Dual Cultivation God Returns

The door burst open with a loud bang as a young-looking man, in Essence Awakening Realm, bearing striking resemblance to the one sitting behind the curtain which was as good as an empty space before Wu Long’s eyes, came inside with a wide, confident stride.

“Tsk, haa~”, the one behind the curtain sighed with annoyance and frustration while placing his hand on his forehead.

“Y-Your Highness! This is-…!”, the government officials standing to the sides of the 5th prince’s curtain also panicked.

As did the profusely apologizing and kowtowing people from outside the room who failed to stop the intruder.

“It’s fine… not like you could stop the 9th prince of the Wei Dynasty anyway… leave him be and close the door”, the 5th prince spoke in a tired and irritated voice.

‘9th… so he’s the youngest contender for the throne…’,Wu Long inwardly noted amid the chaos.

“Hm? Oh! You must be that God of Pleasure!”, the 9th prince finally noticed Wu Long who was standing to the side of him.

And then after a slight pause, started laughing, “Ahahaha, sorry, sorry, I’m sure you must hear that a lot, but your name is the same as that famous God of Pleasure”

“Yuanjie! I told you not to joke around about things that could offend important guests, don’t you know how many Dual Cultivators are gathering in the city?”, the 5th prince behind the curtain raised his voice, upset more at the subject of the joke than specifically at the possibility that Wu Long could be offended.

“But Brother Liheng! What can I do if that’s what came to my mind when I heard his name?”, Wei Yuanjie, the 9th prince shrugged his shoulders, and then turned to Wu Long, “You weren’t offended by chance, were you?”

“Hahaha, no, not at all, Your Highness. My greetings were late, I greet Your Highness”, Wu Long lightly laughed, making the same fist and hand salute to the 9th prince as he did to the 5th.

“Good, good!”, Wei Yuanjie nodded with a satisfied grin, and then turned to the 5th prince, “Ha! See? No problem here!”

“Tsk”, the one behind the curtain clicked his tongue in frustration, unable to get his point across.

Meanwhile, the 9th prince turned back to Wu Long, “So you’re the guy who took out the pirates that have been plaguing our trade routes through the Ancient Maze. Our Imperial Father has entrusted Brother Liheng with overseeing all the trade that goes in that direction, which has suffered considerably in the past 2-3 years, so I am sure he is very grateful…”

“Your Highness…”, one of the government officials tried to butt into the conversation, as the 9th prince was putting the 5th prince into an awkward position by acknowledging and praising Wu Long’s achievements first, ahead of the one who ‘summoned’ Wu Long and was the direct beneficiary of his actions.

“What? I can’t say that much?! Don’t be stingy, Old Man!”, the 9th prince, however, ironically didn’t seem to like being interrupted, turning to Wu Long with a conspiratorial look and tone of voice, “Although I would’ve been even more grateful if you waited to deal with those pirates another 2-3 months… by then Imperial Father would’ve surely taken away the oversight of those trade routes from Brother Liheng, and who knows, I might’ve been the one to get that opportunity and benefited from your intervention”

“Yuanjie, you have the audacity to come to my palace uninvited, interrupting a meeting, and behave as you please… don’t you think your mischief has gone too far this time?”, the 5th prince spoke with a growing irritation in his voice.

“I wouldn’t call this a meeting, Your Highness”, Wu Long responded instead, stunning all the people in the room, by interjecting a conversation of two Imperial members, “At least your younger brother has the common sense to avoid pressuring a guest of the palace to kneel, whatever reasons you may have for that”

“Presumptuous!”, “Insolence!”, the usual outrage followed that speech but the sound of the person behind the curtain standing up silenced the government officials.

“Since when can someone like you claim to be a guest of the palace? Aren’t you presuming too much for your humble status? Or overestimating the service you did for me? If it is the latter, I must cool your enthusiasm. You might’ve done me a service, but it is not worth as much as you seem to think it is”, the 5th prince spoke, the arrogance and cold, seething anger in his voice rising a few levels.

“Humble status? What do you know of my status? Your brother here called me the God of Pleasure?”, Wu Long pointed at Wei Yuanjie.

“Pfft!…hahahaha~…”, the 9th prince burst into laughter from the unexpected return of his joke, covering his mouth and slightly turning to the side, while more anger, now palpable emanated from behind the curtain and from the subordinates of the 5th prince.

“You-…!”, the 5th prince started, but couldn’t continue as Wu Long interrupted him, not finished with his words.

“Regarding doing you a service, I never considered it a big one, as I’m sure Captain Hui must’ve reported to you, but it is in seeing possibilities beyond established facts that an Imperial throne candidate’s worth is. However, that is not the only thing you got wrong. I didn’t do Your Highness a ‘service’, but a favor. You would go a long way already if you just recognize the difference. Although I am increasingly skeptical of your need to improve any of what I mentioned”

The last phrase had a particularly strong effect, as it cast shadow of doubt on the ability of the 5th prince to rule in the future. But none of them could interrupt as Wu Long was not done.

“Finally, I’ll answer your initial question, one I did not imagine I’d have to answer. I became a guest of the Imperial Palace the moment you invited me into it, Your Highness, whether it was directly to your private palace or not, it is still on the Imperial Palace grounds. And I will repeat, while I predicted many things that happened here were possible, I really didn’t have the slightest expectation that I would have to educate an Imperial Prince on the very basics of the Imperial etiquette”

This time, there was no push to answer when Wu Long stopped, as the last phrase burned into the ears of everyone here.

“Hahaha, hahahaha! I like this man! Mm!”, the 9th prince laughed in a rowdy manner, and then forcefully nodded as if coming to some sort of a decision, “I officially and formally invite you to visit my palace, Mr. God of Pleasure, hahaha! I promise, to be a better host to you than my Brother here”

“I would gladly accept, Your Highness”, Wu Long nodded with a calm smile, without adding any more comments about this meeting that were implied in that answer.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”, one of the government officials shouted as Wu Long and the 9th prince both half-turned to leave.

“Stop right there!”, General Ri also shouted with a reddening from anger face.

“You think you can leave after all that?!”, the other government official squealed.

“Yuanjie, we will talk later, don’t think I will forget about this. As for you, ‘God of Pleasure’, you seem to think that you can just come and go as you please, while insulting a member of an Imperial Family, one of the heirs to the highest throne in these lands… don’t you think that is a bit too naive?”, the 5th prince pushed the curtain aside, stepping forward.

“Haa~, naive, is to think you still can get the upper hand in this conversation to preserve a modicum of dignity without thinking it properly through, Your Highness”, Wu Long shook his head, “It would have served you far better to swallow the bitter pill and hold back from this line of actions, at least then you would avoid an even bigger humiliation of having to be lectured on the exact same point twice in the same conversation”

Wu Long’s eyes then shifted to the only government official who remained silent up to this point, “But I will spare you the greatest embarrassment of having to hear it from me, if the one who was responsible for your etiquette education since you were a child will do the job”

The government official Wu Long looked at heavily sighed, and before the 5th prince had the chance to say anything, opened his mouth with a heavy look in his eyes, and spoke in a solemn tone, understanding that currently it was the only way to at least salvage a tiny bit of the prince’s dignity. It was a small bit of grace that Wu Long gave them, an off-ramp to avoid complete disgrace.

“A guest of the palace and his immediate entourage is entitled to safe passage in and out of palace grounds without being impeded as long as they are not in breach of Imperial Law or found in contempt of the Imperial Court by the order of the Emperor, the only member of the Imperial Family that has the authority to do so. The guest is also guaranteed safety in the city governed by said palace for the duration of their stay, if the stay does not exceed 6 months, based on the same condition”, the government official’s words added color to the 5th prince’s face, as a realization dawned on him.

But it was too late as the words continued, “Insult of a member of Imperial Family is a very specific law that has an extremely detailed definition, of which this guest is not in breach of. Such are the ancient laws of Imperial Etiquette observed in all Dynasties of the Seven Boundless Worlds. If a Dynasty is found in breach of said law, it becomes a permanent stain on their reputation, and shines the light of suspicion on their credibility in conducting diplomatic affairs, even if the guest who was faulted is not a foreign official. Even if Your Highness were to, in breach of norm, but still possibly in rare occasions and under strict conditions, rescind your invitation at this moment, the guest is now also a guest of the 9th prince, so his status would not change”

As the government official spoke the final words a complete silence fell in the room.

It was apparent, that if the 5th prince wanted to keep the upper hand even by forceful means, he should have never extended an invitation, even if it was an informal one.

Instead, he should have either issued a formal summons, which would have registered his actions in the official record, or issued an order of detainment. But that seemingly slight technicality, now put him in a powerless position.

Of course, it would have been all null and void if there were no outsiders, as they could use the old law of ‘might is right’ in that case, but the mere presence of the 9th prince locked that path away.

The 9th prince, meanwhile, had a bewildered expression, seemingly never having heard of such things, and then his smile widened as he saw his older brother’s face twist.

Wu Long nodded at the government official who despite the situation still had a look of gratitude to him for allowing that saving grace, and turned to leave in silence. The 9th prince, seeing that, chuckled and caught up to him with light steps, the two leaving the room unimpeded.

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