Wu Long spent another week in the Fantian Kingdom capital in the company of three lovely beauties. Luo Mingyu and Feng Yi quickly noticed that he did not neglect or give them less attention when Ye Ling was there. There was of course more trust and deeper feelings between them, but it was clear that it was only because they spent that much more time with each other, and once time passed they would also have the same trust and deepen their feelings.
Luo Mingyu became interested in the Sword Dao as she was in the process of formulating her own Dao path, so she was learning about as much out of her sphere of knowledge as possible, including the Human Dao through Dual Cultivation and now Martial Dao through Ye Ling’s Sword Dao.
As they sat, discussing Sword Intent, Luo Mingyu was asking continuous questions like a child that only now learned about an exciting new area of knowledge and was eager to explore it.
“So… it is not an actual power, but the comprehension…”
She pondered, as Ye Ling patiently explained. Wu Long was sitting not far from them casually drinking tea with Feng Yi who wanted to spend as much time with him while he was there.
“Yes, in truth, once you get to my or Wu Long’s level of Sword Intent, you do not really need a physical sword since you comprehend the intention of the sword, and your body, your mind, and your Spiritual Qi become part of the sword. But in Wu Long’s case, he needs to at least reach Qi Manipulation Realm to do so. And above that we both prefer to still wield a sword and even have to if we need to get serious”
Ye Ling explained diligently.
“So…if you can imbue sword intent with your body does it mean you can do it with…”
As Luo Mingyu was saying these words her gaze turned to Wu Long, specifically to the area between his legs, as her vision vividly imagined the shape which was the most optimal on his body to do so. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝑙.
Wu Long nearly spewed his tea back while Feng Yi actually did.
“..kehek…khe….Mingyu!’
Feng Yi said with astonishment after she cleared her throat of the tea that she drank in the wrong way.
“…Ahem… while technically…yes, I could… but this sword is reserved for other purposes”
Wu Long dumbfoundedly said while he instinctively covered his crotch from Luo Mingyu’s sight as he could feel her imagining sword intent attached there.
‘This girl really might figure out her own Dao… this imagination is very rare… although I somehow do not want to know or have to do anything with her Dao now…’
He thought as he saw her innocently look at them. It seems she just thought of it as a thought exercise and did not find anything strange with this question.
Ye Ling was only laughing to the side as she too was astonished by this girl.
—
He did not cultivate with Feng Yi and Luo Mingyu since the former was still not emotionally ready after her recent loss and the latter needed time to digest the comprehensions of the Dao she had from the last time, as the first time was very impactful and brought so much new experiences and inspiration that it was a little overwhelming. Ye Ling was also still healing. Wu Long himself had only advanced recently, so even if they cultivated, he would have used it to cultivate his Spiritual Qi, and not to advance his cultivation base, since he needed to digest the advancements he made before.
At the end of the week, he asked Ye Ling to introduce Luo Mingyu to Hua Ziyan when they got back to the sect so that she would be familiar with her and could teach her the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art. He also told Feng Yi to think about it while he was traveling away if she wanted to travel to the sect. If she decided to, he would take her with him on his way back since he would be passing here again.
His little detour ended here, so he kissed his three women goodbye and set out to the next destination, the Tingren Kingdom, while Ye Ling took Luo Mingyu to the sect. Feng Yi had more work to do for now since the news that one of the highly reputable General Feng’s sons turned out to be a notorious bandit no doubt shook the stability of the kingdom, and thus would invigorate the mountain bandits who would try to take advantage of this turmoil to grow their influence.
To somehow alleviate her burden Wu Long conveniently disposed of bandits that had the misfortune of trying to rob him or anyone nearby, but was disappointed to find that most of them were so stingy they did not even have spatial rings, let alone a lot of belongings. But he was not discouraged, since his destination was bound to be very generous with donations and inheritances for him.
As he traveled south and reached the border of the Tingren Kingdom the winter got slightly milder. The Southern Sea he had to cross to get to the Wood Spirit Continent was the southern tip of this three-continent-world, so in this world which got progressively warmer the further south it went, it essentially had no winter, while Fantian, Gutian and Tingren Kingdoms were in the central part of the Azure Eagle Continent, so every distance traveled north or south would make one feel the changes in climate quite acutely. There was still occasional snow, but the temperature was not as low and the snowy weather was not as frequent. Though it was still milder than the storm.
He arrived at a relatively large city in the center parts of the Tingren Kingdom about a week from when he resumed traveling. As he collected information on the Supreme Master Pavilion he was planning to visit for their kind donations, and the kingdom in general he was not surprised to learn that they indeed practiced lust cultivation, and as their main technique no less.
They were generally frowned upon by other sects, but no one really touched them since they had seven Foundation Building Realm experts residing in the sect, including the current Sect Master and five Sect Ancestors. It was even rumored that one of their Sect Ancestors has reached the Core Formation Realm, but it was never confirmed, so it remained as just rumors. The sect consisted of only male members. It seemed that it originally was a sect with both female and male disciples but there were regular incidents, and the female population of the sect gradually shrank, until rumors prevented even new female disciples from joining the sect and it eventually turned into what it was now.
The Tingren Kingdom was not in this category, but the two kingdoms south of it had legal and normalized slave trade, and that is where they regularly got the cultivation furnaces for the whole sect, as they generally did not last that long and needed replacement. It seemed Supreme Master Pavilion was also in the good graces of the local royal family, so they got away with these dealings, and even cases of civilian women disappearing from time to time. Recently, there were those with influence who pushed for the slave trade to be legalized here.
‘Hmm, it seems the case of the serial killer that has recently been terrorizing the kingdom is separate from them since the royal family is not trying to sweep it under the rug but catch whoever it is’
Wu Long thought when he collected a little more information, as he assumed that the serial killer was related to the sect when he heard it first. But it seemed the serial killer targeted men and women alike, mostly government officials, and recently even killed a royal.
He was interested to find that whoever it was that was targeting them seemed to pick targets somehow related to the Supreme Master Palace, as the recently killed sister of the king was one of the most ardent supporters of the sect in the royal family, and the hardest to push for the legalization of the slave trade in the country. It was rumored that she used young men as cultivation furnaces to stimulate her root of longevity and maintain her youthful appearance.
Wu Long could see that generally the further from the Azure Eagle Empire, the less stable the country and less moral principles were upheld there.? The public order was inferior as well. The Tingren Kingdom was in a much worse state than the Fantian and Gutian Kingdoms, and he heard even worse rumors coming from the Jurong and Liugwei Kingdoms. It was always the case on the continent but it seemed that it got quite extreme in the last 100 years or so.
He could feel the shadows of the undercurrents that enveloped the continent in preparation for the time the Azure Eagle Empire’s Ancestor would reach the end of his lifespan.
As he collected the relevant details, he could sense hostile gazes from time to time, as someone began to notice that he was snooping around for information about the Supreme Master Pavilion which was a dangerous thing to do in this kingdom.