Chapter 158 Peace of the Mind, Turmoil of the Heart

The reason Wu Long slept so deeply that he allowed the two beauties to start in the morning when he woke up was because the technique that he used to sleep while being alert was indeed handy but not omnipotent. It allowed him to get his sleep, but there had to be a tiny bit of his consciousness that never got a rest, and thus accumulated fatigue over long periods of time. He normally did not feel it and it would not hinder him, but once he fell asleep without using the technique it started to rapidly recover, making up for all of the accumulated exhaustion at once, thus making him fall into a deeper slumber.

But since the whole place was covered in a grand formation he controlled and he placed talismans everywhere he was not worried. Not to mention that Ye Ling was also here and she was in Foundation Building Realm, so her mortal needs were a lot less than Wu Long's so she would only sleep once a week or so.

As the two beauties woke up in his embrace they snuggled a little into his chest from to sides to bask in this warm and fuzzy feeling a little more, and then after cleaning up and clothing they came out. Hua Ziyan somewhat guiltily looked at the two but they smiled and ran to her to report their progress.

Wu Long only chuckled as he saw how eager they were in their studies. They spent the next few days like that, in a peaceful and delightful mood while helping them with their training and cultivating with Hua Ziyan every day so that she could increase her reserves of Spiritual Qi.

One of these days, he enjoyed the company of five top-tier beauties during breakfast. Wei Lan shook her head at how comfortable and at home he looked in this heavenly garden as if this environment was his natural place in the universe. They daily met and interacted, with him occasionally teasing her to which she started to just shake her head with a chuckle at this point.

She herself was unknowingly laughing and enjoying this time with the whole company, as she quickly learned how warm the atmosphere was between them.

"Hm? If you overrode the grand formation here, why didn't you do so in the Supreme Master Pavilion, and instead use an external formation, destroying theirs?"

Shen Min asked when she heard Wei Lan's narration of the events prior to their arrival here when the conversation turned to that topic.

"I could override the formation since I was allowed inside the sect, and the formation was not fully activated by the time I got in, only being completely activated when I already started tempering with it. Not to mention that I spread talismans to do so. In the Supreme Master Pavilion they already fully activated the formation and I was outside"

He explained with a chuckle and this time it was Wei Lan's turn to be surprised.

"You spread talismans? But I have only seen you touch things, and never saw any talismans"

Wu Long smiled at her question and a talisman appeared in his hand between his index and middle fingers from his spatial ring. He then ran Spiritual Qi through it and it started to turn translucent until it finally completely disappeared. He then placed his hand on the table, as if simply touching it.

"So it was like this..."

She said with understanding.

"But I heard each talisman had only one function, how is it able to both have a concealing function and the function to serve as a point of influence on the formation? Also, how could you override the formations by only placing talismans in a single line that you passed through the sect?"

Hua Ziyan asked this time. She knew quite a bit about formations and talismans from her master, Lian Zhiqiu.

"Good questions, but I will answer your second one first"

As Wu Long was saying this the talisman that disappeared earlier appeared not in the place he placed his hand but before Hua Ziyan on the table as it slid there while it was invisible.

"Eh? But ..."

It was not strange for Wu Long to be able to move the talisman without touching it, after all they were always used by talisman masters in such ways, levitating all around them and placing themselves where they needed them. But it had an effective area only where the user's Spiritual Qi could reach. Wu Long could not possibly stretch out his Spiritual Qi all over the sect with his current output through the Qi Manipulation Rings. He nodded, and the talisman flew back into his hand.

"Now so you can understand my answer to your second question, I will answer your first one"

He replied, and the talisman in his hands split into three extremely thin pieces and levitated in front of him. Stacked together on top of each other they looked like a solid talisman paper, but when they separated they were so thin that they became almost transparent.

"This one is the access point to the formation, this one is concealing, and this one is a movement talisman that allows me to send the other two to great distances and manipulate them there"

He explained pointing to each one of them as they looked at him with round eyes.

"You really surprised me, to think you reached such mastery of talismans, I am beginning to wonder if you have slacked off with your sword"

Ye Ling said, shaking her head. As someone who lived quite long in the Seven Boundless Worlds, she understood that the technique Wu Long showed was not something very common or easy to do. He did not create three separate talismans on thinner paper and then just stacked them on top of each other. When he was writing the talisman, his ink made of demonic beast blood and some ores and herbs penetrated into the paper and was manipulated to form three layers. Not that he separated them, they lost their connecting points and would not as seamlessly work together. A talisman master would already be considered a good one if he was able to make 2-layered talismans, not to mention 3-layered ones.

Wu Long smiled at her words.

"I think you know my sword never slacks off when it matters"

Ye Ling blushed, and soon the others caught on and blushed too, while Wei Lan looked at them in slight confusion. But as she looked at them and a slow realization began to catch up to her her eyes widened and she glared at Wu Long with a rebuke as her face became beat red. He chuckled at how meek Ye Ling and Luo Mingyu got. As for Shen Min and Hua Ziyan, while they did blush a little, they were simply nodding in confirmation without lowering their heads and looking down at the table like the former two.

"Just as I started to admire your skill in formations and talismans..."

Wei Lan shook her head with a sigh. She could not fathom how such a man could learn such esoteric and profound skills. And how he was still a rogue despite all of his profound knowledge.

The breakfast continued as they got past the moment and continued with talking and laughing. Wei Lan felt unbelievably comfortable in this atmosphere. She knew that she was somewhat affected by the loss of her sect that was her everything, and this welcoming company was what soothed her, but she did not give much meaning to that since it was not like they were manipulating her. When she was a Grand Elder she also could not indulge in her weakness of seeking out good food or cooking that much, so in this period she was also enjoying being free to do so. historical

Hua Ziyan, Luo Mingyu, and Shen Min were close in age to new disciples that her sect would get so she enjoyed talking to them like she used to with her disciples, and Ye Ling somehow seemed like a wise elder despite being younger than her in age. In their conversations, she felt a kind of serenity and peacefulness from her, something very profound that made her feel at peace and put down her worries. It was a mysterious feeling.

But what made her the most puzzled was Wu Long.

The fact that he was extremely handsome, charming, charismatic, and visibly interested in her in addition to that made her feel conflicted.

She had been approached by men countless times before, and there were different reasons why she rejected them, but what was common among all of them was that none of those men could make her heart move. And yet, Wu Long not only could but did that effortlessly.

She felt conflicted because she was unsure if she was simply mistaking her gratitude and admiration for romantic attraction. It also felt weird since it had not even been that long since she met him.

She did not want to be a shallow woman who got attracted simply because of his looks or how powerful he was. But when she thought about the moments he reassured her, or remembered his gaze, his confidence, and his playful smile she felt her heartbeat quicken.

While her mind was now at peace because her worries were soothed by this unusual for her, but warm and welcoming company, her heart was in intense turmoil because of the budding feelings she did not understand.