Wu Long came out of the dark mist, arriving in the Soaring Feather Trading Company branch in the Silver Wing City, his expression and eyes full of excitement and rapid thinking, despite today’s experiments not producing his desired results yet.

Fen Baihu noted his smooth travel here with Nightmare Fox powers with a very delighted look, "Your degree of adaptation to the bloodline certainly improved greatly after ascending"

"I did reach enlightenment during the breakthrough after all", Wu Long smiled, "Although it wasn’t focused on the bloodline powers, I got a few benefits in that aspect as well"

"How is it? Do you feel the urge to play a few tricks on humans to see how they react yet?", she grinned, "You must be feeling the call of the bloodline, no?"

"Hahaha, I think you’re just making it up to excuse your little hobbies", he shook his head with a light laugh, "I don’t feel any calls from the bloodline even remotely, let alone this one"

"Hmph, you’re just still not tuned in to the bloodline well enough then~", she turned her little fox head away with a proud look, refusing to concede this point, making him laugh more.

The first people Wu Long saw were Butler Bang and Song Minfu as usual, though both were quite surprised at his late arrival despite having no schedule in the Emerald Falls City, as well as noticing a light trace scent of fire and explosions from his clothes.

The truth was that he would’ve delayed his schedule even more if it wasn’t time one of his beauties came to join him for the day - just after breakfast in the Dream Realm.

This time, the one who arrived was Cai Yin and after their greeting kiss, added, "Sister Hong Ye and Fairy Hong Yue came to breakfast with slightly puffed eyes today, but somehow I felt a lot more peacefulness and stability from both"

"That is great to hear", Wu Long smiled, relieved to hear that the talk went smoothly - as a Soul Cultivator, Cai Yin would’ve picked up on any signs of unresolved issues if there were any, so her words were a great reassurance.

But his reaction made her make a lightly surprised expression, "You knew?"

"I wasn’t sure it would happen today, but they were bound to have a serious talk sometime soon", Wu Long nodded with a chuckle.

"Hmm~", she nodded, though she could tell that Wu Long wasn’t completely unrelated, and then shifted topics, "Anyway, Sister Zhiqiu asked me to tell you to visit her a bit later today, she said she’s close to the breakthrough on deciphering and analyzing the Formation"

"Zhiqiu was at the breakfast?", Wu Long raised his eyebrows, and then chuckled, "I guess she really is very excited about that Formation to rise so early as to make it to breakfast"

"Hehehe", Cai Yin covered her mouth with her hand, giggling, "As if~, she simply asked Sister Ziyan to wake her up early no matter what, Sister Ziyan said she had to almost drag her out of the bed by the legs"

"Ah, I should’ve known that was the case", he began laughing as well, sympathizing with Hua Ziyan’s struggles.

Among his beauties, Lian Zhiqiu was definitely the heaviest sleeper, and she wasn’t the only one as Wu Mengqi and Luo Mingyu were in that category as well, although obviously not to the same degree as the former.

Gong Cui was not far behind the two, as Gong Liwei was the one who always went to wake her up and helped the half-asleep beauty to dress up properly.

Yu Huan usually slept in as well, but not for the same reason as the rest, she simply went to bed very late, usually surrounded by texts and jade slips about Alchemy, so she normally skipped breakfast altogether like Lian Zhiqiu.

And then there was Wei Lan who had none of her usual kindness and gentleness in the mornings, usually waking up in a cranky mood, with a serious case of bed hair since her wavy and long brown hair had a lot of natural volume, and a blank look in her sleepy eyes. That too, while being basically the first one to go to sleep and keeping a strict personal schedule, if she wasn’t with Wu Long. But despite that she somehow forced herself to wake up early and returned to her usual appearance and demeanor within just 40 minutes in a bathroom, to then go and make breakfast for everyone.

As they were discussing that, they went into the meeting room, where Wu Long focused on the reports from Butler Bang and Song Minfu for some time.

It was the day before the auction, and about a week ago, it seemed like the expected customer audience for it had already pretty much solidified, but the influx of new people from outside only continued to intensify during this week, and exploded in numbers in the last days leading up to it.

It was not clear whether these were simply latecomers who were hurrying to join this auction from afar, or simply those for whom this auction became more interesting only as the fuss around it grew bigger, or if this was an effect of the arena tournament announcement and wasn’t directly related to the auction at all.

What was clear, was that this made both the Thousand Eyes Palace and the Soaring Feather Trading Company busy, and brought a lot more opportunities for Sowing Karma that have not been identified yet.

And while the tournament could be a reason, the whole thing was mostly a ploy by Wu Long to keep the chaotic crowd here after the auction was done, as most were expected to leave with nothing more to look forward to.

After the meeting with Butler Bang and Song Minfu there was a bit of time, so Wu Long discussed Cai Yin’s upcoming infiltration of the Wei Dynasty’s noble society as she sat on his lap.

"Just remember what I told you, be careful about revealing your Soul Cultivation", Wu Long reminded her, "It can make it hard for you to build trust if they are wary of you using Soul Techniques on them"

"I know, I didn’t plan to use Soul Techniques on the noble ladies to begin with - the thought did cross my mind but high nobles and Imperial Royals all wear Soul Protection Spiritual Treasures anyway", she nodded.

"I said to not reveal your Soul Cultivator identity, I didn’t say to not use Soul Techniques though", Wu Long chuckled, "It can certainly make life in the capital easier for you to use them"

"But wouldn’t their Spiritual Treasures immediately alert them to the use of Soul Power?", Cai Yin turned her eyes up to look at him. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"If that was the case, true Soul Cultivators like you, although very rare, wouldn’t be so feared, and if people with your particular talent weren’t incredibly rare, perhaps Soul Cultivators would have ruled the entirety of the Seven Boundless Worlds, but even if it didn’t go that far they would at least be on par in prestige and status with Dao Cultivators", Wu Long shook his head, making a slight hyperbole but not that far stretched, he continued to gently pat the back of her head and down to her back in long strokes over her long hair, "Perhaps if you did not already possess Soul Power Manifestation, it would’ve been hard for you to use your powers in the Emerald Falls City, but your power now that you have started on the path of true Soul Cultivation, is far greater than most common Soul Protection Spiritual Treasures can do anything against - those only guard against Soul Cultivators like your past teacher or the guy who sealed my memory. Of course, it takes skill and special techniques to use those powers discreetly, so this will be a very good practice ground for you"

"But, you only told me to work on improving my Soul Power Manifestation until now, and that’s all I’ve been concentrating on until now, I don’t have any techniques to use it yet..."

"Because foundation is very important, you will have to continue to dedicate most of your training time and efforts to the Soul Power Manifestation if you want to become a powerful Soul Cultivator. You can think of it like a cultivation base for Spiritual Cultivators or body for Body Tempering Cultivators - it is the essence of your cultivation. Soul Techniques are like battle skills for those two, necessary but only as good as the underlying cultivation base and body allows them to be. By now I think you have reached a good threshold to start training in a few Soul Techniques, though that’ll probably require some help from Mingyu"

"Hehe, then it’s no problem. Sister Mingyu will help me in the Emerald Falls City from time to time anyway", Cai Yin chuckled, "That Cyclic Burning Cauldron technique, although a necessity for female cultivators, is incredibly hard to learn, so Sister Mingyu would have to help - of course, not revealing her Dao Intent, just as a Dao Cultivator"

"I see you already have a solid strategy even without Soul Techniques", Wu Long lightly laughed, "But that works well indeed, with Mingyu’s help you can not only quickly learn your Soul Power manipulation, but her influence as a talented Dao Cultivator would be very strong, and being the only one who could give noble ladies access to that Dao Cultivator will grant you special status"

"Mm, not only Sister Mingyu, Sister Cui will help as well. She said she was looking forward to it because she could give a performance to the noble ladies as a ’mysterious veiled musician’, she was all excited about building a mysterious persona", Cai Yin chuckled.

"Mm, that would be good", Wu Long nodded, "It would help with her Music Dao as well, I was thinking of finding a way for her to give performances"

"With her Music Dao?", Cai Yin slightly widened her eyes as she sat up straight on his lap, coming out of his embrace to look at him with curious eyes.

"She is a Dao Practicing Cultivator after all" Wu Long explained, "And the most important part of the Dao Practicing Cultivators, unlike for Dao Cultivators, is the act of practicing their Dao, not just pondering it. For Music Daoists like Cui’er it is playing music, to a Wine Daoist like Zhao Biren it is to brew wine, for a Painting Daoist like the painter traveling with Duan Feng it is to write paintings, for a Theft Daoist like Qian Ying it is to commit theft"

"Like for Armament Cultivators? Honing the skills in sword for Sword Cultivators, achieving mastery of the spear for Spear Cultivators and so on?", Cai Yin asked, seeing the similarities.

Wu Long nodded with a smile as his hand gently brushed away a lock of Cai Yin’s hair to the side, "Yes, but there is another aspect of Dao Practicing Cultivation that separates them from Armament Cultivators aside from the latter focusing on skills with the weapon, it is that Dao Practicing Cultivation is intricately linked to what is called ’proving their Dao to the Heavens’ - in other words, actual achievements in the world, a performative act and just like every performative act it requires an audience to appreciate it. For someone practicing Theft Dao it might be stealing a challenging target against all odds as well as getting away with it despite leaving an obvious mark that identifies them, for someone practicing Wine Dao it is the act of sharing the wine they brewed and having other people appreciate its intricacies, and for Music Dao..."

"... it is giving a performance in front of an audience", Cai Yin understood what he meant, nodding with a pondering expression as her hands fixed the appearance of his robes a bit, moving out of habit more than consciously, "But... does it mean that their cultivation is influenced by outside... like by the Heavenly Daos? And... isn’t Sister Gong Cui always giving us a performance?"

"While it may seem like ’proving their Dao to the Heavens’ means seeking external approval of some higher entity - what they are actually doing is proving it to themselves, creating a sense of achievement that allows them to advance in their cultivation", Wu Long chuckled, "It could be created with practice alone by the very act of feeling their skills and understanding of their Dao improves, which is why they are able to advance in cultivation even in isolated seclusion, but the act of practicing their Dao in the open and showing those results to others is what creates definite undeniable proof, and thus able to greatly benefit their cultivation"

He then answered her second question with a wry smile, "And it is true that performing for us gives Cui’er a sense of accomplishment, why do you think her cultivation advances almost as fast as Mingyu’s? Though it also has to do with talent, it is tied to the fact her cultivation is like Mingyu’s, also linked to internal mental factors more than Spiritual Qi or anything else more material. But as with all achievements, making a new one is far more significant than reaffirming an achievement you already made"

"Hmm~, I see~... ", Cai Yin had a look of understanding appear in her eyes, "It isn’t completely useless or meaningless to perform for the same audience, but inevitably you begin to wonder if your achievements work only in front of that particular audience. Your heart begins to crave a definite confirmation you have indeed achieved a higher level"

"Exactly", Wu Long nodded, bringing her closer, back into his embrace, which made her close her eyes to enjoy the moment.