Dual Cultivation God Returns

Sui Luxiao and Nie Xiwang exchanged a look, and turned to Wu Long again.

“You’re not upset”, Nie Xiwang spoke, making a statement rather than a question since the answer would be self-evident if she asked.

She could just plainly see he wasn’t the least bit upset.

In fact, other than the moment Lust Cultivation’s status regarding Dual Cultivation was mentioned, there really was no particular reaction from Wu Long regarding that conversation.

“Hmm, if I cared about what every random passer by thought of me I’d live a very frustrating life”, Wu Long indifferently shrugged his shoulders.

“But didn’t they raise the question of Lust Cultivators?”, Sui Luxiao asked after a bit of hesitation.

“I never said it was illegal for Dual Cultivators to question something, even if it’s Lust Cultivation. Or rather, I never really set rules for others”, Wu Long said in a light tone, causing both beauties to raise eyebrows.

Seeing that reaction, he shook his head with a sigh and a wry smile, “You might’ve misunderstood from the conversation they had, since it made it seem like I was the leader of all Dual Cultivators, and therefore was the law itself for them, and now Shaoshan is in that position, but as far as I am concerned, I never decreed or commanded anything to Dual Cultivators, or assumed any actual control over them, I always did as I pleased, they just followed in the direction I moved on their own”

As Sui Luxiao and Nie Xiwang heard him speak, the gradually began to understand, that Dual Cultivators basically created an idol by the name of Wu Long, interpreting his actions and words, codifying them into laws for themselves.

Meanwhile, Wu Long continued, “In the first place, eradicating Lust Cultivation is not some moral stance or higher calling, but strictly personal and selfish stance. I feel disgust toward it, therefore don’t like it, therefore I destroy it. The intensity of how actively I pursued it is just a reflection of the intensity of my disgust of it and therefore, the intensity of my dislike for it. Once I saw the push from others to also attack Lust Cultivation, of course I supported it, since that made it easier to wipe it out faster”

The two beauties exchanged another look, this time, a look of bewilderment.

“So, I’ll just continue what I’ve been doing, and wipe out Lust Cultivation whenever I encounter it. Some kid from a Dual Cultivation Sect wanting to question and discuss what is wrong with Lust Cultivation and why does it have to be the nemesis of Dual Cultivators has little to do with me on a personal level”, he concluded with an innocent expression, and then added, “I did unexpectedly get some information though, so if anything, you could say I gained from hearing that conversation”

“About your former disciple?”, Sui Luxiao asked for clarification.

“Yes, but even more so about what this information implies”, Wu Long nodded, “similarly to how time moves differently between here and the Boundless Mortal World, it also differs from where these news come from. This normally ensures a bit of insulation of information between Boundless Worlds, of course, big news that affect the status quo of the entirety of the Seven Boundless Worlds still spread, but even then that information can trickle down quite slowly, especially if it is basically from the very top”

“Yet it feels like the news are still quite fresh despite the fact they are not exactly world-shaping, in fact it’s almost at a level of gossip… so someone deliberately sped up the rate at which these particular news spread?”, Sui Luxiao raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, now that is a bit worrying, because it means that whoever it is, and whatever their goals are in doing so, they are laying the initial groundwork for the idea of accepting Lust Cultivation as part of Dual Cultivation in concept, making the two once again associated”, Wu Long nodded.

“Isn’t that extremely unlikely?”, Sui Luxiao asked.

“We’ve just seen how it can work. I might not care about the ideas that kid had on a personal level, but if viewed more broadly it is a symptom of a much larger phenomenon”, He shook his head, and explained a bit more fully, “To go from unthinkable to accepted, ideas have to travel through multiple stages, first of which is spreading the idea as fast and wide as possible. It doesn’t matter if there is strong – or even extreme – rejection and opposition to that idea, the main thing is that the masses of people hear what the idea is”

Nie Xiwang nodded, continuing “If I remember correctly, the second stage is mocking of the idea, since when it is openly and almost unilaterally mocked, it takes off the seriousness out of it, and makes it seem far less likely to be actually considered, and thus much less of a threat, creating a gap in people’s mental defenses”

“Yes, the other objective of the second stage is continuous exposure, making the idea a permanent topic so that it is constantly in the ears of everyone even if it is mocked, making it something familiar, no longer uncommon while it is still viewed as non-threatening. And once it is common, the third stage kicks in where a little of seriousness is incrementally returned into discourse about the idea. This eventually creates a counter-reaction that was delayed by the mocking in the second stage. But by that time it is usually already late, because at this late third stage, it is actually desirable to have strong opposition since it creates constant attention around the argument”, Wu Long added.

“So at the late third stage the idea is no longer preposterous for the wider public, rather, people in general are indifferent to it, and indifference is already a huge gain from widespread rejection”, Sui Luxiao looked at the tea in her teacup with an introspective look, coming to a conclusion that followed the logic of the discussion.

“Correct. Even if there is a vocal part of society opposing the idea, it becomes ordinary for the majority of those who are neutral to it”, Wu Long confirmed, “And thus the idea can no longer be uprooted unless extraordinary means are taken. It has taken hold. From there to acceptance of at least part of the society is just a half-step for those who hold power, that part has many tactics though”

“Isn’t it impossible to counter then?”, Sui Luxiao slightly frowned, as it didn’t seem like there was a way out of it.

“Haha, I did reverse the standing of Dual Cultivators in the cultivation world, didn’t I?”, Wu Long chuckled, “Of course, I did it in a very, very crude and bloody way, but it doesn’t mean there is only that way. Although it’s there if all else fails. There’s little evidence that there is something that could not be countered, Luxiao. Though I’ll not say it is impossible since I can’t know that for certain either”

—

By the time they finished their tea, Butler Bang arrived with two of the Wu Family retainers, carrying large umbrellas, and following closely behind to cover Wu Long and his ladies as they returned to the inn.

“Is Lan’er training in Fen Baihu’s Dream Realm?”, Wu Long could tell that Wei Lan was not in the inn long before arriving, thus asking as he greeted his beauties. After all, he promised to ask Yu Huan to treat them all to tea, so he wanted to gather them all together.

“Ah, no, she’s once again in her personal garden”, Bi Rui answered.

“Personal garden?”, Wu Long raised his eyebrows.

“Mm”, Bi Rui nodded.

“Ah!”, Cao Mei exclaimed, remembering something, “It happened in the period you couldn’t enter Lady Fen’s Dream World, so you haven’t been there, right? Sister Lan made a separate garden from the medicinal fields to grow ingredients for her cooking”

“I told her it was fine to use the medicinal fields since she uses ingredients that we use for alchemy as well, besides I use part of those fields to grow my tea leaves as well… but she said that it would be a hassle to keep records of who took what plant”, Yu Huan added with subtle lament.

“Hehehe, don’t worry about it. It’s true that Sister Lan didn’t want to inconvenience you, but she actually likes gardening, not only for cooking, but just flowers as well. She told me that she had quite a garden when she was a Great Elder in her former Sect”, Cao Mei grinned.

“Hmm”, Wu Long nodded, but there was a part of his mind that seemed to click, as a small doubt crawled into his head.

After greeting all the ladies, he asked Fen Baihu, and entered her Mystic Realm, at the entrance to a decently sized, and very neatly organized garden.

He immediately saw the beauty who was busy with plants, but feeling his presence through their bond at the same time he appeared, turned to look at him.

“Ah, Wu Long”, her cheeks slightly blushed as she stood up. She didn’t expect to see him here, especially in her current appearance. She was wearing a gardening apron which was covered in mud, with a wide bamboo hat that made her look a bit like a village girl, though an extremely attractive, mature one.

He stepped forward with a smile, appearing right before her in a blink of an eye and his arms wrapped around her before she could utter another word.

“Y-you’ll get dirt on-…”, she tried to protest, but his lips sealed hers as she first froze, and then eased into the kiss, relaxing in his arms and closing her eyes.

“So unfair to hide this from me”, he whispered as their lips finally parted, seemingly not minding the dirt at all, but excited by her current appearance.

“Haha, I wasn’t really keeping it a secret, you know? Many of my Dao Sisters come from time to time to help with the garden. Though the only ones who actually can tend to it are Sister Ye Ling, Sister Cao Xiang, Lingfei, and Mingyu. Lady Gong Liwei is also quite good at gardening, must have been her hobby as well”

He smiled, holding her in his hands, when his gaze accidentally fell onto one of the plants, and the thought he had a little before once again surfaced in his mind as his eyes focused.

“Say, Lan’er, Mei’er said that you started this garden from the time I couldn’t enter this realm, meaning it couldn’t be over half a year ago”, he clarified.

“Yes”, she nodded, a bit surprised by the question and the slightly strange look in his eyes.

“Did you transfer all of these plants from the medicinal fields, or planted them from seeds?”

“Partially both”, she answered, and tracing his line of sight added, “That one’s from seeds. Haha, amazing, right? It might start giving fruit in two years, maybe even one and a half. I told you my comprehensions were about cooking. I thought long and hard about your words, on fitting a square shape into a circular opening, so for now I gave up on finding a way to use it in fighting and concentrated on what I actually could do. Eventually, putting to use some of my comprehensions, and a lot of help from Mingyu’s Dao Intent, I figured out how to channel Earth Qi to slightly enrich the soil to grow more delicious ingredients, that might even enhance-… what’s wrong?”

As she was speaking, a smile appeared on his face along with astonishment in his eyes.

“Lan’er, that is a 9th tier Mortal Grade medicinal plant… sure, it can be used for cooking, but it’s a genuine alchemy ingredient”, he said.

She turned to look from him to the plant, and then back to him, and then a gasp came out of her as her eyes widened looking at his smiling face.