Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Feng Yan's gaze circled among the Feathered Clan Cultivators before she suddenly asked Long Long:

"Who is the traitor?"

Long Long calmly raised his arm and swiftly pointed out three individuals.

The faces of those three changed, and they quickly protested:

"Injustice! How could we possibly be traitors?"

"That Dragon Clan slanderer is spitting lies!"

"He must be deliberately framing us, seeking a reason to eliminate those who are different!"

Looking at the expressions of the surrounding Feathered Clan Cultivators, even such unfounded accusations had already made many show signs of doubt; the exclusionary habits of the Feathered Clan were thus evident.

If Feng Yan were not present, chaos might have truly erupted by now, but Feng Yan simply swept her gaze over them, and those caught by her eye immediately chose to stay silent––otherwise, they would be sternly reprimanded, leaving them without the chance to retort; everyone already harbored psychological shadows.

The trio also turned ashen-faced, knowing that since Feng Yan was there, they stood no chance of inciting the crowd, and so they suddenly transformed into three streaks of light, revealing their True Bodies and fleeing towards the city outskirts with all their might.

Feng Yan raised her hand, and likewise, three streaks of light flashed past, instantly shooting down three large birds in the distance.

Scanning behind them, Long Long found they were hit by three red-feathered small arrows.

It turned out that those red-feathered arrows, not only signifying the authority of the Commander's Seal, were also Magical Treasures capable of inflicting damage.

"The colluders have been executed," Feng Yan said coldly. "Those harboring malicious intentions, this is your fate!"

The crowd fell silent as if struck by a cold spell.

Back in the city defense mansion, Feng Yan asked Long Long:

"What should we do next?"

"I have three strategies: superior, intermediate, and inferior," Long Long replied calmly. "Please choose, Your Highness."

"Start with the superior strategy," Feng Yan said.

"The superior strategy is to maintain the status quo as much as possible," Long Long explained. "Yuanjiang City may seem besieged, but isn't it also like a nail driven into the occupied territory of the Qilin and White Tiger allied forces?"

"As long as Yuanjiang City does not fall, the Qilin and White Tiger allied forces cannot completely occupy the Two Rivers Plain. The Feathered Clan only risks the annihilation of their remaining forces, which is definitely a cost-effective trade-off."

"The superior strategy is not viable," Feng Yan sighed. "If Yuanjiang City's remaining forces suffer losses, there would definitely be those within the clan who would use this to fault me. What about the intermediate strategy?"

"The intermediate strategy is to staunchly defend Yuanjiang City for a period, then withdraw in a timely manner," Long Long said. "This will increase the chances of preserving the remaining forces."

"The inferior strategy is to withdraw as soon as possible."

Feng Yan patiently listened to all three strategies, understanding that Long Long advocated for holding out as long as possible, depleting the enemy's resources and energy.

Objectively speaking, she did not think there was a problem with this strategic direction, but some factors were beyond the battlefield, and she herself was powerless.

"How long roughly would we need to defend for the intermediate strategy?" Feng Yan asked.

"That would depend on the situation of the battlefield," Long Long responded.

"Then let's go with the intermediate strategy!" Feng Yan made her decision. "We'll shift to the inferior strategy depending on the circumstances!"

"Very well."

"Escort me out of the city," Feng Yan said.

"If Your Highness is willing to defend Yuanjiang City, the morale will certainly soar," Long Long took the opportunity to offer insidious advice.

"My precious body, how could I stay too long in such peril?" Feng Yan immediately saw through his despicable intentions. He merely wanted to use her banner to train and command those Cultivators of the Feathered Clan for his own benefit, "First escort me to the front lines, and if you find yourself incapable again, then come seek my assistance."

At that, Long Long merely chuckled, heh heh, and remained silent.

Since the other party even said "if you find yourself incapable again," could he really admit to being "incapable"?

Therefore, Long Long ordered Lou Ming to continue supporting the defense, while he took Feng Yan out of the city.

Hearing that Long Long was leaving again after just arriving, Lou Ming's face turned into a bitter gourd, nearly squeezing out water.

That Qiu Ying, with his hands-off approach, was bad enough, but Long Long was even worse, spending most of his time outside of the city... However, since Feng Yan was right beside him, he naturally couldn't voice any complaints and could only nod in agreement.

As Long Long escorted Feng Yan out of the city, the path was unobstructed, treating every barrier as if invisible, to Feng Yan's amazement.

"This Qilin and White Tiger coalition's blockade is much too lax," Feng Yan complained. "Don't they ever change their patrol routes?"

"There's only a need to change them if someone sees through the patrol routes," Long Long casually remarked.

"True," Feng Yan mused, "Even the White Tiger Divine General can't predict the future, foreseeing that you could completely see through the blockade formed by these patrol routes."

"The other side must have become aware; otherwise, they wouldn't have intensified their siege," Long Long chuckled, "The White Tiger Divine General is truly a monster, to be able to counter even this."

"To force the White Tiger Divine General into such a situation, aren't you even more monstrous?" Feng Yan was in high spirits now and teased, "Thankfully, most of our Feathered Clan's patrols are airborne and are not so easily seen through by you."

Long Long smiled without saying a word.

"Hey, are you suggesting you could directly see through even the patrolling net spread across the higher skies?" Feng Yan suddenly frowned and asked.

Long Long continued to smile without replying, but seeing a hint of apprehension on Feng Yan's face, he quickly said:

"Of course, I couldn't see through that. The Qilin and White Tiger roam at low altitudes, dealing merely with the issues of east, south, west, and north positions, but the Feathered Clan can take to the skies, which adds the dimension of altitude on top of the directions, multiplying the complexity. It's truly beyond my capabilities."

He would've been better off keeping quiet. By saying this, he seemed almost too eager to deny it, which only deepened Feng Yan's ambitions to make use of him.

Just what sort of charm did that fox have, or was Long Long's nature simply too obstinate?

No matter how much Feng Yan tried threats, inducements, and seductions, Long Long wouldn't budge and it irritated her to the point that the Vermilion Bird within her practically itched to peck at him furiously.

Having returned to the front-line stronghold, Long Hu had already led the first group of evacuating Cultivators to reach the two clans' main base.

Among the Cultivators of the Feathered Clan at the front lines, many had family and friends among the evacuees. Now that they were reunited, they were moved to tears and deeply touched.

When asked how they managed to evacuate, the Cultivators both praised Long Long's life-saving grace. Of course, some resented the forced donations and wanted to scoff, but they immediately fell silent under Feng Yan's sharp gaze.

Long Hu hadn't expected that after bidding farewell to Long Long before departure, he would still see Long Long upon arrival; he immediately threw himself into his embrace. The fluffy tail gave a few slaps and tightly coiled around Long Long's leg.

The Cultivators of the Dragon Clan watching this felt rather strange.

Although the Azure Dragon Clan had accepted that Long Hu possessed Dragon Clan Bloodline, seeing that typical tail of the Mao Clan was still hard to come to terms with.

Feng Yan watched with a cold eye, thinking that if Long Long could accept even such a tail, it showed that he wasn't an "Absolutist of Dragon Clan Bloodline."

That is to say, his loyalty to the Dragon Clan was due to deep, old feelings.

It seems that Long Long was, after all, a very devoted dragon.

Against such a character, mere enticements surely would not work; one must appeal to emotions to succeed.

With that in mind, Feng Yan gradually began to conceive a new plan.