Dual Cultivation God Returns

The Feilin Continent was a place filled with incredibly rich Wood Qi, and breath of life.

If the Emerald Falls Continent was the land of eternal summer, this place was the land of eternal Spring.

It was raining as Wu Long, Nie Xiwang, Gong Liwei and Yuanfen arrived from the World Stone three days after departing from the Soft Meadow Continent.

He stopped before entering the World Stone leading to here, in a quiet and secluded place, to allow the beauties to join him for the final stretch of the journey.

They were wearing bamboo hats, which Yuanfen constantly innocently raised with her hand to look around, seemingly not really getting the disguising purpose of the hat, which, at the right angle, concealed the faces of travelers.

This innocent and curious look from under the bamboo hat looked incredibly cute to both Wu Long and the two beauties.

Even though it was raining, the sun shone through the clouds quite brightly. A light spring shower, typical to this continent all year round, was gently tapping their bamboo hats and cloaks.

The air was filled with a kind of special freshness.

Gong Liwei could feel her Wood Qi become invigorated, empowered by the ambient atmosphere itself.

They proceeded to move out from the small fortress surrounding the World Stone, paying the passage fee, and flew toward an enormously vast, but rather ordinary-looking city, standing amid open plains not far from the World Stone Fortress, with an enormous Sky Port, since this city acted as the Sky Port of the entire Continent, with Beasts of Burden constantly flying in and out in an almost unending stream.

There were also carriages and carts going in and out of the city’s multiple entrances, and large swaths of land beyond the city walls were filled with warehouse districts.

“Welcome to the Feilin City! Are you here to get treatment? I can recommend a…”

As soon as they passed one of the city entrances facing the port, they were greeted by crowds of people, all with names containing ‘clinic’ or ‘apothecary’ written in large characters on their medicinal robes, shouting toward people coming out of the gates to the city.

They were loud and very persistent, getting in the face while half-blocking the way.

However, Wu Long had finally gained the ability to use the Cloak of Perception, although with less mastery as Fen Baihu, but enough to slip through this crowd with the three beauties relatively unbothered.

“I-is this…”, Gong Liwei was taken aback at the sudden change in the atmosphere, not sure how to continue her question.

“Normal, yes”, Wu Long nodded, “They’re solicitors for small clinics and apothecaries, of the main purposes of travel here is to seek treatment or buy a medicine”

“Isn’t there the Medicine God’s Pavilion here though?”, she asked, implying that these small clinics likely couldn’t compete with the best Medicine Dao practice not only here but for several Star Regions.

“They’re not competing against it”, Wu Long chuckled, shaking his head, “Of course, those who could, would receive treatment there, but those are rare, and would usually arrive with an entourage, going from a flying beast of burden straight to a carriage drawn by a land beast of burden. None of these people would ever even glimpse a hem of their robes, let alone have a chance to talk to them”

He then added, with a slightly darker glint in his eyes that they didn’t notice, “Getting a treatment at the Medicine God’s Pavilion costs a small fortune at least, and emptying a national treasury in other cases. But even if you have money, you can still be turned away, as it also requires status and connections”

“That’s…”, Gong Liwei frowned, not liking the sound of that at all, while Nie Xiwang found another similarity between the two sisters that she liked.

“But that leaves room for other Medicine Dao practitioners, as you see”, Wu Long added to lighten the mood, “Though most of the ones here are smaller ones, there must be at least three or four medium-sized Medicine Dao practices in this city”

He then inwardly added, ‘Although there is a certain threshold of competence and fame a Medicine Dao practice cannot cross in order to not encroach upon the Medicine God’s Pavilion’s territory’

“I guess that makes the competition in this city pretty intense…”, Gong Liwei noted with a wry smile, still slightly dumbfounded by the barrage of solicitations at the city entrance.

“For smaller places, definitely”, Wu Long confirmed, “Places with reputation usually don’t need to resort to that though”

“So they specifically stand at the entrances for those arriving on foot, hoping to catch a clueless or lost potential customer…”, Nie Xiwang nodded, seeming to understand who these people were here for.

Wu Long made wry smile, understanding what she was implying, “Yes. There are a lot of sham clinics among those solicitors as well”

Both Nie Xiwang and Gong Liwei showed scorn at that notion, while Wu Long once again reaffirmed his attraction to these ladies.

He was fairly desensitized to this situation, almost unable to muster an emotional response after seeing it everywhere for so long. However, this visceral reaction of both gave him a breath of fresh air.

They went through the streets, arriving at a nice-looking inn, entering the courtyard.

“Perhaps, if you wish, we can try to compete with the Medicine God’s Pavilion once we garner enough Medicine Dao practitioners”, Wu Long added with a light smile.

“Eh? T-to compete with…”, Gong Liwei shrank her shoulders, feeling that it was too high of an aspiration, “I-… would at least want to open a practice that is able to provide good treatment for a fair price… if that isn’t too…”

However, even if she did not believe she could compete with someone called the Medicine God, she still believed she could do something.

Wu Long stopped, turning to her.

“Liwei, you don’t have to limit yourself, you can do what you want, and I will help and support your wish. If that is your wish, we can simply expand our goals of recruitment, not stopping at healers for our Sect but getting enough to start a separate Medicine Dao practice on the outside, as you said, providing quality treatment for fair price”, he spoke looking into her eyes as they widened looking into his.

“B-but that’s a lot of work and… and it’s…”, she spoke with slight hesitation.

He put his palm on her rosy cheek, shaking his head, “If it was truly hard for me to do, I would honestly tell you, you know I would”

‘Though I would still do it even then’, he then added inwardly.

And then continued, “But in this case, we are already building our Sect and there are many parts of it that do outward-facing work. Adding one more doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch, especially since we are already planning to recruit Medicine Dao practitioners and nurture a strong Medicine Dao culture within the Sect. Besides, who told you it would not benefit us?”

She smiled, nodding lightly, not sure how to express her gratitude and appreciation for how caring he is, and then suddenly rushed to hug him, as he locked her in his embrace with a smile of his own.

He then added as he patted the back of her head, “Oh, and speaking of competing with the Medicine God, it’s not that unbelievable. I cannot say that I could compare in practice, but in knowledge alone, I almost challenged his title once, which he evaded saying it couldn’t be a fair competition since I wasn’t a Medicine Dao practitioner, or even a Wood attribute cultivator”

Both Gong Liwei and Nie Xiwang widened their eyes at him, the latter adding while shaking her head, “I had to have expected something like this… but I still can’t get used to such things”

“Hahaha, that arrogant and pompous guy has been getting on my nerves quite a long time actually…”, Wu Long chuckled, “So if we can rattle him, I guess it’s something I will be rooting for as well”