Wei Lan was not able to think of anything she could offer Wu Long that someone of his caliber could value. Since her thoughts reached a dead-end as she passed through the sect and saw the scenery her thoughts began to naturally drift. 𝘦.𝘰𝘳𝑔
Previously she did not have the time to properly process the loss of everything she believed in, or more accurately, she was busying herself not to think about it.
It was only two months ago that she went through the same places she passed by on her way now, living the peaceful life of a Grand Elder, guiding her disciples and subordinates, and feeling content. And now that she looked at the empty and deserted alleys, buildings, squares, and training fields, she was finally feeling a profound loss. The feeling of betrayal from some of the people she most respected and trusted hit her like a wave.
There was also no place she could call home now, and no people she could call her family like she did with her sect. The anxiety that was brought by the uncertainty was slowly creeping into her heart.
While she was overwhelmed by these thoughts she entered the small gate of the courtyard and detected profound waves of Spiritual Qi from the inside of the building, stopping before the door and waiting since she knew that he probably detected her approaching long ago, so he would eventually come out. Disturbing a cultivator in such moments was poor manners since they would have lost a part of the progress they made if they were interrupted in the middle of the cultivation session.
After only five minutes Wu Long came out to greet her with a smile on his face.
Wei Lan looked at Wu Long with slight surprise, since his cultivation session stopped too abruptly.
“My apologies if I disturbed you”
“Not at all, I always welcome a beauty coming to visit me”
He said with a charming smile and she rolled her eyes.
“Still, you didn’t have to cut the session short”
She forced herself not to react and stayed on her point.
“Hm? Oh, I used a special technique to lock the progress in place, so I can just restart where I finished before”
“Eh? … There is such a godly technique?”
“You are right that it is godly”
Wu Long chuckled since this technique truly was created by a ‘God’ title holder, the Battle God, who also created the Spiritual Qi War Art. This technique allowed one to pause cultivating to deal with any threat that came when they were meditating, and then resume after with no loss of progress. However, unlike the Spiritual Qi War Art, this technique was harder to comprehend even at the 1st layer and thus not as widespread.
“I see… ahem, I did not properly thank you before… Not That!”
As she was saying that he opened up his arms and she responded instinctively. But looking at his obviously disappointed face and posture as he dropped his shoulders a bit when his arms went back down she somehow got the urge to laugh. She knew that he was not really sullen, and was only making that face playfully, but she still could not fathom how such a powerful person could be so weird.
She chuckled, but quickly stopped herself. He returned to his normal posture and smiled at her as she tried to contain the smile from earlier.
“You are quite persistent”
“I am, I was promised a warm welcome, I am still waiting for that”
He said with a playful sullen voice as she grunted and looked up hoping that the heavens would grant her the power to deal with this man.
“So, what are your plans now?”
“…”
She suddenly understood that she almost forgot about her melancholy from before because of his antics. She looked at him with widened eyes, and a warm smile touched her lips.
“I don’t know, and to be honest, that makes me uneasy”
She said, surprised at her honesty and willingness to talk about it herself.
“If you do not have any particular plans you can go to my sect since they will welcome you, a Foundation Building Realm expert with open arms. It will be better than uncertainty and once you calm down, if you do not like it you can leave later”
He said with a smile.
“Y-you have a sect?”
She somehow thought that someone as mysterious as him was more of a lone wolf or at least with a secretive organization, but to think he had a sect was a little bizarre.
“Yes, I am a disciple of Yin Yang Unity Palace”
“Y-You are a disciple?!?!”
She shouted, and then covered her mouth but still looked at him with eyes full of shock.
“Then what would I be, an elder?”
“I thought you were the sect master…”
“Hahaha… no, the sect master is someone else”
“…wait a minute…the Yin Yang Union Palace, the sect of the Great Seductress?!?!”
It seemed there was no end to shocking revelations coming from Wu Long.
“Hehe, it seems our sect master is even more famous than I was told”
He chuckled at her while nodding.
“Of course she is famous, the younger generation may not know but I am actually her peer in generations…though I could not achieve the same heights of course… but do you even know why she is famous?”
“Hmm, I think I was told that she seduced a lot of men…which I must doubt…”
“She did not seduce a lot of men, she is called that because she helped countless women seduce the men they wanted. Her only criterion was that both the woman and the man she wanted to seduce must be a beauty and a handsome man, and she did not care much about anything else. She also specified where they would then Dual Cultivate…though no one knows the reason.
But the stories later got jumbled and distorted, and thus the rumors you mentioned spread through word of mouth in later generations. But most influential men who have good looks and are of the older generation still fear her since she could try to help any woman with good looks seduce them”
Wu Long heartily laughed when he heard Wei Lan’s explanation as now he was able to solve a puzzle he was slightly stumped by earlier.
“But wait, her sect practices Dual Cultivation, are you saying…”
When he nodded Wei Lan simply shook her head, it seemed she exhausted all of her reserves of surprise at this point.
‘To think he was a Dual Cultivator…with that prowess? and that knowledge in formations? hm?’
“Wait? Did you learn formations from the Great Seductress?”
“No, but I guess she is quite accomplished in them as well, I noticed a few very interesting formations in the sect and was wondering how such a small sect had such a powerful grand formation…regardless, you have nowhere to go anyway, so that might be an option”
“What about you? What are you going to do?”
“I will stay here for a few more days, as I want to make some more progress with the Yang Medicine that I have accumulated.
‘…and since I also want to check out that snake as well’, he added inwardly but did not voice it since that would derail the conversation.
“Hmm, then as the host who promised to welcome you, I will stay here with you while you are in the sect, and then…I think I will go to Yin Yang Unity Palace for the time being…”
She said glaring at him while saying the first part of her sentence, and relaxing at the second part since she managed to prevent any teasing.
“…where I will be the one to give you a warm welcome”
“You!”
“Hahaha”
As she relaxed her guard Wu Long snuck in his own ending with the words ‘warm welcome’ sounding particularly emphasized. When she realized his maneuver to bypass her defense she glared at him again while he only laughed.
“Haa~ whatever”
She only shook her head and after some more idle talk, she left while Wu Long returned to cultivating.
Two days later, Wu Long finished cultivating what he purchased from the Soaring Feather Trading Company and his Yang Qi and Yang Root reached considerable progress, while also achieving a slight improvement in his body tempering.
The Golden Yang Dragon Body he devised did not have any limiters on improving either one, so he could prioritize whichever was more crucial at the moment without limiting how much he could improve the other later. Moreover, if the fire snake did have a Neidan, he would achieve dramatic improvement in both. Just as he was about to set out to the depths of this Spiritual Land, he was startled, as he felt three people with bonds to him rapidly approaching the sect.
He came out to the sect entrance and soon saw four figures approaching with astonishing speed. First in the front was Ye Ling, and behind her were Hua Ziyan, Luo Mingyu, and Shen Min.
Wu Long’s eyes first widened, and then a wide smile appeared on his face as happiness spread in his eyes.