Dual Cultivation God Returns

The City Manor was located at the heart of the city, part of it climbing a small hill, from which one could overlook the surroundings.

Its territory was vast, hosting the main building in the South, barracks of the City Guards to the East, an administrative district – which was regularly visited by citizen through a separate public gate in the West, and the private Ko Family manor in the North.

The sun was on the rise on the horizon when Zhao Xieren and four masked men arrived at the central gates in the South, leading to the main building.

They were escorted inside, passing by elite City Guards who were stationed everywhere, as a quite blatant display of power.

‘One would think we’re meeting some Emperor’, Zhao Xieren inwardly chuckled, ‘Though perhaps, in his mind he already is one…’

He was soon proved right, when they arrived in a large hall with a chair, falling just a bit short of a throne.

There was also elevation of three steps to it, not coming up to the four steps of a king or prince, or seven steps of an Emperor, but still above one or two steps usually reserved for Governors or City Lords.

City Lord Ko Zhumen, sitting on the throne in a relaxed pose, smiled seeing the reaction that momentarily flashed in Zhao Xieren’s eyes.

He was flanked by his four sons standing on the stairs of the platform, mirroring Zhao Xieren’s four masked companions.

“City Lord”, Zhao Xieren made a fist and hand salute, without lowering his head, causing the former to slightly frown for just a brief moment.

“Welcome to the City Manor, Daoist Zhao”, City Lord replied, only briefly looking over the four masked men without much interest, and not finding anything noteworthy, returning his gaze back to the elderly man in the front, focusing his attention on him.

A short period of silence followed the initial greeting, as the two stared at each other, having met face to face for the first time, but having mutually studied the other side indirectly for at least the past year.

Both were probing the other, as if studying their own first impression of meeting in person, and both recognized something familiar in the other.

Distinct character traits accumulated over a long period of time by someone with authority over a limited domain, which was technically subservient to a larger whole, but had a significant degree of independence.

Pride and authority, but inseparably mixed with suppressed insecurity.

But while for Ko Zhumen it was just a vague feeling, the source of which he could not pinpoint due to not knowing his opponent’s background, Zhao Xieren had an advantage in that regard.

This difference resulted in Zhao Xieren very subtly emerging as the victor in this staring contest, since the City Lord was the fist to break silence.

“Are you still a free agent employed by that Trading Company, or have you chosen to join them on permanent basis?”, City Lord Ko asked, seeing that it was Zhao Xieren who came for the Soaring Feather Trading Company after all, not an official representative.

“I am still a free agent, Your Excellency”, Old Man Zhao let out a polite, conversational chuckle, “Although they treat me well, I don’t have plans to settle in one role or place for the foreseeable future”

“Is that so?”, subtle interest flashed in Ko Zhumen’s eyes, “Is your next employment decided?”

“I have a few commitments lined up after my business here with the Soaring Feather Trading Company is done…”, Zhao Xieren nodded, but made sure to show an amicable look, along with interest a merchant would make upon seeing a potential client, “If Your Excellency needs my services…”

City Lord Ko raised his hand to stop him, with a slightly awkward smile, and a light, polite laugh, which sounded slightly troubled, “Hahaha, I understand, I will think about it. Forgive me, I didn’t mean to create an impression that I was looking for your services, but perhaps later”

“Hahaha, it seems I was a bit too eager, my apologies…”, Zhao Xieren very subtly, almost imperceptibly narrowed his eyes, ‘This sly fo-… this snake, you absolutely did!’

The moment he tried to use ‘sly fox’ as a derogatory term, even if just in his thoughts, a certain beautiful lady’s silhouette flashed through his mind, sending a chill with shivers through his spine, making him rethink his choice of words.

At the same time, he clearly saw that the City Lord was fishing for this reaction from Zhao Xieren before, while his attitude after he got it was of slight awkwardness and complete disinterest, as if it was the latter that misunderstood his intentions on his own.

“Now, for the main issue at hand”, Ko Zhumen nonchalantly shifted the conversation, “Normally, a Trading Company would seek permission in advance when conducting such a large auction, since it concerns the city’s security and public order…”

He made a slight pause, but seeing that Zhao Xieren was not hurrying making excuses continued, “… but I understand that you must’ve been wary of the information leaking before it was time”

“Thank you for understanding, Your Excellen-…”

“However…!”, City Lord’s voice slightly rose, countenance became solemn as his eyes narrowed, and then continued in normal volume, but keeping the intense tone, “…creation of an offense-capable Grand Formation within the city bounds is another matter entirely”

For a moment, Zhao Xieren was silent, while thinking ‘Haa~… and I wanted to be wrong…’, and then replied in neutral tone, “The area of offensive capabilities of that specific Grand Formation is extremely limited, Your Excellen-…”

“I don’t care how limited it is, I will not allow it”, the City Lord shook his head, cutting Zhao Xieren off.

“It will not reach even 50 meters out, that is the standard to be able to keep a protective perimet-…”

“Standards in this city are what I set”, Ko Zhumen spoke in a calm and measured tone, full of authority.

His eldest two sons, standing on both of his sides, who had rather bored expressions before, came alive, amusement and glee appearing in their eyes. It was apparent that they admired their father’s ability to exert authority and domineering presence, enjoying the feeling of power it gave.

The third son and the youngest son, Ko Fuan, standing a bit further away on both sides of their father had solemn expressions.

Old Man Zhao made a heavy sigh, “Forgive my bluntness, Your Excellency, but with all due respect, at this point in time, the highest authority in this city is His Highness the 9th Imperial Prince of the Wei Dynasty, who represents the rule of his Imperial Father, and thus the law of the land trumps your word”

As expected, the City Lord froze and then showed a flash of rage deep in his eyes. His expression became devoid of emotions, cold and distant.

“You dare-!”, the eldest son standing to the right stepped forward, raising his voice with anger and pointing his finger at Zhao Xieren, but was quickly put in place by his father simply raising the palm of his hand from the armrest of his chair without moving the arm itself.

Zhao Xieren tried to not provoke the City Lord by mentioning the Wei Dynasty, but when it came down to this, he was left no choice.

However, since he had to do it anyway, he made sure to mention the Emperor right away, not just the prince, limiting Ko Zhumen’s ability to dismiss the notion entirely.

A wrong word from City Lord here, and he could be considered to be in open rebellion against the Wei Dynasty, with Zhao Xieren as the witness.

Causing him to choose whether he wanted to gamble on being able to get rid of Zhao Xieren here and then pressure the Soaring Feather Trading Company to submit, or was it better to play it safe for now, postponing the issue.

“True…”, Ko Zhumen finally spoke after a long period of silent contemplation, “…, it seems my concern about the security of the city clouded my judgment for a moment. The threat of such a Formation deployed within city bounds without any prior notificaion is a direct challenge to authority of the City Lord, and as you correctly pointed out, the glorious Wei Dynasty”

“My apologies for the blunder about notifying the City Manor, Your Excellency”, Zhao Xieren lightly countered, “It will not happen again”

Seeing that Old Man Zhao was still not giving in after this change of approach, a pressure of Essence Ignition Realm began slowly rising in the room toward Zhao Xieren and the four masked men.

‘So he chose to probe after all…’, Old Man Zhao thought with an inward sigh.

And at this point, another, far more powerful pressure rose from one of the masked men, countering the City Lord whose pupils shrank to the size of a pinhole. Cracks appeared in the air around the masked man, as if the masked man was just a reflection in the mirror, which was suddenly cracking.

“Ah, forgive me, it must’ve slipped my mind, there was a rather famous person who recently joined the Soaring Feather Trading Company with me here to greet you”, Zhao Xieren made it look like there was no exchange of cultivation pressure, speaking in a light conversational tone.

The man releasing his pressure took off his mask, and a carefully crafted, fragile illusion around him which was already cracking, shattered with a clear sound of breaking glass, his appearance changing to an old man with white hair and beard.

“Greetings, Your Excellency… the name’s Ci Han. I have a bit of a reputation, and thus thought it be appropriate to make a formal greeting… a pleasure to make your acquaintance…”, Ci Han’s tone was quite bland, even dismissive, as opposed to the polite words he was speaking, his eyes staring at the City Lord with open hostility.

“Hahaha, so this is where the renowned Master from the Feilin continent has disappeared to… it is an honor for my city to become the new home of such a famed craftsman as yourself…”, Ko Zhumen spoke in a more amicable tone, releasing the pressure, prompting Ci Han to reciprocate and release his pressure as well.

Zhao Xieren and the City Lord then exchanged a strangely normal small-talk type of conversation.

Both sides acted completely normally and ignored the power play, seemingly refusing to acknowledge it happened, including the part where Ci Han was obviously disguised.

This created a slightly surreal feeling in the four sons of the City Lord who exchanged looks.

At the end of the conversation, the City Lord added, seemingly just recalling the official reason for their meeting as some unimportant detail, “Ah, about the issue of putting items on auction…”

He signed with his hand to his son, who used a communication talisman, and a few servants came in with large, intricately carved boxes.

They opened the lids, displaying various treasures within.

“I will send my two youngest sons to oversee the appraisal and receive confirmation”, Ko Zhumen spoke, signaling he was finished with this conversation and the small details were to be decided without him.

“It is an honor to have City Lord participate in the auction”, Zhao Xieren made a fist and hand salute, concluding the meeting.

—

“Heh, you were right, that man was prepared to go to the bitter end”, Wu Long spoke on their way back, limiting the sound to the three of them including Ci Han.

“He was likely seeing whether we would submit to his authority first before probing if he could force the issue… “, Zhao Xieren sighed, “If we’d agreed to remove the Formation as he demanded, he would’ve offered his protection instead, essentially assuming control over us…”

“Who knows what he thinks? What stood out to me, was that he might’ve been surprised to see me, but something tells me he haven’t renounced his ambition to subjugate us…”, Ci Han spoke, finally freed from the frustrating restriction of having to stay silent and act very carefully, since disguising his level of cultivation was extremely hard, resulting in a very fragile illusion.

“Which is why there was value in showing your presence to him instead of keeping it secret”, Wu Long calmly nodded, “I was only suspicious before, but now I know for certain… that reaction he showed after initial surprise… that City Lord still has some more tricks up his sleeves, tricks that even his sons are not aware of…”

“Haa~, he could’ve been far more successful if he cooperated instead of trying to dominate…”, Zhao Xieren shook his head, since it was a waste to spend effort bringing under submission those who never planned to rule over this continent in the first place, only using it as a temporary stop.

“It seems to me, that he is way past that point… for him, he would either seize everything, or burn it all”, Ci Han shrugged his shoulders.

“The winner takes it all…”, Wu Long smiled, “If he wants to play that type of game, I guess he’ll have to face the consequences such a game brings… it’s his choice after all”