The way she took the lingerie off her feet one by one was filled with gracefulness. .

The whole routine was reflecting in his eyes that glinted with appreciation, and there was an added satisfaction of seeing her disheveled appearance that was caused by him.

As she finished up she came out and circling around the low table bent down to kiss him, sitting next to him as their mouths parted next.

“The construction of the new headquarters already started in the town outside your sect, with the amount of resources we poured it would be complete by the time we get there”

She said as she placed her head on his shoulder while his arm wrapped around her.

“You are as amazing as ever”

Wu Long smiled as her preparations were done extremely fast despite the scale and importance of the undertaking. It was the same brilliance and efficiency she displayed when she managed to separate the two companies while preparing her divorce. She smiled, pleased at his praise. It was nice to receive acknowledgement and encouragement, something she was not used to, but more than that, her joy came from the fact it was him who was giving her that acknowledgement.

“But didn’t you say that there is trouble in your sect, don’t you think moving the company there at this time will destabilize it even more?”

She then remembered Wu Long talking about the brewing disturbance within the Yin Yang Unity Palace during the first dinner they had with Wu Mengqi.

“On the contrary, it will quell the unrest for some time and give time for the person who is tasked with solving the problem time to grow”

Wu Long shook his head with a calm smile, and she first raised her eyebrows, and then smiled with understanding.

“Heh, they would get greedy to get the trading company that suddenly sprang under their nose?”

She chuckled at the cruel plan as Wu Long was basically planning to dangle a delicious fruit in front of their faces that they would never get.

“Mm, the trading company would need to stabilize for some time after the sudden change of headquarters, and during that time there would appear an Alchemy Pavilion, and a transportation and travel security agency that would be also operated by the sect.

They would not start moving until all three are stable enough so that they could gobble them up along with the sect, creating a period of peace, like a calm before the coming storm”

Wu Long chuckled as he spoke, nodding to her assumption.

“But if this is true, how long will that peace last?”

“That is the beauty of it, we control the process, so it would take however much time we need, within reason of course. The clouds shrouding the continent would also not start pouring rain until then so it is an added bonus”

“You mean that…?!?!”

Sui Luxiao gasped as she realized that the implications of this seemingly single move were much larger since they set in motion many others.

“Mm, the feud with your company is a battle to gauge the Imperial Family’s determination to begin with. If your company caves in it would mean that the Imperial Family has declined to a level they cannot even win a small battle over economy, let alone a large one over the control of the continent

Especially since the Crown Prince would travel with us it will emphasize the importance of your company. Thus if they do manage to snug it despite that, and there would be no response from the crown, it would mean that it is safe to move the main plan”

Wu Long nodded, and Sui Luxiao looked to the side with a pondering look as she was still leaning on his shoulder, the comfortable feeling making her suppress the welling feeling of nervousness from the sheer scale of the forces involved.

He smiled and tightened his embrace on her waist, reassuring her with his presence.

—

Somewhere on the other side of the capital, a mansion that was usually full of people was eerily empty, void of movements or sounds.

The mansion had a secret entrance to the underground, that was littered with corpses of people in silver masks, and deep inside, a beautiful voice was humming a melody that reverberated through the otherwise silent halls.

There was an elderly man, half-sitting half-lying by the wall that was dyed crimson, holding his neck as his eyes hatefully watched a beautiful figure recede into darkness.

“You- ghuk… c-crazy bitch…khak…”

He manage to squeeze outa few words between bouts of coughing up blood and red eyes turned to look at him with a gleeful expression before being swallowed by the darkness.

‘Shit… all those promises, and they didn’t do **… Curse you… curse you all to have as miserable fate with your ‘grand plan’… damn charlatans…’

With his dying breaths, the man remembered the day he decided to hold hands with powerful people who promised him the world in return for his cooperation, and caused his demise instead.

‘If only we didn’t get involved…’

The man’s eyes shone with regret as his consciousness gradually descended into darkness. But a happy thought went through his mind at the very final moment as his expression became twisted…

‘… still, at least they have the same fate…’

The hand that was on his throat fell to the ground, powerless as a pool of blood grew under him, his lifeless, glassy eyes still tinged with regret, and at the same time gloating over someone’s future, his old and weary face forever still with a crooked expression.

—

Later in the day, when Song Minfu requested Yu Huan’s membership be revoked, the Alchemy Tower protested the meddling of the Crown Prince in their affairs to the Imperial Crown but the issue was dismissed before there was even a deliberation, as the Emperor foresaw where that would lead, and was not in the mood to receive another verbal face slap from Wu Long in the same day, and possibly loosing some Imperial Heirs at the same time.

Since the day was mostly lost in the argument whether to let the Crown Prince and his daughter go, as well as the Alchemy Tower’s dispute the caravan departed only the next morning.

The journey proceeded peacefully, but relatively slowly as they stopped for the night at every town they passed and two months later the group arrived at a city near the Frozen Garden Palace that Wu Long first met Song Lingfei in. .

In this time, as they stayed in inns along the way, Wu Long has advanced to the 2nd level of the Revolving Qi Realm, and even approached the bottleneck of the 3rd level.

During the travel Wu Long’s group almost always were in contact with the princess, as she was delighted to talk to so many people outside her small circle of connections. Wu Long told some stories from time to time, entertaining the group of heavenly beauties as a tinkling laughter resounded in the large carriage, adding some more weight to the looming premonition of the Crown Prince when he heard it from his carriage.

And when they stayed for the night this time, the whole city was buzzing since the word got out that the Crown Prince was in town.

“We would have to make a stop here a little longer since I would have to make a visit to the Frozen Garden Palace”

Song Minfu informed Wu Long as due to the connection to one of the Five Great Sects, as well as the previous favor for Song Lingfei, he could not simply pass by without making a visit. Especially since his presence was noticed.

“Wu Long, can we… also make a visit?”

Sui Luxiao asked him as he nodded to the Crown Prince and he looked at her slightly surprised, but then smiled.

“Of course”

It was only normal that she wanted to visit her former sect while they were nearby and had a chance. He was also interested in the place so he had no reason to refuse.

As they were going to their rooms, the ground beneath and the whole city trembled. Wu Long stopped and soon understood that it was not only the city, but as far as he could sense an intense tremor was going through the lands.

‘Is it…?’

Wu Long’s face became serious and he looked in the direction of the Inner Sea as he soon realized that what shook was likely all of the three continents.

“What is it, honey?”

Seeing this unusually serious expression on his face, Wu Mengqi asked as she was also surprised by the phenomenon, but earthquakes were a relatively common experience, albeit not as strong as this one, thus his reaction seemed a little exaggerated.

“A sign of a change”

Wu Long chuckled as he turned back to her, a hint of both anticipation and caution in his eyes. She smiled back, noticing that glint because it told her that it was something good for them.

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