Dragon's Soul Chapter 98: Three Troubles

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Once the doors of the hotel swung open, Zhang, his wives, and their guards walked inside. The inside of the hotel was filled with festive decor, along with lavishly looking furniture. Upon their entrance they saw a startled looking middle age man who appeared to have been wiping off a counter before they barged in.

"Close the doors." Zhang ordered to his men. Once his men pulled the two doors together, Zhang used the Underworld Heart to mend them together.

From the words of the city guard he had met and helped earlier, it was extremely dangerous outside at night and people were turning up dead left and right. Since leaving the city was not an option, Zhang felt he had to force his way into a hotel to for shelter for the night.

Of course he was more than willing to fix the door for that he broke down and pay extra for the rooms he'll be renting, but there was no way he was willing for his men and his wives to stay outside for the night.

"What are you doing!? Didn't I tell you to leave!?" The man who was at the counter yelled.

"You mean stay outside so we could possibly get killed?" Cheng Yu growled.

"What happens to you has nothing to do with me and the others in here! But now that you broke that door, you're endangering us all!" The man yelled, still thinking the door was still broken but in fact Zhang had repaired it.

"Enough… We would like to rent as some rooms. I hope this will be enough." Zhang said as he walked up to the counter and placed a bag of coins on it. Unlike the bag he gave to Zhen Xiang that was filled with gold coins, this one was only filled with silver coins. Although money in general had little value to Zhang, he felt that this man's attitude was not worthy of receiving a reward.

That being said, a bag filled with silver coins was more than enough to rent a few dozen rooms in any regular hotel.

"Hmph you think a bag of copper coins will change my mind?" The man snorted as he took the bag and worked loose it's bindings. An instant later his eyes glittered and he began to speak once more, "dear young master how can I be of service to you?"

"Enough rooms to accommodate us all. The largest room you have for me and my wives." Zhang replied.

"Of course young master, of course right this way. I'm glad you picked our hotel to stay in for the night. If you need anything, anything at all feel free to ask me." The man said, with a totally different attitude.

To think that only a few minutes ago this man had turned them away and wouldn't have bat an eye even if they screamed for help because whatever was killing the people of the city appeared.

"Mister Liu, what's the commotion about." A young woman who was standing on the second floor with a small child by her side asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Everything is fine miss, nothing to worry about when you're staying at our hotel." The man who the young woman referred to as Mister Liu, who Zhang had given a sack of silver coins to said with a smile.

Moments later, Mister Liu led Zhang and his party to the fourth floor of the hotel and showed each of them to their rooms. Zhang and his four wives were given the largest suite in the hotel, their room even came equipped with a midsized pool

After everyone was in their rooms, Zhang shut the door to his room and turned back to speak to his four wives.

"You four get some rest, I'll keep watch for a while to make sure everything is safe. We wouldn't want some monster sneaking in and kidnapping anyone." Zhang said in a half joking manner as to not make anyone tense.

Soon the night grew colder and everyone was fast asleep, but Zhang who wished to stay up to keep watch. Despite the various attempts by his wives to lure him into bed, he decided it was best for him to keep everyone safe. "There are times for such things, and sadly although I want to now is not the time…" Zhang thought with a sigh.

Although he was much tempted to, Zhang felt that if a situation arises he should be completely ready to handle it and being in bed, having fun with the four beauties was not being ready.

So thus he sat alone, over watching his four lovelies sleeping. To be honest this in itself was something he very much enjoyed doing. There wasn't much more he required in the world, but to being in the presence of these four whom he wished to spend the rest of eternity with. If they were together then there wouldn't be a dull moment.

As Zhang sat watching the four beauties sleep, something shattered the night's silence. A rhythmic hopping echoed through the empty streets. Following this hopping noise were the sounds of hundreds of dragging feet.

"Well fuck… A Jiangshi…" Zhang cursed as he peaked out of his room's window, spotting a hopping vampire dressed in a minister's set of robes. Following behind this Jiangshi were hundreds of its victims turned into zombie minions. Jiangshi were usually undead who were buried atop a dragon's vein and after hundreds of years of feasting on natural essence, reawaken to prey on the living. Unlike other types of vampires, Jiangshi solely feast on essence, meaning their victims are drained drain of essence and die. Spawning from corpses, Jiangshi cannot bend their limbs due to rigor mortis. So they can only hop and extend their arms forward.

A terrifying ability the Jiangshi possesses is the power to turn victims who it does not drain dry of essence into a lesser Jiangshi, basically a zombie.

"Thankfully, usually only one Jiangshi would appear." Zhang said, feeling confident he could handle the situation. However, he spoke too soon because moments later yet another Jiangshi appeared, to Zhang's disbelief. Sadly, that was not the end of it because soon after a third Jiangshi appeared.

"Welp I guess everyone is on their own." Zhang muttered as he saw the three Jiangshi hopping through the empty streets. Any poor soul they happen to run into would be drained dry of essence.

Of course Jiangshi had one major weakness and that was sunlight and a virgin's blood. But right now Zhang had neither of those, sunrise was not for another few hours and there were no virgins in sight.

"But I wonder how there can be three of them. Usually only one would show up and it would be able to destroy an entire city by itself. From the looks of things these three are newly awakened Jiangshi and aren't at the peak of their strength yet." Zhang thought as he continued observing. The more he thought about the appearance of multiple Jiangshi the more questions came to his mind.

There has never been a recorded instance where there were more than one Jiangshi appearing at once, nonetheless three.

As Zhang kept watching the three Jiangshi, to his horror they suddenly turned and turned in the direction that he was in.

"Fuck…" Zhang cursed in his mind as he quietly closed the sliver in the window that he had opened.

However, that was when the sound a dog barking sounded out. In an instant the Jiangshi sprang into action and descended on the dog. However, as the dog saw them coming it scurried off into a hole in wall. But that was when the Jiangshi jumped over the wall and continued its pursuit of the dog. Soon blood curdling screams echoed throughout the city. Whoever was living on the other side of that wall was most likely killed and drained dry of their essence.

"The only thing I can do is wait until morning and kill them somehow when they are sleep. There is no way we can handle three Jiangshi… If only there was one, then we could wipe the floor with it." Zhang thought, displeased about the current situation. Although he wanted to help the people being killed by the Jiangshi, there was no way for him to do so.

The blood curdling screams continued to echo throughout the night as the Jiangshi rampaged. However, when a morning sun peaked out from the horizon a serene silence filled the city. The Jiangshi and their legions of undead disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared.

Soon enough the citizens of New Moon City arose from their slumber and poured onto the streets. Soon more horrifying tales were spread across the city, as those who heard the cries in the dead of night told their tales.

Zhang did not get an ounce of sleep the entire night, he had stayed up to make sure that no Jiangshi came near the hotel. If one did, then he would find a way to evacuate everyone in the hotel away. One could say that this hotel was currently one of the safest places in the city, since Zhang was keeping guard over it.

"Brother you should get some rest." Ai said as she climbed out of bed and wrapped her arms around her husband.

With the sun overhead, Zhang had nothing to fear so he soon joined his four wives atop the luxurious bed and fell asleep for a few hours.

While Zhang was in his deep slumber, the city outside was bustling with people, despite the fear everyone possessed at night, New Moon City was still in an extremely festive mood. Everyone that went missing or were found dead, totaled not even a fraction of the city's population and of course many people choose to believe that a majority of the deaths were natural causes.

When something can't be explained, many people choose to dismiss it. Obviously this will come back to haunt them sooner or later. Thus the festivities around the city continued on despite the trouble that was brewing.

Those in the city choose to be blind to the evil that was haunting it, but Zhang did not. He felt that the appearance of the three Jiangshi was too odd.

"Maybe they aren't naturally spawned Jiangshi…" Zhang questioned in his mind as he laid atop his bed, shirtless and surrounded on all sides. After he had a few hours of sleep, he indulged in some merry making with his wives. The notes of the bedchamber were put into play, as well as the endless stamina granted by the Underworld Heart.

Had Jian Wei been around he would most likely pop in and then leave the room sighing about how it was too early in the morning for such things. But one cannot extinguish the flames of passion once they are lit, especially amongst these five.

So after a few dozen rounds, the five of them laid atop the luxurious bed, once they had a bit more rest the five would being on their search for the three Jiangshi.

The moment the group set foot onto the streets they were enveloped by the festive atmosphere that lingered in the air. Stalls and vendors were set up all along the streets, performers crowded the streets to show off their arts, and thousands of people were out and about. The fear that curtained the night had completely evaporated as the sun rose and nothing seemed amiss.

"These people choose to be ignorant so they can live in bliss." Yuying muttered as she walked through the merry streets.

"Sweeping something under the rug does not solve the problem." Ling added.

The longer everyone choose to deny the situation the more it would escalate. As a matter of fact, Zhang had not even seen a single person packing their things and trying to leave the city, the entire time he and the beauties were walking through the streets.

While walking through the crowded streets, Zhang kept an eye out for residual trials of essence left behind by the Jiangshi. Unlike regular essence, the essence of a Jiangshi is pure black, in a way symbolizing death.

Thanks to the Underworld Heart, if Zhang saw even a hint of black essence he would be able to follow it and track the Jiangshi back to their lair.

"Darling, do you think someone is making Jiangshi? Since you said there are three…" Lingqi asked. When Zhang had brought up the fact that there were three Jiangshi, Lingqi instantly told him that making a Jiangshi was not very hard at all, it really only required lots of essence and a corpse and a few other things such.

However, they could not be sure on anything until they find out where the Jiangshi disappeared to.

"Did you hear? After last night entire Le family disappeared and only some scratch marks and a huge mess was left at their mansion." Zhang heard a man say as he walked pass a table of people chatting.

"Brother you want to try some?" Ai asked as she held up a kabob at Zhang, while nibbling on a kabob of her own.

"Sure." Zhang replied as he plucked the kabob Ai was nibbling on out of her hand and bit into it, then returned it to her.

"Indirect kiss?" Zhang chuckled.

With that the group continued their search for the Jiangshi once more, Zhang received a karate chop to the head for eating Ai's kabob and not his own as silly as it might seem.

After hours of walking through the city with not a whiff of black essence, Zhang spotted a thick trail of it leading into an alleyway. Quickly signaling to the girls and his men who were trailing behind him, Zhang briskly walked into the alleyway.

Following the thick trail of black essence, Zhang and the group weaved through the network of alleyways of New Moon City, to be exact the alley ways could even be considered a maze. With so many twists, turns, and dead ends, once could probably consider it a maze.

Upon arriving at the end of the trail of black essence, Zhang looked up to see a large sigh that read, "Wang Clan Residence" this had belonged mansion of the provincial lord Wang Jhin, Lord of New Moon City.

Chapter end