Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  Not knowing what to say and her face being so red, that steam could start shooting out of her ears any second, Yuying ran out of the room while covering her face with her hands.

  Chapter 19: Land!

  Roughly two weeks had passed since the encounter with the pirates and Zhang had found out that they should be approaching the Wulin Continent’s Southern Peninsula in a matter of days.

  Originally, if the storm had not knocked them off course, Jian Wei and his men would have had reached port by now and would have avoided the pirates’ ambush. They would also not have run into the trio.

  Jian Wei withdrew a map from his interspatial ring and showed Zhang that they most likely would dock at a city called Red Mist City.

  The city got its name due to the many wars waged in order to occupy it. Legend has it that after one war, a bloody red mist came in from the ocean and ever since then, the city had been renamed.

  Red Mist City was located along the southern coast of the Warring States Region and had been under the control of the Jin clan for centuries. However, many people wished to claim the city as their own.

  This was due to it being the largest port and harbor on the southern coast. It served as a strategic trading hub for many kingdoms which allowed it to grow extremely rich.

  The Red Mist City currently possessed the 4th largest standing army in the Warring States Region, making it a force to be reckoned with. Besides that, fact, Red Mist City also housed one of the many branches of the Golden Lotus auction houses.

  The Golden Lotus auction houses were spread all throughout the continent and it was based in the Jiang Empire which is the wealthiest empire in the continent.

  The Golden Lotus served as an auction house for the wealthy and powerful. It auctioned off many things that people sought after. Such as rare weapons and armors, even tamed demonic beasts. If one had money, they’d be able to buy pretty much anything at the Golden Lotus auction house.

  Every decent sized city would have one of their auction houses and every major city would have a branch. Thus, the Golden Lotus auction house had a web of influence over the entire continent.

  And since a branch office of the auction house was situated within Red Mist City, no one would dare to openly invade it.

  Upon learning about the Golden Lotus auction house, Zhang wanted to see it for himself. In Blue Tear City there wasn’t a Golden Lotus auction house. This was because despite Blue Tear City being a trading hub for the western region of the Heilong Kingdom, it did not have very

  many wealthy people.

  This was because most of its wealth fell into the pockets of three certain families. Although the citizens lived happy lives there was no way they could afford to buy anything from a Golden Lotus auction house so there was never one set up.

  Actually there weren’t that many Golden Lotus auction houses in the Heilong Empire to begin with. There was only one and it was located in the capital city. This made Zhang want to see one of the auction houses for himself.

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  A few days later, Red Mist city could be seen far off in the horizon. It had massive walls that encircled the city and ran into the water.

  These walls encircled the harbor with two towering statues that stood on each side of a pair of giant gates that would open and close allowing ships to pass.

  Having these walls meant that during storms, ships could safely dock inside without worrying about being blown ashore by the wind and waves.

  Zhang looked in awe at the walls, which were hundreds of feet tall. The two statues stood even taller than the gates, depicting two men crossing swords, which together formed an arc over the gates.

  Besides the walls Zhang could see a huge castle on top of a hill in the middle of the city. Most likely this was the lord’s castle.

  “We will drop anchor here for now.”, Yan Li said.

  “Wait why aren’t we sailing into the harbor?”, Yuying who was standing beside Zhang asked in a perplexed tone.

  “This is of course because of the laws of Red Mist City. All ships who wish to enter must drop anchor and shoot a flare requesting entry. The city will send out their coastal guard to inspect the ship before allowing anyone to come closer. If we were to sail through the gates without permission, then we would most likely be attacked or arrested.”, Yan Li replied informatively and then pulled out a flare from his pocket and shot it into the air.

  Soon after a small boat could be seen coming out from the harbor towards them. Once the small boat reached their ship, the sailors tossed down a rope ladder. And up from the boat came an armored soldier and following after him were nine more soldiers.

  “Tell me your reason for wishing to enter our city.”, the soldier asked.

  “Milord we are a merchant ship that originally wished to come to the great Red Mist city to trade. But sadly we were attacked by pirates at sea and lost all of our cargo.”, Yan Li quickly replied.

  “Is that so then who are they?” The soldier asked as he pointed toward Zhang, Yuying and Ai.

  “Clearly they do not look like sailors nor are they dressed like merchants.”. The soldiers stated.

  “Sir that is our master’s son and the two young ladies beside him are his wives.”

  “Yes sir, this is my father-in-law’s ship and this is my husband and this is my lord’s other wife.” Yuying said as she walked up toward the soldiers.

  Although Yuying talked to the soldiers they did not reply. They were too busy staring googly eyed at her.

  Before, when Yuying was standing by Zhang her hair had covered her face and they did not get a good look at her. However, as she got closer the soldiers became mesmerized at her beauty.

  “Is Is Is that so…”, one soldier replied.

  “Yes sir this ship is my father’s, he is below deck and these two are my wives.”, Zhang said as he walked up with Ai next to him.

  Now seeing Ai close up, the soldiers could not help but curse Zhang in their minds for being so lucky to have two such beautiful wives. It was hard enough to meet a woman as beautiful as one of these two beauties let alone marrying not one but two of them.

  “We will commence the inspection now; have everyone come up above deck and wait,”, a soldier ordered.

  Soon everyone on the ship was assembled on the main deck and waited for the inspection to be over.

  Aside from two soldiers, who were left behind to stand guard, the rest went around inspecting the ship. If anything odd happened the soldiers who stood as guards would shoot up flares signaling that the inspection failed. Once that happened, a naval fleet stationed within the gates would sail out and attack the ship.

  A while later the inspection had concluded and they had passed. The soldiers were getting back on their boat. However, as they one by one got off the ship they couldn’t help but spare one quick glance at the two beauties.

  Once the soldiers got off, the ship began slowly heading into the harbor.

  “Why didn’t you tell them our identities? I would think they if we did so they would provide a guard unit to escort us to Aurora City.”, Zhang asked.

  “No that would not be the case. If they found out our identities, we would most likely be imprisoned and be used as bargaining chips. Remember all the powers within the Warring States region wish to dominate one another. If they had the chance, they would want to occupy Aurora City.”, Jian Wei replied

  Once they had entered the harbor and docked Jian Wei suggested that they find an inn to stay in until he could make arrangements for their departure to Aurora City.

  “Excuse me could you please tell us where the best inn in the city is?”, Zhang asked an elderly gentleman who was passing by.

  “You guys aren’t from around these parts?”, the elderly gentleman asked.

  “Yes we are traveling merchants.”, Jian Wei said as he walked up from behind Zhang.

  “Is that so, then you would want to look for the Happy Endings Inn. I
t’s just down the street over there and the biggest inn there is within the city.”, the elderly gentleman replied with a smile.

  “Thank you very much.”, Zhang said to the man as he walked off.

  “Senior we would like to look around the city for a bit. How about we meet you at the hotel later after some exploring.”, Zhang said to Jian Wei.

  “Of course take your time. We will dine together later at the hotel.”, Jian Wei said to Zhang.

  After splitting up, Zhang decided the first place they should head to was a clothing store. Neither he nor the girls had any real clothes. The only thing they wore were the outfits he had crafted out of essence.

  Not knowing which clothing store to go to Zhang picked the busiest one. This store stood three stories tall and had many people coming in and out. They had some very exquisite clothes on display in the front of the store which attracted a lot of wealthy looking people.

  Once the trio walked into the clothing store, they saw that it was filled with people and clothes.

  Zhang saw a middle aged lady standing by a counter and decided to ask for some help. There were so many clothes the trio did not know what to even start.

  “Can you please help us pick out some clothes?”, Zhang asked the lady.

  She glanced at him from head to toe and said “I think you should try another store. I’m sorry but I don’t think you’d be able to afford anything here.”

  Zhang indeed was dressed in plain looking clothes and looked like a poor scholar so the lady treated him coldly.

  “Can’t afford?”, Zhang said in a somewhat angry voice.

  Since birth he had more money than he could spend in a lifetime and now sitting in his interspatial ring were mountains of gold, if he was unable to afford the clothes in here who was? It was not because he was stuck up or anything but he hated people who judged others based on outward appearances.

  There are plenty people who are extremely rich but wear shabby clothes, while there are also extremely poor people pretend to be wealthy.

  “Yes can’t afford. Now go beg somewhere else.”, the lady said snobbishly.

  “Brother let's go...”, Ai said as she tugged on his sleeve. She knew that he wasn’t very happy with the lady’s attitude so it would be best to leave.

  However instead, Zhang waved his hand and a small mountain of gold coins appeared. Then just as quickly with a wave of his hand, all the gold coins disappeared.

  “Can’t afford? Hmph!”, Zhang said as he looked at the lady.

  Once the mountain of gold coins appeared it caught the attention of everyone in the store. And many gazes were cast on the trio and the lady. Soon a small crowd was formed. From behind the crowd an elderly man walked out. Seeing this man, the middle aged lady was somewhat afraid.

  Before she could open her mouth the elderly man took out a few silver coins from his pocket and tossed it at her.

  “You don’t have to come back to work here anymore.”, the elderly man said coldly.

  “Please give me another chance sir, please!”, the lady begged the man.

  Seeing this Zhang felt kind of sorry for the lady. Although she tried to chase him out he did not wish for anyone to lose their job because of them.

  “I’m sorry young master for her rude behavior towards you. If you still wish to purchase some clothes I will personally accompany you and afterwards I’ll even give you a discount.”, The man said with an apologetic smile on his face.

  “Yes please, help us pick out some clothes as for that lady I think she learned her lesson. I think if you could give her a second chance that would be good.”, Zhang replied.

  “Did you hear that? Go thank the young master and get back to work.”, the elderly man said to the middle aged lady.

  “Th-thank you young master.”, the lady said with tears in her eyes and then walked off to another part of the store.

  “If you would follow me young master I’ll help you pick out some outfits.”, the elderly man said as he gestured the trio to follow him.

  They walked to a staircase leading to the 2nd floor and then to the 3rd floor. The 1st floor had common clothes and was were where most people spent their money. Whereas the 2nd floor had clothes made of more special materials such as demonic beast furs and skins. And on the 3rd floor was where the clothes made of rare materials were kept.

  A young woman walked up to the elderly man and greeted him once he stepped onto the 3rd floor.

  “Bring out our best outfits for this young master and young misses.”, the old man said to the women.

  “Yes right away master. Please wait a moment.” The young woman replied and quickly ran off to fetch the outfits. Soon she came back with a few outfits.

  “Here is an outfit made out of the extremely rare fur of an Ice Fanged Wolf for the young master. It’s the best men’s outfit we have in the entire store. This outfit is extremely tough due to the natural properties of the Ice Fanged Wolf. Naturally this is the case, since Ice Fanged Wolves are all at least level six.”

  A fancy white gown was placed on the counter. Sewed onto it using golden thread was a dragon.

  “Next we have a few female outfits. The first is an outfit made out of the feathers of a level six Snow Phoenix. And here we have an outfit made of the fur maybe of a level six Shadow Bear.”

  “That is enough you can just wrap up all those outfits we will take them all.”, Zhang said.

  “Are you sure you want all of them young master? These outfits are quite expensive.”, the young woman asked.

  “Yes we will take them all.”, Zhang replied with a smile.

  “Also can we place a special order?”

  “A special order? Or course young master. What would you like?”, the elderly man replied.

  “I would like you to make us some outfits out of this.”, Zhang said as he waved his hand.

  And out of thin air a smile pile of Lightning Eater skin appeared.

  The elderly man stared at the pile of skin slacked jawed. He obviously knew which beast this skin belonged to due to the unique color of a Lightning Eater.

  The more he looked at the pile of Lightning Eater skin the more mysterious the trio seemed. Why would people who had so much wealth and even had Lightning Eater skin, dress so shabby.

  “If young master does not mind waiting a few days I’m sure we can have the outfits made. After we get your measurements of course.” The elderly man replied to Zhang and pointed to a set of dressing rooms.

  “Alright I’ll leave these with you.”, Zhang said as he picked up the outfit made of the Ice Fanged Wolf’s Fur and walked towards a dressing room.

  “Sis pick me one!”, Ai said to Yuying with a smile on her face.

  “Hmmmm this one! I think this will look best on you!”, Yuying said as she picked up the outfit made of Snow Phoenix feathers. The outfit was pure white with a phoenix embroidered onto it with golden thread.

  “Okay thank you. I think this will look best on you sis!”, Ai said as she grabbed the outfit made of Shadow Bear fur and handed it to Yuying. This outfit was pitch black as the night sky with fancy looking laces and a phoenix embroidered onto it with golden thread.

  After having chosen their outfits, Yuying and Ai went to put them on. Once they took off the clothes they were wearing, the clothes disappeared into nothingness.

  Zhang was the first one to finish changing and sat down to wait for the two girls. The old man had brought tea and he and the old man began drinking tea and chatting. Then Yuying and Ai walked out from the changing room.

  Before, they had been extremely beautiful already but after they changed into these outfits people most likely would compare them to living goddesses.

  “You two look lovely.”, Zhang said

  Hearing this Yuying’s face blushed a bit.

  After seeing farewell to the store owner the trio decided they needed to go buy weapons.

  However, once they walked down to the 1st floor of the clothing store a crowd formed around them. Many me
n who had come to buy clothes with their wives stared slack jawed at the two beauties as they descended the staircase.

  Not wanting to cause a commotion, the trio quickly left the clothing store and headed to their next destination.

  They headed to the town's biggest weapons store. Once entering the store, they could see weapons lining every inch of the walls of the store. Weapons of all shapes and sizes could be seen.

  “Sir can you please tell us where you keep the higher quality weapons?”, Zhang asked a man walking the counter.

  “Young master if you’re looking for the higher quality goods please follow me I’ll take you to our lower floor,”, the man replied as he pointed to a staircase leading downward. Unlike the clothing store the weapon store was built downwards and only had two floors.