Dual Cultivation God Returns

Wu Long left the Peak of Unity, and visited the site of Yu Huan's new Alchemy Pavilion which was busy with preparations for it being used. The building was an unused hall which was now being repurposed.

She was in the room at the innermost part of the new alchemy pavilion, standing amidst the emptiness, seemingly lost in thought. Lian Zhiqiu agreed to personally lay the alchemy formations and arrays, and her works were far above in quality compared to what the contract Formation Masters were able to offer. Thus the room was yet to be furnished or touched.

Yu Huan's daze broke with the sound of the door being opened, and as she looked around to see him enter, her lips curved into a smile.

"Do you like it?"

"I do... very much"

She answered Wu Long's question without missing a beat looking him straightin the eyes with an expression of happiness and contentment. And then added the second part as a light of slight nervousness passed through her eyes.

"That is good to hear, I was worried that the building would be in worse shape, but it seems it was kept clean"

He smiled, nodding to her, and the light shadow of nervousness in her expression at the thought of not expressing enough of her gratefulness dissipated back into a relaxed smile.

"Thank you, it is amazing to think of the possibilities and the future, but it is even more amazing to think about how this became possible"

She smiled at him as he chuckled, understanding that for her who was staring at a nearing dead-end of her career as an alchemist this was something she could not put into words.

"We would need to carefully select some assistants for you"

Wu Long then turned his gaze to the empty slightly dated walls of the spacious room, walking along, seemingly observing this place in a state ready for use, a look that resembled the one Yu Huan had before he arrived.

"Assistants... is it safe?"

Yu Huan's eyes followed him around the room. He looked back at her with a slight grin.

"It is good to maintain healthy caution, but then again you cannot refrain from having necessary help because you are too suspicious. The knowledge and information I would provide you with is no doubt precious but the most precious is your ability to use it effectively"

Wu Long understood her worry, as the pill recipes and alchemy techniques he would give her would be all stored in this room, in addition to her own valuable research, and having assistants would carry the risk of that precious information to be leaked.

"Not to mention, I might have an idea where we might find some relatively trustworthy people"

He then added with a smile.

As she was about to ask about those 'relatively trustworthy' people, Yu Huan widened her eyes since she realized she knew next to nothing about him apart from his profound alchemy knowledge and now quite strong influence and connections.

This thought sparked a curiosity in her, one which was not at all common for her to have, one toward a human and not the Dao of Alchemy. What surprised her was that even when she realized she knew little of other people, which was a rare thing since most of the time she did not think of other people at all, it did not spark any interest, she just acknowledged that fact and moved on.

She has been friends with Bi Rui for as long as she could remember, and thus it was normal for her to be very close with her, therefore she naturally held interest in her as a person, without realizing she never experienced this interest in other people since there was no comparison. But it was the first time she genuinely held interest in someone other than her.

This feeling left her perplexed and at a loss of what to do with it. It was not like she knew what people did in such situations, as she never was in one before.

He smiled as he saw the expression of confusion in her eyes, giving her some words of encouragement and going out as he knew she needed some time to process her thoughts.

'Hmm, it seems I cannot postpone the trip to the Tingren Kingdom much'

He thought on the way and soon spotted Wu Mengqi who was waiting for him to come this way. He smiled at the beauty who ran into his embrace, and after enjoying the skinship for some time she let go and they started strolling through the sect, holding hands.

"Honey, I have a question"

After some time Wu Mengqi asked as she looked around at the rather busy Yin Yang Unity Palace, as excitement of changes was palpable in the air.

"Mm?"

He lightly asked as his gaze also surveyed the surroundings, a carefree smile on his face.

"Do you intend on creating your own faction?"

"I am"

He answered her cautious question without hesitation, showing her a smile that put her at ease to ask these questions.

It was evident from his actions that he was making preparations for larger scale moves, but she was not yet certain whether he considered it making changes to the place he currently called home, or if it was a long-term investment in something he considered part of his force going forward.

"But, based on your description of the life you led before, it seems..."

"Uncharacteristic?"

"Indeed, I was more of a lone warrior type in my past life, but that iswhat partially led to my demise"

He shrugged as they walked toward a more remote part of the sect, with great views of the valleys and rivers around the mountain which were currently covered in white ice and snow.

"Hm? Wasn't the problem that you had a disciple who betrayed you?"

She said with a slight frown as she became somewhat confused by his answer.

"Yes and no. You see, that betrayal in of itself is not the cause of my failure, the real cause is the inability to deal with it. You cannot predict everything that happens, and always know ahead. You can plan and anticipate, but life is fundamentally chaotic. What matters is if you are able to overcome whatever comes your way"

Wu Long said as they came out to a platform on one of the remote peaks of the mountain the sect was located on. From here, a vast view of fairy tale-like winter view opened up before them.

"I know, which is why you decided to become even more powerful than before at every step of your cultivation"

She nodded, as she agreed with him, since her own experience in her past life taught her how powerlessness could be the source of grief. Even if she audibly complained about training, she still never skipped to do it.

"Exactly"

He smiled, as his resolve to be more powerful than he could even dream of in his past life was still what drove him to improve from this early on.

"But it is also a fact that even if I was incredibly powerful, the most powerful cultivator alive in the known Seven Boundless Worlds I would still have died in that crumbling world were it not for that woman. Because sometimes being powerful is just not enough"

He chuckled, as he profoundly understood the power of having allies, not just connections, but true force of one's own in those moments when he was trapped in that small crumbling world.

It was a given that Wu Long did not intend to recruit just anyone, but at the same time he did not think there was anything wrong with having subordinates. In fact he was determined to build a force he could rely on.

It was true that he was betrayed before, and if he was a mortal in the early part of his life it would have been a natural reaction to close off and become extremely distrustful of his surroundings.

However, the truth was that he was not that impressionable. In fact, it was far from the first time he was betrayed, as he experienced it not only near the end of his past life but many times during the course of it, and each such experience made him more cautious and distrustful in the beginning.

The advantage of his age was that over time he learned to reign in his own caution, seeing the detrimental effects it could bring if it strangled his movements and hindered his progress. "Don't trust anyone ever" was a recipe for a disaster.

After living for some millennia he understood that fundamentally most of what happened around him, what other people decided or did was out of his control, what was in his control was how he reacted to it, and whether he was able to handle the fallout.

"Though don't take it as throwing caution out to the wind, I am not prepared to take in just anyone either. I am just saying that if someone does betray me despite all efforts to avoid that outcome, I have the means to deal with it"

He chuckled, as he reassured her. She sighed, grappling with her own trust toward people after her own family betrayed her not only in her past life but this one as well.

"But why now? If you understood this in your previous life, why didn't you... why were you alone?"

She then turned to him as the cold wind blew past, flapping the hems of her robes and strands of her hair. He smiled back, raising his hand and putting away a lock of hair that crossed her face behind her ear, as she felt his warmth shielding her from the chill.

"Because the gift I received had far more than I could have ever asked for. What drove me to the path of being a lone cultivator before was not the desire to be one, but bitterness and scars from losing you and Ling'er"

He spoke softly, acknowledging something he did not usually say out loud. Her eyes widened, and as he smiled, their lips met, her body leaping into his chest.