Dual Cultivation God Returns

707  Still human

"Fuu~", a long exhale from Wu Long signaled the end of the emergency. As his eyes opened up he could see that Yuanfen was no longer here.

'She really can come and go without me noticing at all…' he thought with a slightly vexing feeling, since it was a bit unnerving for someone so used to being aware of everything happening around him at all times.

Fen Baihu was also nowhere to be seen, it seems she decided to not linger in case her physical presence broke the concentration of the two beauties, though Wu Long could still feel her presence.

He took a look at Luo Mingyu and Gong Cui who were both showing signs of fatigue, since they were accompanying him for an extended period of time, using all of their concentration and effort to assist him.

Not to mention that both of them were using relatively newly acquired abilities that for now put quite a lot of strain on them, especially with such continued use.

"Mingyu, Cui'er", he called out in a soft tone, since the two of them were so focused on maintaining their support to him that they did not notice the moment when the crisis had passed.

"Wu Long!!!", Gong Cui awoke from the mild trance-like state that she went into so that she could maintain her concentration for longer, her fingers putting a light improvised finish into the melody, refusing to finish it completely abruptly mid-passage even if she was tired.

"It is a relief that it seems you were able to succeed", Luo Mingyu opened her eyes with an exhausted but truly relieved expression as well.

"It is thanks to you two that everything went so smoothly", Wu Long smiled, standing up.

"Phew~~, ehehehe" Gong Cui wiped away drops of sweat from her forehead, "It's not a big deal~. If it's for you, I can~", her expression lit up with pride, contrasting with her words, but as she tried to stand up, she suddenly faltered, feeling dizzy.

The next moment, she felt sturdy, familiar, beloved hands catch her body, and the sense of comfort and stability they brought made her heart flutter.

She bashfully laughed in his arms, turning her gaze away, "Ahaha~, I… s-seemed to have stumbled a bit… hehehe…"

"I'm grateful that you worked hard for me, but I hope you pace yourself and think of your well-being more from now on", he said not letting her gloss over the fact she overdid it.

And just as Luo Mingyu made a wry smile, his gaze turned to her, "And that goes for you as well, Mingyu, just because you know that you'll falter if you try to stand up now, doesn't mean you did better than Cui'er. It just shows you know your limits better, which in a way is even more upsetting"

"Ugh…", the purple-eyed beauty made an expression of being caught, which looked adorable in his eyes, as Wu Long sat next to her, still holding Gong Cui in his arms.

He sat Gong Cui on his side, keeping her in his embrace, while with the other arm enveloping Luo Mingyu, giving both a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"Haa~ seriously… I can't even be mad at you because you did it for my sake, but I'll be upset if you neglect your well-being like that. So even if it's for me, don't be reckless like that anymore", he said with a slightly more serious tone.

Both Luo Mingyu and Gong Cui could feel the distress in his voice, and though he was seemingly admonishing them, both beauties felt an elated joy instead of being dejected.

"I understand, Wu Long, don't worry I will be more careful from now on", Luo Mingyu spoke in a soft and soothing tone, though unable to hide the smile on her face.

"Ehehe, me too, me too! I'll be su~per careful", Gong Cui chuckled openly displaying her delighted grin, causing Luo Mingyu to giggle, and Wu Long to shake his head with a sigh.

They sat like that for some time, relishing the tender moment, until finally Luo Mingyu could not hold back her curiosity.

"Did you… really succeed?", she asked while still in his embrace, her purple eyes looking at him with intense interest.

"Hmm, if you mean just in acquiring the Celestial Fox bloodline and receiving whatever blessings it came with, yes. But if you mean if I now have the same powers as Fen Baihu, that's quite unlikely", Wu Long replied in a tone of someone thinking over the topic while speaking, signaling that he also did not fully finish thinking about it to have a solid answer.

"Eh? How come?", Gong Cui's eyes became round and large with surprise, causing Wu Long to involuntarily chuckle at how cute her expression was.

"Well, I am, after all a human, not a Celestial Fox. In the first place, having a bloodline, no matter how great, doesn't change that fact. Just as Lingfei might have the purest bloodline of a Great Void Eagle, but is a human and not a Mythical Beast. Being of a different species naturally places some limitations on how exactly the latent power in the bloodline can be inherited", Wu Long lightly explained, as Luo Mingyu nodded with realization.

"I see…, so Sister Lingfei might have some of the abilities of the Great Void Eagle, but not those that rely on a physique or special constitution of a Mythical Beast itself… and the same goes for you in the case of both bloodlines of the Great Void Eagle and the Celestial Fox…", Luo Mingyu muttered while having a fascinated expression.

"Correct, if you remember, the source of her trouble was exactly in the fact that she was unable to link the power in her bloodline to her cultivation or physique. So the method I created for her to be able to do that worked for me as well when I acquired the Great Void Eagle from her", he nodded with a smile.

"But how come that method did not work this time?", Luo Mingyu tilted her head as she distictly remembered that Wu Long created that method to work with any bloodline.

"Hmm, it does work, but only now" he raised his face up in a thinking pose, looking up as he spoke in a calm introspective voice, "It seems that due to the nature of the Celestial Fox as a being in essence existing outside of the material world, the power within her bloodline's also seemed to ignore my physical body, or rather, anything that is not my consciousness, as it did not register that as truly being part of 'me', only an extension, just like Fen Baihu's eight physical forms are not really what makes up 'her', but merely an extension she created"

"In other words, to the power of the bloodline, your mind was the real you, but everything else was just secondary, which is why your body did not experience any change, only your mind", Luo Mingyu raised her hand to her mouth in thought, while Gong Cui looked a bit dazed, turning her eyes from Wu Long to Luo Mingyu and back when they spoke.

"Yes. Through this I understood that Fen Baihu is a far more unstable being than I previously thought. Think of it as like when you go to sleep, you still have a consciousness, it operates autonomously, but there is no cohesion or will to it, rather, it is chaotic. Only when you are awake, 'you' are really in control. Fen Baihu is, very crudely put, that awake will, and thus she never truly experienced sleep as that would be akin to being erased from existence for her. It is also what nearly happened to me, since I did not know that maintaining that conscious will, or sense of self, was so different when you exist simply as a mass of chaotic consciousness without a body", Wu Long nodded. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

He noticed that even when Fen Baihu's physical body was sleeping next to him before, her mind was awake as always. She was in a sense trapped in a body that did not have enough energy to move and act according to her will, but fully aware.

"So, does it mean you can't sleep now?", Luo Mingyu made a slightly worried expression, since it was only recently that Wu Long began slightly loosening his guard around his Dao Family, resting his mind through sleep. It was something they all felt a sense of achievement and pride from, since it was only possible because they were there for him.

"Haha, no, as I said, I'm still human and not a Celestial Fox. Now that I have established a connection using the new Core with the attributes of the Celestial Fox's power, I was able to once again bind my mind to my body and exist as a single entity with it rather than a disembodied consciousness that possesses a body like Fen Baihu. Though there is still much to explore in terms of what new abilities I can gain from the transformation that took place, I am certain where the limits of those are, and I am nowhere near becoming a Celestial Fox", he chuckled, as Luo Mingyu sighed with relief.

Gong Cui saw that the conversation reached a point of conclusion, and nodded with an expression of deep contemplation. Though her conclusion was, "So… what you're saying is Wu Long is amazing!"

""…"", looking at her sparkling eyes and innocent expression, both Wu Long and Luo Mingyu first stared at her with wide eyes, and then...

"Pfft!... hahaha~, you're right, Wu Long is amazing, hehe, hahaha", Luo Mingyu giggled with a joyful look while Wu Long wryly smiled and gave Gong Cui another kiss on the forehead.

For a while, Gong Cui's excited voice and Luo Mingyu's cheerful laughter filled the space that Wu Long sealed off to be able to concentrate, as Wu Long listened to their voices with a content smile, his arms around the two beauties tightly and yet tenderly keeping them close.

Thank you for reading, and your incredible support everyone!!! ^^

DaoistGreenOnion

Creator's Thought