Dual Cultivation God Returns

After the meeting, when Zhao Xieren was gone, the City Lord finally openly showed a deeply frustrated look.

“Father, that old guy at the end…”, his second son who remained in the hall along with the eldest, spoke up in light panic.

Ko Zhumen gave him an incinerating look to shut him up, “Stop panicking and be quiet, I can’t concentrate with all the noise you’re making… if you have time to bother me with your tantrums go train and hone your skills”

The second son dejectedly lowered his head, while the eldest smirked.

Both sons then stepped down from the elevation and turned around to face him, lowering their heads and making a fist and hand salute before going out of the hall.

The City Lord sighed, sitting some time in silent contemplation, and then stood up, leaving through the back door as well.

In the empty and completely silent hall, a rectangular piece of the floor seemingly peeled off, revealing it was a paper talisman which became translucent and blended into the air.

It flew up and followed after the City Lord, wedging in between the sliding doors to leave the hall and then quietly trailed after him keeping a distance, becoming part of a wall or floor from time to time.

However, at one point, a powerful surge of Spiritual Qi suddenly rose and instantly ripped the talisman apart, startling City Lord Ko, who quickly turned around.

His figure flashed to appear in front of the falling pieces of the talisman which were rapidly withering and turning to ash.

“How presumptuous…”, Ko Zhumen’s eyes narrowed, as he stretched his hand out, but caught only ash which eventually turned into fine dust and completely disappeared.

But along with his indignation, was deep caution as he looked around, and making a few hand seals, sent out a powerful surge of Spiritual Qi over the entire City Lord’s Manor.

Having made sure no other spying talismans were around, he took out a communication talisman.

—

“Interesting…”, Wu Long muttered, taking off his mask not long after they returned to the headquarters of the Soaring Feather Trading Company, when he was out of sight of the City Lord’s sons.

There was genuine surprise in his eyes, as well as slight disappointment at not being able to gleam into the Ko Family’s secrets.

“I guess it’s not going to be that simple…”, he sighed lightly.

“Do you want me to try checking what’s there?”, Fen Baihu’s figure gradually appeared next to him from legs up, walking down the corridor beside him so naturally as if she was there all along, her feet stepping in sync with his before her body fully materialized.

“No, you haven’t recovered enough of your strength and we never know what could be in there”, Wu Long shook his head, adding “besides, even if we could be sure it was relatively safe, we can’t risk exposing you in case there is a high level detection Formation. At least for now dealing with repercussions of that information spreading would be a bit too much”

Fen Baihu generally avoided spreading her consciousness, and by that extension, her presence, to areas where it didn’t flow freely and easily, which usually were sensitive areas with either a powerful Formation, powerful entity, or some kind of other interference, like the depths of City Lord’s Manor or the branch of the Obsidian Moon.

It was the natural precaution against accidentally exposing her, since the search for her was still very much ongoing, as Wu Long confirmed in the Palace of Secrets.

She smiled, noting once again his tendency to try and not use her powers, despite their convenience.

They came out of the building and went into a passage leading into the depths of the Soaring Feather Trading Company’s territory.

All of these were freshly built, as they were covertly buying out property around to expand the initial small branch while Wu Long was away in the Wei Dynasty, and only after he returned began the construction, finishing up right in time for the announcement about the auction.

“The core issue is my cultivation level”, Wu Long noted, “Whether it is covert actions, or outright confrontations, I am starting to reach the limits of what I can do in Boundless Profound World while still being at the Nine Mortal Realms, so I better get busy as well”

“You’re saying it as if you’ve been slacking off”, she chuckled, “You might be able to hide how hard your mind works almost all the time from others, but to me it’s obvious”

“Working hard and getting results are different things, unfortunately”, Wu Long replied with a wry smile, “Getting the Fire Rune was big, but it was mostly chance that allowed me to gleam into it… I can’t rely on a chance of some unpredictable, accidental breakthrough happening in regards to the Iron Rune as well”

“Perhaps… Lady Yuanfen can help?”, Fen Baihu asked, causing him to pause his steps, turning to her with a surprised look. Seeing that expression on his face, she added while shrugging her shoulders, “It’s not certain to what extent she understands when being asked, or if she is even able to help, but it wouldn’t hurt to try…”

“Yuanfen, huh… perhaps you’re right”, Wu Long nodded with a bit of uncertainty, and as they continued walking pondered out loud, “There’s certainly a lot of mysteries around her, but if there is one thing that is clear is her goodwill…”

“Well if you want to call it that”, Fen Baihu made an amused chuckle, since everyone in the Dao Family who saw the eyes with which Yuanfen looked at him, could tell it was way beyond a ‘goodwill’.

He made a wry smile, shaking his head.

A bit later they entered the private area of the Wu Family in the very depths of the territory.

And as they went through one of the passages, saw Hong Yue walking in the opposite direction.

Both Wu Long and the white-haired beauty exchanged subtle glances, greeting each other, as they passed by.

Fen Baihu smiled, and after they were far away enough from her, let out a light, amused laugh, her tone becoming teasing, “What was that look she gave you? Someone’s warming up to you I see…”

“I’d say she’s still pretty distant, but we’re getting along better than before at least so there’s some progress”, Wu Long let out a short laugh as well.

It was very subtle, hard to notice since it happened gradually, and thus without a sharp contrast, but Hong Yue’s tone of voice became softer toward Wu Long in everyday interactions, and she was no longer on guard around him.

More than anything, there were now times, when she briefly removed her mask even when he was present, which was impossible to witness until the trip to the Wei Dynasty.

Although she still ate separately from everyone else, but that too, perhaps was not for long.