Matt looked at the masses of people that parted to the sides. He placed his thumb and his index finger on his glabella while closing his eyes.
'What is this...'
He didn't feel like talking so he just moved forward, his destination the room that Zhang Jin was resting. He could feel the piercing gazes of all these family members each one feeling like a little prick to his soul. Thankfully he had his tranquil will technique, which saved him from losing his cool.
'Am I directly related to all of them?'
The garden he had to go through had a nice brick road and even a small bridge, a clear spring with koi fish was right under it. Due to the size of the whole area, the uncomfortable walk continued. The people that parted for him came back together the moment he walked forward. They all kept their eyes on Zhang Dong's wide back as if they were expecting him to produce a miracle just as the rumors said. He could even hear the younger ones whispering, not aware that an expert of his level had enhanced hearing.
He finally arrived at the door but before he could open the gates that would save him from this uncomfortable situation they sprung open themselves. Inside he saw more people, the most glaring thing about them was that they were all of the female gender and varied by age. It didn't take a genius to figure out who these women were.
'That's quite the varied range of tastes you got there gramps...'
One of the ladies moved forward, she looked quite refined. She had pure black hair that hung over her shoulders from the front as well as in the back. Her facial features were soft which made her look like the gentle type. Even though she was hiding it, he could tell that she was wearing quite a bit of makeup. Her age was unknown to him, but he wouldn't be surprised if she was over a hundred. She gave Zhang Dong a bow of respect before speaking out.
"Lord Patriarch, please save my husband!"
'Husband? So is this his wife? ... at least the official one?'
He peeked behind the woman and could see some of the other women's eyebrows twitch the moment she proclaimed Zhang Jin as her husband. This was probably his main wife while the rest were mistresses, from what he knew this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Powerful men tended to have a couple of mistresses here and there, even children with them. The main wife was the one with the most power, she was mostly the one that tended to the house matters. Sometimes she even decided on the budget and who got hired.
While he was thinking about his reply another lady stepped up, this one looking younger. She was taller with a 'wilder' look compared to the first one. Her hair was long and crimson and fashioned into a long ponytail. The woman moved opposite the so-called main wife and greeted him as well.
"Please nephew, save your grandfather!"
The first woman squinter momentarily at the red-head, probably due to her acting too familiar with their Patriarch. Matt had spent some time in this city but his quarters were far away from Zhang Jin's mansion. His grandfather had tried inviting him for a family get together here and there but he always refused. He didn't like spending time with other people that he didn't know. Even back in his old life he mostly found himself in the corner of a barbecue while the other family members were talking.
'Nephew?... is she my aunt?'
He looked between the two women, he already realized that there was some kind of faction rivalry going on here. The ladies split into mostly two groups and stood behind the ones that came forward. One went with the courteous approach while the other went with familiarity, he wasn't sure what was going on here but for some reason he really wanted to give his old grandpa a punch.
The two women looked at the man in front, his face was emotionless as always. They took the hint and didn't press him, the Patriarch was known to be a man of few words. The took a small step back and just waited for him to reply.
"Um, where is grandfather located, bring me to him I'll see what I can do."
His two disciples were right behind him but they didn't speak up. Besides the two women that greeted him everyone else was keeping quiet, probably afraid to step out of line.
The main wife's character used a chance to slip forward and guided Zhang Dong to the room that Zhang Jin was being kept. It was a similar place to the one he was in after the secret ground ordeal. He was lowered in some kind of special spirit water that had various healing and nourishing capabilities that the clan was famous for. Thankfully he wasn't naked and was wearing something to cover his nether regions. After seeing the group of wives and children in the back, Matt was surprised that the pair wasn't ground into dust by now.
Even if the nature of this was quite peculiar, he was still worried about the man. He wasn't sure if his healing abilities were up to par. He was limited to the cultivation manuals he had procured from the secret ground and the ones he stole from the Dark Palm sect. The added knowledge explained some points, but it wasn't perfect by any means.
He moved towards the man that looked to be situated in what looked similar to a hot tub. He had some kind of breathing apparatus covering his mouth and nose and he looked to be asleep. The whole tub had a healing formation imbued into it, something that he came up with thanks to his holy elemental dao.
"Hm..."
The other people like the wife and the mistresses moved back, some nursing staff did the same. The watched as their Patriarch rubbed his chin and circled around the grand elder that was in a coma. The sleeping man hovered up which gave the women in the room a scare. They soon realized that this was the doing of their leader, he was now in the nascent soul which made sense.
Zhang Jin was moved to a nearby bed his body wasn't dropped onto it though but remained hovering in the air. Tiny golden needles flew out from Zhang Dong's spatial ring and embedded themselves into the old man's body. He looked like a pincushion as the tiny needles lodged themselves into all of his acupoints from the front as well as from the back in one go.
The people looked on from the side in awe as Zhang Dong reached out with his finger. A tiny bolt of golden electricity shot out, the tiny arcs of light flew towards those needles that were sticking out. Everyone had to stop themselves from gasping, not wanting to disturb a master at their work and in fear that they would be blamed if they caused a blunder to occur.
The light show didn't take long as everything was finished within a minute's time. The acupuncture needles were retracted into Zhang Dong's spatial ring and Zhang Jin's body got lowered back onto the soft bed below. The white-haired man rubbed his chin and took a step forward, his hand going to his grandfather's wrist as he checked for his vital signs.
'Nothing seems to be wrong with his body... his soul looks stable as well...'
He was sure to examine Zhang Jin with his appraisal skill, he had used before right before he returned his soul and it had the weakened status. Now on the other hand, there was nothing and his system wasn't telling him that there was anything wrong with him.
'Could there be another reason that he isn't waking up? He couldn't be... no...'
Matt squinted with his eyes and moved over to the bed and was standing in such a way that no one could see Zhang Jin. He leaned down first and checked the man's breathing then went for the eyeball test, checking if it would react to outside stimulus.
"Hey, gramps... are you just pretending to be in a coma..."
He whispered into Zhang Jin's ear after going through more tests. The moment he spoke out he noticed a really faint reaction, that proved his point.
"Is it because you don't want to face all those concubines and mistresses that are gathered here..."
He felt an even stronger reaction from his good ol' gramps after whispering that into his ear. He wanted to give him a good smack right at that moment. The guy even suffered through that healing procedure to keep his act up. He would rather get poked with needles than face all the kids that he sired outside.
'I bet they are all here as their lively hood depends on his life...'
He thought to the large group. Zhang Jin was the top dog in this clan right after him and had a lot of cash. Even though he was a massive pervert and a horndog he always took responsibility for his actions. All the children that he sired were welcomed into the clan in one way or another. Some as servants, some as regular clan members, and in between. It all depended on their potential and also on the social standing of the mother.
'Makes sense, if he dies most of them besides the main wife could be evicted from the clan if they have no backing...'
He leaned back and returned to the small group of women that came forward with questions.
"Patriarch, is there a way to save my husband?"
Asked the wife.
"Great Nephew, will hubby be okay?"
Matt looked between the two women that soon turned to each other, if looks could kill then both of their heads would be exploding now.
'Ah, I feel sorry for these people... well at least they have food on the table...'
He squinted again while looking to his no-good casanova of a grandfather and made a decision. He pulled out a dagger, it looked plain but the sharpness of its blade was paramount.
"There is a way to save him, but the procedure will be painful..."
"Due to the dastardly demonic arts of the Dark Palm sect an excess of Yang energies has gathered in his body, this will cause long-lasting damage to him unless the problem is resolved."
The people gasped, this sounded serious but the Patriarch seemed to have something in mind so they listened.
"I will need your help in the procedure, but I need you to steel your resolve as it won't be for the faint of heart!"
The two women stepped forward without thinking for long, giving a quick nod.
"As the consort it is my duty!"
"Anything if it will help hubby!"
"Master, can we also do something!"
Zhang Liu and Xue stepped up, quite eager to be of use to their master and help their grandpa.
"I'm afraid that the scene will be too gruesome for your young eyes, this procedure involves..."
He stopped himself and looked at the motionless body of Zhang Jin, then back to the group of people.
"We must remove the excess yang energies from his body, there is only one way to do it in this situation as we have no time. We must sever the part that makes him a man as it produces the largest amount of yang energies!"
He did a slicing motion with the sharp dagger in his hand while the group of people took a second or two to process the information. Zhang Liu almost instantly leaned forward and guarded his nether regions by instinct. The women took a step back, even the two main wives were taken aback by this revelation.
"Yes my two disciples it's better if you step back, you don't want to see this. Don't worry he is in a coma right now, so he won't feel any pain and I will heal his wounds right after. Be sure to not let anyone inside the room, even if you hear some strange noises..."
Everyone besides the two women left the room and the two were given instructions to spread their hubbies legs so that Zhang Dong could perform the operation.
"Is this the only way Patriarch..."
"Don't worry aunty, I'm quite handy with a blade it won't even leave a scar. Grandpa already has a wonderful family, this is a small setback in the grand schame of things."
He moved over to the bed that Zhang Jin was in while smirking to himself.
"Now please spread his legs and remove the cloth that is covering his orbs, we will perform this swiftly so that he can recover!"
The two women looked at each other and nodded. They knew that having a eunuch as a husband would probably mean that their charm wouldn't work on him anymore. Still, it was better than him remaining in a coma forever or dying. They also couldn't really refuse the request of their Patriarch so they complied by spreading the legs of their hubby.
Matt could see that Zhang Jin's whole body began sweating profusely. He even noticed that his eyebrows started twitching the moment those two women grabbed ahold of his legs.
"Now, remove the cloth and I'll perform the operation, one swift move is all it will take!"
The sharp dagger glowed with golden light and looked like it was now heated up and ready for the strike. The people in the room knew that the moment that weapon came in contact with Zhang Jin's junk it would sever it in a fraction of a second. The windup came, one of the women grabbed the cloth covering Jin's man bits and was ready to pull it to the side.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo STOPPPPPPPPPPP..."
Before Zhang Dong could swing his dagger his patient jumped up into the air, his hands going towards his legs to protect his little feller that he was proud of.
"I'm sorry Dong'er... please show this old man mercy, I was in the wrong!"
Matt just rolled his eyes at the man that was clutching his groin, the two women in the room baffled to the quick revival of their husband that looked to be fine and dandy now.