Wu Long made some progress in his cultivation base this time, even if not breaking through, but steadily progressing towards the 8th level of Qi Condensation Realm.

When he woke up he made sure to enjoy the feeling of Hua Ziyan’s tender body lying in his embrace and peacefully breathing in sleep. After some time her eyelids trembled and opened up as she happily looked up into his eyes, and received a tender kiss.

She was lying on his chest and listening to the sound of his beating heart, enjoying the warmth and tenderness she felt enveloping her. They spent some time in peaceful silence, listening to the calming sounds of the waves, and then talked a little, whispering sweet nothings to each other.

Wu Long enjoyed this time as much as Hua Ziyan did, and possibly even more as he profoundly felt how precious it was to be alive, with a woman he cherished in his arms. His initial attraction toward the women he was with was deepening with each passing day, as he knew more about them he found them more and more charming.

When the sun rose from the horizon up into the sky for the new day the two finally left the bed.

Later in the day, Wu Long was overseeing the theoretical study of techniques for his beauties, since they could not practice on the ship where one good strike from Hua Ziyan’s Spiritual Qi Fist at an unfortunate place, or an accidental chakram sent in the wrong direction from Shen Min could potentially sink it.

He was adding on some words or explanations, as well as answering any questions from time to time but mostly relying on Luo Mingyu, as he first taught her the techniques.

He added the Great Wall Palm into Hua Ziyan’s repertoire, though she was only starting to study it.

To Shen Min, he taught the Great Chakram Circle, which was a technique utilizing four chakrams at the same time, with two semi-constantly in the air, traveling in set trajectories that needed to be restarted from time to time, and two mostly held in arms.

Wei Lan finally learned the Silver River Staff and was now increasing her mastery over it with his tips and knowledge. He also guided her on the basic staff techniques in general.

As Wu Long approached the Qi Manifestation Realm where he could finally manifest more Spiritual Qi outside his body and use it in various techniques, he was now thinking of what techniques to teach them that could be possibly compatible with his own. He was not really suited to group combat, but if they needed to cooperate, and such occasions would most likely happen as he intended to give them opportunities to gain experience while being there to failsafe, it would be better to have techniques that would create good synergy.

At some point, Cao Mei excitedly approached the group.

“Wu Long! My mother wants to meet you!”

She said with visible enthusiasm, as her mother sent her a message with a long-distance communication talisman not long ago.

“Do you mind stopping by at one of the six major islands? There is a big city there where we could meet up with her. She wants to personally thank you for all your help to me and my crew”

She said as she was excited when her mother acknowledged Wu Long’s help to her. She told her about Wu Long long ago as they were leaving the Azure Eagle Continent behind, and as she was asked periodically, she also added details on the way, but she never expected her mother to want to meet him after hearing more details.

“How can I refuse the Queen’s summons?”

Wu Long replied with a smile and Cao Mei rolled her eyes as she already told them that the Pirate Queen and Princess nicknames were something they did not really acknowledge, it was something that just naturally sprung among the people. But she was also happy that he agreed.

The ship changed course to one of the six major islands of the Southern Archipelago that roughly surrounded the main island which was almost as big as the six major islands combined.

They arrived three days later, as they were already not far from the central area of the archipelago. The island came into view, and the beauties around Wu Long smiled as this tropical paradise was incredibly beautiful and soothing to the eyes.

The city port and the city itself were bustling as trade between smaller islands was mainly going through the closest major island. Ships came and went with peddling merchants and simple travelers as they were visiting or departing.

On the way from the port after disembarking the ship, Wu Long noticed advertisement posters on the public boards about a summer festival, a troupe of wandering performers coming into the city, and numerous shops that could be found throughout the city. He also heard a lot of rumors per his habit, but they were mostly local small talk.

There were many inns sprinkled around the city for the numerous temporary visitors, and Wu Long’s group stayed at a high-end inn since he wanted his women to be in comfort and could afford to provide it.

Cao Mei had a special status in the Southern Archipelago so she and her crew stayed in another high-end inn free of charge. Though most of her crew members went off to the brothel district right off the road, prompting a chuckle from her as they truly had been on the continent for too long this time.

The Pirate Queen was a little further from the island so she was still on her way, thus Wu Long went on dates with his beauties, taking them to the restaurants, and shops to buy some more comfortable clothes, as well as simply idling on the numerous beaches of the island. Though all of his women attracted numerous gazes from men and he attracted a lot of gazes from women, no one bothered them since the news that their group arrived with the Pirate Princess quickly spread throughout the city.

Although, he did meet an annoying young man who called himself the young city lord, but he did not bother with him and simply slapped him away along with his bodyguards. After that, his father personally came to apologize and mentioned numerous times that he would appreciate it if Wu Long mentioned this apology visit to the Pirate Princess.

After they enjoyed simple peace for a couple of days, they then resumed studying techniques, this time with practical lessons included. .

Ye Ling trained separately as she only needed to consolidate what she already knew to restore her previous strength.

Wu Long also trained this time. He did not achieve the pinnacle in any of the weapons he wielded, only high level, so there was always room for improvement.

Normally he would need to first restore his body and cultivation to the previous level so that he could improve, but it did not mean that his comprehension towards the weapons he wielded could not be improved upon without exerting a burden on his body.

He had a long road ahead before he could restore his previous strength, but working on improving it further than that did not necessarily have to wait for that.

After a week a message came from Cao Mei’s mother saying that she would be late and asking to wait a little more, but Wu Long did not mind much, since the trip was already stretched out.

The time schedule he gave the Crown Prince was around one year, and so far he has used up half of that time. And even if he was a little late, Song Lingfei’s condition would not deteriorate at such high speed, so a week or two of delay now and then did not make much of a difference.

By this time with constant cultivation sessions at night Wu Long broke through to the 8th level of Qi Condensation and was steadily approaching the 9th level, funnelling the excess energy that could shake his foundation to improve Spiritual Qi. He also bought Yang attribute medicines they had on the island in addition to what he had left from the Supreme Master Pavilion and Clear River Pavilion to cultivate the Golden Yang Dragon Body.