It took a while but the commotion outside first intensified and then gradually calmed down. Ye Fan also understood that they could not provoke Wu Long very thoroughly now, so he had no choice but to try to soothe the newly appeared family of monks and try to sweep everything under the rug.
Wu Long, in the meantime, was waiting inside the area for Ye Ling, as he was prepared to go back out again if she were to be in any trouble over this. But Ye Fan turned out to be a bit smarter than Wu Long gave him credit for, and picked up from his earlier words that Ye Ling was now untouchable.
Ye Ling returned, barely able to hold her laughter, and after she was sure that the people behind the gates did not see her she nearly folded in two, dying from laughing at Wu Long’s greeting.
He merely smiled at her, happy to see her smiling, happy to bring her joy. There was tenderness in his eyes, as he watched her wipe the tears that came out of laughter.
“Haha..hah…fuuuu”
She made a deep exhale while trying to calm down and then looked at him.
“You’re really bad, you know?”
She said, looking at him with her piercing blue eyes that still had laughter in them but also a hint of astonishment for his boldness.
He merely smiled in reply, shrugging his shoulders.
“Ah! By the way, it was Sword Qi, right? How are you able to use Sword Qi?” she asked, after remembering her first reaction to his actions.
“Very perceptive, as expected from a swordswoman. Yes, it was indeed Sword Qi, as you can see, I have a new possession now” he answered, raising his right hand where a smooth metal ring was now sitting on his index finger. This metal was a special alloy that was quite expensive and was linked to the reason the ring worked. Thus it was easy to identify it despite there being a variety of designs.
“A Qi Manipulation Ring? But…” she looked at the ring with a raised brow, saying with doubts.
“Normally, yes, but with some skill, it is not entirely impossible” he replied to her doubts.
“Haa, forget it, I have long since gave up trying to measure you with common sense” she said after a sigh of resignation.
He smiled, and touched her cheek. This happened so naturally that neither of them reacted for a moment, but they froze after that blink of a moment passed.
His action was more habitual, something he used to do often. She was just behaving exactly like in his memories, confusing his perception. And as he had his guard slightly lower to her, he unusually made a blunder.
She was startled, but also surprised by how happy she felt at this action. There was a warm feeling from his palm on her cheek, and after a moment of shock passed, she smiled.
“You cheeky guy, I give you an inch, you take a mile huh?” she said playfully, relieving the awkwardness.
“Well, you did say you are not an elder right now” he replied with a chuckle, taking his hand away.
There was a slight feeling of loss when his hand left her cheek, and a wind felt specially cold on her skin after.
They turned and went through the garden, talking and laughing in soft voices.
Wu Long was long past the age of being shy with women, but he could not make a definite move now as he could not dual cultivate. So starting something right now even remotely would just make it a torture for himself. As an experienced dual cultivator, he could perfectly control his lust and all related aspects, but that did not mean that he did not have desires, just that he could control them. And facing her, his self-control was not as strong as it would be facing someone he was just treating as a partner for dual cultivation.
The next day, Wu Long made his way to the Peacock Feather Trading Company that was recently becoming a sensation, as they somehow got their hands on a recipe for the Qi Condensation Pill that was in high demand and very limited supply.
This made the Alchemy Tower launch an internal investigation, as well as issue a warning to the company. The company denied any wrongdoing as they acquired the recipe through legal means. The uproar was so big that even the Imperial Dynasty had to intervene, making it hard for the Alchemy Tower to go on a full-scale legal assault on the company.
Wu Long knew that there inevitably would be conflicts over this pill, but he also knew that the Alchemy Tower would not be able to do anything in the end, as there was no evidence of the pill recipe being stolen, and the imperial family would not allow its authority to be undermined by the Alchemy Tower pursuing a trading company without just cause. It did not mean they could not start backhand moves but their options were also limited there against such a big trading company.
He was also not worried about Yu Huan, as she did not have the access to the recipe, so she would not be on the list of suspects, and she was also friends with Bi Rui, who was an imperial guard, so she had some influence.
When he arrived, he bumped into Sui Luxiao’s husband on his way to her office, who looked at him with incinerating eyes as soon as he saw him.
“What is the treatment you are giving my wife?”
He asked as he stopped before Wu Long.
“She is my wife, I deserve to know. Answer me” he continued after Wu Long did not answer but merely looked at him with a pondering gaze.
He was pondering about Sui Luxiao, her life, and her situation. How was it that such an exceptional woman trapped in a miserable life of this man’s wife where all that she considered dear to her gradually became this little worthless company?
He felt some anger and frustration at this.
And genuine puzzlement.
‘Is it her children?’ he pondered inwardly, as the animated trash in front of him continued to spew sounds that he was not listening to.
The concept of children and family was different for immortals as they had eternal life. After all, giving birth to children was a part of a natural lifecycle that they had escaped from, and the need for procreation mortals felt as the desire of the continuation of their life and species also became obsolete.
There were families and people having children of course, but it was vastly different. The sense of attachment was not as high generally, with some exceptions, naturally, as there were exceptions to everything, but more or less, they cared for the child but not enough to place shackles on themselves like mortals would.
So Sui Luxiao’s care for her children turning into a prison that bound her freedom and happiness was a concept Wu Long had to re-examine.
She obviously despised them, but there was still something preventing her from turning away from them. It could be vanity and public opinion, as not anyone would be willing to bear going against the common sense of the world around them, but he had a feeling she was strong enough to do that and that she was not someone easily influenced by what other people thought of her.
It could also be genuine love, but with the amount of disappointment, pain, and sheer misery they brought him she should have long understood how lost this cause was.
‘Is this the Dao of life? Or plain habit?’
There were many doubts he had regarding this while the pathetic display in front of him continued.
Finally, he made some conclusions on his thoughts, had enough of this, and the palm of his hand moved in a swift but graceful motion, drawing a beautiful arc in the air as it landed on the man’s cheek, sending him flying to the side in a graceful motion, the sun shone through the gaps between limbs and torso of the figure of a man flying with his robes and hair fluttering in the wind. Drops of saliva released by the loose mouth shone in the light. The artistic picture created by this scene could probably fetch a lot of money in an auction if it was captured by an artist.
“Hmm, this family’s men sure do fly great”, Wu Long muttered with some appreciation as he avoided the flying spit and looked as the man landed in the distance after an exquisite with a slight twist in the air arc.
In the corner of an eye, he noticed a man looking with an enlightened expression in this direction, and running away, seemingly in a hurry, leaving both the line he was queuing in and every thought behind. From the calluses on the man’s hands, his posture, manners and the expression he made, Wu Long accurately guessed that this man was a painter.
‘Good luck to you, little fellow, make sure to remember me with thanks in your thoughts in case you get rich from this’ he chuckled as he gave his blessing to the young artist, and went away as guards and workers hurried to the side of the man on the floor.
He made his way to Sui Luxiao’s office. He saw her from the bridge of the second floor through the window of her office, looking down at the workers busily moving around. Her figure normally could not be seen as her office was protected with a formation, but for the current Wu Long, not many formations in this undeveloped world, or in fact even wider world, could hinder his peering, as there were profound and ever changing patterns flickering and disappearing in his eyes.
When he entered the Qi Gathering Realm, he could finally use pupil arts, as they required control of Spiritual Qi inside his eyes to be used, something he could not do in the Body Transformation Realm.
The “Chaos Origin Eyes” he used was the technique of a man known as The Great Sage. One of the top masters in all of the Seven Boundless Worlds whose origin, background and lifespan were unknown. He was aloof and independent, not belonging to any organization, group or cause. It was rumored that he existed long before most immortals could remember, meaning that he was quite possibly one of the oldest people in the entire universe. The reason he could use such a legendary person’s technique was because that man has a daughter… and no other reason. 𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺
He stopped to look at her for some time, there was interest, compassion and many more emotions in his eyes when he looked at her.
He continued on after some time and arrived in her office.
“Hm? You are here… come in, I was expecting you either today or tomorrow” she said, after noticing him.
“May I use your bathroom?” he asked suddenly, dumbfounding her, but she nodded. While he went into her bathroom she touched the communication jade to let the attendants know that she should not be disturbed, despite already telling them that this would be the rule whenever he visited. She then waved her hand over the array to lock the door and activate the formations.
In the bathroom Wu Long thoroughly washed his hands, placing the spatial ring that had a slightly bigger and pointier shape on the sink. Previously, when he administered her first treatment, he arrived without touching anything on the way here, having washed his hands and applying a special fluid that kept his hands clean from dust and impurities in the air at his lodging. He also placed his spatial ring in his robes before he started.
But this time, due to encountering animated trash on the way and even touching it, he had to use the bathroom to wash his hands all over again.
Later, when he would be in Qi Manifestation Realm, he could use techniques to clean his hands and also to keep them clean from the dust in the air, but he had to use common mortal means for now.
When he went out of the bathroom she was already back by the window, absentmindedly looking down at the workers below, as there seemed to be some thoughts on her mind.
He approached from behind her and gently, very softly placed his right hand on her right shoulder.
She shivered slightly as she felt his hand, she looked back at him, couldn’t help thinking that he really was handsome. She also thought that he really was tall. She was not short for a woman, and she was also wearing high heels, but his eyes still looked at hers slightly from above.
“Sorry, I had some thoughts, shall we move to the table, or the sofa…”
“No need, here is just fine” he said with a slight smile, adding while getting closer to her ear in a soft voice “just stand where you are and entrust everything else to me”
