Chapter 23 : Shut Eyes & Open Hearts
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The pill seemed to evaporate into thin air inside his body once Feng swallowed it!

Sitting there trying to sense differences within his body for a couple more minutes ended up with nothing, finally Feng turned towards the only member of the wolfpack inside the manor that day with a : "What the fuck? Was it a sham?" Look all over his face.

Harmony only tilted his head to the side and stared back at his two legged friend.

"Whine.... Whimper...."

"Awooooo...."

After a few seconds of that awkward disappointment Zhu Feng released a heavy sigh and was just about to vent out by cursing long and nasty at the one who tricked him into raising his hopes, when Harmony's ears perked up and he stood up then retreated away from Feng with his tail tucked between his legs and whimpering with worry in his eyes.

That was followed by the loud howl of the caged snow wolf behind Feng in the garden.

Without a chance to look back and see what caused the ever calm and nonchalant beast to make that intimidating howl, Feng lost feeling of his body and all he could see was the cloudless and starry night sky above and the complete moon in the center.

Harmony's worried whining voice was near and the restless demonic beast behind him rattling his cage, yet Feng couldn't even close his eyes and felt paralyzed from toe to forehead.

Something dark and thick started to get into his eyes and gradually Feng was blinded by the thing that got into his eyes, his hearing was blocked by something and voices came from afar.

He didn't know how long he was in that disconnected state until that guard was pulled forcefully towards his body by Harmony, Feng's face got splashed with what appears to be water and his hearing was fuzzy no more and his sight returned but he still couldn't move a thing.

He couldn't even move his eyeballs in their sockets to look anywhere other than right ahead!

That guard was worried sick for his sake now that he remembers, the man was panicking and shouting for help from the servants who gathered around Feng's comatose body and gazing down at him.

Soon he was transported to the infirmary on a stretcher and Feng could only see more of his body when they moved his body this way or that way to undress him or to clean him up from that strange and sticky mud covering everywhere all-over his body, the situation was hilarious really for Zhu Feng since all that pill did was paralyze him and got him covered in mud.

Until the third of his senses returned to him and he could smell again, it was nasty and beyond the word disgusting!

Ask him anytime what's the worst smell he ever sniffed and hands down it was the smell of that day.

No wonder poor Harmony tucked his tail and the snow wolf panicked in it's cage and became restless, that was some kind of devil's fart mixed with the stenchy smell of the rot of hell!

Feng's admiration for his servants and guards was elevated by a dozen levels just because they dared undress him that day!

Those who puked less than three times in close proximity to his reeking body should deserve a medal of courage or something, even he felt ashamed for cursing them when he saw them puke when they discovered him in the garden.

They say his clothes of that day were burned and the ash still smelled nasty!

His ZhuQing equipment and the leather boots took the servants one week of double shifts washing continuously day and night to remove the stink, they made a party to celebrate their hard work and Feng wasn't even invited!

Poor Lanfen fainted when she received the news of Feng's collapse and the healers discovered her pregnancy.

After his sense of smell it was the turn for Feng's tasting sense to return then he could feel what his palms are touching then on the span of three days he recovered the ability to move his body part by part from the neck downward.

"Stinky Feng, smelly Feng, nasty Feng, dummy Feng....."

Feng could only smile helplessly and ignore Lanfen's non-stop stream of names once he hugged her for the first time after recovering, she was crying and banging on his chest while trembling.

Storm and her pups returned from their hunting journey with what appears to be a bear and she gave the snow wolf the bear's liver, from that moment on the she-wolf kept close company to the snow wolf almost every hour of the day.

General Laoci sent a message to his favorite Baron and protector of west entailing that he's leaving for the east again to tie up some loose ends, the west will be left in Feng's good hands until he returns with the heads of all the white legion's dogs.

Caring not at all for the matters of the general, Feng trained harder and intensified his efforts to figure out his new limits while his domain stabilized in the area.

Trade was flourishing more and more in the nearby market which benefited the citizens of his village earn more and smile wider, his own land almost ready for it's first harvest and his livestock well fed and cared for.

Money kept coming from the Steel Anvil Smithy after making more and more gear from the ZhuQing material, his men well organized and ready for whatever that may come up while the battalion swelled in size by the day.

The village walls almost doubled in height and sturdiness, safety measures ready to shelter the people from any disaster.

The different facilities are beginning to function properly and scholars started to knock on their doors asking to be hired just like how talented craftsmen and martial-arists did.

The reputation of the wonderful and beautiful village in the west of Shi kingdom was carried far by those who witnessed it.

Curiosity drew others everyday and more people arrived indeed.

After enjoying their time these guests would find themselves in a tough position, Sword Villa was fantastic and all but had a single flaw which Feng specifically left exposed.

There wasn't that much room to stay the night without sleeping in the street or on your table in one of the diners, restaurants or bars.

Thankfully Rock city was very close and in no time these guests can stay the night there then return, especially if Rock city is starting to show similar improvements lately.

In his upgrade of the village, Feng built a couple dozen buildings as hotels and the rest remained as the citizens housing areas or business establishments.

What remained of the space was taken by gardens or wide streets to regulate the flow of traffic during rush hours, of course he kept a dozen estates worth of land and built fine places in case some noble visited him.

According to the laws of this kingdom he will have to host other nobles in his territories if they visit with peaceful intentions, otherwise he can be held accountable if the king saw it that way.

Getting summoned to the capital and judged by the royal family could be a tricky matter, politics could be his downfall and Zhu Feng was never a man of politics.

He either got kicked in silence or he's punching his foe with overwhelming might, negotiating this and that was too troublesome for him to care more than he felt needed.

Bo Biyu's belly was bigger than a melon now and Lanfen would never let the infirmary's healers miss a day of checking on her sleeping sister, the servants took good care of their unconscious mistress and despite never truly knowing her they cared because their Baron and Baroness cared.

"Phew...."

Sheathing wolf flower in it's scabbard then his new sword made by senior Donghai which he ended up calling it moon wolf, Feng wiped his sweaty forehead in a towel then went to sit with Storm and the others next to the snow wolf after pulling the tray that has his teapot and teacups from the nearby table.

With the pregnancy of Biyu advancing towards the critical stage, Feng's worries for her and his child in her belly would only lessen somewhat when he's exercising his swordsmanship, training his footwork, or getting naughty Lanfen pressed underneath him.

"Oy! You almost spilled my tea Joy, stop it! What? Wanna wrestle huh, you're getting pinned down girl. Wohohoho, I told ya I would win. What? you're all ganging up on me now! Thunder is out. Ugh I lost, this is getting harder when you're all so grown up."

Getting his face licked by Harmony and Joy sitting triumphantly on his belly after getting sprayed on his back by the compined force of five wolves, Zhu Feng hugged the strong neck of Night under his right arm and the waist of Thunder by the left and turned to look at the two adult wolves to the side.

One free one caged, one snowy white one mercury silver.

Clearly these two got very close to one another lately but Zhu Feng wasn't sure if the white animal wouldn't kill him the first moment he's released, yet clearly Storm was in heat again and longing to enter the cage.

Even if he's stronger after taking the pill, Zhu Feng still couldn't risk it yet especially with a pure blooded breed of a demonic beast.

"Snow, do you want to be free?"

Lately he's been calling the white wolf by the name Snow and he felt like the beast isn't annoyed with it.

When Feng said that Storm's ears perked up and she raised her head to look at her friend, while Snow who usually ignores Feng turned his snout towards him and snarled slighty by showing a formidable set of canines.

"Was that answer a yes?"

"Woof..."

"Can you protect me if he's going to bully me once he's released?"

"Whine...."

"I see, well don't worry girl. I'll try and figure something out soon."

After the answers of Storm gave the message that this Snow will tear him from limb to limb once it's out, Feng shrugged and patted Storm's back to calm her anxiousness then sipped from his cup of tea while trying to think of a way to give Storm the cold dick of this vicious Snow without putting himself or others in harm's way.

Luckily for her Feng was innovative and had some ideas that might work, plus the fact that he's looking forward to seeing what kind of monsters she'll give birth to if they mated.

*****

"Lord Feng, the healers said mistress Biyu is giving birth right now."

While Feng was discussing the deployment of the fresh recruits in farmlands with Ba Tusai's assistants, one of the butlers barged into the office to announce that, nobody mentioned the rude behavior of the butler and before their smiles formed on their faces Zhu Feng was gone.

"Heh, look at him go faster than an arrow, the young Baron is being born today, let's go for a few rounds after work- ouch! The hell you did that for?"

The assistant who spoke was admiring Feng's speed when he ran out of the office then crossed the large training grounds in a second before disappearing at a corner, but he was mad when he got his head slapped mid-speech by his colleague.

"Because you're stupid as a duck, why waste our money on drinks when there's a huge party ya idjuut. Hurry! We need to get all this paperwork done before the Baron's child is born, do you want to be stuck in the office working while others celebrate?"

"Hell no! I'm definitely going to finish them before the party starts."

As news of the incoming party spread in the village and the nearby market, liquor was being shipped to the village from Rock city in less than an hour!

Snacks and food was made by the load in every house and the gardens were being prepared for the masses to have fun soon.

While Feng waited in the infirmary for his firstborn to arrive, the village was completing it's final preparations and the merchants took advantage of this happy occasion to make even more profits from their sales to the citizens of this cute village.

These people cared less for money and more for their Lord's matters!

But these villagers were rich in comparison to other villagers anywhere in the kingdom, their Lord gave them ideas to increase their harvest, save water, using livestock's dung to make something called "Fertilizer" and many other simple but weird ideas to make their livestock's milk production increase and grow more meat on their backs.

Of course these merchants stole the ideas when they could but from what is being whispered around, these ideas that they gleaned over time weren't even touching the surface of what this mysterious Lord Feng can do.

As for his true identity? Nobody knew for sure and the only solid story was that Zhu Feng used to be a footsoldier, after general Lian Laoci confirmed that he's a coward and discharged him from the military and ordered for him to be flogged, after that incident he was left somewhere west by some captain.

Of course that was a mistake and that same captain suffered for it later but that's not important, what's important was that this coward survived a horrible night in the outskirts of beast mountains and managed to elude a whole pack of wolves and captured his current companion the great silver female wolf. Storm!

He had just suffered from being flogged a hundred times the same day before that pack of wolves attacked him by night, funny thing was that he had fallen asleep while getting lashed by his captain who became angry and struck harder everytime until he dislocated his shoulder yet failed to wake Baron Zhu up!

Hard to believe but there's many witnesses to confirm the incident including the captain himself who currently works as on of the Baron's guards as a captain, later he caused great upheavals everywhere he went and the same general Laoci who discharged him is currently one of his friends and backers.

The protector of the west used to be a coward and was discharged dishonorably from the military!

Now that's a story you can tell your children.

However, there's a rumor that started to surface lately amongst certain individuals who make a living by trading information, Baron Zhu isn't really named "Zhu Feng" but "Gui Lei" and he's the bastard son of the previous city lord of Sand city in the south.

It is said that the record log which has the Baron's information wasn't amongst the other logs in the storage room of the military quarters of Rock city, they say general Laoci personally asked for that log and the only ones who know the true identity of Baron Zhu are the king and a few in the royal family members plus the general and that's it.

*****

"iiiitttt''sss aaaa bbboooyyyy....."

A teenager was cupping his hands around his mouth and running the streets everywhere of Sword Villa announcing the news of the Baron's firstborn child, his arrival with these good news would be followed by people cheering aloud and toasting, hugging, dancing, feasting and smiling at one another.

Food and drinks in abandon was everywhere, the gardens were filled with people and the mixed sounds of music and laughter.

Young lovers sneaking away from the crowded spots of the village and seeking the warm privacy with one another, in certain cases it was more numerous than a couple looking for privacy!

*****

"Congratulations Lord Feng on your firstborn child."

Zhu Feng felt some fear when he heard the old lady in white clothes which had some smudges of blood and some other liquid on her, his fear was for his Biyu's sake and his tongue felt heavy in his dry mouth.

"B.... Biyo... Is she alrig-"

"She's fine m'lord, did you choose a name for the boy yet?"

The old lady gave Feng a compassionate but sad look when she felt his unnatural state.

Once he stuttered while asking for his woman who's still unconscious she cut him off despite knowing that doing such a thing to a noble could get her penalized with a dozen lashes, handing out the young baby while distracting him with a question about the name did the trick just fine.

Zhu Feng gently received his son in his arms and reflexively hugged the boy bundled in a blanket to his chest protectively, Zhu Lanfen who stood next to the old lady was smiling widely while touching her swollen belly and anticipating the day Feng would hold their own baby just as gently as he's doing with this one.

"The name.... M'lord! It's a bad omen for a child to remain unnamed for too long after his birth."

"Ah! Y.... yes, of course. A name huh.... Errrm, Fang. I name him Fang, I hope he likes it when he grows up."

Seeing that Feng has fallen into a daze just like how most new parents used to become once they hold their children for the first time, the old lady started to panick because their Lord Feng was taking his sweet time and urged him on.

Now it was time for Feng to panick and he seeked Lanfen's help with his eyes but she betrayed him cruelly with a merciless smile and shrug of her shoulder, but her eyes squinted dangerously which meant that he's getting milked out tonight.

Seeing the light reflect of his woman's cute Fang when she smiled, Feng uttered the word subconsciously and felt proud and uncertain in the same time.

He was proud of himself for being so quick witted and uncertain if his son would blame him for the name in the future.

"It's a good name m'lord, let me take him to his wet nurse."

The old lady took Fang from his father's hands then turned and entered another room, leaving Zhu Feng rooted in place like an idiot in the same posture he was holding his son in.

"Heh, was it that scary? You're so stiff Baron Zhu. You're trembling! Husband. Are you alright?"

First Lanfen was making fun of her man and giggling, then she felt his body shaking when she got close and her worry appeared on her expression and voice.

"I'm alright Lanfen, take care of Fang for me. I need to spend some time with Biyu."

Controlling his emotions, Zhu Feng patted Lanfen's back and kissed her forehead then entered the room where Biyu is resting.

*****

Inside the room Zhu Feng found a few maids working on cleaning the floor, changing the bed sheets, sprinkling scented water, exchanging the candles and burning essence sticks.

Seeing the maids helping Biyu into clean clothes made most of Feng's buried emotions resurface, without him knowing his eyes betrayed him yet again and his tears were splashing on the floor around his feet.

Seeing their kind Lord in such a sad state and in grieving sorrow made the maids hurry in their work before leaving the room quietly and closing the door behind them, one of them bursted out in tears just outside because seeing Zhu Feng so heartbroken while everyone else is celebrating seemed very unfair.

Gently sitting next to his woman who looked beautiful and to the ignorant she would only seem sleeping, Zhu Feng very carefully kissed her forehead and returned to his seat next to Biyu's bed and started speaking : "Biyu..... I'm sorry..... Sniff.... Today they delivered our son from you..... He's such a cute boy..... Like you told me before he has none of my blain traits and all of your amazing features, once again you were right.... Auntie Baozhai is waiting for you, our son Fang is waiting for you, I am waiting for you."

Every word he said was followed by a feeling inside his chest, it felt like cold yet extremely dull knives being driven into his heart.

Not wanting to be near his beloved woman while he's in such overwhelmingly sad mood, Zhu Feng stood up and held her hand aiming to give it a kiss before he goes back to check again on his son.

When he held Biyu's hand Feng felt her fingers close around his own!

"Eh!.... Biyu c... can you hear me? Ah! Wait for me love Ill bring the healers to check on you......"

First he was doubting himself, yet when Feng asked his question to the supposedly unconscious Biyu with a tune filled with trepidation she squeezed his hand twice again!

Hugging her and kissing her forehead quickly, he ran out to find someone to check on her but this time his voice was full of excitement.

*****

When the news reached the masses it was like adding fuel to a fire, Joy on top of happiness meant a bigger party.

The Baron ordered for a three days and nights of celebrations, his guards to be separated into twelve shifts and those who finish their duty are to take the rest of the time off until the festivities are over.

His personal establishments work free of charge for the masses and the workforce in these establishments received one month's worth of pay for each shift they're working in these joyous days, his personal warehouses to be wide open to supply the demand of the village needs for a month after the celebrations.

His citizens get exemption from tax this year!

"Horray for Baron Zhu and his wives, horray for young Lord Fang."

Giddy with excitement, these villagers did another wave and swarmed the market outside the walls, then back in.... Then out!

It was a contagious mood and visitors from Obsidian and Rock city arrived by the second day to join the fun!

*****

"Little Feng was heartbroken when he knew what happened, he almost beat up the poor physicians back in Obsidian city when they couldn't wake you up."

"Yeah, I have a vague memory of him cursing at some people to do something."

Bao Baozhai was sitting next to her goddaughter's bed and holding her hand as she told her events of the past, she looked with saddened eyes at the beauty who still couldn't do anything other than moving her lips and folding her right-hand fingers into a weak fist.

"Rest now Bibi, the healers said you need to rest well. I'll come visit you tomorrow morning."

Kissing her cheek and pinching the other, Baozhai wiped out tears from her eyes and left.

"Time for your breakfast m'lady."

"En, what time is it?"

"Well past dawn m'lady, please open your mouth and swallow slowly. Your stomach has been empty for so long we don't want to strain it, the healers said we should take it slow but steady. If we do everything right then m'lady is going to recover in no time and young master Fang will start feeding from your breast normally....."

Honestly, Bo Biyu doesn't know when did she sleep after her master's last visit or how long did she sleep, after the woman who awoke her helped in raising her waist and stuffing pillows behind her back, she opened her mouth and tasted the warm, fresh and delicious soup in her mouth before swallowing slowly like she was instructed to do.

While having her first meal she listened to the woman talk on and on, from her she got to learn about the celebrations that just started yesterday, the amazing and strange changes her Feng brought for this village.

Finally by the time her meal was over she was left alone for a short time before her next visitor arrived, her son Fang was brought in by his wet nurse.

She always talked with Feng about the topic since the first time that young man bursted inside her without care for the world, she had her worries on the topic and uncertainties but she and Feng agreed on allowing him to be greedy for now but later it will be her decision and that was that.

Now when there's a strange woman is close and telling Biyu that she's carrying her child in her arms and asking for her permission to bring him closer Biyu froze and didn't know what to say, finally Biyu opened her mouth and gave a husky approval while her heart raced in her chest.

Soon after a baby was at her chest and her hands were raised with someone's assistance to support his small body, hearing his cute and adorable baby voices made her smile and she was certain that she was crying through her shut eyes.

"Fang."

*****

"Woof...."

"Easy now Storm, don't be impatient girl I know you want it very bad right now but if your white partner somehow managed to escape then me and my kind are certainly going to become one big happy meal for him. I'm a father now I can't be anyone's food, especially not your horny partner's."

"Snort...."

"Call it what you may Storm, you're still in heat and your mood swings are starting to scare my men. If it wasn't for Shadow's timely intervention yesterday then I'm certain that poor man would've been dead, he was only admiring your beautiful silver fur and feeling curious for it's texture. Yet you almost crippled his arm, that wasn't cool at all. Had the healers said that he's going to live as a cripple forever with no chance for him to recover then your punishment was going to become a whole lot different than house arrest, next time give curious fellas a scare by showing your teeth or bark at them if you have to. As for snapping your jaws and breaking bones, that's a line you better not cross ever again. Not on innocents and especially not on one of my men, got it?"

"Whine...."

Feng is regretting that he got overly distracted by Biyu's awakening that he forgot Storm's matter, it's been a week now and Biyu's recovery is going well since she can move her arms and feet albeit weakly.

Yesterday if it wasn't for Shadow then Storm would've killed one of Feng's guards, when he saw the man's black steel armor that got deformed out of shape by her teeth made Feng suck one long and cold breath.

Shadow ran towards the screaming voice of the guard and found Storm twisting her neck left and right with that man swinging from her jaw, thankfully after eating that beast-core and suffering something like visiting hell and back Shadow gained something else other than physical improvements.

His intelligence was above-average before and now Feng was ninety-percent sure that the current Shadow is smarter than Storm, at that situation Shadow did the right thing by kicking the angry she-wolf to grab her attention and to save the poor guard then didn't hesitate to run away towards Feng so that he would in turn be saved by Feng from the she-wolf who had him as her target instead of the poor guard!

At that time Feng was feeling satisfied with his life and imagining a bright future for his little Fang instead of focusing on his swordsmanship training, suddenly Shadow was running towards him followed by Storm and in the beginning he thought they were racing again.

I clearly warned them not to race around people.

Wait.... Storm, why's there blood on her fur and jaw?

What's that on her stomach? it looks like.... a hoof imprint!

God.... these two idiots are fighting for real, bloody hell.

I better step-in before things escalate any further, what a pain in my ass!

"Neeigh...."

"Grrrr....."

"Stop both of you! Storm I said enough, what has gotten into you two?"

"M'lord. Storm attacked deputy Xing and mangled him pretty badly, he's being transferred to the infirmary right now."

While Feng was wondering about many things that didn't add up to a simple race, poor Shadow got tackled by the she-wolf who doesn't lose to him in size and almost got pinned down.

In an act of self defense he aimed to kick the silver wolf off his body but his attempt was evaded in a swift and perfectly timed out sidestep, that doze of action alongside their threatening voices gave Feng the final conclusion to what's going on and he jumped in-between the quarreling animals without hesitation while shouting for a timeout.

Before he got to speak there was a column of fully equipped guards moving in formation towards him, Qiqiang, Niu, Li were leading it.

Hearing the report from the former bandit leader made Feng's head buzz for a moment and he looked at Storm in disbelief, seeing her avoiding his gaze gave him the answer he wanted.

He led her towards her favorite spot next to Snow first and gave her one order "Stay here" before leaving two teams of his elite guards and led by his strongest captains to keep her from leaving if she dared disobey him, hurrying to check on his guard he was soon told the whole story from Xing's mouth as the healers stitched him up.

*****

Seeing her friend give her the same look which he gave her before when she first got pinned down by him then captured, made Storm feel sad inside for losing her temper and biting the one who tried to be friendly with her.

Even her pups were anxious and worried for her when the others surrounded her after her friend left, later friend returned a lot less angry at her but kept scolding her and she took it silently.

Then he started to make the others create a very big cage which she felt like it will be her new home since she has done something bad, whitey kept laughing at her while saying that all "Humans" are scum.

I guess that's what they're called, those who walk on two legs are humans and her friend is the strongest human of them all.

Again whitey kept laughing at her and said that her friend is weak as a mouse compared to the strong humans he saw before, she tried to convince him to be friends with her friend and he can be free but he snapped at her and warned her that he wouldn't have her if she mentioned that again.

Anyway, her human friend kept adding things to my new home and spent more time with me everyday which was okay.

*****

"Listen Storm, you enter your little love nest from here."

"Woof...."

"Now go in and get yourself some snow wolf's seeds."

"Awooooo...."

"Awoooo...."

"Oh for the love of mercy just shut up, confirm that every lock and chain is in place three times then open that beast's cage. He's becoming awefully noisy lately and it becomes super annoying when these guys join the howling contest, and you Shadow. Why haven't you given me a few dozen foals yet?"

Feng glared at the young wolves who joined the howling orchestra then told the men to make sure everything is in place while watching Storm move inside the super fortified and much larger cage.

Then he turned towards the tall warhorse who was posing majestically under the sun like a moron and asked him with a frown on his face.

"Harrumph.... Neeeigh...."

"It takes almost a year for your kind to give birth, if I don't get at least one of your offspring in half a year then I'm really going to make you work the field. That white mare has been with you long enough, if you turn out to be impotent then you're destined to plow the field when I'm in no need for a mount."

"Neigh!...."

After hearing Feng's last threat Shadow ran away in a hurry as if his ass is on fire, later the servants reported that Shadow was really on fire.

"Viagra can go kiss my ass that's what I'm saying. listen here Harmony, exercising and being healthy is incomparable to anything. En."

"Whine...."

4