They cleaned up the battlefield and picked up whatever valuables the enemies had. After which, they embarked on the ship.
They had quite a lot of room to spare as they lost a considerable portion of the crew, so Wu Long and the others had no problem finding a place to sleep.
Wu Long took Luo Mingyu to his new cabin and sat her down on the bed, sitting down next to her and putting his arm around her shoulder, holding her close to him while the crew was getting the ship ready for departure.
“Mingyu, you are rushing again”
“… But, everyone is being useful… and only I…”
Luo Mingyu said somewhat reluctantly, and her words trailed off at the end.
“Hmm, I never said you or anyone else needs to be useful. Not to mention, your strength lies not in combat”
“But if I am unable to even protect myself, I will only be a burden during fights…”
“Fighting is not the meaning of our lives, Mingyu”
As he said this her eyes widened. She turned her head to find his eyes tenderly looking into hers. Unlike Hua Ziyan, who had to make the step herself, a Dao Cultivator like Luo Mingyu could be guided a lot more openly, since their mental realm expansion depended more on open discussions and understanding.
“You may think that fighting is an important part, but it is only one small facet of our journey in life. Remember, what I told you about Dual Cultivation?”
“It was originally, like Dao Cultivation, a path of peaceful prosperity?”
“Yes, and I am fundamentally a Dual Cultivator. I fight when I need to and will not hesitate to kill those who do me harm or displease me, but fighting never was the sole meaning of my life”
He chuckled at the end as even at the height of his past life, he was not able to find what was the meaning of his life.
“But then, why did you tell me about Equilibrium Dao?”
“It was to expand your horizons, not to stir you in the direction of becoming one. I will not stop you if you really want to become adept at combat, but if you just want to be useful, which is not even required of you, and which you already are, forcing yourself to become someone you are not is not the right way about it”
He replied, and she lowered her head since it seemed like he saw through her clearly.
“I… I don’t like hurting others…”
“I know, which is why I am telling you this”
“But if I cannot even properly defend myself, someone always has to stay behind with me, wouldn’t that be decreasing our combat potential? Not to mention… a smarter enemy would target me to make everyone’s movements tied…”
“Hmm, if it is just protecting yourself, you don’t need to become an Equilibrium Dao Cultivator, as you will eventually become one of the safest people around”
Wu Long said with a smile, and after she looked at him questioningly he chuckled.
“Did you think the only thing that the Extreme Yin physique gives you is more powerful qi and natural charm? Your Dark Phoenix Extreme Yin physique is incredibly rare and precious.
Once it manifests at the realm above Nine Mortal Realms, you will gain the Body of Dark Fire, meaning that any attacks will go through you without doing any harm as long as you have Spiritual Qi left.
The only powers that would be able to hurt you then would be those like Sword Intent, but since you are a Dao Cultivator and those powers lie in the abstract, you can negate it too, meaning that you will be in principle undying and indestructible as long as you have Spiritual Qi. And with you starting to practice the Spiritual Qi War Art now, your reserves will be plenty enough.”
As he explained Luo Mingyu looked at him with astonishment, as she never expected that her physique was powerful to that extent. ．
“And you don’t need to think about how to be useful, since I am happy just by you being by my side. If you really wish to help me, there are plenty of ways to do so without fighting. Did you forget how much you already helped me with teaching Hua Ziyan and Shen Min?”
“Then… is it really okay if I do not start on the path of Equilibrium Dao and pursue only Dao Cultivation?”
“Haha, you do not need my permission on that, as I will support you with whatever choice you make, I just want to make sure your choice is not influenced by such things as how helpful is your path of Dao to me”
Luo Mingyu hesitated a little and then nodded.
“Mingyu…”
He raised her face with his fingers tenderly caressing her chin.
“…remember, as a Dao Cultivator, you have to follow your own heart. If you were to start on the path of Equilibrium Dao while having doubts, that could create a knot in your Dao heart, and such things are deadly for Dao Cultivators more than anyone else, since it hinders your comprehension of the Dao.
What matters is that you keep your original heart, and be true to it.
Don’t lie to yourself or persuade yourself to tread the path you don’t want, and only follow the one you do. I will support you whatever that path is, regardless if it is helpful to me or not, since you are my woman”
As he said these words, the worry Luo Mingyu felt more and more with each passing conflict and combat situation began to dissipate. She understood that if she really were to start on the path of Equilibrium Dao while she was not completely reconciled about it, she could bring more harm than good by making Wu Long worry and increase his burden. Dao Cultivation could not be done half-heartedly, and if one did not really commit to the path they took they could become stuck. She also knew that she was not suited for fighting, it was just that feeling of being a burden during combat was making her worry.
He kissed her on the lips and she replied with all the tenderness she could.
He then sat her between his legs and hugged her from behind, further soothing her worries and letting her know that he would welcome her regardless if she could fight or not.
“Wu Long… how do you know so much about my physique? I thought the realms above the Mortal Transcendence Realm were just a legend…”
She reluctantly asked. All of those who knew Wu Long except Ye Ling were wondering about his vast knowledge and insane combat prowess at his age and cultivation base, but this time he revealed a little more than just unusual knowledge, so this question naturally sprang out of her. However, she quickly gasped after she realized she was possibly prying into his secrets.
“Ah, sorry, never mind…”
“Hahah, relax, Mingyu. There is nothing wrong with you wanting to know. It is just a little hard to explain without delving into more things that you would not yet understand”
He replied with a chuckle at how nervous she got. He had been thinking about how to explain his identity for some time now, as it would be a lot more convenient if he could speak on certain topics more freely so they understood him, but he was not able to come up with a good enough way for it to not turn him into a crazy person in the eyes of his women.
For them to understand his background he had to explain a lot more about the world outside, which, if said to a person who was born here and only ever knew this world would sound like the ravings of a madman. He knew that they would believe him, but there would still be only an abstract concept of what he was talking about, which would make all of his explanations less real in their understanding.
“Hmm, I will think about how to explain it, and then tell everyone at the same time a little later, okay?”
“Mm”
She nodded, as she calmed down after realizing it was not a taboo topic. There also was a warm feeling that came from the realization, that he did not want to keep secrets from them.
Meanwhile, the crew readied the ship and they started to make their way out of the hidden bay. The path was narrow and there were underwater rocks everywhere, so it required expert maneuvering as well as precise knowledge of the underwater terrain to get through, but the crew expertly got the ship out of the bay and went into the coastal sea.
Cao Mei stood on the deck, holding the ship’s helm, and after they got to a relatively open area relinquished control to her right-hand man. She then went to the captain’s quarters where she sat down in contemplation about the next moves. After some thought, she took out a long-distance communication talisman and ran her Spiritual Qi through it.
The ship steadily went forward, its course, the Southern Archipelago.