As Wu Long curiously looked at Shen Min welcoming the Gong sisters, he proceeded to go into the inn with everyone. It was already deep into the night, which was why he offered the Gong sisters a place to stay, and why Gong Liwei ultimately decided to at least check the group he was traveling with.

She was first worried that it was a suspicious group of men, but now that this particular apprehension was alleviated, another one popped up in her mind, as she could not fathom who in the world could make so many heavenly beauties travel with them with no dark reasons behind it.

So what she did was precisely why Shen Min used her lighter side to greet them, she asked the most innocent and clueless-looking girl who greeted them once they were away from Wu Long. Though she of course got an answer from the lighter side, it was not far from the truth as she learned that most of the group were his women, including the nice woman she was talking to, and only the mother-daughter pair were temporarily traveling with them.

Shen Min also did not get any suspicious behavior from Gong Liwei, as she only worried about Wu Long making them follow him using some kind of underhanded means, and did not otherwise show any harmful thoughts or intentions toward him or the group.

But whereas Gong Liwei’s suspicion was mostly alleviated by this conversation, Shen Min reserved her judgment until more time passed, since Gong Liwei could be still feeling on guard against her, and waiting to probe Shen Min’s lighter side more before taking action. She was determined to exhaustively check the sisters’ intentions by getting her lighter side to become closer to them.

Wu Long did not interfere since there was no harm in her actions and she was ultimately protecting him and his women by her actions, which was heartwarming for him. He made a note to himself that he should thoroughly show his gratitude to her later.

“You really are a skilled womanizer”

Cao Xiang said to him as he was looking at his women and Cao Mei familiarizing themselves with the sisters.

“Heh, you make it sound bad, I only offered them a place to stay for a few days until they figure something out”

“Ha! As if I would believe someone who already has five beauties only for himself”

Wu Long smiled as he truly did not hide his appreciation for beauty.

“Well, then you must be expecting something too, no? Since you are traveling with me as well…”

“I… no, I meant them…”

Cao Xiang suddenly blushed a little as the memories of her drunk behavior rushed through her head.

“Relax, I am only teasing you”

He laughed and she looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“I was not expecting anything”

“I know”

“You must feel that I am laughable”

She sighed as she could not contain the feeling of shame at her drunk behavior previously, but more so, since he now knew her story she was a little more open about how she felt.

“Not at all, you did what you had to do and made every effort with what you had. You cannot blame yourself for the things that are outside of the scope of your knowledge and possibilities otherwise you can as well blame yourself that the weather is bad”

“That does not negate that I was taken for a fool and manipulated by those people”

“We all are sometimes pawns in someone’s game, the key is to know that, and be ready to jump off the board at the time when you are ready”

Wu Long said, as even when he was at his strongest, in front of the woman who gave him this precious gift he may be at the same level of existence as Cao Xiang was in front of the schemers.

“Do you think there is a way to oppose people who regard you as pawns? Aren’t they seeing every move you make on the board?”

“Heh, when a player looks at the board, there is always a side of the piece that is not facing the player”

Wu Long chuckled, and Cao Xiang nodded in introspection.

“Thank you… both for then and now”

She finally said as she was comforted at least partially by his words, as well as relieved a lot just by speaking out her inner thoughts.

“Although I do not want you to express your guilt with your body, I would not at all oppose a hug of gratitude”

“… You! You said you don’t extort women into relationships!”

Cao Xiang gasped and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Hahah, I am joking, just joking”

Wu Long laughed and raised his hands in a display of innocence as she blushed slightly, and went to join the others in talking to the Gong sisters with a light “Humph”.

‘Though I do find you a lot more alluring than when we first met’

He added inwardly as he looked at her receding figure, still not completely sure what it was that made him interested in women besides their beauty, since her looks or personality did not change at all from the time they met, and yet the level of attraction he felt toward her rose. He knew that attraction was not something that could necessarily be picked apart and analyzed rationally, and that was part of the magnetic force it held, that it was not something completely understood. But it was still interesting to him to sometimes ponder on it.

In the morning, Old Yen arrived at the inn.

Wu Long sat in the inner courtyard of the inn after having breakfast with his women and traveling companions. As the summer noon sun shined brightly above, there were umbrellas shielding the fair skin of the beauties. As he saw Old Yen enter the inner courtyard he stood up and approached him as they went for a stroll through the garden, Old Yen walking respectfully behind him.

‘Heh, he’s surprisingly fast to adapt to his new role of a subordinate, quick-witted fellow’

Wu Long inwardly praised Old Yen’s adaptability which the latter may not be so happy about, if he realized his own behavior change.

“You have news for me?”

“Yes, but the reports on the culprits within the Wu household are unclear, and there are many contradicting pieces of information coming from different sources. So they require further investigations, but there is definite information about the source of the poison, as well as which organization was hired for the ambush”

Old Yen reported and Wu Long nodded. He expected as much, since the Wu Family was quite influential, it was hard to figure out the culprits within it from the outside sources alone. But he did not mind since having figured out the hands that were hired, it was simply a matter of following the chain to get to the one who held it.

“Good job, any news about Mengqi?”

“…yes…”

As Old Yen reluctantly said Wu Long stopped his stroll and half-turned his head. He did not like the tone Old Yen had.

“…It seems the Wu Family has already finalized the marriage talks with the Imperial Family, and they are hasting up preparations since they want a marriage ceremony as fast as possible. Also, since last night reports about possible sightings of you have surfaced in the Night Market, and I doubt the Wu Family has not heard about it so they might start to rush even more”

Old Yen understood that delaying was not a good strategy and gave his report. The initial hesitation was out of fear as bearers of bad news were not often spared from the wrath those news brought. As he finished up, he waited with bated breath but to his surprise, there was no flare of anger or violent reaction to the information he brought.

“Hmm… and she…”

Wu Long asked as he slightly frowned in thought.

“There is a report that someone from the Wu Family hired a skilled Soul Cultivator a few months ago, around the time the young lady cooped up in the Family Manor…”

Old Yen reluctantly said, and his words trailed off at the end as he did not dare to finish the report with his assumption, though Wu Long could see where it was going so it did not matter to him whether he said it out loud.

“Heh, just when I think they had crossed the final line they find another one to cross”

Wu Long quietly said with a chuckle.

That chuckle gave Old Yen chills, and the more calm Wu Long looked the more eerie it felt. What got Old Yen through the years of navigating the dark side of the Empire’s society were mostly his quick wit and intuition, with strength and cultivation coming only secondary as he got through many situations when he was a lot weaker with just the former two. And now his senses were screaming at him while Wu Long looked the same as he usually did which brought a strange dissonance of perception.

‘There is a storm coming for the Empire’ ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.

Old Yen gulped as he thought while looking at Wu Long who resumed his stroll through the garden with a pondering look on his face. He now felt blessed that he was not on the other side of Wu Long’s distant gaze with the Wu Family and all those associated with them.