Smack!
Aurelia, whose attention had been drawn to the three people in the courtyard, turned again toward that sudden sound.
Wu Ling had covered his face with one hand. Through the gaps between his fingers, Aurelia could see deep, bone-tired helplessness.
After a long silence, Wu Ling finally sighed and asked in a tone that said, There is no saving this. I give up. 'What exactly are the three of you doing?'
Ember blinked twice, then said, 'Welcoming her. After I learned from the main body that Miss Cross was coming over, I wanted to greet her in a fresh and exciting way. So we used this famous scene as a welcome ceremony.'
'So that is why the three of you were doing the Moonlit Three Muscle Bros pose?' Wu Ling glanced at Aurelia first. Only after confirming that she had not shown any strange reaction did he turn back to Ember.
'How was it, main body? Full of sincerity, right? We had considered the Team Rocket trio pose too, but this one felt more impactful.'
'Also, main body, what do you think of the Ginyu Force poses? I realized that every time we come out of your shadow, it feels like we have no style at all. So I was thinking we should make a matching entrance pose like theirs. Something that makes people's eyes light up.'
As Ember talked, Wu Ling silently walked up and flicked him hard on the forehead.
'Are you trying to embarrass me to death, or do you want me to black out on the spot?'
Ember was more than a full head taller than Wu Ling, but after being hit, he lowered his head like a well-behaved child and admitted fault.
Azure, sensing that the situation had turned bad, quietly slipped away. Before leaving, he even remembered to drag Shade with him and nod politely to Aurelia.
Afterward, Ember went off with a miserable face to find Azure for his triple-dose training. Even now, he still thought an entrance pose was a brilliant idea.
Once the three of them had left, Wu Ling explained to Aurelia, whose expression still held open curiosity. 'Those three are clones created by my second Spirit Ring. They were formed using myself and my first, third, and fourth Spirit Rings as their foundations.'
'Usually, they can help me cultivate. In other words, one day of my cultivation is roughly equal to five days for other people.'
'They are also useful in battle, so it is a very practical Spirit Skill.'
As Wu Ling explained, Aurelia's gaze changed completely.
'In other words, when you fought me yesterday, you were not even using your full strength?'
That was true. But looking at the faintly dangerous look in Aurelia's eyes, Wu Ling decided to give this woman the minimum comfort she deserved. He laughed awkwardly and said, 'How could that be? Other than not using my clones, I absolutely used everything I had to defeat you, Miss Cross.'
'Really?'
'Of course. All right, let us not talk about that for now. I will take you to meet Rose. You should be able to talk to her.'
Without giving Aurelia time to keep asking, Wu Ling led her toward the room where Rose stayed. Aurelia could only let the matter go for now and plan to ask again later.
Wu Ling brought her to a room with every window tightly shut. He knocked first. Only after someone inside responded did he lead Aurelia in.
'I have given Rose most of the research authority, but that does not mean I completely leave her alone. Every morning, I set aside some time to check her progress.' As he spoke, Wu Ling handed Aurelia a mask, goggles, and gloves.
'Put these on. All three have been specially treated. With Rose and me here, nothing should go wrong, but if you accidentally touch something special, even we would have trouble dealing with it.'
Aurelia looked around at the room. It was messy, yet somehow carried a strange internal order. She did not question him and put on the protective set.
That was how Aurelia met the Rose Wu Ling had mentioned. If she had not known this was one of his clones, she might have thought Rose was his daughter.
But the conversation between Wu Ling and Rose soon left Aurelia stunned. She understood words like coil, conduction, medicine, and Martial Soul when they appeared alone, but once they formed sentences, she could not understand a single line.
Unable to join the conversation, Aurelia could only wander around the room. Unfortunately, the moment she began looking around, she grew even more confused.
As the inheritor of the Angel God, she had read most of Spirit Hall's book collections. To play the role of a prince, she had also studied knowledge from many fields. Yet with all her experience, she could not tell what most of the things in this room were.
When Wu Ling and Rose finally finished discussing their work, Wu Ling noticed Aurelia sitting off to the side with an expression that suggested she was questioning her entire life.
'Miss Cross, what happened?'
Aurelia looked up at Wu Ling, glanced at the various objects around the room, then pointed at one of them. 'What is that?'
Wu Ling followed her finger and saw a jar filled with a liquid that somehow looked like colorful black.
'Oh, that. That is a potion that can increase estrogen-like hormones in men. To put it simply, it can turn a man into a woman. At the moment, though, it only works on Spirit Elites and below.'
Aurelia did not need to think too hard to guess who that thing had been made for, or rather, who had begged for that research.
Then she pointed at a square object soaking in liquid. 'What about that?'
'That is a Spirit Power block compressed from the total Spirit Power of one peerless Titled Sage, six super Titled Sages, and eight ordinary Titled Sages. After we made it, we could not split it apart. It is fine, though. If it explodes, it will only blow up a small half of Spirit City at most.'
Even someone as steady as Aurelia frowned at Wu Ling's description. A small half? Only?
Then she pointed to another object. 'This?'
'That is a telephone. It is a spirit tool for long-distance communication. We only need one more step before it can be assembled.'
'That one?'
'That is...'
At last, Aurelia pointed toward a red embroidered shoe. 'What about that? It looks like just a shoe, but my Martial Soul tells me it definitely is not ordinary.'
Looking at the thing she had chosen, Wu Ling's enthusiasm for explaining the room cooled slightly. Aurelia noticed the change in his mood as well.
'If it is inconvenient, you do not have to tell me.'
Wu Ling shook his head and smiled. 'It is fine. That is just something an old friend left behind. As for why it feels special, I suppose it will guide me back to an old place someday.'
'...Sorry.'
Wu Ling waved off Aurelia's apology. 'I said it is fine. Besides, you have already asked about everything in this room. It is almost eleven. Stay for lunch, then cultivate this afternoon.'
Aurelia checked the time and realized it really was nearly eleven. She had only asked about a few dozen objects that morning. Thinking that she could continue in the afternoon, she replied, 'All right.'
After that, Aurelia stayed for lunch. In the afternoon, she trained her body with Wu Ling under the pressure of the bounded field, refined her technique under Azure and Shade's attacks, and in the evening, Wu Ling kept her for dinner too.
After dinner, Aurelia was drinking tea with Wu Ling. She took a small sip of flower tea, then finally asked the question that had bothered her all day. 'Wu Ling, why did you not cultivate at all today? Did my appearance disrupt your plan?'
Wu Ling shook his head. 'After seeing Rose's abilities, you should understand that other than the one necessary sleep session each week, I spend most of my sleep time cultivating. It is not just me. Ember and the others also help me cultivate. So even if I only cultivate for one-third of a day, my progress is still faster than someone who cultivates the entire day.'
'And no one understands me better than I do. The cultivation method I created for myself, paired with medicinal pills, raises the efficiency by about another fifty percent. All things considered, even if I only cultivate for one-third of the day, my speed is still roughly twice that of someone at my level.'
That was correct. Whenever he was outside, Wu Ling used his exclusive cultivation method to conceal the existence of his Spirit Power circuits. He had also understated the efficiency.
It was not because Wu Ling was selfish. The problem was that creating a Spirit Power circuit for someone required Wu Ling to inspect every Spirit Power pathway and the state of that person's Martial Soul.
That level of inspection was no different from stripping naked and letting Wu Ling examine every inch of one's body. Afterward, the person would also have to completely open their inner self, meaning their Martial Soul and pathways, to him.
Forget women. Even a grown man would not be able to accept that level of inspection. Wu Ling also had no interest in inspecting the bodies of grown men.
So to avoid unnecessary trouble, he explained everything to outsiders as an exclusive cultivation method.
After cultivating with Wu Ling for a day and learning of his terrifying cultivation speed, Aurelia remembered certain other things.
In the end, she pressed her lips together slightly, looked Wu Ling straight in the eye, and asked, 'I want to ask you something. What do you think of authority? Or rather, what is your personal view of authority and strength?'