?Wu Long entered Feng Yi’s room, finding her still mostly bedridden but less pale and with a much more relaxed expression than she was previously.

“Haa~… you could have warned me, you know?”

She said in a hoarse voice as he approached and took out ointments to soothe some of her pain placing the porcelain bottles and bowls on the bedside table along with a beautifully designed incense burner with a stone bowl and intricately patterned brass lid.

“You wouldn’t have agreed to train with her then”

He started lightly massaging her arms.

“Mmnh…. And that is a bad thing?”

And even though her arms felt soothed and pleasant after a long time, she raised her eyebrow?at his words, her olive green eyes looking at him incredulously, questioning his sanity.

“Haha, don’t be so sulky. It’s a bit harsh but good for you”

“A ‘bit’ harsh?! I almos-…nngh… I almost died out there”

As she impulsively tried to sit up, her face distorted from pain as she carefully lay back to the pillows.?He didn’t answer immediately, finishing up with her arms first. After he was done,?he moved the blanket, and took off her night robe, revealing her naked body.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, a bit of tough love wouldn’t kill you”

“Tough love you say, mmmn”

She closed her eyes, the sound coming out of her mouth being not a groan but a pleasurable moan as his warm hands started massaging her aching legs with a pleasantly scented ointment next.

“She did it in preparation for the future. Not just the one on the horizon, but far further in the distance as well”

“The future? Wouldn’t I have no future if I lost all will to move forward instead?”

“Hmm, there will be times her lesson will save you the trouble of loosing your troops”

He then said as her eyes widened.

“Losing my soldiers?”

“Good soldiers, which Feng Family soldiers are, will give their lives to shield their commander from a fatal strike, so they would not die if you are never in the position for them to do so”

He explained as she became silent, no longer grumbling about her aching body, the look in her eyes slightly shifting. Some time passed like this in silence.

“Do you think she is disappointed?”

“Ling’er? Hahaha, it takes much worse to disappoint her, Yi’er. The amount of people who brought her disappointment and to a much worse extent has been far too big to count. Besides you didn’t do that bad, it only looks so because of how distant your skill levels are”

He chuckled, turning her over and starting to massage her gorgeous back.

“Mmm”

Before she could ask him about Ye Ling, she moaned and her eyes involuntarily closed as she felt a heavenly feeling, as if all of her fatigue and pain momentarily became pleasant, the movements of his arms on her back mysteriously activating the sensations from when he massaged her arms and legs, as if reverberating.

Strangely, she could still feel the aching, soreness and fatigue, but her perception of it, or rather reception has shifted with the movements of his hands. He could erase her pain and the strain on her muscles completely, but he once again did not do so, only allowing her to cope with it.

She could not concentrate her thoughts even though his previous words intrigued her, only able to react to the wondrous sensations.

As he finished the treatment, he covered her with a blanket, and placed a freshly grated powder into the incense burner in a beautiful form, then lit it, leaving the room as her consciousness drifted in a half-awake state.

He came out of the door to hear from Shen Min that General Feng and his son who has been recalled from his subjugation as well, Feng Yan, have come to visit.

“Perfect timing”

He chuckled as he went to meet them.

The mansion was still devoid of servants or any people except the ones living there, so General Feng and Feng Yan sat in an eerily quiet guest reception room with no breath of a living human in sight.

“General Feng, Commander Feng”

“Please, call this little one and this inexperienced son of mine more comfortably, Master Wu”

“I am perfectly comfortable with this address, General Feng”

Wu Long shook his head as the thought of calling him more familiarly or even worse, “Father-In-Law” was quite disturbing for some reason.

“Is Yi’er not going to come out and greet us?”

“Hah! That girl has always been rebellious, but now that Master Wu has her back it is like a tiger has grown wings” 𝑖𝘦𝑎.𝗇t

As Feng Yan tentatively asked in a polite tone, General Feng folded his arms with a grumble.

“…Yi’er is a little tired at the moment, as she has been practicing the sword”

But both expressed surprise at his words.

‘As I thought, Master Wu is amazing, just a few days with him and my little sister is already doing something I told her she needed over and over and she never listened’

‘Mm, that girl would benefit from a little hardship. I guess having seen Master Wu’s other women woke her up. Good!’

The two’s thoughts were both wrong, but as there was no way of knowing them Wu Long just went along with their inexplicable gazes of respect in reaction to his previous words.

“Anyway, it is good that Commander Feng has arrived. I will have you both train for the future, but first you will need to learn new cultivation techniques, they are at least a few orders of magnitude better than what you are practicing now, and are suitable for transition from your old techniques at the same time”

He placed two scrolls in front of them, as both widened their eyes.

“This is too precious… Master Wu. We cannot accept such a heavy gesture”

“My son is right, Master Wu. It is not that we are not grateful, but we cannot receive this much”

Both humbly shook their heads as gifting cultivation techniques or treasured skills was far more of a generous gift than luxury goods or riches. It was also a grand gesture of trust both felt they did not earn as it was widely known that a technique gifted could be used against the gifting party and one did not pass knowledge of this caliber lightly. 𝑖𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“No need to be so humble. Although I do call you by your military titles since it is comfortable, Yi’er is my woman, and you now both belong to my side.

If it is easier for you, you can consider this an investment, as we have a conflict to prepare for and I would rather have better fighters on my side”

Wu Long spoke in a lighthearted tone, without much suspense or overbearing attitude as if discussing weather.

“Then… we would not be polite. Thank you, Master Wu”

Both father and son looked at each other, seeing surprise in each other’s eyes, and then humbly bowed as they received the scrolls. The hands of the younger Feng slightly shaky as he touched the scroll, showing how precious it was of a gift in his eyes, while the other received it with reverence expected of an old warrior.

“Besides… ”

As they took the scrolls in their hands Wu Long nodded with satisfaction and opened his mouth again, causing both to freeze half-way. Seeing this he paused, and waved his hand with a chuckle to show that there was no cause for alarm.

“… this might be considerably better than anything you can get your hands on even in the Five Great Sects, but it is not that incredible among what I can give.

It just suits your level of cultivation and experience. This is also a sample, of what I can give in case you want to follow me beyond the ordeal that is in front of us. Of course, there are other bene-…”

As he continued, first surprise and then awe, and eventually exhilaration appeared in the eyes of both the General and his son.

“Master Wu need say no more. If you accept us we would gladly follow you anywhere.

We would not be greedy for techniques or benefits, just being under your command will give us rights to brag after crossing the Yellow River, hahaha!

What is a country that came from Red Dust and will fade into it? With Master Wu leading us, we would go from frogs in a well into carps leaping through the Dragon Gate!!!”

General Feng interrupted Wu Long before he could list out any pros and cons of following him, making an impassionate speech that made goosebumps appear all over the latter.

“Huh… ehm… that’s good then. Anyway, read the scrolls and memorize them, since I would rather you not carry them around”

“Of course, anyone knows that treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime hahaha”

Feng Yan nodded with a bright smile, resembling his father in this moment more than any other.

“…”

‘Ah! It’s this face, Master Wu always makes this face when Father talks the way that resembles that book’s characters.

As I thought, Father’s manner of speech must be something that Master Wu approves of. No wonder Father treasures that book since his youth when he found it. I was right in following in Father’s steps!’

Feng Yan’s eyes shone as he saw Wu Long’s slightly withdrawn expression that from the side looked like he was in profound thought, while Wu Long questioned if he was making a big mistake recruiting these two.

This content is taken from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚