Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 948: It couldn’t be helped...
"Haha, how cute...", Wu Long chuckled, looking at the empty seat in front of him, before taking a sip from the wine cup. He could still vividly see how just a few minutes ago, Hong Yue’s cheeks turned rosy while she lowered her gaze, unable to find words to respond and overwhelmed.
To the people around, though, it still looked like they were sitting and having a conversation over drinks. Fen Baihu set this mirage before she spirited away Hong Yue into her Dream Realm.
"This isn’t once or twice already... when you open her eyes to something new. How suspicious... it almost looks like you want to monopolize being the one to introduce each and every first experience she has... hihihi... you really are a greedy man", eight fluffy white tails curled around Wu Long, as the little fox perched on his shoulder more proactively showed affection, nuzzling her head against his cheek.
"Hahaha, I always said I am. What? You thought I was bluffing?", he gently rubbed her fur with his fingers.
"Haha, not really, but you always manage to exceed my estimations of just how deep that greed can be", she chuckled, her figure turning into a thick, almost viscous mist that swirled around him and then two slender, elegant hands landed on his shoulders, sliding forward to hug him as the rest of her gradually materialized from her hands and up her arms.
The next moment, like a mirage she drifted into a mist again and re-materialized on his lap in a blink of an eye, wrapping her hands around his neck, her pink eyes glowing brightly as she looked into his eyes, drowning in the look full of affection he gave her. Her playful, teasing smile turned into a lightly bit lower lip, and then those lips rushed toward him as soon as he started leaning in, not patient enough to wait even a moment longer for that sweet kiss.
After getting her kiss, she closed her eyes and comfortably nestled into his embrace on his lap, both her blissful expression and the movement of her fox ears showing she was fully satisfied.
They stayed like that for some time, until at one point, her fox ear twitched, and then her eyes slightly opened, "Tch, that old man is too diligent... who told him to do his work so fast?"
The corners of Wu Long’s mouth curled up in a wry smile, while Fen Baihu fumed over "overly eager and efficient work". However, as Wu Long leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead, her expression immediately mellowed out as her mood instantly turned fluffy. Her figure turned into mist, and then she reappeared in her small fox form on his shoulder.
A few moments later, brought by Fen Baihu, Zhao Xieren appeared from the mist, though for some reason it looked as if he was shot out from it rather than walking out on his own. His bewildered eyes caught the somehow sharp gaze of the little fox on Wu Long’s shoulder, leaving him utterly confused as he didn’t remember doing anything to incur the wrath of the Mythical Beast.
Meanwhile, Wu Long was already fully concentrated, holding his hand out over the table, as dark mist swirled around it, "Good work, take a seat, it will take a bit before we can start"
"Yes, Valley Master", Old Man Zhao sat down in the chair previously occupied by Hong Yue. Though inwardly, he felt like sitting on pins and needles, since the watchful gaze of the fox didn’t leave him. Only after about half a minute, Fen Baihu seemed to finally lose interest in him, settling more comfortably on Wu Long’s shoulder, allowing Zhao Xieren to breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Fen Baihu’s eyes were now glued to the slowly growing whisp of dark mist swirling around Wu Long’s hand, with a hint of growing surprise, ’Seriously... this is simply ridiculous...’
As the original holder of this ability, as well as the one who saw how hard it was for him to adapt to it from the very start, she could instantly see how much effort it took him to raise his skill to this level so fast. She suddenly realized, that from the last time she saw him doing it, part of his mind was constantly studying, rehearsing and practicing it. In only a bit over 7 minutes since he began manifesting it, the dark mist condensed and the mask of the "talisman master" appeared in it.
"Alright then, let’s start our performance, shall we?", Wu Long stood up, casually holding the mask out as another person appeared behind him.
It was one of Old Yen’s subordinates who respectfully received the mask given to him with both hands, bowing his head in greeting first to Wu Long, then to Zhao Xieren, and after wearing the mask sat down in a pose remarkably similar to the manner in which Wu Long acted as the talisman master down to minute movements and even the overall impression he gave off.
A satisfied look appeared in Wu Long’s eyes at the sight, as he made a note to himself to praise Old Yen later as he disappeared into Fen Baihu’s mist.
---
At the inn where Wei Yuanjie was staying, one of the Elders of the Ember Palm Pavilion sat down with a few Disciples in a waiting room.
Although the Elder sat in a meditative pose with closed eyes, the silence in the room was not a sign of a relaxed atmosphere. One only needed to look at the tense faces and poses of the Disciples, who were careful even about breathing.
Inwardly though, all four disciples were seething with anger.
’That damned 9th prince! I knew he wasn’t called good-for-nothing of the Imperial Family without reason!’
’It’s been what... 2... 3 hours? How much longer is he going to make us wait?! Wasn’t it he who arranged this meeting in the first place?!’
’I can feel how close Elder is to exploding... Shit! Why do we have to suffer because of that shitty prince?!?!’
’This is hell!’
As their thoughts were becoming darker and darker, suddenly, a knock on the room’s door almost caused the four Disciples to suffer heart attacks, all four of them jolting as if they were going to jump up.
"Dear guests, His Highness is ready to go out", a polite and respectful voice that came from the other side of the door only made the four Disciples even more furious.
However, if there was any impulse to express that anger, it was immediately extinguished when the Elder’s eyes opened, as all four Disciples gulped.
The Elder walked toward the door, but stopped before it for a moment, causing the four to skip a beat, and then - after a short pause during which he deeply inhaled - an extremely amicable smiling expression appeared on his face as he opened the door.
The four Disciples suddenly felt conflicted, on one hand extreme admiration for the Elder’s inner strength, on the other hand, a kind of emptiness from the realization that even an Elder of their Sect, a position of power they revered and someday hoped to maybe occupy if luck was on their side, had no choice but to amicably smile.
---
[Did we really have to make them wait so long?], Wei Yuanjie sent a sound transmission to Wu Long who stood not far behind him along with the blind swordsman, as he was exchanging polite and amicable greetings with the members of the Ember Palm Pavilion.
[It couldn’t be helped, something ’extremely’ important came up which caused the delay], Wu Long replied in a nonchalant voice.
[Even if that’s true... you’re certainly not doing my reputation any favors today. I mean, look at them! They absolutely hate my guts!], the 9th prince let out a ’social’ laugh in response to the Elder’s words.
[Since when were you worried about your reputation? It’s not like you’re really aiming to build political power. Do you even care if they hate you?], it was Wu Long’s and Duan Feng’s turn to extend a short greeting to the Elder.
[I mean... not really... but still, I feel kind of bad for them, at least for those four], while the Elder was replying to Wu Long and Duan Feng, Wei Yuanjie nodded to the four Disciples who cupped their hands in greetings.
[It just shows the imbalance of power here. I guarantee you that if the power scale was reversed, you would have been made to wait far longer than they did, without an actual reason that you have], Wu Long joined Duan Feng and the four Disciples in following Wei Yuanjie and the Elder out of the inn’s courtyard, where around 20 Sect Protectors of the Ember Palm Pavilion stood in neat rows.
The prince and the Elder went into a carriage, while everyone else mounted horses, proceeding toward the pavilion tower that Wu Long was sitting in not long ago.
