Dual Cultivation God Returns

Wu Long could see how an idea was born in the eyes of the Elder of the Helian Family, the brother of the Family Head.

‘He took the bait after all…’, Wu Long thought with an inward sigh.

Although it was something he thought might happen when he left the assassins in the fields, and was almost counting on to speed up things, it still wasn’t something one would feel good about predicting.

Wu Long gave the Head of the Helian Family a look, which caused the latter to first make a surprised one in return, and then make a heavy expression as he turned to his brother.

There was still disbelief, or rather, a refusal to believe in his eyes.

—

“He is quite naive, that Helian Family Head”, Shen Min spoke, shaking her head in the evening of that day.

“I find it encouraging, actually”, Wu Long chuckled, “It also makes sense that Helian Muyang grew up to be an upright man with such parents, not that it couldn’t have happened otherwise, but it certainly helped”

“Encouraging?”, she raised her eyebrows.

“Encouraging that there are still people who have the heart to be naive at any time, regardless of how cruel this world can be to such people”, he explained, “There is no shortage of people who scheme and suspect everything. Those with a heart which refuses to believe in evil of their close ones are in fact much harder to find. And in this case, I welcome it”

“He is in for a heartache then”, she spoke, lowering her gaze with a somber voice, as she didn’t enjoy saying those words, even if they were true.

“I offered him to avoid it, but it seems it wasn’t meant to be”, Wu Long nodded, as he initially offered the Helian Family head to join the Eternal Duality Valley with all the benefits it entailed, but on the condition that part of the family would be left behind with his brother to stay here.

In that case, all the Helian Family Head had to do, was to propose to the Family Council the transfer of the family business to a new territory without delving into details of Wu Long’s offer.

His brother would use that opportunity to oppose him and gather support from the side of the family which he was silently converting to his side all these years.

At that point the Family Head would only need to gather all those who supported him and leave with Wu Long, taking a part of the Beasts of Burden with them, leaving his brother and his supporters behind here on the Deep Gorge Continent, to lead their lives as they wished.

This way, the Family Head did not have to experience a betrayal from his brother, the latter would experience a minor setback in not getting the whole family or all of the family business, but would be left alive, to live out his life as he wished, as the leader of the part of the Helian Family that remained here, and in a sense the tragedy that the Helian Family was heading for would have been avoided.

But the Family Head refused that plan.

He was adamant that his brother was only acting in the interests of the Family, and since what Wu Long offered was a much brighter future of new possibilities, he wanted to share that brighter future with his brother.

Of course, if the brother of the Family Head was given an explanation and also understood what exactly Wu Long was offering, he would not oppose the transfer of the family business into the Mystic Realm. He would be all for it, happily going along with it. And for some time, perhaps his greed and ambitions would subside.

But Wu Long knew, that it was just going to create more problems in the future, as at some point, those ambitions would just awaken, and as the horizons expanded for the Helian Family under Wu Long’s guidance and protection, the ambition of the brother would also be far greater, perhaps even stretching far beyond just the Helian Family.

All Wu Long could do, was to share his concerns about the Elder with the Family Head, and as proof, offered him to test the brother.

Helian Muyang’s return and miraculous healing was already enough of a stimulant for the brother, who would fear that this turn of events would take away all the influence he amassed over the years that Helian Muyang was sick. So given a bit of time, he would certainly try to take the Family Head position.

“The incidents with the assassins just gave him a good excuse, or rather, a good tool to act on his thoughts, so it will speed things up a bit”, Wu Long shrugged.

He could, of course, wait out until the brother came up with some elaborate scheme on his own, but since the attack of the assassins happened to play into his hand, he left them in the field where they could be found and let the situation play out.

—

The next two weeks unfolded more or less as Wu Long predicted, with murmurs in dark corners and tensions rising in the mansion and territory of the Helian Family, as a new conspiracy was brewing.

Wei Yuanjie was playing the role he was asked to play by Wu Long, almost the same role he always played in the palace anyway, so it wasn’t hard for him either.

Rather, these people were not as skillful schemers as those that could be met in the Imperial Palace, so it could be said he didn’t even have to play along for everything to work.

Meanwhile, the progress regarding the two academies was speeding along smoothly, as through the Dream Trials, they identified around 900 people from both sides, who would be acceptable as candidates for the Eternal Duality Valley in terms of their character.

Of those only a third qualified as actual Symbol Arts Masters, current or future, and the rest were – either already in the role of, or only likely to reach the level of – Symbol Arts-specific staff or attendants, who helped Symbol Arts Masters much like there were helpers in any other profession, be it Alchemy, Forging, and so on.

In that regard, while Yu Huan’s Mystic Flame Pavilion had this kind of specialized Alchemy staff of helpers well versed in the Alchemy Dao, the new Infinite Tempers Hall – with a few minor exceptions – basically only had the core personnel of Forging Masters, with no helpers or attendants which had to be either trained or recruited.

Of course, it was not guaranteed that every one of the candidates that were picked out would accept, but Wu Long was fairly confident in the allure of his offer.

As they were wrapping up with the Dream Trials, there were only about two to three nights left to complete their evaluations, and see if they missed someone.

—

“I was wondering how you would use Sister Baihu’s power without raising suspicion, since cultivators, even just above Foundation Building Realm, don’t need that much sleep… but I see now”, Cao Mei spoke to Wu Long in the evening, before he had to go and join Fen Baihu and the others, yawning as she felt drowsy, leaning onto him.

“Haha, yes, we are quite far from the Natural Formation of the gorge, so the effects are milder for us, but as you could see by the example of the Helian Family, which sleeps every night, upon longer exposure even at this distance you would eventually fully experience the influence”, Wu Long smiled.

“Mm, I guess if I can’t resist it at this distance while being in Essence Awakening Realm, even if the Deans of the academies are in Essence Ignition Realm, they likely can’t resist it being so close to the gorge”, she nodded, her eyes closing a bit and opening again.

Wu Long and Fen Baihu were the only ones who could naturally resist this effect due to the Celestial Fox bloodline, so starting from a day ago, he asked Xue Bing, Shen Min and Nie Xiwang to take a sleep in the day so that they would be able to feel fine being awake during the night.

“Mm, it is the perfect conditions to take advantage of. The irregularities with the sleep patterns and tiredness in the academies caused by our selection process is also likely theorized to be due to some kind of unknown change in the Natural Formation”, Wu Long nodded, since it was exactly this effect of the Natural Formation which allowed him to take this kind of approach in recruitment, instead of using some elaborate schemes or finding points of access.

—

A couple of nights later, everyone who were considered candidates to join the Eternal Duality Valley, all had a dream of meeting Wu Long, who made the same offer to all of them, and given them the same explanation.

It was fairly simple for him to demonstrate his superior knowledge and skill in Symbol Arts, so far beyond what they knew about they could be sure it was above the level they could obtain within either academy.

From there on, it was just a simple process of those who agreed and those who didn’t, leaving Wu Long with 236 Symbol Arts Masters of varying specializations and 540 staff.

And in a single night, 776 people from both academies disappeared from their rooms with all of their belongings.

This caused an uproar in morning at both academies, as the disappearances of the Students and Instructors, as well as a small number of Elders were discovered.

Those who rejected the offer did not remember it as it happened in a dream they forgot as soon as they woke up from it, thus making this disappearance a complete mystery.

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