You lose some, you gain some

*clank*

After his sword crumbled, one of the two Qi Manipulation Rings Wu Long wore followed.

"...What fearsome Spiritual Sword Art..."

"I have never heard of this technique..."

"It looks to be quite a high-level technique...such a shame to be held by a mere Qi Gathering Realm boy..."

Once Wu Long's killing intent receded and the crisp sounds of metal woke the crowd awake a loud murmur swept through the place. A greedy light shone in some gazes, but most were either amazed or frightened.

His interference and deed itself were long since inconsequential to the spectators, the topic shifted to the attack just now.

What Wu Long used were Spiritual Arts created from the sword, commonly called Spiritual Sword Arts. It was a branch of Spiritual Arts, similar to Hua Ziyan's spiritual fists, that allowed one to manipulate Spiritual Qi into techniques that attacked outside the body.

Though it was quite a high level of technique the output was actually not that strong, as Wu Long was unable to utilize a sufficient amount of Spiritual Qi at the moment. So while it had the form, the substance was severely lacking, and would probably not even penetrate the bodily Spiritual Qi protection of a Foundation Building Realm Expert. He also did not have a weapon that could endure such a taxing technique, and one of the rings also shattered from the strain. His other ring was not a lot better off, as it only survived barely, but was still somewhat damaged.

However, this output was enough to achieve his goal of erasing the one who annoyed, enraged, repulsed, and disgusted him from existence leaving as much less of his traces as possible.

Spiritual Sword Arts were actually not real swordplay, and were generally shunned by most self-respecting orthodox swordmasters, who did not need to utilize Spiritual Qi in profound ways, and for whom 'one sword is enough'.

But it did require a sufficient understanding of the sword and sword skills to utilize, so its supporters often argued with orthodox swordmasters that it was actually a higher plane of the sword. High-level users of these types of techniques were called spirit swordmasters.

"Hmph, good riddance. If he perished, so be it"

Song Minfu was among the first ones to completely regain his composure as he too was stunned by the previous display. He declared in a tone of annoyance having been erased.

The Ye family who were about to start interfering in the situation shut their mouths as they could not actually start quibbling after the Crown Prince has spoken. At that moment, most of the influential people had a tacit understanding that this scene was premeditated and that this man was destined to die, as well as about the fact that the one who killed him was pardoned long before it even happened.

But as always in these kinds of situations, no one voiced anything, since if one could simply raise their concerns in such kind of situation, it would not be possible to achieve the same result when they needed it, and thus the cycle of pretense worked. In truth there needed not to be any grand reason to kill a person in the cultivation world, it was just necessary that the person in charge of the area was notified and given his approval one way or another, as a show of respect and authority. Once that was achieved, the reason and excuse did not matter that much.

Sui Luxiao blankly looked at the spot where not long ago her former husband was kneeling and a feeling of closing a chapter of her life finally came along.

She realized that she really did not care one bit about him, his death was not a happy, nor a sad occurrence. It just happened, and she didn't feel anything. This showed her that part of her life was completely over, and there were no lingering feelings. And a feeling of relief about it being in the past washed over her.

But as for Wu Long, he shook his head and sighed as he realized that all of that man's 'generous donations' have perished along with his spatial ring, as he completely forgot about it in the heat of his fury.

The Sui family members not far in the distance looked on in a bewildered daze as all their plans crumbled like sand castle after a giant wave, since no matter how they protested Sui Lxuiao's actions now it would be useless.

The man was dead so the divorce was now very much final and irreversible.

The part of the company that was about to be torn off and reformed into the Exquisite Peacock Trading Company will also now have no ties to them since it would naturally be inherited by his family, which was a less influential noble family from one of the neighboring kingdoms, and they would be unlikely to be willing to return it. Unlike Sui Luxiao's former husband, who was willing to revert the divorce and rejoin the companies, they have no reason to do so.

They could at most vent their frustration, but even that seemed unlikely, as their Sui Family never had people above the Revolving Qi Realm, and they seemed to be of no consequence to Wu Long. Besides their intuition told them that it was dangerous to provoke him.

After some period of adjustment to erase the awkwardness, the banquet continued without much hindrance to its course or even atmosphere.

---

"Young man, can I borrow some of your time?"

A tall man with a slightly more muscular figure, followed by a group of men and women in similar robes to him, came over to Wu Long some time into the second part of the banquet, and noticing their robes Sui Luxiao became slightly nervous.

He was about 4-5 years older than Wu Long, thus the phrase 'young man' had a slightly different flavor when it came from him.

"I am Guo Dinshan, a Core Disciple of the Profound Martial Arts Valley. I would like to know the origin of the Spiritual Sword Art you used before... if it is convenient"

He continued to speak without waiting for Wu Long to answer and it was clear that the first question was just a formality, similar to how the phrase 'if it is convenient' was also quite visibly a formality.

Wu Long narrowed his eyes as he saw how the man behaved and looked at him, a light smile on his lips.

'Heh! It seems luck really is on my side. Yes, in fact, everything in life is unpredictable, you lose some, you gain some. One generous person could not deliver despite trying so hard, the other one shows up!'

He was younger, less experienced in the ways of the world, and more arrogant than the wily old foxes that could sense with their intuition that it was not worth the risk to try and take advantage of Wu Long.

This Gao Dinshan's status allowed him to look down on almost anyone from his generation since not many powers could contend with one of the Five Great Sects that were the pillars of the cultivation world on the three continents, and he was also a descendant of one of the Four Great Families of the Azure Eagle Empire, the Guo family also present at this banquet.

He was certain that he will be seeing this man after the banquet, possibly on the way back to the sect, since there is no way their conversation will go well. He knew exactly how it will progress, it happened to him so much in his previous life he was almost puking every time the same exact sequence of exchanges started. So he decided to skip it as he usually did in the later part of his life.

"I am not bored enough to entertain you, but as I do with almost anyone, I give you a chance to back off, though you will not listen to it. But let me say this clearly so you understand, I have nothing to tell you and there is no future in which I give you the technique. There is no use in bargaining, as you have nothing I need, threatening me since you have no capital to do so, or exchanging any more words since... well you know, I am not that interested in talking to men who I have no business with. This conversation is over"

Wu Long said his piece, turned and left with the dumbfounded Sui Luxiao while menacing words and threats came from behind him.

---

"Your Highness, thank you for your help"

As the banquet was coming to a close, Song Minfu once more approached Wu Long.

"It was a favor in exchange for a favor, after all. I will be expecting you to contact me about that later. Please do not make me wait too long, as it is of great importance to me"

The Crown Prince said in a moderate tone, not too friendly but also not too distant. It was important to establish a good rapport with someone who is going to heal his daughter, after all.

He extended his hand to the side, and a piece of paper came from the thin air, though there seemed to be a silhouette of an old man's hand giving it to him.

"This is the Communication Jade inscription for Ren's personal Communication Jade. You can contact me through it. Oh, by the way, you mentioned you needed to obtain medicine to heal her, if you give us a list, we can prepare it for you if it will shorten the preparation time"

"Thank you, I will send the list, but the main medicine that I can do without but will be immensely helpful and save a lot of trouble is actually something I am not yet certain of obtaining. I will have to visit the Wood Spirit Continent to know for sure if I can get it. Otherwise, the treatment would have to be quite a bit longer"

Wu Long replied, prompting Song Minfu to raise his eyebrow.

"Wood Spirit Continent? ...Come to think of it, are you by any chance related to the Wu family, one of the two high noble houses of the Wood Spirit Empire?"

There are many similar surnames in this world, and even many people with the exact same names, thus the 'Wu' from Wu Long did not raise immediate suspicion but given how mysterious and knowledgeable Wu Long was, coupled with the mention of the Wood Spirit Continent suddenly made a flash of insight appear on the Crown Prince's face.

"...I cannot say for sure since I do not know" Wu Long replied cryptically after a slight pause before saying goodbyes and leaving with Sui Luxiao.

'It seems I now have another reason to visit the Wood Spirit Continent besides the Dew of Life' he thought.