, these guys woke me up and dragged me here. I'm guessing there's something in the vault which is attracting them to it, did they trouble you before?"

Zhu Feng smiled and gestured for the men to calm themselves and relax, then he ruffled the fur of the growing wolves while asking.

"They came here a couple times after we took this shift and we stayed out of their way like usual, now that you mentioned it the other shift said that they're helping every team guard the vault. Do you have orders for us m'lord?"

Standing at attention Li Canglai answered at once, yet he couldn't help but sneak a glance at Zhu Feng's back when he was playing with the brown wolf.

Seeing the crisscrossing wounds on the much developed back of their young lord made Li Canglai feel disgusted with himself, silently he clinched his fists and reminded himself to make it up for the man with hard work.

"En, please help me open the doors so I can pacify these gluttons, I know that they wouldn't let me sleep unless I do that."

"Woof...."

"Zip it Joy you eat twice as much as Night sometimes, that means you're the biggest glutton of them all."

"Whine...."

"I'm not falling for that trick again girl, you always give me the puppy eyes when I scold you. Now behave or you're gonna be the last to have a taste of whatever that is that's inside and making you all drool."

"Whimper...."

"Yes I would dare be this cruel and you know it, you're cute but sometimes you're a bit too sweet."

The guards were amazed by their Lord's strange treatment of his beasts, they felt as if he's dealing with little kids not animals.

Yet the strangest thing was how docile and tame they were to his treatment, they already know that these beasts are intelligent but they had no idea that they're smart enough to understand speech.

And they clearly were!

"Creak....."

It took all the guard's pushing effort after opening the locks to move the mountain-like heaviness of the vault gates, with a groaning creak the doors were opened wide enough to allow two men to enter the dark space of the vault side by side.

Of course the naughty family of wolves didn't give Zhu Feng or his men enough time to light the torches, they rudely entered before them completely untroubled by the devoid of light.

"Tsk, what an impatient and rude bunch. Idiots I can trap you inside just by closing the doors to teach ya all a lesson. Close the doors."

Winking towards one of his men, Zhu Feng intentionally spoke loudly then gave a fake order to his men.

"Awooooo"

"Alright. Alright. I'm just kidding, you guys are being too serious. Chillax a little, it's not like I was the one who just woke you up in the middle of the night and pulled you out from the warm embrace of your partner. One is allowed to have fun every now and then you know."

The united protesting howl of the five wolves made the guards reflexively hold the handles of their weapons and stand at attention for a possible attack coming.

But Zhu Feng waltzed into the dark vault bare footed and barely clothed in anything while locking his arms behind his head, the sight of him puckering his lips and complaining like an abandoned housewife made the guards smile and laugh faintly.

Right afterwards four guards entered the vault after Zhu Feng carrying lit up torches to add light after their captain choose them for the job, they all got one order separated into two parts.

"Take a cardinal location, you're a statue. You see nothing you hear nothing. Once the Lord is out you come out, greed is your enemy. Go"

That was the message and they followed it to the letter.

"Uh-huh! So that's what you guys are after huh, these are demonic cores from demonic beasts Storm. Remember the big one that I fed you what your pack left behind, yes that day when you almost did me in then I helped you deliver these guys into the world. You sure about eating one of these? Alright which one do you want? The smallest one huh, at least you're not getting greedy. But you have to eat it outside, I still need to go to sleep and I don't know what will happen after you eat it you know. Come-on let's get out of here, this place is creepy even for me. I just hope these poor men wouldn't get haunted by ghosts after we leave, gyahaha. Hurry now, let's ditch the suckers then close the door behind us."

Cackling like a devil, Zhu Feng closed the box containing the demonic cores then locked it after Storm choose her prize, he ran towards the vault gate while saying something that made the poor four guards still inside feel cold shivers in their bones.

"W....wait for me."

Finally the pressure broke the will of one guard and he ran after Zhu Feng.

Blinded by fear, the man only stopped after he passed the metal gates.

"Wheeze.... Wheeze...."

Gasping for breath and supporting his upper body on his knees, the young guard who looked to be of similar age to Feng finally straightened his upper body and wiped cold sweat from his forehead only to see the smiling face of Zhu Feng and behind it the blackened face of his captain.

Looking around in loss he saw the faces of his colleagues threatening to burst in laughter.

"Gotcha, so I'm guessing ghosts is your spook huh. Bwahahaha."

Then Feng spoke and mimicked one of the ghosts in some movie he saw before.

"Hahaha....."

Finally the rest of the guards couldn't take it anymore and let go of their laughs, even captain Li was unable to keep his serious outlook and snickered when he saw the look of deep embarrassment on the face of the youngest member of his team.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Zhu Feng was very mischievous and naughty this time for sure, but these moments weren't so bad to have once in a while.

*****

Inside the vault nearby the exit was three guards wiping down their sweat and cursing their young Lord under their breath for being such a nasty trickster, they too felt pressured and their steps were hurried towards the exit after their comrade left them behind.

When they almost felt released from this creepy place once they neared the exit, they heard Lord Feng joking their idiotic brother who got scared.

After taking a while to compose themselves, the three men exited from the vault while following their orders to the letter.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘦. 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"What took you so long?"

Li Canglai asked the three men yet he received no answer!

"Eh! Dai is muttering something.... Statue?" The guard nearby brought his head closer to hear the faint whisper of his friend then raised an eyebrow, turning towards his captain Li he delivered what he heard. "He's saying : I'm a statue, I see nothing I hear nothing. Little Yao, is there really ghosts in there?"

The guard patted the scared guard and asked to confirm if there was really anything strange in the vault, yet he received a cringing expression from the lad who almost felt like crying.

"Enough nonsense, close the doors."

Li Canglai snapped at his men then turned to take a look at the direction their young master just left and smiled, he already figured out that his men were trying to cover that they too were afraid and trying to cover it with the facade of following his orders.

*****

"Here mommy, bon appetit."

Zhu Feng flicked the demonic core towards the impatient she-wolf and entered his room, Storm swallowed the thing whole and ran for the gardens while her children snuggled up with Feng, Lanfen and Biyu.

After that day Feng's life started to become monotonous yet serenely calm.

Waking up, he would train his physique alone in the gardens next to the snow wolf's cage after feeding it it's morning meal. Of course!

He always started and finished with the strange techniques which most of the guards couldn't figure their use and benefits at all, the only difference was the change of weights and and number of times he did each technique.

Then he would go join his men in the training grounds to join the fun of the morning sparring matches, weapons were blunted and randomly selected which made it harder to win especially if his situation would be up to fate.

Sometimes Feng would be in a disadvantage of having too many opponents while receiving a weapon which he can't use well, sometimes he would be in a numerical advantage yet weapon-less.

Then he would have breakfast either with the men in the barracks or back in the manor with Lanfen, a few times he would be invited by his aunties to get together early in the mornings.

Next would be his tour in the village to hear from the people directly, their complaints and wishes would be especially taken into consideration.

If they're good ideas then his men would be on it in a heartbeat, otherwise they'll be ignored entirely but these citizens were easily satisfied.

If the roads were paved and their bellies were full then there's nothing more they would ask from you! At least the majority of them were like that.

Thankfully for them their Lord Feng wasn't your typical noble, one day after his wedding he gathered his team of craftsmen which he successfully recruited from the group general Laoci sent to fix the manor.

Infrastructure, roads, new buildings with very unique styles and whole neighborhoods were being rebuilt from the ground up.

The Villa walls were being repaired, reinforced and elevated!

Safety measures were being made in the form of tunnels and areas for the people to hide inside if there was a case of beast attack that couldn't be stopped at the walls!

While these sorts of upgrades were happening from within the Villa, the lands of Baron Zhu were clearly marked by flags and work on planting them with various crops was discussed earlier.

The strange buildings which Feng specifically requested to be built nearby the gathering areas of his horde of livestock and the other strange buildings which he asked that they be built inside the Villa after choosing the locations were currently under construction.

After his tour within and without the Villa, Zhu Feng would return to spend sometime in solitude with his unconscious woman then he would pick up his two swords and train his dual swordsmanship until it is time for dinner.

Cooking together with Lanfen and teaching her new recipes whenever he finds the right ingredients was another source of energy replenishment after tiring himself training and solving this and that all day, then he would enjoy his woman's private company or he would have fun resting with his pack of wolves until dark.

Then he would start the hardest things in everyday's session, the footwork which he visually copied from Liling.

The pain was as if someone was stretching his muscles, ligaments, tendons and pulling at his bones with an irritating pliers that never picked up speed.

Slow as death yet never late.

Afterwards Feng either gets helped by Storm or one of her family to his bed where he gets treated like a noble by Lanfen, what a blessing in disguise.

Storm of the past is no more, her evolution after eating that demonic core was vastly different from before.

Her height almost doubled and her fur turned completely silver to the degree of reflecting moonlight, poor Shadow got cocky once and tried to provoke his former rival into a race and was left behind to eat Storm's dust. Everytime!

Zhu Feng knew that his mount was depressed but he couldn't cheer him up, fruits were offered and was left to rot, same with the white mare which got neglected by Shadow all the same until he finally chased her away!

Until that day when his servant told Zhu Feng that Shadow isn't eating anymore and if that continued then he's bound to starve himself to death!

"Oy! Are you giving up because you lost? Storm ate one of these and that's why she's stronger than before-"

"Whimper...."

"Grrrr...."

"Oh stop it Storm or you'll only make it worse."

Somehow when Shadow made that weak whimpering sound it felt like he's saying : "I knew it! You're a big Cheater." to Storm.

And the following growl which Storm gave as a reply was like : "Are you looking for a beating? Loser."

After getting in-between the quarreling animals, Feng hoped for the best and fed the demonic core to his dark horse and told his experienced servant to take care of him to the best of his abilities.

Unlike how Storm breezed through the whole experience of eating the demonic core, Shadow's neighing wails kept being heard all over the Villa for three days and nights.

The servant told Feng that he had to tie Shadow's legs and neck with metal chains in the first night after Feng fed him the core out fear of the young warhorse going on a blind rampage, yet next morning it was discovered that three of these chains had snapped from the strain!

Finally on the fourth day they discovered that Shadow stopped feeling pain, he responded to the calling of the worried servant and ate his fruits like a starved ghost then drank three bucket's worth of water before falling unconscious!

The restrictive chains were removed off of his body but he was badly wounded by them in the process, one month of rest and intensive care were better than losing the smart-ass horse forever and Feng took it as a good result.

Storm wasn't satisfied with the loss of one of her precious stash of cores to the proud fool who dared challenge her, yet she endured because it was the decision of the naive two legged friend.

Two months after Feng's wedding, the Villa was changed completely in terms of infrastructure, streets quality and layout, services, etc.

The darn general again stuck his nose in the matters of the village with the excuse of supervising under the king's orders, then after he learned everything that Zhu Feng wished to accomplish in the village and made a copy he sent a couple dozens if the work force needed to do something was a couple men.

He seemed in a hurry to finish Feng's plans faster! And Zhu Feng let him do what he wants as long as there wasn't any major changes in the blueprints, if there's then the shameless general better have a darn good reason.

The villagers in Sword Villa felt like they were living like animals before the changes, they no longer have to go fetch water from a well or from any natural water source and store it in their house, every house has pipeline systems and sewage doesn't trouble a single soul anymore!

Their streets are no longer muddied after the lightest sprinkle of rain, at least not the important streets of the village and these new streets are sturdy as rocks yet smooth and even.

Trash containers is nearby every house and they get collected periodically then "processed" somehow and somewhere! Their village is cleaner, shade trees and flowerbeds are planted in the gardens which are scattered around the village streets for people to chill inside anytime they want.

Restaurants sell cheap at cost yet strangely delicious and of high quality new products.

Games for children to use when their families take them to enjoy the good air of the beautiful gardens, comfortable areas for the grown-ups to gather with designated places for camp fires to gather around and grills for barbeque parties with meticulous care for safety and ease of use.

Free school for children to learn the ways of the world before they head out of the village for their own adventures, an infirmary with facilities ready to help those in need anytime with enough capacity, beds and proper ventilation.

"Light House" project was Feng's combination of a library, dojo, gym, spa, craft school, weapons school and tactician's school but it came at a cost for people to enjoy these services, with different grades of service with various costs.

Hot blood arena was the destination of those who learn from experience but Feng placed two rules, no life and death matches, those who kill or cripple their opponents are forever banned from using the arena again.

A Zoo for exotic but safely contained animals but nothing too exaggerated since Zhu Feng's funds were running low after all that spending.

Of course Feng noticed that many of his ideas were being added to their neighboring market outside the Villa yet his most guarded secrets were safe, like recipes in his restaurants, etc.

Yet our Feng was annoyed lately because his body which seemed to be endlessly growing stronger, faster and better ever since he came to this world.

That body of his seems to finally hit a wall in it's capabilities.

Training harder, adding weight, adding complexity to his techniques, changing his daily routine, taking days of rest from training which bored Zhu Feng out of his mind just to recuperate any hidden injuries that he might've accumulated.

Yet everything he tried failed to bring dear Feng the results he wished for.

"Do I have no other choice but to take that strange pill? I trust auntie Baozhai, she said that her benefactor gave it to her after she saved her live with my robe. But. What does it do exactly? Auntie Baozhai is very annoying sometimes, just because she wanted to see me frustrated she refuses to say anything. This is bullying you know, since she's way older then I wouldn't lower myself to her level. Humph. Come Harmony, let's go take that pill from the vault. I bet this time Ill be able to open the gates on my own."

After testing his physical limits and finding the results still within the mortal limits, Zhu Feng was demoralized a bit but still proud of his achievements so far.

He built a body that was both strong yet fast and agile, coupled with his supreme ocular focus abilities and he can win against the best of his men in any duel.

Yet he wasn't satisfied with what he has accomplished, simply because Feng had seen what can people with super powers do to mortals in the form of little girl Liling.

Yes. He was wounded at that time and still recovering, but he was helpless as a baby in front of her, even when she held back god knows how much of her powers, Zhu Feng was like a piece of paper in her hands which she can fold or crunch however she wants.

That incident left a deep mark at Feng's heart which he hid deep in successfully from everyone around him and Liling herself, but he never stopped aspiring for a time where he too could acquire such powers.

As someone from blain good earth and a typical mortal, first of his aspirations weren't to snap his fingers and create fire spells like Liling or to fly like those dreamers of freedom.

Feng's fist aspiration for super powers was strength and toughness within the levels of supernatural.

Even according to this world's standards, Feng wanted a body that could carry mountains and block fire and lightning as if they were rain or gentle breeze.

Only then can he truly shield his loved ones from harm, only then can he pave the way for his unborn child.

So that his loved ones can live in peace.

Unfortunately Da Donghai wasn't yet capable of forging something for Feng with the indestructible steel ores, otherwise Feng could get another layer of protection for himself or his women.

Of the six gifts he received the day of his widding from the general, the money was used in upgrading the village and little than one thousand coins are left.

The demonic cores are officially hogged by the wolfpack and other than Shadow who lucked out, there's close to zero chance of others snatching another without waking up to find Storm's jaws locked around their necks. Or one of her kids, whoever makes it to the thief first anyway!

The mithril dress was given to Lanfen in the same day straight to her locker room, otherwise Feng was sure she would hold a grudge if he kept it away from her.

The indestructible steel ores were left to collect dust, but if the one handed pervert doesn't up his game and raise his blacksmithing level soon then Feng is going to send them to Tang Tingfeng instead since he's already a saint forger before they met and have the earth vein to help him in his work.

The snow wolf is locked up in his cage in the gardens and does nothing good for himself other than eating too much and sleeping most of the day, lately he seems to be enjoying the company of Storm and her family.

Zhu Feng was afraid of being in close proximity to the pure blooded demonic beast, last and only time he was in close proximity to any demonic beast he almost died.

That was enough trauma for life for our fearless Feng.

As for the last gift the scepter, it was a symbolic item that gives Feng no other power than to whack naughty subjects if he could reach them!

The pill was his only option for more power, if that thing can fuel his muscles with power and give his bones some extra density then Feng will forever be thankful to the kind soul who sent it.

As for the boot he received with the pill? He's in love with the thing ever since he first wore it.

It was made from light-green leather that was soft yet held firm on his feet, it covered his ankles and half his lower legs protectively.

Even on the most slippery terrain when he duelled with his men in the muddied training grounds he never lost his footing once because of his boots, most of his failures were because Feng wasn't expert enough with the placement of his footing mid-fighting.

Later after he discovered that unusual trait of his boots, Feng soaked a piece of fur in soap and tested the boots on them yet he still found his balance very easily.

His High-knee boots which are made from ZhuQing material are better in giving higher protection in comparison to these leather boots, but their only flaw was that they can fail Feng in slippery environment.

In the battlefield if he lost his balance then it can mean his end, thankfully he was able of wearing them both on his feet together on top of one another.

"M'lord."

"Morning captain Chang, at ease gentlemen don't mind me being here, carry on."

Waving to the men to continue playing their game of men's morris, he already knows that his men train hard everyday and guarding shifts can be extremely dull and boring.

To counter these negative effects, he allowed two on each team to play games which would help them improve their companionship and intelligence at the same time while the rest do their job.

Like a tournament they spend their shifts playing two by two and the tournament winner receives a small reward, and the results are kept in a log which is in the barracks for the men to check their ranking amongst their brothers.

The ones with better results in these games get grouped together in the later shifts which their Lord Feng called in a jocking manner "The Champions League", with better rewards.

Chess, men's morris, checkers, etc.

Feng gave his men plenty of ways to have fun and various ways to compete, while Ba Tusai was sieving through the records with his assistant looking for hidden talents in everything.

The recruitment process was going slowly since Feng preferred quality over quantity, after a couple months his guards increased by seventy while a few dozen of his original force were given other jobs according to their shine.

"Grunt...... Ughnnnng...."

The sound Feng made when he tried for the eighth time to open the vault's gate on his own made his men turn and look at him in silence, they had deep gratitude and care for their young Lord which kept accumulating by the day and right now this small team of ten soldier guards and their captain were secretly rooting for Feng with hopes that he might succeed this time.

The best result was captain Xi Qiqiang and another soldier called Niu opening the vault gates alone, both of them are hulks of men and blessed with extraordinary amount of physical strength.

While their young Lord Feng can best these two in duels and sometimes wrestling, in arm wrestling they steamrolled their whole battalion and in grip strength they're supreme.

But everyone in the barracks and manor be that a guard or servant agreed on something, if it is hard work and fighting spirit then their Lord Feng was unrivaled.

Same with the growth in abilities, he always improved in something and for these men he always came up with something to improve their lives.

His down to earth behavior and capacity to allow himself to hear other's opinions still remained his best quality for these men who were used to the so-called difference between humans in quality by birth rank and all that shit.

"Uaaaaggghhh....."

"Ccccrrreeeaaaccckkkk....."

"It moved.... he did it!"

With a screeching sound that on the contrary drew smiles on his men instead of the usual frowns, when the doors started to withdraw inwardly his men were clinching their fists and mentally pushing some imaginary wall ahead of them.

"Big-ass doors are too dam heavy..... Huff....."

Finally Feng couldn't go grunting anymore and his strength left his arms, straightening his bent waist and lightly kicking at the gates to vent some of his frustrations while saying that he turned towards his men to ask them for help since he can't squeeze himself through the gap between the two doors.

Yet when he saw the look on his men's face he smiled helplessly.

"Whine...."

Harmony felt the mood turn awkwardly silent between his two legged friend and the other two legged friends of his friend and hid shyly behind Feng.

That woke the guards from their daze and captain Chang cleared his throat lightly before saying : "Ehm, good job m'lord. Men go spread these gates."

"Yes captain."

Captain Chang smiled warmly when he found his ten men run towards the vault gates, they were almost racing one another as if that simple task was something extremely honorable to do.

Strangest thing was that usually the two playing would ignore any orders because it's their right to be the last two in their team to follow orders from their captain, yet these two men were on the gates before their teammates!

"Yelp...."

Harmony got startled by the men running their way and turned towards the vault and squeezed himself in before Feng.

"Heh. They should be the ones intimidated by you Harmony, not the other way around. You're almost big enough to have your own puppies, stop being needlessly timid all the time and learn to be calm. And who is better master than me in the art of calmness? Hrrrmm! Right, No one. Kakakaka."

Zhu Feng smirked at the sight of his cute wolf fleeing, while watching these two lantern-like eyes of Harmony glow in the dark of the vault from the narrow crack which he made with great effort, Zhu Feng spoke with the scared but adorable wolf as if he's some kid and Feng is giving him a valuable lesson in life.

"Whine...."

"Good boy. Thanks men, sorry you had to see me embarrassing myself once again and ending up failing."

Rubbing the head of the wolf who was feeling downhearted with lowered ears to encourage him, Zhu Feng took a torch and entered while saying that.

He smirked when he remembered how most of the guards would still refuse to enter the vault out of fear of ghosts, unaware of the look his men were giving him behind his back which was nearing veneration!

*****

Eating the pill that night was Feng's final path to quick improvement.

The light-blue candy-sized pill was placed in Feng's mouth and tasted like glass!

But once he failed to crack it when he pressed the pill with his molars, Zhu Feng squinted his eyes and thought : 'Fuck it' then swallowed it in.