Dual Cultivation God Returns Chapter 1060: You’re all excused

Nestled within the market district's cluster of family-operated enterprises, the Beastscale Trading House occupied a considerable expanse. Their property, comprising approximately fifty small to medium-sized buildings with intimate courtyards and even a small garden, fronted two streets, much like their neighboring establishments.

The primary storefront, a sizable three-story edifice, faced the main thoroughfare, a wide and bustling market street. Behind it lay a rear courtyard dotted with administrative structures and employee quarters, culminating in the family's private living spaces that opened onto a more secluded back alley. This alley was flanked by properties mirroring their own layout, leading to another major market street.

Situated amidst such a densely packed urban landscape, one would hardly discern that the city rested upon a vast lake. The only constant reminder was the gentle murmur of water emanating from below and the small canals meandering through the heart of the busy market streets, spanned by numerous bridges.

At this early hour, the streets were primarily populated by shop workers diligently preparing their storefronts for the day's business and receiving deliveries of supplies. Street vendors were also actively engaged in setting up their mobile stalls.

Consequently, when a familiar group of ruffians made their appearance on the street, most onlookers averted their gazes, feigning a singular focus on their tasks. A few, however, discreetly followed their progress.

It was common knowledge where they were headed.

The employees of the Beastscale Trading House also spotted the approaching group from a distance. One worker, who had been sweeping the street in front of the establishment, turned to dash inside to alert the proprietors.

However, the moment he turned, one of the lowest-ranking thugs, a cultivator at the Mortal Transcendence Realm, accelerated his pace. He casually bumped into the worker, who was in the Revolving Qi Realm, sending him flying. The sickening crack of breaking bones and a muffled cry of pain reached the ears of those nearby.

"Oh? You really should watch where you're running, don't you think?" the thug remarked casually, dusting off his clothes with the air of someone who had been inadvertently jostled. "Tsk tsk tsk, so careless."

This display sent a palpable shiver through the workers of adjacent shops and the Beastscale Trading House alike. The former hastily cleared the street, while the latter froze in their tracks.

The few vendors setting up stalls opposite the Beastscale Trading House, their backs to the canal that bisected the street, suddenly grew anxious about their stall supports. They quickly moved behind them to inspect their stability.

"Look what you've done; now no one will be able to call for the owners," the leader of the thugs, a cultivator in the Essence Awakening Realm, stated. He casually plucked a spiritual fruit from a half-assembled street stall and took a bite, all while the injured worker writhed in pain.

"Hahaha, my apologies, Big Brother Lai. It was just a reflex," the Mortal Transcendence Realm thug replied, scratching the back of his head with a seemingly guilty expression. He then added in a hurried, subservient tone, "I'll go inside to call them."

"Call who, you idiot?!" The leader's face contorted in frustration as he hurled the half-eaten fruit at the subordinate. "Are you acting as a concierge now?"

"Hah! Big Bro Lai, you're going to make Broken-Tooth Ma wet himself!" another thug snorted, observing the cowering demeanour of the one who had been reprimanded, eliciting chuckles from the others.

"Don't get worked up, Lai. It was just a minor incident," another more level-headed thug, also in the Essence Awakening Realm, interjected from the leader's side. "We were planning on roughing up a few employees anyway."

"Tsk, fine," the one addressed as Big Brother Lai clicked his tongue and gestured with his chin towards the store, indicating another thug.

The latter's fist was immediately enveloped in Spiritual Qi. After charging the attack slightly and winding up, he unleashed a destructive blow towards the store's window, which was covered by wooden shutters. A loud crashing sound ensued as a fracture appeared in the protective barrier that had suddenly materialized around the building, followed by an explosion of debris.

"Damn it! You again!" A young woman, a cultivator at the Mortal Transcendence Realm, emerged from the doorway, trailed by several other workers. A moment later, a middle-aged couple appeared, both cultivators in the Essence Awakening Realm. The woman restrained the younger woman, who had stepped forward, while the man advanced.

The man spoke, "The answer remains the same as always. Now leave before we cause such a commotion that the City Watch is summoned, landing you in trouble once more."

“Tsk, how stubborn. You’re making our work difficult, Old Liu. You’re lucky to be~...”, the leader of the thugs narrowed his eyes with a frustrated look, but his words trailed off as three people suddenly appeared on the scene, a man whose looks alone made the thugs burn with hatred toward him, and two stunning beauties whose appearance had the opposite effect on them.

The green-eyed beauty with her brown hair in a large braid to the side instantly moved toward the injured worker who was surrounded by a few others, a small Vessel of Life pot appearing from her Spatial Ring.

The other beauty with long black hair and brown eyes turning toward the likely owner of the establishment, “Greetings, Daoist Liu. We were just looking for a meeting with you”

But just as the faces of the thugs began changing at the sight of such heavenly beauties, and something indecent was going to come out of their mouths, while their leader was going to ask who the hell were they, the handsome man turned to them with a casual, “You’re all excused”

The next moment, the street stall vendors cowering behind their stalls felt like something flew past them over their heads in large numbers at a speed they couldn’t register, and loud splashes reached their ears from the other side, as little droplets showered them from the direction of the canal.

The thugs who didn’t even have much time to process the fact they were suddenly in the water, and barely conscious as they all felt like a mountain hit their heads, were picked up by a powerful underwater current that sucked them downward and then to the side, as they felt like being shot toward the outside of the district toward the open lake waters.

—

“Hmm, not bad”, Wu Long looked at his hand with a bit of residual dark mist around it that quickly dissipated.

What hit the faces of the thugs were hardened rocks he brought not out of a Spatial Ring but from his own Nightmare Fox Dream Realm, testing out the much improved activation time in a combat situation.

“Still a bit lacking for real use though”, he then sighed, since it only worked well against such thug-like opponents, turning around toward Gong Liwei to witness a moment of hesitation when her movements paused before making the hand seal.

She then made a split-moment decision and went with hand seals that caused a green vine to grow out of her Vessel of Life and stretch toward the injured employee. This wasn’t the high-level technique that Wu Long gave her, but a simpler one. She contemplated trying out that technique, but the stakes were of a real injury before her, so she didn’t have time to test out a technique she wasn’t sure of being able to pull off correctly.

He smiled, since the fact she hesitated at all meant that she was getting close to using that incredibly complex and powerful technique, which he didn’t expect would be the case for quite some time more.

He could guess that she likely received some help from Luo Mingyu. Not to mention that there were rumors among Wu Long’s beauties that Luo Mingyu, Gong Cui, and Gong Liwei were acting all sneaky and conspiratorial the past few days.

His gaze then turned to the owner of the Beastscale Trading House who was slightly absent-mindedly engaged in conversation with Sui Luxiao, his eyes still glancing at Wu Long and the empty space where the thugs were not long ago.

“I-in that case, please come in. And thank you for your help”, the owner finally seemed to wake up from his lightly chaotic state of mind, realizing he was keeping his benefactors standing outside the shop, and made a welcoming gesture.

By this time, the pained voice of the worker calmed down, as Gong Liwei’s treatment worked well. For someone with such low cultivation, her medical powers of Essence Awakening Realm cultivator were basically a divine miracle, and she nodded, “We can transport him now safely”

With another slightly bigger Vessel of Life she produced from her Spatial Ring, she made more hand seals and similar green vines stretched toward the patient, gently wrapping all of his limbs and torso to lift him up, and thus they proceeded inside.