"Then I shall contact you when I have made the arrangements."
"Very well Sir Dong, we will wait for the news."
Argus along with Lucius blurred out of existence as they teleported away. The meeting between the leaders was over but this was only the beginning of their cooperation. Zhang Dong flew away from the meeting location only to be welcomed by his retainer.
"...Whew."
"Is everything alright, Patriarch?"
"Yes, it's fine more than fine!"
"Is that so…"
Zhang Zhi backed away after seeing a strange devilish grin plastered on Zhang Dong's face. He was used to the refined look of his sect leader so the cackling noises coming from him were a shock.
"We have a lot of work to do, gather all of the elders, we must prepare for the next stage of the plan!"
"The next stage of the plan, Patriarch?"
"Yes, soon we will go to war… get some rest, this would be a good opportunity to visit your family Zhi…"
The grin that was plastered on his face quickly vanished as Zhang Dong was brought back to reality. His deal with Lucius and Argus had gone through. With some trouble, he managed to convince the two that the treasure they were looking for was in the vampire castle. This was of course a lie as it was in his possession instead.
Even though he lied he didn't feel that he was in the wrong. After he got help from the magical knights and wizards the relic would be given to them. His reason for the lie was based on some distrust towards their leader Lucius. He feared that if he just presented the item to them, they would just leave before returning the favor.
The second option would be to bargain, inform them about the item in his possession and force them to aid him in the attack. Yet for a deal to happen some amount of trust between the two parties had to exist. Without substantial reassurance, it would be impossible for trust to arise. Even with some soul-binding contracts, there was no certainty that the leaders wouldn't sacrifice themselves to get the holy sword back to their kingdom.
For the time being, they had made a small pact. It wasn't much as he only promised to hand over the holy blade to them if his side discovers it during the siege first. Argus along with Lucius did perform a pact while waging their souls on it and Zhang Dong did the same. His promise was to give the weapon to them and they accepted to aid them in the assault and were guaranteed a safe return after everything was over.
'It's normal that they don't trust me, going into enemy lines so deep into the empire would probably never happen unless they were desperate. They did change their tune after I simulated the blade's energy pattern…'
He wasn't sure if they were aware of his deception but that's probably why they had him word the contract in such a way. After the enemy was driven back he would be obligated to give them their item if he had it in his possession. This was fine as he could not use it anyway.
"If you say so, Patriarch…"
Both the cultivators propelled themselves back towards a location with a temporary teleportation gate. With it's help Zhang Zhi returned to the sect as he was ordered to while Zhang Dong paid a visit to the Golden Dong Palace. After two weeks had passed the place was finally returning to a better state. When stepping through the gate he was greeted by a small group of cultivators that were here along with Zhang Jin.
"Dong'er you have returned! Does this mean that I can…"
"No, you will stay here for the time being at least the women in the sect will be safe from any unwanted pregnancies for the time being."
"H-how could you say such a thing to your dear grandfather!"
There weren't that many people that he trusted, his grandfather was one of them. He needed someone that would follow his orders in this place and that had enough prestige to instruct the sect workers. This place was far too important to let someone incompetent manage it. While Zhang Jin was a pervert he did all of his tasks accordingly to Zhang Dong's wishes.
"Treat it as a honeymoon with your lovely wives, I'm sure they are glad that their numbers won't be increasing for a while, now how goes cleaning, did you manage to get the place into shape?"
"No love for your dear grandfather I see, such is my faith."
Zhang Jin shrugged while all the other people in this room lowered their heads down. It was clear to everyone in this room that this old man was not to be trifled with. No one besides the old man was able to be so relaxed around the Patriarch besides his wife, even his disciples were very reserved.
"We had managed to get this place into shape but some areas are locked but…"
Before continuing with the report Zhang Jin snapped his fingers. When he did a neatly dressed man appeared from the side along with a clipboard in his hand.
"He will give you the details if you wish, your grandpa is far too old to remember such things."
Zhang Dong could see the old man laugh while shoving the responsibility on one of his retainers. The man with the notes was quite old and looked more like an accountant than a cultivator. He performed the usual greeting and only when Zhang Dong nodded did he start speaking.
"As the Patriarch commanded we had moved all the rubble, dirt, and broken items into the storage facility…"
The man started going through the list as he listened and walked towards the previously mentioned storage facility. This was a temporary space that was one of the largest areas in the palace. From his system description, it was marked down as a training facility with a lot of space for combat training.
This old accountant was clearly nervous as Zhang Dong walked half a step in front of him and looked over the golden palace. After all the dirt and dust was taken care of the whole place was quite shiny. It was actually a bit too shiny as the golden metal was almost all that remained from this relic. The whole place was mostly just a framework that needed to be refurbished.
"I see, that's enough."
They finally arrived at the temporary storage facility where some items were gathered. Even though normally this space would be filled out with various trash it was mostly clean now. Whenever enough materials were gathered he would recycle them without the need of coming here to check. The people here had gotten used to it as even when the materials were disappearing before their eyes they didn't flinch.
Before continuing he decided to empty out the content of the dimensional medallion and his spatial ring. With all of these various building parts stashed in there, he would be able to start repairing the insides of the palace but it was not enough. More and more building materials were needed along with spirit points. To get this whole place operational far more was needed.
'Hm… how big is that Vampire guy's fortress again?'
While he was going towards the demi-human fortress to block off their advancement into his lands, there were resources for him waiting as well. Remembering that great worm with a fortress on its back made him think of a quick solution to getting this place up and running. It would probably not be enough but if he managed to transport all of the building blocks from that place then perhaps he could make his palace fly.
After going through the system he did discover the flight module that kept it afloat. It was an anti-gravity treasure that used up a lot of power just to keep it floating in place. To make it move he would need to restore a lot of the functions and even repair the power source that was that golden egg. This could be achieved through spirit points and various other materials that would lower the costs.
'But first, let's get some quality of life upgrades, if my people are going to live here they need to have better living conditions.'
The sect members here were reliant on the main sect for their well-being. There was no food to be made here nor any place to sleep. He only had enough points to get the instant transportation chamber to work but there were far more rooms to restore. One of these chambers was meant not just for food production but also to generate various spiritually packed herbs.
With his current spirit points and the various recycled materials, it would now be possible to build this zone. Thus after unloading the remainder of his spatial ring in the current storage facility he went to work on his faction window. There he only needed to find the desired room and start fiddling with the options.
It was possible to recreate this room just as it was in the past but also make some modifications. The soil used for the cultivation of rare plants could be boosted past its original specs all thanks to his system. The whole place was like his own cheat lair that could rise above the placed limits of this world.
'To keep everyone healthy and safe we do need more recovery pills, let's focus the herb cultivation facility on recovery items for now.'
While he could produce cultivation resources to raise the power levels of his people there was not enough time. Soon everyone would be flying off to battle the demi-humans where they created a fortress. For this reason, more pills and elixirs that could regenerate lost limbs would be more appropriate.
"Okay everyone, you might want to close your eyes…"
After deciding on the second upgrade he walked to the entrance. Instead of a closed ceiling, this room had one made from some kind of glass. From the outside, no one would be able to peek inside but the sun rays could still illuminate the whole area normally. The special glass and gold outlines were the only things that survived through the ages and allowed him to activate this place at a lowered cost.
Soon after the command prompt was clicked the whole area started glowing in blue light. The whole room was consumed by this light and some of the cultivators that were with him had to narrow their eyes and scrunch their noses when they looked at it directly.
Yet the process was quite hasty and a familiar smell that no one expected started coming from the illuminated zone. When everyone opened their eyes once more they were greeted by a lush farming zone filled with sprouts that were already on their way to producing valuable herbs…