Dual Cultivation God Returns

The time has finally come, when the current of Spiritual Qi passing through the World Stone, started spilling so much of it, that it was enough to power the Grand Formation to its full potential.

The Symbol Arts Masters, who would be stationed within the fortress, and periodically rotated out, activated the Killing Array, demonstrating they were capable of slaying 4th and 5th tier Demonic Beasts, granted they were neutralized with the stink pills first to keep them from dodging the relatively slow build up of the attack.

The time spent here in wait of this moment, also demonstrated the fortress could sustain this defense without fatal casualties, and the healers were more than capable of relatively quickly return fighters to the frontline.

Not to mention that 5th, and even to an extent 4th tier ants which could pose great threat, even with all the precautions, were exceptionally rare. It was rather very convenient they managed to encounter both, allowing them to fairly accurately gauge their strength, and determine if their measures were enough.

Even 3rd tier ants were not exactly common, appearing at the rate of 1 per 3 to 5 days.

In other words, even if Fen Baihu was not here, they were unlikely to suffer permanent losses.

Confirming all this, Wu Long took his ladies back through the World Stone, arriving in the Oak Fortress.

There, Butler Bang, who went ahead of the Wu Family a day earlier, greeted him with reports he collected from the trio of Old Yen, Nie Guanting and Kwon Qianhong, as well as from his communications with Li Weifang who was at this moment, still in the Wei Dynasty.

Reading through the reports, Wu Long learned that the Inner Court Elder of the Ember Palm Pavilion, having received the pill that Wu Long sent over, immediately entered seclusion. First seen on MV4LEMP|YR.

Both the Seven Extreme Swords and the Crystal Wood Sect have approached the prince of the Wei Dynasty, Wei Yuanjie with flattery and gifts, which the latter accepted from both sides.

‘Heh, I can picture his smug face as he accepted the gifts without explicitly committing to anything’, Wu Long inwardly chuckled, since this was an absolutely meaningless effort on their part.

Especially since, even if Wei Yuanjie didn’t have a hidden connection with Wu Long, the Ember Palm Pavilion made their official visit right after the Martial Alliance acknowledged the Prince’s delegation, which meant they naturally already were ahead.

This, however, worked quite well to agitate City Lord Ko, since his son who was secretly working with Zhao Xieren, Ko Fuan, mentioned an outburst of anger from the City Lord at these visits of the two remaining big Sects, and an argument with the Seven Extreme Swords Sect that he secretly partnered with.

City Lord did not yet make a formal visit to Wei Yuanjie, starting to approach a dangerous timing where this could be deemed an open act of defiance against the Wei Dynasty’s authority.

This was, in fact, the source of his frustration with the big Sects implicitly acknowledging Wei Yuanjie’s authority with their visits. It highlighted his own lack of such gesture, and further shrank the leeway he had to postpone it.

There were, as far as Wu Long knew, two reasons why City Lord Ko was withholding the obligatory visit.

The first, being his rivalry with the Iron Claw Group, as both waited for the other to be the first to bow down to outside authority.

The second, according to Ko Fuan, was irrational, as he refused to acknowledge that his ambitions were cut short, seemingly searching for a way to push back on Wei Dynasty’s resumption of control over the continent.

However, while the City Lord’s son dismissed the latter reason as stubborn delusion, Wu Long felt it was not wise to assume a man who held back his ambition for so long, biding his time, honing his blade enough to achieve an incredible cultivation in such a backwater place, and waiting for a perfect chance, was emotionally lashing out without any thought.

Especially since Wu Long learned from Lu Weifang’s report, that the Imperial Palace of the Emerald Falls City temporarily went into uproar at the news of Wei Yuanjie’s movements outside, exposing Princess Wei Zhenhui and the Emperor’s sectret agreement regarding sending out Wei Yuanjie.

This exposed her to a few failed attacks, thwarted mostly by Chen Hui, who Li Weifang reported to have achieved significant prowess, and was approaching advancing into Essence Ignition Realm, bringing Li Weifang’s return to Wu Long’s side closer.

‘It might be City Lord Ko… although I could be wrong on that’, Wu Long mused, thinking of how exactly this information reached the Wei Dynasty.

Of course, the Emperor also could have leaked the secret agreement with the princess through back channels. Wu Long didn’t exclude this possibility either, since, in his view, it was in character for the current Emperor to do.

Regardless, he found it hard to believe City Lord Ko was so steady in his defiant stance without anything to back it up with.

Aside from that, a subtle game of influence among the small Sects of the continent also started in earnest, as each of the big three Sects were moving to sway the local ones to their side, and recruiting swords for hire like the Seven Scars Guild, which flocked to the continent, feeling the smell of the conflict.

The mercenaries from the three sides now openly clashed outside of the Silver Wing City and Iron Claw City.

Sometimes, clashes also happened not far from local Sects, when two or more big Sects chose the same target to entice to their side at the same time.

This happened with increasing frequency, as they started to run out of unaligned local Sects.

The Three Pillars Sect already received subtle and not-so-subtle solicitations to take the side of either the Crystal Wood Sect or the Seven Extreme Swords Sect, as did the Tiebi Mountain Sect which housed the sealed World Stone to the Great Wilderness.

To Wu Long’s surprise, the attempts to approach Tiebi Mountain Sect were even more persistent than for the Three Pillars Sect.

Aside from that, the Ember Palm Pavilion managed to secure a decent amount of mercenaries and local Sects, just like others.

Zhao Xieren was also not idle. He shook hands and made deals throughout the continent, hiding in the shadows of the growing conflict, using the Soaring Feather Trading Company’s growing influence as leverage.

“Excellent work”, Wu Long raised his eyes from the report on the table before him, looking first at Old Man Zhao.

The latter showed a satisfied grin, “It seems these old bones are still useful, Valley Master”, and then threw a look toward Old Yen, Kwon Qianhong and Nie Guanting, adding, “But the reason I was so successful, was because of these three here, thank you for allowing me to borrow their help”

“Of course, credit where it’s due”, Wu Long nodded with a chuckle, as the three showed pride at being praised in their eyes.

Satisfied with how everything was proceeding, Wu Long made a decision, “Now then, it’s time to really start fanning the flames. We’ll begin with the announcement of the auction. Well, we’ll also be making some profit as well, of course”

Kwon Qianhong’s eyes lit up at the mention of the auction. In fact, it was the first time Wu Long saw him come alive to this extent ever since he spent 2 million gold in the Palace of Secrets of the Feilin Continent, after which the former had a mild depression.

Now, however, he almost leapt to his feet from excitement.

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