Dual Cultivation God Returns Chapter 1042: Wooden boxes

Hong Ye came back after chatting with her Dao Sisters over the thrilling opportunity to spend extra time with Wu Long, only to spot her twin elder sister seated beside the compact training field they used almost exclusively as their own—its modest scale ideal for their purposes yet impractical for the rest.

Hong Yue sat inside a cozy gazebo erected for breaks or for guests stopping by the training ground amid its use. Her white hair concealed her face while she peered at a tiny item cradled in her palms, a broad-mouthed, squat wooden chest positioned before her with its cover flung open.

"What are you doing?" Hong Ye asked curiously, drawing near and embracing her sister.

"Hmm? Ah... ehm... just~... a way to kill time on breaks", Hong Yue flushed faintly, swiftly tucking the jade slip in her grasp back into the wooden chest brimming with matching jade slips, all arranged upright in a tight wooden framework of slots precisely cut to hold them, then snapping shut the lid bearing a lengthy row of digits and markings.

"Eh? Aren’t those...", Hong Ye identified the wooden chest, as plenty of her Dao Sisters possessed identical ones—they held countless potential Sowing Karma scenarios probed by the Thousand Eyes Palace, inscribed on sequentially marked jade slips deemed minor or low-priority.

Lately, several of Wu Long’s beauties developed a hobby of sorting through these during idle moments, so Hong Ye started noticing them dotted around the Main Mansion.

At the outset, it resembled flipping through engaging tales—nearly identical to perusing novels. It further enlivened their talks once they delved into discussions about them.

Obtaining one merely required asking Butler Bang via a subordinate or face-to-face, promptly yielding a random assortment of Thousand Eyes Palace duplicates delivered soon thereafter, given the abundance of jade slips sufficient for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of such chests differentiated only by the numerals etched atop their lids.

These kept multiplying as the Thousand Eyes Palace stealthily extended operations beyond Silver Wing City—initially across all of Soft Meadow Continent and lately even further—sparking an explosive rise in case volume.

However, when Wu Long’s women casually scanned them and caught nuances or prospects skipped by ordinary Thousand Eyes Palace operatives—inevitable amid the torrent of data—and relayed these keen observations to Wu Long, he promptly reassessed select cases, directing intensive probes or dispatching agents to act at once.

This highlighted how sifting through them could genuinely aid Wu Long, boosting their allure even for ladies previously uninterested.

And with everyone pursuing it only in downtime, akin to savoring stories, he raised no complaints, merely appreciating their support.

Yet this was the initial occasion Hong Ye beheld such a chest in Hong Yue’s hands.

Thanks to her assassin’s piercing sight, she discerned it was brand-new, fresh off the make—evident from its pristine appearance and the sharp scent of newly worked timber. The lid’s numerals shone with ink’s vibrant, unweathered hue. Thus, Hong Yue hadn’t simply borrowed a used one from another beauty for ’passing time,’ but secured a bespoke fresh delivery from Butler Bang.

Hong Ye flashed a grin, nearly succumbing to the impulse to tease her twin, yet recalled Gong Cui’s advice that it might backfire, so she bit her tongue.

What escaped Hong Ye’s notice, however, was that Hong Yue pioneered requesting one of these chests from Butler Bang.

More accurately, she sought a curated batch of Sowing Karma cases, receiving in turn a tailor-made chest that ignited the very first of its kind.

This stemmed from her wine tower exchange with Wu Long on Sowing Karma, propelled mainly by sheer curiosity.

It grew into Hong Yue’s staple diversion during the week of collective seclusion with Wu Long, barring her from time with Hong Ye.

By the time fetching fresh chests from Butler Bang became her routine whim, Gong Cui—tasked with ’observing the target’ amid aiding Hong Ye’s win-win-win scheme—witnessed the exchange, quizzed Butler Bang, sparked her own interest, and claimed a chest.

Thus did they proliferate throughout the Dream Realm’s Main Mansion.

Meanwhile, Hong Yue felt a surge of inner turmoil upon being discovered in her foolish little act. What's more, she genuinely believed it might aid Wu Long, as she'd overheard the other beauties chatting about it. That very idea stirred excitement within her, and now that she was caught, deep embarrassment washed over her.

'Embarrassed? Why on earth should I feel embarrassed? I-It’s totally normal to wish to help someone who’s done so much for me and Ye’er', she pondered next, debating with no one yet compelled to justify herself, 'I reside in his Mansion alongside his family, have even obtained a Supreme Cultivation Method from our Assassin Group, and receive tons of assistance and generosity from him overall. He graciously carves out time from his packed days to field all my queries, offers heaps of guidance, and is even the one who granted me an entirely fresh outlook on existence... including that one time...'

Her thoughts drifted back to that evening in Emerald Falls City, when she teetered on the edge of a mental collapse, swamped by unfamiliar emotions and sensations, as he guided her to soothe and push past it—at that moment, '...his embrace felt so warm and comforting.... sst~!!!'

Suddenly, she bolted upright, nearly smacking the nose of Hong Ye positioned directly behind her, who dodged solely thanks to an assassin's sharp reflexes.

"Whoa~... are we diving back into training already?" Hong Yue's eyes went wide.

"Training!" Hong Ye shot back in a voice much louder than her norm, her tone coming off a tad strained while clearly latching onto Hong Yue's word rather than planning to utter it earlier, "Yes! Let's keep up the training! Come on!"

Hong Ye let out a chuckle, sensing her twin still flushed over the box but heeding Gong Cui’s counsel by holding back any teasing, as she trailed her sister onto the training grounds.

'Hehe, Sister Yue looks adorable like this, that blush flaring up just from getting busted with a harmless pastime', Hong Ye mused with a chuckle, eyeing the vividly crimson cheeks turned her way.