1655 Zhan Family Manor

The Zhan Family manor house looked no more extravagant than any regular manor house that Alex had seen. In fact, it was even more moderate in comparison to most. And yet, it held an air of nobility to it that made Alex feel like he had truly come to the house of someone big.

A few people stood where the carriage stopped. One of them was an old man with a bald head and gray mustaches. He wore a creamy white robe and held a smile on his face.

The man was Zhan Laoyin, head of the Zhan family.

The Crown Prince got off the carriage first and directed a wide smile toward the Zhan family head.

"Senior Zhan, it has been a long time," the Crown Prince spoke. "My apologies for not coming sooner."

"Your Highness, there is no need to apologize," the old man said. "I'm just happy to see you again."

"Sisters, brothers," the Crown Prince bowed to the people standing around the family head, who were mostly the family head's children or nieces and nephews. Almost every one of Zhan Laoyin's generation had died by now, so he alone was present there to accept the guests.

Alex walked down, along with the rest and the family head bowed deeply.

"Welcome, Your Majesty," Zhan Laoyin spoke. "I'm honored by your presence."

"Thank you for having me, Senior Zhan." Only after Alex's reply did the man look back up. He smiled slightly and welcomed the other two elders too. He then gave a small nod toward the Crown Prince's bodyguard, and then they were off into the room.

The insides of the Zhan manor house were no better than what it was from the outside. Decorations filled the hallways with gilded lantern holders, paintings, engravings, and whatnot. But none of them stood out.

The hall they were taken to was slightly better looking with a high ceiling made of glass that let in plenty of light. Paintings and tapestries hung around the room's walls, with a soft fire burning in the hearth to the side.

Several people sat in well-cushioned seats, with Alex and the Crown Prince being given the best seats of all. Zhan Luoyang sat close to the Crown Prince rather than her father, surprising Alex a little.

Most people in the room remained silent while the three people with authority in the room conversed with one another.

The Zhan Family head seemed to want to know about Alex and he also seemed to learn about the Crown Prince's recent activities. They talked plenty, and only occasionally would someone butt in to answer something that the family head couldn't immediately answer.

"Not counting sister Luoyang's pills, our biggest source of income has been the herbs and flowers we grow in the back garden," one of the women said when asked about the financial situation of the house. 

"Right, right," the family head said. "People don't want to plant alchemy ingredients around here since most expect to buy it when it comes from the Emerald Kingdom, so there is a bit of a market here. Of course, we also sell many spirit fruits and those do quite well too."

The talks stretched for a long few hours with only the three talking. Many left and many came to see them, but there weren't many others involved in the talk.

Alex got to try the spirit fruits that the family sold and was surprised to find out how delicious they were. They were nowhere near what one could find in the Dragon's Palace, but this fruit would still be considered very much acceptable.

Alex told the family about his journey as a player and how he had come to become a King. Of course, what he said was a lie he had prepared since long ago, on he had spread every time he had to speak of his origins.

They left the hall sometime later to go visit the various fields that they had talked about.

Surprisingly, despite not being a large family, the Zhan family held a lot of open land, with most of it being the fields.

There were other houses on the property, either for the servants or for when there were too many guests. On one occasion, Alex even saw a house covered in a barrier so thick that anyone walking past would be very curious as to what it was.

"That's where I make pills," Zhan Luoyang explained. "I also practice with terrible poisons in there, so I keep it blocked off at all times to protect the others from accidentally entering or the poison leaking outside."

"Oh, you are a poison master too?" Alex asked the woman. He hadn't been aware of that, but alchemists learning about poison wasn't that uncommon. In the first place, she had been practicing making healing pills and antidote pills, so learning about poisons was quite useful for that.

Alex looked at the building again, wondering if he should have a place of his own where he could practice safely, away from potential harm to those around him.

He put away the thought for now and continued with the others to go around the house. 

Seeing the various things took some time, and by the time they were done, it was already late in the afternoon.

"Your Majesty, you must be tired now," Zhan Luoyang spoke as they returned. "You will most likely want to rest. I'll show you to your quarters."

Alex nodded. "Thank you, lady Zhan," he said and left along with his two elders.

The room they were to take was in the back half of the mansion, in a fancy room worthy of a very important guest. Alex and the others got their own rooms.

The two elders were shown to their room and finally, Alex was taken to his quarters, which was a majestic room with a large bed, intricately carved closet and nightstands, and silk linen and drapes all the room.

"Thank you," Alex told the woman and remained to close the door. But Zhan Luoyang didn't leave immediately.

She waited for a bit, almost hesitating for a moment before she looked around and spoke in almost a whisper. "I'll come later past midnight once everyone has retreated to their rooms, Your Majesty," she said. "Please don't cultivate or put up formations."

She turned to leave, but Alex stopped her.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he asked.

The girl turned around. She gulped a little and spoke. "I will need something of you," she said. "That's why I brought you here to my house. I will give you time until tonight to prepare."

"For what?" Alex asked.

The girl hesitated even more. "I cannot tell you," she said. "Please just wait until tonight. You will know."

She didn't remain any longer and walked away from the room, leaving Alex almost slack-jawed. What the hell was that about?

To call it suspicious would be to call a storm windy. It was so much more than just suspicious.

'What is she trying to do? What is she trying to hide?' Alex wondered. Was she plotting his death? Did she know something about him and was trying to blackmail him in the night?

Many thoughts went through his mind, but most of all, one thought remained true.

He wanted answers.

So, he would do as she said. He would prepare for what was coming. 

If it wasn't a trap, he would have nothing to worry about.

But if it was a trap, then she would realize that she had trapped a beast, one that would destroy the trap and kill whoever set up the trap.

Alex did everything he could to prepare, other than telling the elders about what was going to happen. If he did, Yao Ning would no doubt call him impulsive. And she wouldn't even be wrong.

At least, he was thinking through before jumping, even if he didn't know what he was jumping into.

The wait was the most boring part of the entire ordeal, and even that was not as bad as other times as he wondered what was going to happen the entire time.

Midnight had long since passed and the manor was as dead as it could be with everything and everyone asleep.

Then, Alex heard the faintest of tapping on his door.

'I didn't even sense anything,' he thought before slowly walking to the door and opening it.

Luoyang stood outside in a white night robe, holding onto a lantern that wouldn't be necessary for a cultivator.

"It will be better if you hide all your aura," she told Alex.

It was then that Alex realized that she was almost completely mortal to his senses. Not only that, he couldn't even sense her using his spiritual sense. There was some sort of artifact she was wearing that stopped her from being sensed easily.

He could tell there was something wrong in that location now that he saw her stand there, but had he not known, his spiritual sense would've moved past her easily. 

'Interesting,' he thought and took in his cultivation base until he felt no different from a mortal as well. His Immortal Concealment technique could've done the task as well, but it wasn't as good at concealing all aura ever since he had reached the Saint realm.

It only made it difficult for others to tell his cultivation base properly.

"So, what are we doing?" Alex asked her.

The woman glanced around. "If you will follow me, Your Majesty." She started walking. "Please don't make a lot of noise."

She walked on ahead and Alex followed her. They had only made it to the back door of the manor house when Alex saw someone standing by the door, almost completely hidden in the darkness.

Alex prepared himself for a trap to be sprung at any time now.