Dual Cultivation God Returns

“Dear guest, you’re not making it easy for me”, emptying his wine gourd, Zhao Biren said with just a bit of complaint in his voice.

“Hah, that’s why I am paying you, no? To solve things like the dispute with that ‘old timer’ full of invaluable advice there”, Wu Long chuckled, turning to him seemingly enjoying the situation, “I tell you what, you do this right and I’ll pay you double of what we agreed on”

Zhao Biren’s eyes instantly became more lively, “Hahaha, Dearest of my guests, there’s no need to speak about such formalities… of course I’ll do everything to solve this matter…”

“What? You don’t want extra pay?”, Wu Long’s tone became even more amused.

“Ah… no… that is…”

Meanwhile, Hong Yue looked at this interaction with a glint of confusion in her crimson eyes, exchanging a glance with Hong Ye sitting on Wu Long’s lap, who returned a gaze full of playfulness. This fleeting, seemingly unassuming exchange between the twins, however, seemed to caused the former to observe the situation even more closely.

The Elder of the Righteous Path Sect, on the other hand, seeing Wu Long’s attention momentarily shift toward Zhao Biren, seized the moment to take a quick look at the crowd of spectators around, and clenched his teeth in frustration.

He also cast a glance toward the Elder of the Blood Skull Sect, still staying relatively hidden on the balcony of the second floor on the opposite side from Wu Long’s group.

Unlike the twins on Wu Long’s side, they didn’t seem to have that level of instant understanding of each other, so their eye contact lasted a bit longer, both seemingly gauging the reaction of the other.

“Khm, Fellow Daoist”, Zhao Biren, having finished his brief discussion with Wu Long, spoke in a louder voice, “As you can see my dear guest also has no appetite for a fight with you right now, so how about we solve this amicably?”

“That’s a lot of nerve for someone who inserted himself into the situation he had no business being involved in”, the Elder returned his gaze to Wu Long, for some reason this young man – at least he believed he was quite young – really irked him by now, “You can just back out of getting involved now, we won’t pursue this matter if you do – this is your last chance, think carefully about it”

“Says someone shitting his pants thinking of how to get out of this mess”, Wu Long dismissively waved his hand from side to side, as if chasing away an invisible fly.

“You!”, the Elder’s eyes flashed with rage as he pointed his finger at Wu Long. The Disciples around him also showed hostile gazes, shouting out their indignation at the impudent fellow who dared to talk like that with a respectable Elder of their Sect.

“D-Dear guest, please! Let me do the talking…”, Zhao Biren spoke in a pitiable, almost crying and pleading voice.

Wu Long only innocently shrugged, “He was talking at me, so I replied”

Changsun Yong, however, looked more and more surprised. Despite ‘making a deal’ with Wu Long, he didn’t really expect much to come of it. He still fundamentally didn’t believe it would make much of a difference. However, the Elder was now noticeably passive against Wu Long for some reason.

“Ehem…”, Zhao Biren cleared his throat again, turning to the Elder, though the motion seemingly made him dizzy, so he took a moment to actually focus his gaze on him, “Fellow Daoist… as you can…ugh… sorry, as you can see, my client doesn’t intend on backing down from protecting… eh… what was he protecting… oh! yeah… ehm… protecting that young man over there… I know you don’t intend on backing down from taking him either, but let’s be honest adults here, my client’s negotiating position is stronger than yours…”

The Elder maintained an incinerating gaze on Wu Long for a second more before shifting his line of sight to Zhao Biren, “And why would you assume that? Do you think your impudent ‘client’ has what it takes to take me on?”

“Even if he doesn’t, you can’t afford to start a fight with him now, do you? That’s just plain fact”, Zhao Biren raised his shoulders in a kind of innocent gesture, “The very fact you’re still talking to us now shows you’re vulnerable. If you could solve everything by force you would have by now”

This statement sent a ripple through the Disciples of the Righteous Path Sect, who looked at their Elder with disbelief realising there was truth to those words. The Elder, who maintained a poker face inwardly cursed at the inexperience of his Disciples who showed everything on their faces, inadvertently amplifying the effect of Zhao Biren’s words.

Meanwhile, Changsun Yong finally understood the reason for the uncanny feeling he felt that the Elder was too hesitant to act. It was the crowd.

The reminder that the Elder likely had some arrangement with those managing this place might’ve sobered them from doing anything reckless, but if a fight broke out, the momentary chaos gave everyone a perfect opportunity to make a covert move. Rather, some among the spectators preferred the Elder and Wu Long to fight in order to profit while they were busy.

The Elder, seeing that prolonged silence would only prove Zhao Biren’s words and worsen his situation, made a decisive expression, “You seem to be forgetting something, although your words are absurd, but even if that was somehow true, it doesn’t mean that your client shouldn’t consider the consequences. I am an Elder of the Lament Scripture Sect, here on official business representing an alliance of over a dozen other Righteous Path Sects. Even if your client won here, he would make an enemy of that alliance by opposing me”

This statement, however, didn’t produce the expected outcome as the whole crowd around them began laughing, with a few even shouting out.

“Hahaha, how typical of a Righteous Path bastard, always relying on the power of backing in every situation”

“He really thinks this shit will fly here”

“Nah, it just shows his desperation”

“This is the Crow King’s Nest, did ya forget? The place where no one asks questions… and most people are without face”

“How are you going to find him? Hope and pray he will return here in exactly the same mask after tonight? Hey! I am here, the guy who picked a fight with a Righteous Path Sect, came out in the open so you could find me and take revenge on me!”

Zhao Biren didn’t even bother to respond, allowing the crowd to fill the Elder in on the futility of this line of argument.

A touch of red colored the Elder’s face as he slightly uneasily looked around, and then once again turned his gaze to the Elder of the Blood Skull Sect.

The latter shook his head with a sigh, and finally moved to come down to stand next to the Elder of the Lament Scripture Sect, “You really made a mess here”

And then, ignoring the latter’s angry look, raised his gaze to look at Zhao Biren, “Hey Fixer, let’s not waste time on this nonsense here and talk openly as you wish… I made a deal with the Feather Warrior, obtaining his permission to do our business here. He should be here soon-…”

“I’ve been watching for a while”, at this moment, a voice came out from the crowd, which immediately parted to show a man, quite shorter than average coming through, “I’m sorry pal, if everything went as you planned, we would’ve looked the other way as promised, but I can’t help you with the Drinking King – he’s got the favor of the Crow King’s Right Guardian”

The eyes of the Elder of the Blood Skull Sect widened, and then, full of disbelief, shot toward Zhao Biren who stood with a rather silly slightly drunk smile, “Him?!?! You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“I don’t know the details, but it’s true”, the Feather Warrior sighed, also turning to look at Zhao Biren, “If it were the Left Guardian who I serve, maybe there would’ve been something that could be done, but alas. I’m afraid things would only get worse if I tried pressuring him”

The Elder of the Blood Skull Sect clenched his teeth, and turning to the Elder of the Lament Scripture Sect, spoke in a frustrated tone, “You’ve really got bad luck here, not because of who picked a fight with you, but because of his guide… you can try bribing him to not back that guy, but if you start a fight when he is on his client’s side, the Crow King’s Nest won’t back us – worst case they might turn on us instead”

The latter almost cursed out loud, seething with rage as he looked back up at Wu Long, staring him down.

“See? Just like I said before, you can’t be a miser when choosing a guide – a good guide will make your life so much easier”, Wu Long chuckled. He was facing Hong Ye on his lap, but the words were clearly meant for the Elder below.