It was becoming painfully apparent that he was not ready for the confrontation that drew closer much faster than anticipated. If his pace of growth, which was already insane by the standards of his talent and circumstances, remained at the same level, he would be hard pressed to deal with the situation without using detrimental tactics.

‘I have received a miracle, and I am not counting on such luck happening ever again’

He narrowed his eyes, a sharp look appearing in them. He had much more to lose than he ever had before, which raised the stakes for him who was so used to the opposite.

There was nothing that anxiety could solve, and worry was only hindering any progress, so he did not mull over the facts, but he was now certain that his strategy going forward required massive adjustments.

He had to grow stronger, much faster than he was at the moment. The glass ceiling that was cultivation realms was preventing him from exhibiting his true strengths, even with all of his knowledge and versatility, there was only so much he could do against opponents in a higher Great Realm. And the hidden trump card he had could only be used once.

‘My cultivation is already progressing at the speed I could never even imagine prior to perceiving the 2nd and 3rd layer of the Dual Extremes Infinite Union Art’

In addition to that, he would be much stronger than he was in his past life at every cultivation level because of the effect of this profound technique. Since as a Dual Cultivator he would have been weakened if he fought alone, yet he still managed to awe the Seven Boundless Worlds. Now his bonds with his women made him almost twice stronger just because he was in a constant state of fighting as a Dual Cultivator, even if he was alone.

‘Haa~ but even then, it is still not enough. The problem is that I am at the maximum speed with the Dao Family I have now”

The reality was that he was advancing at the maximum speed that his current cultivation partners allowed him to. It was not a simple matter of how much time he was spending on cultivating with them, since he would not mind spending almost all of his time in bedroom with his ladies, but whether that time was spent efficiently.

An individual’s Yang or Yin Root could only produce so much Yang or Yin Qi in a given period, especially potent one that could efficiently raise the partner’s cultivation. So increasing the time spent Dual Cultivating did not always equal progress in one’s cultivation.

In fact, the opposite was applicable in many cases, as the more time Yin Root had to rest the better quality Yin Qi would it produce.

The more pleasure a woman received during Dual Cultivation, the more Yin Qi would she release, and Wu Long has made sure to make all of his partners release all the Yin Qi they were accumulating since their last cultivation.

In other words, he already was using all of the potent Yin Qi his women could give him at any time, and pushing it further would put a strain on their Yin Roots, something quite harmful and not what he considered a viable option.

His own Yang Root would have long since been strained if not for the Golden Yang Dragon Body with which he constantly increased the capacity of his Yang Root to create Yang Qi.

The problem was that even if he studied the female body and many techniques used for dual cultivation, as that knowledge improved the efficiency of cultivation, he never had the necessity to study how to improve someone’s Yin Root quite like he studied the improvement of his own Yang Root. It was just not something he required.

So even if he knew the method of improvement for their Yin Qi, Yin Root was something he could not help them with. And while he knew certain pill recipes, the ingredients for them would not likely appear in this small world.

‘The Violet Retribution Hydrangeas that the Blood Demon Cult raises on the Wood Spirit Continent could significantly improve the quality of Yin Qi, but it is still too early for them to bloom’

Wu Long sighed as that would have been at least a slight improvement in the current circumstances.

‘Hmm, I’ll have to deal with things here first’

While he was in deep thoughts, Old Yen respectfully stood to the side, and as Wu Long’s gaze turned to him, he decided to first sort out the situation at hand while keeping the long-term problem in sight.

“Good work”

He then nodded with a smile to which Old Yen made a simple and reserved smile, lowering his head. Though a slight twitch in his cheek muscles that did not escape Wu Long’s sharp senses betrayed his effort to keep his reaction to praise restrained.

“Anything you want from me?”

“If possible, could Boss check on my progress with the techniques and instruct where I could improve?”

“Very well”

Wu Long smiled, this honesty toward his desires was what Wu Long liked about Old Yen beside his strengths as a subordinate.

Old Yen then took him to a two-story room which used to be the tavern’s mainhall. The second floor only covered parts from three sides like a slightly wide balcony with two staircases leading to the central area. There were old wooden tables and chairs, covered in dust, some broken with time.

The windows and doors were barricaded with wood planks nailed to the frames, with thin rays of light creating a dimly lit atmosphere.

“Any time”

Wu Long took out the iron fan he once received from Sui Luxiao since it was a good weapon to train someone with at the moment. It was only a spare, so the quality was not something very useful, only a 3rd tier Mortal Grade weapon that a Qi Condensation Realm warrior would use.

It was quite inferior to the sword Old Yen took out that was a 6th tier Mortal Grade treasure weapon. A weapon Foundation Building Experts such as Old Yen would use.

But despite the difference in the quality of weapons, the latter did not not treat Wu Long lightly, looking at him with serious eyes.

‘As I thought, despite his relaxed state, I don’t see any weaknesses’

Old Yen thought as he watched Wu Long stand with left hand behind his back, and the other holding the iron fan comfortably in a folded state. His right leg was a little further forward while his left was half-turned, as if he was just standing and not prepared to engage.

*Clang*

A rather soft metallic sound resounded as Old Yen’s sword was parried to the side by the folded fan, the blades of the fan touching the flat side of the sword.

There was no “Here I come” or any other preliminary words, as the spar began spontaneously. Wu Long did not move much, only enough to parry or dodge Old Yen’s attacks, but as Old Yen used more aggressive moves, the two started slowly moving around the room. The thick layer of dust covering the floor and furniture in the room started to rise around them, and as they stepped on one of the tables, the dust clouds started swirling around them along with their movements.

‘Hmm, with proper techniques his higher cultivation does seem to hold its weight’

Wu Long thought with approval. There were still many things to improve, but his technique seemed to give him an edge compared to his strength before.

“Your ‘Dark Moon Tiger Gait’ has improved well” .𝒎

There was only one sound of footsteps, even on the dry wood of the furniture, which belonged to Wu Long. Old Yen, who moved more actively did not produce even a slight noise.

“But it still generates slight footprints and raises the dust with residual wind, you have to work on the Spiritual Qi flow around the legs more”

As they moved around, Wu Long retreated to the stairs with Old Yen following him closely. Despite all of his efforts, none of his attacks allowed the blade of his sword to touch the fan which would at least damage the fan with a scratch because of the quality difference.

‘Hmm, good thinking to use all of his advantages and not focusing only on technique’

Wu Long nodded as not using the weapon quality advantage would have been a major oversight. To an extent it forced Wu Long to a certain pattern where he was guarding his weapon, which in theory made his moves more predictable. Of course that would have been the case if he was a mortal cultivator with only a few decades or even hundred years of experience.

A flurry of talismans flew out of Wu Long’s left hand that was behind him, and flew to the walls, floor and ceiling of the hall, as a translucent yellowish glow appeared on all surfaces, and then grew dimmer until it disappeared.

“You can use bigger moves now”

Wu Long reached the second floor and as soon as he finished talking five translucent blue cuts in a shape of a claw mark flew by him as he turned him torso, Old Yen’s free hand stretched out and still surrounded by the residual Spiritual Qi. The claw mark crashed into a wall that glowed pale yellow again in the spot that was struck, leaving no traces.

“Good”

The two continued as Old Yen unleashed more techniques that Wu Long countered or dodged. By the end, Old Yen still could not see the depths of Wu Long’s abilities, not once able to corner him despite the latter’s passive attitude during the spar.

As Wu Long gave him a run-down of everything he could improve on, he also commended him for the progress, as it was apparent that a lot of effort was put into honing these skills.

“You will follow me to the Fantian Kingdom discreetly after a few days, and as always make sure you are not detected”

“Yes Boss”

After Wu Long was done giving Old Yen hints to improve his strength, he moved out into the dark winter night, leaving instructions.

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