The royal capital of the Midnight flower kingdom
"From now on you're no longer Shen Shi, Shen Ding, Shen Tian the rogue cultivators from this moment forth you are now Shen Shi, Shen Ding, Shen Tian reclamation, restoration, and rehabilitation workers.
Your cultivation and combat abilities have no merit whatsoever here. All I want from you three is your ability to follow instructions and a solid work ethic.
As deemed by the decision made by the review committee from the penalties and rehabilitation offices your 12-year sentence will begin with the land restoration and rehabilitation project in the Midnight flower kingdom," a young man in robes that were half black and half white currently addressed three men who seemed to be triplets.
The three brothers were none other than the Shen brothers who had lost their case against the Earthvine restaurant which landed them with a twelve-year sentence and in debt to the Order for 15,000 middle-grade spirit stones.
Their earlier arrogance, wildness, and disdain had been washed from their face all that was left was looks of obedience filled with fear.
The young man in the black and white robes was a member of the review committee in charge of the enforcement of the sentences made by the judges.
Members of the review committee may not be the most battle-oriented bunch in the whole Order but their strength and specialties lay elsewhere. They specialized in areas that didn't necessarily tie to cultivation. Still, they were nonetheless an important aspect of life such as planting and the care of herbs, geomancy, and mineralogy especially when it came to laying down buildings and mining spirit stones and precious metals respectively, cooking, and other areas of expertise that mortals pay attention too such as disaster management.
The youth currently supervising the Shen brothers had specialty skills when it came to disaster management such as the flood that had hit the Midnight flower kingdom submerging a third of the kingdom.
"We will be starting in these three provinces as we make our way upwards. We will be mending and restoring the floodplains of the rivers along the way along with planting flaming juniper trees to speed up the process. I will also need you to master a particular formation blueprint for fortification that will be integral in the restoration," said the young man as he pointed at a detailed map of the Midnight flower kingdom that was spread over the table.
"The whole kingdom needs to be put back together better than before in the 15 months that you will be here. I'm a pretty straightforward person, as long as you do your job well I will not be stingy with your evaluations but if you try to pull fast ones or I detect any hint of complacency in your actions, the duration of your next sentence in the miasma fields will be doubled," the young man sternly said which sent shivers down the spines of the three brothers.
"US THREE BROTHERS WILL GO ABOVE AND BEYOND MASTER WEN JIAN," the three brothers hurriedly yelled with gusto as they bowed trying to show their honesty and determination to do what is expected of them.
...
In a well-furnished office room within the Earthvine restaurant.
"You are free to do what you want Zhong Quan just don't go too overboard. Losing a few businesses attached to our organizations won't raise any eyebrows in the grand scheme of things, especially with our merger with the Maple leaf manor on the way.
Just make sure the bottom line is kept otherwise even if you are an in-name disciple of one of the heads of the Golden bamboo pavilion it will not be enough to keep you out of trouble.
We don't need more trouble with our attention focused on the merger.
Later Zhong Quan," said a cold-sounding female voice.
"Good," Zhong Quan, currently seated in his office, grinned malevolently as a red baleful aura surrounded him like a cloak.
The earlier genial, kind, and welcoming face had all but disappeared and was replaced with a fiendish face that found reverie in battle and slaughter. It made one wonder which of these sides was the real Zhong Quan.
"It's time to settle accounts with you bastards. Just because I don't like trouble you think I'm soft persimmon cake that you even sent three little arrogant rogue cultivators to create trouble in my restaurant. Just you wait... I've long since wanted to expand the kitchen," Zhong Quan said as he licked his teeth.
He swiftly got up and made his way out of the office that was located on the third floor.
"Boss you will not be having your lunch as usual?" said one of the chefs who had seen Zhong Quan making his way down the stairs.
"Not now. There are some small matters I need to attend to so we can expand the kitchen and even our menu. Sometime in the future we may have distinguished guests coming over and we need to put our best foot forward for that guest," said Zhong Quan as he genially smiled. His welcoming friendly uncle persona had returned.
He still remembered the 50% off offer he had made to Yang Qing when they had a nonverbal exchange between a seasoned merchant and a seasoned glutton. He had to make sure he had some extra funds to cover the potential losses he would incur from Yang Qing. Luckily he had a few friends with deep pockets who owed him one.
Meanwhile, the chef cast a strange look as he stared at Zhong Quan's departing figure.
In all his years working there the Earthvine restaurant never showed any preferential treatment not even to the royalty of the Emerald lily kingdom who occasionally came to dine at the restaurant. Zhong Quan always insisted on equal treatment whether they be royalty or commoner, cultivator or mortal they all received the same level of treatment the moment they stepped through those doors.
The only times he has seen Zhong Quan make exceptions did not exceed the number of fingers on his hand and in those times they were usually some big shots from the Golden bamboo pavilion.
But here he was, about to expand a kitchen for a customer when he had even refused the king of the Emerald lily kingdom's request for the third floor to be emptied so he could dine.
…..
Two groups of three by three were currently seated in a small dome-shaped gazebo in the middle of a blue-green lake. Every single material there from the white tiger wood used to build the gazebo, to the futons made of fur from a dream cloud fox, an amber-colored marble table made of amber from a 20,000-year-old graceful evergreen tree, and incense stick from red spring sandalwood.
Everything here screamed opulence as every single object within the gazebo was atleast made from high-rank monarch-grade material with the white tiger wood being the most expensive as a low-rank ascendant-grade material.
There were three men on one side of the marble table with two women and a single guy on the other end. The all-men group was all wearing black robes with an emblem of a golden bamboo pavilion embroidered on the coat while the opposite side had yellow autumn robes with a symbol of a maple leaf that had a small purple butterfly on it.
"With these for the most part the merger between our Golden bamboo pavilion and your maple leaf manor can be considered complete. The groundwork stuff can be handled by our subordinates gradually," said one of the men seating in the middle from the side whose team was all wearing black robes with a golden bamboo pavilion embroidered on it.
He had golden long smooth flowing hair that was tied in a top knot with a golden-colored bamboo stick. Every detail of him seemed to have been sculptured with perfection in mind. Though he looked like someone in his late thirties his deep black eyes seemed to hide the history of an epoch recorded in a single glance.
He was currently addressing the lady seating in the middle across the table from his. She too had a beauty that was inexplicable. She had amber eyes that matched the table with light brown hair tied loosely into a bun with a leaf-shaped hair clip. She had the vibe of a cool refreshing breeze from a long summer day.
"It seems we have, founder Lin Guiren," softly said the lady as she offered a courteous calming smile.
"Pardon me for asking but there was something I wanted to ask since we can now be considered to be on the same ship after all," said the lady.
"If there is something founder Yan Meifeng needs to know I would be more than happy to oblige," said the golden-haired man by the name of Lin Guiren.
"It's about those three palace stage experts in your custody. What do you plan to do with them?" asked Yan Meifeng with no change in her expression.
"We have no intention of harming them in any way but they will have to remain in our custody for now. We can't have them leaking information about the mysterious realm they stumbled onto. The fewer people who know the better after all that realm contains the inheritance of the Nebulous star sect. If word of it got out even the holy lands will stake their claim to it. Luckily there has not been evidence of that many people having the token that grants them entry into that realm other than us and those palace stage experts.
But we can never be too careful, who knows maybe other organizations and sects more powerful than us have tokens too. Isn't that why we formed this merger of ours, to increase our odds of gaining great harvest from that realm," Lin Guiren calmly said.
Every member present had somber pensive looks with a hint of excitement flashing through their eyes.
"If the mysterious realm of the Nebulous star sect is as illustrious as just the outer grounds seemed then we may very well be the next Flowing valley sect who grew from just a low-ranking herb farm into a holy ground," said the only gentleman in the maple leaf manor side. He had a pale almost sickly-looking face with black spot marks around his eyes with dark green hair matching his eyes. Even though he looked sickly he still had a noble temperament to him and a sense of deeply ingrained pride in his bones.
When he spoke about the Flowing valley sect there was no sense of reverence one would expect when mentioning a holy land but it was instead deep anger. This sentiment didn't only appear on him but on Yan Meifeng and the other lady too whose expressions turned cold before Yan Meifeng's expression turned warm once more.
This little change didn't escape Lin Guiren's eyes whose expression remained stoic as it always was during the entire exchange.
"Shame what will happen to the sect of those palace stage experts though. It's a sect with a rich history after all," said Yan Meifeng as a look of pity and a hint of remorse showed on her face.
"There's nothing we can do to alter the course we are on and the effects that come with it..the destruction of that sect may even end up as a boon for us, especially if those three palace stage experts mentioned anything about the Nebulous star's mysterious realm. With its destruction any potential leak can be closed off," one of the men on Lin Guiren's side coldly said.
The rest didn't say anything but they seemed to tacitly agree with his thoughts.
