They bathed for some time as she felt the comfort in her exhaustion and in the fact that she was now cared for and cuddled.
He did not have the time to teach Shen Min the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art, as her willingness to become his woman and craving for a passionate embrace happened in quick succession and a little out of the blue, so he simply did not have the time. But he did not need to cultivate her Yin Qi after their passionate act.
When Luo Mingyu cultivated with Wu Long while she circulated the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art she reached the second layer of the technique just as Wu Long and Ye Ling did before, forming a bond between them, but the difference was that after a few days, she was able to comprehend another part of the second layer, and taught it to him, that allowed Wu Long to circulate the technique while in the act with a person who did not use Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art or any compatible dual cultivation technique. Thus he did not need to separately cultivate his partner’s Yin Qi after, cultivating in action even if she did not circulate the same technique.
Previously he did not cultivate at the moment since the Yin Qi released was minimal in the restaurant and he wanted to give her time to change in the carriage so he deliberately left it.
Shen Min’s Pure Yin Essence as well as Yin Qi were enormously potent as she was a Revolving Qi Realm practitioner with an Extreme Yin physique. He easily broke through to the 5th level of Qi Condensation and still had more than 70% remaining. .
The problem was that he could feel that if he raised his cultivation base any further his foundation would become unstable. He improved too rapidly in too short amount of time. So he redirected it to the Spiritual Qi War Art and received an enormous boost in both the quality of his Spiritual Qi and its reserves. There was now extra insurance for him if he went against tough opponents.
He wiped her with a dry towel as they left the bath and she wiped him in return as some strength returned to her after resting in the bath. She was still sluggish and exhausted even if she recovered a little so they went to bed right after. He cuddled her in his embrace and she went to sleep more comfortably than she ever had, feeling warm and safe in his hands.
While it seemed like Wu Long was vulnerable near enemy territory during their passionate time he actually was very much secure. As he passed through the town before, while committing his massacre of Lust Cultivators he stealthily left talismans all over the place, and he also did so while they went through this inn to the room. The whole area of this town was under his surveillance and he also placed a few emergency protective talismans around. They were not good enough to thwart anyone at Foundation Building Realm, but enough to give him time to prepare.
While Wu Long and Shen Min snuggled in an intimate embrace the whole town around them fled as far away from here as possible, with only the inn owner and his wife being the exception as they were driven by some kind of conviction even if they feared them.
The couple held this inn open for a very long time and as long as a customer was resting in their inn they could not just leave. That was their pride and conviction, something not everyone could understand.
Even their servants fled the town, while the couple simply paid them their wages, even throwing a little extra on top, and let them go.
In the morning, the middle-aged woman served their breakfast herself. While the middle-aged innkeeper went to brush the snow from the road in front of the inn. Wu Long looked at the middle-aged couple and saw them smile at each other, as a wondrous fascination appeared in his eyes.
They were normal mortals, with no cultivation base, and they looked exactly like their ages. The vicissitudes of time on their faces told the story of hardship, struggle as well as happiness. It has been many years since they tended to such work, but old habits from when they just started operating this inn were still deeply ingrained in them.
A light of appreciation appeared in Wu Long’s eyes as he watched them find some humor in their current situation and even chuckle to each other at how they looked tired from a little work.
Wu Long? and Shen Min stayed in the inn for a few days, as he taught her the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art, which would also dramatically improve her control over Yin Qi.
During this time Wu Long snuck into the vicinity of the Supreme Master Pavilion a few times to check the location and make some preparations.
In teaching the technique he was again only able to rely on her own comprehension, but she was quite good in that regard, so she soon mastered the first layer. It was on that same day that the people sent by the princess arrived.
There were about forty people, and as they entered the town and saw the state it was in since no one bothered cleaning anything up except around the inn, their eyes widened and they looked at Wu Long with shock on their faces.
“I only touched Lust Cultivators”
Wu Long said, when they looked at him with questioning gazes.
“Where are your people?”
They asked, as he simply smiled.
“You do not need to worry about that, I guess the fact that not an army but you arrived means the princess did not agree”
“It is not that the princess did not agree, but she was countered on her every move, she was not even able to assemble the troops as the radical faction started spreading rumors that she was readying for a revolt”
“I see”
Wu Long nodded with understanding, that was truly an effective way to stop her from mobilizing any army.
“But, as you told the princess that you only needed her troops for a formation, she sent this”
They came prepared, as they brought with them load carriages filled with Spiritual Stones.
It was a special ore that naturally absorbed and stored Spiritual Qi that was used to power formations and very rarely to cultivate in lands deficient in Spiritual Qi. Most people did not bother cultivating with Spiritual Stones since the Spiritual Qi in the stones would become stale and less vibrant with time without movement and interaction with other energies, and therefore unsuitable for cultivation.
So its main function was to power formations and become energy sources for various artisan professions such as forging, alchemy, etc. For example, the formations installed in Sui Luxiao’s office were all powered by spiritual stones that were kept in a separate place.
Their use for cultivators was mostly akin to charcoal for mortals. The main difference was that it was reusable, as once the stone would be out of Spiritual Qi it would begin a slow process of absorption of Spiritual Qi from the surroundings. Thus most organizations would have designated places where emptied spiritual stones would be placed in batches. Sects who had rich Spiritual Lands would even rent out space in their spiritual land for such storages as the recovery of the spiritual stones would become much faster there.
“Excellent, that should do the job”
Wu Long smiled, as he did not expect the princess to do this. The reason he did not ask for just spiritual stones but for troops was because he could not gain anything from the troops and thus would not cause suspicion of trying to scam her by asking to gather them. Spiritual stones on the other hand were a resource, and he could just pocket them and leave if he was lying.
There were also blankets and medicine that Cai Yin thoughtfully sent for the women confined and used as cultivation furnaces who would hopefully survive the carnage.
“I already installed the talismans required for the formation, so you can just come with me to a designated spot where you can place the spiritual stones”
Wu Long said, and they started to proceed into the Spiritual Land. The formation Wu Long prepared as any decent formation would actually also gather the Spiritual Qi in the surroundings to strengthen and then partially power it, but it required a jumpstart that these spiritual stones would provide. When they arrived at the spot they could see the Sect protective formation dome in the distance as it was already activated.
“They went on full alert when I laid waste to the town nearby, and they were already warned by the spies in the kingdom that someone had their eyes on them, so they are prepared”
Wu Long explained as the people sent by the princess looked at Wu Long with shock. The Supreme Master Pavilion did not know the scale or the identity of their enemy so they did not do any careless moves, choosing to harden their defense and wait for the strike, or for more information about who was targeting and with what forces. Such caution would be normally praiseworthy but it only played in Wu Long’s hands as he did not have to deal with them in small groups.