When Wu Long woke with Shen Min in his embrace he felt her soft breath on his chest and the sensation of her soft and flexible body against his. He smiled at her peacefully sleeping face and waited for some time, taking in the blissful sensations.
He could not yet start increasing his cultivation base again, so what actually improved during his cultivation sessions was his Spiritual Qi. Shen Min, on the other hand, was able to cultivate but since her Extreme Yin Qi was so strong she was not able to advance in levels with his Yang Qi for now.
Shen Min woke up feeling content and happy. As she saw his eyes looking into hers her heart skipped a beat and she felt a warm and fuzzy feeling envelop her.
They lay on the bed for some time, enjoying each other’s warmth, talking and laughing before getting up.
As they came out of the inn they felt the still cold wind of the first day of spring. The weather did not change much, but the atmosphere subtly changed as it felt like a change happened in the kingdom. They went to have breakfast at a restaurant nearby where he told her that if she finished hunting lust cultivators before he came back she could then head to the Yin Yang Unity Palace, and he also notified Ye Ling about her with a long-distance communication talisman.
He received a message back with news of how everyone was doing. ｂ𝚍ｎｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏｍ
It seemed that Luo Mingyu was very popular in the sect, but she flatly rejected any advances and mostly communicated with female disciples. It also seems she became very close with Hua Ziyan as they were closer in age and both were Wu Long’s women at around the same level of cultivation.
Hua Ziyan quickly learned the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art and was further greatly benefitting from their conversations as her understanding of the techniques and cultivation rose, while Luo Mingyu gained from their conversations what she was most interested in, knowledge about Dual Cultivation for her understanding of the Dao and techniques that could help her make Wu Long happy in the bedroom. Wu Long chuckled when he heard how strong Luo Mingyu’s determination was in that regard, but it also made his heart warm.
He was a little worried about Hua Ziyan as she seemed to have a misconception about what their relationship was, but he decided to wait and observe for some time more so as to not impede her personal growth. He could resolve the issue by talking with her about it but that would rob her of her chance to break through this new challenge independently. Though he would of course interfere if he saw no improvement or any complications after some time, he very much did not want to take away her chance at mental realm growth, as those were very precious, especially in the earlier stages when one was still young and their cultivation level was not too high. He still asked Ye Ling to keep an eye and maybe provide very subtle guidance if she saw it necessary.
Ye Ling had fully recovered and was now focused on readjusting her cultivation to that of a Sword Cultivator again. She was determined to become a sword master whose dream did not break on the way this time. In her past life, she had plenty of talent and potential to go a lot further on her way of cultivation, but her journey was cut short since at a very crucial moment she became entangled with Wu Long, and eventually fell in love. The time she lost helping him mend his soul was the most important time for her but she gave it all to him nonetheless. Wu Long’s resolution hardened as he swore that this time he would not be the reason she fell off her path to her rightful place, but instead support her with everything he had so that she could go even further.
The sect had a little uproar when it was discovered that they somehow lost six elders at some point in time, which was not a small loss for a sect with around 500 elders. There was also some tension in the atmosphere, but as always the Sect Master did not respond in any way. It only seemed that she was frustrated lately and Wu Long chuckled when he heard this.
He was completely at ease about the safety of the sect, and more importantly, his women since Ye Ling was even stronger than him at the moment. Now that she had her memories and experience, coupled with her higher cultivation base she could wipe out three Supreme Master Pavilions without so much as breaking a sweat. Granted, she had to be more conservative with spending her Spiritual Qi than him but she was gradually making up for that with Spiritual Qi War Art, as she of course knew it since she was the one who taught it to him in the first place, it was a widely used technique after all.
When Shen Min heard from him that there was a sect of Dual Cultivation where she could learn the knowledge that could help her channel her passion and express it to him in bed, as well as that Hua Ziyan and Ye Ling there were willing to teach his other women the said priceless wisdom her eyes flashed with excitement and anticipation. Wu Long also saw some impatience from her, prompting a chuckle from him, he knew that the lust cultivators whom she was about to start hunting down all over the country were in bad luck, since their deaths would come faster. He warned her not to be too hasty and thus careless, but the anticipation in her eyes did not diminish.
He spent four more days in the capital with Shen Min, until the Yang attribute medicines he ordered previously arrived at the Soaring Feather Trading Company. During this time they simply went on dates each day, not caring about the gazes from people as they tasted street food and laughed while talking. The weather very gradually started to become warmer as spring winds blew bringing new changes and the earliest flowers started to come up from under the snow.
The new hope that this country now had could be felt in the streets, invisible but palpable. Thus their dates were that more enjoyable as the uplifted people in the street stalls they visited teased them as a young and cute couple, prompting a happy laughter from Shen Min as Wu Long smiled at her. This peace and happiness made him ponder a little, as he was prompted to introspect on the profundities of life ever since he was thrust into this small world.
He did not notice the gaze of a young plain-looking girl who was brimming with excitement while looking at him, following not far behind them. In fact, none of the people around her noticed her presence, but at a certain moment when she got closer to them, Wu Long turned his gaze right to where she stood, prompting her to freeze as her eyes widened. He looked in that direction for some time, as he suddenly felt the urge to do so, but his perception did not catch anything out of the ordinary there and when Shen Min asked him “What’s wrong?” he simply shook his head with a smile and they continued their date.
The young girl exhaled with a shocked expression on her face, and then her eyes became filled with even more excitement as she suddenly closed in the distance to the couple with a playful smile. There was a challenging expression on her face now saying ‘Do you see me now? how about now?’, but when Wu Long suspiciously looked in her direction again, she stopped.
“Haa~, maybe I am cutting it a little close, I need to calm down a bit”
She then said with a wry smile as she looked while Wu Long and Shen Min resumed their date. She did not follow them this time and disappeared, as her figure later could be seen on the roof of a tall pagoda tower overlooking the city.
—
When Wu Long received notice that his goods arrived he went to the Soaring Feather Trading Company. After he received his ordered items and paid for them he also gave the regional manager a scroll that was encased in a container with several talismans on it. It was a special sealing technique that would destroy the scroll if opened without knowing the specific way to do so and without a password that served as the key. This was to be delivered to Yu Huan, whom Wu Long already taught the way to open such scrolls and discussed the passwords with beforehand, as he would need to pass her new knowledge in a secure way.
He received a message from her not long ago as she finished digesting both the first scroll and the additional scrolls he left her in case she learned faster than he returned. He could only marvel at what heights in alchemy she could reach if she also had the support of a brilliant Dao Cultivator like Luo Mingyu and access to higher knowledge.
When he was done with his business with the trading company it was time for him to set off and resume his journey.