Dual Cultivation God Returns Chapter 1047: The first step on the path to be Hegemon

That very evening, news reached Wu Long from Emerald Falls City, delivered via the specialized world-crossing long-distance communication talismans by Chen Hui and the Princess, becoming the focal point of discussion during dinner.

"The Tuyin Dynasty, situated a few Star Regions away from the Wei Dynasty, has extended a marriage proposal for Princess Wei Zhenhui," Wu Long announced with a sigh after perusing the urgent message brought forth by Butler Bang.

"Eh? But isn’t she already betrothed to Chen Hui?" Yu Huan inquired, her eyes widening in surprise.

"That would merely be an impediment for a commoner, but the status of the party extending the proposal is a significant concern. An official proposal from another Dynasty is no small matter," Cai Yin commented with a sigh.

"Moreover, to exert maximum pressure, they dispatched their crown prince, the leading contender for their throne, to personally deliver the proposal letter to the Wei Dynasty Emperor," Wu Long elaborated, adding, "Their intention is to force the matter through."

"So, the Northern Ridge Sect and Pale River Hall were tasked with escorting the prince," Nie Xiwang stated, nodding in understanding of the situation's gravity.

"They were indeed part of the escort, though many were unaware of the prince's presence. They served as decoys, given the ongoing succession battle within their own dynasty, which makes the journey perilous for their front-running prince. Alternatively... there might be factions other than ourselves who wish for this marriage proposal to fail," Liang Yuhan mused, exhaling a wisp of herbal smoke. "What we do know for certain is that multiple such groups were dispatched, with only one containing the actual prince, who has now arrived at their destination. Only the Elders were privy to the existence of these other escort groups; the intelligence security surrounding this mission was exceptionally stringent."

"No~! That's not fair! What about the Princess? She seemed to like that amusing gentleman. Are they really going to sabotage their happiness?" Gong Cui exclaimed with a frown, having grown quite fond of the romance Wu Long had orchestrated between the princess and the soldier. A chorus of agreement rose from the assembled beauties, who were also rooting for the couple.

"Fear not, Cui'er. I am confident Wu Long will devise a solution. When has anyone ever successfully thwarted his plans or made him abandon a pursuit?" Gong Liwei remarked with a reassuring smile, instantly easing Gong Cui's worries.

"Hehehe~ that's very true," the Music Daoist chimed in with a beaming smile that seemed to instantly elevate the spirits of everyone present.

"This certainly appears to be... a direct response to our recent actions, wouldn't you agree?" Shen Min inquired next, her mismatched eyes narrowing with suspicion before turning to fix upon Wu Long.

"Indeed, the timing and precision are too deliberate," Wu Long affirmed with a nod. "I harbored suspicions of underlying machinations, but I recently received a crucial tip. It seems the Wei Dynasty's succession struggle is but a minor element of a much grander scheme. For the present, however, we need not concern ourselves with the larger conflict. We can set it aside and concentrate on the Wei Dynasty, as we will likely have to confront the other matter at a later juncture."

"A grander scheme, you say..." Ye Ling murmured, a flicker of recognition in her eyes as she processed his words.

"But isn't Chen Hui in a precarious position now? He finds himself in direct competition with a prince from another Dynasty, which must undoubtedly exert immense pressure," Cao Xiang observed.

"It certainly complicates matters for him, necessitating a temporary visit to the Wei Dynasty on my part," Wu Long stated, nodding. "I was planning a brief excursion anyway, as Yuanjie's predicament requires resolution, and preparatory measures are needed for that."

"Now? Isn't the main auction only five days away?" Bi Rui inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"My stay will be brief. At my current speed, I can reach the Wei Dynasty in about a day and a half, with most of the travel time consumed by traversing World Stone passages. I can expedite my return journey with Baihu's assistance. My primary objective is to bestow upon Chen Hui the significant accomplishment he eagerly awaits, which should effectively stall the prince's advances toward the Princess," Wu Long chuckled. "While there is indeed a considerable amount of work to be done, it's better to commence sooner rather than later. I will need to establish a fabricated noble family to facilitate infiltration into the upper echelons of Imperial society, allowing us to glean insights into the distant past that only nobility would possess."

"Wouldn't such an operation be more effectively managed with someone like myself at the helm?" Liang Yuhan proposed. "I know you prefer not to be separated from us, but a focused operation in Emerald Falls City... furthermore, my tasks in establishing the Thousand Eyes Palace on this continent are nearing completion, freeing me to initiate our expansion into the Wei Dynasty's capital ahead of schedule."

"The Trading Company is fully operational and poised for expansion as well," Sui Luxiao added. "Such an endeavor would require substantial financial backing. Not to mention, we had already earmarked expansion into that territory as our next strategic move, aligning with the Thousand Eyes Palace's plans."

"I can assist with infiltrating the noble society. It's actually more effective to infiltrate through the social circles of noble wives and daughters. All I'll need to do is arrange some tea parties and gatherings that would impress the noble women. While it will involve some expenditure, it should be more efficient than establishing a fake noble family to penetrate the more rigid male-dominated social hierarchy," Cai Yin proposed, seeing an opportunity to contribute to Wu Long's plans in an area where her expertise lay.

She quickly added, "Furthermore, there's no inherent risk as we are under Sister Baihu's protection. If more than one of us is present, we can take turns returning here, much like Sister Zhiqiu's situation at the Crow King's Nest."

"Heh, there will be no need for turns," Song Lingfei chuckled.

"Huh? What do you mean? Wouldn't we need to have at least one person remain there to maintain a connection with Emerald Falls City?" Cai Yin asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

The reason Cai Yin mentioned the necessity of taking turns was due to a specific limitation of Fen Baihu's abilities surrounding them. While Fen Baihu could transport them away from any location at any moment, she could not place them back in that specific spot without at least one person remaining there to act as an anchor.

After all, Fen Baihu's Soul Bead was currently with Wu Long, restricting her to a disembodied consciousness within a certain radius of him. Whenever Wu Long entered the Dream Realm, Fen Baihu's consciousness became stationary, tethered to the area of his entry until he emerged. However, this dynamic shifted when Fen Baihu gained anchors – Wu Long's consorts. This allowed Wu Long to travel alongside Fen Baihu, and her core consciousness could then transfer to one of the anchors or transport them to the Dream Realm or back to him.

Conversely, when Wu Long's consorts acted as anchors for Fen Baihu's power, enabling her to project it around them, their departure from a location meant her consciousness there would lose an anchor and dissipate, ultimately returning to her.

Initially, there was a concern that a portion of her consciousness might be lost permanently. This was why Wu Long, who was not carrying Fen Baihu's Soul Bead at the time, did not accompany everyone through her Dream Realm to the Feilin Continent, opting instead to make the return journey himself. He feared that the fragment of Fen Baihu's consciousness that transported him to her Mystic Realm would be irretrievably lost. However, this fear was dispelled when Wu Long was researching methods to retrieve her Soul Bead and subsequently extend her protection to everyone. During this process, he discovered that the consciousness left behind without an anchor was not in jeopardy; it simply rejoined her.

Nevertheless, a lingering issue remained: once an anchor – one of Wu Long's consorts – was removed from a remote location, there was no method for instant return to that spot. This explained Lian Zhiqiu's intermittent presence at traditional dinners, as she was only able to attend the day before and today. Her location was too distant within the Crow King's Nest, placing it outside the range of Fen Baihu's primary consciousness. If she were to return, Wu Long would have had to personally escort her back the following day. While he was willing, she deemed it more prudent to expedite the formation decoding work.

Song Lingfei turned to Wu Long with a broad smile, eliciting a wry grin from him.

"That is precisely the issue. The connection is facilitated through me, via our shared bonds in the Dual Extreme Infinite Union Art. This would indeed pose a problem if only Baihu's powers were at play. However, her abilities extend to you through her bloodline connection; in essence, I manage the logistics while Baihu channels her power through me. This was a difficulty until recently, and it would persist... if I possessed only a Celestial Fox bloodline. But I do not."

All eyes shifted to Song Lingfei. Some gasped in sudden understanding, while others looked towards Lian Zhiqiu, who also offered a knowing smile, realizing why she had been present for the past two dinners despite her work at the Crow King's Nest remaining incomplete.

"I have recently achieved a breakthrough in my bloodline abilities," Song Lingfei announced with a smile. "Initially, I was somewhat hesitant to share it, as it seemed rather limited. I can establish a spatial node at a chosen location, akin to a beacon fixed in space that I can perpetually track. However, I lack the complementary ability for instantaneous travel to that location, as it represents a significantly more advanced power within my bloodline."

"However", Wu Long added, "Since I obtained Lingfei’s bloodline, and after her achievement she helped me to gain access to it with Mingyu and Cui’er, I am now able to sense the spatial nodes set up by Lingfei through our bond, thanks to prior experience with Baihu’s powers, though I can’t set up one myself yet. That node, however, is just as good a beacon for me as for Lingfei, I too don’t have the power to instantly travel through the Void there, but I also have Baihu’s bloodline, so I can project Celestial Fox powers through it"

He then turned to Lian Zhiqiu, "We have done the first test of setting up a node yesterday, and brought Zhiqiu here, and in the morning she went back to the Crow King’s Nest without any issues, so it’s a success. The node is also stable, or rather, its stability only grows with time. We didn’t tell everyone until now to not make you excited for nothing, but now that it’s confirmed to work..."

"W-wait... are you saying... you can now set up permanent points of travel for Sister Baihu as long as you have been to any location just once...?", Liang Yuhan dropped her smoking pipe, causing Wu Mengqi sitting next to her to slightly jump from shock with widening eyes and make a face that made a few beauties around laugh.

"Yes,although we have to pick locations well to keep it a secret and be able to guard it, but essentially yes. And you guessed it right... that includes other Boundless Worlds, so we are about to become the first, at least known, force to not be bound by Walls of Ascension between Boundless Worlds, allowing us to freely travel between them. As soon as we become a valid power in one Boundless World, we are guaranteed to be able to conquer any Boundless Worlds below it, simply by virtue of being able to bring the power of the higher worlds directly into lower ones"

"It’s completely broken... the whole intricate system of power in the entire Seven Boundless Worlds would be completely and utterly shattered, rendered useless by this madness", Liang Yuhan put her delicate hand on her forehead with bewilderment, trying to process this.

Wu Long’s and her words made the beauties around realise just how big of a deal this development was as well, although some realized ahead of others.

The whole table was silent for some time, and then broke into cheers and excited conversations.

Meanwhile Hong Ye whispered to Gong Cui, seeing as she was proudly smiling to the fact she managed to keep this a secret, although it was partially because she wasn’t seen around much as was Luo Mingyu, "Hehe, is that why lately you’ve been less active on the win-win-win strategy and acting all conspiratory with Sister Mingyu?"

"Eh? N-no...o~or y-yes that’s it... that’s why...", Gong Cui suddenly made eyes of a dear caught in a sudden bright light.

"Hmm?", Hong Ye raised her eyebrows, but wasn’t the type to ask further, and this conversation was lost amid the overall excitement.

"Wait, wouldn’t that mean we don’t really need that fox in that Secret Realm anymore?", Wu Mengqi’s eyes lit up with another realization amid all that.

"Hehe, the difference is in movement", Wu Long shook his head with a light, slightly conspiratorial chuckle, "We are planning to set up the main headquarters of the Soaring Feather Trading Company on a flying treasure ship, remember? The nodes that Lingfei can set up can only be constant, so it wouldn’t be suitable for a constantly moving ship. Besides, if we are lucky and that fox is a Mortal Grade Arcane Beast and not Profound Grade, we can send it down into the Boundless Mortal World, to establish a link with the Battle God’s Cradle"

This caused another round of excited discussion.

And at the same time, this also confirmed that the expansion to the Wei Dynasty capital was now much less difficult as Wu Long’s ladies could directly supervise it which made it far more efficient,