Dual Cultivation God Returns

Wu Long and Zhao Xieren descended into a dungeon, as the former put a simple mask on – once again prepared by the Soaring Feather Trading Company this time.

It wasn’t the usual secure underground chambers housing important formations and places under the Oak Fortress itself.

No, this one was a newer facility, located under a neighboring separate small mountain located in the Spiritual Land of the Oak Fortress, a small fort of about ten buildings and a wall built atop to guard the exit.

It was isolated, reinforced, and heavily guarded because there were holding cells for prisoners and captives within. Walking through a passage leading to the part they were going toward, distant quiet voices could be heard. And as they approached closer…

“…! Quiet someone’s coming!”

A voice resounded in a dungeon corridor filled with prison cells on both sides, shushing the murmurs of quiet conversations that filled this place before that.

“I-it looks someone important is here…”, a voice came from the cell closest to the entrance, and this immediately prompted voices to call out, first one or two and then rapidly growing into many.

“H-hey! This is all a big mistake, a misunderstanding! I wasn’t trying to steal anything!”

“I was just drunk! I know I moved like a sober person, but my mind was muddled! Why would I go for your stupid pill?”

“I was bewitched! I wasn’t in the right state of mind! T-that Heaven Turning Pill is cursed, it bewitched me to try and touch it!”

“If you let me out I’ll never even look in the direction of the Soaring Feather Trading Company! No, I’ll kowtow three times whenever I see your banner!”

“I-I’m a member of a very powerful Sect! If you don’t let me go there will be hell to pay!”

“I can pay ransom! Much more than what was in my Spatial Ring! I have a stash!”

…

The whole dungeon corridor descended into a chaos of voices, some pleading, some making excuses, some threatening, some bargaining, and a plethora of other ways to try and get out of this mess they stepped into.

…

“I’m not like these people, I never even wanted to really steal! I was just wondering if your Protective Formation was really as good as people were saying!”

Wu Long stopped in front of the one who said that, raising his eyebrow, “Really? And how was it?”

“…! Eh? Ah! E~eehm…! I-it was great! T-ten out of ten! Would recommend! The best Protective Formation I’ve ever seen! Hahaha, people weren’t exaggerating after all. It was foolish to even doubt it! Seriously, please introduce me to the Symbol Arts Masters who installed it!”

Wu Long shook his head with a chuckle, proceeding to move forward as the jumbled mess of voices that slightly died down during this interaction erupted again.

But soon after everything suddenly turned silent in an instant. Zhao Xieren was slightly startled, and then noticing that the people around were still shouting, immediately understood that the sounds were isolated for the two of them only.

“So these are our catch so far?”, Wu Long asked, looking around and examining each person separately, though none took him more than a fleeting gaze to move past. He was not only shielding them from the sounds of the ruckus, but also not allowing their conversation out.

“Yes, they weren’t exactly hard to catch either, with the Protective Formation doing most of the work”, Zhao Xieren nodded, “Some of them were caught by Old Yen and Nie Guanting at the stage of planning though, pre-emptively”

“No one from the Crow King’s Nest yet?”

“There are a few, but they are unrelated rabble who tried their luck. No one sent directly as far as we know. Biren also didn’t give any warnings yet”

“Hmm, there’s no one particularly standing out among them… a pity”, Wu Long sighed, as he started reaching cells that were less full toward the back.

“Well, if they were dumb enough to try and steal while knowing there’s a powerful formation in place… “, Zhao Xieren spoke with slight reluctance, still not sure if this would ever produce the result that Wu Long was seeking.

“On the contrary, the more famous and powerful the guard around it, even if the treasure is slightly lacking, the more those of the Thief Guilds or those aspiring to join will flock to it”, Wu Long shook his head, “The Dao of Theft is strongly connected to difficulty of the theft, not necessarily the value of the item stolen, although that matters too but to a lesser degree, but those who practice it go for hard-to-steal targets mostly. That’s also part of the reason we revealed the formation in that confident and open manner, we had to provoke their ego, as well as to lull the guard of any experienced thief proficient in dealing with formations”

“Were you hoping to catch a famed thief, perhaps?”, Zhao Xieren asked after a bit of hesitation.

“Of course not, although that would have been a welcome surprise, but hardly likely for one to visit such a small continent”

“But wouldn’t a famed thief be able to bypass that formation, even if it is powerful, they are experts at dealing with ehm…”, he hesitated again.

“That’s the trick, behind the main formation that would deter most, but put famed thieves specifically at ease, I used additional hidden arrays called ‘thief catchers’ of the kind one wouldn’t necessarily be able to meet in Boundless Profound World, so I am fairly confident”, Wu Long reached the final few cells.

“Then…”

“I at least wanted a promising prospect who could be raised into a level of a famed thief”

“Are you really planning to raise a Thief Guild of your own?”

“It is necessary if I want to go against the now-four remaining Families of the underworld”, Wu Long nodded, finishing his inspection and making a disappointed sigh, and then turned back to Zhao Xieren, “Assassin Groups, Black Mercenary Halls, Slaver Guilds, and Thief Guilds – these are the four pillars of the ‘Families’ sphere of influence, with Death Arenas usually split between them and Pavilions as joint ventures. Not all Families have all four, but each always had at least two”

He then walked toward the exit again, “I’m not interested in Black Mercenary Halls and Slaver Guilds, they are the very lowest of bottom-feeder bunch that I’d rather actively crush anywhere I see them than rule. Of the two marginally cleaner options, we have a possible and developing answer for Assassin Groups already, but I’d like a Thief Guild as well, especially since the Hong Family who operated in these exact two fields is now in ruin. In fact, I liked their way of operating in the first place, which is why they were the ones I mostly had dealings with”

“Kwon Qianhong was making a ruckus calling them his mortal enemies coming for his wealth”, Zhao Xieren chuckled, “I wonder how he will react to our own Thief Guild”

“He’ll be jumping with joy”, Wu Long made a light laugh just imagining the scene Zhao Xieren talked about, “If they’re coming for us, of course they’re the worst of scum for him, but if they work for us and bring us more wealth…”

He didn’t finish but Zhao Xieren was already picturing they would be Kwon Qianhong’s new favorite people among the Eternal Duality Valley.

“But even if it is not to go against the Families. Honestly, we can do that with just Assassins alone. But it is also convenient to have skilled thieves on our side, for example in our upcoming conflict with the Silverleaf Trade Hall in the Iron Claw City controlled by the Bao Family’s Thousand Treasures Hall. As Cui’er pointed out, it would be a good move to steal their main treasure for the makeshift auction they put up against our main auction. Better yet if we steal their entire auction items lineup. We can then pawn it all off to our new allies of the Treasures of Sun and Moon Pavilion, not only earning some positive impression as good business partners, but also making some money on the side”

“I see, that certainly expands our options beyond just direct confrontation…”, Zhao Xieren nodded while stroking his white beard, and as they were coming out of the dungeons, flames of torches on the walls flickering in his eyes made him remember something, “The Ember Palm Pavilion was making a fuss lately again”

“I got the report”, Wu Long nodded, “Let them simmer for a bit more for now. They’re likely anxious because their ‘mysterious partner’ didn’t contact them about the Imperial Delegation arrival, which is a major development for them”

“Are you reconsidering your partnership with them?”

“The three we made a deal with certainly turned out to be more of a problem than an asset”, Wu Long sighed, as his initial set of successful moves on this continent, whether it was Ko Fuan or Ember Palm Pavilion, were now showing signs of complications, “You saw how their attitudes changed as soon as they made their cultivation progress”

“Truly shortsighted”, Zhao Xieren shook his head, “Just as Valley Master, I expected more of people who were sent here as their Sect’s representatives for an important conflict”

“It is a bit puzzling, but it is my fault for assuming they were going to send smart people to deal with something this big”, Wu Long chuckled.

The moves that were backfiring now were certainly made when they only arrived and thus had limited reach and information, as well as extremely limited options coupled with race against time, which put them in a passive and reactionary position, but Wu Long didn’t like using those as an excuse. He didn’t beat himself up as he certainly knew he made the best choices he saw at the time, but he also saw an opportunity to reflect on the failures.

He then asked, “What about the North Ridge Sect and Pale River Hall situation? The report said you were exploring a possible lead”

“That turned out to be a dead end”, Zhao Xieren sighed, shaking his head, “There was someone from the Imperial Delegation who was asking around what the two representative Sects of another Dynasty’s territory were doing here, so it looked promising. I followed that lead but he was told by another noble to focus on the two princes”

“He was stopped? From within the delegation itself?”, Wu Long stopped walking, turning to him.

“It did not seem to be an attempt at a cover up. The interaction and situation was very natural. Nor were there any other suspicious signs. But I can try investigating further…”

“Hmm”, Wu Long traced his chin with his fingers, as a certain idea came to his mind, “Yes, follow up on that. Reroute Old Yen and Guanting from thief hunting if necessary and make this a priority for the Thousand Eyes Palace. If it’s what I’m thinking of, perhaps I’ll need to make an emergency visit to the Wei Dynasty very soon”

“Understood”, seeing how much importance Wu Long gave this, Zhao Xieren’s eyes turned serious as well, he then asked, “Will you be present for the fight of the blind swordsman tomorrow?”

“Of course”, Wu Long nodded with a smile, “But I will be away for the rest of today”

After all, he hadn’t visited the Frozen Garden Palace for the week he was in seclusion, and since he was done with most of his schedule for the day, was going to spend the rest of it there.