74 Days Before The Imperial Banquet - 24.6 (1/2)
As the estate fell silent with almost everyone turning in for the night and leaving only the patrolling guards awake, nobody noticed a shadow flit by quickly without even making a sound as if it was just a passing breeze.
Those who may have felt that something was amiss quickly dismissed the idea since all of them knew that the current patriarch; Fan Hui Liang had laid down a lot of high-level formations throughout the day that could be easily triggered should an intruder try to get inside and besides that, after what their Lei Wangye did recently, it was highly improbable that someone would try to infiltrate the estate.
It was this misconception and sense of complacency that enabled the shadow to navigate through te formations and strict security with relative ease until he finally arrived near one of the heavily guarded courtyards.
Surveying it, the shadow stood still in one of the larger plum trees, blending in seamlessly with the numerous branches as he surveyed the area.
He patiently studied how the guards maintained their security; how they maid their rounds, kept their lookout and how they took intermittent breaks with other people replacing them so that no one felt tired and everyone stayed alert at all times that even he who was looking for any weaknesses to exploit was impressed.
The level of security in this particular courtyard was extremely high and even he is finding it a bit troublesome to get in, let alone any of his subordinates!
If he had let his people infiltrate instead of him then his subordinates would inevitably be captured sooner or later.
Observing the courtyard once more, the shadow sighed quietly before turning around to leave and take the same route from where he came with no one the wiser.
He knew that if he didn't want to be discovered, he should take a different approach and thus he left in a resolute and swift manner.
The next day, things were evidently much more busier than the day before. Large groups of people were dispatched to the other three plots of land surrounding the Dark Flames Mountain.
The former estates on the three lands were quickly taken cared of and since they used to belong to the royal family, they weren't taken down an demolished since it would be such a shame to destroy the excellent worksmanship present.
Instead, they were left intact and only the boundaries of the estates were modified.
Walls were torn down while others were built up then some buildings were converted and new pathways were laud down to connect the estates into a whole.
In the meantime, while Fan Hui Liang was behind organizing all the manpower to take care of all the neccessary construction, it was his older brother; Fan Hui Zhong who made the decisions on what to add, change and tear down.
While all of this was happening, Fan Li Jie was placed in charge of the recruitment of new servants and of course, the people who had heard that the Lei Sha Di Army was open for new recruits.
By Fan Li Jie's side was Fan Xian Liang who was helping him with whole process by bringing those who passed the initial stages of testing an recruitment to either their mother; Wei Rou Xiang if it was a batch of new servants so that she can review them to see if they pass or if they were a group of potential recruits for the army, Fan Xian Liang would then send them to their uncle; Fan Hui Zhong who had the final say when it came to those who can join the Lei Sha Di Army.