Dual Cultivation God Returns Chapter 1043: Too greedy?

Upon receiving her customary greeting kiss from Wu Long, Liang Yuhan felt a brief shock at Xue Bing's arrival alongside him, yet that astonishment faded swiftly as she greeted her Dao Sister with a warm smile.

"Oh~ you’re definitely gonna love watching this~", Fen Baihu leaped off Wu Long’s shoulder, fluidly shifting into her human shape, and approached Liang Yuhan with eyes brimming with eager mischief she was dying to share.

With a gentle tap on Liang Yuhan’s forehead, she revealed a vivid dream of the canyon incident. The recipient experienced it as if unfolding right before her eyes—or as if she stood amid the action. Though the dream stretched on, merely an instant elapsed in reality.

"Pfft...", Liang Yuhan stifled a laugh, her slender hand rising to veil her lips while her gaze sparkled with the Celestial Fox’s own delight, murmuring, "You must show this to Zhiqiu, no, to all of them".

"I’m planning to during dinner tonight; I simply couldn’t resist", Fen Baihu bobbed her head enthusiastically as they shared giggles, Wu Long offering a helpless grin.

"I truly fail to grasp what amuses you about that scenario, though I’m pleased to have brought laughter to someone", Xue Bing remarked coolly, freezing the pair of beauties in place.

Glances exchanged between them followed.

"See?", Fen Baihu tittered.

"Yep, pure gold mine", Liang Yuhan responded, and their laughter erupted anew—intimate insiders who knew the ice beauty’s nature, seeing her words as blunt truth.

The remainder of the day saw Wu Long sifting through the vast intelligence gathered by the Thousand Eyes Palace. Even with his prowess, he managed only the top-priority and crucial data.

Later, Li Weifang came back with the canyon’s cloaked captive in tow, wrapping up the day. Wu Long then delved into extracting details from the prisoner via Fen Baihu’s Second Tail power, as Xue Bing and Liang Yuhan headed to the Dream Realm a bit early for the impending dinner.

When Wu Long arrived for the meal, nearly everyone marveled at Lian Zhiqiu’s presence—she’d skipped their table for days while probing the Protective Formations in the Crow King’s Nest. A few beauties appeared in the know, but that curiosity dissolved amid chatter once Fen Baihu displayed the canyon spectacle, steering the atmosphere elsewhere.

Equally striking was Hong Yue joining the dinner after her twin, initially seeming uneasy yet swiftly embraced with warmth, blending seamlessly into the group.

—

Among the standout reports from the Thousand Eyes Palace that day—Xue Bing’s debut shadowing Wu Long’s labors—stood the Three Pillars Sect uproar, marked by the Sect Ancestor’s rare public emergence after almost a millennium.

This revelation shed light on his own situation too, as the Sect Ancestor’s remaining years remained a fiercely guarded mystery among the Sect Leader, Grand Elders, and their innermost loyalists.

Poking into such delicate matters right after Yu Zhen’s elevation to Grand Elder would erode trust.

Hence, Wu Long tasked Zhao Xieren that night with setting up a rendezvous.

The following day brought Wu Long back to the Three Pillars Sect, his first visit since shortly after entering the Boundless Profound World alongside Liang Yuhan and Zhao Xieren. This round, Zhao Xieren guided them, with Hua Ziyan at his side, eyeing the fist drills in the training grounds they traversed with keen curiosity.

Simple masks adorned both Wu Long and Hua Ziyan. He thought it adorable when she requested a matching set to his, so they picked a duo featuring harmonious designs.

"They’re drilling contact fist", Wu Long murmured to her.

"I see, explaining why their stances mimic Mortal Martial Arts more closely...", Hua Ziyan affirmed, her Spiritual Qi Fists demanding broader sweeps that exposed greater vulnerabilities.

This fist approach proved useless in ultra-close quarters, riddled with gaps for foes to attack or maneuver, yet it held no issue for her or Spiritual Qi Fist users projecting detached strikes—transforming battles into mid-short range skirmishes where the goal was repelling intruders past a defensive zone, akin to Weapon Cultivators.

Practitioners of fist and palm techniques in close combat lacked the advantage of extended reach to hold enemies at bay, forcing them to master more pragmatic battle styles that compensated for flaws in fist forms, ultimately resulting in inherently compact stances.

"Does that mean they must temper their bodies into weapons like those of the Brilliant Sun Temple?", she inquired, now spotting the parallels.

"No, unlike them, they lack a supreme heritage that transforms the entire body into something resembling a Spiritual Treasure", Wu Long shook his head, "From what I see, they employ a Spiritual Qi hardening method, enveloping their hands in thick Spiritual Qi that also alters the toughness of their hand skin"

"So they remain more susceptible to wounds on areas beyond their hands and arms, at least up to the elbows...", Hua Ziyan nodded in realization.

"They do temper their bodies, though not to such extremes. You're correct that they pale in comparison to Brilliant Sun Temple cultivators in Body Tempering—it's incomparable, as even the fragments in a Fractured World make it one of the top Major Sects across the Seven Boundless Worlds", Wu Long elaborated, "Yet they don't seem to depend on Body Tempering for defense; I suspect they possess another form of protection"

Until this point, Wu Long had drawn mainly from insights gathered by the Thousand Eyes Palace and Zhao Xieren, but what followed stemmed from his own deductions after observing low-level Disciples executing their fist forms.

"Should my guess prove true, they release Spiritual Qi from their hands to generate shockwave currents around their fists, forming two invisible shields linked to their arms that envelop much of their frame—primarily redirecting assaults outward rather than outright stopping them. This accounts for certain Fist Form selections that expose the outer side more than the inner, where deflection works less as defense without shifting to complete evasion"

"I see it clearly now!", Hua Ziyan exclaimed with thrill, nodding vigorously, "Exactly as you described! That fist would typically expose his flank to strikes, but with a shockwave barrier emanating from the fist, spreading behind in a broad veil, it would shield it flawlessly!"

"I notice your eagerness to craft something akin with your Spiritual Qi fists", Wu Long chuckled, observing the beauty's excitement fueled both by confirmation of his accuracy and the prospect of adapting the skill.

"Ehehe~ am I being too greedy?", she shyly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, gaze dropping, prompting Wu Long to lift his hand almost on reflex, brushing her hand and a bit of her hair as their eyes met.

"Not at all, Ziyan. It's entirely natural to desire replicating useful elements from a technique that catches your eye", he smiled beneath the mask, his voice warm and reassuring, "I've always done so. That's how I amassed such a vast array of abilities. Though..."

His gaze turned mischievous, matching his playful tone, "I'm a greedy soul myself, so perhaps you are a touch greedy too..."

Laughter erupted between them, while Zhao Xieren, leading the way, wished the earth would swallow him to escape being such an blatant third wheel simply by existing there.

Weird looks came his way from the Sect Protectors and an Elder of the Three Pillars Sect guiding them, who strode even farther ahead.

In truth, this marked his first mission alongside his Valley Master in the company of his woman. Back with Liang Yuhan, the flirting stayed subtler since they weren't official yet.