Dual Cultivation God Returns

“Boss!”, Kwon Qianhong made a fist and hand salute, lowering his head with a solemn expression on his face, “I am the echo of your command, the shadow of your glory. Where you walk, I kneel and follow! I am-…”

“Stop testing my patience and go do your thing”, Wu Long, sitting down by the table, cut off this impassioned speech, covering his face with his hand and massaging his temples with the thumb and middle finger, while Old Yen and Nie Guanting were dying in muffled laughter, standing behind the money man.

“But Boss! I-…”, Kwon Qianhong was seemingly still too emotional to just back down. It seemed that nothing could shake him from the desire to continue to express this outburst of loyalty.

“Should I trouble Luxiao with those three secondary auctions after all?”, Wu Long muttered as if talking to himself, and noticing a sudden silence, uncovered his eyes to see an empty spot where Kwon Qianhong was, while the latter was already in the door.

“Boss! I love you~!”, he exclaimed when he was already almost out of sight, narrowly avoiding a wooden sandal that struck the door as he completely disappeared.

“Haa~”, Wu Long sighed, and then after a few moments in silence shifted his gaze to the two, who flinched and hurriedly started to try and suppress their smiles, “It’s good you’re having fun”

These words spoken in a sincere tone caused the two to audibly gulp, as any need to suppress previous laughter disappeared.

“Relax, it’s not sarcasm”, Wu Long chuckled, retrieving the wooden sandal, wearing it back and standing up, walking to them “You did good work today, which I value”

Their eyes widened, and then filled with pride and boosted morale. Old Yen allowed himself a modest smile, while Nie Guanting made a wide grin, straightening up his posture to become even taller and broader.

Meanwhile, Wu Long continued, “Normally, I’d like to give you a few days off, to blow off some steam, to reward your work, especially since you’ve been at hard work pretty much non-stop since we came to the Boundless Profound World, but this month is going to get pretty intense, and Qian’s going to need your support”

Old Yen nodded, “As soon as we announce the secondary auctions, in the minds of many observers, they would become test runs for the main auction. So in a way they are as important as the main auction itself… which means the other side will try to do everything to disrupt them and ruin our momentum”

Wu Long smiled, as usual, glad to have someone as quick on the uptake as Old Yen, “Yes, and that covert work of countering those efforts is right up your alley, nor would I be as confident entrusting it to someone as you two”

His last words brought a new sense of pride in both of them, and at the same time, reinforced the notion that they needed to work hard, since keeping his trust required for them to continue to be reliable.

“Don’t worry about the days off, Boss! Besides, until the conflict on the continent is settled, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to relax properly even if I had a day off”, Nie Guanting chuckled, causing Old Yen to nudge him with his elbow for being a bit too nonchalant with Wu Long.

“Haha, no need to be so uptight, Old Yen. I prefer you all speak honestly, besides Guanting knows when it’s necessary to keep up appearances”, Wu Long let out a light laugh, tapping Nie Guanting’s shoulder.

Even if Wu Long preferred candid talk, it was because he knew that his followers also understood the importance of outward perception.

None of them showed any familiarity or spoke out of line when they were in the presence of someone who should be seeing Wu Long as a figure of authority, be it friend or foe.

Wu Long then added, “Now, while I am grateful for the sentiment and understanding about the days off, I cannot just let that slide, or let you go empty handed, so for now I’ll reward you with these instead”

He raised both of his hands, which were empty.

For a full minute of complete silence, nothing really happened, as the two stared at his empty hands with blank looks, their silent periodic blinking very gradually increasing the slight awkwardness of the mood.

However, since Wu Long had a straight expression, not saying a word, they followed suit.

But when the second minute was almost up, and it was increasingly hard to understand what was happening. And while Old Yen hesitated, Nie Guanting scratched the back of his head, thinking he was not understanding something profound, that Old Yen supposedly understood, “Erm~…”

And then, a bit of dark mist appeared around Wu Long’s palms, and the two finally realized what was happening.

After dual cultivating with Fen Baihu in recent months, Wu Long was close to creating a secondary Celestial Core, which brought closer his plans to use it instead of Spatial Rings, while using the other one as he did now, for multiple purposes, including possibly isolating opponents like he did with Li Weifang, since those two uses were not really compatible.

This increased the necessity to master the use of the ability to store and take out things out of his Mystic Realm, which prompted him to practice more.

This brought him to an idea to start using it for everything that did not require speed for emergencies, basically leaving only his weapons and some number of various talismans in the Spatial Ring.

It would force him to use it more often, and add a sense of urgency to learn… was his thought.

After about 10 more minutes, which went by in complete silence as all three of them had stone-like faces, there was a dense dark mist around his hands, and then it quickly dissipated, leaving two jade slips.

Enjoy the story by reading on *.

The eyes of both Old Yen and Nie Guanting revealed a glint. They could guess, but now that they saw the jade slips, it was certain. These were new techniques and skills.

“Thank you, Boss! This is a hundred times better than days off!”, Nie Guanting exclaimed, happily receiving his jade slip.

Old Yen reverently received his jade slip with both hands, lowering his head in gratitude, “Thank you, Boss”

“These are techniques I made specifically for you two, an improved version of what I was planning to give you before, that I modified with your unique traits in mind”, Wu Long added as they sank their spiritual sense into the jade slips, causing both to widen their eyes as they looked at him.

“Alright, that is all”, Wu Long concluded, sending off the two before they started getting emotional or thanking him more.

Remaining in the room alone, he heard a tinkling laughter, as ethereal white mist appeared beside him.

“Hehehehe~… what’s wrong? 12 minutes 27 seconds… it’s a big improvement~”, Fen Baihu’s hands materialized from the mist first, sliding up on his chest, to hug him as the rest of her gradually appeared, her eight tails, appearing last, swayed playfully as she looked into his eyes.

He made a wry smile, wrapping his hands around her waist, holding her even tighter against him, while thinking he really had to put more effort into improving.