Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 987: The right attitude

"Did I go overboard?", Wei Yuanjie asked as soon as he entered the room, "I really did, didn’t I? Shit, he’s going to kill me. He’ll send some assassins or mercenaries or city guards disguised as someone else..."

Wu Long who got up to greet him smiled, "You did great. Even more than I anticipated"

"Great? I almost pissed myself from fear there!", the prince wailed, "Do you know how scary it was?"

"I told you it was totally safe. I was there to shield you in case anything did happen, but it turned out fine, didn’t it? No one got hurt. We have achieved what we wanted and walked out completely safe and sound", Wu Long wryly smiled as they sat down, the prince on one of the sofas and Wu Long in one of the armchairs.

"Safe? Safe?! Did you see the look in that guy’s eyes? He’s clearly insane! There’s something loose in his head that shouldn’t be loose in a sane human being!", Wei Yuanjie continued panicking, "It’s one thing to go through safely through that meeting, but don’t I have to live in the same city with him for some time now? And now he hates my guts!"

"Heh, for someone so fearful you acted pretty brazenly out there. I almost didn’t recognize you", Wu Long chuckled.

"It’s my natural response to fear. I start talking shit to people I wouldn’t normally even look in the eyes when I panic. Got me into a lot of trouble with my brothers in the past", Wei Yuanjie spoke nervously without a shred of happiness about the praise as he stared at the small low table in front of him with fidgeting fingers in front of him.

"Relax. Duan Feng is even stronger than you think. He’s capable of dealing with pretty much anything City Lord Ko can throw at you aside from coming there yourself. And I have people guarding you from the shadows as well. Besides...", Wu Long leaned forward, "...if you’re fearful for your life, you have excellent motivation to grow stronger, no? There’s nothing quite like building up your own abilities to deal with fear"

"I guess so...", Wei Yuanjie sighed, recognizing the truth in Wu Long’s words. After all, he already made the decision to start building his own life and make decisions instead of drifting with the flow, and with a slightly more calm voice noted, "Looks like your long preparation to lay out this trap for him paid off"

"The credit for that goes to Old Man Zhao who devised this plan, did all the legwork and preparations while I was away in the Wei Dynasty. I already praised him for this success", Wu Long chuckled.

"Are you saying you knew you were going to come back here with an Imperial diplomatic mission?", Wei Yuanjie widened his eyes. He knew Wu Long planned ahead, but this prospect made him look almost prophetic.

"As if!", the latter shook his head with an amused chuckle, "Originally, this ’trap’ was laid out as a contingency, a plan without specific purpose, the so-called "just-in-case we need it" plan. It was just one of the ways we came up with to have the City Lord where we wanted him at a time of our choosing. We prepared multiple, but this one was the only solid one that was ready at this time"

"Isn’t it a waste using it on this then?", the prince raised his eyebrows, "If it’s the only one which was ready and almost guaranteed to work, wouldn’t it have been better to save it for some more crucial moment? All we did was get him to formally greet the diplomatic mission into the City..."

"We were running out of time. We were hoping to use another such plan, but the preparations for that one failed when he summoned Zhao Xieren to his mansion. However, don’t worry, it wasn’t a waste. It was important to obtain that formality before the delegation with an Imperial Ambassador, and more importantly, your brother, arrived in the city. When the morning comes, the Iron Claw City is going to issue its formal welcome to your diplomatic mission as well. So we’ve secured an upper hand you can use to provoke your brother with when he comes in a couple of days", Wu Long shrugged, clearly not bothered about using up that contingency.

"Whew~ these schemes really are way over my head... I feel much better to just swing the sword... makes my mind nice and blank...", Wei Yuanjie sighed, reclining onto the backrest of the sofa while putting both hands behind his head and his leg on his knee.

"Look at you! Is this the guy who was just panicking about the City Lord?", Wu Long teased.

"Well I can’t be worried about that all day, can I?", the prince rolled his eyes, seemingly completely over his previous panic, "Besides, as you said, I just have to get stronger to be able to deal with it"

Wu Long smiled, shaking his head, but with approval in his eyes. To some, it may look like irresponsible empty-headedness for Wei Yuanjie to abandon his worries so easily despite not having done anything about it yet, but Wu Long saw a good mindset.

It’s not like the prince suddenly thought the City Lord was not a threat or that others would do something about it, but his thinking was rather simple and direct - just being worried wasn’t going to do anything, and at the same time, being worried didn’t feel good, so he decided to abandon being worried while keeping the idea that he needed to do something. Keep the useful - throw away the useless and unnecessarily heavy baggage it comes with.

"So, where’s the guy you wanted to introduce me to?", Wei Yuanjie then asked.

"Is arriving at the door right now", Wu Long chuckled, and as the prince looked at the door, a polite knock resounded in the room.

"Young Master, I brought Daoist Changsun as instructed", Butler Bang’s voice followed, and receiving permission to enter, he led Changsun Yong inside.

Wei Yuanjie looked at the former Prime Disciple of a destroyed Righteous Path Sect with interest, since it wasn’t often that Wu Long wanted him to meet someone.

Changsun Yong also carefully observed the young boy who sat next to his benefactor in such a relaxed and carefree way. Most other people he saw regarded Wu Long with great respect, almost reverence. And there was clear feeling of subordination. But this youth seemed to be the exception.

"This is His Imperial Highness the 9th Prince of the Wei Dynasty, Wei Yuanjie", Butler Bang introduced, causing the young Daoist to widen his eyes and immediately change his attitude, making fist and hand salute.

"I greet Your Imperial Highness. Eternal Glory to the Wei Dynasty!"

"Oh, uhm, glory to the Wei Dynasy. You can relax, no need for such formalities... eh~ right? Wu Long?", the prince was slightly taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere and quickly reacted, belatedly realizing he didn’t know if Wu Long wanted to keep this meeting formal or not as he looked at him.

"Yes, it is a private meeting that’ll remain secret from here on out. This is...", Wu Long nodded to Wei Yuanjie, and then pointed to Changsun Yong with an open palm.

Butler Bang realized that Wu Long didn’t remember the name of the young man in a split second, before there was even any real pause, seamlessly jumping in to complete the introductions, "Young Master, please allow me. Your Highness, this is a former Prime Disciple of a now-destroyed Drifting Reeds Sect, Changsun Yong. A guest of Young Master’s"

"Ah, I see, it’s nice to meet you, Fellow Daoist. Thank you for the introductions, Butler Bang", Wei Yuanjie sat up properly, and thanking the old butler who smiled, pointed to the opposite sofa, "Please have a seat"

Changsun Yong, on the other hand, saw how deferential the prince was to Wu Long’s opinion, and inwardly marveled at what this mysterious man was that even Imperial Royalty treated him like that, while thanking both Butler Bang and the prince, and sitting down.

"If I guessed correctly, the reason you veered off your destination to the Emerald Falls City, and decided to go into this continent was because you heard Yuanjie was here, right?", Wu Long went straight into the discussion.

"Yes", Changsun Yong nodded, while inwardly even more surprised that Wu Long dared to call an Imperial Prince by first name, but his tone remained serious with trace of nervousness as he was so close to fulfilling the goal of his long journey, "I realized there were search parties concentrated around all routes leading to the Emerald Falls Continent. The last two World Stones that I passed through, I had to engage in skirmishes, breaking through by the skin of my teeth, using some of the life-saving Spiritual Treasures and talismans that Master left me. The net was clearly closing in when I heard rumors of an Imperial Prince residing in a small Continent not that far from where I was"

"You were looking for me?", Yuanjie raised his eyebrows.

Changsun Yong then briefly told him the story of his Sect, and then took out the brocade box.

Wei Yuanjie empathized with the young Daoist, his expression and reactions changing multiple times throughout the conversation, and at the end, encouraging and praising Changsun Yong. He then turned to Wu Long with an impassioned look, "Are we going to send the box with Daoist Changsun to Sister Zhenhui so she could present them to Imperial Father?"

He accurately read that Wu Long insisted that the box stayed with Changsun Yong specifically so that the Righteous Path Sect Disciple who clearly had strong moral principles could attest to the Emperor that the box never left his hands at any point in time, ensuring its authenticity, and that he intended to give credit for rescue and bringing the box along with the messenger to the Imperial Court to the Princess who would gain one more achievement on the way to the Throne.

"Yes, but first, I propose that we open the box here", Wu Long nodded and added a suggestion, immediately adding as he noticed the shock and alarm in Changsun Yong’s eyes, "We’re not going to tamper with its contents. I told you, while I am interested in obtaining those contents, they are useless to me right now. I will be able to obtain them even after they pass into the hands of the Imperial Court"

’That is if the Princess becomes the Ruling Empress, of course, but I intend to make that happen’, he added inwardly.

"But then why...?", Changsun Yong asked slightly puzzled.

"You had some doubts about its contents, no?", Wu Long asked, "To be honest, while I can see the inside of the box, there’s something I have to confirm as well"

"...", Changsun Yong slightly hesitated.

But seeing that, Wei Yuanjie smiled, "Wu Long is a dependable man, and he’s trustworthy. I know he can come off as too mysterious and shady, maybe sometimes he looks like he has not just a few skeletons in his closet, but a whole cemetery hidden everywhere, under the rug, the bed, behind the curtains, inside a chest, under the floorboards, buried in the garden~... ehem... anyway, you get the gist... but that’s because he’s a strange guy~, not because he’s suspicious. Maybe you even thought he was annoyingly too perfect, I get that, I really do. Damn it can be insufferable when everything he does attracts attention from everyone and is genuinely impressive so you can’t even complain about it. That overly handsome face of his makes you mad, I know it does. It makes almost every guy who sees him mad~... I understand YOUR thoughts and concerns about him. I see these exact things I’m saying in your eyes right now, look, there it is. But even though he’s infuriatingly got an answer for everything, and has basically no weaknesses I-... I mean we-... khm... that YOU can make fun of, if he says he won’t tamper with the contents, he won’t. I give you my guarantees"

"Gee, thank you for that heartwarming speech", Wu Long laughed at this ’endorsement’, while Changsun Yong’s eyes showed a strange expression starting from a little bit into the prince’s words when they veered off in a direction he didn’t expect.

At the same time, he started realizing that these two were a lot closer than he even previously guessed.

Seeing the deep trust that the prince placed in Wu Long, Changsun Yong was swayed more, but wasn’t completely convinced, since his mission was not to give the box to the prince, but to deliver it to the Imperial Court. He was happy to see the prince, but at the end of the day, he was a prince, not the Emperor.

"My Master... told me to deliver it to the Imperial Court...", he spoke that concern out loud after a bit of contemplation.

"Can I read the message he left you?", Wu Long asked.

The former Prime Disciple hesitated a bit more, this time because this letter was personal, and had some questionable parts where the wording was vague and as a result, could tarnish the image and reputation of his Master, but seeing the encouraging look in the eyes of Wei Yuanjie, he finally nodded, taking out a jade slip and placing it on the table.