Wu Long knew that Hong Xinyi was not yet ready to dual cultivate with him.

The happiness at discovering he was alive, her love and longing for him, might’ve overpowered her anger at him in favor of accepting Wu Long’s confession and finally taking their relationship to the next level, but it did not mean she wasn’t still at least somewhat upset with him.

Of course, his behavior after their first kiss - both in promising to do everything he could for her older twin Hong Xinan, and in the sharp way he reacted to hearing about her attackers, as well as the revelation that he saved the twins from the ritual, and how he acted toward her in general - soothed a lot of that anger and hurt.

And understanding the reasons behind his past behavior made her consciously far more accepting of him.

But all of that was not to the point of getting her emotionally ready for physical intimacy.

Not to mention that for the longest time, dual cultivation with him, to her, was associated with being a fleeting fling, a temporary cultivation partner. Thus it was something she rejected and avoided to the point it became a subconscious mindset.

Wu Long was simply happy that she accepted him despite what he put her through, and neither of them were really in the mood for it.

Thus, as Hong Xinyi was now more or less caught up with the situation, and the reasons she came to be in this situation were more or less apparent to Wu Long, they prepared to come out to greet his Dao Family.

—

At this point, it was already close to noon after the day of the auction, way past the time of breakfast, and yet everyone was present within the main mansion, disrupting the usual routine of dispersing throughout the mountain for personal training, meditation or any other activity.

Even those who usually came out of the Dream Realm by this time, like Liang Yuhan and Sui Luxiao, stayed back on this occasion.

They were leisurely talking in small groups, sitting at one of the largest verandas in the entire mansion.

Though not all of them were so relaxed - Hong Ye and Hong Yue were sitting together in a rather tense silence, occasionally glancing at each other with a bit of unease.

Even the usually carefree Hong Ye, mostly indifferent to formalities and proper order of things, was unable to brush this one off.

They were, after all, about to meet someone they both regarded as a legendary figure since early childhood, trained to think of her as a kind of deity. It didn’t help that she was also the leader of an organization to which they could be seen as traitors.

Both knew that Wu Long wouldn’t allow them to be harmed, neither of them even remotely thought that was a possibility, which was a given for Hong Ye but rather unusual for the older of the twins. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Hong Yue used to not trust Wu Long even if all he did was for the benefit of the twins, and now, let alone having trust in him, she didn’t even think to doubt him in this situation.

The old her would’ve went through this thought process: Hong Xinyi was someone Wu Long had a far longer and possibly far deeper relationship with, and thus for her there was a possibility he could turn against the twins. Now, however, it didn’t even vaguely cross her mind.

Though she, of course, was unaware that this change took place.

So it wasn’t like they were afraid for their lives, and yet the prospect of meeting Hong Xinyi was still daunting for both.

Some of the beauties tried to soothe their unease at various points throughout the night with varying results. The most successful were first Ye Ling who managed to calm down their initial worries, and then Gong Cui and Wu Mengqi who managed to make the two relaxed for quite a while with a lighthearted chat.

But now that the sun rose over the Dream Realm and substantial time passed, signifying that the time of meeting could be close, their tense mood returned.

Knowing how nervous they were, everyone avoided the topic of discussing Hong Xinyi, and yet almost everyone was curious, each in their own way about what the leader of the Bahshi Assassins was like.

At one point in time, Fen Baihu lazily laying in her small fox form, perked up, turning to look into distance, "They’re coming"

Her words sent a shockwave through the veranda as conversations stopped and their heads turned in the same direction as Fen Baihu.

Only Ye Ling raised one eyebrow, "Did they take a detour?"

"Eh?", Fen Baihu who already shifted into her human form turned her head a bit absentmindedly first to Ye Ling, and then around to the others, "Ah~... ehehe~ sorry for confusing you, everyone, direction doesn’t mean much to me within this realm, they’re coming from there"

She then pointed in a different direction from where she looked at first, causing a few giggles to come from all around as all eyes turned in the right direction this time.

And just in time, soon two dots appeared from that direction, gradually turning into figures of people flying over.

One of those figures caused all eyes on the veranda to show warmth and joy, and that was where they focused their gazes first, but then their focus shifted to the other figure, and this was where most showed surprise.

It was hard to picture someone they never saw, but just from the title of the leader of Bahshi Assassins, and one of the most dangerous assassins alive in the entirety of the Seven Boundless Worlds, each formed at least some kind of expression, and all of them were off the mark.

"S-she doesn’t look as scary as I thought", Gong Cui whispered to Gong Liwei who chuckled.

"I told you, she’s beautiful", her older sister replied, "Though now that she’s not covered in blood and I can get a better look she looks even more beautiful"

"I know~", Gong Cui nodded, "But still~... I thought she would... I don’t know, be more scary somehow, even if beautiful"

Wu Mengqi who sat not far away and overheard them enthusiastically nodded as she also didn’t know what to expect, but had the same general expectation of Hong Xinyi being somehow scary and dangerous which didn’t seem to match with reality.

"That is because she is a master assassin", Ye Ling smiled, "You would never recognize the most skilled assassins in the Seven Boundless Worlds to be assassins until it is too late. They constantly put effort into improving in making a very different impression to their true persona, and to blend in, if they’re among harmless people they would look as non-threatening as possible, and if they’re among rogues they would show the appropriate level of rough and violent impression, and so on"

"Oh~, I see~", Cao Mei had a look of realization, as did many of them.

Meanwhile, the twins looked at Hong Xinyi nervously, but found that she instantly locked onto them. There was a strange look in her eyes, along with warmth they didn’t expect to see.

But even though she was impatient to meet them, she first landed together with Wu Long to face everyone at the same time.

"Everyone, this is Hong Xinyi", Wu Long smiled, introducing the beauty.

Hong Xinyi nodded to the beauties, "I’m Hong Xinyi, but you all can call me just Xinyi. I’ve known Wu Long for a long time, but became his woman just today..."

Her words caused Wu Long to show a slightly awkward smile, while Ye Ling and Fen Baihu turned to each other, exchanging a look, and all others showed surprised expressions since they expected her to have long since been in a relationship with him.

"... It might be a bit awkward at first since we’re not familiar with each other yet, and you all know my identity, but I hope to get along with you all, as women who love Wu Long, and as fellow Dao Sisters as well", she continued and then concluded through the overall confusion.

Her introduction reminded everyone of Nie Xiwang’s similar and yet different speech - Hong Xinyi’s attitude was a bit more laid-back than the Blade Empress at the time, though the sincerity of wanting to build good relationships with everyone was the same.

They might not be familiar with her yet, but what they could sense immediately with a uniquely woman intuition, was her feelings for Wu Long from the way she looked at him when she said his name. That was enough of a reason to feel at least a degree of connection and to welcome her, not to mention her acknowledgement of the awkwardness of this meeting instead of glossing over it has already earned approval of some of the beauties.

As usual, Ye Ling spoke on behalf of everyone, "Welcome to the Dao Family"

Normally at this part the beauties would introduce themselves one by one, but they all turned to the Hong twins. The latter two came forward, causing Hong Xinyi to show an emotional look, surprising everyone yet again.

The twins didn’t know how to properly react. By all norms of Bahshi Assassins they should’ve extended formal greetings as soon as Hong Xinyi appeared, but received a sound transmission from Wu Long that they didn’t have to worry about any formalities at all.

And yet it still felt weird for them to greet her normally.

But eventually, they simply rather stiffly introduced themselves.

"I’m Hong Ye"

"I’m Hong Yue"

"I’m very happy to meet you two", Hong Xinyi spoke with a gentle smile, looking at the only pair of twins in history who escaped the cruel fate of the Twin Crimson Ghost Ritual, "You don’t need to mind who I am or your past, I hope to get to know you both better soon and call you Dao Sisters"

This very warm greeting from her caught them off guard, as the sisters turned at each other with surprised looks, and then nodded to her, which caused her to chuckle.

While this was happening, Wu Long greeted Gong Liwei with a hug, and led her toward Hong Xinyi right as the twins moved back to give way to others, "Xinyi, this is Liwei"

"I heard from Wu Long that you were the one who healed me, thank you very much, I owe you my life", Hong Xinyi spoke sincerely, lowering her head.

"Ah~ no... I... please don’t lower your head... and it’s...", Gong Liwei became flustered, waving her hands in front of her with wide eyes.

Hong Xinyi smiled as she raised her head back, "I will express my gratitude more thoroughly afterward when we have a bit more time to talk, but I am happy to meet you"

Gong Liwei sighed with relief and a bit of helplessness since it didn’t look like Hong Xinyi would drop the gratitude so easily, and then gently smiled, "I’m happy I was able to be of help. And it is nice to meet you too, welcome to the Dao Family"

Aside from them, Hong Xinyi also showed a different reaction when greeting Ye Ling, Wu Mengqi, and Liang Yuhan as all three somehow felt like she was especially warm in her interactions with them.

And then there was Fen Baihu, who came forward with a giggle, "It’s an honor to meet such a renowned person"

"Surely you’re joking, Your Highness. Your fame and reputation is far greater than mine", Hong Xinyi grinned, recognizing the Celestial Fox even without an introduction.

"Please don’t address me so formally since we’re Dao Sisters from now on... plus my status is now lost since my Clan has fallen", Fen Baihu first spoke with a smile, but showed a slightly more somber expression at the end.

"Ah, forgive me, it was insensitive to bring it up", Hong Xinyi recognized her blunder as she was too used to thinking of Fen Baihu as the Princess of a powerful Beast Clan.

"It’s fine, I had time to make peace with it", Fen Baihu smiled, shaking her head, "Welcome to the Dao Family"