Dragon's Soul Chapter 102: Undead Parade

I was at work and figure I would write a new chapter tomorrow but then I figured hey the readers need a chapter, so I began writing and here we are O_O.

And LOL i posted wrong content T_T but fixed 
Will be lurking here for a while: http://iendworlds.chatango.com/
==============================================================================================

After Zhang, Ling and Ai left the casino, Ran Kaitou stood staring at his empty vault without saying a single word.  Behind him was a casino full of people, however none of them were customers or looking to have some fun. Most of these men were men that Ran had spent the last few years of his time in the New Moon Province, while a few others had followed him since he had been kicked out of his home by the Sai Empire.

“Boss all of our men in the city have been gathered.” A voice rang out behind Ran Kaitou as his eyes were focused on the empty vault in front of him.

“How many do we have?” Ran Kaitou asked without looking back.

“On such short notice, our men in the other cities or our networks elsewhere can be accounted for so we have roughly two thousand men.” A voice sounded out once more.

“But is it wise to cooperate with someone we don’t know and on top of that he robbed us…” The voice added.

“Yea boss is it wise to work with someone who robbed us?” Some of Ran Kaitou’s men asked.

“Quiet… Let me think.” Ran Kaitou roared at his men.

“If that man wanted to simply rob us he wouldn’t have had gone to the trouble of luring me out, nor would he have given me that letter. He said that he had a simply request for me that would be beneficial to me and if I miss this opportunity I would regret it. But he required me to gather and bring as many men as I could, so most likely he has some big plans but requires lots of man power.” Ran Kaitou thought.

“Qian Sheng! Have our men go and gather every able body they can find; I don’t care if they are just drinking buddy or acquaintances I want as many men as possible! As long as they know how to use a weapon bring them. Then the lot of you meet me back here before sun down so we can get to the Silver Swan.” Ran Kaitou ordered.

Moments later the casino became void of life as Ran Kaitou stood inside alone while his men were out gathering up more people. He did not have to wait long before his men returned and their numbered swelled to four thousand men.

Soon Ran Kaitou and his men took to the streets and headed for the Silver Swan Hotel. Of course they had split up into many small groups to avoid getting too much attention because moving across the city in a ma.s.s of four thousand men would only be looking for trouble.

As Ran arrived at the hotel he noticed that there was strange writing on the ground, written in blood or red ink. From the look of things, the ground around the entire hotel and even a few buildings beside it was surrounded by these blood red letters. That was when he noticed that on some of the windows of the builds were red colored talismans. The buildings themselves looked to be connected by makeshift bridges made from wooden planks that connected the balconies of each building to the next.

“You made it.” A voice rang out from the third floor of the Silver Swan hotel.

When looking up at the play where the voice originated from, Ran Kaitou spotted Zhang and beside him were two outrageously beautiful young women who he could tell were not the same women that accompanied Zhang to the casino.
Zhang stood on the balcony of the third floor of the hotel looking down at Ran Kaitou and the few men that arrived. He himself had hired a few men that added up to a total of about five hundred, not counting the acting troupes that he hired.

“Yuying, I think he can gather around two thousand or so men on such short notice that would mean we have about two thousand and five hundred men do you think that will be enough man power to fight back the lesser Jiangshi?” Zhang asked Yuying who’s waist was caressed by Zhang’s arm.

“With that many we can probably barely manage.” Yuying replied as her body brushed up against her husband’s, as one of her hands interlocked with Zhang’s and her other arm was fiddling with her red hair.

“Don’t forget the poison I made. It can melt those Jiangshi back into the ground, maybe.” Lingqi added as she stood leaning against Zhang on the opposite side of Yuying.

“But you said I can't have any of the poison unless I promised to do something for you.” Zhang said with a laugh as he gazed at Lingqi, ignoring that she said maybe at the end of her sentence.

“Of course nothing in this world is free especially my poison that can maybe melt a Jiangshi. But I don’t want anything like clothes, jewels or money, you gave me plenty of those already.” Lingqi said as she gaze shifted to the interspatial ring in her hand, which her husband had given her. Like Yuying, Ai and Ling, the interspatial ring that Lingqi received from Zhang possessed a portion of Zhang’s vast wealth. Millions of gold coins, mountains of gold and jewels were inside each and every one of their interspatial rings.

Although Zhang only had thirty million gold coins, the amount of actual gold that he had was astronomical. From the number of treasuries that he plundered there was no way his wealth added up to a measly thirty million, if he hadn’t given shares to his wives then Zhang’s wealth in current currency alone would be four times more.

“Then what does my princess wish for? Do you wish for me to pluck the stars in the sky for you? Or perhaps some unseen flower that can compare to your beauty?” Zhang said, while already having a vague idea of what Lingqi wanted.
With somewhat blushed cheeks she leaned up toward him and whispered something into his ear.

“Done, but you didn’t need to trade me anything for some alone time with just the two of us.” Zhang replied with a glint in his eye as his hand touched her chin and he leaned in for a kiss.

“Ahem… A certain someone spent all day drawing runes all over the place” Yuying said but before she could finish her sentence her lips became occupied with another task.

“IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO COME HERE FOR?! I don’t have the free time to watch you guys make out, you know.” Ran Kaitou yelled from below the balcony.

“Get into the hotel with all your men then we can talk!” Zhang yelled back down from the balcony.

A while later all of Ran Kaitou’s men arrived and entered the hotel together just as the sun was setting. Once inside the found that the place was filled with runes, on the walls, windows and floor. One could imagine how much money Zhang gave to the hotel owner to allow him to do such a thing or perhaps he had even bought the hotel.

“Close the doors.” Zhang said as he appeared on the second floor of the hotel with four beauties beside him after Ran Kaitou had entered for some time. Moments later his men appeared and closed every single door into the hotel and then stuck talismans across the doors.

“Let me ask you something. Do you believe in Jiangshi?” Zhang asked Ran Kaitou and the men on the first floor of the hotel.

“What? Is this why you gathered us here for?” Ran Kaitou asked. He had been somewhat displeased, because Zhang had made him wait for a while before showing up.

“Answer the question.” Zhang said in a cold voice.

“Those are but things of fairy tales that are told to scare little children into behaving.” One of Ran Kaitou’s men replied.

“Shut up… He didn’t ask you.” Ran Kaitou said as he pushed the man back into the crowd of men behind him.

“I am neither a believer nor a disbeliever. If proof is shown to me then I am a believer if not, then I will remain skeptical.” Ran Kaitou replied.

“If you want proof then I shall show proof, if you can survive tonight and help me rid the province of the Jiangshi then perhaps I’ll leave this province in your care. Take these and use them if you are in trouble, also we only managed to make about a thousand of them so first come first served.” Zhang said as he waved his hand and a thousand talismans appeared and fell down from the second floor of the hotel.

“Boss are we really going to waste our time and go along with his charade?” Qian Sheng asked.

“We will play along for now, if nothing happens I’ll make sure he knows not to mess around with me even if his cultivation is on a higher level than mine… He may be stronger then me but not everyone around him is.” Ran Kaitou said as he grabbed one of the talismans that Zhang had tossed down.

While Ran Kaitou was talking to his men, Zhang and the four beauties had made their way to the top floor of the hotel and Cheng Yu could be seen standing behind them.

“Cheng Yu gather up all of the actors, and noncombatants in the hotel and disperse them on the top floors of the hotel and the other buildings we rented out and arm them with bows and arrows. Although they won’t be too proficient with them they will be able to help a bit while staying relatively safe up here. Tonight I will lure the Jiangshi here.” Zhang said as a blood red sword appeared in his hand, this blade was the Slaughterer sword that he had acquired some time ago.

In front of Zhang was a mid-sized clay pot that had some rope tied to it. Once the sword appeared, Zhang tied the rope attached to the pot to the sword and then the purple energy of the Underworld Heart enveloped the sword.

Zhang could have simply just enveloped the clay pot with the purple energy but he found it much easier to manipulate objects with a point or edge to them. Such objects were more aerodynamic.

It was not long until the moon was high in the sky and the creatures the lurked the night roamed about. Especially a certain horde of undead, that were currently roaming the streets of New Moon City.  

While focusing some essence around his finger, Zhang poked at the clay pot, creating a finger sized hole on its side. From this hole a stream of blood flowed out and stained the wooden floor boards underneath Zhang’s feet.

Moments later the Slaughterer sword shot out of the Silver Swan hotel and carried the clay pot with it. A trail of blood was left in its path as it cut through the night sky. Zhang was going to lead the Jiangshi straight toward the hotel and into his home field. The hotel and its surroundings had been specifically outfitted to suppress the Jiangshi and would give Zhang and those of the living an advantage when facing these soul eating undead. The trail essence enriched blood would soon draw the undead horde to Zhang’s doorstep and perhaps their end.

“Ran Kaitou, get ready to meet a real live Jiangshi, or well should I say a real dead Jiangshi.” Zhang yelled.

“No just no brother…” Ai said as she patted Zhang on the back after witnessing his horrid attempt at cracking a joke.

Disheartened Zhang descended to the first floor of the hotel and began issuing orders.

“Everyone move outside of the hotel; we will engage them outside. Ran use some of your fancy earth magic you used during the dice game to make us some walls. Also make sure not to damage any of the talismans on your way out.” Zhang said as he carefully took off one of the talismans stuck to a door and opened it.

Soon four thousand and five hundred men along with four outrageously beautiful women were standing in font  of the hotel. While hundreds of actors, storytellers and people of the sort stood on the upper floors of the various buildings that 
Zhang had rented with weapons drawn. At first these people were panic stricken when they were told that tonight they would be facing a real live Jiangshi.

But there wasn’t much that money and  pep talk couldn’t do to convince some people to fight for their lives. There was also the fact that if the Jiangshi wasn’t stopped then all of them would die anyway, be it sooner or later.

“All of you stand back.” Ran Kaitou said as he bent over and placed his hands atop the ground. A blue glow soon enveloped his body and then it turned to a yellow earthen one. Moments later the ground began to twist and turn, then dozens of earthen walls rose out of the ground. A miniature maze was soon constructed in front of the hotel with many of the runes that Yuying had drawn appearing on them.

“Whoever or whatever walks into this will be pounded to paste.” Ran Kaitou said.

While the miniature maze rose from the ground, Zhang’s blood red sword could be seen shooting across the night sky and behind it was a trail of blood and a horde of monsters.

At the front of this horde were three Jiangshi jumping from place to place trying to get at the clay pot that was filled with blood. Soon they arrived at the miniature maze but they didn’t seem to even notice what was in front of them and kept going for the clay pot instead.

But the instant one of the Jiangshi jumped atop a red rune that was drawn on the ground it was pushed back and couldn’t move forward. That was when ten throwing knives shot through the air and honed in on it. With deadly force the throwing knives shot through a single Jiangshi, leaving ten holes inside of it.

However, that was when it turned back and jumped at one of the lesser Jiangshi, in an instant the lesser Jiangshi was turned into ash while the ten holes were completely gone.

“Lure them into the maze!!!!” A voice rang out in the night.