Dual Cultivation God Returns

The agent of an unknown force that was snooping around the World Stone talked at length, not bothering to conceal what he called 'superficial' information.

In his opinion, it held almost no value in the current setting, where it was - he had every reason to suspect and assume - already obtained by his counterpart. An unfortunate, but ultimately not a disastrous circumstance. Despite that, at times he discreetly probed Old Yen's companion - the main cause of that circumstance - by starting to deviate from truth, closely watching if the man would correct him.

He did so in order to probe whether Old Yen already possessed this information, and whether he was actually giving something of value when he thought he was not. Old Yen's poker face was too good, so he could not determine whether he was hearing anything he was sharing for the first time, or was just comparing notes between what he already knew from the fellow who provided him with the information.

He immediately corrected himself as soon as he detected that he was about to be confronted about deviating from the truth, which happened every time he made such an attempt without exception.

'Tsk tsk, this blithering fool really didn't conceal or at least hold back some information for later…', the man thought to himself with disdain at the observation. This prompted him to decidedly conclude that the provider of Old Yen's information sitting here with them was an idiot, who recklessly traded all his bargaining chips right away.

This exercise, or rather the feeling of being however subtly in control of how this conversation went, slightly distracted him from what was happening.

As time went his alertness grew duller and relaxed, and his perception was becoming more and more dispersed.

Eventually, he started slipping a bit of information that he was not originally intending to add, which no longer was so 'superficial'.

And yet that did not seem to alarm him, on the contrary, he seemed to become more careless as he was rambling on, with Old Yen actively engaging him in conversation. This naturally grew into the exchange of information they were negotiating before. If the man stopped to think about what was happening and to take in the situation, he might, perhaps, have had a minuscule chance to notice that there was something off. His own behavior was way too reckless and impulsive, as if he was drunk, and even the conversation he was having gradually stopped making any sense.

He revealed more and more of what he knew, while the information Old Yen provided in exchange seemed to either be negligible in importance or dubious in nature first, and then words coming out of Old Yen's mouth completely lost any coherence.

Yet somehow, it all seemed completely normal to the man, who continued on, losing any perception of how much time went by, where he was, or whatever thoughts or plans he had.

—

Old Yen sat with a slightly bewildered look, watching the man opposite him speaking out information in a dazed state, his eyes dull and unseeing, while the figure of the man sitting beside him started to morph and turn into that of a handsome young man.

"This Celestial Fox really is something, Boss", Old Yen shook his head with a slight shiver of unease, as they just finished watching the complete transformation of the person in front of them, who was perfectly sober and alert just an hour ago, and then was gradually reduced to this state right in front of their eyes.

"Hah, are you being sarcastic?", a beautiful voice asked with a haughty tone while the figure of Fen Baihu materialized in the room, the gaze in her purple glowing eyes with vertical pupils resembling that of someone whose pride was hurt, "to think I would be brought to a point where I require the assistance of not one but two other people to tackle someone on this level…"

Wu Long chuckled, seeing the Mythical Beast's humiliated expression. His own projection sitting in this room, was made with talismans, using the trick he once already used with Madam Liang's help. And yet it was also different, as it was now also hosting additional talismans that allowed Zhao Biren and Madam Liang to influence the one they were extracting information from remotely.

They were gradually and very carefully chipping away at his rather powerful mental defenses until the Celestial Fox was able to completely take over his consciousness and send him into a dream-like state. "What else do you want in such a condition, Fen Baihu?" Wu Long shrugged his shoulders with a look that said it was only natural, "With your Soul Bead in its current state, let alone someone in Essence Awakening Realm, even someone in the Mortal Transcendence Realm in this line of work is quite a tall order for you to overtake this smoothly and without struggle"

He then continued with a slightly more serious look to get his point across, "The people sending out their agents for covert work like this are not clueless, his mental defenses are very much in another league compared to his peers in other professions, and his Soul Sea is especially well protected. Any blunt force methods here are out of the question, they would fail miserably and ruin this chance. This is the world of spies and information brokers. It is inhabited by a completely different breed of people from those who dwell in light and whom you are used to face. If you get too confident because of your natural abilities, it very quickly will come back to bite us, and by us I mean us all"

He was speaking in a somber and rather decisive tone, and after ensuring his intent reached the beauty, gave her a smile and a wink with a more relaxed look and after following that with a playful wink , turned to Old Yen next, "And you, where did the attitude and bravado that you had just displayed toward this guy go now? She's just grumpy, no need to cower right away at the first sign of her displeasure. Tsk tsk, sometimes you're too timid for your own good"

'That's easy for you to say, Boss. You're stronger than her, and she listens to you. I just witnessed as she turned the guy in front of us into a… into that! People like me have to learn to stay in our lane…', Old Yen inwardly protested, darting his eyes toward the man sitting opposite them, who was blabbing on slightly incoherently with a completely blank expression.

But Old Yen prudently decided to leave that protest only in his mind, lest he provoke Wu Long into giving him another training to strengthen his mind, which basically meant facing a fraction of the God of Slaughter's Sword Intent delivered with the intent to kill for some short periods of time without evading or otherwise shrinking back.

The last time Old Yen received this 'training', he almost had a mental breakdown, though it obviously helped him face other people with much more confidence and stand his ground. Ultimately, however, his prudence was in vain as Wu Long already made the decision that his subordinate would benefit from another such training session in near future.

Meanwhile Fen Baihu's gaze changed at Wu Long's earlier words, as she obviously did not like her current powerless condition, even if he gave a logical explanation why she did not have to feel humiliated with their opponent being who he is, "You say that, but he's still someone I would not even consider a pebble before"

Wu Long made a wry smile, shaking his head, "Haa~, do I have to remind you that unless we had you on our side I would have to abandon this approach entirely, as however skillful Madam Liang and Zhao Biren are, they would not have been able to handle him without your help?"

He then turned to the man mumbling with an empty gaze, admitting there were still ways to go about it, "At least certainly not to the degree we have him at our disposal now. As I said, this man is someone well protected against such measures. It is not by breaking down his defenses but convincing him of his own will to talk, and in persuading him that everything was going as he thinks should be going, that we can extract information of him"

Wu Long's gaze turned to Fen Baihu once more, " You are plenty powerful even in your current state, I just invite you to contemplate the consequences of not considering your current condition"

"If you say so~", she replied, visibly pleased at the more elaborate explanation -or more importantly the praise sprinkled into it - then smiling mischievously as if some thought came to her mind, and adding with a chuckle, "Heh, I could swear someone told me they could help me with that condition though, I wonder who it was and whether I was deceived?"

"And I will, anytime you are ready", Wu Long's lips curled up in a smile as well. He initially only postponed her 'treatment' to give her time to get accustomed to him, as well as build at least some rapport between them beforehand, as however beneficial this alliance was, it was not in his habit to initiate dual cultivation with someone who was at the time terrified of him, and was in a position of someone cornered. Now, however, as she gradually felt more and more comfortable around him, and, more importantly, reassured in his goodwill toward her, Wu Long no longer saw any more reasons to delay, and her eyes slightly widened in response to his words, clearly not expecting them.

"Hmm, that is good then", she nodded, lightly coughing to clear her throat, her line of sight shifting to the side, while Wu Long turned to Old Yen.

"Your aura shows signs of stabilizing. But for now you should still keep the talismans I gave you active", he reminded his subordinate, as the latter could not suddenly become a master of aura concealment and control, so much so that he was able to deceive experts in the same trade as him, with equal or higher cultivation realms and likely more experience.

Old Yen's, as well as Madam Liang's and Daoist Zhao's ability to mingle among the inhabitants of this world was more so owing to the special talismans Wu Long made not that long ago that were able to conceal some minor, but obvious to certain people, flaws and imperfections in the aura of the three.

Hong Yue was the only one who did not require that assistance due to the peculiarities of her cultivation method.

"Are you going separately from here?", Old Yen inquired as Wu Long's tone of instructions was of someone going separate ways.

"Mm, I would rather not keep this projection for long since it has already achieved its goal. Besides, we should not linger in here, as this man undoubtedly has subordinates around. He was just forced to act himself because of your cultivation", Wu Long confirmed with a nod, carefully retrieving the man's Spatial Ring, and then turning to Fen Baihu, "will you be able to transport him into one of the Dream Mystic Realms without risk of breaking his current state?"

"...", she first wanted to confidently show her disdain for even the need to ask such a question, but then halted, being reminded by the look in his eyes of how seriously she should take this, and how important it was for their current situation that absolutely nothing went wrong.

The Celestial Fox then turned to the dazed man, her concentrated gaze studying his condition, and then nodded with "...there should be no problem"

"Good then", Wu Long smiled with contentment, and turning to Old Yen, gave the latter the Spatial Ring that he had carefully inspected for any irregularities, retrieving only a small sum of money from it beforehand.

At this time, a mysterious and enchanting mist started very slowly creeping up from beneath the table and enveloping the dazed man sitting opposite.

"... meanwhile, we will retreat into the Mystic Realm, so for a while you will be on your own", Wu Long finished, receiving a fist and hand salute from Old Yen who already got up to leave.

"Understood, Boss. Please leave this matter to me"

Wu Long nodded once more, and seeing the mist on the other side of the table dissolve, disappearing along with any traces of the man sitting there before, handed Fen Baihu the leather pouch with the money, as he could not take them with him in his current state.

He then confirmed that she took the pouch away, and made hand seals.

His own figure gradually turned vague, eventually leaving only talismans to fall down, rapidly withering and turning to dust. Fen Baihu's silhouette followed Wu Long, melting into thin air and leaving only Old Yen behind in the room.

The latter placed a small sum on the table to pay the bill, took a deep breath and discreetly headed out.