Chapter 268 - Frightening Cultivation Speed

"It's not a brothel!"

When Manager Doug said these words, Leon flashed him a disdainful glance.

"Who are you trying to fool? Are you taking me for a 3-year-old? That name and these busty ladies with maid uniforms say it all." Leon said.

'Not to mention, with some cash, she let me cop a feel.'

Leon cast a sidelong glance at the courtesan with odd boobs.

Manager Doug could not read Leon's thoughts, but he did not need to. He only needed to look at the courtesan with odd boobs to understand everything.

"Boss, it's really not like that."

Manager Doug tried to explain before casting the courtesan a glare.

"Have you been charging customers to touch your breast again, Khloe?" He interrogated.

"No, Manager Doug." Khloe denied with her neck shrunk like a turtle hiding its head inside its shell. However, the cash stuffed in the valley of her twin mountains were clearly seen. "Yes…"

Khloe ultimately admitted as the evidence was in plain sight. Manager Doug harrumphed.

"Ahem, Boss. Khloe was a courtesan in the past. Actually, most of the female workers inside were all courtesans from a brothel in the past… but we really aren't operating brothel, Boss. There's a reason for this." Manager Doug explained awkwardly.

"That's right. This is a legitimate restaurant and bar. There is nothing dirty going on here." Khloe added.

"Nothing dirty going on, huh? Not very convincing. Why don't you go ahead and tell me what this reason is?"

Khloe wanted to explain but she was immediately shot down by a glare from Manager Doug, especially when the cash was still protruding from her chest.

"Actually… it wasn't our intention to recruit these ladies, but they all came flocking over when they learned that you, Boss, was our backer. Most of these ladies were pitiful and unwilling souls who were forced into the brothel business during the tyranny of the four gangs and great families."

"I found it hard to reject their request since there were many regulars even amongst the commoners. They would be harassed constantly without our protection. After all, no one would dare to misbehave in the territory of our Golden Lion Gang back by the prince."

"Ahem, the name was something we came up after. After all, these ladies are no longer working as courtesans, but waiters and they also have our protection. Men can see but they can't touch."

After listening to Manager Doug's explanation, Leon's mood did not improve. In fact, it got worse as it basically reinforced his first impression.

Basically, all the courtesans were under his protection. However, this could be easily misunderstood as all the courtesans working as waiters in the 'The Lion's Paradise' as his women.

Leon almost fainted from anger.

"You… you're really good." He spat the words out sarcastically. Veins could be seen protruding from his forehead as he glared at Manager Doug.

A mountain of pressure similarly gushed out and weighed down on the Manager and two receptionist ladies, making the surrounding air feel suffocating. This was not Leon purposely pressuring them, but a result of his depressive mood.

His reputation was basically down the drain… not that he really cares about his reputation. But it would be a problem if his own family and ladies ask about it. He could feel an incoming headache.

"On the bright side… business has been really good. The ladies attract a lot of customers to come to dine in." Manager Doug coughed and said drily with difficulty.

"I'll be the judge of that."

"After you, Boss." Manager Doug respectfully gestured for Leon to enter the premise and see for himself.

"Hmph!"

Leon strolled inside The Lion's Paradise and the boisterous and rowdy atmosphere of the interior blasted in his ears. There was nothing sketchy going on at first glance and Manager Doug really did not lie to him. The business was going really well.

The first floor was filled to the brim with people and activity. Members of the Golden Lion Gang intermixed with other customers as they cheered, bumped their wooden mug,s and downed their cold beverages.

As Leon observed the layout of the first floor, he nodded. The Golden Lion Gang did not make any changes to his arrangements.

The first floor was a public space for both members and non-members alike. It was, however, separated into three sections; a restaurant to serve the food, a bar to serve the drinks, and spare socializing spots with tables and seats provided.

There was also a receptionist counter and a large mission board in that section. However, there weren't much many mission available as the guild was still in its infancy of planning, but the ones that were available all had to do with odd jobs around the Capital.

There were traces of tasks being ripped off the mission board, a few of which could be seen in the hands of some core members.

Leon scrutinized his eyes to read the details from a distance. The task was not a difficult one. It was posted by the Cromwell family, looking to hire more earth-users for the construction projects.

Indeed, earth-users were more desirable for construction projects compared to ordinary works as they were more work efficient. However, this only applies if the earth-users were adept with their earth manipulation.

At this moment, all three sections were fully occupied as waiters busily brought out food and drinks from the kitchen to provide for the customers. They were all construction workers that came to relax during their breaks.

As the first restaurant and bar to open in the Lower District, the popularity of the place could be clearly seen.

Leon hummed a low tune. The previous ill-feelings had dissipated with the wind. The Golden Lion Gang did not disappoint him.

The build exterior was too misleading, making people believe the place was a brothel, but he was quite satisfied with everything he had seen inside.

"What do you think, Boss?" Manager Doug said carefully. He was quite proud of what they achieved, but it was not about what he thinks. It was about what the Boss thinks.

"Very good."

Leon did not to attract too much attention. As such, he discouraged Manager Doug from announcing his presence. He quietly finds a spot on the second floor and listened to the Manager Doug recount of events in his absence.

The second floor was like the first floor, except it was reserved for VIP members, while the third floor was for accommodations.

After refining a few batches of True Awakening Pills, Leon handed them over to the manager to manage and reward some core members that had yet to awaken.

Leon soon left after listing a few arrangements for the manager to handle. Everything was basically on track. He did not have any hopes that the Golden Lion Gang would become a powerful force that could aid him on his journey. His only

Many of the core members were quite aged and had low potential. Training them into experts would cost much more resource than training younger people.

The core members were disappointed that they missed the opportunity to thank their boss in person before Leon left. As for the female waiters, they were devastated to learnt that the prince that they had been hoping to meet had passed them by without them even knowing.

Anyone who could catch the elusive prince's interest would have been able to ascend to the top of the social ladder in one breath. It was unfortunate that the prince was not interested in any of them.

Leon dropped by the pill refining room in the palace to check on his disciple's progress and offered some pointers before he heads back to his own courtyard and whipped out the pill cauldron to refine a few pills.

Amongst the various healing pills, he needed to restock as life-saving measures for unexpected situations, Leon also refined some Spirit Enhancing Pills, Spirit Condensation Pills, and Core Strengthening Pills, the same pills he assigned his disciple to refine.

After Leon was done with his pill refinement session, he selected another three books from the Archive to study, before researching his new ability some more.

The usefulness of his new ability was far too great as it had a wide range of applications that could not be fully explored in one sitting. For such a powerful ability, he decided to name it Divine Will; the ability to command anything with his will.

It was previously established that he could only conjure elements he had comprehended, but anything already existing between heaven and earth was for him to command… naturally, this should include the energy between heaven and earth!

Leon tested the full extend of his Divine Will as he faced the sky. The tranquility of the energy between heaven and earth within 200 yards of Leon was disrupted and stirred into being as they gathered to him like the gushing tide.

Such an ability to gather energy far outstripped any divine breathing technique in his collection. His meridians could feel the pain from the overabundance of energy flooding into his body as they made their way to the black vortex.

Leon bore the pain with gritted teeth as he wondered if there was a way to channel the energy into his black vortex directly.

As soon as he had that thought, a channel was opened directly at his glabella as the energy funneled through there like a twisting tornado.

The change in the sky did not go unnoticed to the palace inhabitants. All the palace guards and maids turned to look.

In the king's study, Heinrich paused his writing to look in Leon's courtyard direction. In one of the pill refining room, Grandmaster Don got distracted and another pill cauldron wen kaboom.

In the Guest Courtyard, the Supreme Elder opened his eyes.

"Did you sense that, Supreme Elder?" Princess Faelyn asked.

Supreme Elder, Haldir nodded. "Let's go take a look. I have not seen such a monstrous gathering speed."

Princess Faelyn agreed.

Back in Leon's courtyard, his eyes had already been shut as he focused in on his sea of consciousness.

Energy flood his black vortex as they were rapidly grinded, fused, and refined. As his cultivations rapidly rose, he could sense his mental strength decline even more rapidly!

In a short instance, he was already experiencing mental fatigue as the tornado of energy dispersed and ended.

Leon reopened his eyes with some regret.

"Haiz, just a little bit more and I would have broken through to the 9-star level." He lamented, but did not dwell on the matter. This sort of cultivation speed, although it was short, it was indeed quite frightening.

If he had such an ability back in the Divine Realm, perhaps achieving the Divine King realm within three years might not be impossible, provided that there was no bottleneck and he does not die to his own tribulations.

"An afternoon nap might be good." He lazily thought, feeling a bit sleepy. It was only midday though…

Leon soon shook his head out of that thought and took out a Soul Enhancing Pill. It was one of the last 7 pills from the batch of Soul Enhancing Pills he refined the first time a while back.

The Soul Enhancing Pill could replenish his mental fatigue and strength his soul, killing two birds with one stone. He felt he was ready to take another Soul Enhancing Pill.

In fact, Leon felt he could take quite a few Soul Enhancing Pills.

After comprehending the great law, his soul had undergone a qualitative transformation like upgrading from a rubber band that can stretch a bit to a rubber band that can stretch a lot.