Starting My Cultivation With Time Management-Chapter 909 - 49: Showdown

In truth, regarding the many dangers on the road to Beiming Fanyang, Long Long wasn’t overly concerned.

What he worried about most was that Long Hu might be corrupted by the comfortable life provided by the Azure Dragon Clan, and no longer want to return to their turbulent life on the run.

If such an unfortunate scenario did arise, what was he supposed to do?

Snatch the Heaven-Mending Stone shard by force? Then the little fox would immediately die due to her bloodline conflict.

But if he didn’t take the Heaven-Mending Stone shard… the only way to resolve the hidden dangers in her body would be to head to Beiming Fanyang. Now that the fox wasn’t willing to go, what choice did he have?

He could only subdue her, throw her over his shoulder, and make a break for it without another word.

Fortunately, the little fox wasn’t some creature that pursued a life of ease and comfort. Although she understood that going to Beiming Fanyang meant defecting from the Azure Dragon Clan, she still wholeheartedly agreed… which, in turn, made it seem like I’m the irredeemable scumbag who would ultimately abandon her, doesn’t it?

Thinking of this, Long Long couldn’t avoid a sharp, indescribable pang of guilt.

But then he remembered the catastrophic scenes he had witnessed earlier in the hidden realm of Golden Cicada Temple: the heavens crumbling, stars falling like rain, floods surging violently. Reflecting on the countless living beings in the Divine Land, Long Long hardened his heart, forcibly suppressing all the guilt and self-reproach that had begun to fester.

Guan Shui, oh Guan Shui, don’t really mistake yourself for a demon!

You are a bona fide member of the Human Race, merely disguised as a demon in the Eastern Emperor Realm for the sake of mending the heavens. You could have simply ignored the little fox’s survival, seized the Heaven-Mending Stone shard, and left—yet not only did you not do that, you even escorted her to Beiming Fanyang to reunite with her kin, and helped resolve the bloodline conflict she carried.

You’ve already done everything humanly possible!

As for staying with her forever… if that’s the case, then why couldn’t I also stay forever with Junior Sister Xu, Senior Sister An, Miss Shi, and Jiang the Witch?

So, wearing a mask for too long tends to make one mistake the mask for their actual face. If I truly start thinking of myself as a Jiaolong… wouldn’t that make me a complete idiot?

Long Long quickly composed a self-defense argument in his mind and settled his heart with ease.

"What do you think," the Summoning Sword subtly asked the Kunlun Mirror, "isn’t there a possibility that it’s not fear of them finding out the truth and fighting, or teaming up to chase him to the ends of the world, but rather the fact that he genuinely can’t bring himself to favor one woman over others, so he simply chooses to leave each of them behind without a word?"

"If you’re asking whether that’s possible, then of course it’s possible," the Kunlun Mirror replied leisurely. "But judging by his moral baseline, it’s not very likely."

"Does the Sword Master even have a moral baseline?" The Summoning Sword fell into thoughtful silence.

"Hmm." The Kunlun Mirror also pondered. "Thinking carefully about it, aside from double-dealing with two sects to reap the benefits, sweet-talking women to steal their hearts and shirking responsibility, flattering his master only to later view him with contempt, and all the swindling, deceiving, and stealing involving anyone who’s not a friend or family member… he doesn’t actually seem to have done anything truly heinous."

"You’re right," the Summoning Sword sighed. "So the Sword Master does have a moral baseline—though perhaps it’s just a bit lower than most. I should take back my earlier doubts."

Half a month later, Long Long returned to his secret chamber, activated the teleportation formation, and saw four or five jade slips lying inside—like opening a phone and seeing a flood of missed calls.

It seemed Beiming Fanyang was truly getting impatient.

Calmly, Long Long reviewed all the messages sent from the other side, then finally began to draft his own jade slip response.

In the jade slip, he detailed Long Hu’s background: her father was lost in the Mortal Realm, the Jiaolong Clan itself barely able to hold on; her mother was ostracized over matters related to her maternal grandmother, forcing her to flee to South State to avoid disaster. Gravely injured, her mother eventually succumbed, but not before sealing the bloodline within Long Hu’s body and putting her into slumber…

Writing this far, Long Long himself felt moved, his eyes growing moist. He thought to himself that the little fox had suffered so much. It was fortunate she’d encountered someone as kind-hearted as himself to rescue her from the subterranean cavern and her mother’s corpse. Otherwise, who knew how much more torment she’d have endured?

Beiming Fanyang remained silent for a long time after reading this. Finally, a response came:

"His Highness never wronged the Jiaolong Clan; it is the Jiaolong Clan that wronged His Highness."

Oh, please. If not for that Ying Long abandoning his wife and daughter to command an army to attack the Mortal Realm—only for the entire force to be annihilated—how would the Jiaolong Clan have fallen to its current state?

Long Long’s thoughts wandered to old TV plots he’d seen, where the male lead abandons his girlfriend to fully commit to his startup, and, after failing, decides he isn’t worthy of giving her a good life—so he breaks up with her decisively… Yeah, Ying Long was just as much of an idiot as that.

"Sigh," he wrote in the jade slip, "if only I’d been born in His Highness’s era. Even if it cost me my life, I’d have escorted the most supreme His Highness back from the Mortal Realm! Such a pity! So lamentable! So infuriating!"

The other side seemed taken aback by Long Long’s impassioned proclamation—it was probably the first time they’d encountered such rhetoric. They even responded to console him:

"Forget it. You don’t have to dwell on this. It’s all in the past now."

"Our clan’s decline is already a reality. The future will depend on your generation of youth to shoulder the burden."

Reading this, Long Long felt something was amiss: Wait a moment, had I inadvertently hinted about the bloodline conflict in Long Hu?

If you respect Ying Long so much, why wouldn’t you propose a solution to his daughter’s bloodline issue?

With this thought, Long Long bluntly asked in the jade slip:

"By the way, doesn’t our Jiaolong Clan specialize in bloodline techniques? Is there no way to completely resolve Her Highness’s issue?"

After transmitting the jade slip, the other side immediately went silent.

Roughly half a day later, Beiming Fanyang finally responded:

"Isn’t the bloodline conflict in Her Highness already sealed?"

Exasperated, Long Long retorted:

"A seal is still just a temporary fix. Relying on external objects isn’t a permanent solution. If the seal were to fail one day, wouldn’t Her Highness die on the spot? Ultimately, it’s best to resolve it once and for all."

Another long silence followed. Then the response finally came:

"We need to discuss this among ourselves."

"No discussion is necessary," Long Long quickly clarified his harmless intent. "Just send me the key formation techniques, and I’ll learn them on my side. Once I’ve mastered them, I can personally resolve Her Highness’s issue."

"No," came the response. "This isn’t about formation techniques… Her Highness’s issue can only be resolved within Beiming Fanyang itself. Do you understand?"

Long Long pondered for some time, then replied:

"Alright, I’ll wait for your decision."

Closing the teleportation formation, Long Long reviewed his many prior exchanges with Beiming Fanyang, still feeling uneasy.

After all, this time, he was asking to bring Long Hu along to seek refuge in Beiming Fanyang, which effectively meant asking the other side to open their doors to both of them—an unprecedented request for Beiming Fanyang.

All he could do was hope that the title "Daughter of Ying Long, His Highness" would carry enough weight in Beiming Fanyang’s eyes.