Cai Yin was still conflicted. Even if she was certain about the fact that the Supreme Master Pavilion had to be eradicated, she could not simply decide so for the royal family, since that would be infringing on the authority of the king, her father.
“As I told you, I only need them to power the formation, so your personal people, as well as people of some of your supporters, as you must have the support of at least one army commander I assume, would suffice”
“You mean…”
“First strike the root, and once it is gone the king’s hands will be free to support you”
Wu Long explained his simple plan, which was a lot easier than getting boggled down by the royal court intrigues.
She pondered for some time, and then, after a few more minutes of hesitation, broke the silence again.
“When do you plan the attack?”
“As soon as you can ready your men”
“Then a week should suffice, but with such large movements and the fact that Teacher was connected to them and is now dead… they will probably be ready”
“It’s okay if they are fully prepared, it is even better that way”
Wu Long said, as attacking a sect that is not prepared will cause a lot of people to scatter, while a sect that is ready for a major defense will be nicely grouped up, and most of the people will be assembled in protective fortifications. This will save him the trouble.
“I…I cannot agree without thinking this through, since if you fail the kingdom will fall under the wrath and retribution from the Supreme Master Pavilion”
She said, as she truly could not make such a big decision on the spot.
“I will await your answer in a city near the Supreme Master Pavilion’s Spiritual Land”
After Wu Long answered she nodded, and the meeting concluded there.
Wu Long and Shen Min went to a restaurant, and after going into one of the private rooms, sat down in front of each other for a meal. She was already accustomed to seating like that, as they did so while on their way to the capital all the time. Once the waiter brought everything they ordered, he told them that they should not be disturbed, and after the servant left placed a talisman on the door, as several more flew out oh his hand and placed themselves around the private room. She looked at him with surprise and confusion.
“You did not seem eager to talk to the princess”
Wu Long suddenly said while sitting down, causing her to flinch.
“I…I don’t know why… I got the feeling that I should not”, she answered truthfully, as when she had the impulse to talk to the princess, she stopped for some reason.
“Hmm, a feeling huh”
Wu Long said, when suddenly a sword appeared in his hand, and a sharp aura enveloped the small room. Her eyes contracted, one of them turned darker, eventually turning gray. His killing intent made her completely and absolutely sure that a sword strike was coming imminently, thus making her react and break the shell to ready for a desperate last struggle.
Two steel circular weapons appeared in her hands and she already raised them in front of her. But she froze when she realized that he was not doing anything, and sitting there comfortably, the only thing being different is him holding a sheathed sword in his left hand. The killing intent that she felt in that instant so acutely and vividly also disappeared like a cloud of smoke that simply went past her.
“It is nice to meet you, Shen Min”
He said with a smile, as she looked at him with wide eyes.
“H..how did you know?”
“I did not at first, but the moment you realized that the princess’s teacher was manipulating her so that she would not be able to deal with the Supreme Master Palace and the radical faction, your emotions got rattled…” 𝘰𝑣𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
He said trailing off at the end but she could guess that it was the moment he saw the real her. Shen Min looked at him with caution and suspicion. She could guess that the killing intent earlier was a way to force her out, but she could not figure out his intentions.
“If you want to control it you will have to learn to control your Yin Qi which is special, powerful, and difficult to gain control of”
Wu Long said, and the surprise in her eyes intensified.
“Y-you know what this power is?”
While she did have the Dual Polarity Extreme Yin Physique, she did not actually know anything about it and was using it purely by instinct, as well as a fair amount of trial and error.
“I do, and can teach you a bit about it. I must apologize for using such a brute force method to meet you though, but there was almost no other way, since it seems you have quite the poor control over it… if I am guessing correctly, you cannot stay as your true self for long before you return right?”
When Wu Long asked she nodded, and then after some time of hesitation explained, while Wu Long inwardly filled in the blanks with his assumptions.
Her physique awakened since she was consumed by despair when she was betrayed by her family and then was thrust out into the world with nowhere to go, and as she was in denial, wanting to escape this reality her physique acted upon her intentions, and cast her consciousness inside while the outer shell lost most of the pain and grievance from those memories, as they were subtly altered.
Her outer shell then joined the secret guards, while her complete consciousness was trapped inside. Gradually the pent-up feeling of frustration at not being able to help her benefactor, the princess, as well as the hostility to certain individuals who were secretly acting in favor of the Supreme Master Pavilion which she resented for her fate was accumulating inside the outer shell. These emotional outbursts of the outer shell allowed the real her to surface at certain moments, momentarily gaining control over her physique. But she was fundamentally not able to control it and was a prisoner, trapped inside her inner consciousness by her own physique.
She was able to exert a subtle influence on her outer shell, like the time she stopped herself from running away from Wu Long at night since his goal was in line with hers, and stop her from saying anything to the princess, since the outer shell’s memories were subtly different from what really happened, and she would have caused suspicion from Wu Long as the princess would expose those discrepancies. Though she ultimately was exposed anyway.
“So you killed those government officials since your outer shell was repressed huh”
Wu Long said, and after a few moments of staring at him she nodded with a defeated expression, as she already anticipated that he guessed her identity as the serial killer. Her outer shell was fundamentally still her. Unable to do anything she wanted, feeling utterly defeated when she learned more and more secrets of the radical faction and was more and more disgusted by them but powerless to change anything in her current position in the secret guard when she could not even choose who she wanted to serve, her hostility and the helplessness of her outer shell grew until they found an outlet in her real self surfacing back out.
“C-can you really teach me control over it?”
She asked after some time, as it was extremely vexing for her to be trapped inside while a shell of her walked around cluelessly, causing her more frustration by her naivety. It was like watching a more naive version of yourself make blatant mistakes and lapses of judgement that could be avoided, and aimlessly wasting time when it could be used effectively.
“Hmm, there are two methods that I can use to help you control your Extreme Yin Qi, one is a long process in which I teach you the fundamental theory and you gradually gain control over it…”
He started while looking in her eyes.
“…and another one is a lot faster, by still teaching you the knowledge, but after that stimulating your Extreme Yin Qi through intimate means”
He said, and her eyes opened wider.
“… Why are…”
She wanted to ask him why he wanted to help her to this extent but the feeling of already having asked this question caused her to remember the scene not long after they met, and her words trailed off.
“You are cheating”
She finally said, somewhat rebukingly. He was now trying to ingratiate her to him, by helping her, thus cheating in his courting of her as she naturally would be more vulnerable.
“I never said I was a good man, only an honest one. I am interested in you and thus am willing to give you a helping hand. I will not do anything you do not want me to do, and will still teach you the knowledge you need to gradually be able to control your physique even if you refuse the faster method”
Wu Long said with a smile that made him even more handsome, and her heterochromatic eyes looked at him intently in silence for a good minute. Finally, a sigh escaped her.
“I… I will choose the faster method…”
She finally said, as Wu Long’s smile became even brighter.