“You what?”

She sharply turned around as she looked at him with disbelief, exhibiting a stronger reaction for the first time since Wu Long entered the office.

“I came back since I finished the goal of my travel, which was on the Wood Spirit Continent”

He shrugged his shoulders as he approached her under her gaze, bent down and as he picked up the book with the right hand, dusted it off with the left before presenting it to her with the right hand in a relaxed pose.

She looked at him with slightly widened eyes, then turned down to look at the book, and back to his face.

“And the Wu Family let you go?”

“There is no more Wu Family”

His voice was calm and steady, without any change in emotions as if he said “The weather was nice”.

Her eyes widened even more as she could not see any signs of lying either earlier when he talked about the trip being already in the past or now about the Wu Family being no more.

“Did you…”

“Yes”

He looked at her with the same polite and pleasant gaze as he nodded, still holding up the book, but the whole scene changed in Lian Zhiqiu’s eyes, as she was no longer standing and talking with a young, slightly mysterious, very charming and somewhat eccentric but still generally normal disciple, but a total enigma that far transcended her understanding.

“You must admit, it is a little hard to believe those words”

“I do”

She slowly received the book and he nodded as he recognized the absurdity of the truth he spoke.

“But it is nevertheless the truth”

He said as he turned and went back to his previous position.

“How do I know it is?”

“Hmm, you can ask your disciples if you trust their word, or just wait for the news to reach this continent, it should not be long in fact, no matter how she tries it is quite hard to contain them”

“She? Are you talking about…?”

“Her Majesty the Empress of the Wood Spirit Empire”

“The Blade Empress…”

Lian Zhiqiu nodded as it gradually began to sink in that he might be in fact speaking the truth, since the first question she had was why did she not hear any news of this yet.

“But even if you somehow accomplished what you say you did, what about her? She would not idly stand by when someone decimates one of the two highest noble houses of the Empire?”

“Despite the long time of being away, I was still part of the Wu Family, thus making it an internal issue that the Empire has a tradition of not interfering with. Besides, we found an understanding, I helped her clean up as well as with her Dao a little so she was grateful to me instead” 𝑖𝓇𝘢𝒹.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He smiled and Lian Zhiqiu felt the reality as she knew it bending around her to fit his words.

The absolute belief he had in his words as he said them, as well as the calmness and casualty in which they were spoken made her doubt the norm instead of his words.

She knew that the plausible explanation was that none of his words were true from the start, but it begged the question of why would he lie about something so easily provable.

“Do you perhaps think I will not check your statements?”

“Not for a moment”

“Hah, interesting”

She finally smirked and her face regained the previous expression. She took the book and walking back placed it on the desk. The excitement that slightly died down as he explained his origin began to rise anew in her eyes, which made Wu Long interested as well.

“Do you know what this book is?”

She then touched the book she placed on her desk with the tips of her delicate fingers.

“A record of this sect’s members, although I am surprised to see it in your office given that you relegated most if not all administrative duties”

“Though I sometimes allow it to leave this office when it is time for new disciples to arrive, it has to be here by the sect rules.”

“Were you not the one who wrote those rules?”

“Indeed it was me, but I copied them entirely from an acquaintance’s sect”

Wu Long chuckled at that answer as he seemed to underestimate how lax she was with her attitude toward creating this sect.

“Register the new members you brought”

“Like that? With no questions and no interviews?”

“Asking you would be futile, and going through the registration process would be tedious. Not to mention, I would be called insane to refute so many Foundation Building Realm talents”

She said as she sat down while Wu Long came up and opened the book with a smile as she watched him with attentive eyes, her gaze closely following his every movement. Wu Long noticed that gaze with an amused light appearing in his eyes as he was wondering what was it that made her so interested.

He finished writing and she looked at the records he left for some time, confirming the names and other information before her line of sight shifted back up to his face.

“You may go”

She said as she stood up and as he nodded and turned, walking toward the door.

“By the way, you did not greet me in the style of a first meeting, why is that?”

She asked as he was near the door, stretching his hand to it and she was collecting the record of disciples that was still open on the desk.

Normally, when someone saw her for the first time they would say not the word “greetings” but one of the generic phrases such as “Pleasure to make your acquaintance”. It was true that she rescued him but he was unconscious at the time, and by the time he woke up the one who greeted him was Elder Hai.

“Hm? Didn’t we meet before? In far more intimate circumstances”

He turned and smiled as her eyes widened and then opened up the door deactivating the formation under her astonished eyes and went out of the office.

“How did he ope-… no, that’s not important… I-it can’t be… he… he saw me?”