Chapter 194 Not What I Wished For
"You really did surprise me"
Wu Long said as he understood what she wanted to do. She wanted to examine different intents, which were similar powers in the way that they were all ethereal and incorporeal, abstract from the physical world. From that, she could possibly derive and extrapolate the concepts, or at least find a clue.
"Hehe, well that idea would be useless if there is no one like you who comprehended a lot of intents on their own. Since it is only meaningful if the different intents are coming from the same source. If I tried to do the same with different people there would hardly be any chance of succeeding"
It is not like no one thought of that idea before, it is just that Wu Long was very unique in comprehending a lot of different intents singlehandedly. If she were to examine different intents coming from different sources, there would be no baseline to make assumptions and observations from, since the people were different and their comprehensions were fundamentally different.
"But you will have to be prepared since you have to actually experience them and it could get very intense, I will also have to eventually go at the maximum output I can manage so that you can comprehend more"
He said, since as a Dao Cultivator, she would be a lot more sensitive to the Weapon Intents he released. She nodded, she also understood it and came to talk to him about it after careful consideration.
"Then let me know when you want to start and I will gladly cooperate"
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. She still needed to consolidate the clue that she obtained about her own Dao path before she could start pondering on the Dao Intent.
As she happily returned to the others with a much lighter heart Wu Long shook her head with a wry smile at Ye Ling who was approaching him.
"You really gave me a surprise there. Dao Intent huh?"
He said and she smiled in return.
"It is not like she would have never learned about it, and if she knew that we have known about it and did not tell her it would have greatly rattled her confidence later on since that would mean we did not believe in her"
She replied as he nodded in agreement. It was a matter of time before she learned about the concept, and trust was very important in relationships, so not telling her now would only have brought more trouble later on.
"Do you think she can do it?"
Wu Long asked as he was still a little worried. It was not that he did not see how brilliant of a Dao Cultivator she was, but the task that was universally considered impossible and ruined many rising talents was still daunting to let her pick up.
"I believe in her, and even if she does not succeed, she is smart enough to understand where to cut the line and stop attempts unlike those who became obsessed with it"
Ye Ling replied, soothing his worry since it was not impossible for a Dao Cultivator to separate themselves from the concepts they failed to comprehend.
Wu Long also agreed with this assessment. The worry that gripped him stemmed from the fact that while he did have sufficient achievements in the Dao, he was fundamentally not a Dao Cultivator, so he would not be able to guide her past a certain point. And both paving a new path of Dao comprehension, as well as comprehending Dao Intent were way beyond that point.
As he stood up from the bench, his gaze fell onto the pier bridge entrance that led from the island to the sea platforms they were on. He saw an old man in plain slightly rugged clothes walking up to it from the side of the island.
"Heh, it seems they really think that they could get rid of me here in the neutral zone. However, they would probably also target the Pirate Queen and Princess. Ling'er, can you take the others to them and help? I will be there shortly after"
Wu Long said as he looked at the bridge where a powerful pressure was growing. People who came to relax at the pier began to clear up the bridge, some even jumping into the water just to avoid trouble The people on the platform also started to either jump off into the water or simply clear out the center, sticking to the sides.
The old man already took out a small scythe on a chain with the other end of the chain being a steel ball. He was holding the chain and scythe in his hands while the steel ball was hung down, swaying with his steps.
This old appearance at the old man's cultivation at the Foundation Building Realm told Wu Long that he was at the last stretch of his natural lifespan, and the visible decay indicated the very late stage, meaning he had at most several years. Though cultivators could, of course, lock the appearance with an Age Locking Pill to avoid signs of aging before their natural lifespans reached their end, most male cultivators did not bother with such things, and even some female cultivators did not. Not to mention that the ingredients were rare in this fractured world and the pill would likely cost a fortune.
Ye Ling nodded and took the others as they used the Illustrious Stride and made it to the shore in one stride bypassing the bridge. The old man's turbid eyes widened and the steel ball in his hands started rotating, but just as he was about to turn to intercept Wu Long's hand held a halberd and he went on to the bridge with ghostly speed, shifting the man's attention to himself.
"You caused trouble for some serious folk, kid. The sum on your head is high enough to move even me!"
The old man said, with a smile that exposed half-missing teeth as the steel ball went forth and Wu Long narrowly dodged it slamming into his head so the chain was now stretching not far from his ear.
"Aren't you a little too greedy? Why would you need so much money at this point? Shouldn't you old fogeys be busy looking for some nice place with good Feng Shui to bury your old bones or something? Ah! So that's why you need money! My bad, my bad"
Wu Long replied with a smile.
'Still sending hired hands? Though it seems now it's contract killers'
Wu Long chuckled inwardly at the fact that they still did not send a direct subordinate. It seems the people who sent him really were worried about being in direct conflict with someone in their own league. Though the hired hands they sent now were not mere mercenaries they usually used to carry out menial jobs and control the situation, but various professionals with distinct styles and methods like the twelve people before.
The old man's gray-white and uneven eyebrow twitched at Wu Long's words as he said 'old fogeys'.
Just as Wu Long stepped to avoid the steel ball once again another one broke the surface of the water and then the wooden flooring of the bridge. Wu Long pivoted on his leg and turned to avoid it when a scythe broke the surface of the water in another place a bit further from the bridge and went straight for his neck.
Sparks went into the air as the tip of Wu Long's halberd repelled the scythe but then a steel ball wrapped a chain on the shaft of the halberd.
"Nobody likes a wise-ass, kid! That tongue's probably what got you into trouble!"
The old man who appeared first shouted while trying to tie Wu Long's movements. Halberd Qi swirled toward the old man and his eyes widened as he sensed that he would not be able to defend against it with his scythe, the force contained in that Halberd Qi was enough to break through the defense and deal a fatal blow, so he swayed to the side.
Wu Long used this opportunity to close the distance which loosened the chain, but he just slid the chain down to the part that had the crescent blades and entangled it there, tugging at it and making the old man abandon the chain since he found with astonishment that he lost out in physical strength despite being higher in cultivation. The scythe on the other side of the chain made a swirling motion in the air, led by the force of Wu Long's halberd motion, and went into the water, looking as if a hook sent by a fishing rod.
Wu Long pulled and a figure hooked on the scythe appeared from the water, dragged out by the chain and leaving a trail of bloody water as it flew over the bridge.
"Third brother!"
The old man exclaimed with pain and the figure slammed onto the wooden floor of the bridge, breaking part of it. It was also an old man that looked almost precisely like the first one.
A steel ball broke from under Wu Long again but he avoided it and gripping the chain that went out after the ball, tugged it up, forcing a third old man with similar facial features to surface.
'Yeah, not the triplets I wished for'
Wu Long thought inwardly looking at the three old contract killer brothers.
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