DUAL CULTIVATION GOD RETURNS

“It’s about to begin”, Wu Long cautioned his ladies to be ready.

“I began thinking they were spooked and we’ll just fly through unimpeded”, Feng Yi smiled, since this was the third night since they entered the ruins.

“Hahaha, I can imagine Mr. Kwon throwing a fuss and shouting for the cowards to come out and try to rob us if that was the case”, Bi Rui chimed in, the picture she described quite vividly appearing in the heads of almost everyone present.

—

A low grunt of the Beast of Burden reverberated through the valleys between the towering rock formations.

Most of the passengers were thrown into the air by a sudden stop, as the beast’s head hit an array barrier set up between two of the stone pinnacles.

The massive body was slightly sent back by the force of impact, but was able to catch its balance fast since its speed of travel wasn’t high before impact, it just slowed down even more than its usual speed within the ruins, as it was about to make a sharp turn.

About 50 figures in quite flashy-colored wooden masks, about half riding on top of cheap flying treasures, slowly left the shadows of the massive rocks around, with weapons drawn, but left in relaxed postures, as array barriers trapped the beast and all the passengers on its back in between three rock pillars.

“Welcome, dear travelers!”, a man came down floating, hovering at a slightly elevated level to observe the trapped beast in full view, his voice was jovial, full of over-the-top flair and confidence, as if a performer giving a speech to an attentive audience, as was his body language, spreading his hands in a welcoming gesture.

The eyes behind the mask observed around 20 guards of the vessel cautiously looking around while drawing their weapons and spreading to positions around the vessel. A hint of ridicule appeared in those eyes as only five of those guards were Transcendents.

His line of sight then shifted to a balcony of the top floor where a sight that almost took his breath away greeted him, beauties, each one unique and yet all as fair as goddesses. The only eyesore was a man standing among them, whose sight instantly provoked intense hate, not only from him but from all of the pirates. The older man who seemed like a servant standing a bit further behind them did not even enter his eyes.

‘Ratface, that idiot, he should’ve said it was to this extent…’, the pirate leader inwardly cursed the lookout for the report massively understating the beauty of the group of ladies, which was given over the communication talisman, ‘But no matter… what’s important is that luck’s on our side… this is a jackpot’

He then turned back his eyes to view the vessel in its entirety, and continued in a languid, almost friendly manner, “Rela~ax everyone, we’re here just to collect a passage fee, if you cooperate, most of you will not lose more than a dozen-odd silver coins, maybe some change on top, who counts so precisely anyway~…”

“You wish!”, a voice from the vessel interrupted the monologue, and two dozen men stepped out from the crowd of passengers gathering on the open decks of the vessel, floating upward to face the pirates.

There was something distinct about the members of this group, which made them noticeable among the regular passengers even before they revealed their presence. The origin of that peculiarity was revealed when all of them were enveloped in light and quite impressive armor covered them from head to toes.

Wu Long’s eyes narrowed at the moment the armor was revealed, recognizing the pattern of the armor unfolding from several points, even though it was much more advanced compared to the version of this retractable armor that he knew.

The youngest-looking from the group in armor spoke up again, pointing his finger toward the pirate, “Tough luck, you dirty rats, I bet you didn’t expect that aboard an ordinary vessel like this will be your worst-…”

“I did”, the leader of the pirates unceremoniously interrupted back, “Can’t say the Imperial Guards Corps of the Wei Dynasty are our worst nightmare though, you’ve been trying to catch us for about two-three years now”

Cackling and snickering resounded from all sides, as none of the pirates seemed too alarmed at the appearance of the Imperial Guards ‘disguised’ among the passengers. Nor were there any surprised expressions from those aboard the vessel on the back of the Beast of Burden.

“Wha-…?”, the youngest Imperial Guard, clearly flustered at such a reaction, fumbled for words.

“Bullshit! If you knew we were here, you wouldn’t risk targeting this vessel!”, another one next to him shouted to cover for his friend.

“T-That’s right! It only took us this long to catch you because you have been cowardly and slippery like rats! But now it’s the end for you!”, another voice full of indignation rose from the ranks of the younger Imperial Guards.

The leader of the pirates spread his hands while shrugging his shoulders, “It’s your choice to believe me or not”

“Wait, they seriously thought they blended in?”, Wu Mengqi turned to the side, covering the side of her face with an open palm, and asked her Dao Sisters in a hushed tone, but with only cultivators with sensitive hearing all around it was clearly heard by everyone in the vicinity.

“O-of course we knew… I knew right away”, Gong Cui replied in an even more pronounced hushed tone that wasn’t any quieter than Wu Mengqi’s voice.

“Shh, I think they can hear us, what are you going to do if they really thought no one noticed?”, Hua Ziyan added with a genuinely sympathetic hushed tone.

“Don’t be silly, everyone on the vessel knew right away”, Shen Min shook her head, not bothering to lower her voice.

“Ugh…”, the several younger members of the Imperial Guards lowered their heads to hide reddening faces, as murmurs from other passengers from lower decks gradually rose in volume discussing how obvious it was.

The one leading them, however, while being just as surprised at being seen through by just about everyone, as his younger subordinates, had no time to care about it, as he was vigilantly watching the pirates, alarmed at their confidence, as were the older battle-hardened subordinates around him.

“It seems that His Highness’ suspicions were true… you’re not just any pirates, are you?”, he finally spoke up, discerning a smug look in the eyes of the pirate leader.

“Hmm~, whatever do you mean?”, the latter slightly tilted his head to the side, his tone dripping with amusement and ridicule.

“Hah! Refusing to admit it, I see… we’ll see if you’ll sing like a bird when I bring you in for the interrogations. In the meantime, if you expect these thugs to best my trained soldiers, you’re in for a surprise”, the captain of the Imperial Guards replied.

“Hah! Did you honestly think that I knew you would be here and didn’t prepare at all?”, the pirate leader spoke with an increasingly smug attitude, as new forces of pirates started coming out from behind the towering rocks around, almost doubling their numbers and still continuing to grow, “Of course my men can’t compare to the ‘esteemed’ Imperial Guards, even with roughly two-to-one advantage, but what if we outnumber you four-to-one, or five-to-one, huh? Are you still confident in your men? As for who of us two will win… we’ll see about that”

The captain of the Imperial Guard clenched his teeth while watching the army of pirates grow, but there was no fear in his eyes, only grave preparedness.

He took a moment to look back at his subordinates, who nodded to him in reply as they clenched their weapons tighter.

“Let’s see if you’re worth the gold you’re paid, ‘Pirate’!”, he then spat out as he turned back to face the leader of the pirates, and taking in a deep breath, shouted “Imperial Guard, take your orders! In the name of His Highness, 5th prince of the Wei Dynasty, Wei Liheng, kill these criminals plaguing the nation! For His Highness! For the Emperor! For the glorious Wei Dynasty!!!”.

The next moment, the captain flew toward the pirate leader, while the rest spread out, speeding toward the pirates in all directions, supported by the official guards of the vessel, as well as a few passengers who decided it was safer to bet on the Imperial Guards.

“Hmm, it seems the Imperial Guards are held in quite high regard…”, Wu Long narrowed his eyes, seeing how much caution the pirates showed and that many of the passengers still believed they would be the ones left standing.

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