“I… can I continue to follow you?”

“Why?”

“I will be of use, I will do even more work if you need me to, and I can raise my skills-…”

“I did not ask why do I need you, I asked why do you wish to follow”

Wu Long chuckled as he shook his head at the visibly nervous Old Yen.

“I… I think that I found my belief”

“Belief?”

“A belief in an Undefeated God”

“What if I do get defeated?”

“I do not believe it will be possible”

“There are many possibilities that you do not conceive, let alone consider plausible, it does not mean that they are not possible”

“Even if it is so, that is the nature of belief”

Old Yen said while nodding but there was a reverent light in his eyes. Wu Long looked at the man in front of him with curiosity.

“And what do you seek to gain from following that ‘Undefeated God’ of yours?”

Wu Long did not conceal drawing a line between himself and Old Yen’s perceived Undefeated God, rather clearly showing it but this did not faze the man.

“Purpose”

The word left Old Yen’s mouth seemingly before he could even realize it. Wu Long’s eyebrow went slightly up while Old Yen’s eyes widened in slight surprise as well, as he certainly had the words “prosperity, safety, guidance” and other such things that usually come in hand when following a powerful being in his mind the moment before Wu Long asked the question.

Wu Long smiled at that answer and looked at the man with an interested look.

“Very well then, we will see how useful you are once we return to my sect, and if you are not up to the tasks you will be just one of the many faces that are populating it”

Wu Long nodded to Old Yen who started to bow and express his gratitude and went off to cross the suspended wooden bridge over the courtyard. He did not lose anything by letting this man follow him. Rather he may have gained a useful hand. And if trained well he might be able to handle more tasks than just being a handyman. In truth, he was already inclined to take Old Yen to the Yin Yang Unity Palace as a subordinate but he was interested in what motivated him. ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖

Wu Long was always someone who followed his intuition, which led him well over the years. In his past life, the one time he clearly remembered going against his intuition was taking in a disciple who had tremendous talent but no connections or means to reach the heights that he was destined to by his natural gifts. In the end that nearly cost him everything. Although, in a way, it also gave him far more than he ever wished for.

Wu Long came to halfway of the bridge, hands behind his back with a leisurely stroll. He was now in the Qi Manifestation Realm, so he could exert a lot more force simply because he did not need to use Qi Manipulation Rings and directly manipulate his own Spiritual Qi in the outside world. Of course, the output was still limited by the cultivation base but his strength progressed by leaps and bounds just from that liberation of his Spiritual Qi into the outside. However, that also meant that the exhaustion was that much faster and burdensome. Although he cultivated the Spiritual Qi War Art for quite some time, the battle before did exhaust quite a bit of his reserves.

The best way to replenish them in his case would be not a meditation like for most cultivators but a dual cultivation session with one or more of his beautiful companions. He thought about who to approach when he saw Cao Xiang standing in the inner courtyard below, looking at the moonlight with an introspective look.

He looked at her with an interested gaze.

He lightly jumped over the railings and off the bridge and as Spiritual Qi swirled around him gently landed while his robes fluttered unnaturally slowly and not as intensely as from the upward wind such a fall would usually produce. Cao Xiang noticed him, and to her, it looked like an Immortal was descending on the mundane world.

“Enjoying an evening stroll?”

He asked the still-dazed Pirate Queen as she shook out of it with his voice.

“I can ask the same of you”

“Hmm, I think our strolls are quite different, though”

“How so?”

“One is strolling but with a destination, and the other is seemingly lost”

“Hah, that sounds about right”

Cao Xiang chuckled at Wu Long’s words but did not refute them as she shook her head.

“Do you remember when I asked you about feeling like a failure?”

“I do, and I remember telling you my perspective on it, I also remember you taking some comfort in those words”

“At that time I at least was not a burden to others so I indeed could take comfort in them”

Cao Xiang said with a smile and Wu Long nodded as he understood the sentiment.

“Do you want me to make you feel better?”

“What if I do?”

“Hmm, but I do not have that obligation, no?”

“True, but then again, you did not have any obligation the last time either”

“You are wrong here, you shared your wine, as well as was transporting us on your ship, it was the least I could do to make you feel a little better at the time of need”

Wu Long chuckled and Cao Xiang slightly widened her eyes.

“What about sparing me before?”

“We have been over this topic, and as I said before I do hate to waste beauty, and your daughter had no malice, only goodwill. It is largely her that you have to thank for the fact you are still alive, although I might have spared you anyway. It all depends on how I feel at any point in time”

He smiled and the Pirate Queen looked at him with an intense gaze.

“And you protecting us now is because we could be used against you so in a way you are only doing it for yourself”

“Correct”

Wu Long resumed the stroll and Cao Xiang walked by his side with a pondering look.

“So what if I want you to make me feel better now?”

“You have to think of why I would be inclined to do so”

Wu Long shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“What if I gave you my body in return?”

“I think I already expressed clearly that I do not enjoy extorting or buying services of a woman”

Wu Long shook his head looking at the night garden.

“Then what if I gave you myself?”

As she said this, Wu Long stopped and the Pirate Queen stopped as well, looking at him with a slightly nervous look. The moonlight illuminated her curvy silhouette and gorgeous face from the side, presenting her captivating beauty in a different way than during the return. The happiness she saw in them when they were around him was something she had long lost, or perhaps never even had.

day but nevertheless alluring.

“You do have to remember what you did. And though I did forgive you, do you think I would be inclined to make you my woman that easily if you just asked?”

She slightly shook as she understood it clearly too. She was becoming more and more envious of his women, the way they could easily lean on him, and he would not demand anything in return. The happiness she saw in them when they were around him was something she had long lost, or perhaps never even had.

The longing she initially had that was only driven by her carnal desire was now becoming deeper and a lot more complex. And yet her guilt was eating at her, unable to find a resolution, as well as preventing her budding feelings from blooming since she could not in good conscience ask to be loved after what she did. However, it did not mean that the feelings that did not bloom were not growing. And as they did, the guilt became that much more unbearable.

The easy way in which he forgave her at first and showed her kindness before made her think too lightly of the way he made decisions, while she misinterpreted his motives. Every action toward her had its reasons that she did not take into account, and each of those was not her merit but his own reasoning. Thus, if she wanted to be his woman, she had to find a reason he would look past her past actions not because of other factors, but because of her.

“Then… can I ask you to punish me for what I did, so that I can atone and thus, be able to ask you to become your woman with a clear conscience?”

She asked and Wu Long smiled. It was not an easy thing to come to terms with one’s own mistakes, but the first step was always acknowledging them. He did not enjoy the mental torture that she went through as she was pressed between her starting feelings and guilt, but there was no way other than letting her go through it on her own and realize that while he did forgive what she did, that was in no way brought by her own merits. And thus there was no way for her to become his woman other than properly taking responsibility for what she did.

In the end, she came to one of the possible correct answers. If she received a punishment that he deemed fit to clear her guilt before him, she would finally be free of her own guilt, as well as have a fresh start in her relationship with him since once a mistake was taken responsibility for it could be considered a closed case.

“Alright, if you truly want to take responsibility, I am not so mean as to refuse”

Wu Long nodded and came closer to her.

“I will have you take accountability in bed”

“But… you said…”

She widened her eyes as his words seemed contradictory.

“Hmm, you see, I do not extort women into relationships or into giving me their bodies, but in this case, you want to become my woman, and all you need for that is to take punishment. That punishment does not necessarily have to be separate from becoming my woman. If it was before, where you just wanted to give me your body to get rid of guilt, I refused since I gained nothing I wanted from that. But in this case, I am not getting your body, I am getting you”

He said with a smile and she gulped while looking into his eyes.

She now understood that he was asking her to dual cultivate with him, but that in itself was not the punishment. The punishment would just be made at the time of their cultivation. A light tremor of nervousness went through her, but at the same time, something inside her tightened at the thought. He noticed that small tinge of excitement in her gaze and smiled. He would have thought of another punishment had he not noticed that there was a certain inclination in her.

She slowly nodded and followed him to his room.