Dual Cultivation God Returns - Chapter 1043 -

By this time, everyone except Jian Hao was already awoken from the ice sleep, thus the surroundings were busy with the aftermath making the whole thing even more confusing for him.

He remembered that the Seed of the Dao descended, an opportunity his heart jumped in simultaneous joy and worry about as it happened in this kind of open space. He also vaguely remembered what happened before the seed actually landed into his Soul Sea as he was still semi-aware at that point.

So he knew that there was commotion around him, that outsiders were drawn in by such a precious opportunity, and remembered his older brother approaching him with malicious intentions while everyone else was distracted, and then unknown strangers helping him. That was it, everything after that was completely consumed by the trance of enlightenment.

As he organized these memories in his head and looked around, he noticed the strangers who helped him were still here, finally able to see them more clearly only to realize they wore masks, standing with a somehow jittery-looking Steward Lee, which was a novel sight as the man was usually the very image of being steadfast and stone-faced.

Jian Yu immediately cupped his hands, lowering his head, “Thank you, benefactors”

“Mm, it is good to see you seem to have made the achievements that were destined for you”, the masked man nodded, coming a bit closer to the young man.

‘Hmm, instantly jumping from a 3rd to 5th level of Essence Awakening Realm just from that much, huh?’, Wu Long inwardly chuckled seeing Jian Yu’s cultivation progress. It was certainly a giant leap, since advancements in Seven Profound Realms were vastly more difficult than in Nine Mortal Realms, and leaps through multiple Minor Realms were a lot rarer. Especially with Wu Long’s speed of cultivation.

Fen Baihu was first thinking of teasing Wu Long about it since his own cultivation realm didn’t move even a little from his own enlightenment, but then noticed that Wu Long was very closely and intently studying the young man who was replying him, making her think that the reason for that disparity in results was different from his usual slow cultivation speed.

‘Perhaps he didn’t linger to witness this young man coming out of enlightenment just so he could build connections for future…’, she thought as Jian Yu was enthusiastically talking about his achievements in enlightenment, that made Wu Long show a reaction that only solidified the Celestial Fox’s guess.

“Hmm, I have a small Archery Skill jade slip that I don’t have any use for”, Wu Long then added, taking out a jade slip, “Perhaps you will find a better use for it”

“I-I wouldn’t dare receive more after you already helped me so much!”, Jian Yu lowered his head again with a flustered look.

“Heh, it doesn’t cost me anything. Just think of it as a congratulations for enlightenment, and a small token of gratitude from my side as well. As you may know, the Seed of the Dao descending is an opportunity not just for the one receiving it, but those witnessing as well”, Wu Long chuckled, speaking partly sincerely since Jian Yu’s enlightenment certainly was an opportunity that Yuanfen seemingly needed, and even he benefited from unexpectedly, “I also included my communication jade details so you can contact me”

Steward Lee’s face brightened as it seemed that the 3rd Young Master of the Manor had made acquaintances with these powerful people through this opportunity. It was seeing how powerful they are despite only being at Essence Awakening Realm that he was so anxious to get on their good side.

“T-Then, I will humbly and gratefully accept your generosity”, Jian Yu saw there was no way to refuse now, nor did he truly want to let go of an unexpected gift, and accepted the jade slip with both hands, once again lowering his head.

“Well then, we will get going. We have places to be”, Wu Long chuckled, and turned his head to the two beauties with him, all three of them nodding at the same time.

The three Hearts of Iron encased in ice around Jian Hao broke out from the ice, following Wu Long’s figure that flew out with Xue Bing and Fen Baihu on his sides.

Steward Lee and Jian Yu cupped their hands toward their backs, as Jian Hao finally also began waking up from his frozen state, completely disoriented as he was helped by the people of the Manor that were on his side.

—

“Is Yuanfen in the Dream Realm?”, Wu Long asked while flying away from the scene.

“She is, but she’s already asleep at the usual place in that tree”, Fen Baihu shook her head, “She went to sleep as soon as she went back”

“Hmm, it does make sense. I think what she received from that would take some time for her to digest”, Wu Long sighed, “I wanted to at least thank her though”

“It’s not enlightenment?”, Xue Bing asked, curious about his earlier words, taking off her mask that began crumbling away.

“As a World Spirit she doesn’t really need enlightenment”, Wu Long shook his head also taking off his mask and smiling toward her, “At first I was thinking she was going to just transform it into nutrients, replenishing the deficiencies coming from not fully consuming the World that she was born of. But it was different, she seemed to have transformed it into… it’s hard to describe… an essence of the Dao of sorts? Perhaps an amalgamation of memories of a World…”

“The part she gave you was that as well, right? That’s why you wanted to confirm what that archer got?”, Fen Baihu already transformed into her fox form on his shoulder, as they were some distance away, and concealed by her powers.

“Yes”, Wu Long nodded, “What he obtained seems to be completely regular enlightenment, perhaps a bit enhanced in intensity since she increased the portion of what he got, but what I got from her, whether intentionally or accidentally seems to be the same thing she consumed herself. It’s hard to describe because it was difficult for me to trully process it, it was meant for Spirit Race, not a human mind”

“You… saw Lady Yuanfen’s memories?”, Fen Baihu suddenly understood, her eyes widening from that realization.

Wu Long nodded again with a pondering, slightly confused expression, his tone sounding unusually not confident in what he was saying, “I think so… but I am not sure. It wasn’t exactly ‘seeing’ either. It’s discarnate bits and pieces, too vast and too compressed at the same time, all jumbled together into an incoherent mass, too interconnected to examine anything separately, but also too chaotic to make sense as a whole. It’s also not a ‘memory’ in a human sense… I think… as I said, it’s something akin to ‘memory’ of a World itself which is hard to process. Although I fully absorbed it using the Great Sage Art: The Greed of the Ancient All-Knowledge-Devouring Divine Beast which allowed me to retain it completely intact, it would take a very, very long time for me to even start comprehending small bits of it. I was hoping that after thanking her, I could ask her about it as well, but it seems it will have to wait”

“Will you get any kind of answer though?”, Xue Bing asked, remembering all their previous attempts at communicating with the World Spirit.

“Hehe, I don’t know… but I have to at least try, right?”, he chuckled with a slightly wry smile since he shared her skeptical view on the probable results.

Fen Baihu then took them through her mist straight into the Thousand Eyes Palace using Liang Yuhan – who was there at this time – as an anchor to channel her powers.

At this same time, Jian Yu who was looking through the jade slip with excitement, found out that the nature of the gift he received from those strangers was not as simple either.

The jade slip contained a portion that reacted to his Spiritual Qi aura and fluctuations, and was only perceivable and readable by him, one that showed the strangers who helped him weren’t ‘just passing by’ at random.

The message was simple, ‘You won’t be able to win the auction. But I can help. Contact me’