Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 879: Cherrypicking

It took a few days, but Kwon Qianhong arrived with another report.

From what they could tell, the academy which was suppressed, the Radiant Symbol Academy, and was slowly losing more and more seats at the center of the two bridges for the past 1,000 years, at this point only had 12 seats out of a 100 on both bridges.

Their quality and quantity of students was going down as a result, as those who wished to meditate on the profundities of the Natural Formation picked an academy that had more chances to give them the spots.

Although their long legacy from before was not lost even through all that, their reputation still took quite a massive hit, especially in the recent hundred years, as a few of the formations their Symbol Arts Masters set up failed after a few days of use, and those who sought the services of Symbol Arts Masters now leaned in favor of hiring people of the other academy, the Everlasting Symbol Academy.

Of course, the Radiant Symbol Academy cried sabotage and conspiracy in all cases where their Formations or Arrays failed, but it was hard to plead their case with multiple such incidents, and with no evidence of foul play.

"Are you going to use the weak position of the Radiant Symbol Academy to absorb them?", Liang Yuhan asked, puffing a cloud of herbal smoke, extrapolating from his strategies before.

"No, this is a slightly different case", Wu Long shook his head, "We’re not simply looking for allies who we would have only marginal and temporary ties with, like the Three Pillars Sect or someone like that, we need the best people we can get because they will join us for the long run as part of the Eternal Duality Valley"

"Then, you’re going for the Everlasting Symbol Academy, presumably supported by the Thousand Treasures Hall?", Bi Rui asked, naturally picking the other option.

Though it was likely going to be hard to stand in a strong negotiating position with them. Of course, Wu Long had vastly superior knowledge, but with his cultivation, it was far more likely he would be viewed as valuable prey rather than someone they would wish to follow.

"Neither, I am going the same route of the Kai Family, but for both academies", Wu Long shook his head, revealing his intention.

"Drain the useful talent, huh", Liang Yuhan nodded.

"Mm, the reputation of both academies attracts a lot of very promising talent in Symbol Arts every single year. Knowledge and experience can be obtained, what we need are untainted minds. The upper echelons of both academies are rotten anyway. If not by anything, but by the long rivalry that consumed their being. To the point they view each other not as rivals who they could benefit from competing with, but as mortal enemies they have to triumph over in any way possible, no matter the costs", Wu Long shrugged, explaining why he did not plan to absorb any Academy whole.

He then added, "It is also quite safe to assume that whoever is interfering in the rivalry of the two academies has their fingers in both jars at the fairly high levels, as they push one side up, supplying them with financial support and resources, while pulling the other side down, destroying and corrupting it from within. I guess what they ultimately want is to get both under their influence, perhaps even united as one academy"

"But it isn’t going to be easy to find a point of access. We got somewhat lucky with Kai Huoshi before... this time I don’t see a clear approach path", Kwon Qianhong spoke.

The students obviously did not have any authority like Kai Huoshi among them, who could assemble other students, and instructors were likely extremely cautious against outside influence.

Not to mention, since Wu Long did not plan to absorb the upper administration of either academy, the Dean and the Elders were naturally rejected from the get-go.

"We are using a different trick this time", Wu Long smiled, "Though it is going to take a bit of effort and time, we can afford to spend some time here for this, as it concerns the future of the Sect"

"Is the situation on the Soft Meadow Continent going to wait while we take our time here?", Feng Yi asked, slightly concerned as General Feng was the top warrior of the Sect remaining in place.

"Mm, I receive regular reports from your father through the World Communication Talismans that I left him, and so far it seems there are no signs of actual full throttle conflict, just more and more smoke here and there, but only smoldering embers, no actual fire", Wu Long nodded.

He then gave her a reassuring look, adding, "Besides, General Feng is not as weak as it may seem from his Cultivation Realm. At this point, unless he comes face to face with an Essence Ignition Realm expert he should be able to at least put up a decent fight, buying enough time for the protective measures I set up to kick in. And in case of an Essence Ignition Realm expert, there are a few last resort things I left behind as well"

"Hehe, it seems it is finally time for my primary skill to come into play", Fen Baihu chuckled.

"Primary skill?", Nie Xiwang made a slightly puzzled expression, as did many beauties, since this Celestial Fox’s skills and abilities were all so far out of anything they ever thought possible it was hard to tell what she was talking about.

"I am a dream fox, and can come and go into the dreams", Fen Baihu chuckled.

"Mm, we are going to evaluate and test the people of both academies, whether that is students or instructors, in their dreams over the coming weeks, showing them multiple possible scenarios and seeing how they react to various situations. They might all feel a bit more tired waking up, but who said life of a student or an instructor is easy?", Wu Long chuckled, adding "Though Bing’er, Min’er and Xiwang would have to cooperate as well, since I’d like to be absolutely certain we pick the right people"

Formation, Array and Talisman Masters were a slightly more delicate position than a normal Sect Member, because of how sensitive their work was to the security and operation of the Sect.

A sabotage from a Symbol Arts Master also could be far better hidden than one from a regular Sect Member, and could be set up years in advance, activated at a crucial moment.

It was also something Shen Min’s Veiled Sentinels would find hard to detect as they relied on human intelligence, infiltration into ranks of their own Sect members, and gaining trust of people, rather than finding sabotage in a formation or array, or physical investigative work.

Which was why Wu Long could not afford to make a single mistake with his choices of a Symbol Arts Master, even if he could tolerate a tiny margin of error with almost all other Sect members.

---

The plan went into effect, as the situation in the Helian Family progressed under Wu Long’s watchful eyes as well. The trio of Old Yen, Nie Guanting and Kwon Qianhong were recalled to monitor that situation for him as well, as he had to concentrate on the Symbol Arts Masters.

Every night, all of the students and instructors, as well as some Elders who Wu Long decided to still consider as candidates, all faced Dream Trials, which they could not remember when they woke up no matter how they tried.

A strange atmosphere started going around both academies, as there were more and more people daydreaming, lacking focus, and experiencing perpetual tired state.

The fact this coincided with the exam periods in both academies did not bother Wu Long one bit, as it wasn’t his concern at all. After all, what happened to the two academies after he drained them of useful talent meant absolutely nothing to him.

However, at the start of the second week of their stay at the Helian Household, as Wu Long was immersed in Fen Baihu’s power, he suddenly gave her, Shen Min, Xue Bing, and Nie Xiwang a signal to continue without him, as he stood up and disappeared from the spot.

"You called, Darling?", Hong Ye appeared in the fields quite some distance from the Helian Mansion, next to Wu Long, Hong Yue following her.

"Mm, I think it’ll be beneficial for you two. Just remember to stay back and prepare to be taken away by Baihu at any moment. Don’t think about interfering", he nodded.

Seing his serious expression, the twins exchanged glances, and looked forward in the direction he was facing.

"You can come out now", a formless wave of Spiritual Qi spread from Wu Long forward, and ten figures slowly rose from the tall beast-feed fields.

And then subdued voices reached the ears of the twins.

"Very impressive... how did you detect us?"

"Bahshi? What are they doing here?"

"Ignore them, they seem to be with the target"

"And you don’t find that strange?"

"We can just dispose of them later. I find it a lot stranger that the target who is in Mortal Transcendence Realm was able to sense our approach"

Wu Long smiled, "I knew this aura felt familiar... though I didn’t think I’d ever encounter it again, the Yingmu Assassin League... I thought you lot were long since gone after trying to pick up a fight with the Bahshi Assassination Group when the Old Man Bahshi died?"

"..."

The group which silently began spreading out to surround Wu Long froze, clearly shocked on multiple levels.

"You fart! Bahshi Assassins would never have beaten us if it wasn’t for that Wandering Calamity"

"Haha, haven’t heard that nickname in a while as well", Wu Long chuckled, hearing the nickname he hadn’t been called with for a long time.

"Ah... are you one of those?", one of the assassins spoke, his gaze becoming a bit condescending, even mocking, "Talking about the former leader of the Bahshi Assassins like he’s your old pal and casually mentioning our League’s most shameful moment... acting like we called you by an old title... We heard you call yourself Wu Long... are you one of those cringe idiots pretending to be the Slaughter God’s reincarnation?"

Wu Long almost stumbled at the accusation, and at the fact there apparently were such people.

’Who in their right mind would pretend to be me? Haven’t they heard how many enemies I have?’, he thought for a second, but then decided that this sentiment was a bit too harsh on himself.

"Well, let’s see what we got here then", Wu Long took out the Shadow Crescent, as he wasn’t initially intending to hold a long chat with them, he just found it strange to encounter an organization he thought was long gone.

"Hah! Look at this one here, he’s going to fight 10 Essence Awakening Realm experts who specialize at assassinating above their Realm, all at once, we’ve got ourselves a real God of Slaughter here guys", the one who spoke mockingly before chuckled, clearly amused by Wu Long’s readiness to fight them.

Wu Long didn’t wait for them to start moving from their side though, as his figure blurred and disappeared from the spot with sparks of lightning flashing brightly in the night on the ground where his feet were.