Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  Once those words left Zhang’s mouth Yu Zhao’s face sank. He could not bid any higher than the three hundred and twenty thousand gold coins. Had Zhang not been present he would have certainly gotten the necklace because not very many people were willing to shell out so much gold for a single item.

  “Going once! Going twice! Sold to the young master up there for four hundred thousand gold coins.” The auctioneer said with a smile on her face.

  “The commission that I will be getting will be huge.” She thought.

  Everyone else was dumbfounded and stared at the balcony where Zhang and Yuying were standing. They all were wondering how can such a young man just casually spend four hundred thousand gold coins just like that on a single item.

  Chapter 52: Stalker

  Zhang waited in the room with Yuying patiently for the pendant to be brought to him by one of the attendants. Moments later a knock can be heard on the door leading into the room.

  “Come in.” He said.

  However, the person who walked into the room was not a servant with the pendant but a middle aged man that went by the name of Yu Zhao.

  “You… What do you want.” Zhang said in an unhappy tone. He was anticipating the moment the pendant would arrive. Not only did it have mysterious powers, he felt that it was a part of himself. Although this necklace might not be the same one that he had before they looked identical and most likely possessed the same abilities.

  “Ah young lad I wanted to talk to you regarding that cursed necklace you bought.” Yu Zhou said with a grin on his face.

  “There is nothing to talk about. Now leave…” Zhang said glaring at the man.

  “How about this I will pay you double what you paid for it if you give me some time to gather the funds.” Yu Zhao said.

  “I'm sorry but I'm not going to be selling it and there is no amount of money you can offer me that would make me want to sell it.” Zhang replied.

  “Mister I think it is best you leave.” Yuying said as she walked up beside Zhang held his hand.

  “Hmph what place does a woman have to speak to me like this.” Yu Zhao complained.

  “If you're not willing to sell it then so be it.” He said as he stormed out of the room.

  As Zhang watched Yu Zhao walk away killing intent began emitting from his body. If he had not wanted to avoid making a commotion, then he most likely would have fought Yu Zhao.

  In terms of strength Zhang can pretty much hold his own against anyone as long as they were not level eight or higher or possess some kind of godly weapon.

  Moments after Yu Zhao left a maid walked in with the necklace Zhang had bought placed on a pillow.

  “Young master here is the necklace.” The maid said respectfully.

  With a sweep of his hand Zhang deposited the necklace into his interspatial ring.

  “Thank you take this as a token of my appreciation.” Zhang said as he made a small stack of gold coins appear.

  “Many thanks your master many thanks.” The maid said cheerfully. She had gotten so many gold coins for simply bringing him the necklace.

  “Yuying let's go for a stroll around the city.” Zhang said once more locked arms with her. He felt bad that he did not get her anything from the auction like he said he would so Zhang suggested they go on a stroll together.

  “I'll check out the necklace tonight.” He thought as he and Yuying began walking out of the auction house.

  As the two of them walked out people were watching the couple from afar.

  Zhang led Yuying from shop and shop trying to find something he could get for her. But there wasn't much that she did not already have which made looking for something to buy as a gift for her very hard.

  “How about this!?” Zhang said as he held up a hairpin showing it to Yuying.

  “No thanks brother.” Yuying replied with a slight smile on her face.

  “How about this?!” Zhang asked while holding up a pretty dress.

  “No thanks brother.” Yuying replied with a smile on her face.

  “Then this?” Zhang said as he picked out a pretty bracelet for her.

  “No thanks brother.” Yuying replied with a big smile on her face.

  “I already have what I want.” She said as she held his hand.

  “Spending alone time together is the best gift you can give hehe.” She said with a broad smile.

  Thus the two decided to stop looking for things to buy but instead went to look for food to eat. They went from stall to stall trying many kinds of different foods.

  As they walked through the streets Zhang felt that someone was watching them. So he began walking faster while holding onto Yuying’s hand more tightly. The two of them eventually began running through the streets.

  “Into here.” Zhang said as he turned into an alleyway. Once inside the alley way he pulled out the dragon talons flying knives. With a twist of his hip Zhang spun back and was about to launch the throwing knives when he realized who had been following them. It was Ling and Ai who had been trailing Zhang and Yuying.

  “Brother!” Ai and Light yelled.

  “Sigh... You two should have said something.” Zhang said as he stared pass behind Ling and Ai at a diner.

  “But you guys started running.” Ai pouted.

  “Alright alright let's go stroll around the city together.” Yuying said.

  This the group of four began strolling through the city. A bit away from them from the top of a two story diner a man was standing.

  “Hmph he noticed us… Go back to the sect headquarters and get more men and follow them. We will strike when they leave the city.” This person would be recognized as Yu Zhao.

  “Master how do you know they will leave the city?” Yu Zhao’s second in command asked.

  “If someone as young as him and with as much wealth lived in this city do you think we wouldn't know? And I think I've seen him during the tournament but I'm not sure.” Yu Zhao said. In fact, he did meet Zhang during the tournament but had his tower taken over by Shu Shang in the final round despite not having any of Zhang’s men in his team. But he did not see Zhang’s facial features since Zhang wore a helmet during the tournament.

  “Ok master I'll go alert the sect headquarters.” The man said as he left.

  “Let's see if you can evade me…” Yu Zhao said as he began railing Zhang’s group while trying his best to stay concealed.

  Down below on the streets Zhang’s group was enjoying themselves with food.

  “Say ahh.” Zhang said to Ling as he tried to hand feed her.

  “Me too! Me too!” Ai said.

  “Ahh.” Yuying said as her delicate lips parted and opened her petite mouth.

  Looks of envy obviously filled the streets at this sight of Zhang hand feeding sweets to the three girls.

  After this the group continued walking around the city some more. The capital of the Heilong kingdom was fairly big so it offered a lot of places to see.

  Flower gardens filled with thousands of flowers were abundant. Performers also filled the streets showing off their acrobatic skills.

  “Look at that man brother he's lying on a bed of nails with a block of stone on his chest. Wait is that man about to hit him with a hammer?” Ai said as she watched a street performance.

  “Look! Look! That girl is balancing spinning plates on a stick!!” Yuying said.

  The group had walked to a part of the street where a circus of street performers were performing.

  “Oh wow that man just shot an apple off that boy’s head with an arrow while blindfolded!” Ai yelled.

  As they stood watching the performances on of the street performers, one of them walked around while holding a basket asking for donations from the onlookers. Many people have a few copper coins here and there but the man was not able to collect very much.

  Although not many people donated the performer was treated fairly kindly by the audience in the form of praise and cheerful smiles. However, this changed when the performer walke
d up to a large and well-built man.

  “Hmph you call this entertainment? You’re even asking for money? You should be paying me for watching ha ha ha.” The man said as grabbed the performer’s basket of money and kicking the performer to the ground.

  Seeing this the other performers stopped what they were doing and gathered where the man was standing.

  “What you got a problem? What you all staring at! Scram!!” The man yelled at the performers.

  “Sir please we are only a small circus if you can please give us back the money.” A man who seemed to be the circus leader said.

  “Hmph!” After hearing those words, the man proceeded to kick the circus leader.

  However, before he connected something wrapped around his leg. A pitch black wine that coiled around and wrapped his entire leg.

  “Perhaps you’ll like our performance.” Zhang said as he walked out from behind the crowd beside him was Ai holding on to the Black Thorn whip.

  “Yea I hope you enjoy my performance.” Ai said with a naughty smile on her face. Using a bit of her essence and sending it into the Black Thorn whip she flicked her wrist and made the whip send the man into the air. Once the man was in the air the whip slammed into him and sent him crashing down on a street stall nearby.

  “Many thanks young miss many thanks.” The circus leader said to Ai.

  Chapter 53: Departure

  The moon was high in the sky, gazing down upon the earth from up above.

  Two men were standing on the third floor of a local diner that was right next to a certain mansion.

  “Sect master our men are ready and positioned outside of the four city gates and inside all throughout the city. No matter what gate they leave from we will be ready for them.” A masked man dressed in black robes said.

  “Good, how many men do we have?” A man dressed in red robes said. As the moonlight shone on this man’s face anyone within the capital would recognize him as the leader of the Yu sect, Yu Zhao.

  “We currently have thirty thousand disciples ready, master.” The masked man replied.

  “Alright, that brat will wish he had given me that necklace at the auction house instead of acting haughty. Had we not been in the golden lotus then I would have killed him.” The only reason Yu Zhao had not acted in the Golden Lotus was because he wanted to avoid offending the auction house.

  The golden lotus was not a good place to cause trouble due to their huge influence in the Wulin continent. Even small kingdoms did not want to offend the golden lotus.

  “Keep a close eye on their movements.” Yu Zhao ordered the masked man.

  “Yes, master.” The masked me said as he left the room.

  ==================================

  The sun peeked out from the horizon and shedding its warm rays upon the land and illuminating the sky.

  Today the ministers of war and finances were both present at the eastern gate of the capital city. Their reason for being here today was to send off their children who were about to embark on their journey to Red Mist city.

  Zhang’s mother also was present, but she now knew the truth. His father had slowly told her what had actually happen to her son. He did it in a way that had not startled her and eased her into the events that had happened. Today Zhang’s mother Zhen Ji had, for the first time in a long time, left her home and entered the outside world.

  “Goodbye madam.” Zhang said to her as he held her hand.

  “Goodbye.” Zhen Ji replied as she tightly gripped her sons hand.

  The mother and son had to pretend to be strangers as to not stir up suspicion from outsiders. However, they knew that soon enough they would be united when Zhang returned to Red Mist city.

  Once Zhang arrived he would start to send out invitations inviting people to his wedding that would be held in Aurora which would give his loved ones an excuse to leave the Heilong Kingdom.

  “It is time to go, my lord.” Lu Xun said as he walked up behind Zhang.

  Although he did not want to leave, it was not safe for him or his family to stay in the Heilong Kingdom. The risk of the Siwang empire attacking was just too high. The alliance as a whole might be able to hold back the Siwang empire, but the chances of one of their allies betraying them and joining the Siwang empire was also rather high.

  Thus moving his family to the warring states region was safer. If they moved to Aurora, then it was very unlikely that the Siwang empire would be able to reach them. This was of course thanks to the Dragon’s Maw. No one besides Zhang and his soldiers knew about the secret pass, so traveling through the Dragon's Maw would take a very long time.

  Not only that, but if armies were to engage each other inside the of the Dragon's Maw, there would be no such thing as numerical advantages. Only so many soldiers could fight at one time in there thus making it a very strategic location.

  Zhang's mother gripped his hand even tighter than before not wanting to let him go. He had left this world once and now he was finally back so she did not want him to leave her side again so quickly.

  “Let him go.” Zhou Cheng said softly to his wife as he placed his hand on her shoulder. He too did not want to see his son leave, however there were things to be done and stalling would not be a wise decision.

  Slowly Zhen Ji let Zhang’s hand slip out of hers.

  “You take care now and don't bully the girls.” She said with a slight smile on her face.

  “I will try my best to be careful, but I think they'll be the ones bullying me.” Zhang said with a smile as he looked at Ling, Ai and Yuying.

  “Goodbye father and mother.” Ling said as she hugged her parents.

  “Every hatchling must leave the nest one day.” Wu Tong said as he hugged her with his wife.

  Ling’s mother did not say a word but instead hugged Ling even tighter.

  A while later the group departed from the gates of the Heilong kingdom’s capital on their steeds. Zhang, Lu Xun, Yuying, Ai and Ling along with their one hundred mounted guards rode away from the gates of the capital.

  Zhang did not look back as he rode away, neither did Ling. They knew if they looked back then there was a chance they would hesitate and turn back. This was in fact the first time both of them said goodbye to their family. Although Zhang had been away from his family for years, it had been a forced separation without a chance for farewells.

  The only one looking back was a now slightly bigger Silky sitting on top of Yuying’s head basking in the sunlight.

  After traveling a short distance from the capital city Zhang and the group stopped advancing.

  “Lu Xun where are our forces?” Zhang asked since Lu Xun had relocated their soldiers after the tournament.

  “My lord, the men are stationed a roughly twenty miles away from the city, but I've arranged for them to come meet up with us after we start moving out.” Lu Xun said.

  “Alright, you lead the way.” Zhang said as the group rode on.

  “Hey brother, why aren't we using the magical carriage we got from the treasury?” Ai asked.

  “Ah yes, I almost forgot about that.” Zhang said as he made a small miniature sized carriage appear in his hand. Shortly after, he got off his horse, placed the miniature carriage on the ground and activated its ability by sending a bit of his essence into it.

  Moments later the miniature carriage emitted a golden brilliance and began slowly changing in size. From being small enough to fit in Zhang’s hand it turned into a full sized carriage. The carriage looked extremely extravagant with beautiful metal work and precious gems.

  “Alright, let's go inside.” Zhang said to the three beauties as he walked up to the carriage and opened the set of twin doors that led to the inside of the carriage.

  Ai was the first one in as she quickly jumped off her horse and stepped into the carriage.

  One by one Ling and Yuying got off their horses and followed her in. The inside of the carriage was roughly ten times larger than one would expect from a carriage of this size.

/>   “It’s much bigger on the inside.” Ai said once Zhang entered the carriage.

  Ai ran out and in again and again.

  “But how?” Ling asked with a perplexed expression on her face. Although she knew the magical carriage had this ability beforehand, it still perplexed her.

  “Magic or Dimensional transcendentalism.” Zhang said with a light chuckle as he recalled watching this show called “Doctor Who” in his past life.

  Zhang recalled the wacky adventures of The Doctor and his companions. The Doctor would use his high intellect to solve complex puzzles and mysteries which result in the universe being saved.