"Uncle Kiritsugu, are you really not coming with me to Spirit City?" Wu Ling asked for the third time the next morning.
"Ling'er, I already told you there is no need. Crescent Moon Village is where I was born and raised. I am also the village chief. I cannot possibly go to Spirit City.
"Besides, if I went there, I would not know anyone or anything. At the start, I would definitely just cause you more trouble. Do not worry about me. It is enough for you to take care of yourself."
Kiritsugu shook his head and firmly rejected Wu Ling's invitation.
"All right. If you ever change your mind, go to the Spirit Hall branch in Notting City and ask someone to send me a letter. As soon as I receive it, I will come back. I will tell them later.
"If you are not going, then I will probably come back every two or three years. If I do not return on time, it will mean I have something important to handle, like reaching a critical stage of cultivation. So you do not need to worry about me. You must take care of yourself too."
For Kiritsugu, who had cared for him for six years, Wu Ling had long since come to see him as real family. That was why he cared about him so much.
"Of course. I am still waiting to hold my grandson. Before I get to hold one, I will definitely take good care of myself." Kiritsugu grinned and patted Wu Ling, who was now almost as tall as him, on the shoulder. The words both reassured Wu Ling and quietly urged him toward marriage.
"As expected, elders in every world have an instinct for urging marriage. But I am only eight. Even in another four months, I will only be nine. Is that not a little early?
"Wait. In the original story, Ash Flynn Hawke started visiting brothels when he was twelve, maybe even earlier. Was that because of his Martial Soul? Soul Land children really do mature early."
Faced with an elder's marriage pressure, Wu Ling could only answer with a smile.
After their final goodbye, Wu Ling finally left.
Watching Wu Ling's receding back, Kiritsugu smiled with relief.
"Even a young eagle reaches the day when it must spread its wings. I cannot be the one dragging him down. Speaking of which, what was I supposed to do in the village today..."
After leaving home, Wu Ling went alone to the Spirit Hall branch in Notting City. With an elder token, he met the current hall master of the branch.
Once Wu Ling finished giving instructions to the hall master he did not recognize, Ghost silently appeared beside him under the hall master's terrified gaze.
"Let us go, Grandpa Ghost."
With a gust of black wind, Wu Ling and Ghost vanished from the hall master's sight.
The hall master, a man in his forties, stood frozen for quite some time before he came back to himself. Remembering Wu Ling's instructions, he immediately shouted outside, "Someone! Prepare a carriage! I am going to Crescent Moon Village to visit someone."
Wu Ling knew nothing of what the hall master did afterward. By dawn the next day, Ghost had already brought him back to Spirit City. Once again, that speed made Wu Ling marvel at the strength of a Titled Sage.
"Nearly 3,000 km. An ordinary carriage would need half a month to cover that distance, yet a Titled Sage only needed most of a day.
"Of course, that has a lot to do with Grandpa Ghost being an agility-attack Spirit Master, but he did not even stop once the whole way. That is still incredibly impressive.
"If my body were not already strong, I might not have endured that speed even while being carried."
Amid those thoughts, Wu Ling returned to his courtyard, preparing to nap briefly before beginning the day's cultivation.
Ghost also returned to his own residence. In truth, he was nowhere near as relaxed as Wu Ling imagined. More than ten hours of travel had emptied nearly ninety percent of his Spirit Power. If not for the Pope's plan, he would never have pushed himself like that.
"I will rest today and recover my Spirit Power, then confirm the plan with Her Holiness one last time. We can begin tomorrow."
The sun rose. After a night's rest, the vast Spirit City was like a giant machine that had finished cooling down and begun turning again.
In Wu Ling's courtyard, three Wu Lings were sitting together for breakfast.
Ember said, "Wow, three bowls of zhajiangmian in the morning really hits the spot!"
Wu Ling said, "Hey, hey, hey. Ember, you are a clone. Why are you eating so much?"
Ember said, "Main body, you cannot say that. The morning decides the whole day. Only by eating well and eating full can I cultivate better!"
Wu Ling said, "Seriously. Eat well in the morning, eat full at noon, and eat light at night. Do you understand? Look at Azure. He is eating properly."
Ember looked in the direction Wu Ling pointed.
Azure was stirring a cloudy cup of soy milk with a straw.
Azure said, "Look. A world is like this cup of soy milk. Our world may merely be a marble belonging to God, or perhaps only a cell inside some living creature.
"Relatively speaking, humans are like parasites of the world. Why do we exist? What is our goal? Why does this world contain humanity at all..."
Ember said, "Main body, he is not eating at all."
Wu Ling said, "No, he ate."
Ember said, "But..."
Wu Ling said, "I said he ate."
Ember fell silent for a moment. "Ahahaha, as expected of the main body. What sharp eyes. I almost failed to notice. Mm, mm. All right, now that breakfast is over, I am going to train. Main body, carry on."
With that, Ember ran toward the training ground in a great hurry.
Watching Ember's hardworking back, Wu Ling was so moved that tears nearly flowed from the corner of his mouth.
"Seriously. Forget Azure for a moment. Ember even ate my bowl. As a clone, does he not know how much I love zhajiangmian? The worst part is that he did not leave me even one bite.
"And Azure, stop playing around. Ember already went to train. Are you not going?"
Azure said, "To eat or to work. That is the question."
Just as Wu Ling had planned, Ember was responsible for physical training, Azure was responsible for swordsmanship, and Wu Ling himself was responsible for studying theory. At the same time, he spent at least half of each day refining Spirit Power.
Wu Ling's training plan began moving in an orderly fashion.
The plan on the other side, however, suddenly ran into a problem.
After Bibi Dong finished reading the urgent letter in her hand, her Spirit Power shook, reducing the letter to powder.
"Elder Chrysanthemum, please bring Elder Ghost here."
"Yes." Yue Guan saw the change in Bibi Dong's expression and, for once, did not say anything extra.
A moment later, Ghost and Yue Guan arrived before Bibi Dong together.
"Your Holiness, has the plan changed?"
Bibi Dong nodded. "The search team sent information. They have new intelligence and have confirmed the target's location. But they were also discovered, so we must go now."
"Understood!" Ghost and Yue Guan answered at once.
"I will have someone tell Ling'er. Now then, move out."