Another week passed, Edrick heard news that Yi was also investigating what happened in the nearby village after, though, there wasn't much physical evidence left there, but he did leave the usual signature behind so that the prosecutor would know for sure the crimes were connected.
By now, the meat he had collected from this little trip had all been cut into pieces, all the good bits separated and stashed in the icehouse, his training with the two elders was going fine, if getting drained and exhausted whilst being poisoned and subjected to intense pain could be considered fine, Jingyi was proving to be a great maid, one could hardly tell that she was craving bedtime affection at all times.
Though, soon enough, as per the agreement made between the elders, Edrick would have to start training under another elder, though it did not mean that what he was doing with Ting and Ku would stop, it probably would be a bit more rigid in schedule as the other three elders did not know him personally, and probably were not interested in him in the same way as the two women.
As for his other pet projects, Muxing seemed to be showing signs of pregnancy, rather strongly at that, it seemed like carrying the child of a sasquatch was a rather draining affair, after all, Edrick had really went all in, and although he didn't know if it was an exact science, as far as he knew, he had went all sasquatch when he sent his seed straight to her womb, so for all intents and purposes, although technically impossible normally, Muxing was carrying a child that should be mostly sasquatch.
In fact, when with her, he could feel a sort of slight resonance with what was just beginning to grow inside of her, he felt that it was growing rather quickly, but it seemed right.
In any case, Muxing was definitely pregnant, it wasn't a matter of instinct anymore, it was a fact, her periods were not coming, and she was being hit by the effects of pregnancy so clearly that even the blind could see them, so he had to spend a bit more time taking care of her everyday, she still desired him though, and by now, he was nearly fully white-furred when with her, the change in colour seemed to startle her at the start, but now she was just plainly interested.
And this girl seemed to now place intellectual curiosity and sexual gratification as intertwined concepts, as whenever something seemed to catch her attention, she would get aroused, Anoteros honestly did not know where that had come from, so he had to assume that it was always there and that he had accidentally uncovered it.
As far as personal projects went, there was also the matter of seducing Yin, which he had not advanced much on, he could manage to create situations where he could meet with her with the aid of Hui, who was always eager to be of help, but as far as seducing went, Yin was a tough nut to crack, she actually had a strong character and personality, as well as defined goals and morals, so Edrick couldn't come off too strong on her from the get-go.
So right now, he was just chatting her up and getting to know her better, naturally, another big hurdle with actually seducing that girl was that she seemed to be more interested in other women, but she did not seem to be completely indifferent to men.
She was a cultivator after all, and one that stayed in line, so Yin was a big appreciator of strength and combat prowess, that was the avenue he was planning on using to get to her, but currently, it was still far from being realised.
Sipping tea from a cup, Edrick just sat casually in a chair as he looked at his latest project, currently locked in a nice cell, imprisoned against her will, but not treated poorly, quite the opposite in fact, but nice treatment was of little use in making Yaling feel any better about watching her brother, and lover, be killed right in front of her eyes, before being abducted and locked up in a hidden portion of the residence's underground.
Sneaking her in was pretty easy, Yaling was easily coerced into acting like she was just a regular girl that he had picked up to work for him, though, despite being a pretty and cute young woman that had been kidnapped by Edrick, nothing had happened to her even after so long, or rather, Anoteros had not done anything to her.
The idea with her was a bit more sophisticated than that.
Right now, he was allowing Fanqia and Luxuli to test a few things on her, which was a good way to see how much they had progressed, although his first wife wasn't an array or alchemy master just yet, she had managed to brew up some basic, textbook potions, and similarly, Luxuli wasn't anything of a grand mage, especially since getting books on magic in a land dominated by cultivation was a tall order, but she had the basics somewhat learned.
Furthermore, they worked very well together, in fact, they went along splendidly.
His fourth wife was a very special kind of demon, and thus, her internal energy, such as mana, was especially geared toward anything that had to do with eroticism, so despite not having the capabilities to actually form any clear spells, she could still do some things thanks to having innate effects to work with.
And by uniting, Fanqia and Luxuli managed to create a potion that greatly increased one's libido and sensitivity, it acted more like a drug however, and they had been testing the dosage on Yaling from the moment she had been imprisoned here.
Being a sheltered girl, she had basically no resistance against those sort of substances, and even low amounts made her lose touch with rationality, if he wanted to, Anoteros could have done anything to Yaling, but he did not.
He was not intending on keeping her around as a maid, servant or anything else…
"My Lord, she is a cute girl, are you not intending on using her body?" Luxuli was happy to see the results of her efforts bear fruit, but she did wonder what the point of this testing was since her husband did not seem to want to have his way with that girl, if it was just for the sake of trying things out, anyone could have worked.
"Maybe Lord Anoteros wants to turn her into an obedient pet instead? He has us and a loyal maid now, so a pet addicted to our potion would fit right in, don't you think?" Fanqia could say some rather scary stuff with a smile on her face.
"Ah, that makes sense!" not that Luxuli was any different in that regard.
"That is indeed a good idea that Fanqia has, but no, she is more of a gift, or rather, she should allow me to have a nice show to watch…" the lord-husband stood up and patted his two wives on the head "...Keep that dosage in mind, we will increase it for when the day of that show comes, for now, how about I reward you two for your hard work?"