A week later, in a certain hall.
"Sect Master, our mission failed. This family is very weird. We approached every single one of them covertly and offered a big sum of money to become our spy, but they all rejected us."
"Hmm... that's weird. I thought that with their core family members gone, it would be easier to bribe them and expose their secrets. Two or three people being loyal, is not that surprising, but all of them? I don't believe it! They might be under a type of control technique. There's no other explanation!"
"A control technique? Isn't that forbidden? We should expose them!"
"Are you stupid? If we expose them, the governing authority will return to the Protector. At that time, we have to pay the full tax again. We need to make sure that those greenhorns stay in power so that we can exploit them. Understand?"
"Sect master is wise and handsome. Forgive me. I was muddled-headed."
"I feel like you didn't mean the latter compliment. Logan, are you making fun of me?"
"No, no, no. I was sincere. The sect master is indeed handsome. Your face is beastly, but definitely handsome. You aren't called Mister Beast for no reason."
"Hmph! Then why can't I get any woman to like me? They only tolerate me because I give them money."
"Uhh... maybe you are too rough with them, I don't know."
"Enough. If we can't bribe them, try planting a spy in their household. I heard they were recruiting a private force. Heheh, this should be a great opportunity. As long as we know what they are doing, we can always plan two steps ahead."
"Sect master is wise! I'll arrange it right away."
------
In the Leyan Family mansion.
The four maids were having a serious conversation. After becoming Leyvi's concubines, their demeanor changed to be more graceful and confident. Whenever they went outside, people would think that they were first-class maids from prestigious backgrounds.
"Ladies, do you have anyone suspicious secretly approaching you and offering some money to be their spy?" Fifi asked. Her eyes slowly moved to Nikita, Sayu, and Hana.
Everyone nodded at her question without hesitation.
Nikita spoke first. "I had six people secretly approach me this week. Hmph, do they think I am a beggar or something? They tried to bribe me with only ten percent of what Madam Anda gave us each month. You should have seen their faces when I laughed at them."
"Hehehe. Don't worry, I saw their confused and embarrassed face." Hana giggled. "Even with their face covered, I can see their skin turned red. These people are so lame. At least investigate how much we were paid every month first."
"Well, we can't blame them. Madam was just too generous." Sayu chimed. "After we became husband's concubines, she raised our pay ten times higher. Only Madam Anda is that generous."
"True. If it was me in the past, I would have been moved by the amount they were offering." Fifi said.
"Of course you would have. You need a lot of money to maintain these mountains." Nikita extended her hand and jiggled Fifi's boobs from below.
"Heh, as if you don't need money to maintain this wide ass!" Fifi retaliated by slapping Nikita's plump bottom.
Hana and Sayu rolled their eyes. They were showing off their assets again.
"Alright, stop, stop! Today we are going to try a new method to train our willpower. If you want to dual cultivate with Husband, you must cooperate to the fullest and experiment, okay?" Sayu said to them.
As the person Leyvi entrusted with training the ladies' sexual willpower, Sayu has done extensive research on this matter, uh, mostly from her erotic romance novels. They have reached a consensus that every weekend, they will gather and experiment under Sayu's leadership.
The next moment, Sayu brought out a familiar-looking thick rod from her space bag.
"That!" The three maids exclaimed!
"That is husband's holy rod! Sayu, did you make a replica?" Hana questioned. She could recognize her favorite shape anywhere.
"Did husband allow this?" Nikita asked. She didn't want to get involved if Leyvi hadn't approved it.
Fifi drooled when she saw it.
"My sisters, you don't have to worry. Husband approved my training proposal before he departed. I took my time measuring it with utmost precision." Sayu explained and licked her lips.
"Hmph, you must have gotten extra intimate time with Husband. Not fair! Boo boo," Hana protested.
"Hehe. Of course, I'm going to take any chance I can. Don't pretend like you never tried."
The ladies blushed. Of course, they had made up many excuses to bring Leyvi somewhere private for a quickie.
"Anyway, it was very embarrassing to make this, okay? Thankfully, there's a female artisan at that shop. Poor her. She might be having a wet dream with our husband's holy rod inside." Sayu continued.
"Alright, we will begin after Madam Layla arrives. She's quite busy lately." Sayu said.
"You don't need to wait. I'm already here." Layla arrived with a smile.
A mini Layla was hanging around the maids, so she listened to their conversations. When Leyvi's holy rod replica was brought out, she hurriedly came to them.
-----
In the airship,
Leyvi was enjoying the food made by the maids. Since they were going away for a while, Leyvi asked them to make a few months' worth of dishes and stored them all in the internal storage room.
He had tried cooking for himself again, like when he was still single, but his taste buds couldn't go back anymore. Everything he made tasted bland.
"Leyvi, we are entering the Homun Family's territory now." Lilian's sound transmission reached him. It was Lilian's turn to be the pilot.
Since Sayu wasn't around to check on her every day, Leyvi volunteered to do it. However, their worries were unwarranted because Lilian had already developed her internal clock and she would exit the garden on time.
"Oh? So we are already here. We should have taken Dorin along and sent her back. Who knows what kind of trouble she is causing now at our place?" Leyvi said.
The airship was flying at full speed this time, so their journey was much faster.
"Don't be too harsh on her. I think that she has been quite well-behaved during the time she was with us. Although her mouth is still somewhat rude, she hasn't done anything outrageous." Anda defended Dorin.
Leyvi looked at Anda suspiciously. His panda wife probably just wanted to turn Dorin into her alchemy machine.
Suddenly, the airship stopped abruptly, followed by a loud, amplified voice.
"Scum of the Goldstone Family! The likes of you are not allowed to pass through the airspace of the Homun Family. Turn back and take a detour!"
From the cockpit, Leyvi saw a squad of Homun Family cultivators blocking their way. He felt confused initially but then realized something the next moment.
"Ah, crap. I forgot this was an airship that Magnus had given to us. It still has the Goldstone Family banner on it." Leyvi scratched his head.
He knew that the Goldstone, Homun, and Clover families were not compatible with each other, but he didn't expect them to be so petty like this. After all, there were no laws that prevented anyone from crossing any territory's airspace on the continent.
The territories of groups like big families, sects, and business entities that were settling on the Cloud Continent were not really their territories. They were given the right to live in these territories as long as they paid their taxes.
The Protectors had collectively agreed to deal with the land issues in this manner to prevent wars between the forces. In the past, constant wars occurred to claim the lands for themselves, contributing to the chaos.
However, human nature couldn't be stopped. Although the Protectors had tried their best to come up with many laws and regulations to prevent large-scale chaos from happening, people would always find a way to circumvent them.
There were too many people on the continent, after all. Since they couldn't monitor everyone, they made the cultivator cities the top priority as the safe haven.
This was the reason why Leyvi becoming the owner of a city was such a big deal. He would be exempt from most taxes and could develop in a safe environment. As long as they were in the city, nobody would dare to harm them.
Because the Protectors regarded the cities as so important, all the big organizations knew not to break any laws inside the cities. If they did, they would be investigated, and all their shady dealings would be exposed, becoming their downfall. That said, it didn't mean that everyone was completely obedient in the city. The stricter the regulation, the more secretive some bad actors operate behind the scenes.
On the other hand, outside the city, although cultivators couldn't openly wage war and steal other's territories, they would try to take over their enemy's resources, secretly killing people behind the scenes or using many other underhanded methods to make them weaker.
The Protectors were naturally aware of the shady activities going on but decided to turn a blind eye as long as they weren't openly doing something outrageous. Since most of them were engaged in such covert activities, it became unrealistic to deal with every one of them.
Leyvi exited the airship calmly. "Greetings to the Homun Family. We are not the Goldstone Family. My name is Leyvi Leyan from the Leyan Family, and we are just passing by. We are heading to the Mercenary City. I hope you let us pass through."
Leyvi Leyan? The Homun Family guards were surprised for a moment, then they turned serious.
"Guards! Capture them! We have found our Young Lady Dorin's kidnappers!"
Huh? Leyvi was stunned. Kidnappers? Us? What the heck!