As Wu Long was collecting the sea water on the way forward, he was pondering one thought that came to his mind.

‘It certainly is strange…’

It was that in such a large body of water, he did not feel any presence of a Dao Rune.

He struggled to reconcile the fact that a whole sea would not have a Water Rune. As he pondered on the mystery, he tried to analyze the possible causes, leading him to contemplate the features of the sea or ocean water.

And as he did so, he had a flash of realization that water itself did not move when it was not acted upon outside forces, as waves he saw were caused by outside influence.

This realization caused him to marvel at the way he missed such a simple concept, and at the same time, he suddenly felt a presence of a Water Rune within the waters below him,?stopping his movement and landing on the water surface.

He then sat down in a lotus position, and closed his eyes in meditation, using the Water Rune he had to collect the abundant Water Qi below, while contemplating the existence of Sea.

He soon felt the new Water Rune being absorbed by his own, and felt a much stronger control over large quantities of water and Water Qi. He knew that his way of controlling water until now was too focused on the flow, and ignored the ability of it to resist outside force, making it also suitable for defense on a large scale.

“Haha, so that was it”

His eyes flashed open with a realization, as remembering all the times he managed to get a Dao Rune, it started with him contemplating the existence of the element or phenomena.

What he understood before, was the flowing nature of water in the rain, and what he got now was the calmness of water when not influenced by circumstances.

It also now made sense to him that just because he took away a Dao Rune within the rain, it did not mean that all rain stopped falling in the world. Since a Dao Rune was supposed to be the representation of the Law of Heavenly Dao and controlled the way things worked. If he truly snatched it,?that would have made it absent from the world.

What he did was not strictly speaking ‘taking’ a Dao Rune. It was more akin to ‘forming’ it. As he had to comprehend the Dao Rune’s principle to get it.

He smiled, even more excited about the benefits of this trip, and then continued on his way.

—

The volcanic island was silent.

Only the sounds of the easing storm and bubbling lava could be heard, as tens of thousands of people stood on the shores, plazas, stone passages and temples, looking in one direction with wide eyes.

There was no one who moved or even breathed loudly, as they seemingly all were in some kind of a collective stupor.

And then… as the surrounding sea finally resumed the normal gloomy grayish appearance, the darkness of the thick clouds receding replaced by a dim light of still cloudy but not as heavy sky which they were all so used to seeing, a dot appeared on the horizon.

And for the first time, signs of movement showed among the crowd as heads turned to look at it approaching, but still keeping quiet and then following the now visible silhouette of a man passing high above their heads.

As Wu Long landed on to the side of the terrace on the top floor of the highest pagoda of the Brilliant Sun Temple, fifteen pairs of eyes looked at him in deafening silence that sharply contrasted how noisy they all were when he was sitting here before.

“So, I believe that should tell you what I can do for you”

He chuckled, quite tired, but outwardly not showing even a slightest sign of fatigue, not even a minimal fluctuation of his aura.

While the “limited omnipresence” he told about to Madam Liang was indeed something he could do without any trouble when it came to the understanding the way to do it and being used to it, there was a difference between what his Soul could handle and what his mind could, in other words, the difference between his Root of Awareness and the Root of Wisdom.

While he had the necessary expertise, it was still a tremendous strain on his Root of Awareness, as its development of capabilities was linked to cultivation. Much like with a Weapon Intent put a strain on his mind, so did such an activity.

Thus, while it was still technically not difficult for him to do it in theory, in practice the limitations of his cultivation made it quite challenging to do that for a prolonged period of time, even if it was controlling just two processes at the same time.

“… D-Daoist Wu, please accept my gratitude as a Grand Elder of the Brilliant Sun Temple, and as Gan Shihan personally. Today, you saved our lives and our Sect from certain ruin…”

Grand Elder Gan woke up from the dazed state first, lowering his head, as the twelve Grand Elders, the Temple Master and Prime Disciple jolted from his words, and hurried to follow him in a bow.

“Please accept the gratitude of the Brilliant Sun Temple”

Temple Master Qi spoke in his official capacity to represent the whole Sect.

“Our benefactor…”

“…sincere…”

“…we are in debt…”

The Grand Elders followed with a jumbled murmur of both sincere and flattering words. Some Grand Elders of the Conservative Faction having particularly awkward expressions, especially the one who was the most confrontational to Wu Long before.

Outside of the tower, thousands of Monk Spades, the weapon of choice for these Daoist Monks if they did not practice fist or palm techniques, fell to the ground with loud metal clanks as people fell to their knees and bowed toward the tower.

“I am not really fond of formalities… so please raise your heads.

I will accept your gratitude. And make no mistake, I do not see your appreciation or any other feelings lightly. I would simply feel better if you didn’t bow to me”

He made a calm smile, his voice tranquil and unhurried. And though he did not speak loudly, his words not only reached the ears of the men before hiim, but spread throughout the Sect.

They slowly raised their heads, looking at him as some kind of deity that descended onto their mundane world. The people in the Sect below the tower hesitating, but also rising up after a short pause.

“Now, I think we should return to where we left off, to our discu-…”

He then smiled, but was stopped from speaking any further by Grand Elder Jiu, whose turbid eyes showed genuine remorse for the previous attitude of disbelief and newfound respect.

“Please say no further, Benefactor Wu… we will accept any terms you propose”

He spoke with the voice a bit feeble from age but filled with authority of the eldest and most respected in the Conservative Faction, the other five widening their eyes and turning to him. The word ‘Benefactor’, while not quite suiting Wu Long’s taste, hardly possible to now separate from himself.

It was clear other five members of the Conservative Faction were at the same time in awe and afraid of Wu Long and were also truly grateful for their lives being saved, but the attitude of their leading representative was troublesome in their views. As it ignored any scrutiny on the merits of Wu Long’s original proposal in favor of repaying the debt.

And while it may be the right thing to do from a moral standpoint it may not necessarily be from the standpoint of the Sect’s interests, as that remained to be up for debate.

“I agree, the Brilliant Sun Temple owes a debt of gratitude that is not so easily repaid, and as the Temple Master, I urge the council of Grand Elders to not further question Benefactor Wu’s proposal and fully cooperate”

Temple Master Qi seemingly saw an opportunity to sway the council, and went in for a decisive appeal.

The majority of Grand Elders nodded their heads without any doubts, but Wu Long saw hesitation of some, a slightly troubled expression appearing on his face.

Visit freewenov(e)l.𝗰𝐨𝐦 for the est n𝘰vel reading experience