Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 760: Sparks of progress

This time Wu Long didn't need to postpone refining the Yin Qi he got from the ladies of the Frozen Garden Palace, since among the NIne Mortal Realms, cultivating was only volatile in Core Reformation Realm, and he wasn't performing any complex manipulations of his own foundation, thus finishing cultivating as soon as he visited the last group of beauties in the cultivation chamber.

To his delight, the Yin Qi of the Frozen Garden members was much more potent this time, though it would be more accurate to say that his own advance into the Mortal Transcendence Realm allowed him to more effectively tap into the power of the Profound Realm Yin Qi on a deeper level.

His first gain was the creation of Tyrant Core of the Slaughter God's Tyrant Vortex Art, once again unleashing the potential of this Supreme Cultivation Method.

Next was the Sublime Core of the Sublime Heavenly Sequence, restoring both factors which elevated his base capabilities far beyond the limits of his cultivation realm.

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Finally, due to having the excess resources, he was able to create the Ghost Core of the Bahshi Ghost Imperial Codex, once more gaining access to all of the Bahshi Assassination Group's techniques.

All three of the cores were only in the stage of development corresponding to Core Formation Realm, and could still be improved to the state equivalent to Mortal Transcendence, but it was already enough to unleash the potential of the three techniques.

There was one more, intangible, but nevertheless very significant development, as entering and cultivating inside Fen Baihu's Dream Realm for the first time since he acquired her bloodline, allowed him to get a more nuanced grasp of the essence of her power from within her domain, which could also be called the center of it, and thus vaguely grasp the existence of his own Mystic Realm.

It did not translate into any practical applications, nor did this achievement grant him any abilities toward the Mystic Realm at the moment, but just being able to grasp - even slightly and vaguely - the feeling of its presence was a major step.

In his understanding, it was the equivalent of a mortal with no cultivation whatsoever vaguely feeling the presence of Spiritual Qi for the very first time. Without that difficult and crucial first step any following developments were absolutely impossible.

Upon arriving at the Oak Fortress, he went through the reports, most of which were fairly mundane and operational in regard to the situation on the continent and what actions were taken in preparation of his departure along with his Dao Family.

He also gave direct advice about their cultivation to General Feng, Brilliant Sun Temple Master, Old Man Zhao, and Song Minfu, the four people who would be left in charge when he is away.

After that he went to the Tribulation Grounds, where nearly 200 people from the Twin Essence Palace, and around 200 people from the War Palace, Thousand Eyes Palace and Brilliant Sun Temple, as well as almost the entirety of the Divine Enlightenment Palace assembled, ready to undergo their Heavenly Tribulations.

"It seems my words had a far greater effect than I intended", he turned a gentle and at the same time wry gaze to Luo Mingyu standing at his side, whose cheeks lightly rosied while she still tried to feign ignorance. A soft smile touched his mouth, "Thank you, Mingyu"

The corners of her lips involuntarily went up ever so slightly, and then she briefly cleared her throat, turning an innocent gaze to him with a simple "don't mention it."

She was still acting as if in preparation for their departure she didn't put aside her personal meditation and halt her progress to put the entirety of her time and attention, as well as maximum effort, into facilitating the massive leap in cultivation of her Luo Clan, who made up the majority of the Divine Enlightenment Palace, despite the fact that Wu Long only mentioned it to her once, and made it a point to emphasize that it wasn't something she had to assign any importance to.

It was meant to be something that she only did in her spare time, if at all.

He sighed with slightly mixed feelings, on one hand grateful and happy, on the other hand still distressed over the fact she went so far.

He caught the ever calm and wise gaze of Ye Ling's eyes standing a bit further.

There was understanding in them, causing a wry smile to appear on his lips. This fleeting exchange of glances had the weight of an entire conversation, and nevertheless was soothing.

'I still keep underestimating what she's capable of', the thought flew through his mind as he shook his head, his eyes turning back to the sight of people in front of him, that even he wasn't prepared for.

The ability of Luo Mingyu to accelerate the progress of those around her was something that could hardly be measured.

All he hoped for was around a dozen of Dao Cultivators to advance into Seven Profound Realms before departure, each of them thus becoming a spark of growth and progress for the members of other palaces within the Eternal Duality Valley while Wu Long and his Dao Family were away.

Amid Heavenly Tribulations, Wu Long confirmed the diminishing returns of this exercise for him, since focusing on comprehending the nature of the Lightning Rune while helping others advance yielded less and less gains, with almost none this time around. Though of course, he still intended to help others to advance, it just no longer was something beneficial to him personally.

After the last lightning strike, he congratulated those who advanced, sending them off to rest. And with this amount of Dao Cultivators, countless sparks were lit, which would grow into a fire powering the progress of the Sect in his absence.

After that, he gathered his Dao Family, Yuanfen, Madam Liang, Gong Liwei, and Cai Yin, as well as Butler Bang, Old Yen, Nie Guanting and Kwon Qianhong with a small number of hand-picked by Butler Bang servants and Old Yen's subordinates.

To avoid gathering much attention until they left this continent, since there were still those on alert for signs of the people who arrived from the Battle God's Cradle, everyone except Wu Long, Nie Guanting, Kwon Qianhong and Old Yen entered Fen Baihu's Mystic Realm, and departed for the Iron Claw City for the first time.

It did not take them long to arrive in the vicinity, where they were greeted by Zhao Biren.

"Valley Master, you have arrived… Old Yen, Guanting, Qian", the Wine Dao practitioner smiled as he stood up from a rock, to greet first Wu Long, and then nodded to the other three. Each nod making him slightly sway to the side.

"Glad to see you're doing fine", Wu Long nodded in response.

"Hahaha, that is of course, thanks to Valley Master"

The smell of alcohol reached the four as soon as they got closer. Old Yen slightly frowned while Wu Long and Kwon Qianhong simply shook their heads with wry smiles.

"Oh!" seeing Wu Long's gaze turn to something held in his hand, Zhao Biren exclaimed as if remembering something, " I brought some of my recent work to celebrate your arrival…", he raised an opened wine gourd, "... but as I was waiting, I suddenly had a thought that it wouldn't be polite to bring you something of poor quality, so I got anxious *hic*, and gave it a small tasting…"

"Of course you did, so, how was it?" Wu Long spoke, holding back a laugh, as an incredulous expression appeared on Old Yen's face, and a wistful look appeared on the faces of the other two.

"Ex~cellent", the Wine Daoist raised his thumb with a proud look, "So good it was hard to stop…"

"I'll take your word for it", Wu Long's voice slightly trembled from laughter as he nodded, "What about the World Stone?"

"Ah, yes", the slightly drunk man nodded, "Everything's ready, this week, a man from the Iron Claw Group who owes me from a game of mahjong is in charge of the World Stone's toll collection and security. He will pass you through without record and past the observers, mingling you among regular travelers, though you'll still have to pay… he has subordinates and people above him after all…"

"Of course", Wu Long nodded, satisfied with the answer, while Kwon Qianhong already started mentally preparing to haggle.

The five moved toward the city, as Old Yen and Kwon Qianhong were exchanging information with Zhao Biren on the way, and parting with him not long after arriving at the Iron Claw City.

—

"You really drove a hard bargain, towards the end I started to think the man owed you something", Old Yen shook his head at Kwon Qianhong.

"Nah, Boss told me to restrain myself and be a bit more generous… I could've taken off more, at least a fifth off of what we gave him, maybe a bit more…", the latter spoke clearly distressed about the fact.

"The point was to show him you could, so that he knows we specifically chose to be generous", Wu Long shrugged his shoulders with a relaxed look.

"Ah, so it's an investment!", Kwon Qianhong's face instantly brightened with delight.

They were already past the gates of the wall surrounding a large empty plaza, with only the towering World Stone in the center.

There were layers upon layers of formations and barriers all around, clearly showing the amount of attention given to this place. Quite understandably so, as control over the 'only' entry and exit to the continent, at least currently, was in itself a symbol of power and authority, as well as a decent revenue source.

Though Wu Long knew that a small time gang like the Iron Claw Group, even as powerful as it was considered to be here, was in no position to hire Formation Masters capable of creating this.

'It seems the Trading Company's not just backing them, they're effectively in charge', he thought as he assessed the amount of investments made into just this place alone, not to mention some of the protective measures put around the city itself.

"You're scheming something again", the small silhouette of Fen Baihu's little fox form appeared sitting on top of Wu Long's shoulder, though not visible to anyone but him.

"Haha, according to you I do nothing but scheme", he chuckled as he was accused of this behavior quite consistently as of late.

"Your eyes have that suspicious scheming look in them, and your actions don't make sense again, so this must all be some elaborate scheme", the little fox's face turned away with a cute "hmph", allowing him to clearly picture her folding her hands and turning away in human form.

"Don't make sense?", he decided to clarify first, holding back another chuckle.

"You said you didn't want to gather attention to yourself, yet you came here in a group of four, and more importantly, with this guy", she noted, pointing her eyes to Nie Guanting, whose large build and awkward attempts to act unassuming indeed garnered quite a lot of attention.

"People with unknown identity draw suspicion when they try to go through World Stones, and simple men with no strength or connections can't handle traveling in cultivation world" Wu Long calmly explained, "So me traveling alone would've been far more noteworthy, and could draw scrutiny which I would still like to avoid for now. Meanwhile Old Yen has quite a reputation built, even if it's in another city. But he's too discreet, the only way he could be noticed is when Guanting's with him. With such figures here, me and Qian become just extras, especially when there are two of us, though I also brought him to bargain with the toll takers"

"See? And you're surprised that I assumed you were scheming ~ you were, in fact, scheming!", she spoke with both appreciation for the thought process that went into it and playful superiority for catching the presence of a 'scheme'.

"Hahaha, I guess by that standard, I'm indeed quite the schemer", he just smiled, offering little to no resistance, as the little fox proudly claimed this 'win'.

There were little trouble in the relatively short travel toward the World Stone, as all people around were wary of one another, as well as knew very well that causing a ruckus here could complicate their departure, and thus cautiously kept to their groups. Thus, silently, Wu Long's group left the continent behind, traveling toward the wider Boundless Profound World.

—-

End of Volume 7: Sparks