Dual Cultivation God Returns

Chapter 329  True Confidence

Song Minfu and his daughter stood up as they saw Wu Long enter the room, exchanging greetings and proceeding to sit together on the sofas.

"Thank you for keeping Mengqi company"

Wu Long turned to Song Lingfei who smiled as she lifted her veil. While Wu Mengqi was busy with helping Sui Luxiao, she still found time to visit the princess to talk, telling her about the world outside.

"It is me who is grateful to her for entertaining my request, I only wish you could join us in our discussions"

"I would have loved to take you up on the generous offer to accompany you, but I had arrangements to make for the cure. However, on that note, I have a suggestion for both of you"

Wu Long wryly smiled as he truly was too busy with helping Yu Huan learn everything necessary for the procedure as well as for refining his pill. When he saw Song Minfu nod, Wu Long proceeded to make his suggestion.

"The Soaring Feather Trading Company is preparing to move their headquarters shortly, and I would be accompanying their travel as their destination is the town just outside the Spiritual Land of the Yin Yang Unity Palace.

I was wondering if you would like to join us while you contemplate your choice of the treatment.

You see, I plan to get the alchemist who would be helping with the cure to open her own alchemy practice"

Wu Long chuckled and both of them widened their eyes. Song Minfu of course knew about the matter of Sui Luxiao's trading company, but the proposition to travel outside took him by surprise, and the matter of an alchemist completely overturned his expectations. He slightly narrowed his eyes at Wu Long, his gaze becoming scrutinizing.

"You are playing a dangerous game, Mister Wu"

He finally said, not directly replying to the offer.

"What we consider dangerous often is very different from person to person, and believe me, it is not a game at all"

Wu Long smiled.

"Are you that certain of your win?"

"Nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to the future, so the only sure bet is to act on something that has already happened. But by that time it is almost always already late"

Wu Long shrugged as he was not a seer, and the future was as vague to him as it was for anyone else. If someone claimed to be absolutely sure in something happening in the future they would be a fool.

"I am just confident"

He then smiled, causing Song Minfu to widen his eyes. His own constant calculation of probabilities and manner of acting extremely carefully suddenly seemed insignificant in front of this young man, as all of it could crumble if the future turned out not as he assumed. It was not like Wu Long acted blindly, but it seemed that he did not put too much faith in his speculations, accepting that they might be false entirely. The difference was actually in being capable of enduring the implications of an assumption being wrong.

Meanwhile, a glint appeared in Song Lingfei's eyes as she remembered words she heard from Wu Mengqi when their conversation turned to the theme of relationships and naturally Wu Mengqi's choice of partner. 'True confidence is not when someone thinks they know what will happen in the future, but when they trust their ability to deal with whatever future holds. And true confidence, is fatally attractive', was the phrase that slightly baffled the princess, until she saw it right now with her own eyes and felt its magnetic charm. Her cheeks turned almost imperceptibly rosier as she turned her eyes to the side.

"However, even if you are, what is the meaning behind asking us to go with you?"

"It is quite simple, the clouds are getting thicker above the continent, and I am offering you a way to not get swept up in the storm"

"And I suppose I would help you get the alchemist to leave the Alchemy Tower during the process"

"Correct. Though that is only part of it, as I value your talents and consider it a shame for you to be lost in the petty struggle for the throne"

Wu Long nodded, truly enjoying speaking with someone who was quick to understand.

"It is quite bold of you to assume that we would be on the losing end"

"I never said anything about the Empire being on the loosing end, even though it would by my speculation. I am merely stating that whoever wins, in my estimation you specifically are going to be swept up"

Wu Long shook his head and Song Minfu raised his eyebrows.

"Did you not just say that no one can predict the future?"

"I did, I am just stating my opinion on the matter, whether it would turn out to be true or not is yet to be seen. What I can tell you with certainty is that your support of the Soaring Feather Trading Company earned you my gratitude, which is why I am willing to offer this help based on my understanding of the situation"

The two looked at each other for some time in silence as Song Lingfei seemed to be in her own thoughts as well.

"Can I hear the reason for your assumption about the Empire's loss?"

"The reason is the six kingdoms"

Wu Long shrugged his shoulders and Song Minfu raised his eyebrows as that was not even remotely what he expected to hear. He would have laughed in the face of another, but he could not see Wu Long as the youngster he looked to be, and not even as a slightly mysterious but still largely normal man he saw him as when they first met. Not after what Wu Long did with the Supreme Master Pavilion and what he accomplished on the Wood Spirit Continent.

Now, the Crown Prince was inclined to listen to Wu Long's opinion with extreme care and attention to details.

"The enemy you see is only an illusion conjured by the real one, and while you were worried about the Golden Ox Trading Company and the Profound Martial Valley behind them which were effectively covering your eyes, your opponent took possession of the six kingdoms, three partially and three completely"

Wu Long explained as he was receiving reports from Old Yen who departed from the capital as soon as Wu Long arrived here, having finished with the investigation in the capital before he arrived.

"Three?"

Song Minfu raised his eyebrow, but not from surprise. Anyone could tell two of the six kingdoms Wu Long designated as 'completely lost', but the third one was something the Crown Prince never expected someone else to notice.

"The third one was tricky to figure out for me as well, but just yesterday I became certain that Gutian Kingdom is not only one of them, but actually the first of them to fall"

Wu Long nodded, glad to be on the same page.

"But even if that is true, how does the fall of the Kingdoms affect the Empire?"

"You see, the Kingdoms collectively have more population than the Empire, especially considering that the Empire's Northern Mountainous Region that takes a little less than half of your country is completely barren of civilization. And the other side has been harnessing that population for their own purposes for a long time now. Did you think that slavery in the Jurong and Liugwei Kingdom was just a whim to make people miserable?

Remember, why is my feat in the Supreme Master Pavilion capable of stirring so much noise?"

Wu Long smiled and Song Minfu gasped.

In fact, Wu Long's decimation of that sect would not cause that much attention to be directed his way if he had an army or at least a decently sized group, or have done it over a long period of time. Even if they were considered a force to be reckoned with to the Tingren Kingdom, they would have not stood a chance against decent sized sects of the continent.

The reason that feat was so impressive was precisely that he did it almost entirely by himself, with a low cultivation realm, and in a short amount of time without taking a break. Even the Imperial Ancestor who was in the Mortal Transcendence Realm would require to retreat, having someone to cover for him before attacking again, since however low-level people he fought, he would still gradually exhaust his Spiritual Qi.

'Even a lion would fear a thousand hyenas'

Song Minfu closed his eyes as his mind raced with thoughts. A cultivator in a high realm would still be eventually overwhelmed if pressed by the sheer numbers of cultivators in slightly lower realms. The Empire might be able to completely dominate any Kingdom or two at once, but if the opponent assembled a large enough army and prepared them, the Empire would be overrun as their high cultivation experts would be crushed under the numbers coupled with the the fact that the enemy had high cultivation realm practitioners on their side as well.

The Empire had effectively already lost the war before it even started, because they always dismissed the significance of the kingdoms.