Dual Cultivation God Returns - Chapter 1052 - 1052: Bait living a life of luxury and prosperity

“Still, the 8th prince, huh… that’s an unexpected dark horse”, Wu Long said while calming down from laughter, shaking his head as he sipped some cheap wine, “I personally suspected the 4th”

“Eh? W-what do you mean?”, Chen Hui raised his eyebrows.

“It seems it was the 8th prince’s family who arranged for this scheme with the Tuyin Dynasty, or rather, they both are connected to the same people behind them so it isn’t exactly right to say they did something, but they’re the ones that should come out on top if this marriage comes through”, Wu Long explained, “It’s good that they’re finally out of the shadows though, I can finally see who I’m against, though I wouldn’t discount the 4th prince’s family just yet”

“I-I thought they simply jumped at the opportunity…”, Chen Hui gulped, vaguely understanding from Wu Long’s words that there was a larger shadow looming behind this whole battle of succession, larger than even the Wei Dynasty itself.

And with his personality of having avoided asking too many questions before meeting Wu Long, the hair on the back of his head stood up from that realization.

“Haha, too late to back out now, my very careful friend”, Wu Long saw that look in his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head.

“W-Who is backing out”, Chen Hui spoke while having wide eyes with a spooked look in them, “I-I’m with Princess now”

“Yes you are”, Wu Long nodded, and then added in a reassuring tone, “Don’t worry though, this is just a tiny scheme that won’t really disturb them”

Though it failed to calm down Chen Hui since Wu Long referred to battle of succession of Wei Dynasty and an intrigue that even involved another dynasty a ‘tiny scheme’, signifying the magnitude of the people behind the scenes.

And now that he suddenly began thinking of consequences, he suddenly perked up as another realization hit him, “W-wait… that Corrupt Path lair… I will be the one who is known far and wide to have…”

He didn’t finish as the realization continued to settle in, his words trailing off as he simply gestured a stabbing motion.

“Yes”, Wu Long lightly laughed again, “What did you expect? Fame and achievement only with no drawbacks? Of course Corrupt Path would want revenge”

“M-maybe we can find a different achievement and let this one slide~”, Chen Hui made an awkward smile.

“No can do. A lesser achievement won’t make you a General. Not in this political environment. This one will basically throw a thick stick, practically a load-bearing beam of a building, into the wheels of the Tuyin Dynasty marriage proposal carriage. Any other achievement we can come up with on such short notice would be basically a twig that would snap and won’t do anything to the carriage or its wheel”, Wu Long shook his head, “And what are you worried about anyway? You don’t think I’ll abandon you to bear the consequences alone after getting you into this, do you?”

“It’s still my neck that’s going to be targeted!”, Chen Hui almost cried.

“I have my own reasons I want a public figure be responsible for it”, Wu Long spoke in a more somber voice, “For certain reasons of my own, Corrupt Path has entered into my crosshairs, so I need a reliable way to grab onto the traces”

“Y-You’re using me as a lure?!”

“A very luxuriously and happily living… with a beautiful wife and a title of Emperor consort… as well as adorned in General’s armor… with an Essence Ignition Realm cultivation… lure, yes”, Wu Long nodded with a shameless smile.

“You… that…”, even if Chen Hui wanted to say something, pointing his finger, but the words stuck to his throat as he couldn’t refute any of the things Wu Long said, as his finger stayed in that accusatory pose that lost any power of momentum, until he eventually slumped down with a sigh, “Though I still have some doubts about becoming a General, the families of the 4th, 5th, and 8th princes are going to make a fuss, and the Empress is not on my side either, she’s just loving the fact the opponents of the 3rd Prince are fighting among themselves while she doesn’t have to lift a finger”

“Don’t worry, extinguishing a major Corrupt Path outpost that successfully operated right under the nose of the Dynasty for so long would leave the Emperor no choice. It is a major embarrassment that it went unnoticed. He’ll have to save his dignity, and to claim part of that achievement as his own he would have to give you a big reward”, Wu Long spoke with absolute confidence, “Not just becoming a General, your marriage prospects are going to look very good after this. Though before the Tuyin Dynasty’s prince came it would have had more effect on the marriage situation… the hand of the princess would have been basically your reward… but that’s a gone deal now, the Emperor would have to act careful about it since there’s another Dynasty involved, he’ll likely give you some additional rewards instead – likely a good noble title that would still massively improve your marriage stance”

“Hmm, if I had a noble title and a General title at the same time, I would have status to at least openly compete with that foreign prince, and also go more openly against other princes if they meddle…”, Chen Hui nodded as he remembered the humiliation he had to endure due to not having enough status not even an hour ago.

“And, from now on I will help you more actively again. You are going to see me in the capital a lot more often now. I can also help in dealing with the foreigners in my capacity as a guest of Princess Wei Zhenhui and close friend of Yuanjie”, Wu Long added.

“Dealing with them…? You’re going to create more trouble, aren’t you?” Chen Hui first froze, and then spoke with a slightly nervous look as he remembered how Wu Long dealt with people who annoyed him.

“Hahaha, come on, when have I created trouble? You know me by now~! I’m a very friendly and amicable man~ practically harmless~! People even call me a hopeless pacifist~”, Wu Long made a very convincing innocent and harmless smile.

The look he got back from Chen Hui was enough for a whole thick book of spoken text.

Even Fen Baihu almost fell down from Wu Long’s shoulder, scrambling to hold on with tiny claws coming out on her small paws.

“Come on, let’s discuss the details now, we’ll have to be precise on how this thing goes”, Wu Long then took out a jade slip, seemingly intent on pushing through the disbelief of both by shifting the topic, “Memorize this, it is basically a script of how the whole operation will go. Remember, we’re putting on a spectacle for your soldiers, yes, but who we want to fool are those who are going to keep watch over you, so, there will be injuries among your men, no one will die but we can’t make it painless”

Chen Hui’s face turned serious as he understood that the time for joking around was over, and took the jade slip into his hands, sinking his Spiritual Sense into it.

—

When Chen Hui left to ‘receive the confessions’ of the would-be clients of Corrupt Path he arrested, gaining the final confirmation he needed to conduct the raid, Wu Long was soon joined by a masked trio instead.

“It was worth working on making contacts in the city during our previous visit, Boss”, Old Yen nodded, “We found a perfect mansion. It isn’t very big, but it is in a wealthy district, and is also a bit isolated, standing on its own platform, and surrounded by lake waters on all sides for at least a 100 meters, only a wooden bridge connecting its main entrance to the streets of the district. Most mansions in that district are like that”

“It’s condition isn’t perfect, which helped me cut down the cost quite a bit, so we’ll need to renovate it”, Kwon Qianhong added with a chuckle.

“Good”, let’s go inspect it and see if we can set up protective formations and a Spatial Node right away”, Wu Long nodded as he stood up, “I assume since it’s a manor in a wealthy district, that belonged to nobles, there’s secret lower levels below the mansion grounds?”

“Of course”, Old Yen followed right behind Wu Long, “We searched with those conditions in mind as well”

“Have you also looked into suitable properties for Soaring Feather Trading Company and the Thousand Eyes Palace?”

“Those… are a bit trickier to find than living quarters for Wu Family Manor”, Old Yen’s tone became a bit less confident.

“It may be possible to solve the Soaring Feather Trading Company location with more money…”, Kwon Qianhong added with a visible reluctance to use that method, “But it won’t really do much to just pour more money into it for the Thousand Eyes Palace location that would be suitable”

“I told you we can solve it with a bit of ‘persuasion’, didn’t I?”, Nie Guanting scratched his head.

“Heh, as long as you’re dealing with the type of people that do that to others as well and not bothering peaceful folk, you can go ahead. Follow Guanting’s lead on this one”, Wu Long chuckled, more and more confident he made the right decision by placing someone who can be a bit more forceful in his methods with the two careful guys, causing Old Yen and Kwon Qianhong to exchange worried looks since Nie Guanting’s method was a bit loud and would undoubtedly attract some attention, but nodded as they led Wu Long into the new Wu Family Manor in the Wei Dynasty Capital.