Novel Full Chapter 942 - 942: Cosmic-level...
The sharpness and determination in Hong Yue’s gaze somewhat dimmed, but didn’t disappear completely as she watched Wu Long stop not far from her and look toward the city under the gradually dimming summer sky.
This courtyard was somewhat elevated, allowing one to look over part of the cityscape, which was now dyed red by the gradually setting sun.
His tall figure, standing in his usual leisurely pose with his hands behind his back, reflected in the beauty’s eyes against this backdrop.
“I didn’t ignore the suggestion from Ye’er, but I should’ve explained in more detail”, his voice was steady as always, with no hints of displeasure that she worried about, rather, there seemed to be a hint of warmth in his tone, “It’s definitely a valid idea, but is quite hard to pull off without my involvement”
Hong Yue’s eyebrow went slightly up in confusion at this answer, and then, just as she was about to clarify, her eyes widened just a bit, and a realization appeared in their crimson, “You’re… no wonder I thought you were abnormally passive all this time…”
Wu Long nodded, “The fact is, I already made a lot of concessions with the personal involvement of my ladies in this matter, as well as my followers. Normally, the Valley would be operating almost independently, while we control it from behind the scenes unlike now when we’re taking charge directly”
“And even your family limits their involvement…”, Hong Yue muttered in low voice with slightly lowered head, a thoughtful expression on the upper half of her face not covered by the mask.
Wu Long chuckled, turning to her, “Yes”
‘Certainly, if every situation required him and his family to move personally to solve it, he would be constantly tied up here, and there wouldn’t really be a point in creating and putting so much resources and effort into this Sect in the first place…’, the white-haired beauty nodded, her eyes flashing with a light of ruthlessness as she thought further, ‘and… it’s better to nurture this kind of independence from early on, coddling will only lead to dependence…’
Meanwhile, seeing her nod, he continued, “I knew Fairy Hong Yue would understand. Since there’s an opportunity for the Valley to grow in a relatively safe situation where I’m here to absorb any major risks, it would be criminal of me to let go of it”
Her eyes showed surprise yet again, and then a wry smile appeared on her face under the silver mask, as she narrowed her eyes, “You give me too much credit, Valley Master Wu. I only noticed the motive to push independence, not the motive to give an opportunity to grow. However… you really know how to make people feel good talking to you, is that how you sweet-talked Ye’er?”
“Hahaha”, Wu Long’s eyes showed amusement, “You’ve seen most of our early interactions with your own eyes. How would I have so much time to talk when we were so busy swinging blades?”
“Eh? T-that was really it?”, Hong Yue was caught off guard, and then sighed, shaking her head, adding in a half-whispering tone filled with exasperation, “That girl… did she really fall in love amid those sparse few meetings?”
“Haha, you can ask her for details later”, Wu Long answered vaguely, but it was enough for her to know there was indeed a secret behind her little sister’s infatuation with this man under such peculiar circumstances.
At the same time, she understood from his tone that she wouldn’t get a direct answer from him, not without asking Hong Ye.
However, since she was satisfied with the explanation for what she sought him out for in the first place – and this topic was just her going off on a tangent out of curiosity – she nodded and was about to excuse herself, when Wu Long added, “Fairy Hong Yue, what do you think of the auction?”
She stopped her movement, and after a moment of thinking, replied, “The amount of powerful auras in the city has increased exponentially. It seems the allure of this Heaven-Turning Pill is far greater than what I anticipated…”
Her crimson eyes flashed with slight vexation at herself for misjudging the value of the pill to such a degree.
But then she suddenly felt she was too harsh on herself, since the culprit behind making almost everyone underestimate how precious the Heaven Turning Pill truly was in the eyes of the cultivation world, was right in front of her.
‘This guy… Who would think it was valuable to such an extreme extent from the casual way he talks about this pill? He was only interested in how profitable it would be. Then again… it seems he really doesn’t see it as much more than a good way to make money…’, went through her mind.
She then suddenly realized that while her thoughts run amok, she paused, and was staring into his eyes all this time.
She almost gasped, forcefully suppressing a strong reaction, but wasn’t able to maintain eye contact, turning her gaze away to look at the city as her cheeks peeking from the silver mask revealed a light blush.
“Khm”, she cleaned her throat with a cough, and concluded, “In any case… now I’m afraid we gathered a bit too much attention. This continent already resembled a barrel of explosive powder before all of this, not to mention now when we doubled if not tripled the amount of powder. It seems we quite dangerously added a whole lot more power to the inevitable explosion that will follow”
He smiled, following the direction of her gaze and returning to look at the city filled with powerful auras along with her, “Mm, Ye’er was right. You really have a keen sight, Fairy Hong Yue”
Hong Yue crossed her arms under her chest, raising her eyebrow, “I’m glad you think so highly of me, Valley Master Wu”
“Hahaha, please don’t take offense, I wasn’t trying to test you. I apologize if my remark just now sounded condescending. I was just reminded of what Ye’er said, and made a careless comment”, Wu Long chuckled, his sincere tone soothing the white-haired beauty, while he continued “The reason I asked is to see if you noticed anything I overlooked or didn’t notice”
“You?”, Hong Yue’s eyes showed surprise again. At the same time, she was inwardly surprised at her own reaction. Her mind stirring, ‘It seems, without even noticing it, I started thinking there’s no way this man can make a mistake or fail in any way…’
“What’s so strange about that?”, meanwhile, a wry smile appeared on Wu Long’s face, reading disbelief in her eyes, “I can miss and overlook things, and even if I didn’t miss anything there’s always benefit in seeing another perspective, since each perspective is unique. Even if the information is the same as what I already knew, without anything new, just the way it is perceived can be useful. I usually rely on my ladies to share their points of view, and often receive a lot of insights…”
As he explained, Hong Yue’s mind stirred as she realized he was completely sincere. He wasn’t just spouting humble words, but really expressing his view.
However, Wu Long’s next words brought back Hong Yue’s attention, “…but when I asked Ye’er about the auction situation last time, she told me she couldn’t be bothered with thinking so much about things, so I should ask you instead, since you’re the one who usually cared about the bigger picture ever since you two were little”
“That… girl…”, Hong Yue half-groaned half-sighed, feeling a strong urge to cover her face with her palm as her eyes closed with a frown.
His smile widened as he looked at the frustrated twin with amusement.
“You…”, Hong Yue’s crimson eyes opened, a strange look appearing in them, “…you avoided answering how you seduced Ye’er, since it seems she’s the one who should be sharing that, but, surely you can answer how she managed to get you to reciprocate?”
Hong Yue’s voice sounded a bit strange. In truth, she was mortified as she realized something.
She suddenly realized her own mindset. It was like a flash of enlightenment that suddenly pulled away a curtain and allowed her to see something she wasn’t able to see before.
Without even knowing it, she spent all this time acting like an older sister appraising the prospective husband of her little sibling, acting like even with all of Wu Long’s outstanding qualities, Hong Ye was just too precious to accept him so easily.
Even as she discovered more and more incredible things about Wu Long – which only made him even more unfathomable – and as his impression in her mind grew more and more amazing, her overwhelming bias and love toward her little sister made it seem that not even he was worth Hong Ye.
It had nothing to do with rationality or logic. After all, these were not conscious thoughts, but something deep within her heart that she didn’t even realize herself.
As the realization dawned on her at this moment, she suddenly saw that her attitude toward Wu Long all this time was rather unnatural. However, if she saw her approach toward him through this lens it all made sense She realized that she was unconsciously playing an overbearing sister-in-law who nitpicked everything about her little sister’s husband.
Only now did she realize why, subconsciously, no matter how incredible Wu Long was, it never felt like he was ‘enough’. And no matter how much her impression of him grew, she remained rather ridiculously skeptical.
And, now free of this subconscious bias, she instantly saw how absurd it all was.
She could vividly imagine Hong Ye’s expression as she told Wu Long those words, and her mind churned with humiliation, ‘What?! You “couldn’t be bothered with thinking so much”?!?! You stinky little girl!!! Here I am treating this guy as if he doesn’t deserve you, and you… you… you!!! Aargh!!! This is so embarrassing!!!’
Her whole face began heating up, as she recalled how she behaved so high and mighty around Wu Long from the position of a sister-in-law and juxtaposed it to Hong Ye’s usual behavior and overall attitude, now seen from a cool headed perspective and without the idealized lens of a doting sister.
Hong Yue’s gaze looked down, not having the courage to look him in the eyes. Everything from her face to her ears peeking in between her white hair gradually reddened.
Right now she felt that, perhaps, as a price of playing an overbearing sister-in-law – even if it was unconsciously – she should be on her knees, begging this man to accept her little sister instead.
However, his reply caused her mind rushing with all kinds of thoughts to freeze, “Of course I can answer, it’s not even that hard of a question. Just look at Ye’er, how adorable is she? How could I resist her?”
Hong Yue’s eyes shot up to look at him, opening wide with shock.
For a moment, which felt like a long time to Hong Yue, she just stared at him with a dumbfounded look, and a rather blank expression. And then, a single thought ran through her mind, “Ah… this guy… no matter who he is otherwise or in other aspects… when it comes to women, he’s… an incredible… unbelievable… cosmic-level… airhead”