As he arrived near evening they decided to spend the night and depart the next day since they would need around a day to get to the Imperial Capital if they traveled at a comfortable speed.

They spent the entire evening cuddling in front of a window, watching the rain as they talked and at times just quietly sat enjoying each other’s presence.

“Wu Long, is our country…”

Wu Mengqi asked some time later. She knew most of what happened after she passed, but there was one thing that she only vaguely guessed.

He nodded without hesitating or being surprised, and she nodded back with understanding.

“Heh, that idiot Emperor ruined years of our work”

She then chuckled and Wu Long smiled as it was true that he effectively tore down the Empire they both helped to build as his and Wu Mengqi’s contributions to the military exploits of the country were among the highest.

“Would you wish I left it alone?”

“Hmm, I cannot say I don’t hold a grudge, but at the same time it was a country I once loved, it is a shame that it went down like that”

“Hmm, I might have torn down the way the people lived as subjects of a particular dynasty, but the land remained intact, the people continued to live minding their everyday lives and the sun still rises above their heads.

The place you loved remained, even though I do not know whether it remains so now.

What I destroyed was a sort of illusion that there was something invisible encasing that land. What makes up a country is not the rulers or a symbol but the people”

“Hehe, you are rationalizing it”

“I am”

They both laughed, her soft body leaning against his, thin and elegant shoulder slightly trembling from laughter. He looked to the side at her, and, as if feeling his gaze her piercing blue eyes turned to look back at him. He felt joy just from the look in her eyes, the sparks from her laughter before still apparent in her deep and loving gaze.

A drunk feeling of happiness came over him as he leaned in and kissed her, as she slightly widened her eyes and then closed them while her lips pressed against him curved into a pleased smile.

—

The next day they passed through the passage, but as they arrived on the other side, Wu Long noticed something different about the town on the exit. He slowed down and then smiled as he whispered in Wu Mengqi’s ear.

“Haha, it seems that we are warmly welcomed, you have a few training dummies coming”

“Heh, you might have lived far longer after, but don’t forget I once fought on the same battlefields as you”

She smiled as she took out a sword from a spatial ring. It may have been almost impossible to predict where or when Wu Long would be passing through the vast territories of the Tuamei Kingdom and the Empire, but it was quite easy to just wait at the chokepoint he was guaranteed to pass through.

“Although I cannot compare my swordplay with the Demon Instructor Sister Ling…”

Wu Mengqi’s eyes quickly darted around, making sure she was in the clear.

“… I am quite confident not to lose to my opponents”

She then finished with a triumphant smile only slightly dampened by her earlier cautious behavior after calling Ye Ling Demon Instructor again.

Wu Long chuckled as he shook his head from side to side.

“But remember, those were wars of common mortals, the highest cultivation Realm there was Qi Gathering Realm with most soldiers in Body Transformation Realm, that and battles of cultivators differ the higher the cultivation realms”

He then reminded her and she nodded as she too understood that her opponents now used Spiritual Qi techniques and not just weapons, as well as had their own movement techniques.

“He is here!”

“Kill him!”

A group of Revolving Qi Realm practitioners in plain clothes sprang out of the town as they noticed Wu Long, only to be met with Wu Mengqi who burst into their midst wielding her sword.

“Divine Punishment Sword!” 𝑙𝘪𝓇𝑎𝒹.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“Heavenly Falcon Saber Art!”

“Celestial Rain Technique!”

One of the attackers raised his sword as Spiritual Qi swirled around it, the other holding his saber with both hands to the side while a small Spiritual Qi falcon image appeared around him and the third raised his spear as palm-size replicas started swirling above him in the air while Wu Long raised his eyebrow.

‘The heck?’

He chuckled at the absurdity of the naming as calling a technique even one of these descriptors was already on the nose for most techniques created in the minor worlds of the lower order. Ye Ling only named her technique Heaven Transcending Lotus since the Sword God praised it and added the ‘Heaven Transcending’ part into the name herself.

“Eight Extreme Cuts!”

Wu Mengqi made a motion with her sword creating eight cuts that hurled toward the group as she locked swords with a fourth attacker and swiftly dispatching him continued an onslaught.

Wu Long, on the other hand, noticed a man looking at them discreetly, trying to blend into the crowd of onlookers who came out to see what the commotion was about. As he stepped forward, Wu Long’s figure appeared in front of the man whose eyes widened as he hurriedly moved to run.

“You figured you won’t be able to deal with me so you wanted to watch from afar? Isn’t that quite rude not to say hi?”

Wu Long chuckled as talismans appeared around the man seemingly already in place long before Wu Long arrived and Spiritual Qi chains bound the Revolving Qi Realm expert as the crowd hurried to make distance with another source of disturbance.

“You… you got the wrong person… I am not related to them…”

The man panicked, instantly covered in sweat as he watched Wu Mengqi mercilessly deal with the group behind Wu Long.

“You are indeed of different affiliations, but that does not mean that you are not here for us… or more specifically me”

Wu Long chuckled as the man gulped, his eyes swimming as his head was feverishly trying to come up with something to say.

“You are with the Bull** Trai-… ah, you know it as the Golden Ox Trading Company, right?”

The man hesitated as he looked at Wu Long, shifting his gaze to Wu Mengqi who was already putting her sword through the last opponent.

“I… I can tell you who sent them if you…”

“They belong to the Song Imperial Family, do you claim to know who specifically?”

“…”

Wu Long chuckled and the man’s eyes widened as he lost the straw of salvation he just thought he saw as Wu Mengqi did not leave any of the attackers alive.

“I will tell you what, I will let you go if you tell me where the Training Camp of your mercenary group is”

He smiled and the man gulped again, his already rough breath becoming winded as he struggled with a decision.

“… Will you… will you keep your word?”

“Of course, I will let you go and Mengqi will not do any harm to you either. But you must not lie to me, or tell me a dummy location. I will know. I need your main training camp. You have one attempt. Lie to me and you will not live a second longer, tell me and live to see tomorrow”

Wu Long said as he looked the man in the eyes while Wu Mengqi came closer behind him, wiping off the blood from the blade with a white cloth.