Dual Cultivation God Returns

"Honestly, I worked hard to maintain my lifestyle", Lian Zhiqiu spoke as she was sitting next to Wu Long who reclined back onto the sofa, fully leaning onto him, putting her head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around her, and with his other hand was patting her head.

"Mm", Wu Long nodded, "I know"

"Do you know how much hassle of a it was constantly moving all around the Three Continents before I made the Yin Yang Unity Palace?"

"It must've been a lot"

"Exactly, so I worked hard to create a whole Sect, one where I could reap the benefits without moving so much, but to get to that part, I had to go through the whole process of establishing it, not to mention the hassle of managing it in its early stages. Everyone seems to think the Sect just magically popped out of nowhere and I only sucked the benefits out of it..."

"Mm, my Zhiqiu has worked very hard"

"...", her orange-red eyes looked up at him with a sulking expression, "And now when I finally could take off the mantle of the Sect Master and finally..."

'... lead the life of complete laziness' was what almost came out of her mouth but she stopped to contemplate that, ultimately finishing with "... ehm, finally... focus on my Symbol Arts research..."

"Mm, it was wrong of me to put so much work on your shoulders, Zhiqiu", Wu Long nodded, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"... uuh... I can't even get mad at you", she showed an even more sulking expression, not having an outlet to vent her frustration.

He chuckled, looking into her eyes, knowing she was still going to do whatever he needed or asked for even if it required her to constantly be busy, she was just going to be vocal about it.

He had already given Old Yen the task of searching up information on any Symbol Arts-focused Sects, Families or Academies in the nearby Star Regions.

Luckily they were currently in the perfect city to do the research on the surrounding areas, so he had to utilize that opportunity.

So he came to her having already started working on a solution.

She pouted for a bit more, now mainly to be pampered by him more than truly expressing any kind of real dissatisfaction. And then, completely content, went to help the Infinite Tempers Hall with the construction.

---

The next few days the Wu Family continued being busy with either training or making preparations, intending to make the most of the time they had before they needed to leave for the Soft Meadow Continent, in terms of gathering information, purchasing various supplies of Alchemy ingredients and Forging materials, as well as making any moves in preparation to help the Princess and Chen Hui to win the battle of succession.

Aside from all other things, Wu Long was intensely studying the vast amount of knowledge he completely took away from the Ancient Ruin.

After all, this was knowledge which was directly related to his most prominent field, Dao of Yang. Of course, not all of it was related to Yang of Dual Cultivation. Dao of Yang was one of the most profound topics in existence with infinite applications and inner fields, as it was pertaining to the Duality of the Unity, Duality, Trinity and Creation. It was a topic so fundamental its manifestations were within all Trinity and Creation that followed, and thus the knowledge of it was endless.

It was, nevertheless always his priority to obtain all knowledge pertaining to the Dao of Yang, regardless if it was related to Dual Cultivation, as it was all ultimately beneficial for a man to have.

And he was also adept at finding ways to utilize knowledge which wasn't primarily about Dual Cultivation to discover something new about Dual Cultivation anyway.

Not to mention, that a new possibility now rose after his trip to the Sun Shadow Secret Realm.

Now, he knew that it was possible in principle to transfer an Extreme Yang Physique.

Even if it required such extraordinary event as the two suns exchanging mass to facilitate it, as well as an ancient ritual requiring symbols refined from one of those suns. It could be done. It wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility.

If he could deduce the core principles of how the ritual actually worked, as well as figure out the energy problem, he knew, he could obtain more Extreme Yang Physiques.

This time, not in a ritual of willing transfer, but stealing it from those who were unwise enough to become his enemies.

He wasn't going to hunt for Extreme Yang Physiques, of course, but in the times of a Generational Wave, he knew he would come across enemies possessing them, that he would've become hostile with regardless of this.

---

Wu Long, of course, visited the palace to train both Chen Hui in secret, as well as quite openly train Wei Yuanjie, which was his outward reason for coming in and out of the palace.

He could feel hostile gazes toward him from the men who served the 5th prince wherever and whenever he met them in the palace, but remained absolutely indifferent to that.

There was also scrutiny from the side of the Empress, who took interest in the man who visited her second son to train him in sword arts.

It wasn't something she wished for to continue in the long run, since, as he himself pointed out, any kinds of achievements of Wei Yuanjie would make him a rival for the 3rd Prince, the son that the Empress actually pushed for the throne.

But for now it was simple cursory information gathering and light surveillance, as the Empress took on a wait-and-see approach, seemingly knowing well that in situations with people like Wu Long, who seemingly did not have much care for authority of the Imperial Family, making any half-baked moves would only make everything worse.

If she were to really make a move, it would be a decisive one.

On the other hand, she likely made a bet it was just a passing interest of her second son, which he would quickly get tired of and throw away, like any other that came before it.

---

After those few days, a moment came, when Dual Cultivation Sects gathered in the city, assembled in the Wei Dynasty Headquarters of the Martial Alliance.

There were also rogue Dual Cultivators, who were here, but they were basically irrelevant, standing in a corner with little chance of getting anything.

Wu Long found it funny as he stood among that crowd.

He was in this position many times before. Previously, Dual Cultivators would be mostly among the crowd he stood with, while the big important 'normal' Sects were hashing things out between themselves.

Now, Dual Cultivators rose to the point where they were among the big important Sects, pushing aside rogue cultivators.

Though, in all fairness, the rogue cultivators, as well as most smaller Sects here were assembled for show, in order to provide a visibility of fairness.

None of them had any chances of obtaining the treasure, and many of the smaller Sects were here either to maintain their dignity, or to provide support for one of the five biggest Sects gathered in this meeting.

"Kh-khm, it has been a point taken, that the Martial Alliance could have taken better care of this matter, but let us not delve into pointless blame-assigning, and move on to a productive discussion on how the treasure should be fairly competed by all the Sects laying claim to it", the representative from the Martial Alliance, a gray-haired older man in 2nd-level Essence Ignition Realm, spoke after clearing his throat.

His statement came after a protracted period of all the Sects complaining that the Martial Alliance was trying to make a deal with the Wei Dynasty's Pill Tower concerning the treasure, in secret, and gobble up the profits.

Of course, all the statements were far more veiled in a roundabout language, as it was always the case with such meetings of Righteous Path Sects. In this sense, Wu Long appreciated the Sects of the Evil Path for how direct their conversations usually were.

"My Twilight Bond Sect proposes an auction!", the first voice came from one of the five biggest Sects gathered. It was also, coincidentally, one of the two Sects that Wu Long came across, whose disciple caused a ruckus with his statements about Lust Cultivators.

"Tsk, of course you'll vote for that! You have just about the deepest pockets among the Sects gathered here with your lucrative Spiritual Land!", a smaller Sect's Elder complained. This was, of course, one of the roles given to them by another big Sect, to make this exact comment.

"Hah! So what? We cannot put up an auction for a vote because of that?", the Elder who Wu Long saw on that day, Elder Guan, standing behind his Sect's Grand Elder, retorted.

"My Serene Harmony Sect proposes to continue with the Martial Alliance's initiative to sell the treasure to the Pill Tower, and split the profits according to Martial Alliance rules", the Grand Elder of another of the five biggest Sects here, which was also present that day in the restaurant, spoke up.

This proposal sent murmurs through the room, as it seemed that the Serene Harmony Sect leaned to the Martial Alliance which meant they likely made some sort of a deal with either them or the Pill Tower.

"My Flowing Petal Hall proposes we settle it like proper members of the Martial Alliance, with a contest of Disciples", the Grand Elder of another big Sect spoke up.

"Hah! Of course, how convenient for you! Everyone heard about your prized Heaven's Chosen genius who should have already been advancing but 'for some reason' held back his breakthrough and is still in Mortal Transcendence Realm! His name is why you poached so many prominent female applicants from all of our Sects!", Elder Guan of the Twilight Bond Sect pointed his finger at the Flowing Petal Hall.

"Hah! And you were the first to say that holding an advantage should not prevent putting an option for a vote", an Elder of the Flowing Petal Hall spoke, narrowing his eyes.

The Grand Elder of the Flowing Petal Hall standing in front of him nodded, adding on to that, "Besides, I believe everyone should know the persisting reputation of our Dual Cultivation Sects that we prefer to train in things other than combat. Should we not prevent other Sects whispering behind our backs that we were too 'tender' to decide this in contest of Martial Arts like all other member Sects of the Martial Alliance?!"

"You... !", the Grand Elder of the Twilight Bond Sect exclaimed in exasperation, as the implication was also about their Sect.

"Hmm, it is important we maintain the dignity of our Sects as the esteemed Grand Elder of the Flowing Petal Hall said... but I am afraid in that case the advantage you hold is still too great", the Grand Elder of the Serene Harmony Sect spoke.

"Agreed! If you withdraw your prized Heaven's Chosen Disciple from contesting, our Twin Peaks Sect would support your proposal", another of the top five Sects gathered spoke.

"Hah! Preposterous! Would you-...", the Elder of the Flowering Petal Hall spoke up, but was silenced by the raised hand of his Grand Elder.

"We cannot agree to that, but we do propose a concession. Our Heaven's Chosen would fight alone without any of his Cultivation Partners without imposing the same restriction on anyone else", the Grand Elder spoke, causing murmurs to spread through the hall.

After all, it was implicit that the contest would be done in pairs, as that was how Dual Cultivators fought.

If one fought without their partner, it reduced the combat potential by more than half, since the biggest advantage of Dual Cultivators was in the synergy between the pair.

This mean, they were that confident in their Heaven's Chosen Disciple.

"Heh, in that case, our Profound Union Pavilion, seconds the motion of the Flowing Petal Hall", the fifth of the big Sects which was silent up to now spoke.

"...the Twin Peaks Sect also supports the Flowing Peral Hall's proposal", the Twin Peaks Sect, having already made their position earlier, found it hard to back down after such a big concession, as it would make them look weak, afraid of a single Disciple, even if an exceptional one, to fight two of theirs.

At this point, all of the smaller Sects affiliated with the three sects who voted for the contest, made supporting votes.

The representative of the Martial Alliance had an unreadable expression, but to Wu Long it was clear as day he was extremely dissatisfied with the outcome, exchanging covert sound transmissions with the Grand Elder of the Serene Harmony Sect who was now powerless to turn the situation around.

Thus, though inwardly disgruntled, the Martial Alliance representative spoke up with a neutral voice, "It seems the decision has been reached. Are all parties ready to proceed with the contest?"

The Sects, mostly reluctantly, agreed.

"Then it is decided, and is officially in place. We will reconvene to discuss the details of the preliminary matches and all subsequent matters la-..."

"One moment!", however, at that time, a voice came from the entrance, as all gazes turned there.

'Heh, what a taste for dramatic flair', Wu Long thought, shaking his head at how much emotion was in those two words, as the ones he was waiting for arrived in the hall, though they were here long before the meeting started.

Of course, it was this precise timing at which their appearance was required, not earlier, and it was he who gave them the signal.